Juno: 99% Sure That It Was Better Than Little Miss Sunshine...

I just got back from screening Juno, a movie written by Diablo Cody, directed by Jason Reitman, and starring an amazing cast including Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner, Rain Wilson, Michael Cera, Jason Batemen, JK Simmons, and Allison Janney. Everything about the movie was absolutely amazing, from the unbelievable soundtrack, to the opening animation sequence of Juno walking through town. Nearly every scene in the film was either very touching or absolutely, incredibly funny. The writing was incredibly unique and very blunt (I guess that's the write word). The delivery of lines by the entire cast was flawless, but Ellen Page, who played Juno, stole the show. She is a twenty year old from Canada who starred in Hard Candy and played Kitty in X-Men 3. If Abigail Breslin was nominated for an Academy Award last year for her performance in Little Miss Sunshine, there is absolutely no reason that Ellen Page shouldn't be nominated for her performance in Juno. Her comedic timing was exceptional and really allowed the work of Diablo Cody to shine. The movie, in short, is sort of a comming of age story about a girl who finds herself pregnant as a junior in high school. Her boyfriend, played by Michael Cera (Superbad) is an awkward quirky track runner who never quite knows what to do in the situation. Her parents, played by Allison Janney and JK Simmons, are supportive but don't mind telling her that she is an incredibly hormonal, fat, stupid idiot. In nearly every scene I was crying from laughter and that goes for everybody that was in Mayer Theater. The fact that Juno was a huge fand of 1977 Punk music made me love it even more. Bands like Sonic Youth and Television were mentioned just to name a few...it made me happy. When the credits finally rolled the movie received a standing ovation from everyone. The film premieres Dec. 5 in NY and L.A and opens around the country in the subsequent weeks. Please go see it, you will definitely be missing out if you don't.

Hmmm....

The reason I haven't been updating in a while is because things have been pretty quiet around here. A lot has happened since I last wrote, but nothing to big. I guess I will just start from the first big event I can remember since October 15th.
During fall break the fires were a pretty big deal. I'm guessing everybody caught the 24 hour news coverage on it so everything I might say would just be a little repetative. The closest fire to LMU was in Malibu about 20 miles away. When I got out of mass Sunday morning I went to sit on the bluff like I always tend to do. I noticed that the mountains where Malibu was situated were especially smokey. There was a huge billow of smoke that was hanging right over the beach. I had never seen anything like it before so I didn't think anything of it. A few hours later I was watching the news and sure enough Pepperdine Univeristy was being evacuated along with much of the Malibu area. By Tuesday the air quality over L.A was horrible and it was very hot and dry. I think the humdity was about 10%, nothing like Alabama. Everytime I went to class there was always a very ashy smell in the air and many people got sick because of asthema and other lung problems. Everything is pretty much settled now so that's good.
I also had the chance to go see Cirque du Soliel "Corteo" and had a blast. I had already seen it in Chicago but a lot of my friends were going and our dorm covered ticket costs so I thought, "why not?" If you haven't had the chance yet to see any of these performances they are really spectacular.
I have also participated in the Monday Night Series that the Film School puts on. Nearly every Monday night the dean, Terri Schwartz invites a group of professional individuals from the industry that have recent work to screen. After we watch their documentary, tv show, or movie, we have the oppurtunity to ask them any questions that we might have. Usually about 30 people show up so it really gives us a chance and the guests a chance to really interact. The first guests were from Participant Production Company. They produced Inconveniant Truth, Darfur Now, and the upcoming Doc about Jimmy Carter. The Doc that they screened for us was called Angels in the Dust and was really amazing. The producer and two other representatives of the company were there to talk about their experience. This past week the creator, executive producer, and lead actress of the show Greek came and talked about working in television. That same day they were participating in the Writer's Strike along side Steve Carrell and the writer from the show My Name is Earl. They talked to us about the future of writers and what the strike really meant to them. It was a great opportunity to get some information from successful people in the biz. I actually got to talk to the executive producer after the session for about 5 minutes, I was very excited.
Tonight a comedian is coming to the "Living Room" to do stand up so I hope I will get out of class in time to go. His name is Nick Thune and he has been featured on Jay Leno, Comedy Central, and MTV. Can't wait.
Well that is it for now. Be back soon!