Black Water

So, third movie is from Australia and it’s called Black Water, “This movie is based to true event”, that always makes me suspicious. But I guess it doesn’t have to be a lie, if a person gets killed by a crocodile (which I’m pretty sure has happened) you can base a story on that, everything is fabricated but it is based on the story were a person was killed by a crocodile. But I don’t get why? I don’t think it adds anything to the story by claiming it is based on truth; it doesn’t get scarier so why bother? Thoughts on this one anyone?

Snacks: Raisins (waiting for dinner)

Three people head off for holiday… um, why would you want to spend Christmas break with your sister and her boyfriend? Sounds really boring and third wheel to me.

I just hate scene when people are trying to get out of the water, Jaws flashbacks from when I was six I guess. I get stressed out watching it and want to yell at the screen. Don’t these people watch animal shows? I can hear Sir David Attenborough sighing, “Crocs can jump you stupid fools!”

Like with all horror movies you questions people’s actions, I’m sure I would be of no use if there was a scary crocodile in the water (unless you think crying and pissing oneself is helpful) but it looks so silly when people don’t act the way you want them to in these situations. Like in Friday the 13th when all hell breaks loose and the girl decides to make coffee… maybe that’s what you would do because you are scared senseless but it looks so stupid.

Got to take a break, dinner and my dog is expecting his dinner too and then a walk. I’m glad I didn’t watch a movie with some killer who kills people who walk their dogs; I think I’m safe from crocodiles in the snow…

What’s with movies that make you want to eat? I just want to stuff my face with something but I’m not hungry.

Not that scary but horror movies rarely are and I’m not sure I would really call this horror. Yes, it was absolutely uncomfortable to watch each time anyone was close to water but scary as a movie? No. There were some things I don’t believe are normal crocodile behavior but the crocodile isn’t really a monster, more just a crocodile.

The girl is cute, she reminds me of someone… maybe if Scarlett Johansson and Naomi Watts had a baby?

Best thing in the movie: The cute little frill-necked lizard that hurries across the road, so cute!

Dead Snow

I need a break from all the garden work… I rather be out raking and digging than looking up how to sow stuff and whatnot on the net (all garden stuff is posted here). So movie time it is. Norwegian horror, how bad can it be? The last and only Norwegian movie I’ve seen was Cold Prey and thinking back I don’t remember hating it but apparently I didn’t when I watched it. So second movie in my little challenge is Dead Snow from Norway. Undead Nazi...

Tea: Raspberry (because it’s the only one left)
Snack: Falun rågrut (crisp bread)

Yellow Bastard Production, that’s a funny name. Movie starts with “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Grieg and we see lovely scenery of Norwegian wilderness. I’m expecting lusekoftor within a minute… No, no lusekofta but the movie is far from over so hopefully there will be one and a pair of skis before it’s over.

Some Guy: Why do we even play this game?
Some Other Guy: Because Hollywood has told us it’s super fun.

So true, they are always playing Twister in American movies and TV shows. I never have and it doesn’t look like that much fun.

(Nice little cottage though)

I think I’ve figured out who’s going to die first… (Update: I was way off)

They like to have snow scene, either a guy on a scooter, sled, whatever and “cool” music… “Cool” music always sounds stupid to me since it’s so obvious that they want the scene to “cool” and it never is when it’s force, looks more like a low budget coke commercial.

(Looks like a nice place for a tea party, without the undead Nazis of course)

There are a few issues I have with the plot and I won’t spoil it if anyone wants to see the film but, surely someone who read the script would have commented on it.

(If this was an american movie I think this guy would look different in that version)

I don’t know how old they are supposed to be but one of them act like he’s a really dull 40 year old and they are all boring losers. I don’t get the feeling it is always intended to be funny but it is; it’s like a campy movie without the campy.

After 49 minutes it is getting a little dull. I find it hard to remember people’s names. In Sweden we don’t use names unless the person we are talking about isn’t there, we don’t tell Anna, “Anna you have to call him.” And I’m guessing it’s the same in Norway so they don’t use people’s names as often and it makes it harder to remember them, at least that’s my theory at the time (it’s way past midnight and my head is weird so…).

