Movie Review: One Day

I have been wanting to watch One Day for quite awhile now, since seeing it advertised on DSTV's Box-Office. I love Anne Hathaway and enjoy most of the movies that I have seen her in, and this one was no exception.

Based on a book by David Nicholls (which I am now going to have to find) One Day is the story of two people, Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess). The two meet at university and the movie shows how each of their lives progress, dropping in on them both each year after their initial meeting. Some years they are together, some they are apart, but they are always thinking of each other in some way or another on the day. We watch them grow up, grow together, grow apart and grow wiser. We witness joys, pains and everything in between.

I thought that the storyline of the movie was very good. It was an intriguing concept to pop in each year and see how one night can change two people's leaves for the better and for the worse. I thought that the acting was brilliant on both parts and I thought that it was a wonderful movie overall. It had funny moments, mostly at the hands of Sturgess whose character was a bit of a wild child when compared to Hathaway's straight-arrow. Not that Hathaway's character doesn't face struggles of her own, but she tends to deal with them more serenely than Sturgess deals with his difficulties, which on reflection are a lot more life-altering.

I wouldn't call One Day a comedy though, despite some comedic relief on occasion. It is a romance and it is a drama, but the issues that come up throughout the movie can certainly not be called comedy. If you are looking or a good romance to watch, I would highly recommend this one, and would certainly recommend it above some of the others making the rounds at the moment including The Vow and Like Crazy (I never did review that one... perhaps a task for another time). Overall, I would give it a 5/5 because I honestly can't think of anything that I would criticise.

Review: Adventureland

Hey all

It has been awhile since I last posted, but I have spent a day in bed thanks to pain and sinuses and watched a lot of movies, so you can expect to see a lot of reviews. The first is for a movie called Adventureland starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart.

The story revolves around James (Jesse Eisenberg), who has just graduated from university and finds out, on his graduation day, that his plans for a trip to Europe over the summer and his plans for grad school in New York have fallen through thanks to his dad losing his job. Instead of travelling, he is forced to find a job back home where the skills he has learned from his degrees will not come in any use at all. He manages to find a job at a local carnival and, despite the lacklustre work, he makes some good friends and has some great experiences, one of which being falling in love with Em (Kristen Stewart). Of course, he has no idea what he is getting himself into, as Em is complicated and currently having an affair with a married man (Ryan Reynolds) and so James finds himself stuck in a complicated situation.

I thought that the movie was pretty good. The story line wasn't exactly thrilling and was predictable, but the acting was decent enough. Kristen Stewart surprised me a little as I was expecting something more along the lines of her role in Twilight and thought that she pulled off the character quite well. The character is still a bit of a mopey, depressed, oh woe is me type, kinda like Bella Swan, but I thought that she pulled herself off better in this movie. I haven't seen Jesse Eisenberg in anything else as yet (I am one of the few people who haven't seen The Social Network) but I thought that his acting was pretty decent as well. Ryan Reynolds was very much a sideline character and acted as one - nothing special from him in this unfortunately. I got the sense that the cinematography was very artsy, very indie and the movie reminded me of a mix between the styles of Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist and Juno, both of which I felt pulled the style off better.

All in all, I would give Adventureland a 3/5 rating. I thought that the movie was decent enough and I do not regret watching it, but it could also have been better. The storyline was a little bit shallow and very predictable and the acting was fairly average. If you have some time on your hands and are looking for a bit of a fun, but not particularly funny, rom com, I would go for this.

Serial Watcher

I remember the days when I was addicted to books. I remember nights spent going to bed with a book and lying awake reading until my alarm started going off to get ready for school. I remember early university days spent skipping classes to read the latest novels. I remember loving reading, and dying to read practically anything and everything that I could. I look back on those days fondly, because they are no more. These days, my life has been taken over by series.

For the most part, it is not even new series that have taken over. It is rewatching series. I have been going through phases of rewatching shows from the beginning to the latest episodes to ensure that I am caught up before a new season starts. This also comes from a bit of reluctance to try new things. I am reluctant to get into a new series because I don't want to get caught up like I have been with so many others. I am reluctant to pick up a book in case I end up reading it for weeks on end trying to push through it even though my heart says no.

So, instead, I rewatch. And what have I been rewatching I hear you ask? So far I have rewatched three full series and am busy with a fourth. The first is Greys Anatomy. I got pulled into it again by my work colleagues at the point when every single person in my office was watching episodes during their lunch breaks and I started remembering how much I enjoyed the show. I even pulled Grant in for a grand total of 4 days or so, but he refused to be hooked despite the drama, and possibly because of it. And the show is full of drama. Meredith is dating McDreamy, but he is married, but his wife cheated on him with McSteamy, so she has been unknowing cheating with him, and then she knowingly cheats with him, but then she doesn't, but then he falls in love with someone else, so she realises she does love him. And if only I was exaggerating here! But, what can I say, I am a sucker for drama. I have reached the last episode of the latest season and am on the edge of my seat waiting for the series to come back next month.

