Honestly, what could be more fun than being a tourist in your own city? One of the exciting bits of living in a place like Los Angeles is that you are sitting on top of a gold mine in terms of history and entertainment. For the most part I work all throughout the weekends so getting a chance to go out and explore is seriously rejuvenating... even if you come home at the end of the day too tired to walk to bed. So yesterday, two of my closest friends joined me for a great day in Los Angeles!
Here was our little itinerary for they day:

Hey humans behind their computer screens! So for some reason last week I subconsciously wanted to spend way too much money/satisfy my film lover side and saw three movies in theatre. Yes, ALL IN ONE WEEK!
As a sort of unspoken rule most summer movies just tend to be blegh. It's the same with summer television like props out to Netflix because with the Bachelorette ending (I know. Someone throw a Starbucks at me quick) there is literally nothing good until September. If it's all a ploy to get people outdoors all I can say to that is YES I WILL CONTINUE WATCHING NEXT EPISODE.
So not to get too sidetracked here... the three movies I watched are:

1. Ghostbusters
2. The Legend of Tarzan
3. Star Trek Beyond

So as of right now Adventures in the City that Never Sleeps has sadly come to an end. We are now entering the era of "The Leg Up" (more on what this name means to me later). It has been something I've been thinking about for awhile now and I finally decided to put it into action. I have to say it is a little invigorating to have something you created changing its name after such a long time.
When I started the blog I was in the second semester of my first year of college. At first all I wanted was to document some things that went on in my life. Almost like a scrap book of my ideas and adventures with friends during this crazy college experience. For the most part I would post like once every four months and even stopped altogether for awhile as different things kept capturing my attention.
It wasn't until recently that I started blogging about products, routines, and other things in my life that I enjoy and wanted to share with the blogging community. For me it has never been about getting a bunch of readers but just as a place where I could publicly share some of the goings-on in the life of a twenty-something who was living far away from home.
Another part of this "rebranding" is that in a few short weeks (almost like 50 days?!?!) I will be leaving New York City. I have grown accustomed to making tiny changes in preparation for big life changes. For the most part I compartmentalize change by making sure it goes in increments. This could be anywhere from how I'm going to move my stuff back across the country to should I dye my hair before I graduate or right after to signal the next step.
April, I can already tell, is going to be the pivotal month of this new experience. School work is manageable, retail work is manageable, friendships are manageable. But there are so many tiny details that need to be finished before May 22nd (my graduation day) and June 1st (the day I move back to California). The job search is what it is and surprisingly I am handling the stress of this remarkably well even though I have only gotten responses from companies that I don't really see myself fitting into. I will be *reluctantly* moving home until I can save up for a deposit on an apartment and I am already making plans for later in the year to travel with old friends.
It's really crazy to be having such an adjustment after I literally feel like I just moved here. The apartment feels like home and I can remember back to last May where I couldn't imagine having to live in such a tiny place for what seemed like a very very VERY long year.
So I guess that's what The Leg Up is doing for me. It's just one of the thousands of changes I am making before the next step. This path of education is coming to a very swift ending, one that I have really only mentally prepared for these past few months.
Some of you may be asking "Why the leg up?"
Well obviously, if I haven't said before, I am quite tall and I thought it would be fun to do a play on words for the new title. The idiom - getting a leg up - is like getting a boost from life. That's what I want this blog to be for this new phase. For the readers, for myself, for whomever may come across it. I think we could all use some support (even support as common as what new makeup to buy at the drugstore).
So thanks for sticking around and welcome to The Leg Up! As always xoxo Sam

So I will have to start out by saying I am obsessed with movies. Not to brag but I would battle anyone on movie trivia ranging all the way to the first movies that were ever created to the most current films to hit theatre's. I worked at a movie theatre for two years and it was one of the most brilliant jobs I have ever had. That being sad I do not enjoy reading critic reviews because I think it has become a community of snobs who choose not to enjoy films solely because they want to appear above the general audience who are entertained by certain movies. For me the Golden Globes are more enjoyable because they really try to get a good round up of the top movies this year. If that means putting Ridley Scott's  The Martian in the same category as Amy Schumer's Trainweck well... at least they got them all in there.  However the Oscars have always held a higher prestige in the world of cinema and for that I try every year to watch all the best movie nominations. Here is the list of the
2016 ballot:
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

I'm sure if you read any movie review right now they would tell you the Revenant (with 12 nominations) is a safe bet for best film. So far I have watched...

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• The Martian
• Room

So obviously I still have half of the films to watch! However, it is hard for me to agree with Bridge of Spies being a contender for best film and Joy being completely snubbed and for that I will instead review Joy and not review Bridge of Spies (because I can and because it looks really boring).
The Big Short
Loved it. Smart, humorous, and most of all HONEST! Being a 13 year old at the time of the market collapse it was so interesting for me to actually learn exactly what happened. Steve Carrel really should have been nominated for best actor but... I digress. Considering the director went from making slap-stick comedies like Anchorman to something with such a highly intelligent humor is incredible. I just have to say this isn't one where you can half pay attention because like they say some of the words used (in the financial world) are meant to make your head spin.
Brooklyn
So, it was cute... it was heart warming... the cinematography was gorgeous... I didn't really love it. Not that it wasn't a nice story about an Irish immigrant who is truly stuck between a rock and a hard place but honestly that's all it really was for me... a nice story. I wouldn't necessarily categorize it with Nicholas Sparks films but it was pretty dang close.
The Martian
Oh my god if you didn't fall in love with Matt Damon in this film then you are truly a heartless humanoid and need to reevaluate everything about your life. jk... but truly this film was so epic
I was on the edge of my seat the entire time like holding my breath. It also made me feel a bigger connection to understanding places like JPL (somewhere I visited as a kid but never really understood).  There were no bad people, no ill wishes, just hope and not to mention great humor amongst all the tension.
Room
If I could have one wish it would be that Room wins best picture. I went into this film with no knowledge of what it was about, what I would expect, nothing. And I am so so happy I did. There is so much to love about Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay's relationship that you actually feel like they could be a real life mother and son (not to mention Brie's actual Instagram posts about Jacob ugh... my heart). The climax literally had me almost on the floor about to pass out from anticipation and I love when a film can do that to me. So you are hearing it now! My nomination for best picture is ROOM

I will continue to do the other four movie nominations within the following weeks so look out for that! Let me know what your favorite movies this season are as well! xoxo Sam