reasons to be happy

1) We had a Pride and Prejudice watching night at my flat a week or so ago. (Obviously - the five hour BBC version.) We created a facebook event and just invited anyone who might conceivably want to come - and crossed our fingers that all fifty people wouldn't show up! In the end, there were about fifteen or sixteen of us, and so we moved all the couches, beanbags, and so on into my room, the biggest in the house, and had a REALLY GOOD TIME. We actually had a few extremely keen males show up, which always makes me feel hopeful about the state of male-kind.

Organising party food also makes me happy, and arranging the carrot sticks and celery, as in the photo above, was one of the best bits.

2) On Saturday night I went to a screening of the 1925 Russian silent film, "Battleship Potemkin". One of THE classic movies, this was shown in the Christchurch Town Hall, with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra playing the music - which was in this case written by Shostakovich. SUCH a good concert. Sadly I can't watch Soviet films without thinking "propaganda! propaganda!" anymore - but I could certainly admire the forward-thinking, beautiful cinematography, and the music was just amazing.

3) In 48 hours EXACTLY, I will be leaving for Europe. Now that I've got all my preparation pretty much done, I'm not panicky anymore, but EXCITED. And scared in a good kind of way.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on the weekend - surprisingly, loved it! The only Harry Potter movie that I liked up until now was the Prisoner of Azkaban, although the Goblet of Fire wasn't bad. So I wasn't expecting much.

I think they did a fantastic job of making a complicated book understandable. They cut things out, yeah, and the purists will have an issue with that, I guess. But we all know that when you turn a novel into a movie you have to change stuff, and I think they changed the right stuff.

The two stand-out performances were, for me, the young Tom Riddle of Dumbledore's memories - who looked like a choir-boy but was deliciously creepy. The other was Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn. I've always liked Jim Broadbent - it's difficult not to - but I don't know if I've ever liked him as much as I did in this movie. He was exactly the right choice for Slughorn. He also made me giggle with delight for approximately two minutes after his hilarious, PERFECT performance at the funeral of Aragog.

filling the nights

I am currently working nights - 11pm to 4am - and so I sleep from about 5am to 1pm every day, even when I'm not working, so that I don't exhaust myself completely. (It is currently 4:57 am in New Zealand.) This leaves a lot of space to be filled between around 9pm and 5am, hence, a lot of DVDs are being watched, and I have been compiling some utterly useless lists regarding male actors:

The actors that are not bad looking, even smoking hot, but undateable in real life simply because they have played some pretty convincing villains in their time

Cillian Murphy. After his creepy performance in Batman Begins (and I am sure he makes a wonderful villain in many other movies), he's just too villainous.

Andy Garcia. It's that mob look he's got going. Sizzling eyes but in a villainous sort of way.

Mads Mikkelson, of Casino Royale. This picture says a thousand words.

Mark Dymond, who played Captain Frederick Tilney in a recent version of Northanger Abbey. This photo doesn't quite capture the twisted smirk this actor pulled off when playing his womanising character. Actually, it's so convincing that even though he's drop dead gorgeous and plausibly successful with women in the movie that he becomes completely undateable.

David Anders, who played villain Julian Sark in the TV series Alias. (Isn't Sark a fantastic name for a villain?)

The actors who are just too beautiful to be dateable

Daniel Brühl, of movies like Goodbye Lenin, Ladies in Lavender, or Joyeux Noël. Good actor - too pretty.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, of Bend it Like Beckham and the recent The Tudors TV series. I mean, seriously. Look at that photo. Is that ridiculous or is that ridiculous?

Jesse Metcalfe, of Desperate Housewives. Cute, but a little too perfectly so. This goes for a whole genre of Jesse Metcalfe-type actors.

Henry Cavill, of The Count of Monte Cristo, I Capture the Castle, et cetera. What an amazing bone structure, eyes, wistful look, everything - unfortunately, he would be a great statue, but doesn't seem dateable.

The actors that are just about right (and sometimes I can't explain why

James McAvoy. In a weird British way. It seems like everyone is drooling over him these days and it just seems so irrational because he looks nothing like a sex symbol should. He's got Something.

Humphrey Bogart. There are other classic film actors like Cary Grant or Christopher Plummer who make much more sense to have a crush on (and don't get me wrong, I think they're rather attractive) but Bogart, like James McAvoy, just has that Something that leaps off the screen at you and makes absolutely no sense.
Alan Rickman. Now, I don't understand the girls who have a crush on Snape. But Alan Rickman in every other role oozes Something.

