Guest Post: Blu Ray Tuesday

It’s Tuesday and we know what that means… Blu Ray Tuesday!!  My lovely friend Abigail decided she didn’t want us to go without a movie review on Tuesday so here’s one she prepared earlier :)

***

Hello everyone! My name is Abigail and I blog over at Abigail and the Great World. Laura and I started following each others blogs nearly a year ago, and I’m so glad we did! I’ve had so much fun reading her posts and becoming her friend. The internet can be really amazing sometimes.

If you read Laura’s blog, you’ll know that almost every week she does a “Blu-Ray Tuesday” film review. Sometimes the films are fantastic, and sometimes they are so bad they become good. So, while she’s off enjoying a beach vacation, I thought I would fill in for her with a review of Walt Disney’s The Three Caballeros—a film which fits into the latter category.

The Three Caballeros (1945) stars Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles (for the record, Pistoles is not a word in Spanish). The film starts out as a compilation of vignettes, but half-way through becomes a psychedelic nightmare of Mexico. After an initial short about a penguin sailing to the Galapagos Islands, followed by a strange short featuring a little boy and his flying donkey (which ends with the little boy saying “And I was never heard from again”), the film introduces Panchito. With José Carioca and Donald Duck, Panchito creates the Mexican-style mariachi band “The Three Caballeros.” Combining live-action footage with cel animation (a style associated with the film Mary Poppins), the remainder of the film focuses on Donald’s incredibly “creepy old man”-style attempts to win the affection of famous Mexican singers Carmen Molina and Dora Luz. Somehow, the film goes crazy, and the singers shape-shift into flowers with their faces in the middle. Donald turns entirely pink, starts floating in the air, and attempts to kiss the flower-faces. As he gets close, out of the flower-faces burst Panchito and José Carioca, guns ablaze! The film ends with Donald in a bull-shaped piñata running at matador Panchito before finally concluding with the Three Caballeros singing their theme song together. The film also stars Brazilian singer Aurora Miranda in a strange samba number. Unsurprisingly, Donald also tries to hook up with her.

Recommended?: If you like trippy films, especially trippy Disney films, then definitely yes. Near the end, you may find yourself wondering where the past hour and twenty minutes of your life went, but you will never again lack for an ice-breaking conversation starter. I would suggest making margaritas before watching this one, though.

Thanks for letting me guest post, Laura! Hope you’re having a fantastic holiday!

***

Haha, as much as I love Disney, maybe I don’t need to be checking that movie out.  Thanks for the heads up :)

The Plan

You know that saying “God laughs at those who makes plans”?  Well He will be laughing at me with my blogging plans.  I have attempted to schedule some posts while I’m away.  They’re some good ones… and hopefully it all goes to plan because honestly, you know me and I’m more than a little technologically challenged.

But God will not be laughing at me when it comes to my holiday.  I have done zero per cent planning.  I got some great advice from Emily- but apart from that, I don’t know anything else.  I plan on printing out a bunch of things and read them on the plane.  I hope that’s going to work to my advantage…

Either way, see you on the flip side :)

Puppy overload!

Because I have been a little slack in the blogging department AND because everyone loves puppies, I thought I’d go overboard in posting puppy pictures. 

This is from when I babysat my bulldog puppies.  True story- I have never babysat humans but I have babysat puppies.  In these pictures, these little ones are five days old.  Now they are about three weeks old and have their eyes open and are managing to make their way around.  I saw the owner today randomly at the supermarket and she invited me over to have a look at them now, so I must go and do that soon!

Patch at 5 days old vs Patch at one hour old

Proud mama!  She did a great job!

Blu Ray Tuesday # 21

The movie:

The menu: Boy Roomie made fancy dinner because it was Girl Roomie’s birthday!

This movie was a load of codswallop.  The plot was ridiculously hard to understand.  I could only barely understand it because I used to be obsessed with ‘Shakespeare in Love’, will probably always be obsessed with Queen Elizabeth I and have more than a passing interest in Shakespeare himself.  Also (and possibly most damning in my eyes) there were NO attractive men in the entire movie.  The main dude was supposed to be charming and brilliant but was played by the guy who was Hugh Grant’s scruffy roommate in ‘Notting Hill’. I spent most of the movie with my iphone in my hand, trying to google what did and didn’t actually happen and harrumphing over it all.

I don’t have any personal problems with the filmmakers suggesting Shakespeare didn’t write his plays.  I love a good conspiracy theory.  It’s just that this movie was so convoluted, so blatantly trying to be the cleverest person in the room.  I was probably more offended with the idea that Elizabeth (the ‘virgin’ Queen) was off having illegitimate children left right and centre!  Affairs, yes.  Children, no.