Leading Actor

The Oscars are only a few days away and every year we try to guess who’s going to win and see who with can get most of the right (I never win…) Print a ballot and play the game too, only eight days left! I haven’t seen any of the nominated movies, at least I don’t think so.

Leading Actor
Jeff Bridges “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner “The Hurt Locker”

Morgan Freeman has an Oscar, support in “Million Dollar Baby” but this is the fifth time Jeff is nominated so… I think he should get one. I don’t think I’ve seen Jeremy in anything, oh I lied, I’ve seen him in “North Country” anyway, based on what I have seen from these people Morgan is the best actor but I think it’s Jeffs turn.

Crazy Heart trailer

I Sell the Dead

Friday and first movie in my little horror challenge is “I Sell The Dead”, I read something about this movie and I had to look it up and I liked the trailer but for some reason it went straight to DVD here in Sweden.

Tea: Raspberry
Snack: Sponge cake

The intro, where nothing happens just an illustrated background that goes on and on for 2 minutes and 25 seconds, eaten all of the sponge cake…

Fun film and a very pretty one, I really like the atmosphere and I will keep an eye on director Glenn McQuaid and see what he will do next, there are rumors about a sort of sequel and he's making "I Sell the Dead" into a comic.

For everyone who likes darker movies, not much horror more humor. I started to think of Mel Brooks "Young Frankenstein" but with a little more gore (not much though).

Larry Fessenden and Dominic Monaghan

Horror movie challenge

I came up with a challenge, watch ten horror movies from ten different countries. I’m into horror right now so horror it is. Don’t think I know that many foreign horror movies (a few Asians)…

1. I Sell The Dead (USA)
2. Black Water (Australia)
3. Dead Snow (Norway)
4. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Germany)
5. High Tension (france)
6. Surviving Evil (UK/South Africa)
7. Prey (South Africa)
8. Rec (Spain)
9. Sauna (Finland)
10. Körkarlen (Sweden)

Cold... + Jane Austen

A long and cold winter... right now it's about -18C which is according to my little converter somewhere around -0,4F. Not funny! I will get my flannel pyjamas on and my angora sock and go to bed, just after I finish listening to The History of England by Jane Austen online.

Nighty night...

Mansfield Park X 2

Managed to read the book and see the movie (2009). No matter which of the two you pick first the second will be a surprise because they’ve changed a lot from the book. If I had seen the movie first I would have expected the book to be better… not that the movie was good. They have changed big things like a no to yes, I hope I don’t give too much away here… The leading lady, Fanny Price is two different people. The movie is actually based not only on the book but also on Jane Austens letters which give Fanny a lot more spunk than she has in the book.

If you can only pick one way to experience Mansfield Park I would pick the movie simply because it’s faster to watch it than to read it.

On to Emma soon in my little Jane Austen experience and I loved that Sarah gave away a copy of “Pride and Prejudice” so I said I would steal that idea and I did. I have a spanking new copy of Emma (but I think someone sat on the package though…). All you need to do is to leave a comment and by the end of the month (or when there is more than one comment, which is more likely the case) I will pick a name and see who wins.

UPDATE: Due to Sarahs nice little promo the last day to sign up will be February 28 and Mars 1 I will pick a winner. And I hope it inspires more people to give away books.

Movies

I saw more than 209 movies in 2009 (since 1 June) some might say I have a problem but I would like to call it a hobby.

Worthy of your time: The acting in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is very impressive, you rarely see acting like that today. And Elizabeth Taylor is a gorgeous looking woman. I got a crush on her and she have a lot of fun costumes in Cleopatra but I found the movie a little too long and tedious for my liking, but if you want to look at some amazing costumes get some tea and popcorn and watch it.

I’m a sucker for Baz Luhrmann so I had no problem with Australia and it’s a pretty movie visually but I understand why some people hate it so it might not be for everyone.

