How to annoy your neighbors part three

The trumpet is a wonderful instrument which you don’t hear very often, why not change that? Take a trumpet class and practice makes perfect. I love youtube! I have to ask and see if he wants to come and live with me...

How to annoy your neighbors part two

Christmas is upon us so why not spread some love and festivity and put up some decorative lights? More info here

Annoy your neighbors part one

(Sign found here)

Get a neon sign. The best thing would be to buy one and make sure that it’s obscene, impropriate or just scary. But anyone with bright lights will do, make sure they can see it from their bedroom. Call it art if anyone complains.

First out is Norway

Okay, so Mr Third Wheel, there for the comical relief I wonder… “Cold prey”, silly (and not in a good way) and predictable but hopefully not the best thing out of Norway (of course not, Turbonegro and Espen Knutsen are the best things from Norway).

Half way through and I’m really tired of this movie, feels like a 70’s-80’s crap horror. Slow and dull…

I’ve managed to watch 1h and 10min so I should be able to make it through the last 20minutes.

I made it though… by the end of the movie I don’t remember the person’s name… not good. Best part of the movie, the end where they play Turbonegro “All my friends”. Mr Third Wheel is funny at times, silly name Morten Tobias (what’s with Norwegian people and double names?) He looks like a Norwegian stereotype and since we are on that subject, how more Norwegian can you get when you are trying to escape on skis, hilarious. Apparently they made a sequel…

Mr Third Wheel aka Mr Comical Relief aka Morten Tobias played by Rold Krisitian Larsen. The can opener broke, what are the odds of that?

"She's been chopped to pieces!" Mr Positive

Movies from all over the world

I’ll try to see more foreigner films, perhaps try to see one from each country, how many countries are there? I’ve seen movies from, China, Japan, England, America, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Germany… but I have never seen an Norwegian movie. This has got to change. So, more foreign films on TV please.

(Oops, I lied… Looked around and I have seen at least one Norwegian movie… but still, I should try and see something other than just American and English speaking movies.)

Memoirs of a geisha

My first audio book and I’m not sure I’ll give it another go. To listen to someone reading a story is odd, this one was read by a woman and she would speak with a hoarse voice at times because the character did. Sometimes reading really slow and she put a lot of feelings in things. Sounding mean or angry with there was nothing in the text that said that the person was angry. Story-wise I got a little annoyed with all the similes and such, every other sentence contained some bad poetic description and it was too much.

After I had listen to the book, I saw the movie and there were a lot of changes, some understandable and some just annoying. Since I had “listened” to the book I felt I understood everything that was happening but perhaps it would have been less so if I hadn’t? Love the clothes and the surrounding but the movie was pretty dull. The people I recognized were all Chinese; surely there are some Japanese actresses they could have used? And then there was the language, it was hard to understand what they were saying and again, happy that I had listen to the book so I knew what was going on.

In both the books and the movie the girls virginity was auctioned out and I have always been under the assumption that geishas aren’t prostitutes so I had to check it out and apparently Arthur Golden took that from a similar ceremony held by Oirans.

I should read Mineko Iwasakis “Geisha of gion” instead; perhaps that one will be more accurate?

Christmas wishlist

I never want anything for Christmas, well I do but I don’t make lists because it feels so, I don’t know, more like demands and not wishes. So I end up with a whole bunch of stuff that I don’t want or need so this year I’m thinking about making a wishlist.

CHRISTMASLIST 2009
Gift certificate at Adlibris and/or Bokus
Gift certificate at Sockdreams
Gift certificate at Twilfit
Teacups (you can never have too many teacups)

And this year I will do my very best and make sure I have all of my Christmas shopping done before December, or at least most of it.

Knitting…

Trying to knit my hats but for some reason they don’t turn out the way I want them too. Holes in all the wrong places or I’ve knitted for days with cables and such and then realize that somewhere I messed up and then have to start all over again. Right now I’m knitting without a pattern, let’s see if I can come up with a hat.