Toby Stephens. I've always thought he was pretty great but his recent role as Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre blew me away. I'm not saying it was a perfect adaptation of the book, but on the screen Toby Stephens captured something of the attractiveness yet physical unattractiveness of Rochester that is so tangible in the book. He's a bit prettier than a Rochester really should be, but after a while I started believing him, that he was ugly, even though at the very same time I was falling in lurve.
Finally, and obviously, and probably uncontroversially - Daniel Craig. PHWOAR. Phwoar, phwoar, phwoar. Words are obviously failing me. What is it about him? Can anyone enlighten me? Before I saw Casino Royale, I was surprised that he was chosen as Bond because his face is almost ugly. Then I saw the movie, and all confusion dissolved. It is the only movie I have seen in years in which my jaw was literally dropping at how yummy he is. I am going to see Quantum of Solace tomorrow night and I can't wait!

fueling my unrealistic expectations of life?

I mentioned in another post that I had been very naughty and ordered three DVDs from Amazon - adaptations of two Austens and one Bronte. They arrived on Saturday and I have been enjoying them so much for the last week. I am such a dork, and I live in fantasyland - but I LOVE it!!

Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen novel and so it was always going to be difficult to find the perfect film adaptation. I thought the actress who played Anne Elliot was quite a strange choice (although Captain Wentworth was dreamy), and I really disliked how they tried to use both endings - a bit inelegant really. (Jane Austen wrote one ending to this novel, scrapped it and wrote a second one, which is much better.) Still, overall I thought it was lovely. Some of the characters were very well cast, especially Sir Walter Elliot and Captain Wentworth. It was beautifully filmed. A lot of adaptations of this book have been a bit awkward because the book includes a lot of inner thoughts which are difficult to show on film, but this adaptation dealt with them very well. By the end of the movie I was thoroughly enjoying myself. :)
Northanger Abbey is high up there in my favourite Austen stories too. And this adaptation was almost perfect. I watched about half an hour of it and then started all over again because I just loved it so much and wanted to savour it! JJ Feild as Henry Tilney almost lived up to his character, who is in my opinion the most attractive Austen hero. Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland was almost exactly as I imagine her, very naive, very charming, very sweet. My one problem with it moved a bit too quickly through a few scenes at the abbey which are some of my favourites in the book. But with limited time, et cetera, I can understand why they chose those parts to shorten. All in all, it is a very pretty and lighthearted movie, which is SO good to see at this point of time when all these Austen movies are coming out full of heaving bosoms and melancholy music, which is just not how they are written, in my opinion.

Finally, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This 2006 adaptation showed on TV in New Zealand last year and I adored it, so finally got round to getting the DVD. It was TOTALLY worth it. I have been waiting for a good production of Jane Eyre for so long. Every other one I have seen has had huge problems with it. My initial objections to this were that Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson are a little too good-looking to play Rochester and Jane. But by the end I so did not care! They were absolutely wonderful in it. I have a HUGE crush on Toby Stephens now. Goody, another male actor almost twice my age to salivate over.

So - I recommend ALL of these DVDs. No disappointment.

right now

Being a cripple over the last couple of months has meant I've needed ways to entertain myself. And these are some of them:

Kate Miller-Heidke's album Little Eve. I bought this just before I left Australia (she's an Aussie chick) but only really started listening to it a few weeks ago and was very pleasantly surprised. This woman was trained as an opera singer and it comes through in her musicality, expressiveness and the way she tells her songs, yet they are really contemporary, quirky songs. She reminds me a bit of Regina Spektor but she never goes too far with the quirky factor. Almost every song is a winner, but my very favourites are "Make It Last", "Space They Cannot Touch", "Don't Let Go" and "Bored With Me". I especially love that in "Don't Let Go" she sings about friendship rather than romance - a neglected topic I think. I would recommend this album very highly and I give it five stars!

Flight of the Conchords. The first season played in NZ while I was away, so someone lent me the DVD when I got back and I have been thoroughly enjoying them. With typical lack of foresight or taste, TV NZ decided this group wouldn't take off, so they went to the States, and now have taken NZ by storm. I have been enjoying them so much, as have my sisters and brothers who literally roll around in hysterics when they hear songs like Business Time. Other favourites of mine are I'm Not Crying, Sally I Love You, and anyone who did high school French will love Foux de Fa Fa.

Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones. This novel won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize but even before then I have been wanting to read it but for some reason never got around to it. It is set in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea in the early nineties, when there was a violent conflict I had never heard of before. The story is about how the only white man in the village takes over the school when the violence starts, and reads the children Dickens' Great Expectations. It's a wonderful novel about the power of a story, narrated by a child, and is a moving and challenging read. I am very happy with my purchase, and equally happy that the author is a Kiwi. Hooray!

I have been wanting to see the German movie Sophie Scholl - The Final Days for ages now and finally watched it yesterday. It is inspired by a real person, one of the few heroines of Nazi Germany and one of my role models - a 21-year-old student who dared to speak out against the Nazi regime and the war. It is beautifully made. Sophie Scholl is played by Julia Jentsch, who is superb, and the rest of the cast is also very strong. Overall, though, it is a movie about a real event, and the real event is so compelling that that is the overwhelming strength of the film. A few years ago a film was made about the final days of Adolf Hitler. I'm not sure if it was intended, but this film about the final days of a brave and true heroine contrasts so emphatically with Hitler in his final days that I can't help but be moved.


