What have I been up to since my last birthday?

Hello readers! I made this list on my birthday to reflect on the last year of my life. Enjoy!

Professional accomplishments: 

• Finished 6-month internship at Grant Thornton Boston office as Marketing Intern
• Continued film blog Bostonian on Film for which I’ve done 18 reviews, 5 interviews and 4 other pieces since my last birthday
• 2.5 month internship as Marketing & Administrative Intern at the Coolidge Corner Theatre
• Blogger, blogging about once a month for Livingston Patch
• Elected and re-elected to Vice President of NUFEC, the NU Film Enthusiasts’ Club
• 3.5 months into a 6-month internship at AOL Advertising

Places: 

• New Hampshire
• Portsmouth day trip
• Hiking in the White Mountains and overnight in a Yurt

• Italy
• Rome, Amalfi, Sorrento, Positano, Ravello
• Washington
• Seattle
• Connecticut
• Mystic
• The usuals
• NYC
• Boston
• NJ

Art Consumption:

Books: I read 48 books this year, with about 20 of those being short children’s or graphic books. Favorites are Tales From Outer Suburbia, The Facebook Effect and Norwegian Wood. 

Movies:

• I’ve seen many more than I can count new and old, however here are a few particularly memorable ones that I will never forget.
• Highlight new films: Hugo, The Tree of Life, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Beginners, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, How to Die in Oregon, Project Nim
• Highlight old films: 21 Grams, Bamboozled, Paprika, Au Revoir Les Enfants, The Dry Land
• I saw movies in at least 19 different theaters.
• My favorite is still the Coolidge in Brookline, MA, but I also love Film Forum and IFC Center in Greenwich Village, NY.

TV: This year I decided to dive into TV, which I’ve had very little experience with over the last several years. Here’s what I watched (in order of favorites):

• The Wire (S1-5)
• Veronica Mars (S1-3)
• Breaking Bad (S1-3)
• Real Time with Bill Maher
• The Office U.S. (S1-8)
• Treme (S1-2)
• The Daily Show with John Stewart
• Louie (S1-2)
• Mad Men (S1)
• The Killing (S1)
• Enlightened (S1)
• Sons of Anarchy (S1-3)
• Ugly Americans (S1)
• Boardwalk Empire (S2)
• Game of Thrones (S1)
• Portlandia (S1)
• The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (S1)
• The Walking Dead (S1)

Magazines: Another art form I’ve chosen to explore! Here’s what I’ve dabbled in this year:

Harvard Business Review, Time, Smithsonian, Film Comment, Sight & Sound, New Yorker, Atlantic, Under the Radar

Concerts: Northeastern U's Spring Fest (Jacks Mannequin, Passion Pitt) at Matthews Arena, St. Vincent at Royale, The Shins at the Paradise, Thao & Mirah at TT the Bears, Johnny Flynn at the Middle East

Music: According to Last.fm, my top 15 artists for the last 12 months in order are The Shins (by far), Portugal. the Man, Death Cab for Cutie, Black Bear, Radiohead, Howard Shore (HUGO soundtrack), Arcade Fire, Of Montreal, Thrice, Coldplay, Cut Copy, Fleet Foxes, First Aid Kit, Alexandre Desplat, Thao & Mirah

Theater: Boston Ballet, Wooster Group performance of Eugene O'Neill's Early Plays

Podcasts: I became a big fan of podcasts in January 2011. Here are the ones I have been listening to or have listened to since 4/16/11: /Filmcast (my favorite, haven’t missed an episode), The Tobolowsky Files, Smodcast Internet Radio podcasts (Plus One Per Diem was my favorite), Criterion Cast, ExtraTime Radio, Film Forum, In Contention, March to the Madness, Seeing Red!

Digital advancements

• Joined Pinterest, About.me, Klout, Patch
• Began using Roku, HBO Go, Hulu Plus
• Accrued 270 Twitter followers
• Joined Kickstarter, and helped fund Alt Screen, BOY, To Catch a Dollar, Outliers, Vol. 1: Iceland, On the Ice: Movie
• Joined Vitanna and participated in funding Blanca Estela Sanguina in Paraguay looking to be an accountant http://www.vittana.org/students/1894

Was able to meet or see many different awesome people!

