(check)lists
Movies Watched Over Break
Lincoln Lawyer. We watched this on cruise TV. Over 3 days. We kept getting interrupted by dinner and events and such, but eventually we managed to piece the story together. Does Ryan Philippe really still look like he did 10 years ago, or is it just me?
Something Borrowed. Also seen on the cruise. My mom got hooked, and kept saying to me during the movie, “See? The nice girl never gets what she wants.” Haha. We all agree that Rachel should have ended up with Ethan/John Krasinski. Fun fact: the guy who plays Dex was a pre-med turned model turned actor.
The Painted Veil. Third and final movie on the cruise. It’s set in China and the main male character is a bacteriologist who travels to a rural area with his high maintenance wife to help deal with a cholera outbreak. They then proceed to re-fall in love before one of them falls ill. Good micro review…just kidding (we spent a lot of the movie trying to figure out the Chinese translation for “cholera”…). Edward Norton is quite handsome. And speaks better Chinese than my sister.
Catch Me If You Can. I’ve decided to make this our annual Christmas movie.
Never Let Me Go. So sad. We read this book in senior English. I can’t say I remember all that much, but the movie was much more of a love story than I remember the book being. One part of the movie is when they characters are children, and the other part when they’re adults; the child actors they picked couldn’t be more perfect kid-look-alikes. It reminds me of the film version of Pride and Prejudice: both have Kiera Knightly, both are British movies, beautiful music, pretty people, etc.
Brothers. I’ve wanted to watch this movie for the longest time. It was a huge disappointment haha.
Still on the list: re-watching Inception, and hopefully finding a copy of Rainman and American Beauty somewhere for BNB extra credit.
Books Read Over Break
Love the One You’re With. Chick-lit by the same author who wrote “Something Borrowed.” I was picturing Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin the entire time I read it.
In Stitches. By the Korean-American plastic surgeon equivalent of Dr. Oz. I didn’t start really liking it until the last few chapters when he writes about his clerkship experiences and applying to residencies. But it’s funny, he has some good med school puns/jokes.
Checklist Manifesto. Atul Gawande is a god. Can I be him when I grow up?? The book is about pioneering the use of checklists in ORs to prevent surgical errors and improve outcomes, and the research and results are pretty amazing. He draws a lot of parallels with aviation and the use of checklists by airline pilots. None of his books are overly medical or assuming. His writing has this way of rallying you and making you want to change the world in a big, miraculous way; I’m really curious to know what he’s like in real life. Surgical residency at Brigham and Women’s, anyone??
Still on the list: Bonk, by Mary Roach. still need to get to Bossypants by Tina Fey and Intern by Sandeep Jauhar. I keep telling myself that I could easily replace the time I spend watching TV with guilty-free reading. New years resolution? Speaking of new years resolutions…
New Year’s Resolutions 2011 (draft in progress)
1. Keep computer desktop clutter-free. I have this awful habit of just…auto-saving everything to my desktop so that in a few weeks time it’s disastrous. Like right now, I can only save three more items there before it’s full. Must. Stop.
2. Limit myself to only three episodes of How I Met Your Mother a week. At this rate, I won’t be caught up for another four or five months. Just in time for boards :)
3. Listen to more NPR and classical music. Listen to less top-40.
