Patricia Awards 2014: Movies

I counted the number of movies I watched and it was a lot.  But I’ve forgotten that number.  So, without further ado:

Best way to feel high (or possibly bored) without ingesting substances:

To the Wonder


Best too-dark and mumble-y film with four strong male leads:

Out of the Furnace


Paul Walker Memorial Viewing that didn’t hold up:

She’s All That


Best Ending:
and
Best Prison Scene

The Italian Job (1964)


Best way to spend 13 hours (excluding a trip home to feed the cats) :

Lord of the Rings Extended Version Trilogy


Best not-talking western with a female lead:

Meek’s Cutoff


Best boy molestation drama that’s hard to watch but worth it for the acting:

Mysterious Skin


Best movie to pull the boyfriend in:

Pitch Perfect


Best Canadian TV show about a Shakespeare Company:
and
Best theme songs:

Slings & Arrows Seasons 1, 2 & 3


Best Chris Pine Elizabeth Banks movie with a twist I didn’t see coming:

People Like Us


Worst movie I watched populated with people who don’t share my values:

Spring Breakers


Best movie about painting lines on roads:
and
Movie that proves movies that feature men can be about the most boring things on the planet

Prince Avalanche


Worst Downton Abbey Season:

Downton Abbey Season 4


Best movie with song that will get stuck in your head that you don’t mind:
and
Best movie with Channing Tatum’s voice:

The Lego Movie


Best movie I put off seeing because I thought it would be schmatlzy, but instead it was tremendous and really, you should totally watch it:

About Time


Best scene with a bird containing an actress who really is afraid of birds:

I Give it A Year


Best movie about a flawed female character I loved:
and
Horrible movie poster that made me not want to watch this movie:

Young Adult


Best movie about grownups who aren’t quite grown:
and
Best facial hair on an actor:

Drinking Buddies


Best anticipated Kickstarter Movie:

Veronica Mars


Most over-rated movie I almost fell asleep (multiple times) while watching:

Her


Only commentary track I listened to
(which told me way more than I ever needed to know about a former high school classmate):

The To Do List


Best overlooked ensemble cast movie:

10 Years


Wes Anderson Movie that has lept to the top of many people’s list of favorite Wes Anderson Movies, but which I had trouble staying awake:

The Grand Budapest Hotel


Best surprise reveal as well as best use of vending machine:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier


Best movie about women’s friendship I’ve seen in a very long time:

Brokedown Palace


Best movie that still is so damn intense:

The Departed


Best use of a Jim Croche Song in a movie EVER!:

X-Men Days of Future Past


Best family drama that makes one happy one is not a member of the film family:
and
Really great title that just rolls around in my mouth:

August Osage County


Stupid movie I liked just because I enjoy the leads so much:

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days


Best Movie of the Decade
(though if you haven’t seen it, tamp down those expectations because it’s best for a few reasons and I don’t want you to go in expecting it to be something it’s not):

Boyhood


Best HBO series with a lot of nudity and great plot:

Girls Seasons 1 & 2


Hideous, horrible movie I only watched because of Anna Faris and it wasn’t really worth it:

Just Friends


Best movie not from this year that I watched this year:

What’s Your Number


Best movie that was packaged just so I would love it:
and
Movie where I finally crossed over to the side of not being supremely annoyed by talking animals:

Guardians of the Galaxy.


Best overlooked and incredibly sweet zombie love story:

Warm Bodies


Best movie about people who don’t share my values that was actually watchable

The Bling Ring


Best movie with a forgettable title that introduced me to Zoe Kazan:
and
Best movie that lets a short man be short:

What If


Best movie set on a train:
and
Best movie featuring Tilda Swinton and a great set of false teeth:

Snowpiercer


Best movie I had low expectations of and thus enjoyed greatly:

If I Stay


Best movie I watched this year:
and
Best movie to look for the “quotes” from the original Sleeping Beauty movie:

Maleficent


Worst movie for treating women as objects:
and
A movie that has not aged well at all:

Revenge of the Nerds


Movie that was not at all graphic, but totally disturbing:

Never Let Me Go


Best comedy movie with a female as the main character:

In A World


Best book-to-movie adaptation of the year:
(but you should read the book anyway)

