50 Books Challenge 2013 Update - July

What a month. I read four book. Four GREAT books! This was, I think, the best month so far.

# 25. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire # 3)- 5/ 5
# 26. The Loop by Nicholas Evans - 5/ 5
# 27. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey - 3/ 5
# 28. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 5/ 5

Average: 4,5

Favorite of the month: The Hound of the Baskervilles

I still have some books I want to read, with one thing in common. So that brought me to this theme.

And it's authors like J.K. Rowling, Cassandra Clare and Maeve Binchy. It promises to be a good month and I'm pretty excited about it!!

Weekly Photo Challeng 2013 - Theme # 30: Dinner

Here is this weeks theme.

I'm not the best chef, but I really like to cook. And Ik also love to try new things I tried chicken gado gado the other day and it really turned out well. It was delicious. And it looks beautiful on the plate, doesn't it.

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 28: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Story: Holmes and Watson are faced with their most terrifying case yet. The legend of the devil-beast that haunts the moors around the Baskerville families home warns the descendants of that ancient clan never to venture out in those dark hours when the power of evil is exalted. Now, the most recent Baskerville, Sir Charles, is dead and the footprints of a giant hound have been found near his body. Will the new heir meet the same fate?
Start: july 24th 2013
End: july 29th 2013
Comment: I have a thing for detective stories, I like the idea of trying to solve a mystery with the characters. Sherlock Holmes is the best of them all and probably even the most well known fictional detective. So you can also say I have a thing for Sherlock. I love the films and off course the BBC show, but it all started with the books and I wanted to reread "The Hound of the Baskervilles" this summer. As soon as I opened the book, I was captivated. I normally read books in my native tongue, but I just had to read this one in English. What a beautiful way Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has with words. Your English has to be pretty advanced. This story has always been my favorite and again it was a pleasure to read it. I love the whole atmosphere of this book, the case is interesting and compelling and it's full of suspense. It's a timeless mystery. My favorite thing about all Sherlock Holmes books, is how detailed it is. They are classic 'who done it' stories, but with much more depth in it. Fantastic read!
Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (98)

Here are this weeks trailers.

A Single Shot
Description: A single shot, aimed at a lone deer, that hits and kills a young woman. The hunter, John Moon (Sam Rockwell), watches her die before discovering a box of money near her body. In a desperate panic, he takes the cash, hiring a low-rent lawyer (William H. Macy) to fight his wife's (Kelly Reilly) divorce suit, and attempts to cover up the killing. But when he discovers that the money belonged to a group of hardened criminals, the hunter becomes the hunted in this tense cat-and-mouse struggle in the backwoods of West Virginia.
Director: Matthew F. Jones
Starring: Sam Rckwel, William H. Macy, Jason Isaacs, Jeffrey Wright, Kelly Reilly
Trailer: Trailer "A Single Shot"

Cold Comes the Night
Description: A struggling motel owner (Alice Eve) is taken hostage, along with her daughter (Ursula Parker),by a career criminal (Bryan Cranston) as he attempts to retrieve his cash package from a crooked cop (Logan Marshall-Green). Everyone gets in over their heads, and a series of double-crosses leaves a string of dead bodies in this pulse-pounding story about desperation and survival.
Director: Tze Chung
Starring: Alice Eve, Bryan Cranston, Ursula Parker, Logan Marshall-Parker
Trailer: Trailer "Cold Comes the Night"

47 Ronin
Description: A band of samurai set out to avenge the death and dishonor of their master at the hands of a ruthless shogun.
Director: Carl Rinsch
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ko Shibasaki, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi
Trailer: Trailer "47 Ronin"
Comment:

The Ultimate Life
Description: Jason Stevens survived the journey his grandfather Red Stevens sent him through for "the Ultimate Gift". Now...That gift which includes managing a Billion dollar foundation is being challenged by his own family. In a courtroom battle...his assets are seized...his love interest with Alexia gets complicated...Jason could lose it all...He is now on a quest to discover what it truly means to fulfill his destiny...And Live.
Director:
Starring: Peter Fonda, Logan Bartholemew, Bill Cobbs, Lee Meriwhether, Ali Hillis
Trailer: Michael Landon Jr.

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Description: Hiccup and Toothless five years later. While Astrid, Snoutlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island's new favorite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace.
Director: Dean DeBlois
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, Djimon Hounsou, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Kit Harrington
Trailer: Trailer "How to Train Your Dragon 2"
Comment: Never seen te first though...

In My Mailbox (107)

Five officials and one private swap this week. The first card came from Vilnius, Lithuania. It's a beautiful clock. I Always like the simplicity of this object, I don't know what it is.