Op Shop's album Second Hand Planet. This is a Kiwi band who have been quite popular here for a while now. The first single off this album "Maybe" was one of those songs that was played over and over on the radio so that I hated it. After the initial craze was over, though, I actually started to quite like it, especially when another single came out which is called "One Day". They are a little bit in the same style as Coldplay or Keane or U2, vaguely. I particularly like the songs off the album called "Noah" and "Nothing to Hide" but I have to admit that the rest of the songs are a bit of a disappointment. There's not much variation from the "Maybe" model except for the two single slowish songs ("Nothing to Hide" and "One Day"). So - an okay album. But not great.


Anne of Green Gables - The Sequel. I got this out on DVD on a whim, remembering how I'd enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables movies and books when I was younger, and found myself loving it all over again. I know everyone says this but I love Gilbert Blythe. And Anne is so cool. Now I'm going to have to read all the books again! In a way it's so nice to be able to have time to fill with things like this that are there for pure enjoyment.

So - what has everyone else been getting into lately?

cliche or truth?

I have over the last two months seen one movie about three times because I loved it so much - it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I won't say what it was because if I do I'm about to spoil a really special moment in it for anyone that hasn't seen it.

Actually, what I write here isn't going to sound all that original or "special". It's a bit of a cliche, in fact.

In this film, someone's father has always given them the advice that success isn't all life's about. Instead, what matters is to have tried.

Despite this being a really sweet moment, the first times I watched the film it just washed over me, to be honest. Yeah yeah, that's what everyone says, heard THAT before. Third time through, I stopped to think. The one thing I want to be successful at (- writing -) is the thing I'm most scared to attempt. My major reason for not hunkering down and writing The Novel, instead of just sitting round excusing myself and waiting for The Idea, is that rejection is a little too frightening. More frightening is making the attempt and then finding out that I'm a crap writer and I can't actually do it unless I want to sell my soul and do Mills and Boon. This has always made perfect sense to me even if I don't admit it.

(Of course, an element of my inaction is just pure laziness.)

But then I thought, suppose some day I die, which is more than likely. Will I really be lying on my deathbed surrounded by adoring hordes of descendants, or with my life flashing before my eyes in the midst of some tragic accident, thinking, "well, at least I never got rejected by a publishing company"?

I've got to get on with it. Just do it. Bite the bullet.

There are probably about ten cliches in this one blog post, not least that "trying is the most important thing". Maybe this particular cliche hasn't used up all its truth, though.

And at least if I write the novel and die without seeing success, I can delude myself into believing it will be published posthumously, make my grandchildren rich, and ensure for myself a well-kept tombstone.

casting call

Well, Stacy was the only one to suggest any actors for the roles of Tamara, Bronson or Norm (see previous post), and I happen to agree with her - Orlando Bloom would make a fantastic Bronson. As long as he can do a really, really corny American accent, because, as we know, the good guys are always American. Doesn't he just look like the archetypal good-guy-activist/child of an alien abductee? My only concern is that he may not be able to muster up the strength to carry Tamara out of any caves that are about to explode.


I'm not too sure about the female lead yet, but Jennifer Connelly seems to visually suit the Tamara role. She'll have to speak in a British accent, of course, because all scientists who are about to do something potentially planet-threatening are British. It would be a plus if she could wear glasses, and have a hyphenated surname. And of course her hair will have to be back in a tight bun, until she falls in with Bronson. I'm thinking a traumatic experience in her past has made her dress severely and act unapproachable, but she is scrupulously fair to her goofy assistants. I was thinking Rachel Weisz for the role at first, but I actually quite like her, and I would not force her to star opposite Orlando Bloom for all the world.

I'm also pretty sure that Kris Marshall of Love Actually would make a fantastic Norm, the nerd assistant who in my alternate ending has always been in love with Tamara and sacrifices himself for her in the end. I mean, just look at him. How cute is he? Some glasses, stammering, a white lab coat, and some pimples wouldn't go astray onscreen, but Norm needs that little-English-boy vibe.

Now, I was also thinking we need a villain. Obviously, the ewillas are pretty villainous, but I think we need an evil cigar-smoking, vodka-swilling Russian scientist/millionaire (with KGB origins, of course) to play a part in it all. He could be the one who bankrolls the entire project, but with the original aim in mind of developing a species to help him take over the world. At some point, Tamara will slap him, after which his thugs will grab her, twisting her arms behind her back, and she will cry helplessly, "Bronson! Help me!" Bronson will respond by clenching his fists and shouting "You brute!" at the villain, who will then launch himself into a monologue. Any suggestions for the villain's name and the actor who should play him? And what of his obligatory vile little habit? (ie, drinking vodka from skulls, or having an eye that bleeds like the villain in Casino Royale?) And how can he be killed?

