What I learnt from Catching Fire (no spoilers)

Don't worry, you can safely read with no spoilers ahead (because I hate that! In fact I can't even stand being told what a film is about because I think people give away too much!) Please if you do comment, no spoilers either - remember some people haven't even read the books (like me).

So the good news is, it's good - better than the first one (which I thought was a bit of a dumbed down Series 7 - which is a great indie film if you haven't seen that).

So here's what I took away from it all:

1. There is a line, about fame and celebrity 'Your life becomes theirs, paraded around to make people forget the real problems'. Has anyone noticed, if they get the news emailed to them, or look online, that Kanye & Kim, or Will Ferrell & Co being here for a movie premiere has started to creep in as the lead stories? This entertaining distraction has started to creep in instead of news. You know this is my little bugbear, and I discussed this at length here, so I won't repeat myself, but it is worth noting to yourself that you are being manipulated into ignorance, in order to be placated. Someone is getting away with something, and it probably isn't in your best interests.

2. "If you abandon your moral judgement, it can be fun". This is a double edge sword, but for today, I'm just looking at the positive. Sometimes, if you don't think about what you should be doing, you can have a great time. So be the person that throws themselves into something, no matter how stupid or silly (or juvenile), and be surprised at how much fun it can be (recent cartwheeling proved this to me). This is not, of  course, what was meant in the film, they were going more with the Marie Antoinette attitude but we all know that moral already.

3. "Fear doesn't work, as long as they have hope". This is a big one. I'm not entirely sure where to go with this, as we don't really live in a country where this is an issue. But it makes me think of those brave people, throughout history, that have stood up for what they believe in. Think Nelson Mandela, think that man in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square, the list is endless...

4. A character says "Someday I want to love someone that much". I found this really interesting because she didn't say 'I want to be loved' but the giver of the great love. Think of the fairy stories that are drummed into us, the movies etc, it's all about someone loving the girl so much, not about how much she loves the other. Yet this is implying that the great gift in love is the giving, not the receiving.

5. What I really like in this series, is that the women, for the most part, are competent. In fact the men are often the ones that need help. I love that the main character is extremely competent and is very uncomfortable when paraded around with the focus on her appearance. When she's dressed up to look pretty, she's clearly out of her depth, but fighting for her life or helping others, she's totally on top of it. Other than Mulan, is there any other kids film where this is the case? (I love Mulan by the way, she's the only Disney Princess that actually does anything, the rest just look pretty and wait for their prince to come). For this moral alone, I give this movie 5 stars, a must for tweens & teen girls.

6. There is a throwaway line "Love is weird". And it is. We've heard it in other ways 'The heart wants what the heart wants' and so on, but really, love is weird is the nugget of truth in the most simplistic fashion. You can't explain it, you can't understand why some people choose who they choose. It is, in a lot of cases, weird.

Points 7, 8 and 9 will give away important plot points, so just pretend they've been discussed. They were very witty and intelligent. In fact, they would blow your mind and you would see that I am a genius. So lets just move along.

10. The main thing I want to talk about is this guy.

(yep, did the weirdo taking photos during the movie again)



So what I was going to say, was Donald Sutherland has looked like this all my life, and go into a Portrait of Dorian Gray routine. Except, when I looked up Cloud Bursting, I discovered he did look younger and different. In actual fact, my memory has somehow implanted the grey haired Donald Sutherland into both Cloud Bursting and Don't Look Now. I really had no idea. I could see him clearly in them, in my mind, waving from the back of the car with the grey hair, looking pretty much like this without the beard. We even discussed it at length yesterday, and my partner agreed with me. He too remembers him as the grey haired Donald Sutherland in that clip. I definitely don't remember that perm in Don't Look Now (feel free to google that one yourself)! Yet when I looked up the footage to link for you, I realised he looked completely different to how I remember those films. So it's a different point I want to discuss to that which I initially intended. Just know, that as you age, your memory really does play tricks on you. (Just as my mother swears she never let me watch Don't Look Now as a kid and caused me to be terrified by images of a little kid in a red coat; but it was the 70's and we only had one tv, so it was one in all in, and in the '70's, the kids came last in the voting considerations...so her memory also plays tricks on her!)