Sent: july 12th 2013
Received: july 21st 2013
Distance: 1,347 km (837 miles)
Travel Time: 9 days

From Taichung City, Taiwan came this very adorable postcard. I love the dog! Such a sweet card!

Sent: july 8th 2013
Received: july 21st 2013
Distance: 9,504 km (5,906 miles)
Travel Time: 13 days

This is a ver colorful and creative postcard. I think it's perfect for me as a teacher. It was send to me from Saskatoon, Canada.

Sent: july 12th 2013
Received: july 22nd 2013
Distance: 6,931 km (4,307 miles)
Travel Time: 1 days

I have two favorites this week. This is number one, from Aken, Germany. Elephants are such great animals, look at this baby elephant!

Sent: july 18th 2013
Received: july 22nd 2013
Distance: 72 km (45 miles)
Travel Time: 4 days

The other favorite came from Kiev, Ukraine. I've received some hedgehog postcards already, but this is the cutest one ever! Don't you just love this.

Sent: july 18th 2013
Received: july 26th 2013
Distance: 1,722 km (1,070 miles)
Travel Time: 8 days

And a card from my friend from Gdansk, Poland. A wonderful Humphrey Bogart postcard.

Thanks Gite, Yu-Ying, Marla, Dorothee, Vera and Patricia for you awesome postcards this week!

Movie Moments: "Pineapple Express"

I’ve wanted this movie for this item for a while now, I just had to rewatch it first. I did so I decided to pick my favorite scenes from “Pineapple Express”.

Moment # 1: Crossjoint
Dale visits Saul to get some weed, when he finds a crossjoint. You light it at three points. They smoke it and say it’s great, but they almost choke on their own coughs and don’t sound like they are enjoying it at all.

Moment # 2: Dale witnesses a murder
Dale is supposed to visit Ted Jones for work, but instead he witnesses him killing someone while sitting in the car. Jones is with a female cop. Dale wants to drive off, but instead he hits two cars which draws the killers’ attention. Dale manages to get away eventually, but he’s in big trouble.

Moment # 3: Getting rid of the phones
Saul thinks it’s better to lose their cellphones, because he thinks the cops will track them down and find them. They have all kinds of ideas like tying the phone to an animal or building a hot air balloon. Dale smashes his phone and Saul wants to smash it on a tree. Instead he throws it in the woods and the phone is lost. Saul’s genius idea to find it: call it.With what Saul?

Moment # 4: Saul, Dale and Red fight
Saul and Dale visit Red. Saul trusts him, but Dale doesn’t. They start a fight, which ends up with Dale punching a hole in the wall and Red being tied up with ducked tape.

Moment # 5: In the dumpster
Saul and Dale are running away and try to hide. In panic Saul jumps in a dumpster, but Dale doesn’t think it’s a good idea. Saul thinks they should still hide there, because he’s in the dumpster already.

Moment # 6: Fork
Dale is trying to tell his girlfriend Angie that she’s in danger, when Saul walks in to warn them. Angie thinks Saul is a bad guy and stabs him with a fork in the back. Saul screams like a girl.

Moment # 7: Police car
Because Saul spilled slushies all over the front window of the police car, he can’t see where he’s going. Saul kicks in the window with his foot, but can’t get it out. Now he has to drive with one foot sticking out of the front window.

Moment # 8: “I love you”
Dale calls Angie to tell her he loves her. Angie takes him back and tells him she wants to marry him. Dale than realizes that she’s very shallow and superficial if she takes him back, because he made a mess.

Moment # 9: Dale’s ear
Matheson, one of the bad guys, shoots Dale in the ear and now there is a piece missing. Dale tries to put it back on.

Moment # 10: Dale saves Saul
While all the weed and the barn it’s in is on fire and Saul is unconscious, Dale has to save him. His pants catch fire, so Dale takes them off. Saul won’t wake up, so he carries Saul outside… in his underpants.

Favorite Moment: Moment # 7 : Police car

Top 5 Thursday: Kids Movies for Adults

We all know the movies, that probably only children will love. I’m also a sucker for children’s movies, but I made a list of kids movies that are perfect for adults as well. I’m exluding any Disney/ Pixar animated movie, because everyone loves them.

5. The Nightmare Before Christmas
I can hear you say, this is Disney! It is, but it’s not animated but stop motion. This movie is timeless, I just love it so much.

4. The Neverending Story
I have to say that it’s pretty scary for kids, because that wolf still gives me the creeps. Kids these days won’t appreciate it as much as I did, but my generation thinks it’s amazing. I want a luck dragon.

3. E.T.
Loved it as a child, but I maybe even love it more as an adult. I even cry ever single time. I don’t remember doing that when I was younger.

2. The Fantastic Mr.Fox
Based on a book by master storyteller Roald Dahl. This movie blew my mind, love the stop motion style. Like the title says, it’s fantastic!