Gone Girl


Second best movie in which Channing Tatum’s voice appears:

The Book of Life


Movie that desperately longed to be cut by a good 30 minutes, but alas meandered on for much longer than necessary just like this award title:

Intersteller


Best hair (worn by President Coin):

Mockingjay Part I


Best Girls as Punk Rockers (although only because I haven’t yet seen We Are the Best:

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains


Best movie that lived up to the elementary school hype:

Frozen


Best revisiting of a Gus Van Sant film:

Mala Noche


Movie that didn’t really have a good understanding of its main character AT ALL:

The Homesman


Best Paul Rudd film:

Wet Hot American Summer


Best long journey that is actually interesting as opposed to a slog for the viewer who isn’t actually doing all that hiking:

Wild


Best BBC Series 1 watched this year:

Sherlock


Best use of soundtrack:
and
Two (TWO) characters who were also in Veronica Mars
(which has nothing to do with the actual film, which was also quite good):

Dear White People.


Do join us in comments and give out your own awards.

The Patricia Awards 2014: Books

Goodreads tells me I read 165 books this year.  I believe that qualifies me to give out the following awards.

Best book to combine Shakespeare, baseball and poetry:

Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs
Ron Roertge


Best book I read and greatly enjoyed, only to find when I posted my review that I had already read it:

A History of Love
Nicole Krauss


Best book of suddenly orphaned girl:

The Beginning of After
Jennifer Castle


Prettiest book with also interesting plot:

Wintertown
Stephen Emond


Best book set firmly in the Midwest that also includes twins:

Sisterland
Curtis Sittenfeld


Best title that might repel people as much as draw them in (and they should be drawn in, it’s a fabulous book):

Sex and Violence
Carre Mesrobian


Best book narrated by a chorus of gay men (trust me, it works):

Two Boys Kissing:
David Levithan


Best title, hands down:

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass
Meg Medina


Best book that covers, among other things, a Supreme Court Justice buying underwear:

My Beloved World
Sonia Sotomayer


Title I just liked to say:

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets
Evan Roskos


Book I mistakenly thought was set in Maine and thus was confused for most of the book:
and
Mock Printz winner I was incredibly unimpressed with, but which has stuck with me, so perhaps that was just sour grapes:

Midwinter Blood
Marcus Sewick


Best book to handily combine many plot points into one engrossing story:

The Living
Matt de la Pena


I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures, but this is one:

Divergent
Veronica Roth


The sequel falls apart award:

Insurgent
Veronica Roth


Best book written by someone I talk to regularly:
and
Best book to have a harrowing opening scene:

Rules for Becoming a Legend
Timothy S. Lane


Book that made me laugh like a crazy person:

Hyperbole and a Half
Allie Brosh


Longest book I read this year (so says Goodreads):
and
Most fascinating book I read this year:

The Warmth of Other Suns
Isabel Wilkerson


Best book with a princess who has to deal with all the really boring princess stuff:

Handbook for Dragonslayers
Merrie Haskell


Best nonfiction I read this year:
and
Best insight into transgender youth I’ve read:

Beyond Magenta
Susan Kuklin


Funniest YA that I got tired of halfway through (but am still recommending because of the great boy humor):

Grasshopper Jungle
Andrew Smith


Book of essays I enjoyed so much I bought it for my mother:

Lessons From the Borderland
Bette Lynch Hustead


Best book about book creation and artist process:

The Scraps Book
Lois Ehlert


Quiet, beautifully written (and short!)

The Story of a Marriage
Andrew Sean Greer


Best coming of age without “boyfriend” as the prize:

This Song Will Save Your Life
Leila Sales


Best middle reader with poetry that really tells a story:

The Crossover
Kwame Alexander


Best Veronica Mars novel:

The Thousand Dollar Tan Line
Thomas/Graham


Best best friends growing apart:

Mostly Good Girls
Leila Sales


Best cover that beckons and holds a great middle reader:

The Nightingale’s Nest
Nikki Loftin


 Best book to not plan on doing anything after you finish:
and
Best book to not read about, just read:

We Were Liars
E. Lockheart


Best “Romeo & Juliet” with the Berlin Wall as the thing that keeps them apart:

Going Over
Beth Kephart


Best “bully” book, from the point of view of the bully:

