On December 22, 2012 I decided to start running. I've never been a runner. In fact, I've never been an exerciser of any sort. Group sports give me anxiety (and still do!) and when we had to run the mile in PE I wanted to actually die. This was my mindset up until December 22 2012.
So why did I, all of the sudden, start running on the treadmill? I'm not really sure. I never watched a video that truly inspired me to start running, and it wasn't ever a new year resolution. From what I can remember from 7 months ago, it was winter break and I had probably eaten some junk food that morning. Therefore, I felt crappy. So instead of slowly moping on the treadmill for ten minutes (2 mph, yo!) I decided to run and feel less fat. That day, I burned 400 calories.
Since then, I've burned a minimum of 200 calories/day on the treadmill--every day since December 22. Part of my success in running (mental success, not necessarily physical success--though I'd like to think I've had both) has been my consistency. I've never ever skipped a day of running, with the exception of a few days in Philadelphia/New York where I instead walked around, as well as the recent day when I got a tooth pulled.
But now I love running. It definitely gives me an au natural high, and it makes my day feel accomplished, even if I didn't leave the house. I can easily run 2 miles at a 8 min 30 sec pace (this is what the treadmill tells me, who knows if it's totally correct).
Speaking of leaving the house: My only complaint about running is that I'm too scared to run outside in my neighborhood. The reason behind this is rather silly: I don't want any people I know from school to see me running...I think it's kind of embarrassing. Although whenever I go to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia or New York or anywhere run-able in the future, I happily run outside. But in my neighborhood..not so much.
If you'd like to know my "technicalities" for running, here they are.
-Nike shorts (basketball style, not running style...I can't rock short shorts, sadly)
-Whatever loose, solid color old navy shirt I have (although I'd really like some better running tops)
-Nike dual fusion running shoes (gray)
-Normal short white socks (from Target, of course)
-iPhone + Earpods
Some inspirational stuff I like to watch:
Any of Casey Neistat's videos...he's a big runner and some videos show him running, which is oddly inspiring.
This video by a guru/vlogger named Allison.
An article with great tips for running.
Happy running!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Film: The Social Network
9:00 pm, Saturday night. I've just finished watching The Social Network (TSN) and it was astonishing.
Music
Similar to a recent favorite, The Great Gatsby, the music throughout TSN was not only fitting to the movies theme, but was necessary for the film to flow so wondrously. At times, the music simply provided the mood for the scene; Lawyer scenes, 'scary' scenes, etc. Other times, most notably during the scene where Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Einsenberg) Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) discuss Victoria's Secret / business in a bar, the music literally carved the movie-goers experience due to the sheer noise level the tunes were at. If, say, I was scrolling through my twitter (should I say Facebook?!) feed during an easily audible scene, I wouldn't have too much trouble multi-tasking. The loud club tunes were louder than the voices of Mark and Sean, so I had to put extra focus into that scene in order to get that plot line. Personally, I think that's a super cool technique.
Script
Do people from Harvard actually talk like Mark Zuckerberg? DO THEY? The witty comments in the lawyers room (I don't really know what else to identify it as..), almost always coming from Zuckerberg's mouth, left me feeling not only intrigued by his brains lighting fast ability to think of responses to tricky questions, but also intellectually stimulated mah own braiyun by his use of the English language. My ears just had such a convivial experience with this movie.
Sometimes, such as with Mean Girls or Easy A, the script is the only thing that makes the movie good--you could say the dialogue is the only factor that makes the movie so good. Other times, such as with Like Crazy, the dialogue does not need to be as strong in order for the movie to be worthwhile--the beauteous filming is good enough. The phenomenal and fast paced script of TSN added to the great music, great characters, and many other considerable factors of this film to make TSN an exceptionally wonderful piece of art.
Characters
My favorite element of Jesse Einseberg's character, Mark, was the way the viewers--or at least my--opinion on him changed multiple times throughout the movie. At one point, I thought Mark Zuckerberg was mentally ill. Later I thought he was smart. Just after that, I despised him and his actions. (If you're wondering, by the end of the movie I really liked his character. It was just a roller coaster getting to that point.) Specifically, Jesse's acting was phenomenal when, while in a lecture class, he was handed a mean note. The face Jesse created was outstanding and so chilling, and brought a new level of sensitivity and humanization to his character. (Click her to see the face he made, in meme form. )
Erica Albright. Rooney Mara?!! Dumper of Zuckerberg. Lawyer for Zuckerberg?!! My mind still can't get over that character development/whatever her character's deal was. Good plot twist. As a film maker, which I am NOT, I feel like it must be hard to translate the idea of a character's plot twists and developments from the head of the writer or director to the big screen. Since Erica Albright was fantastically communicated as a developed character, good job to the people working on TSN.