I didn’t have any expectations what so ever when I sat down and watched “The Wrestler” but it was a pleasant surprise, Mickey Rourke is wonderful and there’s a rumor that Nicolas Cage was at one point supposed to have the leading role and man what suck fest it would have been so good that that didn’t work out.

Maybe it’s more for hardcore movie fans but Metropolis was wonderful, it felt very modern despite being a silent film from 1927. Beautiful but again, not for everyone.

Singin’ in the Rain, easy to like, fun and perfect for a rainy day. Makes you want to sing and dance. And if you like that you will probably like Gypsy too, which also makes you want to sing and dance but also take you clothes of so be careful.

Not sure if I got a director’s cut version or what but at times “Once upon a Time in the West” didn’t make sense but the first half is movie history and a must for everyone who’s interested in movies.

Loved “Rebel Without a Cause”, it was great and I have to get it on DVD. Wonderful movie and again it felt very modern, it could have been done yesterday. I do find it weird that no one has attempted to do a remake, I’m not saying they should (absolutely not) but with such a good story it is surprising that they haven’t, especially when you think about the remakes that have been done over the years.

“The Fall”, a movie I hadn’t heard anything about but after seeing a still from it I knew I had to see it, I like pretty movies and this movie wasn’t only pretty it was good too. Lee Pace was super cute, is he single? Anyway… I liked it and it’s a movie I can see over and over again.

Whenever something sticks out from the standard American movies I get happy. “This is England”, the opening scene and my first thought, “This would never been okayed by an American company”, there’s a charm here. I can’t really put my finger on what it was that I liked about it but I enjoyed it.

“Sunshine Cleaning”, charming and enjoyable. It feels like, if you liked “Little Miss Sunshine” you will like this movie too.

“A Very Long Engagement” isn’t as good as “Amelie” but it’s good and beautiful like usual when Jean-Pierre Jeunet is involved.

Books

Did some calculations and it turns out I’ve read 45 books in 2009 (!) which I find amazing since a few years ago I barely read at all. Some of them were young adult books and you can read one of those in a day but some of them were in English and that takes longer so I guess it evens out.

My "101 books in 1001 days" doesn't seem impossible which I thought it would be.

Best books 2009: I liked Oscar Wilde, his language is so colorful and fun. I also enjoyed Charles Dickens “Great Expectations” (I love Victorian times) and I’ll read more of him in the future. Gypsy Rose Lee was interesting too. Oh and I almost forgot “Pride and Prejudice” which I really enjoyed (everyone should read it).

In Swedish: 25
In English: 20

What happened to all the birds?

(Picture found here)

I used to fill the birdfeeder several times and their little table too. Especially when the ground is covered with snow and finding food is harder. I could sit there for hours watching all the birds swooping around but now… where are they? The peanuts are all there, haven’t seen a single bird there. Seen a few blue tit and great tit and that’s it, unless you count the magpies of course. There used to be so many birds, woodpecker in all sizes, Eurasian jay, nuthatch, finches… there were loads of birds and now there is nothing. I guess that’s what’s happen when you cut down a wooden area and remove their water supply, who could have thought right…

The only time I have to refill the table is after it’s been raided by the magpies or crows. I miss my little birds and the squirrel hasn’t been there a single time since the wood was cut down. The heron wasn’t spotted as often as before (could it be the apartment complex they build next to his lake? For some reason the people living there have the lake confused with a garbage bin…)

The wooden area across the street wasn’t that large but it’s evident now just how many animals thought of it as their home.

Cold!

Right now I’m happy my dog doesn’t want to go out. He only takes one walk in the morning and then he refuse to leave the house, which I don’t mind now when it’s -16,9C outside! My toes get cold just thinking about it. The last few weeks has been cold and we have plenty of snow, we had a white Christmas which was a very long time since I last experienced.

I think I have experience at least -28C in my life, perhaps a few times when I was young that it was -30C. What is the coldest weather you’ve ever experienced?

2010

I’ll try to come up with more realistic things than before, I am the master of postponing things, “Why do today what I can do tomorrow?” (Oh, right now I feel like murdering a few people on my block, slowly… They are sending off fireworks like crazy, it’s 23:27 and I want them to die! Have to check my baby… Poor thing, it hurts to see him like this, scared and drugged up like Courtney Love.)

