Day 18: A Photo

Turtle Farm, Vanuatu. March 2008.

Day 17: Jealousy

Jealousy. It's such an ugly word. Unfortunetly it's a feeling that I have about many different things and a feeling that is extremley unhealthy. I contemplated telling you about some of the things I get jealous of and ranting about this and that, but I keep coming back to the fact that jealousy is just so unhealthy. I already think them, so why bring it up and out for everyone else to bare the brunt of? 

I found a quote not so long ago that resonated with me and every time I start to feel those pangs of jealousy I remember it and try and move away from the jealousy. I have no idea who said it, and I'm fairly sure that it's not as accurate as I read it originally, but it still works.

"Envy no one. You don't know what their journey has been."

Jealousy will get me nothing but heartache. So no point dwelling on it any more than I already have.

Day 16: My Favourite Music

Almost everyone I know loves music. They know the words to songs, as in all the words. They can tell me the meaning of songs and they can hum or sing the song without any reference.

I don't know if it's my bad hearing or what, but I've never been in love with music. If I like a song it's because the tune is catchy. Every now and then I'll know the songs to part of a song because it's been played on the radio about a hundred times.

I own an ipod for three reasons. 1. If I ever need to sleep somewhere noisy (an airplane for instance) I block out the noise with music. 2. I get bored if I go for a walk without something to listen too. 3. It's more convienent than using my CD discman for reasons one and two. I recently bought a new ipod (the old one suffered an unfortunate smashing incident) and can't imagine that I'll be filling up the space anytime soon. Oh, I just thought of a 4th reason - I like to sing a long to songs while cooking and John has an ipod dock - very cool accessory if I do say so myself.

I've been to concerts, but not many. I just can't handle the loud, thumping music. That and I think I probably get a little claustraphobic in those things. I've seen Robbie Williams (he was the size of a lego man from my spot in the crowd), Matchbox Twenty (the only band I've ever travelled out of town to see), Joshua Kadison (I was 14yrs old ok) and I think that's about it.

So who do I listen too?! Mostly pop stuff that's on the radio. I love Glee and get their CD's (please don't hurt me). And I get a few songs off iTunes. I like stuff that I can sing along too. For a much better idea check out my fave playlist:

* Light Surrounding You by Evermore

* Fuckin Perfect by Pink

* On the Radio by Regina Spektor

* Valentine by Rock Star Supernova

* Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind

* Follow Me by Uncle Kracker

* Wherever You Will Go by The Calling

* Warwick Avenue by Duffy

* When The Weather Is Fine by Thirsty Merc

* All Star by Smash Mouth

* Real World by Matchbox Twenty

* Catch My Disease by Ben Lee

* We're All In This Together by Ben Lee

* One Week by Barenaked Ladies

* Colourful by Rocco DeLuca & The Burden

* I Do by Gin Wigmore

* Sorry by Buckcherry

* The Sound of Sunshine by Michael Franti & Spearhead

* Fuck You by Cee Lo Green

* The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars

Day 15: My Oldest Friend

Paul & Tracy

Friends since 1992

The three of us met in Form 1 at Tawa Intermediate.

Still friends nearly 20 years later. (Perhaps not so much after I share this photo with you. hehe). Taken outside some random pub in London in 2008. This is why I love you guys, you're hilarious and always there whenever I need you. You are my 'oldest' friends and I hope we continue to be for many many years to come. Love you both xx

Death At A Funeral

I watched Death At A Funeral because Dad wanted too and it was his turn to pick. I wasn't that fussed on it, but from the opening credits I was sure it was going to be much better than originally thought. And after it ended I knew I was going to have to get it on DVD. It's such a brilliant british comedy.

Daniel and Roberts father dies, bringing everyone in their dysfunctional family and group of friends together for his funeral at the family home. What should be a quiet and somber occasion is turned into complete chaos when one of the guests unkowningly takes some heavy duty drugs and a stranger turns up to extort money from the sons or he'll share secrets the family won't want to hear.

Matthew MacFadyen stars as the oldest brother trying to hold it all together. Alan Tudyk is Simon, the hallucinating brother-in-law and he's absolutely brilliant! He is such a fantastic actor, he steals the spotlight of every scene he's in. He's both hysterical and charasmatic, a winning combination. If the rest of the movie was poor I'd still watch it for Alan Tudyk alone, but lucky for me there's more great talent on show. Namely Andy Nyman as the nutty friend, Ewen Bremner as the creepy guy trying to get in to his ex-girlfriends pants, Rupert Graves as the younger brother, along with Daisy Donovan and Keeley Hawes as the long suffering woman of this crazy family. And we can't forget Peter Dinklage, the guy that is behind most of the chaos.

