My Summer Playlist

Happy Fourth of July Everybody!!!

Looking back, I realized that the 4th of July is actually a pretty significant holiday in my adult life.  I mean, in my head I think it should be a lazy holiday filled with just barbecues and fireworks, but there's been a lot of stuff that has happened around this holiday.  This includes: attending the wedding of my ex-boyfriend's dad (yeah - I am that girl who the family will always go "whatever happened to her?" when they dig out the wedding photos); multiple summers face-painting at the local Independence Day festival; my late boyfriend helped me move me into my current apartment (and I actually got prove to him my ability to problem solve by getting my futon in the door through one piece instead of taking it apart like he wanted to do); bonding with my mom on the Issac H. Evans windjammer cruise (best vacation EVAH!!!  Seriously, if you like boats you gotta check out the Evans); and to top it all off I spent last year on painkillers for my broken ankle.

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I started jogging after the broken ankle in order to make it stronger.  One thing that I have found out is that I am someone who really needs music out on my runs.  I know a lot of people discourage it due to safety concerns, but you just have to compensate by being more vigilant visually.  I just think that the music helps me set a pace both with my feet and with my breath.  This is especially important with my breathing seeing as I am an asthmatic (this is also why I don't like running in groups because while some people want you to tell your whole life story while you are trying your best just to breath).  I try to rotate my song lists every once in awhile so I thought I would post what my current summer running playlist includes.  Here we go...

The Sassy Strutter's Summer Running Playlist (no particular order):

1. I Love It by Icona Pop (although I am using the Glee version...yes, I watch Glee)
2. Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke (don't care about the naughtiness, it has a sick beat)
3. 212 by Azealia Banks (This is actually x2 because I have both the original and the version they used at the beginning of Pitch Perfect...cause that is Acca-awesome)
4. Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO (fell in love with it during Madonna's Super Bowl)
5. Sexy and I Know It by LMFAO (but I am using Spanglish version from when Ricky Martin sang it...it's Hot!)
6. Hot Girls In Good Moods by Butch Walker (Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars fame posted it as his jam one day and it clicked with me)
7. Locked Out of Heaven by Bruno Mars (Closest anyone is going to get to capturing the genius of the Police)
8. Remix (I like the) by New Kids on The Block (Their new stuff is actually pretty good and sounds current)
9. Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magentic Zeros (Pure California fun)
10. Get Up Get On Down (Tonight) by Turbo Fruits (discovered them in the movie Whip It)
11. I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift (Great song to listen to when digging into last reserves)
12. 22 by Taylor Swift (Total guilty pleasure)
13. High Times by Landon Pigg and featuring Turbo Fruits (Another song from the uber fun Whip It soundtrack, seriously one of my fave soundtracks of all time)
14. Clarity by Zedd (but I have the Michelle Chamuel version from the Voice.  Go Team Usher!!)
15. One More Night by Maroon 5 (one of the best beats for setting your pace)
16. Payphone by Maroon 5 (I just kinda love them)
17. Run (I'm a Natural Disaster) by Gnarls Barkley (Slightly retro sounding tune that makes for a fun run)
18. Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Fun)
19. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody by Fergie, Q-Tip,& Goon Rock (This and the next three are from the Great Gatsby Soundtrack which did a great job mashing current music with the 1920's music together)
20. Bang Bang by Will.I.Am (just love the Bang Bang's)
21. Crazy in Love by Emeli Sandé & Brian Setzer Orchestra (yes, this is the Beyoncé song)
22. Where the Wind Blows by Coco O. (I end up singing this to myself a lot)
23. Gangnam Style by Psy (but once again using the Glee Version)
24. Twisted by Usher (fell in love with it when he performed it on the Voice)
25. I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas (this went on after I heard the Durham Ukulele Orchestra do a bluegrass version of it. If you are in the Triangle area [NC] you have to check them out)

I'll post some of my other playlists later, but until then enjoy the day!  I gotta run (like literally I have to go out jogging now, just as soon as I put my shoes on)

Weekend Reviews

(The Heat image courtesy of IMDB.com, The Sweet Life image courtesy of Amazon.com, Much Ado About Nothing image courtesy of IMDB.com)

So this weekend was kind of media heavy as you can see.  I saw "The Heat" with my mom, Read "Sweet Valley Confidential: The Sweet Life", and saw "Much Ado About Nothing" by myself.  So let's get on with these reviews!