Then, there is Criminal Minds. Another show that I am completely addicted to, and in this case it is less because of the drama of the main characters, mostly because that is sidelined by all other sorts of drama in the cases that they solve. For those who do not know about Criminal Minds, and I am willing to bet that there are quite a few of you since the series is not particularly popular in SA, the series revolves around the Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI and their hunts for serial killers, kidnappers, murderers and all other kinds of creeps that pop up from time to time. The lives of the main characters do inform the plot a lot of the time, but the main draw (for me at least) is the analysis of the criminals, the profiling as the team likes to call it. This is a great suspense type of series and if murder mysteries are your thing, I think you will love it.

The third series that I have been going through, particularly now that the series is over entirely, is House, MD. Once again, I am less drawn to this medical series because of the drama, though in this case there is plenty of it, but because of the humour and the actual medicine involved. Once again, I like the mystery, of which there is little in Greys (though a lot of suspense, as per the last episode of last season). With Greys, you tend to know what the problem is from the start and it is just a case of whether the patients live or die while the doctors quibble amongst themselves and deal with their own personal issues. With House it tends to be more a case of what the hell is wrong with this patient and what aspect of his personal life will provide him with the clue to crack the case wide open. The humour is less in your face and more cynical, and I love that. I also adore Hugh Laurie.

And then there is the series that I am currently rewatching, How I Met Your Mother (fondly refered to as HIMYM). I consider it to be a modern day Friends, and I was a big Friends fan back in the day. HIMYM is the story of a group of five friends all growing up and looking for love in New York. They are all in their mid-20s at the start of the first season, all just finished or finishing college, all starting to realise that they are grown ups and learning how to act that way. It makes for a show that is easy to relate to. The main premise to the story is one of the main characters, Ted, telling his two children (seen often throughout the series) how he met their mother, though I am 6 seasons in and she has yet to make an appearance (though they have hinted at her in terms of yellow umbrellas and ankle-glimpses and such). It ends up being less about how he met her and more about how his life progressed to the point that he was ready to meet her.

And what will I watch once HIMYM is up to date? Well, there are a number of shows in the running including, but not limited to, Supernatural, The OC (a favourite of mine from high school), Chuck and possibly Desperate Housewives (don't judge me!). So, while I will still try to keep reading in my spare time, you can see that I have a lot of catching up to do and I intend to do it quickly. Wish me luck!

Sheesh-a

I have never considered myself to be a smoker. That is not to say that I have never smoked in my life, but that I have never found myself to be addicted to the habit of smoking.

There was a time when I used smoking as a social tool, mostly in my first year of University. It was a good conversation starter, having a chat over a smoke. It was a good reason to hang out with the girls in res and get to know them as we sat outside the front door, sucking on our cancer sticks and reliving our weekends. Hell, I even met Grant because of smoking. Our first conversation went something along the lines of:

"Lara."
"Puffy."
"Can I bum a smoke?"

And six and a half years on, we are still going strong without the help of cigarettes. Of course, it took awhile for us to get there. Even after I "quit" smoking (ie. quit bumming smokes off girls in res), Grant carried on for a good two years and I was surrounded by second hand smoke. Which makes it even easier for me to say that I was never a smoker, because it was easy for me to "quit". I still had the occasional cigarette, and there are still times when I am tempted to ask a friend for a drag even to this day, but I am able to keep back the temptation without too much effort.

You see, while I have never been a smoker, I have a funny feeling that I could easily become one if I let myself. All it would take it giving in at a point when I am too stressed, when I am practically over the edge. All it would take is one little cigarette, one little drag, to push me. And I am trying very hard to avoid that. So instead of becoming a smoker, instead of taking a drag of a cigarette when I feel that need, I have taken to another stress-reliever. And that is hubbly.

And yes, it does sound like a bit of a contradiction, doesn't it? I don't consider myself a smoker, but I am happy to smoke hubbly. Do I think that it is any better for me? Probably not. Do I think that it is less addictive? Absolutely. You see, while smokers often smoke a number of cigarettes in a day (a pack or more for the serious ones), I smoke perhaps three hubblies in a week. And that would be a very stressful week for me to smoke that much. I can go weeks or months without smoking a hubbly, and feel in no way addicted to it. In fact, I do not think that it is the smoking itself that draws me in. It is the preparation that goes into it.