Tease
Amanda Maciel


Best book about an elephant seal:

Elizabeth, Queen of the Sea
Cox/Floca


Best series to get me hooked (that is already finished, so I could just tear through them):

The Boyfriend List/The Boy Book/The Treasure Map of Boys/Real Life Boyfriends
E. Lockheart


Picture book that had me laughing the loudest:

Sparky!
Offill/Appelhans


Best title, pranks, and feminist book:

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landeau-Banks
E. Lockheart


Other best title
and
Bonus Cambridge, Mass. setting

Mister Posterior & the Genius Child
Emily Jenkins


Best author to get me to read nearly ALL her books in the span of two months:

E. Lockheart/Emily Jenkins


Picture book that made me laugh until I cried:

Here Comes the Easter Cat
Underwood/Rueda


Title I thought completely wasted on this middle reader (it’s much better for a YA book):

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave
John Boyne


Middle reader I thought was the second in a series, but it turns out was just written that way:

The Great Greene Heist
Varian Johnson


Book that made this feminist spitting mad/dispirited:

The Bookseller of Kabul
Asne Seierstand


Best book about so much more than hiking:

Wild
Cheryl Strayed


YA title that sounded inappropriate, but was very vanilla:

Sloppy Firsts
Megan McCafferty


Rainbow Rowell book that was published this year that I loved (because RR is awesome):

Landlines
Rainbow Rowell


Book that is incredibly awesome for 66% of its pages and then sucks it up for the last 33:

Say What You Will
Cammie McGovern


Best book about the Russian Revolution:
and
Best reminder that it’s never a good idea to have a disinterested Czar/King:

The Family Romanov
Candice Fleming


Craziest Premise:

Noggin
John Corey Whaley


Second best series to get me hooked:

Megan McCafferty’s Sloppy Firsts/Second Helpings/Charmed Thirds/Fourth Comings/Perfect Fifths
Megan McCafferty


Best Memoir:

Chronology of Water
Lidia Yuknavitch


Best re-read before a movie:

If I Stay
Gayle Forman


Best historical fiction mixed with Norwegian Folk Tales:

West of the Moon
Margi Preus


Best book I couldn’t put down:

Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn


Best Graphic Novel set in Canada:

This One Summer
Tamaki/Tamaki


Best essays by a woman who Tweets more than anyone I follow and has a Channing Tatum fixation similar to mine:

Bad Feminist
Roxane Gay


Forgettable title hiding a fabulous Hurricane Katrina story:

Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere
Julie T. Lamana


Best graphic novel with a deaf main character:

El Deafo
Cece Bell


One of the few poetry-telling-story books that actually worked (and I read a lot of them):

Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson


Best book I love, that most people in the Kenton Library Book Group did not like:

American Wife
Curtis Sittenfeld


Best book about a Montana mining town:

Work Song
Ivan Doing


Best book with dragons set in Canada:
and
Best purposely misleading title:

The Story of Owen
E. K. Johnston


Best book of photos from the 1970s:

In the American West
Richard Avedon


Best stuck-with-a-sibling book:

Sisters
Raina Talgemeier


Book that needs an editor STAT:

Egg & Spoon
Gregory Maguire


Picture book I loved, even though it got a song from Oklahoma! stuck in my head:

The Farmer and the Clown
Marla Frazee


Solid ending to the trilogy:

Isla & the Happily Ever After
Stephanie Perkins


Best book with supernatural stuff set in Maine:
and
Third book this year to get me to read EVERYTHING the author has written:

Firebug
List McBride


Best feminist graduating from high school:
and
Best title:
(If I’ve already given that award, it’s best title with an apostrophe)

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future
A.S. King


Book I didn’t want to read, but loved:

Girls Like Us
Gail Giles


Best first half of a book:
(I assume the rest of the story is contained in its sequel?)

Ambassador
William Alexander


Best 30s-style adventure story set in multiple countries:

Vango
Timothee de Fombelle


Best convenience store conversation:

100 Sideways Miles
Andrew Smith


Best book with a necromancer:

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
Lish McBride


Best book set in my neck of the woods:

Lean on Pete
Willy Vlautin


Best discussable book:

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
Maya Van Wagenen


Best pizza delivery girl:

Please Ignore Viera Dietz
A.S. King


Best fictional trans character:

Gracefully Grayson
Ami Polonsky


Best book with a foster mother in it:

Kinda Like Brothers
Coe Booth


Feel free to leave your own awards in comments.