Death At A Funeral is hilarious. It's british comedy at it's best. It's subtle humour rather than slapstick one liners that Americans are so good at it. It's much smarter than that. The whole movie is set over one afternoon and in one location. That being said the director has done a great job of moving the action all over the house at such a fast pace that you don't get bored in one place. They have done a great job of keeping us all on our toes and laughing that you almost forget that it's supposed to be a somber occasion. You just can't help but laugh at all the hijinx.

This movie did so well and was so well loved that the Americans copied it. Yep, just last year they released their own version. I haven't watched it, but you should check out the trailers for both movies and see what you think. While I love both American and British comedies I think there's something inheritantly wrong with someone copying someone elses work. The humour doesn't often correlate and it doesn't this time either. I'm definetly all for the British version, they did it first and they do it best. Why would anyone else try and do it again. It's been done. And you'll notice, that it's the same actor playing the little dude that comes to bribe the family. Somehow that just makes it worse. This is the original 2007 British version http://matttrailer.com/death_at_a_funeral_2007 and this is the remake 2010 Amercian version http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1688273945/. You decide which version you watch, but please don't pick the American.

You want to watch this movie (the British version of course). If you have a sense of humour and you can appreciate poking fun a funeral, then you should watch this one. This one is a great one to watch with friends for a good old giggle.

Day 14: My hidden talent

I had to ask John what my hidden talent was as I was having a bit of trouble trying to think of not only what my talents are, but what of those are hidden.
 I thought of telling you about my hidden talent in Painting or Photography, but I don't think they are really that hidden. Sheesh, I show them enough on here.


What about the fact that I can roll my tongue or flare my nostrils. Not really that interesting.


John suggested my hidden talent at board games. I'm not entirely convinced that it can be classed as a talent, but I am good at it, so we'll go with it for now.


I love board games and I'm lucky in that I have a flatmate that loves them too. Somehow I'm ridiculously good at them too. John always wins Scrabble and for some reason I usually lose at Candyland, but otherwise I often come up trumps.


We have a lot of games, but the one we've been playing a lot of lately was my birthday present from John and Rachel the Munchkin Quest board game. It's the board game based on the Munchkin card game. The basis of the game is to defeat the monstors in the dungeon to reach level 10 and win the game. Every single time we've played I've made it to level 10 and all but two times I've won.


When I told the boys about getting the game they all all of a sudden wanted to come over and play. Meanwhile my girlfriends called me out on my new found geekdom. Yes it's geeky, but I don't really care. Board games are great fun, and I'm good at them, so why not aye?!


I'm always on the look out for new games, so if you know any goodies let me know. Perhaps I'll invite you round to play too, just remember it is my 'hidden talent' and I'm sure to blaze past you to take the victory!


Has anyone got any other suggestions for what my hidden talent could be?! It is actually ridiculously difficult to try and think of something legitimate for this prompt!

Dark City, The Dark Crystal & The Day After Tomorrow

Dark City is a movie of John's that I really enjoyed. Once again I was pleasantly surpirsed. Either John's taste in movies isn't so bad after all or I'm becoming a little more open in my own tastes.

John Murdoch wakes up in a bathtub in a motel room with no memory of who he is or why he's there. He quickly learns that there a men coming for him, he's been accused of murder and he even has a wife he doesn't remember. The men after him are the creators of the city that has no sun, and appears to change with every day. He must work out who he is and what this nightmare is really about.

Rufus Sewell stars as John Murdoch. He isn't as popular as he should be. Who can resist such a dark, sexy, smouldering man?! And he's talented to boot. He's supported by a great cast of strong actors - Kiefer Sutherland as the strange Dr caught in between the hero and weird city creators, Jennifer Connelly as the calm, innocent wife and William Hurt as the police detective hunting down John Murdoch.

Unlike lots of movies that spend so long on the beginning of the story, only to rush through the middle and end, this movie tells a great job of setting up the story, playing it through and giving you a decent ride at the end. It confirms or denys your susupicions, it shows you how it did it and you leave it feeling that you were told a good story with a decent ending. I like a good movie that shows you what they had been building up to the whole time. It definetly makes for worthy movie in my book.