This weekend

Watched horror movies, but unfortunately only bad ones, but in my opinion good horror movies are hard to find and I get really scared so perhaps it’s a good idea that most of them are so lame?
First it was “The Fog” the re-make and what the… I hate when there are lose ends in movies and the whole thing about the guy cheating with that Stevie girl, what was that about? But it did look nice on that island, I like picturesque islands and I wouldn’t mind living on one someday.
Then it was “When a stranger calls”, also a re-make and come on… loads of loose ends and no real story. The house was pretty cozy though but far too much wooden panels for my taste.
“When a stranger calls” (1979) Oh my god what a piece of crap… The girls voice is irritating and the whole story is just messy and not at all scary. I understand why they changed a lot when they did the remake; I don’t understand why they called it a remake, why not just take the old story with the creepy phone calls to the babysitter and make a whole new thing? I just don’t understand the logic in horror movies. If I was that Jill chick I would take that shotgun and carry it with me at all times, and I would have all the lights on in the house at all times until the guy was caught.

Pumpkins spotted: 5 (but most of them showed up on Saturday, isn’t that like getting a Christmas tree on Christmas day?)
Trick or treaters spotted: Five (two of them on Saturday)
Trick or treaters knocking on the door: Zero
Christmas lights spotted: Five

Finished

Read my first (and maybe only) Sonya Hartnett book, "Stripes of the sidestep wolf". I wanted to read one of her books since I was her on TV when she won the Astrid Lindgren memorial award. It was boring, all books I read these days are boring… (well not ALL books but good books are rare).

Best in the book: The tassie tiger of course

Worst thing in the book: I got really annoyed when there was a rubber tree in Australia, someone probably translated gum tree to rubber tree… as far as I know there aren't any rubber trees in Australia.

Knock on wood

I’m doing okay with the short story. I couldn’t come up with anything so it’s based on a true experience and will be illustrated with pictures. I got it down and now I just have to tidy it up and get the ending done.

And knock on wood some more, I have an idea for a new story (thanks Aimée, you don't know it but you gave me the idea. It's a tricky one so I might not be able to do the plot justice and not go through with the idea but…The more I think of it the more it feels like this is way out of my league… First thing first, finish the first story, focus damn it!)

I don’t know if it was the translation or what…

But I didn’t really get “Alice’s adventures in Wonderland”. I quickly realized that there are plenty of puns and such and they were most definitive lost in translations but how much less got lost along the way? She just kept bumping into weird creatures and shrinking and growing… didn’t quite understand what’s so brilliant about it (sorry).

Best: "Thank you," said Alice, "it's very interesting. I never knew so much about a whiting before."

Some numbers

Smiles given to strangers: 2
Smiles received from strangers: 1
Books received in the mail: 1 (unfortunately it came along with a bill)
Minutes amazed how wonderful the world is: ½ when I caught a glimpse of a Japanese maple
Plans for the weekend: 0
Books currently reading: 4 (might be five later on)
Words written on the short story: 0
Pumpkins spotted: 1 (but it wasn’t carved)
Cups of tea: 2

Thursday

Today we, J and I went birthday shopping for B and a little for me.

Keep your fingers crossed. So I bought the nighty but for some reason I didn’t try it when I was trying on some of the bras (none of them were good, which is good for my economy)… So, now at home I will try it and it better fit because you can’t return underwear. I hope it fits… It fits! It fits nicely without clinging to my jelly parts, so cozy! You should feel the material, oh and I got the cozy angora socks and some tea with almond, apple, cinnamon which was really nice (but I think you need a little sugar in it and I don’t have sugar in my tea), will be perfect along with all the books I got at the library ( I did not like the new library but at least there were no kids there playing video games, but it was way too loud). Got two books with short stories in them and hoping for some inspiration, so far I get very little of what Virginia Woolf is trying to tell me. Only read two of her stories The mark on the wall is one of them.

Tired… want to put on my nightie some socks and just go to bed.

Started reading “Alice in Wonderland”

After finishing the lame Bridget Jones I started reading “Alice in Wonderland”, I’ve started a few times but never finished it. It’s a big book with illustrations on every page so it’s not like I can take it with me and read it on the bus.

Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Totally blocked, again…

I just don’t understand why it’s SO hard to get one short story down. I honestly believe that everyone has a story inside of them wanting to get out but when I’m trying nothing is coming out, I don’t get it. Should I start over and try to come up with something new or stick with this piece of crap I’m working on? Why can’t I come up with anything decent? I am that bad?

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

The main reason I picked this book from the bookcase was because I remembered that the first one was easy to read and with 101 books in 1001 days I need books like that but it ended up taking quite some time. I really didn’t like this book. I don’t remember much from the first book but I don’t think it was THIS bad. Bridgets seems to drink on a daily bases (do people in England really drink THAT much?) and act like a total nut job. I don’t like any of the characters and… well I just don’t understand this book or how people can like it. The movies was better but that’s doesn’t mean it was a good movie. All the things they had removed in the movie were good, like Gary for example and the subplot with her parents and Wellington. The Rebecca plot works better in the movie as well. Mark Darcy is much more charming in the movie...

Books so far

Here was my day (I think, if I remember it correctly)

1. Got out of bed, late like always
2. Took the dog for a walk
3. Watched soap
4. Spent a frustrating hour or so in front of the computer trying to write a short story. I suck!
5. Some more dog walking
6. Getting Aimée package/letter ready
7. Made some dinner, same stuff as yesterday since that was all I had home.
8. Um… dog walking?
9. More frustrating time in front of the computer before giving up on writing and watching “Supernatural” instead.
10. Pining up my hair to see if I would look good with a fringe.

Just because

This illustration by Arthur Rackham is my main inspiration for my story, it will most likely suck but hopefully I will finish it. That’s the most important things right now, finishing something.

Arthur Rackham

You don’t need a reason to post some nice Rackham images. I should get a book with some of his work in it.

Perhaps because it’s autumn

But the darker the better. I just hope I don’t scare myself too much, I have a habit of doing that. I like this painting, “Nightmare” by Henry Fuseli (bad picture but it was hard to find a decent one).

Short stories

I really do need to get some routine when it comes to writing, I never finish any of my stories so I suggested to Sarah that we should try and write one short story with each letter… Writers block immediately. Then it loosed up after reading a lot of short stories but then I pitched the idea to my brother and he was not impressed. Sigh… I’m back to square one…blä, I suck! Why is writing so difficult?

I love lingerie

I have made plans to go to Swedish lingerie store Twilfit real soon and try on some of their goodies. I don’t really have the body for lingerie but I can’t help it. Lingerie isn’t my main priority right now, it’s buying clothes that will make me not freeze to death during the winter but… a girl needs a little treat every now and then right?

Never had anything corset-ish in my life because they rarely have that sort of thing in a A cup because we “don’t need” them so I have to check this one out. (Wanted it black but you can’t have it all)
Corset 449kr/49,59USD

Panties 149kr/19,74USD

Cute black balconette which is hard to find in my size (Rarely fits so keep your fingers crossed)

269kr/35,64USD

Panties 169kr/22,69USD

Garter belt 179kr/23,79USD

A nighty that really caught my eye and is the main reason I’m heading towards the store in the first place. 499kr/66,11USD

Love this rode but it’s 999kr/135,35USD so…

Cute cuddly angora socks with my name on it! It’s an autumn-must-have for 159kr/21,06USD

Hmm… I hope some of this stuff doesn’t fit or is extremely unflattering or uncomfortable, something or I’ll be broke...

I love this house!

Groombridge Place (some might recognize it from “Pride and prejudice” ) in Kent seem to have it all, adorable house, with a moat, a secret garden, a drunken garden and a ghost. I wonder what a house like that would cost…?

Groombridge Place, official site
Groombridge on Wikipedia

Australia

This was the first trailer I saw a while back and it looks decent but not great.



Then I saw this one and… looks pretty crappy if you ask me, looks like something we’ve seen before. Dull and ordinary. Let’s hope it’s a bad trailer and nothing else.