Books Read in December 2014

The transition of this post from the old blog to the new has been rocky.  So I’m not going to divide this into the usual sections.  I will give top recommends,though.

Picture book: Winter Bees and other Poems from the Cold.
Early Chapter Book: Betsy Tacy (also Betsy, Tacy, Tib)
Middle Readers: Gracefully Grayson, Kind of Like Brothers
YA: Please Ignore Vera Dietz
Nonfiction: Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
Grownup Fiction: Lean on Pete

If you are only going to read two I recommend Please Ignore Vera Dietz and Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

Me & Dog
Weingarten/Sharesby
Read for Librarian Book Group

When I read this book, it seemed a so-so effort about a boy and his dog.  However, I totally missed the atheist message the author intended. So this is a children’s book about atheism, but not an obvious children’s book about atheism.

Betsy Tacy
Maude Hart Lovelace

A re-read because I am visiting Minneapolis soon.  Although these actually take place outside of Minneapolis, I’m calling it close enough for a re-read.  I haven’t read this since I was child, and was happy to find a lot of it was quite familiar.  I still long for Tacy’s ringlets.

I’m not a fan of the new covers.  Thank goodness Lois Lenski’s illustrations are still inside.

Lean on Pete
Willy Vlautin
Read for Kenton Library Book Group

I loved this book because it is set in my neighborhood and has a character who wanders all over North Portland for part of the book.  I loved this book because of the depth of feeling and the goodhearted Charley, the fifteen year old boy who just wants school to start so he can play football.  I hated this book because Charlie’s already difficult life got worse and the friendship he had with a racehorse named Lean On Pete was touching, but life was hard for Pete too.  Vlautin locked me in to caring about Charley and Pete and then threw a lot of trouble their way.  The story starts to turn around page 125, but keeps on being hard until the very end.  It’s a good read, but not a happy one.

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
Maya Van Wagenen
Read for Librarian Book Group

True story of an eighth grade girl who decides to use a 1951 book written for teenagers as an instruction manual for becoming popular.  This book has so many entry points for discussion, I can’t even begin to sum them up.  The contrast between the 1950s and the 2010s is fascinating, as are the author’s conclusions.  Highly recommended.

The Doubt Factory
Paulo Bacigalupi
Read for Mock Printz

I was pleased to find this book set in present day as I expected another Bacigalupi dystopia.  But no!  This book instead has a taut plot that circles around information and what companies do with it.  I found it to be a good examination of media, truth and what can be done to influence them.   Also, there’s an interesting love story and a family-of-choice thing going on that made this book much more pleasurable than I thought it was going to be.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz
A.S. King

I found myself underwhelmed by Ask the Passengers, the first book I read written by A.S. King.  However, Glory O’Brien was incredible, so I looked up King’s other books.  And this one is also a keeper.  Vera Dietz is simultaneously mourning the overdose death of her best friend Charlie while keeping a hot pot of angry simmering at that same best friend, because he killed their friendship months before he died.  Vera Dietz must manage a full time job as a pizza delivery girl, her senior year of high school and regular visitations by Charlie.  Point of view rockets between Vera, Charlie, her dad, and even the novelty building the Pagoda weighs in now and again.

I was all in anyway, because there were such good pizza restaurant details, but there was just so much to care about here.  It resolves nicely, but also sadly because no matter what happens, her best friend is still dead.  So prepare yourself for that.

A Map of the Known World
Sandill

Rather unfortunate that I should chose to read this novel right after Please Ignore Vera Dietz, which also features a death of a loved one and the aftermath.  This provoked too much comparison/contrast between the two novels and left this one a bit wanting.  I do enjoy when the arts have the power to heal.  The romance was well developed, though I was a bit iffy about their age difference.  Also, there were points in the book when I wondered why her parents didn’t just call the main character on her cell phone.  So it was clunky in places, but overall a good read.

