Plot:
Eric’s (Steve Evets) life is falling apart: He is close to a mental breakdown, he can hardly do his job as a postman, his two teenage stepsons make his life miserable and he is haunted by the memories of his first love he lost through a mistake of his own doing. Then one night, Eric Cantona (Eric Cantona) appears in his bedroom and starts coaching his life.
Looking for Eric is a sweet and very funny movie. It’s wonderfully written (by Paul Laverty) with a very warm sense of humour. The story is not too original but it doesn’t need to be. It’s thoroughly enjoyable.
Shaking his head at the way of the world, Fred Colon walked right up to the wall so crelly, or cruelleah, denuded of its covering. The painting had been crudely cut from its frame.
This is one of those Random Facts memes. This time, I should state 9 weird things about myself:
I got my tattoo on my right wrist so I’ll always know left from right. [Also because I liked the spot, but mostly for that.]
I own like hundreds of notebooks I never use because they are too beautiful for my purposes.
The longest I ever lived in one place without interruption was 9 years. And then I would have moved a lot earlier if I hadn’t been too young to live on my own. I’m afraid that I’ll never be able to settle in one place…
I have real difficulties with throwing books out (to resell them or give them to charity, not to throw them away. Throwing them away: not possible). Even if I’d never read the book (like the newest Coelho my grandma gave me for Christmas) or have read and hated it.
I think I might be slightly lactose intolerant but I don’t want to get it tested because I really don’t want to drink my coffee without milk.
I can concentrate better in a coffee shop with tons of people around me than in my flat, alone.
My dreams have soundtracks, though usually pretty crappy stuff I don’t actually listen to.
I have the most awesome short story at home that I wrote when I was about six or seven. If you want to, I’ll post it someday. :)
Plot:
Scientists make a discovery: the world is ending in 2012, the Mayans were right. So, the most powerful men of the world hatch out a plan, don’t tell anyone about it and then in 2012, one righteous man tries to save his family.
Honestly, who cares about the plot? The plot is not important.
2012 delivers what Roland Emmerich promised in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow: Nobody can destroy the earth just like he does. You just need to ignore the science (ridiculous), the story itself (been there, seen that times one hundred) and the (mostly) mediocre acting and enjoy the Special Effects. Since nothing about this movie is outrageously offensive, that’s easily done.
The thirteen stories are all rather similar in tone – not really scary and, like Kochanski’s writing, trying a little too hard. Some of the stories are a little surreal, but mostly they remain in the traditional confines of the genre. Overall, they’re easy to read and since it’s Kochanski’s first fiction book I can cut him some slack in the cases where the language doesn’t flow perfectly.
Yet I can’t really recommend this book because of two things: One, it annoyed the hell out of me that all the skiing people are basically rich snobs. This is just not true in Austria (and in Switzerland, either, I’m pretty sure) since almost every child learns to ski here. Two (and more importantly) it’s incredibly misogynistic. Almost every woman in these stories is shallow, obsessed with looks and shopping and a little daft. What the hell?
[As usual, after the break, I'll talk shortly about every story.]
Plot:
Belle Epoque in France. The ageing courtesan Léa (Michelle Pfeiffer) just ended her latest relationship and is considering her lifestyle: Is it really still necessary to do her job? What else would she do? It’s at that point that her best friend Madame Peloux (Kathy Bates) facilitates a meeting between Léa and Peloux’s son, Chéri (Rupert Friend). Chéri kind of ambles through life and doesn’t really know what to do with himself. His mother thinks that a relationship between him and Léa should be part of his education. And even though Lea is that much older than Chéri, things seem to work out perfectly.
Chéri surprised me. I didn’t expect much (I seem to have read only the bad reviews) but I got a delightful film with wonderful Wilde-esque dialogue, perfect performances, beautiful costumes and a great score (by Alexandre Desplat). It may not be the movie of the year, but it’s really good.
Plot:
Darren and Steve are best friends, even though Steve got kind of wild lately. One day they find a flyer advertising the Cirque du Freak. Excited, Darren and Steve go there. Much to their surprise, the “freaks” there are actually supernaturally gifted and the boys get quickly caught up in that world.
Cirque du Freak is a series for kids/young adults, and I’m sure that twelve, thirteen year olds do enjoy it. I was pretty bored reading it. Nothing much happens, it’s badly written and the plot is obvious within about the first ten pages of the book.
Laws restricting access to medical services are laws restricting access to medical services. They are not laws creating family talks, better worlds, or moral teenagers. They are laws creating restrictions to medical services, which people do not seek unless they need them. Laws creating restrictions to medical services are laws creating restrictions to services people need and need desperately. You can argue that the lawmakers had some kind of noble intentions in mind — I will not buy it, but you can argue that. But you cannot argue that once the law has been in effect and created an inability to comply, and yet remained unchanged. If this was a law about notifying parents, it would have addressed how to notify parents. If this was a law about how to seek a bypass, it would have addressed how to seek a bypass. Since it didn’t address either of those things, this is obviously a law about something else. You only get one guess about what that something else is.
