Welcome to Cinenoms, my no-longer-active food and film blog. This site was a great creative outlet for me in graduate school and the months that followed, a place to practice writing in a “casual, personal blog” format while also talking about two of my favorite things, movies and baking. I no longer post here, but I plan to keep it up 1) to demonstrate that I know how to use WordPress and 2) for the memories (and the recipes!).
-Margaux
This blog has been rather neglected this fall as I have been focusing on completing my master’s degree. But it’s almost December, which means three things are coming: graduation, my yearly “Winter Break” rush to see tons of Oscar contenders, and lots and lots of holiday baking. Expect a return to regular blog activity soon.
In the meantime, if you have any requests for types of recipes you would like to see, feel free to leave them in the comments. I have many things on my to-bake list — let me know where you’d like me to start!
UPDATE: I have launched the “official page” for my 2015 Oscar Project, where I will be tracking what I have seen and want to see. Check it out — link in the sidebar!
I don’t want to write a lot about Gone Girl, because the fun of Gone Girl is in the surprises, and I know that if I write a lot I’ll ruin something. But man, what a great movie.
I read the book the summer before last, and it was one of those books that you can’t put down until you’ve read it from start to finish, even though it’s over 400 pages long. I went into it fully aware that there were going to be surprises, and I was still constantly caught off guard. The movie, also written by the novel’s author, Gillian Flynn, was the same. I was constantly on my toes, even though I knew what was coming.
The performances were fantastic. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike were perfect as Nick and Amy Dunne — they made the characters complex, multilayered, just as they are in the book. The other characters were wonderful, too; I especially enjoyed Carrie Coon’s performance as Nick’s twin, Margo. I do wish they had not cast Neil Patrick Harris as Amy’s former boyfriend, Desi — for me, there was something mildly reminiscent of his “How I Met Your Mother” character, Barney Stinson, in his performance, and it was extremely disconcerting. But overall, no complaints.
The movie had great pacing, great scoring, great shooting. Everything was done in a way that kept you guessing, kept you feeling uneasy. It gets scary, and it gets graphic in both violence and sexual content — think before bringing your kids, small siblings, grandparents, etc. — but it’s all worth it. I left the theater feeling pretty creeped out, upset, what have you, but still very happy that I had seen the movie.
Would I recommend Gone Girl to a friend? Absolutely, but with the warning that he/she might not sleep well after seeing it.
Oscar-worthy? I don’t know much about the competition yet, but I will be baffled if Gone Girl doesn’t get a Best Picture nomination. It was just so strong in every way. I’m sure there will be well-deserved nominations for Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, and I won’t be surprised if the movie shows up in the directing and screenplay categories, too.
Programming note: With this post, I’m officially kicking off my 2015 Oscar Project. The most wonderful time of the year! Expect a full game plan to come out soon.
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the long absence. I needed a few weeks to wrap up the semester, get my thesis research rolling and take a much-needed vacation (more on that soon!). But now I’m ready to get blogging and baking — I realized the other day that I hadn’t baked in about two weeks, and I miss it! So I’ll have some catch-up posts up soon with things I baked toward the end of the semester, and I’ll be back in the kitchen making new treats soon. No worries.
I started this blog as a mandatory class assignment, but I’ve grown to love it, so I’m planning to keep things going as long as I can. Stay tuned! And thanks for reading.
Margaux
The other night, I faced a conundrum. My roommate had left me some overripe bananas, which means, naturally, that I was determined to make banana bread when I got home from work. But it was too late to go to the store, and all my standby recipes were not going to work. Gabby’s needed milk. Sally’s needed yogurt. What to do?
Cinenoms 