The Heat

This female buddy-cop movie combines Writer/Director Paul Feig and Actress Melissa McCarthy of last summer's big hit "Bridesmaids" with "Miss Congeniality" Sandra Bullock.  My mom was the person who suggested we see it (I wanted Much Ado), but I had seen the ads and it looked funny so I readily agreed.  Once again Feig has really done a great job with creating a comedy movie anchored by women.  There are a bunch of funny men in this movie (Marlon Wayans, Michael Rappaport, Taran Killam, Nathan Corrdry) but the comedy firmly rests with the ladies.  He's also done a great job not just repeating what he did with Bridesmaid.  While both movies have a physical comedy element, the sense of humor is just very different (fowl mouthed fish out of water vs. women potty humor).  If anything was weak about the movie it was the main mystery.  There were a bit too many beats to the mystery and I kinda figured out the mystery villian before we got to the end).  McCarthy and Bullock were excellent and show why they are some of the best comedic actors out there, male or female.  One last note, I think this movie is going to do really well - however I do think it is skewing to a much older audience than Bridesmaid did.  There were a lot more people my mom's age in the theater than mine.  Definitely see this movie, but I will say that it may be ok saving it for video release.

The Sweet Life

So I wrote up a long review on Goodreads for this book, but I will try to do something shorter for here.  This book was extremely frustrating.  I picked it up for nostalgic purposes and quickly realized why I abandoned the Wakefield Twins and Sweet Valley for Elizabeth Bennet and Dagny Taggert (from Pride & Prejudice/Atlas Shrugged respectively).  While it's kind of expected to make really dumb, self-destructive decisions in high school, the amount of insane decisions made by characters in this book (set a good 15-20 years after the high school series) was crazy.  I think I was most disappointed with Elizabeth Wakefield who I thought made the worst decisions out of anybody and was totally surprised when things didn't turn out as she expected.  I wanted to hit her on the backside of the head and say "Duh!" This book is really left best on the shelf.

Much Ado About Nothing

I can still remember when my tenth grade English teacher showed us the Kenneth Branaugh version of this Shakespeare play. We were the first class she showed it too and she was caught unawares by that initial scene where all the men returning from war strip down to nothing and jump into the outdoor public baths.  Here mouth fell wide open and she tried to block the screen with her body (which was kinda hard because it was on one of those really tall tv carts where the television was setting higher than her head).  Why am I telling you this?  Because it was a pretty damn funny moment, and also to let you know that movie left a lasting impression upon me (overall, not just that scene). 

Much Ado About Nothing was really the first piece of Shakespeare that I could understand, and for that reason the play has a special place in my heart (I was that girl who used "Hey Nonny Nonny" as her Senior yearbook quote).  I also really love Joss Whedon.  I will follow that man most places (I wasn't the biggest fan of Dollhouse).  Anyways - it was clear in his Buffy days that Joss had as fantastic grasp on Shakespeare as do most Shakespearean actors.  I mean look at Buffy - most of her comedies had a tragic twist and her tragedies had a comedic edge to them.  If anyone could do a modern day adaptation of Much Ado justice, it would be Joss.

While Branaugh's version stays in the light (most scenes are shot in the delicious Italian sun, women frolic in white linen dresses and the men ham it up), Joss's version has a very film noir (or at the very least tawdry) edge to it that really highlights the seediness of the play.  For example, when the Prince informs Claudio that he has indeed wooed fair Hero in Claudio's name,  Joss has set the scene in the kitchen the morning after the party - with empty and half filled liquour bottles scattered across the kitchen island and Leonato hungover and half-way to passed out.  That scene in Branaugh's play felt like everybody went home, got 8 hours of sleep, and then went out for brunch.  There is a gritty and sexy realness to this version of the play.  I'm not sure I could have appreciated it back in tenth grade.  I highly recommend it.