Smoking a hubbly is not a five minute affair. It is not just a case of lighting up, powering through and throwing away a stump at the end. It is a methodical procedure, from filling the vase to choosing the flavour, from poking holes in the foil to lighting the coal. Even once it is ready and the smoking has begun, it is not the smoking that draws me. It is, once again, the social nature of smoking a hubbly. It is a far more social activity than smoking ever was for me. Instead of rushing through the latest news in the span of a cigarette, you sit around, you chat, you soak in the atmosphere, you take turns, you share. Once it is over, you methodically take it apart, from letting the coal burn out to clearing out the tobacco, rinsing the vase and setting it aside for the next time.

And so, I will say it again. I do not consider myself to be a smoker. A hubbly smoker, perhaps, but I see that to be a different brand of person altogether, and a brand of person that I am happy to associate myself with.

Arno Carstens

I walked into the theatre for the Arno Carstens concert in Grahamstown and two things struck me. The first was that we had PERFECT seats. We were about five rows from the front, a little to the left of centre stage and were at eye level with the band. It could not have been better! The second was that this was not the ideal setting for a rock concert, and when it comes to Carstens, that was exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting something along the lines of the last Parlatones concert that I went to in terms of atmosphere, and that is not what I got.

While the venue for the concert (Guy Butler theatre in the Monument) may be great in terms of acoustics, it is not so great in terms of atmosphere. The theatre is built more like an opera house with folding seats going back around 26 rows and further seating in raised rows at the back. Which does not make it the ideal situation for the kind of music that Carstens produces. The biggest trouble is that the Guy Butler theatre  is the largest in Grahamstown, and the only theatre that could accommodate the kind of audience that Carstens wants to draw. Going to the concert would have been a more attractive idea if it had been in a smaller location, but had been running for a few days rather than a one-night-only show to draw in the crowds, but then have them sit awkwardly in their seats while you play at them.

Despite the atmosphere, I found the concert to be rather enjoyable. I am not a big fan of Carstens, nor was I a big fan of the Springbok Nude Girls, but that is simply because I do not know much of his (or their) music. The little that I knew of it, I liked and when Mike and Vicky suggested going, it was not something that I jumped at, but considering that we were going to the show before and considering that it was in the same venue, I was not against going either. And I'm glad that I went!

The music was good. Nothing spectacular, but it was good enough to make me want to dance along. To be honest, I found that Carstens did not have much of a stage presence. I found my eyes wandering from him and on to the band and the vocalist that he brought along. He didn't engage with the audience much. He played, he sang and it was good, but not great. When the songs that I recognised came up, I stood and I danced, but for most of the evening I stayed stuck to my seat. I am sure that if there hadn't been a seat to stick to, I would have been up there and dancing along, even to the songs that I didn't know.There is something about the atmosphere of concerts that does that to me. But as it was, I was happy to just be there, listen and leave. I wasn't one of the people shouting out for an encore, but I wasn't asking for my money back either.


What I can say is that the music was enjoyable. Carstens has a great voice, there is no doubting that. The classics are classics for a reason and I loved hearing them. I thought that a little too much of his new stuff was played, and I found it to be a bit too generic for my liking. All of the music sounded the same essentially with only two songs really standing out, those two being the ones that I already knew and loved. If I hear one of his songs come up over the radio, I will turn it up and listen, but I won't be going out of my way to buy myself his CD any time soon. Unfortunately, he didn't convince me of that much. But I wouldn't give up on old Arno quite yet. I think there is still a lot to come from him, and I look forward to hearing it when it comes.

Self=image

Self-image is not an easy topic for me to discuss, but it is one that I have been faced with a lot recently. I have been bombarded with news articles about it and faced with it whenever I look in the mirror.

I have always had weight problems. At first, when I was young, I was significantly underweight. I was accused by classmates and teachers of being anorexic, and my parents seemed to feel the same way to some extent. I had no appetite, and the small amount of food that I did eat they tended to encourage. Nevermind the fact that it was terribly bad for me, as long as I was eating, it was fine.

Then, when I hit my teenage years and my appetite started to grow along with my figure, at first it was a relief. The change happened to come at the same time as a change in school, and the feeling was that the weight-gain came from somewhere in between happiness at my new surroundings and just growing up in general. My metabolism was changing, and at first it was seen as a good thing. A great thing in fact! I remember bragging to my sister that I had finally put on weight, and she didn't believe me! And putting on weight was something to brag about at that stage. It meant that I was getting healthy. It meant, in my mind, no more mocking and no more accusations.

What I didn't realise at that point was that the weight gain was not all going to be good. While eating whatever I wanted was fine when I was eating hardly anything at all, the weight gain meant that eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted should have been off the cards. And yet, I had grown so used to eating whatever I pleased that dieting was not something that formed a part of my vocabulary. I had grown used to eating meals that were not necessarily good for me, and succumbing to any cravings that I had. I would not let my body hold me back from what I wanted, under the impression that I would rather be over-weight and happy than under-weight and unhappy.