Everybody See the Ants
A.S. King

More feelings-accessed-through-wacky-things by A.S. King.  In this case, our hero has recurring dreams of rescuing his grandfather, who is a Vietnam POW. And also ants talk to him.  In a very A.S. King way it’s not as wacky as it sounds.  I found the lack of consequences imposed on the bully in this story unbelievable, but other than that, it was a good read.

Gracefully Grayson
Anni Polonsky

Hey!  It’s only the second book with a trans character I’ve ever read! (The first was Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian.)  Greyson is a sixth grade boy who is constantly preoccupied with dreams of dressing in girls’ clothing.  He lives with his aunt, uncle, and two cousins because his parents died when he was in preschool.  Things happens when he tries out for the school play.  There was a great plot twist I didn’t see coming, and all the gender identity stuff is gold.  It’s a middle reader I didn’t have to slog through too!  Aside from the fact that the teacher spent inordinate amounts of time rearranging desks in the classroom (so much attention was repeatedly paid to desk arranging throughout the book I kept wondering why have them all move their desks around when the class next period would need to switch everything all over again) this was a perfect book.  Recommended.

Betsy Tacy Tib
Maud Heart Lovelace

The trio is eight!  I enjoy how Lovelace differentiates between Betsy-Tacy (who seem to be halves of a whole) and Tib, who has her own way of doing things, but Betsy and Tacy love her still.

Drama
Raina Telgemier

First crushes and a “tech”-ing a middle school play in this graphic novel.  By the end, I marveled at the play’s production budget.  The students seemed rather advanced for middle school kids, but who am I to judge?  Quick and enjoyable.

Kinda Like Brothers
Coe Booth
Read for Librarian Book Group

You know what I love? When books take me somewhere I don’t usually hang out.  You know what else I love?  Really complex characters, and lots of them.  Other things I love?  Plots that aren’t overly contrived, but full of conundrums.  And also?  Kids in books acting exactly their age.  You know what I don’t usually like? Middle readers.  But this middle reader was great!   I marvel how Booth crammed so much plot into so few pages.

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold
Joyce Sidman
Read for Librarian Book Group

The left-hand page has the poems, the middle is the illustration, the right-hand page has the factual information about the topic. It appealed to both halves of my brain and I actually enjoyed the poems.  Well done.

Three Bears in a Boat
David Soman
Read for Librarian Book Group

The title says it all. And two weeks on, I remember nothing about this picture book.  There was adventure.  And learning.

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling
Lucy Frank
Read for Librarian Book Group

This was not the book in verse to convince me that books written in verse are a good idea.  (The one book that did was Brown Girl Dreaming and thus far, it stands alone.)  I enjoyed the relationship between the two girls staring at the ceiling.  I would have liked to read about it with more words, i.e. prose.  If these books-in-verse were producing excellent verse, I could get on board, or if they were doing something really exciting like a whole story told in sonnets or other poetic forms, I would probably like that better.  But pretty much every book in verse I’ve encountered has been an interesting story ineptly told through so-so free verse.  I wish I could say it was different for this one, but alas, no.

The other tiny houses of Caravan

We stayed in the Roly Poly at the Caravan Tiny House Hotel.  But here are the other houses you could visit.

This is the Caboose.  It is 134 square feet and has seating for 4-5 people as well as two bunk beds and a loft bed.

 

This is Rosebud, a 120 square feet traditional tiny house design.

 

This is the Tandem which is 160 square feet.  It has two queen beds.

 

This is Skyline, which is 160 square feet, but with a shed roof, so it seems larger. Of the tiny houses here, this is the one I would choose because I could put a desk upstairs where the second bed is and have my cozy “reverse loft” that I’ve become rather obsessed with.

 

This is the Kangablue, which is another 170 square foot traditional tiny house.

I’m hoping to book another stay one of these tiny houses in the future.  It’s fun for a night away.

Caravan the next morning.

View from my window.  That’s the fire pit and hidden between the two tiny houses you see are the fixins for s’mores.  It was a very cold night, so we just ate the chocolate.

More pictures from inside.  The bathroom door.

Standard sized toilet hooked up to city water.  There was also a tiny shower, which we did not partake in, sadly, due to the fact it was cold enough that the water froze.

More storage.

Our departing photo.

Great front porch, with our room service tray from the night before.

Back view.  That was my bedroom window.

Of course, I had to peek in the box on this side.