Serial Game Movie

366 Days 406 Movies 267 Posts 2012 As It Was For Me

So this is somewhat of a tradition around here to end the year with a post looking back at the year on the blog. I wont get much into the specifics of 2012, but I will say that this year has gone SO FAST. I know it sounds cliché but it literally does feel like just yesterday that I was writing my post like this last year. It really does. However, Im beyond excited for 2013. So many opportunities await me: in a week, Ill be going to Japan, then theres all the Head Girl duties, and also, we have another good year for film on our hands. Just maybe, at the Oscars in February, I might see Jessica Chastain with a statue (Oscar or not, Im excited to see what she wears). Matthew McConaughey may blow our minds with The Dallas Buyers Club (heres hoping). Ill finally get to see films like The Perks of Being a Wallflower (maybe), Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, Django Unchained...and also my most anticipated 2013 releases like The Great Gatsby, The Place Beyond the Pines, Only God Forgives, The Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby His & Hers, Iron Man 3, Now You See Me, Side Effects, the two Terrence Malick films, Twelve Years a Slave, Mud...the list could go on and on. So before I wave 2012 goodbye - and it has been a mostly fantastic year - it is time to look back on the best moments on this blog, month by month. This year Ill also add what songs were my faves during that particular month.

January - What If We Could? by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
As with most Januarys, this month was filled up with Oscar Oscar Oscar. Before then, though, I finally left the country and went to Melbourne for a holiday, which also meant I could catch up with a few movies while I was over there. Oh and hey, I became the literal only person on Earth to love War Horse. I still like to remind people of its glorious existence because most people have forgotten about it.

February - Man or Muppet by Bret McKenzie
Oh hey, the Oscars happened this month. It feels like just yesterday I saw Jessica Chastain in that beautiful gown. Again, that makes up for 75% of my excitement for the 2013 Oscars. I did my predictions with poetry again this year. I cant wait to hopefully have enough time to do them again next year. I also brought back my A Conversation with... feature with The Beaver. I remember that day, as that was when I found out that I was gluten intolerant. Good times. I also changed my rating system. I was watching the Downton Abbey Christmas special when I did that.

March - Under Your Spell by Desire
This month started out awesome, coz I was supposed to be directing the school production, but at the end of the month they cancelled it. I was actually so sad for days. Mind you, this month was kinda known as Jessica Chastain month (even though every month of my life is Jessica Chastain month), since it was her birthday, and I got to see The Debt and Take Shelter. I also started another feature, known as Lame Trailer Clichés, with kettles. Really.

April - Talk Show Host by Radiohead
April was an interesting month, filled with many gems of posts. This Conversation with Puss in Boots has always been one of my favourites. So is this review of I Melt with You, which I still have a few LOLs over every now and again. I also did my 50 Cinematic Wishes, had an interview with the Kid in the Front Row, made a desperate plea to anyone who would listen about how The Cabin in the Woods shouldve been given a proper release here, and I saw The Avengers, which was apparently very exciting.

May - No Church in the Wild by Kanye West and Jay Z (featuring Frank Ocean)
It would seem that I was nominated for a whole lot of LAMMYs at the end of this month. That was really exciting. I started off the month with this review of Tyrannosaur, which is probably my favourite review that Ive written. I also wrote about how The Muppets was actually a very gutsy movie, shared some of my early photos I took and listed my ten favourite Cillian Murphy performances.

June - Unravelling by Harry Escott
June was a real gem of a month. I got a couple of LAMMYs, I did my French New Wave month, I shared my 15 favourite redheads, for my 900th post I shared some blogging tips, I saw Shame, and I also did that 100 Film Facts About Me post which unintentionally (but awesomely) turned into a blogathon. I am so proud of how this month went, but it makes me sad because Ill never be able to have another month like it.

July - Rise by Hans Zimmer
July, however, was probably my favouritest month ever. Mainly because it had the best DVD releases EVER. I mean, one night I took home six movies to watch before they were released, and on another day I watched five releases. One of those releases was We Need to Talk About Kevin, which caused two earthquakes and made me fall in love with Ezra Miller. I did my Anime month, even before I knew I was going to Japan. I posted my speech online...which for some reason, people still talk about. I started my Dear Hollywood feature with J. Edgar. I finally got to see The Dark Knight Rises, which also saw me write an appreciation post on Christopher Nolan. Before I went on my "Im burnt out" break, I finally did my 2011 retrospective lists, with my favourite directors, actors, actresses and films.

August - Why Do We Fall? by Hans Zimmer
This month wasnt very exciting as I spent most of it on break (and watching the Olympics until I felt like my eyes were going to bleed), but I was brought back when I got nine of those Liebster Award things, so I had to answer a crapload of questions. I turned 17, too, which was rather un-exciting (bring on 18!). And I really got obsessed with Ezra Miller. And I did this really weird post.

September - Its Time by Imagine Dragons
Pretty much nothing happened on the blog in September because I was too busy with Little Shop of Horrors. I did do some funny Photoshops, though.