My Great Idea

I have had The Idea! (being the idea that makes me a few million dollars) Yesterday someone told me about this big scientific project on the French-Swiss border. Basically, a whole lot of scientists who have too much money to spend (it has cost eight billion so far) have built a huge underground circular track. When it is finished they are going to get two protons going in the opposite direction, speed them up as close as possible to the speed of light, and finally get them to crash. The idea is that this will cause a sort of mini Big Bang and they'll be able to study the effects of it to see what happened at the beginning of the world.

Okay, so that's in very unscientific language and it's probably better, if you're really interested in the actual science, to follow the link above and see how the Boston Globe puts it. But for my purposes, the basics are all that's important, because I have found the perfect concept for a sci-fi movie! My first thought was maybe that the mini Big Bang could turn out to be actually a very big Big Bang and destroy the planet, but that doesn't allow for much action, so instead, this is what will happen:

A very beautiful but independent female scientist called Tamara will be heading this operation, with the aid of a lot of goofy sidekicks in white coats. There will be a handsome activist called Bronson protesting that the experiment can only lead to catastrophe, but she will ignore him and forge ahead with the plan, buried in the mountains below, as the article says, "bucolic countryside of dairy farms and rustic villages set against the snow-capped Alps". Unfortunately, when the two protons collide, there will be an actual Big Bang as there was at the beginning of our world, and this will create life - but the life of an evil organism hostile to man and greedy for power. Say, a cross between Godzilla and ewoks in appearance. As the ewillas set about destroying the pretty little Swiss farms and killing milkmaids, Tamara will discover that only Bronson has the skills to turn back time and rid the world of ewillas (this is easily explained, his father was a mad scientist or an alien abductee or something) and they will join forces to fight back. Fighting back will involve several near death experiences in which Tamara's clothing will have to be soaked and Bronson will have to carry her out of a cave or something just as a bomb is going off. There will be some very inappropriate moment, ie just as the ewillas are about to blow Bronson up, when Bronson and Tamara's eyes will meet and they will fall in love. Finally, just as the ewillas are ten seconds away from destroying humanity, Tamara will have a brainwave, and reverse the 2nd Big Bang by throwing protons at the ewillas - but in doing so, she will sacrifice herself, leaving Bronson heartbroken, sobbing over her body.

Edit (12 June): Or, here's an alternative ending. One of the goofy sidekicks, Norm, will turn out to be in love with Tamara. He will grab the protons off her at the end and sacrifice himself instead of her, so Bronson and Tamara can get married and have lots of babies. But at the very end, as Bronson and Tamara walk happily down a Swiss village street holding an infant, and preferably walking a dog, the audience will see an ewilla who escaped Norm's attack following them with a nasty expression on its face (that is, if ewillas have faces) - thereby creating the possibility of a sequel!

Okay, so perhaps the ending needs some work by someone who actually knows something about science - but the basics are there!

So, please contact my agent for information about how you too can be a part of certain blockbuster success. I accept all major credit cards. Oh, and here's my question for you - who should play Tamara, Bronson and Norm???

irrational prejudices

Is it just me, or does anyone else form irrational prejudices for or against certain celebrities? I don't judge a large amount of actors/musicians on their superior/inferior skill, but by random, arbitrary criteria which makes me feel very cynical about the state of the world and the way in which clever marketing can make anything seem talented. All the same, my prejudices are not exactly shaped by marketing but my personal idiosyncracies.

1) Charlotte Church. My parents bought her CD ‘Voice of an Angel’ which was recorded when she was, say, ten-ish. If you haven’t heard of her, she’s the sort of child-prodigy who sings songs like Danny Boy and Pie Jesu and then grows up to become a trashy singer of bad pop songs. I don’t really have an opinion about the songs on ‘Voice of an Angel’, but I do know this: she always reminded me of Laura S*****, the nasty girl at my primary school who stole my best friend. Laura’s dad was a policeman, which she never ceased to milk – “If you don’t do X, my dad will put you in prison” – and she made up a mean racist song about a later best friend of mine, who was Chinese. Charlotte Church looks exactly like Laura, as I remember her, and therefore, cannot be trusted.

2) Tom Hanks. This is the only celebrity featured here for whom irrational reasons actually improved my opinion of him. Simple reason: he has always reminded me of my brother. Especially before my brother gave into the receding hairline and shaved it all off (which looks much better, I think). Russell's a bit thinner than Tom Hanks, and he has slightly different features, but everything else looks similar. He even has a similar voice, in my opinion. Therefore, I was shocked and slightly offended this week when one of my lecturers mentioned how much they hate Tom Hanks' acting style. It has just never occurred to me to seriously critique him, because he looks like Russell.