1. Read at least one scripted per week
2. Control my anger, take a deep breath and count to ten when I get mad

To be continued…

Last Year’s New Years Resolutions

One by one
1. Go to the gyno and do a smear test or whatever it’s called (sounds like fun doesn’t it?) Check!
2. Get a haircut Check!
3. Buy a dress or a skirt. Oops…

Continuously
1. Keep a food diary to see what I need to add and remove from my “diet” Post it on the blog (and please yell at me when I’m not eating health) (Oops… doesn’t feel very necessary anymore)
2. Write X pages per X (have to figure out what amount of pages per day/week is reasonable) (Yes, I should have done this by now…)
3. Work on watching ALL 250 top movies on IMDB (some would call that a waste of time but…) (I’m doing well on this one but it takes time)
4. Get a pedicure (homemade, I’m pretty darn good) at least once a month. (started out good but…)

Projects
1. Finish one longer story (No!)
2. Finish a synopsis for a movie (No!)
3. Learn how to walk in heels (No!)
4. Learn how to do a decent manicure at home (No!)
5. Try to sew something, either finish the pants I have or make a simple dress (No!)
6. Try embroidery (No!)
7. Finish my brothers shirt and start knitting in the hats (that was last year’s new year’s resolution for Pete sake!) (No!)

All in all, I did not do well...

I hate New Years!

It’s hard to start the New Year being positive when New Year is such a rough day. Fireworks… It starts early, around Christmas and people don’t understand what it does to animals. My dog refuse to walk outside and is acting really weird for a long time since people will continue sending off fireworks for weeks after New Years.

My baby got stressed out around 4 o’clock and started scratching the walls and panting, and I could not get him to walk outside today, well at 10 in the morning but not after that which means I have to be prepared to take him out at any moment during the night when he has to go.

I also have to drug him every year to get him to calm down and I hate to do that but he’s panting like he ran a marathon in 40C heat and doing weird things like trying to knock the Christmas tree over.

If people only waited until midnight so that the torture didn’t went on all day at least, that would be a great relieve for my baby and I but no…

Next year I would love to rent a cabin in the middle of nowhere so I could enjoy New Years and just relax...

How to annoy your neighbors part five

Where I live you don’t need a permit to have chickens, it is advice that you ask your neighbors but… So maybe I should get a chicken coop, very cute and country-ish, especially with a rooster that crows at seven in the morning.

(Picture found here)

And they’ll give me eggs and fertilizer for the garden. I’ve also heard that chickens eat a lot of bad bugs in the garden such as ticks for example.

(Picture found here)

Oops, I did it again…

I got myself a Christmas present, books!

I just read Bill Brysons “Made in America” and I really liked it so I got another one of his books, “In a sunburned country” which is about Australia.

What else did I get…? More Australia, “The Explorers” by Tim Flannery.

Been into biographies lately so I got Marilyn Monroes “My Story”, Johnny Rottens “Rotten, No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs” and Louis Brooks “Lulu in Hollywood”

Only two books were fiction, “Emma” by Jane Austen which I will give away and “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman.

I want a house with a view

Our new neighbors seem very surprised (and upset) about the fact that you can see in through a window just as well as you can look out of it. Surely they can’t be surprised that our house is there since it was there before they started building theirs. And why build the house with huge windows facing our house if they were going to be annoyed with the lack of privacy? They knew the house is occupied and have windows as well so seeing us can’t be so hard to imagine can it?

I personally get pissed off a lot now since I can see straight into their house from most part of ours. I have the curtains constantly shut in my bedroom which is really gloomy. It’s so irritating to look at these people walking around in their house and it’s not like I’m staring but it’s impossible not to see them when their house is lit and it’s dark outside. They come storming to shut the blinders when I’m in the kitchen; I think they believe I’m spying on them…

(What if this was your view when you looked out the window during breakfast. I know I would be a happier persons if it was my view.)