And I think this is where the biggest problem came in. I had started associating my weight with my emotions. The times in my life when I had been at my lowest weight were also the times when I was at my lowest emotionally. I wanted to avoid that at all costs, and food became a means of reaching this end.

It is now many years later, and my weight is a rollercoaster. I have hypo-thyroidism, which does not help (and nor does my phobia of needles for getting my thyroid checked regularly), but my diet is still all over the place. I am a stress-eater, and I consider my job to be stressful. I am not a smoker, I am not a huge coffee drinker, and this means that when I stress, I use food to cope, and I eat badly.

I look in the mirror and I often wonder how I got to be this way. I try to lose weight, but as soon as an obstacle comes along, I tend to falter in its path. I think part of the problem is that I have a low self-image. While Grant can look at me and say that I am sexy, I look at myself and do not feel it. And I don't think that is something that is going to be shed with weight-loss. When I was overseas and had lost over 10kg in weight over a matter  of months, I still felt over-weight, I still felt like it was not good enough. And when you have that mindset, no amount of weight is ever going to be good enough. At that point,  you have to take a deeper look at yourself and wonder whether your weight-loss or -gain is the real aim, or is there something else about yourself that needs to change - whether it be  your attitude, your lifestyle or your way of coping with things.

To me, I think that I could do with a change in all aspects. I have a very negative way of looking at the world, I live a lazy lifestyle and I do not cope with stress well (screaming and eating being only two of the signs that I am having a bad day) and those are things that are not going to fix themselves with weight-loss. Those are things that may lead to me being happier as a person and happier with myself, and I think that is a good start on the way to having both a healthy body and a healthy mind.

Accident Prone

I took a tumble over the weekend. Not a big one, not one that would normally have featured on my blog, except that it really got me thinking. I took a tumble, and it wasn't the first in recent months.

The first happened a good four months back when I was walking with Grant and Jono to quiz. We were walking and chatting and singing along to Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, and it was beautiful and poetic and helluvah lucky. There I was, belting it out, "And it goes like this, the fourth the fifth, the minor..." And there I went. Plummeting to earth in a most graceful manner, camera in hand and face forward. I don't know how I did it. I turned in mid-air and instead of landing face-first and camera first in the gravel, I landed back down, head slightly raised and the camera an inch from the ground. It was miraculous. I was bruised in more ways than one, but I was in one piece and I stood up, dusted myself off and was on my way again.

Then, a few months later, there I was feeling sorry for myself, having just failed at diving not for the first time, walking out of the changing room carrying all of my belongings and poof! Down a small flight of stairs. This time I was not so lucky. This time I didn't manage to walk away without a scratch. Instead, I walked away with a bandaged up foot and a sprained ankle that reminded me of my failure for days and weeks on end. There went any thoughts of playing sport. There went any chance of finishing my diving course. There went practically all of my dignity as this fall was not graceful in the slightest, nor was my response. I was a ball of tears and weeping, and let me tell you I am not a pretty sight when I am upset. Trying to make me feel better, the assistant at the dive shop tried to take my mind off the pain by asking how my diving course went. I burst into tears on the spot.

And now, having regained my stride and having finally stopped feeling pangs of pain when I put too much strain on my foot, I have gone and done it again. After the (most amazing) Mango Groove concert on Saturday, we were walking back to the car. Grant had cleverly decided to park off to the side to avoid the rush of festival ongoers and to ensure that he got a parking fairly close to the entrance. It would have been genius, if it hadn't been so dark. On our way into the concert I stumbled over rocks and stones, but made my way in unscathed. On the way out on the other hand... Once again, it was quite beautiful timing. Grant was racing ahead as I tried to find my way between rocks. "Baby," I called out, "Please walk a little slower. I don't want to..." And there I went. Plummeting to earth once again. Only not so graceful this time. Possibly worse than the second fall even. This time it was into a puddle and, once again, I was not unscathed. Not only was I wet and embarrassed, but my ankle was aching in an all-too familiar way. Panic struck. Literally. I started having a panic attack. I have only had 3 in my lifetime, but I know them all-too well as well. The numbing sensation of your whole body that stops you from being able to move even an inch. I had to be carried to the car (not a small feat) and once in, I was dead to the world. Forget shaking. Forget crying. I was utterly gone.

And so, as I lie here in bed, my foot pounding just a little more than is normal for a sprained ankle, I think to myself that it turns out I am accident prone. I don't know when it started. Come to think of it, I have always been one to watch my feet when I walk, so perhaps I have always known. But what I know for certain is that I am going to be watching them a lot closer from now on. Feet, you have been warned, as have all people coming into close proximity to me. I am not to be trusted on my own two feet.