Finally, London Tipton. I mean Brenda Song. I mean Christy. First off, Brenda's acting was really phenomenal...in fact, I've always thought her acting was phenomenal--even on The Suite Life. For a moment as Christy was evilly eyeing her boyfriend (who was preoccupied with Facebook drama), I for real believed that TSN was going to become a full out horror film. So that was some goodcharacter stuff acting.
In conclusion: TSN was a wonderfully made film that provoked far too many picky and, most likely, uninteresting opinions of mine. These opinions of mine were so prevalent in my mind that I made a legitimate blog post about them.
Wait!! I would like to add one (more) random thought to this rambling review:: If anything, this movie made my have some nostalgia for the past of Facebook, and life before social networks. Not in the sense "Oh, life was so simple before social media" because that's stupid to say, and I don't believe that statement. Facebook was, quite simply, the first big social network. While MySpace was around before Facebook and E-Mail provided one of the first online communication forces, Facebook truly shaped social networks. And the reason I am slightly nostalgic after this movie is because, while Facebook is technically growing in size, no one who I associate with--none of my peers--use Facebook normally. This is because Facebook isn't considered to be 'cool' anymore. TSN documented the fantastical story of the creation of Facebook; something still--(although fleetingly, as with any social network)--relevant today. Sorry, that was UBER ramble-y and unnecessary.
Good night.
Music
Similar to a recent favorite, The Great Gatsby, the music throughout TSN was not only fitting to the movies theme, but was necessary for the film to flow so wondrously. At times, the music simply provided the mood for the scene; Lawyer scenes, 'scary' scenes, etc. Other times, most notably during the scene where Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Einsenberg) Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) discuss Victoria's Secret / business in a bar, the music literally carved the movie-goers experience due to the sheer noise level the tunes were at. If, say, I was scrolling through my twitter (should I say Facebook?!) feed during an easily audible scene, I wouldn't have too much trouble multi-tasking. The loud club tunes were louder than the voices of Mark and Sean, so I had to put extra focus into that scene in order to get that plot line. Personally, I think that's a super cool technique.
Script
Do people from Harvard actually talk like Mark Zuckerberg? DO THEY? The witty comments in the lawyers room (I don't really know what else to identify it as..), almost always coming from Zuckerberg's mouth, left me feeling not only intrigued by his brains lighting fast ability to think of responses to tricky questions, but also intellectually stimulated mah own braiyun by his use of the English language. My ears just had such a convivial experience with this movie.
Sometimes, such as with Mean Girls or Easy A, the script is the only thing that makes the movie good--you could say the dialogue is the only factor that makes the movie so good. Other times, such as with Like Crazy, the dialogue does not need to be as strong in order for the movie to be worthwhile--the beauteous filming is good enough. The phenomenal and fast paced script of TSN added to the great music, great characters, and many other considerable factors of this film to make TSN an exceptionally wonderful piece of art.
Characters
My favorite element of Jesse Einseberg's character, Mark, was the way the viewers--or at least my--opinion on him changed multiple times throughout the movie. At one point, I thought Mark Zuckerberg was mentally ill. Later I thought he was smart. Just after that, I despised him and his actions. (If you're wondering, by the end of the movie I really liked his character. It was just a roller coaster getting to that point.) Specifically, Jesse's acting was phenomenal when, while in a lecture class, he was handed a mean note. The face Jesse created was outstanding and so chilling, and brought a new level of sensitivity and humanization to his character. (Click her to see the face he made, in meme form. )
Erica Albright. Rooney Mara?!! Dumper of Zuckerberg. Lawyer for Zuckerberg?!! My mind still can't get over that character development/whatever her character's deal was. Good plot twist. As a film maker, which I am NOT, I feel like it must be hard to translate the idea of a character's plot twists and developments from the head of the writer or director to the big screen. Since Erica Albright was fantastically communicated as a developed character, good job to the people working on TSN.
Finally, London Tipton. I mean Brenda Song. I mean Christy. First off, Brenda's acting was really phenomenal...in fact, I've always thought her acting was phenomenal--even on The Suite Life. For a moment as Christy was evilly eyeing her boyfriend (who was preoccupied with Facebook drama), I for real believed that TSN was going to become a full out horror film. So that was some good
**************************
Wait!! I would like to add one (more) random thought to this rambling review:: If anything, this movie made my have some nostalgia for the past of Facebook, and life before social networks. Not in the sense "Oh, life was so simple before social media" because that's stupid to say, and I don't believe that statement. Facebook was, quite simply, the first big social network. While MySpace was around before Facebook and E-Mail provided one of the first online communication forces, Facebook truly shaped social networks. And the reason I am slightly nostalgic after this movie is because, while Facebook is technically growing in size, no one who I associate with--none of my peers--use Facebook normally. This is because Facebook isn't considered to be 'cool' anymore. TSN documented the fantastical story of the creation of Facebook; something still--(although fleetingly, as with any social network)--relevant today. Sorry, that was UBER ramble-y and unnecessary.
Good night.
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