October - Radio by Lana Del Rey
Things got back on track in October, with my horror month keeping me on my toes (ironically while I was dipping my toes), and also the third birthday celebrations, which were counted down to by My Movie Biography. Among other things that happened in this month were my Prometheus home musical (which my friends now use against me when I say that Im actually awful at singing), I saw Margaret, and I did some more funny Photoshops the night before my Photography Folio was due, which is when I coincidentally got really sick with a virus. Lovely.

November - Ride by Lana Del Rey
IDK why, but this month feels like it was years ago. However, Nic November happened, I made a very pretty gallery of my favourite colourful movies, and I also did my movie alphabet. There were a few birthdays this month, so I listed my favourite performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and shared a brief biography and a few facts about Vivien Leigh. Plus, I saw Killer Joe on the 13th of November, which means that was the very date that Matty M went from zero to hero in my heart.

December - Victim by Win Win
This month has been so incredibly difficult but there were a few good points on the blog, including this review of Magic Mike which Im rather fond of, I did my first blogathon which was called Making the Case and I reached 1000 posts. Recently Ive been reflecting on the year, with things like my unofficial favourites of the year and my obsessions of the year.

So theres 2012 for ya. This also marks the end of an era for Cinematic Paradox: while Ill be around in 2013, itll be to a much lesser extent, since school is really going to be busy this year. Still, Ill be working hard at Annual Awards Nerdism for the next two months! I hope you all have a wonderful 2013, and lets make it awesome!

Available link for download

2012 Election Predictions etc

The 2012 Republican primary is starting to heat up, so I want to get my early 2012 predictions out there. A lot of people don’t like to make concrete predictions this early, for fear of being wrong and then ridiculed in the future. I like to make super-early predictions though. I’ve been wrong about politics before, and I fully recognize that this post may look ridiculous in 18 months. But I do follow this stuff very closely, and I like to think I have a decent political sense. Anyway, on to the predictions.

I think the Republican presidential primary will essentially be a two-man race between Huckabee and Romney. After splitting the early states, I think Huckabee winds up winning the nomination. Huckabee, Romney, and Haley Barbour are the only candidates who can raise real top-tier money. (I’m excluding Sarah Palin because I don’t think she’ll run, but if she does run, then obviously she’ll be able to raise top-tier money too.) Barbour doesn’t have the name recognition or the charm of Huckabee and Romney, and Republican primary voters do tend to nominate candidates who are viewed as having waited their turn. Also, the mainstream media doesn’t respect Barbour; they view him as a crazy, confederate-flag-waving good ol’ boy, and fair or not, that’s how he’ll be portrayed. In addition to Palin, I don’t think Newt Gingrich, Mitch Daniels, or Chris Christie will run. I think Ron Paul will run though. And I think Jon Huntsman will run, but drop out early (he’s setting himself up for 2016, where he could legitimately be dangerous).

Of course, this assumes that Huckabee runs, which he may not. I think he will run, but if he doesn’t, then obviously I think Romney gets the nomination. Either way, the Republican primary is going to be a truly sad spectacle, as the candidates try desperately to out-crazy each other for months on end.

In the general election, I’m actually more scared of Romney than Huckabee. In 2008, I really wanted Romney to get the Republican nomination, because I thought there was just no way that the American voters elect a Mormon president. In 2012, I think the right’s blind anti-Obama rage will cause them to turn out in droves for any Republican nominee — even a Mormon. And Romney’s business background, his experience as a moderate Republican governor of a liberal state, and the fact that he looks extremely presidential (which is sadly an important factor), has the potential to win over Independents. Huckabee, however, will undoubtedly shoot himself in the foot several times in the general election (“discipline” isn’t his forté).

Regardless of who wins the Republican nomination, I think it’s highly likely that Obama will win re-election. Incumbent presidents have a huge advantage with Independents, who already view Obama as a very cerebral person. The circus in the Republican primary will scare most disaffected liberals back into Obama’s corner too. (I do think liberals will revolt against an incumbent Democratic president eventually, but it won’t be Obama.)

Of course, I also hope that this is how the election plays out. As I’ve said before, I’m a Democrat, and an Obama supporter. I voted for him in 2008, gave a not-insubstantial amount of my wife’s money to his campaign and campaign-related groups, and I plan to do the same thing in this election cycle. (I’m something of an easy target for Democratic fundraisers.)

There are certainly things that Obama’s done that I disagree with — first and foremost, the hiring of Rahm as chief of staff. On the other hand, Obama’s administration did address the subject I know by far the most about, and around which I’ve spent almost my entire professional life (financial reform), and I think they handled it very well. No, scratch that, I know they handled it very well.

Moreover, I also recognize that in a lot of decisions, if not most decisions, Obama has significantly more information than we do. That’s just a reality, and one that you can’t ignore. Unfortunately, it’s something I think a lot of Democrats are ignoring, since it’s deeply unsatisfying for people — and especially for people interested in politics — to say, “I don’t know if Obama made the right decision on X, because I don’t have all the information, and he does.” Given that Obama has vastly more information than we do, it’s sometimes (though not all the time) necessarily a matter of whether you trust his judgment. At this point, I still do. That may change in the future, but that’s where I stand right now.

Available link for download