Reading Mansfield Park right now and I find it a little harder to follow than I did Pride and Prejudice, perhaps because I had seen P&P the movie and was a little more familiar with the story or maybe since MP is written after P&P Austen has excelled as a writer and makes it harder for me to follow due to my English not being good enough? Anyway… I like the part where they are talking about houses, Mr. Rushworth says, “The approach now, is one of the finest in the country.” You don’t think about approaches today do you? I wish people did.

“It would be too ridiculous for me to attempt any thing where I am now, with my little half acre.” Poor Mrs. Norris with only half an acre, it would be ridiculous to do anything with such little space. I’d KILL for half an acre!

And Lady Bertram says, “if I were you, I would have a very pretty shrubbery. One likes to get out into a shrubbery in fine weather.” I would love to have enough space for a shrubbery and walking in it, spring and fall sounds like an excellent time to take a stroll in the shrubbery doesn’t it? And maybe have a gazebo at the end (or in the middle) of it where you can enjoy a cup tea with some friends.

Fanny wants to see the avenue at Sotherton before it’s taken down (crazy fool, why take it down?). Imagine having an avenue leading up to the house; that would be some approach wouldn’t it?

“It is ill placed. It sands in one of the lowest spots of the park…” Location, location, location, everyone know it’s about location and yet they always build houses in bad places. “Oh, let’s blow this mountain to smithereens and build a house here. I know it’s barley any room for it and the only view will be of the neighbors kitchen but so what? Just build a huge brick wall around the place and it will be okay.”

I want to move and have a view, I want to have some space around the house for gardening and wildlife, I want to live close to nature and grow my own veggies. I also want to be able to take a long walk in nature, whether that’s my own yard or wilderness is less important. Enough place for my dog to run and to really stretch his legs. I don’t want to have walls around me to shut the neighbors out, I want an open area with enough distance to the neighbors for the both of us to feel relaxed and comfortable in our own backyards (now I’m not even comfortable inside my own house because of the lack of privacy) to do whatever we want.

Sid & Nancy

It’s London and the year is 1977, year of punk and Sex Pistols. I want to be impressed, I want to say that I was glued to the screen but I’m not impressed at all, even Gary managed to disappoint me at times.

(I like this shot)

Gary at the time is 28 and he’s playing 20 year old Sid Vicious, he’s good but not in every scene. Gary is the best thing in this movie and it’s fun to see him in the silly underwear. He apparently ended up in hospital because he lost too much weight when he prepared for the role.

(Nice little pants on a skinny Gary. Do you think that chick looks like she's 20?)

Courtney Love auditioned for the part as Nancy and I think she should have got it. I think she would have done a great job, she wouldn’t have to act that much, just pretend her name is Nancy; she’d be outstanding! She instead got the part of Gretchen and has like two three line and looks surprised most of the time (and is barely recognizable, she has had A LOT of surgery done, and her daughter Francis looks just like her).

(Courtney looking fresh as a daisy like usual)

Instead of Courtnet we have Chloe Webb as Nancy and who goes, “Ahhhhg” a lot. Nancy was only 20 when she died and Chloe is 30 but she looks at least 50. Her voice/accent is… At first I thought she was British and doing an awful American accent but apparently she’s an American.

(A nice shot of Chloe Webb)

Johnny Rotten wasn’t at all impressed with this movie, called it “the Peter Pan version” and I would too if I had such a lame actor portray me and the lip-sync is horrible.

Sid & Nancy at imdb

Best thing in the movie: Gary, dressed in black… Hm, I think I’ll buy a lot of black clothes this winter.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

At first it was pretty funny, the first few pages I laughed and thought it was sort of cute but the it becomes more like bad fan fiction.

It doesn’t feel like Grahame-Smith is a Janiet, quite the opposite. It feels like he’s making fun of the whole story (and not in a good way) and changing a lot of the characters. Would Mr. Bennet sleep with prostitutes while in China? Of course not! Would Jane be capable of hitting Kitty and Lydia with wet bamboo? Hell no! Would Mrs. Gardner have a polish lover called Sylak? No she wouldn’t!

