I’ll try to post something of substance before the fall semester starts in 2 weeks.  But today I’m inspired to share my summer with you through the music, movies, TV shows, and books that accompanied me through good times and bad.

Music (albums): A weird mix that (with 1 or 2 exceptions) is made up of just two types of music: (1) very recent albums – released in the last 12 months, and (2) music I listened to on repeat in junior high/ high school.

• Heartthrob by Tegan & Sara – favorite tracks: “Goodbye, Goodbye,” “Drove Me Wild,” and “Now I’m All Messed Up.”  Actually, when the album came out in January, I really didn’t like “Goodbye, Goodbye” but since then I’ve done a completely 180 and it has really grown on me.
• Hush by The Limousines – favorite tracks: “Love is a Dog from Hell” and “The Last Dance”
• Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem – can’t choose a favorite track; this whole album is solid
• Journey’s Greatest Hits – how can you not love “Separate Ways”?
• Fantasies by Metric – “Gimme Sympathy” is my favorite off this album, although there are other key good tracks
• Passive Me, Aggressive You by The Naked and Famous – can’t choose a favorite track; it changes with my mood
• Trouble Will Find Me by The National – by far the most mellow album on this list.  I really like “Don’t Swallow the Cap,” “Graceless,” and “I Need My Girl.”
• Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend – haven’t listened to the complete album enough to have a definitive favorite, but “Diane Young” is damn catchy.
• So Long, Astoria by The Ataris – also a lot of Blue Skies, Broken Hearts… Next 12 Exits but So Long, Astoria gets the nod on the list for its numerous summery songs.  “In This Diary” immediately comes to mind.
• What It Is to Burn by Finch – I go through phases with this album where I listen to it ALL THE TIME and the don’t listen to it for months/years.  Another one where every track is solid, but I think the title track “What It Is to Burn” and “Stay with Me” are my two favorites.
• Take This to Your Grave by Fall Out Boy – A guilty pleasure that I rediscovered recently.
• Stories and Alibis by Matchbook Romance – Originally got into this album in high school, but I also went through a period a couple of years ago where I angrily sang “Lovers & Liars” to myself every chance I got, so this album can get emotional for me.  Love to listen to it when I’m angry/frustrated.  Not that this has been an angry/frustrated summer at all, but I can really get into a lot of the songs on this album.
• Say It Like You Mean It by The Starting Line – Another high school era album.  Its meaning to me has evolved with time and I hear something new every time I listen to it.

TV Shows: 

• Modern Family – I’d never watched a single episode but always assumed it would be right up my alley.  I was right.
• Arrested Development – The New Season.  Enough said.
• How I Met Your Mother – Finally started working through this show, which is quite a time commitment at this point in the series.
• Grey’s Anatomy – Rewatched some of the more recent seasons, and half-heartedly started rewatching from the beginning.
• Inside Amy Schumer – Really enjoyed this new sketch comedy show and happy it got renewed.
• Maron – Only caught the first half of the season before I got rid of my cable, but really enjoyed it.
• Peep Show – A friend introduced me to this British show and I love it.

Movies:

• 28 Hotel Rooms – Really interesting film.  Still not sure how I feel about the ending, but it showed a really interesting relationship dynamic and trajectory.  Plus, I’m a little bit in love with Chris Messina.
• All Good Things – Meh.  Wasn’t super impressed, but didn’t hate it.
• All the Days Before Tomorrow – I really wanted to like this movie a lot more than I actually did.  I found the actress playing the female lead really unconvincing for about 90% of the movie, and that really detracted from my experience.
• Bachelorette – Loved this movie, probably more than I should.  Lizzy Caplan is my hero.
• Before Sunrise & Before Sunset – These had been on my list for… almost a decade.  Finally saw them.  Before Sunrise was great, but Before Sunset is a masterpiece.
• Before Midnight – Saw the third in the trilogy in theaters this summer.  Thought that maybe because the characters are so much older than I am right now that I wouldn’t find it relatable, but of course it was amazing.  My second favorite in the series behind Sunset.
• Closer – I have seen this movie a bunch of times already, but this was the first time I rewatched it in a really long time.  I love it even more now, and it rekindled a sleeping attraction I have to Clive Owen.
• Drinking Buddies – Available to rent online before it hits theaters.  I’ll probably go see it in theaters when it comes out.  I really liked it, and really appreciated the story’s development and conclusion.  I worried it would play out like a formulaic romcom but it was so much more realistic than that in the end.
• Elizabethtown – I had seen this years ago when it first came out and didn’t really like it.  I rewatched it with a friend this summer, and I absolutely love it now.  And I’m super jealous of Kirsten Dunst’s character’s mix-tape-making abilities.
• The Great Gatsby – Good, of course.
• Now You See Me – Terrible.  SUCH a bad movie.
• The Puffy Chair – Another one I really wanted to like because I really like Mark Duplass.  There were things I liked about the movie, but I found parts of it too annoying to come away with a completely positive impression of the film.
• The Royal Tenanbaums – Still not sure how I feel about Wes Anderson’s style, but I certainly found this movie entertaining.
• Save the Date – Bought this on DVD on a whim from Target because Alison Brie and Lizzy Caplan were on the cover.  Really loved it.  Although I found the sister relationship to be unrealistically glossed over, the movie covered other topics really well.  And all the performances were stellar.
• Star Trek: Into Darkness – Amazing, of course.  And I got to see it with my brother, which was fun.
• Take Me Home – There were things about this movie that I loved, and things that I found unrealistic/annoying.  All in all, though, a pretty good film.  Plus, kudos to the cast and crew for doing a cross-country road trip film by actually performing a cross-country road trip and being cooped up together throughout the filming process.
• This is the End – Hilarious.
• To the Wonder – The storytelling mechanism in this movie was too weird for me.  I didn’t like it at all.  I ended up getting bored about 3/4 of the way through and didn’t even finish it.  It probably could have been a cool story, but I couldn’t get into it at all.