3) Bic Runga. She is a singer from New Zealand who is actually pretty good. I even have one of her CDs and I really can't justify having anything against her, especially as a fellow Kiwi. All the same, one thing weighs against Bic from the start (here it comes): she went to high school with two of my sisters, and she beat one of them in a singing competition. What was she thinking?! How dare she challenge one of my sisters? (Is that a really pathetic reason to be biased against someone?)

4) John Rhys-Davies, who played the dwarf Gimli in Lord of the Rings. Two things are stacked against Mr Rhys-Davies. Firstly, in an interview I saw on TV, he was asked how Kiwi girls compare to girls in other countries. He sort of grimaced and presumed to intimate that Kiwi girls aren't actually very pretty but hastened to add that men don't necessarily need supermodels to keep them warm at night. Note the fact that I did not include a picture of him, mainly because he himself is so unattractive that my webpage would lose pretty-points. In terms of the second issue, I should apologise for turning myself into the moral police here, but really I don't feel at all apologetic. Mr Rhys-Davies' wife has Alzheimer's Disease (at least, I think she has died now), and so she stays holed up in Wales while he travels the world with a young, blonde 'companion'. Admirable behaviour! I hope his new wife treats him the same when he succumbs to old age.

5) Brad Pitt. This is a really, really stupid reason, but he just isn't a good enough actor for me to make more of an effort to dispel it. I happened to hate his character in the movie Troy, which is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It consisted basically of Brad Pitt doing Zoolander poses. I could have recovered from that, had I not heard a rumour soon after that he was going to play Mr Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice that came out last year. The vision of Brad Pitt trying to take on the subtleties of Mr Darcy, trying to outdo Colin Firth, soon after murdering the character of Achilles... let's just say it made me feel slightly nauseous, and although there was never any truth in that rumour, it has put me off him ever since. Which is very unfair on poor Brad Pitt. Although I don't feel that bad, because he is actually not at all poor and it's not like he needs more fans.

6) Orlando Bloom. I'm sure this is a little unfair because he could hardly help it - but the long blonde hair as Legolas has absolutely destroyed his image for me. I could never understand why people saw him as a posterboy for Lord of the Rings. The hair just did not work. And although that is doubtless a very silly reason, I would like to point out that it did work on other elves in the movie, so it is something to do with him in particular. It probably didn't help that the problem was compounded by really bad lines; ie, "A diversion!" (you remember?) or "the sky is red; blood has been spilt" or something else equally terrible. Unfair, perhaps - but inescapable.

Does anyone else have any irrational prejudices?

charlie chaplin, grades, and deadlines

I have been so lacking in anything to write about lately that I'm going to write a post about what is happening at university and in my unthrilling life. That really shows I'm desperate.

1) Today we watched the Charlie Chaplin movie 'The Great Dictator' in my drama class. We've been reading Brecht plays, which were also thinly veiled critiques of Nazism, although set in different eras and countries. This was such a cool movie. Half the time I was cracking up, the other feeling sombre. A weird combination really, but it worked. Has anyone else seen it? I love the plays too. Has anyone seen a Brecht play? I will be very jealous of you if so.

2) I felt a bit depressed today because I got an A- on my last history essay and my history teacher said he was disappointed because he had come to expect essays of the highest standard from me. :( Although that was almost a compliment, it made me feel annoyed with myself, especially as all his comments about how it could have been better really made sense!

But then my friend texted me; she handed in a close reading exercise for her English class, and got a C-, because, apparently, her grammar is 'unreadable'! I read it yesterday, and it was definitely not unreadable. Anyway, you don't fail people because they make a few grammar mistakes. It so happens that this particular lecturer gave out feedback sheets at the start of the year, my friend said she didn't like the structure of the lectures, and the lecturer got very offended, despite the fact that she asked for honest feedback. So it looks very much as if the lecturer has decided she has a bone to pick with my friend. I didn't think that happened except at ... I don't know, other universities, in other countries!

So I am feeling a lot more grateful that I have a lecturer who gives me fair grades.

3) I handed in two essays yesterday that I spent my whole mid-semester break working on. Now I've realised my next history essay is due in three weeks so I have to start straightaway, especially as now I have to ace it to make up for my slightly disappointing mark! It's two months until I finish... I will just have to put my nose to the grindstone and work, even though I just don't feel like it.

4) My friend Sarah and I had a really, really good friend at school who moved to another city when I was fifteen and I haven't seen her since then, since we basically dropped off each other's radar. Well, she has moved down to Christchurch again, and we are all going to meet up for coffee sometime in the next few weeks! Very exciting but also scary. She was always absolutely gorgeous and now she'll probably be all cool and model-like, compared to how we were at high school - wavering on the fringe of nerdy.