The only bright spark was William Shakespeare himself who the movie portrayed as an opportunistic illiterate drunk who easily steals every scene he was in.  The actor played his lines as if he were in a comedy… I wish I could have seen *that* movie.  Oh and props also go to the two actresses who played Elizabeth I.  I love a good Elizabeth and this movie had two!

Recommended?: No.  It is two hours and ten minutes.  Just… no.  Unless you are Abigail who I think might get a kick out of it :)

Guest post!

Today I am guest posting over at Blaire’s blog, A Journey Through Writing.  It is my first ever guest post so please come over and say hi.  Oh and answer the question ‘What did you want to be when you grew up?’.

In other news, I am going away on a holiday soon!  March 19th to be exact.  And I would love for my blog to take a holiday too and as a change is as good as a holiday (that’s the saying, right?)- I’d love for some guest posts for my own blog that I can post for when I’m away.  I know this is a busy time for a lot of people but I will personally come and bug you if you don’t agree to write me a guest post.  So there!

Blu Ray Tuesday #20

The movie:

The menu: McDonald’s

I wanted to like this movie so bad.  Cowboys!  Aliens! James Bond! Indiana Jones! I can’t quite work out what was wrong with it.  My final thoughts are that I think they got a bit bogged down with trying to ensure that this was not your typical summer blockbuster.  The writers wanted to make sure that everyone was a three dimensional character.  EVERYBODY and their mother had a backstory.  No joke, even the dog had a backstory.  When you watch a movie called ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, nobody’s watching for the insightful commentary on the human condition.  They wanna watch explosions and dudes on horses.

My other complaint about the movie was the sound. I know this makes me sound like an old woman but it was SO loud!! Every explosion was earth shattering so we had to turn it down but then because the movie was also a Western, when the characters were talking, everybody mumbled and we had to turn it up. Resulting in all of us nearly wetting our pants, when we had the TV turned up loud to try and hear what everyone was saying and then there would be a surprise explosion.

Luckily I quite like Daniel Craig.  I think he’s a good actor, effortlessly cool and easy on the eyes.  Also, they put him in a pair of chaps which once Girl Roomie pointed out to me, I could not take my eyes off them. 

And special shout out to the special effects team because they did an awesome job on everything.  I thought the aliens were really well done.  Menacing and very realistic.

Recommended? All in all, the movie’s alright but it’s pretty long and I think that adds another nail to its coffin.  If you wanna see a good mix of the Western and sci-f genre, I’d recommend you watch ‘Firefly’ instead. 

February Photo A Day Challenge (con.) Pt 2!

February is over and I’m still posting this challenge.  I’ll just do a giant picture post and then I’ll be finished!  Whilst I did enjoy taking photos and what not, I’m having a break over March.  April though?  I’ll be back!!

Day 22: A fave photo of you

This was actually Day 21, oops.  I never posted it because I couldn’t be bothered to look through old pictures.  I love this picture of me and “King Henry VIII” at Hampton Court in England.  I love the Tudors (both the historical personages and the TV show!) and I absolutely died of over exposure to awesomeness when I rounded a corner in the palace and was faced with King Henry himself.  I totally pushed some nice American old ladies out of the way to score this photo.  In true Henry fashion, he totally flirted with me and I giggled.  I also have a feeling that I curtseyed to him!

Also, random fact-  The guy in the background was supposed to be Thomas Cromwell (advisor to Henry) and who I am distantly related to.

Day 23: Your shoes

Literally falling apart!  I went to buy new ones but they didn’t have my size!

Day 24: Inside your bathroom cabinet

I tried to use a cool filter to make it seem more interesting.

Day 25: Green

Old picture but I love how this filter makes only her green eyes visible.  And bonus points for the green skirt hanging over my chair!

Day 26: Night

I was going to take a picture of the night sky and literally have a black square, but I forgot.  So just picture it in your minds.

Day 27: Something you ate

This was an epic fail quiche that I made.  And to add insult to injury, only two days later Girl Roomie made the best, most beautiful quiche in the world!  I couldn’t even be mad because her quiche tasted SO good!!

Day 28: Money

Australian money.  So bright and colourful!!  I love how they are different colours so you can easily spot the note you need in your wallet. 

Day 29: Something you are listening to

I love me some podcasts!  And this is my new favourite.  And there are tons of old episodes for me to download.  If you like This American Life, you will definitely like this.