For those that don't know, because you are younger than my 107 years, this song was a HUGE deal at the time. A big Hollywood star was in a music video, that was like a mini film in itself. It used to make me cry and I loved it all the more for it.

Now can you name a female singer of today that would dress up like a young boyish girl and not be all pervy, parading around in underwear? Miley, it can be done a different way, really, it can.

To sum up, I've gone from being someone not that impressed with the Hunger Games franchise, to a convert, hanging for the next instalment. They've done a good job. I also love that I recognise nearly every actor from their roles in Law & Order. It took me ages to pin down Mags in my mind, but I finally got there. Doesn't matter how many big films you make, I'll always refer to you as your role in L&O twenty years ago....if you were a judge, that's probably ok, if you were the dad that raped his son's girlfriend, probably not so great....(she was a judge in Law & Order and then the Mama Rosa of the meatball fame in SVU, so for me, she'll always be Mama Rosa!)

Other useless bit of trivia - Wireless is also the chick that robs the dinner at the start of Pulp Fiction (Honey Bunny). And yes, I do spend half of any film trying to remember what else I've seen everyone in. No idea why, I just do.

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.
And remember, no spoilers please!

Does your memory play tricks on you?

How do you decide where you are going?

This is not an existential pondering, but merely a quick question. How do you decide where you are going on holidays?

Do you have an ideal location? Do you always go to the same place because you know you'll like it?

I have just discovered, I've become someone who goes to where we can get cheap airfares. I have now twice booked cheap fares into Singapore, then looked at where to go once we're there (last time Malaysia, this time possibly Vietnam). I did also spend a few days looking at flights into Lombok and Krabi purely because I could get cheap AirAsia flights to KL, and they were the most appealing options for the 6 night window we had. However, we went with the even cheaper flights into Adelaide...

We are a family of five, so the flights kill our budget. I have become a huge fan of budget airlines, as it's given us a few more options.

I realise it's quite a crazy mode of operation. So I thought I'd ask, how do you decide where you are going on holidays?

Also, the First of the Month Fiction link up is open until Monday, if anyone wants to write a teeny, tiny story.

Linking up With Some Grace for FYBF

First of the Month Fiction - Christmas edition

Seriously, where did the year go?? Last month of the year!

 I have 2 stories this month - one inspired by the Thought of the Day from Me, at My Journey:Are we there yet? She sent this "Every time you are tempted to react to the same old circumstances in the same old way, ask yourself, “Do I want to be a prisoner of the past, or a pioneer of the future?"
I thought of a victim of domestic violence finally leaving her relationship, but that was too hard to cut down to 100 words (I will come back to that idea for a longer story), so it evolved, less satisfactorily into this:

It had been coming for a long time. She looked up and he was fawning over the blonde again. Always the blondes. She wasn’t interested in this Christmas party and she knew it was time to leave. Leave the party, leave the marriage.

A waiter approached.

“I’ve been watching you. You look very sad. I see the ring but I have to say this. I clock off at 10. Do you want to go for a drink somewhere?”

Suddenly she knew that things could be different. She didn’t need to always feel this way. With a smile, she said “Yes.”

 I've also written a second one, because it is Christmas and a time to celebrate with those you love:

Santa always grew a little lonely this time of year. He was busy and stressed. He knew it all came down to this one night – and he had to get it right. There was sometimes an emptiness to his existence.

Later, as he finally dropped into bed, dawn breaking Christmas morning, he noticed a small box beside his pillow, wrapped beautifully and adorned with holly. He glanced over at his sleeping wife and smiled. Everyone else just liked him for what he could give them, but she, and only she, truly loved him for himself. Warts and all, for eternity.

Please join in in the comments below then add your blog to the link, rules here for newcomers.

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.

Time

When I read the prompt was about Time - I thought I'd repost my What I learnt from Rush. Point 6 is probably my biggest lesson in Time, the importance of Time, and that it can be the best gift we have.

The short version, for those that don't know, is that Niki Lauda was burnt in a car crash, and greatly disfigured. He had countless skin grafts to his face, and at the time (in the film), said he had a face that would always horrify people. Yet he has always been one of the most popular drivers in F1, and judging by the women he was linked to after his divorce, his looks didn't impede him at all.

I want to always remember, that no matter how difficult or painful the current ordeal, time will put it into perspective. So while time can be unkind, or down right cruel as we age, it is also a gift that eases pain, or diminishes drama.

