Sunday, March 26, 2017

Sunday Snapshot for the Last Sunday in March

High winds tore the roof off my local library

Currently reading:

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino: Coming across an old school chum is never a good sign in these books.

Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter: TBH I've completely forgotten what these two are investigating or why.

Posted:

Discover the other wines of Champagne and meritage, the New World wine blend to look for if you love Bordeaux.

Movies:

woman in gold
Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, and Tatiana Maslany

LOVED IT. This movie shows exactly why I study art and why I think it's important: it tells us who we are. But it doesn't necessarily tell the story we think it does, or tell a single story. I ugly cried at the end and I didn't even care. The scenes of pre-War Vienna were also perfect; Tatiana Maslany really looked like she could be a younger Helen Mirren.

My only criticism is that Ryan Reynolds struggled with the whole mild-mannered nice guy persona. Sometimes he'd break character, and when he wasn't breaking character it was painfully obvious he was Acting!.

life
Life, starring Rebecca Ferguson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bradley Cooper (kidding, it's Ryan Reynolds again)

Scientists at the International Space Station collecting samples from Mars discover an adorable single-celled organism named Calvin that's all eyes, all brain, all muscle, looks like a vampire bat, and grows rapidly. What could go wrong?!

Idk about this movie; I spent most of it rooting for the alien. Also there are a ton of inconsistencies: lack of oxygen is supposed to kill Calvin, but it spent 20 minutes frolicking around in outer space like a kid in a McDonald's play area! I think it would have been better if the filmmakers had pulled a Jaws and not let us see Calvin for most of the movie. Because it was way too cute.

foodies movie
Foodies: The Culinary Jet Set, directed by Thomas Jackson, Charlotte Landelius, and Henrik Stockare

This documentary follows the life and adventures of top-tier foodie bloggers, who travel the world in their quest to eat at Michelin-starred restaurants. In other words, the life I wish I had.

If anything, this film made me glad I'm not one of these super food bloggers, or whatever they call themselves. Yes, I have scheduled portions of vacations around eating in specific restaurants before, but they weren't Michelin restaurants, and even if I could afford such a diet, I wouldn't even want to eat in these fancy-ass places for all three meals every damn day. I would have liked to have seen some questioning of the Michelin rating system and a few bloggers who don't slavishly follow it, as well. Overall just an okay doc.

snowden
Snowden, starring Shia Lebeouf? wrong! Joseph Gordon-Levitt

You can really tell this movie was directed by Oliver Stone. For some people that might be a good thing. For me, eh. I enjoyed JFK, but that movie was actually entertaining. This one, on the other hand, is too vague and bland to be terribly interesting. Your time would be better served watching Citizenfour.

I did like the performances, however! I was impressed by how well Lebeouf–no–Levitt transformed into Snowden, but really all the actors do a top notch job. My favorite by far, however, was Rhys Ifans as Corbin O'Brien. He brought some very much needed personality and energy into this film.

miss peregrine's home for peculiar children
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, starring Eva Green and Asa Butterfield (for whom I couldn't invent a more appropriate name)

Okay, but not as good as the book. I would have expected a movie like this to be totally up Tim Burton's alley, but he never went for the jugular with it. It could/should have been scary, or at the very least creepy, but instead it was all nice, bright skies, flowers, fun people with British accents, etc. Plus they kept the prologue and, while I can understand why they did, I still found it irritating.

Bonus:

Time is getting on, so I'm going to skip the updates for this week. I did want to share one link, though. Remember how I started keeping track of the nationality of all the authors whose books I read this year? Well, check out this handy map of every country's favorite/most famous novel.


Have a great week, everyone!



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Sunday, March 12, 2017

Sunday Snapshot: Saving Daylight

Calypso needs a few more zzzzs

Currently reading:

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas: So far I'm enjoying it a helluva lot more than Marrying Winterborne.

Beastly Bones by William Ritter: Frankenstein!

Posted:

Learn about Jura, France's most obscure wine region! And read my article on the Denver Art Museum's Mi Tierra installation art exhibit.

Movies watched:

gods of egyptGods of Egypt, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Gerard Butler

I expected this movie to be pretty stupid, and I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed! Although it is better than some other ancient tymes action flicks I've seen (Prince of Persia, The Last Legion, The Scorpion King... I could go on, I've yet to come across one I can say no to), it was about as accurate and plausible as one would expect. Which is to say not. at. all.

This week in heidenkindom:

Whelp, daylight savings is upon us (if you live in most of the US anyway). The long slog through winter is semi-officially over! Sometimes I don't have any problems adjusting to the time change and sometimes it takes weeks; I have a feeling this year it's going to be the latter.

Art history time:

jug in the form of a head gauguin
Jug in the Form of a Head, Self-portrait, Gauguin, 1889. Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen.

I thought this was pretty damn fascinating: Only days after his epic fight and split with Van Gogh, Gauguin attended a decapitation in Paris, where he conceived of Jug in the form of a Head, a self-portrait-as-beheaded-death-mask. Even more curiously, the head has no ears. Is it a reference to Van Gogh cutting off his ear in Arles?


Have a great week, everyone!


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Sunday, March 5, 2017

Sunday Snapshot is MARCH-ing Along (See What I Did There?)

This is why we can't have nice things.

Currently reading:




Posted:




Movies watched:

i don't feel at home in this world anymore
I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore, starring Melanie Lynskey and a completely unrecognizable Elijah Wood

When Ruth's laptop and her grandma's silver are stolen, she finds the police not just unhelpful, but completely without fucks to give. So she decides to take matters into her own tentacles and look for the stuff on her own, with a little help from a not-so-mysteriously-single neighbor.

Imagine Kill Bill, but instead of a ninja assassin seeking vengeance for a wedding massacre there's a shy nurse trying to find the people who broke into her house, and you basically have this movie. I thought the start of the film and the conclusion didn't really go together, but I did enjoy both parts for different reasons. Weirdly, it reminded me of Idiocracy–it's in that same lane of really sharp social commentary crouched in a completely ridiculous plot. Worth watching, I think!

This week in heidenkindom:

Not a lot going on this week, aside from the usual, which is nice after a hectic February. I finally finished Pretty Face, which was a slog (review to come!), and started The Last of August yesterday. Oh, and I made homemade hamburger buns from starter on Wednesday.

We've actually been trying out a few new recipes recently, and I have to say America's Test Kitchen has been killing it this season. Their cast iron steak and chicken are both simple to make and fantastic, and I tried their pan seared salmon this week and it was SO GOOD. Even my dad was like, "This is my new favorite salmon recipe!" (Note you have to create an account to access ATK recipes on their website.)

I also got a cookbook called Simple: The Easiest Cookbook in the World, where all the recipes have no more than 4 steps and 6 ingredients. So far every recipe we've tried from this cookbook have been absolute winners! Full of flavor and just plain delish. Some of the recipes are "strange" by American standards (it was written by a Frenchman and originally published in French), but as far as I'm concerned that only makes it more fun to flip through. It's fascinating to get another cultural perspective on basic, everyday dishes. I definitely recommend this one!

Bonus:

Tif is hosting a readalong of The Underground Railroad over at Book Bloggers International this month. The first discussion will be Monday, March 6th, for those who want to join in.


Have an wonderful week, everyone!



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