This movie is dark and twisty and very strange I'll give you that. I always love a story about the future or what the world could be like, so this one was a good one for me. I do like a movie that has a bit more colour and light, but I guess I can't have everything!

I'd definetly recommend this one to those of you that enjoy a good mystrey. It's not a story you've seen hundreds of times before, so you'll be like me - pleasantly surprised.

The Dark Crystal is a Jim Henson movie. Jim Henson was a talented puppeter, he was the artist behind the Muppets, a staple of my childhood. Unfortunetly while I adore the Muppets, I can't say the same for much else of his work.

Years ago the Dark Crystal was shattered, forming two factions - The evil Skeksis and the peaceful Mystics. Jen is the last Gelfing and it is up to him to return the last shard of the crystal before the three suns eclipse. Of course his journey is not at all easy and he makes some new friends along the way.

The most amazing thing about this movie, and the thing that had me in awe the entire time, even when the story did not, was that the entire movie is filmed with puppets. None of this CGI bolloxs we see so often nowadays, but real puppets. Of course it dates itself by doing so - made in 1982. Even so, the puppetry is outstanding and very impressive, stilted slightly, but they are puppets!

I found the story to be a little boring, I wasn't really that interested in some strange being saving weird looking beings by placing a piece of glass with other glass. It just wasn't my cup of tea at all. Had I been slightly younger I could have enjoyed this. Even as I type that I know it's not really true. I guess this is just one of those movies that appeals to a particular type of audience rather than trying to go for the mainstream viewers. And good on it for doing so, I'm just not one of them. If you're a fan of Jim Henson, puppets, or weird 80's childrens movies then check this one out. If not, I don't think you'll be missing anything by not watching it.

The Day After Tomorrow is one of my favourtie movies ever. It's from the same director as Independence Day, another favourite.

Climatologist Jack Hall predicts a cataclysmic weather shift that will see the next ice age brought upon the world. In about a thousand years that is, until some major polar shifts bring the timeframe forward dramatically. Tornadoes wipe out LA, devastaing Earthquakes and Volcanoes wipe out islands and storms are forming all over the globe. Meanwhile Jack's son Sam is in New York for a school competition. When the tsunami hits he manages to convince a few followers to stay in the New York Library and wait out the storm. Jack briefs the government on what to do before heading to New York in a bid to rescue his son from the deadly storm.

This movie stars the fabulous Dennis Quaid as the heroic Jack Hall and the gorgeous Jake Gyllenhaal as his son Sam. Emmy Rossum is the delightfull Laura and Sela Ward stars as Sams Mum Dr Lucy Hall. Also putting in appearances are Jay Saunders and Dash Mihok, not actors that I really know at all, but both are a good fit with Dennis Quaid as the team that would walk from Philadelphia to New York in a life threatening blizzard.

I enjoy the dramatics of this movie even if they can be a little farfetched. I'm talking about the tsunami that's racing towards the kids, but they still manage to run back, grab a handbag from a taxi, get slightly stuck and then run in to the library. I'm "sure" it's really a slow tsunami?! Or what about the wolves that escape the zoo, manage to survive the tsunami and the blizard and then attack the kids on the ship. Oh yes, the ship that managed to turn all those corners of New York, only to get stuck on a bus convienently in front of the library. Like I said, not overly believable, but we are watching a movie about a weather system that's destroying the world, so I guess there's a little room for the suspension of disbelief.

I love the dramatics of it all. When Jack tells the president to evacuate everyone below the line he's drawn on the map, and his offsider tells them that his son is above the line. Or when Sam and his mates are racing along the library halls to get back to the fire as the library is freezing. Ok, so that one should probably go on the category above, you see what I mean?! It's all very dramatic and sensationalist.

You should watch it if you can get over the theatricality of it. It's a good watch and very entertaining. You start to wonder if this could really happen?! It probably could at some point, but not any time soon (I hope). It's a rollercoaster ride, a great watch. You'll enjoy it. Probably. Maybe. I did anyway.

I was going to do more reviews, but I've been summoned to watch our last D movie - Dune. It's a long one apparently, so better get started soon. Coming up I have reviews for Death at a Funeral, DeJaVu and Deep Impact, along with the rest of the D's.