People I met:

• Kate Beaton, author of Hark! A Vagrant (Boston Book Festival)
• Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! (Boston Book Festival)
• Dave Chen, Boston based film critic of the /Filmcast (press screening of Hesher)
• Mirah, musician (Thao & Mirah concert at TT the Bears)
• Miranda July, artist, actor & filmmaker  (bloggers roundtable for IFF Boston 2011)
• Sean Durkin, writer/director of Martha Marcy May Marlene (phone interview done with Eliza)
• Members of The Wire (George Pelecanos, Donnie Andrews, Fran Boyd, Robert Chew, Jamie Hector, Tray Chaney)
• Jim Stengel, member of AOL Board of Directors & former GMO of Procter & Gamble

People I saw live:

• Michael Sendel, author and professor from Harvard
• Susan Cain, author of Quiet
• Blake Mycosckie, founder of Toms Shoes
• Tony Conrad, founder of About.me
• Tim O’Brien, Jimmy Soni, Michael Calderone & Travis Donovan, members of the HuffPost
• David Shing, Digital Prophet of AOL
• Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL (various internal events at AOL where I’m currently employed)
• Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group (various internal events at AOL where I’m currently employed)
• Carson Ellis & Colin Meloy, authors of Wildwood. Colin is the lead of The Decemberists. I did not actually see or meet them, however I was able to give them each a note about their book & get it autographed thanks to Stephanie Morgan
• Michel Hazanvicius, writer/director of The Artist (screening with Q+A at the Coolidge Corner Theatre)
• Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts (Boston Book Festival)
• Gregory Maguire, Chuck Klosterman, authors at Boston Book Festival panel
• Sherry Turkle, Ethan Gilsdorf, Sue Hallowell, authors at Boston Book Festival panel
• Stephen Tobolowsky, actor and storyteller (at the Brattle Theater for a live Tobolowsky Files performance)

Sports

• I attended MLS matches in New England, New York & Seattle
• Played intramural soccer at NU & played a match with Team Pictela (a section of AOL)
• Enjoyed a New York Giants Super Bowl victory!

NUFEC:

• Brought Swank relationship to NUFEC -  Held Beginners & Melancholia events. 
• Held screenwriting workshop
• Participated in programming 2 short film events
• Led discussions & whatnot at meetings
• Taken over the Twitter account!
• Worked on some production for a short film that didn't materialize -- booked a location, held auditions with the producer & director

Other:
 

• Gave blood 2-3 times
• Found out I’m an INFP
• Found out I have AB blood
• Visited the 9/11 Memorial, hope to see the museum one day when it opens
• Katherine, Sara & Beth adopted a seal in my name as a going away gift when I left GT. Garnett is from Monterrey, CA
• Killed my Macbook Pro with an unfortunate coffee spill. It has been replaced with another Macbook Pro.
• Joined Weight Watchers on January 8th, have lost 20.6 lbs thus far.

Expectations for the next year:

• Vote in the presidential election for the first time
• Be finishing my second to last semester in school
• Possibly be going to Ireland for a Dialogue
• Ireland: Irish Society, Literature and Film - students will be introduced to modern Irish culture and society through its vibrant traditions of literature and film.  Students will focus on the exploration of Irish novels, short stories, and films using these as gateways to explore the island’s history, politics, monuments, architecture, landscapes, music, food, and folk culture.  
• Film festivals
• Will see films at the inaugural Montclair Film Festival this coming May
• Might see a film at the upcoming IFF Boston or Tribeca Film Festivals
• Telluride Film Festival - applied to a student symposium program
• Sundance 2013 - hope to lead a trip to Sudance for NUFEC!
• Bermuda with family in July
• Hope to visit Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal & DC this summer
• Looking to increase the amount of MLS stadiums I've seen from 3 (New York, Seattle, New England) to maybe 5-6 (Vancouver, Portland, Philadelphia)
• Possibly begin preparing for the GMAT & looking at MBA programs (going to visit University of Washington when in Seattle)