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IMDB250

Since starting our own IMDB 250 challenge, Andrew and I have in total crossed 83 movies off of our list! If you missed it, we challenged ourselves to watch all of the movies from IMDB’s Top 250 list. Some have been pretty boring, but I wanted to share some of my favorites! I’m only going to write about movies that we hadn’t already seen since I am trying to broaden my movie horizon, haha.

I also included what number each movie is on the list. (This is according to our list from August, so the movie may/may not have changed its position on the list since that time). And, for fun I’ve provided my own twenty-words-or-less synopsis. If you want to view the movie’s IMDB page and consequently a more detailed summary of the movie, just click the number next to the movie. :)

Casablanca (1942) #33
Synopsis: they fall in love in Paris during WWII, and meet again in Casablanca.

I adored this movie. I’m a sucker for old movies, so the romantic and history buff in me soaked all of this movie in. I just can’t believe I haven’t seen it until now! It just has the feel of a classic movie, which makes it hard to describe why you like it so much. The acting, plot, and characters were all perfect. Plus, it’s one of the most quoted movies. It was fun to hear all the lines throughout the movie and then go, “Oh! That’s what that line is from!” So far, Casablanca is my favorite movie from the new movies we’ve watched.

Here’s lookin’ at you, kid. :heart:

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) #25
Synopsis: Weird angel shows a desperate and pennyless man what life would be like if he’d never been born.

Another old timey classic, this one makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. We watched this with Andrew’s family over Christmas. It’s always interesting to me to see how people end up where they are in life, and this movie showcases that really well. It also shows just how much of an impact people can have on others – even though you might not think so.

Infernal Affairs (2002) #208
Synopsis: One’s an undercover cop in a gang, the other’s a mole in the police. Who’s who?

This is a Chinese movie that we watched with subtitles. Another movie on the list, The Departed (#44), is the American version, with the exact same plot just different actors. We didn’t realize they were the same movie until after we finished T he Departed. but we both agreed though The Departed had some really big name actors (Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Whalberg, and more), we both liked the original much better.

I actually liked the cast of Infernal Affairs a lot better, and I think part of it was because I didn’t know them. Damon and co. did a wonderful job in The Departed, but a lot of the times big actors can be really distracting from a movie. And even though we had to watch it with English subtitles, it was just overall a more enjoyable movie and seemed to flow better. It really kept you at the edge of your seat because it was so action packed! The end really surprised me, though it did leave me feeling a bit deflated afterwards. I would really recommend if you like suspense and action! I think this should be a lot higher on the list, but I’m assuming it’s a lot lower since it’s a foreign film.

Jaws (1975) #214
Synopsis: There’s a large shark.

This movie was exactly what I thought it was going to be – but that’s not necessarily bad. Despite being forty years old, this movie holds up really well — just don’t focus too much on the shark! ;) There were a few moments that made me jump, but it was an enjoyable, straight forward story. You have to at least watch it for the “I think we need a bigger boat” line! And for its infamous music!

We’ve watched a lot of movies on our list, but these are just a few that stood out to me. Have you seen any of these movies? If so, what did you think about them? We are currently working on The Man with No Name trilogy with Clint Eastwood. I’ve not watched very many westerns before but I’m really enjoying them!

The Last Semester (& Getting Organized)

I am on my last semester of school! It feels so good to say that. I feel like I haven’t talked much about what’s been going on with me lately, but I think a large part of that is because I’ve been so busy trying to get everything together for my classes.

There was a bit of a fiasco at the end of last term when what I thought was going to be my lightest course load for my last semester turned into my heaviest course load. When I met with my advisor, apparently some of my classes that I took for dual credit in high school didn’t actually count towards my degree, when they told me my freshman year that everything transferred, no problem. So the last three semesters I had been taking really light loads of only 12 credit hours and now I’m taking 17 my last semester.

I opted to take the eight extra credit hours that I didn’t know I needed in the form of two online computer courses, hoping they would be super easy. Turns out I was right! I’ve actually already finished one of them, so it’s nice to have one class done only two weeks in! The other class I would have been finished with by now as well, but I managed to corrupt all the files on my flash drive. D:

I’m still not exactly sure how it happened. I was at work, and my flash drive was acting a little weird. I couldn’t create any new folders or save anything to it, so I ejected it and put it back in. It prompted me to scan the drive, which I’ve always done before, but when I opened it up, all my files had been changed to “FILE000X.CHK.” I freaked out, googled what in the crap I just did, and tried for hours and hours different programs and methods to recover my files. Some were able to change the files, but when I tried to open them they were all corrupted. I even called a couple of computer repair shops to see if they could fix it. One of them said he had never even heard of what I’d done. Eventually I just decided to cut my losses and move on.

Not backing up these files, I would like to add, looks very stupid on the surface, but I (kinda) had my reasons. Normally I back everything up with Dropbox, but my computer at work blocks pretty much any site that isn’t the company’s website, so that disrupted my normal routine. I also have a regular back up on my laptop. The problem was I just kept forgetting to copy my files from my flash drive to my laptop. Additionally, I never had problems with my flash drive before and I’d never lost it either, so I figured the probability of me losing anything was very, very slim. After all, I had my drive for eight years and nothing had ever happened. So I really am pretty embarrassed because this is such a rookie mistake.

Now I’m at least copying my files locally to my work computer. I had my first online class almost completely done and I lost all those files, so I basically have to go back and redo the class. A lot of the other stuff on there was more for nostalgia’s sake, so it wasn’t a huge deal that it got corrupted, but the whole thing was just so frustrating.

On the bright side, however, losing all of my files really made me go through everything on my computer. Being an organized person, I don’t know how my computer was as messy as it was. I deleted a lot of old pictures and files and rearranged everything into nice folders and subfolders.

I also finally downloaded Windows 10. I waited a good amount of time after its release just so that there would be some time for bugs to be fixed t and to gauge everyone else’s reactions to it. I wasn’t fond of Windows 8, so I wasn’t sure how all the app integration would settle with me, but I really like the new Windows! It definitely feels like an upgrade and it looks a lot sleeker.

Desktop
“We’ll always have Paris.”

I had a bit of a scare at first because my internet was not only staying connected for a minute and then would disconnect for a few minutes. I had to keep manually connecting and disconnecting and I had never had any problems before the download. But after I updated a couple of programs and gave my laptop a restart, I haven’t had any problems since. I also cleaned up my desktop and reorganized all of my pictures, too!

I feel now that I have everything truly organized (and backed up properly!), I can take on this semester. In addition to the two online courses, I’m taking Strategic Management, Advanced Investments, and Insurance and Risk Management (trust me, not my first choice). Generally they are all going pretty well so far (though I am on my fourth professor for my Strategy class, but that’s another post for another time).

Happy February!