Sundance Time!

 

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It was the Sundance Film Festival last week! I didn't participate in it in-person this year, but I did enjoy watching a few films online. I had two friends come down last Saturday so we could watch "Didn't Die." They also allow their short films program online the last four days of the festival. I watched the Animated Short Program, Midnight Short Program, and Short Program 1. I know there are talks of moving the Sundance Film Festival elsewhere next year and beyond but I do hope they find a way to keep it here in Utah.

Didn't Die was a great little indie movie. Low budget like I want my indies to be! No one famous either produced or acted in this film! Thank you. 

The zombie apocalypse has happened. We meet a sister and her little brother who run a podcast together and they are coming home after some time on the road. The "biters" are supposed to only come out during the night so day-traveling has been considered pretty safe. Until they start seeing some deaths in the bright light of the sun...

The sister starts coming to terms with being back home. An ex-boyfriend who finds a baby under a truck after its parents were slaughter by day biters...her oldest brother and his wife who don't want to let anyone new in. 

It's a great little zombie movie! It's pretty funny throughout, and there are some action scenes and a heart-rending finale.

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OBEX. This was a great low-budget sci-fi thinky movie. I had no idea where it was going to go until the very end! This is a throwback to the 80s computer video game genre. A shut-in who loves video games and computers and his dog sees an ad to join a new totally immersive game if he sends in pictures and video of himself. He gets the game and at first it seems kind of silly and he decides to delete the game and move on. But weird things start happening. Swarming cicadas start making their way into his house...his neighbor gets a new job and can't bring him groceries anymore, his dog keeps barking at random things in the backyard....the nightmares. Eventually his dog goes missing and he realizes he is actually stuck in this new game and he must rescue his dog!

This was such a strange and endearing movie. It was probably my favorite this Sundance.

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Sukkwan Island: This was also a fantastic survival movie. Beautiful cinematography in the harsh winters of Norway. Ultimately it's a story of 13-year-old coming to terms with his relationship to his father. His father asks him to go live on an island with no amenities for a year to spend time together. But all is not how it seems.

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Bubble and Squeak: This was a big Indie. Lots of big names in this one. It was quirky and weird and had a lot to say about relationships and the baggage (in this case, cabbage) we bring to each and every one. I liked it! But it wasn't my favorite. Worth a watch when it comes out eventually just for the quirky weirdness and performances of well-known actors.

READING:

I finished A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons, Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon by Kate DiCamillo, and Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds by David A. Adler.

We are over a month into 2025! I have been reading a lot but haven't finished many books yet. I read with kids for work so I've been counting those in my read pile! So in total, I have read 3 books. But I am continuing on course with War and Peace, Kristin Lavnransdatter, The Siege of Krishnapur, and Wolf Hall. I'm over halfway done with Wool by Hugh Howey. I am still plugging away at Mansfield Park. It's not about the numbers; for me it's about being present and enjoying the slow reads this year. I also started Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes. It's a space horror. I read her first book Dead Silence which was a good one. My two non-fictions right now are The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon and Heretic by Catherine Nixey.

Grateful For:

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I am grateful I got a little recognition at work last week! Got a free drink out of it. It's nice to feel appreciated. I am grateful no one has gotten sick this month! Last month was not great but this month everyone is feeling pretty good. And I know lots is still going around... I'm grateful I got to try bienenstrich, a German dessert called the bee sting. It was the yummiest thing I've eaten in a while. A woman from work brought for our German January month this week. 

I'm also grateful I have a group of friends that wants to crochet together about once a month! It hasn't been going on for more than three months but it's something we've all needed and it has been such a blessing to do this this winter! Community and friends matter. Getting together IRL is very important.

TV and Movies

I've been watching The Kids Baking Championship on Max the last few weeks! The kids are so cute and man can they bake. One of the contestants is from Utah so I'm cheering her on! I've been rewatching Severance on Apple for the second season that just came out. It's been over two years since the first season so I've forgotten a lot. I caught up on Silo, which has been a really fun dystopia series. I started the first book the series is based on, which is also really good.

Other than the Sundance films I've watched, I saw Juror #2, Flow, Inside Out 2, and Conclave. 

Juror #2 was TV movie fare. Nothing great but a fun time. Flow was so much fun! I highly recommend it. Inside Out 2 isn't quite as good as the first one but it's still a great movie to watch with the kiddos. Conclave was better than I thought it was going to be. I enjoyed the twist ending, and it was definitely an actor's script. Loved all of them, Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow...

As far as resolutions go I feel I've been doing really well. I have been more consistent in blogging...so far, writing down thoughts on the books I'm reading, and checking in with my journal daily, which includes keeping track of what I'm grateful for!