Silly silly silly… I have to read “Mansfield Park” now to remedy myself from this experience.

This is one of the reasons I’m not big on food

(picture by Anna Skoog and the to the right it says Divine salad, not so sure about that)

I found this recipe on a salad and it looked so yummy and sounded pretty darn yummy too so I had to wait a year so that there were fresh blackberries in the store, they were a little expensive but I want to follow the recipe so I got them, along with the arugula salad which you get in a tiny little bag with a big juicy price tag on it and Serrano ham was 14 slices for 60 SEK. And the figs costs way more than apples…When you spend some money you (at least me) expect that it will taste lovely but I’m not so sure.

The dressing is just like any other dressing, don’t like it, taste blah and the ham! Ew, smells like feet/cheese!

Haven’t eaten the actual salad yet so we’ll see but… I always get disappointed in the kitchen unless I’m making desserts.

Waiting for the first storm

(Photo by Deoradhain)

It’s time for the first fall storm, can’t wait. A few trees usually gets knocked down, unfortunately my neighbor cut all their trees down (illegally) so they can’t get squished under them (but maybe some other horrible things can happened to them?).

Upcoming movies

The Nines: Written and directed by John August, he’s written a few scripts for Tim Burton so I feel it’s my duty to see what he’s up to on his own. I don’t know much about the movie; I want to be surprised so I’ll keep it that way.

Disturbia: I saw the trailer and it looked like fun so… There are a few things in the trailer that I liked, I hope I wasn’t fooled. Not a fan of that Shia guy but, I’ll live through it I’m sure.

Oldboy: It’s on top 250 so I have to watch it but I think it looks interesting so hopefully it won’t be one of those movies were you suffer for a 120 minutes.

The Order

The Order: A young priest goes to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of his mentor and head of Order. As always when people go to Rome to investigate things within the church all hell breaks loose with a bunch of weird societies, demons and whatnot, you know the drill. There is no reason what so ever to see this movie unless you are a Heath fan and want to see all of his movies. There is no suspense, no nothing…

Best thing in the movie: Heath all dressed in black. Note to self, buy a new black coat this fall.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon The movie starts as a documentary where we get to follow Leslie Vernon who’s preparing himself to début as the new psycho killer in a world where the likes of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers are real people and events. The film crew with Taylor Gentry in the lead tags along Leslie in his daily life and the preparations for the event that will make him a legend.

Maybe Jason Voorhees brings a crossword with him to the bathroom, maybe he has dinner in front of the TV watching The Simpsons but we don’t want to see that, we want to see what he does best, chasing and killing people with his machete while wearing his stylish mask. But in this movie we get to see the mass murderer in the makings life and it is a sad life with cardio exercise and living with his pet turtles. He makes lame jokes with the film crew and it reminds me of a sad interview with Ron Jeremy (who also has a pet turtle) and his attempt to be a standup comedian except then I felt for poor Ron but here the actor is not good enough for me to feel any kind of pity for him.

The movie makes a sudden turn at the end, from lame comedy to what seems to be an attempt to be an action/horror but it’s impossible to take it serious when we know that the “monster” lives with his pet turtles Church and Zoe. More of one genre and less of the other would have been nice because the mixture of the two is a complete failure.

There are a few interesting events when there’s a hint of chemistry between Leslie and Taylor similar to that of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter but unfortunately they remain only hints and perhaps I was the only one that felt them. I liked the idea of the journalist getting to close to her subject and have a hard time to stay neutral but…

If you listen to the dialog and have seen at least one horror movie before I doubt there will be any surprises in this movie. Apparently it’s supposed to be a fun satire of the genre but I didn’t get it.

Checklist

· Spooky abandoned house
· Stoned teenagers
· Blonde virgin
· Cars that doesn’t start
· Creepy mask
· Things we’ve seen before

The best thing in the movie: Leslies mask and Zelda Rubinstein

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Didn’t get the story, or the other two short stories in the book. Now I’m afraid that the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s will be dull too. But the movie looks incredible stylish, it could be a spread in any fashion magazine. Very pretty indeed, and it looks better than the book so, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.