If you have read all this, I will be very impressed.

the hills are alive

I've been thinking lately that my life should be more fun. To tell the truth, getting high marks and saving money isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'm pretty sure I won't lie on my deathbed thinking, "well, at least I got an A on my HIST369 essay in 2007!" (Not that I wouldn't mind having an A, or preferably an A+, on my approaching essay, two weeks away and counting.) I must be the most boring student in the world. But then, I don't really like alcohol or sports, and I plan not to have sex, and it doesn't seem like fun students do much else. So my latest scheme for fun is this:

A singalong Sound of Music!! I will invite all my friends and vague acquaintances who are as silly as me, and we will dress up in crazy costumes, drink pink lemonade, and sing along with Maria and Christopher Plummer and Liesl and Kurt-the-Hitler-Youth-guy and the Reverend Mother, with our hands on our hearts. I went to a commercially organised one of these a few years ago and it was a blast. It was at a big theatre in town, and there were small, cute children who were Marta and Gretel, there were huge numbers of nuns, there were grown, probably drunk men wearing fake plastic breasts and deer antlers (...doe, a deer... naturally...), there were brown paper packages tied up with string, and lonely goatherds. We all sang along at the top of our voices. When Maria sits in her room on the first night, wondering how to get play clothes for the children, we all shouted, "Maria! The curtains! Look behind you!" When Maria and Captain von Trapp kiss, we let off party poppers and cheered. Whenever a Nazi came on, we hissed. When we sang 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?', we had a whole routine to match it, including added words such as a flibbertigibbet, a will'o the wisp, a clown HONK HONK!

Of course the entry requirements for the evening will be that you have to be a real fan of The Sound of Music. The whole thing could flop miserably if half the people there don't really know the songs and feel a bit stupid about it anyway.

I am going to sit down and watch The Sound of Music through, and make notes about all the things we can do, or eat, or sing. Does anyone have any ideas???

Miss Potter

I have just been to the movie Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, and based on the life of Beatrix Potter, and I loved it so much that I am going to have to rave about it for at least two more paragraphs.

I was a bit diffident about seeing the film because I'm a little iffy sometimes about whether Ewan McGregor is actually all he's cracked up to be, and I wondered whether Renee Zellweger would mistake an English accent for being Bridget Jones all over again - but this is the best film I've seen with them in it yet. They have wonderful chemistry. The other characters are all really strong, and the relationship of Miss Potter with her parents was especially interesting. It's the sort of film that deserves the adjectives 'charming', 'delightful', and 'Really Nice' - but in no way is it wishy-washy or forgettable. I love that it is in many ways a serious and at times heart-wrenching movie, yet it manages not to leave you with a feeling of sorrow as it finishes. It is beautifully filmed, with a sweet and witty screenplay. From the opening credits you could tell it would be lovely - the attention to colour and texture was perfect. The scenery is also stunning in the sections filmed in the Lake District. The animation of her little characters is also very cute and original. I don't know much about Beatrix Potter's life, but it didn't seem to stray into the realms of Hollywood-izing. It also didn't go in the other direction and just trail off leaving you wondering if that was the real ending; it managed a plot, which I think is important in a movie.

My sister was telling me about an interview with Ewan McGregor she heard, talking about this movie. He was saying that he loved how the romantic climax of this movie was a kiss. Merely a kiss. They don't make them that way anymore. I would agree highly. The kiss was beautifully done. Thank goodness for a movie that doesn't have to make its characters sexually repressed whenever a hint of chasteness is present.

So, all in all, I would highly recommend this movie. I happened to love Beatrix Potter's books as a child (in fact, I still do), but even if you've never heard of her before, you will probably love this film too.

Let's hope the coming movie based on Jane Austen, starring Anne Hathaway, will be as brilliant. I am inclined to suspect no. The few reviews I've read so far don't sound very promising (eg this one), and it sounds like they are going to focus on a part of Austen's life that has never seemed that crucial to me. It's a bit depressing really. It does have James McAvoy as the romantic lead, which I approve of immensely, but for any of the purists out there (like me), I have a horrible feeling we're going to hate it.

Allie's Academy Awards

In honour of the awards season only just finishing and in honour of this being my 250th blog post (yay!), I would like to create my own set of Academy Awards. As this is the first chance I have had to compile such a list, they will be covering the last fifty years or so. My academy consists of one (me), all categories are created by me, all categories are filled by as many winners as I choose and they all lack thorough or considered opinion. Judge's decision is final.

Best ending - because an ending that adds something really special to its unexpected twist = satisfying.

Gloomy Sunday

The Ladykillers

Best premise

Waking Ned Devine - a man on a tiny Irish island wins the lottery and dies of shock. What will his friends do?

Nicest French movies

Les Choristes

Amelie

Best beginning-credits - because these can so often be boring that a really good one deserves some credit.

Casino Royale

Funniest movies

Thank You For Smoking

The Castle

Best New Zealand movies

Whale Rider

The World's Fastest Indian

Heavenly Creatures

Best superhero movie

Batman Begins

Best crime movies

O Brother Where Art Thou?