My favourite saying, however, as a convert who lives by FOMO (the good FOMO, not the jealous kind) "Do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of"

And that, as they say, is all that I have Time for!

Linking up with Kirsty for I Must Confess

PS. As for point 4, in the Rush post, this woman was rockin' the 70's hat. I really am going to start wearing one all the time!

10 things I love/hate about the Festive season

What I love about Festive Season:
1. Lots on, plenty of catch ups and parties
2. I get to give a lot of gifts
3. Lots of great food to eat
4. Family get togethers
5. It's the holidays


What I hate about the Festive Season:
1. Lots on, plenty of catch ups and parties (I get tired)
2. I have to think of a lot of gifts
3. Too much great food, and I eat it all
4.Family get togethers ('nuff said!)
5. It ends, and we start all over again.

Happy Christmas to you all, see you on the flip side. Safe travels and enjoy the break everyone!

Linking up this old post with #XmasLinky because we need to remember that there is a flipside to everything we do. If something bad is happening to us, remember there is a positive in there somewhere. If everything is going swimmingly, pause to appreciate it, as the reverse could just as soon take place

What I learnt from The Counselor

For some reason this film fails a little, when it probably shouldn't, given the cast. I think it's partly because there seems to be scenes & characters that have the sole purpose of delivering an eloquent speech full of "Meaning", which makes it all a little eye-rolling. I love Bruno Ganz (Hitler in Downfall), and kept waiting for his character to come back. Then realising towards the end of the film that there was no point at all to his scene, except to tell the "Cautionary" speech. Some one needs to remind Ridley Scott of the Chekhov tale of the loaded gun....

Javier is brilliant, and probably the most complete character in the film. Which makes the whole film seem odd as the main character is little more than a stick figure. (Sorry Mumabulous) However, probably still worth a watch and here's what I learnt from it:

1. A masher is a man who attempts to force his attentions on a woman - I had to google it, and will now start using it at every available opportunity.

2. 'You don't really know someone until you know what they want'. I had never thought about this before, but it is actually quite valuable advice. We walk around thinking everyone thinks like us, with the same values and beliefs, but it's worth looking a little deeper into the motivations of people sometimes.

3. Lastly, and most importantly, 'If you think you can live in this world and be no part of it, all I can say is you are wrong'. They were meaning it differently, but consider our consumerism and it's costs,  consider our impact on the environment and all the other issues that our daily actions impact upon. I love this quote. It is the argument against those that say "What can I do? I'm only one person" or "Why should I worry about it when all the other countries are using more energy/causing more pollution etc".

Lastly, I have to ask, why do Americans spell Counsellor differently? Where does that come from?

Linking up With Some Grace for FYBF?

Joyous (Cartwheels part 2)

I set myself the challenge of doing a cartwheel, in order to show my daughter how to do them. I was terrified at the prospect of this, thus added it to the Torschlusspanik list here.

So the afternoon came and we headed to the backyard. I tucked my dress into my undies (as I learnt to do as a kid with my school uniform - it was pre-skort days). This in itself was astonishing for my little tot to watch and induced a barrage of questions.

Then came the moment of truth. I did one. I didn't smash face first into the ground. Nor did I dislocate my shoulder. There was a stretch in my inner thigh, in a muscle that has not been used for quite sometime, but other than that, it was easy.

And fun.

My daughter gave up after a while but I stayed outside and did a few more. It had been a really awful day that day, with niggling irritations, and little things going wrong, so I was in a fairly dark mood by the after school period but a few cart wheels in, and my bad mood dissipated. I was suddenly joyous.

That's what's got me wondering. I understand it's the chemical release, and the silliness of the exercise that caused the carefree joy that ensued. Why do we stop doing something that makes us feel good? As little kids, we do them all the time. In high school we stop, but why? I don't remember actively thinking that I wouldn't do them any more, I just didn't do them.

The older I get, the less I understand the human aging process. We replace everything fun and joy inducing with mundane, soul destroying tasks. This is celebrated as becoming an adult. What a waste of existence.

So, take my advice, if things are getting you down, head out to the backyard and try a few cartwheels. Within minutes you'll be overtaken by a wave of joy.  Go on, try it!

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT. Also linking with the One New Thing a Week Challenge, over at the Mystery Case.