hey, I'm noemi. I'm a designer, a web developer, and a happy-go-lucky girl.

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Overall: 9/10
Plot/Structure: 10/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Art: 9/10
Re-watchability: 9/10

In a sort of act of serendipity, I stumbled upon this movie. I’ve long been searching for the greatest romantic comedy ever. I think it’s an under-appreciated genre where directors & writers think it’s okay to slack off. The Good Girl proves it can be done well, it can surprise you and have phenomenal dialogue. The film is set somewhere in a boring Texas town. A great example of this style of dialogue that I love is the opening line:

As a girl you see the world as a giant candy store, filled with sweet candy and such. But one day you look around and see a prison, and you’re on death row.

The comedy is dark, yet romantic. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Aniston make a great on-screen couple. She’s 30 in the movie and he’s 22, but they fall in love like confused teenagers. Even though none of the characters are particularly lovable, you cringe when they die. You feel like you’re in that windy old Texas town and your neighbor died, and you ask yourself why. why. why. Jennifer Aniston’s character at one point says “I wish someone would write a story of my life” while we are ironically watching a story of her life. She continues “but nobody would want to read it.” It’s a story about a common situation, in a boring place surrounded with typical people, yet we’re interested, because they are being honest and sad about life, and that human condition is what makes us care and what keeps us watching. It reminded me alot of Nabokov. (Themes like: People being “put on”, Nobody gets me, Being imprisoned)

As a little easter egg, there’s a clip of Colleen on HSN that I caught. It doesn’t look a lot like her, but it really sounds like her. Maybe Colleen wore tranny makeup back in the day:

Overall: 8/10
Plot/Structure: 8/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Art: 10/10
Re-watchability: 9/10

**This is a spoiler-free review**
First of all, I want to say that I love psychology and I read about it often and have been fascinated by it since I took my AP psych class in high school. That being said, I normally HATE psychological thrillers. What I hate is when they romanticize mental illness, demonize psychology and psychiatry, and give it an overall fantasy feel. The truth is, mental illness is real, it’s not romantic, although it can be a ‘creative’ experience. Ultimately, it’s tragic. What shutter island succeeded in doing is giving the illnesses, and psychology of that era an authentic feel. I feel that this movie has great re-watchability because the quality is in the story-telling and not the plot twists or plot devices. Even though it’s not a perfect film, I still think it’s one of the best psychology-themed movies I’ve seen. That’s all I can say without spoiling too much, so I’ll write a more complete review below!

** Warning: Spoilers below **

I think the movie is ultimately a love story, and this is apparent throughout the film. It’s about a doctor’s love for his patient and the lengths he is willing to go to – to heal him. One of the things I thought would’ve improved Shutter Island is the role-playing was revealed at the beginning. The plot twist served a minor role and it was so gradual it wasn’t really necessary for the viewer to be in the dark. I thought by being in the dark the first hour of the film, I got a poor experience from the movie. I thought the events were too trivial, and a bit random, and I thought Teddy/Andrew was not believable as a US Marshall at some points. Of course this makes sense later on since he’s actually a patient, and a former US Marshall. I didn’t enjoy the first half of the movie until I saw the latter half. This is why I think the plot twist should’ve been eliminated and just explained briefly in a starting scene. (Perhaps the doctors discussing it at the table, and then straight to the ferry scene) I thought the final scene was perfect and it resolved the movie beautifully. Once again, I liked how psychology was accurately portrayed (for that era) and how mental illness was shown in the tragic way it truly is through Teddy/Andrew’s final sane moments.

I went ice skating in Aliso Viejo. It was really fun! I fell like 4 times and got a pretty good workout. I also did a lap without leaning on anything (or anyone) or falling. Yay me! Now, for some poorly-lit photos:

me!

ice skates!

dary!

If you would like his autograph please mail 5 bacon snacks and a stamped return envelope. Leo is not available for any interviews at this time.

Caprica is a prequel to the critically acclaimed series on SyFy Battlestar Galactica. I haven’t watched more than 5 minutes of BSG. It looked good but it seemed to be a complicated story to get into. I recently watched a BSG movie called “The Plan” and thought I might try out Caprica. Caprica was meant for new viewers, which I’m thankful for. There are little easter eggs for seasoned viewers and it helps if you know what a cylon is, but overall you don’t need to have watched BSG to enjoy Caprica.

I started watching it on hulu and so far, 4 episodes in, I really love it. It’s very family-drama based with a touch of sci-fi. I also love the way they incorporated the futuristic technology into it. Caprica is a world where they are on the brink of creating true artificial life robots. It’s simple enough that we can imagine it happening within our lifetimes, and its fascinating enough to keep me interested. Although it’s a brand new series, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. It’s not a perfect show – but the great family dramas and beautiful filming will keep me watching well into the first season.

Say hello to some of the new graphics created for the BananaSphere Corporation. I vectored these based on drawings by Kyle, Aaron’s friend. Would youlike to hire me? Drop me a line any time.

I don’t want alot of things, I actually have pretty modest tastes and have no problem with cheap clothes and stuff. But I’m materialistic and I still want things – like a pink wig. I had pink hair and I loved it. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it just makes me happy. When I look in the mirror with pink hair it feels as if I was born this way. I know, I know. This already sounds idiotic. If I could explain it better, I would. If I could not want it, I would. But I do want it. Maybe I should try to control my impulses better. Maybe I should manage my retail impulses, maybe I should listen to myself.

Whatever I do, I need to manage my wants and needs. Like set a limit of discretionary spending. I really really don’t spend that much on “wants”. Maybe 20-40 bucks a month, but I still end up beating myself up over it. It’s a psychological road block I can’t get passed.

For example, I waited over a year to buy a ring I wanted. I checked the product page almost every day for a year, hoping for a price reduction. After a year, they took ten dollars off the price and I bought it. Looking back, I would’ve been a lot more happier with my purchase If I would have gotten it then and payed the extra ten bucks. Don’t get me wrong, I like the ring, but I kind of over-analyzed it to the point where I feel guilty if I don’t wear this ring enough. I feel as if though I’ve ruined the prettiness of this ring with worrying about the money.

Noemi has issues. Noemi does not have a pink wig. Yet.

Kitty will eated u.

My “Vegetarian for a Month” thing failed.. but I’ve learned a bit from the 2 weeks I consumed no meat. For one, I like how eating less meat feels. Another thing is that strictness doesn’t fix anything, habit does. It’s okay if you occaisionally eat meat, but I think a healthy habit is to avoid it when you can. Once a week or once every two weeks is okay, in my opinion.

I also had soda for the first time in probably 4 weeks. I was tired and was craving sugar. I think the same rule applies to soda. Most of the time, choose something healthy, but a soda a month won’t cause that much damage.

I think people that become to strict with their food turn it into a sort of religious thing, like it’s wrong to eat meat. That annoys me. So once again, strictness is not the answer, healthy habits are the answer.

What are you, blinky thing?

Recently I’ve noticed a blinking cursor popping up all over the place on Firefox. It’s called a caret. Pronounced like carrot, but with less fiber. (Hilarious, I know!) Normally it should only appear while typing something in an input area, but now it was popping up in paragraphs, next to images, and it was blinking.

At first I thought the recent Firefox update caused it – my family’s “Media PC” also had it. But I figured it had to be something on my computer because my brother’s Firefox of the same version didn’t have the weird blinking cursor everywhere.

I’ve figured out how to fix it : Just press F7. This turns caret browsing on and off. The caret browsing is what’s causing it to pop up everywhere you click.

Crisis averted.

That’s how Noemi Knows it. (I’m still working on the catch phrase …)