Phone Photography- Pretty Things, part 1

Let's start from the beginning. One day, my iPhone notified me that I had used up almost all of my storage. So in order to get more storage for the future, I deleted the 400+ pictures from my phone and transferred them on to my laptop. As I was going through the photos, I thought this would make a cool series on my blog. Of course, a lot of these images are already also posted on my Instagram, but why not add a bit of detail and let YOU see them?! There will be two parts to my 'pretty things' series, and multiple more parts to my, at the moment untitled 'food' series. 

PS: I have an iPhone 5 (with an 8mp camera and flash capability). 

Ahhhh. The first full day of having my new phone, I took a lens flare picture in my hometown. I remember being surprised that the infamous purple hue wasn't showing up.

The beginning of any new season is exciting. Especially autumn!

A Pittsburgh sunset from my Nana's apartment. This has been my phone's screensaver for quite some time. IT'S SO PRETTY.

This is actually the tunnel featured in the film Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Morning view. This is where the sunset was two pictures ago.

On a drive to Philadelphia to visit my Uncle, we always pass these huge factories just before the city. The amount of visible pollution is insane. I call this 'Pollution City'.

I want to say this was right before Hurricane Sandy.....maybe not. Either way, the bamboo was swaying quite ferociously. 

This was at my sisters soccer game in November. I love taking pictures in this style. Look at the supa-cool sky. Look at it!

the MOST comfortable

So it's Saturday evening. 16 February 2013. 11 pm.

My parents are having a huge party downstairs, which I'm way too afraid to go to. (The only reason I'd go down anyway is to get dessert).

My current set-up:




















I think I'm going to go and watch something on Netflix now. BYE.

"A Cat in Paris" - Thoughts

I just finished watching the animated film A Cat in Paris, and it was amazing.

The visuals were stunning......so many shots of Paris! Every time the cat made the journey from his two 'homes', I got goosebumps due to the nature of his route. With or without the assistance of the plot, this cinematography in this film is definitely a love letter to Paris.

And the plot itself was such a classic adventure. It reminds me of the more conventional/realistic/artsy Adventures of TinTin.

Character development was ACE. With the exception of the super bad guy, my opinions of each character changed throughout the sixty minute extravaganza.

Out of ten stars, I'd give it eleven.

If it wasn't clear: THIS FILM IS ANIMATED.

A Confession

I haven't read a full book, outside of English class, for over five months.

It's because there are too many distractions.
-school
-internet
-school
-internet

Excuses aside, I'm just really annoyed at myself. I love reading, but I just haven't been making the time for it at allllll. And my life consists of other things than Tumblr...for instance, sometimes I go outside and film things and make them into pretty videos. But is editing on Final Cut any healthier than checking Tumblr?

On a normal five day week, I have too much schoolwork to read. By the time Saturday comes around, I'm too ''busy'' galavanting throughout the internet to read a book. And Sunday is usually a repeat of Saturday. Another part of the problem may be the lack of good books I have. There are maybe....six books on my bookshelf that I've owned for half a year, but I haven't finished reading ANY of them. I'll start a few chapters, then stop since I take too long of a break. Maybe all I need are some new, fresh books to motivate me to read again.

By confessing this publicly, I might be able to stop my bad habit of not reading, and start a project of some sorts that forces me to read. I dunnooooo?

My Oscar Picks

A few disclaimers: The nominations I have seen will be italicized. The nomination I want to win will be in bold.  Categories in which I haven't seen any of the nominees work will not be included. These choices are not necessarily what I think will win the Academy Award, simply what I would have personally voted for. :]

Best Picture
"Argo"
"Django Unchained"
"Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Amour"
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook" (This movie isn't a typical Oscar contender, but I enjoyed it more than any other movie I've seen this year!)
"Zero Dark Thirty"
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper - "Silver Linings Playbook"(I haven't seen Lincoln yet, but Bradley was amazing amazing amazing.)
Daniel Day-Lewis - "Lincoln"
Hugh Jackman - "Les Miserables"
Joaquin Phoenix - "The Master"
Denzel Washington - "Flight"

Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain - "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence - "Silver Linings Playbook"(Obviously I love Jennifer's work, but her role as Tiffany was so many different things at once and it was amazing amazing amazing.)
Emmanuelle Riva - "Amour"
Quvenzhané Wallis - "Beasts of Southern Wild"
Naomi Watts - "The Impossible"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - "Argo"
Robert De Niro - "Silver Linings Playbook"(I'm just really rooting for SLP this year. De Niro had some scenes that were just soooo well executed.)
Philip Seymour Hoffman - "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones - "Lincoln"
Christoph Waltz - "Django Unchained"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams - "The Master"
Sally Field - "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway - "Les Miserables" (In a shocking turn of events....)
Helen Hunt - "The Sessions"
Jackie Weaver - "Silver Linings Playbook"

Directing
"Amour" - Michael Haneke
"Beasts of the Southern Wild" - Benh Zeitlin
"Life of Pi" - Ang Lee
"Lincoln" - Steven Spielberg
"Silver Linings Playbook" - David O. Russell (The reason I'm choosing Russell over Lee--whose movie I also loved--is because of a b-roll clip from SLP..click here to watch it.)

And The Oscars 2013 Nominations Are...

Writing - Adapted Screenplay
"Argo" - Chris Terrio
"Beasts of the Southern Wild" - Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
"Life of Pi" - David Magee (How do you get a book like 'Life of Pi' and turn it into a movie? It's not easy, but was done extremely well.)
"Lincoln" - Tony Kushner
"Silver Linings Playbook" - David O. Russell

Music - Original Song
"Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice," music and lyrics by J. Ralph
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from "Ted," music by Walter Murphy, lyrics by Seth MacFarlane
"Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi," music by Mychael Danna, lyrics by Bombay Jayashri
"Skyfall" from "Skyfall," music and lyrics by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth (When Skyfall--the song--first came out, I didn't care for it. But seeing it in the film was so dramatic and great, and made me such a huge fan of the song. Bravo!)
"Suddenly" from "Les Miserables," music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Cinematography
"Anna Karenina"
"Django Unchained"
"Life of Pi"(Some of the shots in this film were stunning, even if they were CGI.)
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall"

Costume Design
"Anna Karenina"
"Les Miserables" (I guess I have to go with Les Miserables?)

"Lincoln"
"Mirror Mirror"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"

Film Editing
"Argo" (The editing of this movie is what made it so suspenseful and interesting.)
"Life of Pi"credited
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Makeup And Hairstyling
"Hitchcock"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Les Miserables" (Everyone looked deathly sick at some point. Especially: Hugh Jackman + Anne Hathaway...although Hathaway's appearance can be to her 'indulgence' in anorexia for the role.)

Music - Original Score
"Anna Karenina"
"Argo"(I wish there could be a tie between the nominees. I choose Argo since, for me, the music created a big part of the suspenseful plot.)
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall" 

Production Design
"Anna Karenina"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"(A lot of effort was put in to make Middle Earth come to life.)
"Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"

Sound Editing
"Argo" (In the film there were so many little noises from the people of Iran and the US that were very necessarily to the plot. Life of Pi was great too though.)
"Django Unchained"
"Life of Pi"
"Skyfall"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Sound Mixing
"Argo" (Not sure what the difference between the previous category and this category is, so I'll go with my same choice from before.)
"Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall"

Visual Effects
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Life of Pi"(The visual effects in this film were outstanding.)
"Marvel's The Avengers"
"Prometheus"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"