The Ladykillers

Best soundtrack

Gloomy Sunday

Grease

Best casts

A Room With A View

Waking Ned Devine

Notting Hill

The Ladykillers

Best characters

Charlotte Bartlett, A Room With A View

Eleanor Lavish, A Room With A View

Amelie, Amelie

Darryl Kerrigan, The Castle

Derek Zoolander, Zoolander

Billy Mack, Love Actually

Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump

Spike, Notting Hill

Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

Sam, I Am Sam

Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility

Best animated film

Shrek (1 & 2)

Best children's movie

Nanny McPhee

Best based-on-a-true-story movies

The Dish

A Beautiful Mind

Best dance movie

Strictly Ballroom

Best chick flicks

Legally Blonde

Clueless

Best WWII movies

Gloomy Sunday

Life is Beautiful

The Pianist

Best make-you-cry movies

I Am Sam

Gloomy Sunday

Walk the Line

Forrest Gump

Best romantic comedies

Notting Hill

Love Actually

Best adaptations of a novel

Sense and Sensibility

A Room With A View

Best songs in movies

"Be Prepared", The Lion King

"Gloomy Sunday", Gloomy Sunday

"Oh What a Circus", Evita

"You're the One that I Want", Grease

Please do feel free to question or contradict my opinion! As said earlier, not a colossal amount of thought went into these and there are certain to be some really good 'uns that I missed.

Top 5 Actresses

As I made a list of Top 5 Actors in December, I thought it was time to make a list of Top 5 Actresses as well!

1) Maggie Smith. She's just so classy! So there is a certain type of character she plays - but I don't really get tired of it. Does anyone? I think my favourite film of hers would be A Room With A View, from 1986. It's actually old enough to be me, but it's such a fantastic movie, and she adds so much to it. In fact, it's the only movie I've ever seen that made me appreciate the book more. I think that's quite an achievement. Honourable mention goes also to Tea with Mussolini, Gosford Park, Sister Act and Ladies in Lavender.
2) Aishwarya Rai. I've actually only seen two of her movies - Bride and Prejudice and Mistress of Spices - but she is fantastic. She is one of the most genuinely stunning women in the world but she is no stick insect or bimbo. I think she has a lot of style. She basically outshines anyone else on the screen, with no difficulty whatsoever.




3) Kate Winslet. I hated Titanic, but other than that little blip, I've loved almost anything I've seen with Kate Winslet in it. Sense and Sensibility - she is exactly like Marianne Dashwood and she doesn't go too far. Finding Neverland - perfect. Heavenly Creatures - perfect. I could go on and on. She just has class. Again, classy without being a stick insect. Hooray!



4) Audrey Tautou. Like Aishwarya Rai, I've only seen a few of her movies, but Amelie was just so good that it earns her the number four spot on the list. She is so wackily charismatic in that film; you can't help but love her. A Very Long Engagement was good too, and she was the best thing about The Da Vinci Code.

5) Julie Andrews. The Sound of Music. Mary Poppins. Need I say more? If anyone acted that way these days, I would shake my head and groan, but I will happily sing along with The Sound of Music and I have a secret fantasy of running through the hills of Austria one day singing, 'The hills are alive...' or walking down the aisle on my hypothetical wedding-day to the strains of 'How do you solve a problem like Maria...' One of the coolest things I've ever done was go to a sing-along Sound of Music at the theatre. Everyone dressed up and we all sang along and shouted 'Maria, the curtains! Look behind you!' in the scene just after 'My Favourite Things' and let off party poppers when they kissed.

Special mention goes to: Helena Bonham-Carter (for A Room With A View especially), Reese Witherspoon, Emma Thompson, Jennifer Ehle, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Judy Dench.

In other news, I just got my passport photo taken. I look like a terrorist.

the dish

Some more photos from Christmas.

Who has heard of the Jetlag Travel Guides? I'm not exactly sure how global they are - if you have never heard of them, they are parodies of the Lonely Planet-style travel book, written by three Australian guys, about made-up countries. I have the Molvania and San Sombrero guides - here is an example of the type of thing:

Despite being one of the smallest countries in Europe, the Republic of Molvania has much to offer the discerning tourist. Panoramic scenery, magnificent neoclassical architecture and centuries of devotion to fine culture are, admittedly, all in short supply. ... Molvania, the world's number one producer of beetroot and the birthplace of whooping cough, is a country steeped in history and everywhere here the past is beautifully preserved, such as in towns like Gyorik where you'll find one of the oldest nuclear reactors still operating in the world.

You can't go on reading for large periods of time or it all just becomes too much but in my opinion they are works of genius. :) So...

...when I saw the movie pictured above today (The Dish, of 2000), I was delighted to hear it was written by the same three men!

