The power of a good story

My video of the day. Brilliant.

District 9

Here is another little movie review from me of a film I enjoyed much more than I anticipated. It was another choice by Alex and he evenually persuaded me to spend another Sunday in a darkened cinema hall. District 9 had been described to me variously as “The best sci-fi film since the Matrix”, “really good but made my girlfriend hide” and “abgefahren” . I think I agree most with the last one. For an alien film it was surprisingly…realistic. In fact, you could have replaced the aliens with just about any huge group of refugees and the film wouldn’t have been much different. Well, there wouldn’t have been all that cool alien gadgetry but the human story would have been the same.

The film is extremely cynical about human natures, and as I’m becoming increasingly cynical in my old age, I couldn’t really find any fault with its reasoning. Something like what happens in the film probably WOULD happen in real life. There will be no spoilers in this post and all I can say is that if you want a thought-provoking alien film, go see this. It is REALLY gory in parts though, so that should keep the boys happy as alien guts fly everywhere.

Random Croquet trivia

Croquet was once an olympic sport:

Croquet

There was only ever one croquet competition in Olympic Games history, held in 1900 in Paris. France won all events, which is not surprising as only French competitors took part. In this event, the first women to take part in the Olympic Games occurred on June 28, 1900. It was also not a success with the spectators. Only one fan watched the events – an Englishman who had travelled from Nice especially for the occasion. No wonder we have not seen this event at the Olympics again.

A shame it was taken out of the schedule. The world is also the poorer for not having these sports in the olympic games.

Look at my Lederhosen

Look at my Lederhosen, ursprünglich hochgeladen von georgina_miller

Instead of replying to all the emails I have piling up in my inbox and instead of writing my blog, I have been playing with photos on Flickr. So to make up for it here is a photo to show how amazing Alex and I looked in our Dirndl (mine) and Lederhosen (his). I will write an entry soon…

It just occured to me that it might be of interest to someone living in Munich where all this came from. I bought mine frim Wies’n Tracht & Mehr. I apologise for the horrendously kitschy advertising on the site but the shop isn’t half bad.

UP

UP

I went to see UP at the weekend. We went to the cinema in the Nymphenburger Strasse because not only was it in English, but it was also in 3D. I’ve become purist and resent seeing films in anything other than the original, especially when the original is my language. I’m blogging about it because I thought it was brilliant.

Warning to complete sops like me, the beginning will make you cry. For the first 15 mins or so of the film there is hardly any talking but the story is shown in such a realistic and touching way that it will make you want to cry. The first section of the film is definitely aimed at adults, as the pasthos will probably fly straight over most children’s heads. I bill this as another film from Pixar that both kids and their parents, and 20 something couples will love.

Once our grumpy hero flies off in his house, things start to get a bit more fantastic but the relationship between Russell and Mr Fredricksen is realistic and endearing. Russell is great, and very likeable, and not at all cutesy and irritating like the majority of kids in

You can see the trailer on YouTube but unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to embed it here.

Next Sunday we’re going to see District 9. I’ll keep you posted.