Ranking Pixar

So Toy Story 3 finally came out this weekend, and Pixar continues it's streak of awesome films. Now, there are some I liked more than others. But they were all enjoyable, solid movies and I own all of them. (Well, except Toy Story 3, obviously.) Here's my ranking of them, from lowest to highest.

11. Cars
This movie is really popular, and while I like it, I'm not really big about cars. I didn't even see it until years after it came out, actually!

10. Ratatouille
This movie was so hyped, and while it's good, it didn't quite reach it, in my opinion. I'm sure many people can argue with me on this, but I don't think it was the strongest story Pixar has done.

9. A Bug's Life
This was Pixar's second movie, and I just love all the little supporting characters. I also think Hopper is a great villain

8. Finding Nemo
I was surprised to see how low this one ended up, because this is really great movie and I've watched it many times. Just goes to show how great Pixar films are. Who can't love Dory and Crush?

7. Monsters, Inc.
Just love the characters in this one. And the ending is great. Can't wait for the sequel that's on the horizon.

6. The Incredibles
This movie is just so much fun. No capes!

5. Toy Story
The one that started it all. I just watched it yesterday and found I was still laughing and enjoying every minute of it. "The word I'm searching for, I can't say. Because there are preschool toys present."

4. Up
My husband will defend this movie to the death, and he's not even a huge Pixar fan. But the story of an old man's journey to complete what he and his late wife always dreamed of is such an engaging one.

3. Wall-E
There's hardly any talking in the first half of this movie, and yet it's so engaging. The first time I saw this I came away amazed at how easy it was to love characters that couldn't even speak.

2. Toy Story 2
More of the same great characters plus some new ones - including The Prospector, a great villain. "You're outta your box!"

1. Toy Story 3
Pure brilliance. A great continuation of the story. I've never cried at a movie so hard in my life. Very emotional and deeply touching. Pixar's finest one yet.

Imersed

I am like the most boring person recently because I did the exact same thing every night this week. Came home. Had dinner. Worked on my book. Went to sleep. That's it. I have been working on this chapter non-stop for the past few weeks. I have one scene left to go and then it's onto the last chapter of this book. There's still another book to come, but I can't believe how much progress I've made. I'm somehow keeping myself motivated considering I've written two chapters (that are 150+ pages each) in a few months. That's really quick for me, considering the previous chapter to that took me a WHOLE YEAR to do.

How long have I been working on this? Actively, well, since 2006. So four years. But I started off really slow. I kind of started working on it when I still worked at my old job, and then when I was unemployed I kind of picked it up again and wrote a chunk. But then I got a new job which ate up a ton of time. So I wrote less, but I still worked on it, writing sections here and there. I finished the first book sometime last year. And I started the next one.

And I stalled, stalled, stalled big time. I guess I was busy and unmotivated and lazy and all of that. Because I stopped writing for months. But then I picked it up and forced myself forward. And now here I am, 2 (almost) done chapters later.

And I intend to press onward until it's all finished. I can't possibly hope that I'll stay this motivated forever. The words will be harder to come by and life will get busy again, but I'll get myself back on track.

You know what the biggest motivating factor for me has been? The whole E-book movement and self-publishing. Because now I know that even if no one will buy my crap, I can get it out there anyway. And maybe someone will read it.

Rising

Yeah, I'm still alive. I've totally been neglecting this thing. It's not that I don't have anything write about, it's just that I've been writing other things. Like my book. Which is coming along. I'm past the halfway mark, which is something to be proud of...I guess. In fact I should probably be working on it right now, but instead I've decided to revive this thing.

Here are some quick reviews of things I've seen/played recently:

Iron Man 2 - Awesome, I actually liked it better than the first one.

Final Fantasy XIII - Really great, but there were some issues and kinda lacking some of the draw of the earlier titles.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Currently playing this. Super fun. Retains the charm of the original while managing to still be fresh. The addition of Yoshi and the ability to let you play as Luigi is awesome.

Okay, you don't get briefer than that.