Great movie, too. It's about the satellite dish in a small Australian town that somehow, in 1969, ends up being the main dish that is used for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, which, of course, carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldwin. This dish was the one and only medium through which the whole world saw the moon landing on TV. Very funny in many ways but it was also at times quite moving - all in all, a fantastic film. It really made me feel how big a deal the moon landing was, and it was nice seeing Australian people in something that was such a huge thing (although I made several snarky comments about Australians in my last post, Kiwis and Aussies actually get on pretty well when we're not competing - we're quite like each other).

Anyway, it got me thinking... Although there is something undeniably cool about sending rockets into space, I've often felt in the past that maybe all this money spent on NASA and such projects is a waste of humanity's resources and could be better spent elsewhere - like on the abject poverty of the Third World, for one thing. Part of me still feels that way.

But at the same time, it's suddenly struck me that the role of art is like the role of science in this way - one could argue that writing novels and performing music and painting pictures and such is a disgusting waste of money. Books use up forests all over the world, they produce no tangible results ie food, shelter or clothing, the money people spend on movies or music could probably feed the whole African continent (okay, so that's a massive guess but the point is, I think, clear), etc etc... but something in me rebels at this kind of thinking. It's the same way I feel when people scoff at the BA I'm studying for instead of "useful" degrees like Engineering or Medicine. I have to admit that space exploration probably does have a few more tangible benefits for humanity than art does - but at the same time, there is something about human progress that thrills us. And there is something in us that doesn't want to give up pointless things like books for the sake of humanity. I don't think this is coming out very clearly. I just wonder if sometimes we shoot down human progress for its own sake a little too much. I personally often voice my opinions about what a waste of time and money sport can be.

To sum up my whole post in one sentence: Despite knowing all the reasons why we shouldn't bother with certain types of progress, there is something about humans making it to a next step, where no one has been before, that always excites us. I don't think this is a bad thing. (Okay, so it was two sentences.)

movies movies movies

I have just been to see Casino Royale with my friend Sarah and NEED to express the feelings of my pounding bosom. Daniel Craig is PERFECT as Bond and that is the best Bond movie I have ever seen. Granted, I haven't seen many fully through but that is because they've always been on television and I've watched small amounts, snorted and groaned, and switched over to something else. In this film there were a total of ONLY TWO really cheesy and irredeemable lines, which were as follows (paraphrased):

Bond girl (accountant): "I'm the money."
Bond: "Yeah, every penny of it."
AND,
Bond: "You've got me there."
Bond girl: "You can have me any way you like."

Other than that, it was gripping. Even the massively long game of poker was great. I had no idea what was going on plot-wise, but for once I can't complain about that at all because it simply didn't matter. I did think the scene of naked torturing was a bit too much; Sarah and I chose that moment to start laughing without being able to stop, and it was agony trying to hold it in when it's undoubtedly meant to be the tensest, most serious part of the film. So we're immature. The rest of the time was spent trying not to whistle because Daniel Craig is basically the pinnacle of manhood. He runs like a Spartan and has eyes like a sprite. (That's my corny line for today.) FIVE STARS from me. *****


I thought I would make this a movies blog altogether because for the first time in a while, I got out some DVDs this week that I've been meaning to see for ages. First up: Possession. I loved the book, and if you ever mean to read the book, don't watch the movie first, because the book is gripping when you don't know what's going to happen. But if you've read the book or hate reading, this movie is great. I have to admit I didn't like the idea of an American Roland Michell, but Aaron Eckhart is so cool in anything I've ever seen him in (insert plug here for Thank You For Smoking) that I retract that statement

willingly. Gwyneth Paltrow was obviously created to play Maud Bailey, and Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle were superb as Ash and LaMotte. The movie flowed really well which was surprising when based on such a long, complex novel, so I give it an overall FOUR STARS. ****






I also got out Jane Eyre, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. I was always disappointed by the BBC TV series and so was delighted to discover a movie version. It started off amazingly well. Anna Paquin was actually perfect as the young Jane, and everything went along just as I imagined it. William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Rochester and Jane were also very impressive. Elle Macpherson played Blanche Ingram which would have worked okay if they hadn't made her appearance look so cutesy. It doesn't work on a tall, willowy, majestic thing like her, and I don't think Blanche Ingram was supposed to look cutesy anyway. But she served her purpose okay. I was impressed with the little girl who played Adele Varens; she was sweet and she added a few new depths to the story that I hadn't considered before. But then, suddenly, when Jane ran away - it went downhill. It's like they got to the middle of the story and suddenly realised they'd run out of time, and about the whole end half of the story took place in about fifteen to twenty minutes. St John Rivers and one sister made an appearance but were really only token whereas in the book they play such a huge part. So when it was finished I was very disappointed that it had started out so well yet ended in such a rush. THREE STARS. *** Or maybe TWO AND A HALF. ** [+ half an asterisk]