Happy Birthday Joanna

Ahh, look at her there ...isn't she lovely?!

Sweet 16 today!

Had a great weekend with the siblings (and Brian!) Went bowling on Sunday and had so much fun! Whenever I steal the pictures from Joanna, I'll post some on the blog!

Went to see The New World on Saturday. Colin Farrddle's latest. Jay, Brian and myself really enjoyed it, but I've never been to a film where so many people left before the end and there was a resounding and collective laugh as the credits began to roll (let me just clarify this was not because it was a comedy!) It is the latest film from director Terrence Malick - amazingly only his 4th film in 30 years!! He directed Badlands (1973) which starred a young (pre-presidential!) Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. He also directed The Thin Red Line (1998) which had an amazing cast, including Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, James Caviezel, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Jared Leto, Nick Nolte and John C. Reilly.
As I said, we really enjoyed The New World, but I do understand why people didn't like it - it's quite slow moving at times, and there are long drawn out scenes without dialogue and less action than I was expecting, with only one "battle" scene that neither lasted very long or was very gorey (I am quite glad of that though!) Colin Farrell is surprisingly good - gentle and careful with his character - not the gung-ho hero but emotional and vulnerable...still with a strong Dub accent though, which was slightly off-putting!! Christian Bale is great too and Q'Orianka Kilcher (the 14-year-old (!) who plays Pocahontas) is truly wonderful.

I would recommend it...but don't blame me if you don't enjoy it!!

Do it do it do it

Hahahaha!! Just saw Starsky & Hutch for the first time last night! Sooo funny! I hadn't heard great reviews about it when it came out so I wasn't too pushed about seeing it but it's really great! There was a couple of Zoolander moments between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, but they work so well together! The "frat-pack" guys are great - Afternoon Delight featuring once again, although the ultimate is Anchorman! Snizzle Dizzle (Snooooop) was also surprisingly good...although I don't think much acting was going on there!! Oh Snoop, "you are the height of too-muchness!"

I also watched Batman (the first movie) last night...I was "researching" for the dissertation! I have just started a Gothic and Horror in Film and Literature course in college, so I'm really looking forward to analysing my Tim Burton films...the monster within, disfigurement, madness of the mind, the psychology of horror! Yay! Funtimes!!

Do it...DO IT!!

Film reviews

We had this idea to use the blog as a site to review films that we watch...we don't have a tv, you see, so we've been watching a LOT of films recently, both on dvd and in the cinema!

Here are some films that you can look forward to Jenny and Jay's personal insights...with quick reviews!

* King Kong - Excellent, go and see it!!
* The Producers - Hmmm, wouldn't waste my time or money!
* The Big Kahuna - Really very, very good! Love Kevin Spacey and Danny Di Vito is excellent...very thought provoking
* Before Sunrise - beautifully romantic, very real, very natural - looking forward to watching the sequel 'Before Sunset'
* The Cooler - very good, we like William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin is scaarieee! Funny moments, but also some quite brutally violent moments...definitely one to watch with a pillow to hide behind!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day...

Hallo everyone!

Christmas was lovely! We had our families over, which was lovely - Jay cooked a mighty fine ham and despite his best efforts to look stressed, he wasn't fooling anybody with that apron/santa hat combo! What a man! After LOTS of food we watched a dvd and all fell asleep! We watched Madagascar (courtesy of Ms Finch!) and afterwards we had to do all we could from crying with laughter as our mothers repeatedly sang "I like to move it move it!" Oh. No.
Then we had a very heated game of Trivial Pursuit, which ended in the mother of all show-downs - me and Anna vs. my dad and Joanna! They won...there will be a re-match!!

New Year's was great fun also! Stephen and Anna came over for dinner and more fun boardgame times...Stephen wiped the floor with all of us at Monopoly - the boy had a strategy, what can I say?! At 11.55, we four huddled around an open window (with "Celebrate Good Times" blaring in the background!) as Jay popped open the champagne! Then after too many glasses of wine and vanilla vodka cream liquer I wished everyone a properous 2007...then went to bed!
Since then, I have been mostly (explaining and excusing the 2007 text message! and...) studying! Yes, one exam over, one to go! Today's went really well, I'm really pleased with it! Tomorrow could be a whole different kettle of fish, but we'll see!

Happy New Year everyone!!