1. Where the Wild Things Are
I read this book to toddlers, it’s a fantastic book. And the movie is wonderful as well. It’s simply amazing, with deeper meanings and an actual good message.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Home Alone, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 27: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Author: Ken Kesey
Story: Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy – the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned.
Start: july 19th 2013
End: july 23rd 2013
Comment: Off course I have seen the movie and this is one of those rare examples where the movie is better than the book. I love the movie, but I didn't have that same feeling with its novel. I like how the story is told by Chief Bromden, a fragile giant who has delusions about the Combine, a conspiracy that runs the economy and keeps the population under control. In the mental hospital where he lives, the Combine is capably represented by Nurse Ratched, a rather tightly wound mother figure. Using a combination of psychological manipulation, drugs, and shock therapy, she and the rest of the staff keep the inmates in a passive state until McMurphy arrives, a red-headed drifter and non-conformist. It began a little slow, however the contents were extremely elaborate. It's a tough book to get into, but once you are it's very interesting. The story took two different directions. Sometimes it was really depressing and at points it was quite amusing. The balance isn't quite right, because the switch between those two emotions is sometimes too extreme. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but it had some flaws.
Rating: 3/ 5

Weekly Photo Challenge 2013 - Theme # 29: Doors

Here is this weeks theme.

These are the doors I can see when I'm looking out of my balcony door. And no, I don't live in a prison because those bars are from the balcony. The photo looks kind of retro, I like that look.

Pic Spam: Hayden Quinn

Most people outside Australia might not know him, but Hayden Quinn is a well known name. He was a participant in the 2011 Masterchef Australia series and now the other of cook books and a chef on television. Isn't he just the most handsome cook you've ever seen?

Movie Trailer Sunday (97)

Here are this weeks trailers.

12 Years a Slave
Description: In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty, personified by a malevolent slave owner (Michael Fassbender), as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon's chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) will forever alter his life.
Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams, Alfre Woodard, Chris Chalk, Taran Killam, Bill Camp
Trailer: Trailer "12 Years a Slave"
Comment: This is definitely one of those stories that will makeme cry.

The Fifthe Estate
Description: Triggering our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks and the trafficking of classified information, WikiLeaks forever changed the game. Now, in a dramatic thriller based on real events, "The Fifth Estate" reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century's most fiercely debated organization. The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistleblowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world's most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society, and what are the costs of exposing them?
Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Br�hl, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney
Trailer: Trailer "The Fifth Estate"
Comment: I love Benedict Cumberbatch, not so much as a blonde but he's still awesome!

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Description: Based on South African President Nelson Mandela's autobiography of the same name, which chronicles his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison before becoming President and working to rebuild the country's once segregated society
Director: Justin Chadwick
Starring: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Zolani Mkiva, Jamie Bartlett, Lindiwe Matshikiza, Deon Lotz, Terry Pheto
Trailer: Trailer "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
Comment: Nelson Mandela is oneof my heroes and inspirations.

The Counselor
Description: A present-day Southwest lawyer gets in over his head in the drug trade.
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, John Leguizamo
Trailer: Trailer "The Counselor"

Seventh Son
Description: In a time long past, an evil is about to be unleashed that will reignite the war between the forces of the supernatural and humankind once more. Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) is a knight who had imprisoned the malevolently powerful witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), centuries ago. But now she has escaped and is seeking vengeance. Summoning her followers of every incarnation, Mother Malkin is preparing to unleash her terrible wrath on an unsuspecting world. Only one thing stands in her way: Master Gregory. In a deadly reunion, Gregory comes face to face with the evil he always feared would someday return. Now he has only until the next full moon to do what usually takes years: train his new apprentice, Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) to fight a dark magic unlike any other. Man's only hope lies in the seventh son of a seventh son.
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Ben Barnes, Djimon Hounsou, Alicia Vikander, Antje Traue, Olivia Williams, Kit Harington
Trailer: Trailer "Seventh Son"

In My Mailbox (106)

Six postcards this week. Some really great ones. The first card came from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, US. Beautiful beach view.

Sent: july 9th 2013
Received: july 16th 2013
Distance: 6,716 km (4,173 miles)
Travel Time: 7 days

I'm not a fan of the music, but this Sammy Davis Jr. postcard is simply beautiful! I love this portrait of him. The postcard came from Austen, Texas, US.

Sent: july 9th 2013
Received: july 16th 2013
Distance: 8,315 km (5,167 miles)
Travel Time: 7 days

This gorgeous favorite is from Rheinberg, Germany. I love this!!! Last week I also received a balloon card from Germany.

Sent: july 8th 2013
Received: july 16th 2013
Distance: 57 km (35 miles)
Travel Time: 8 days

Another onefrom Germany, this time Hamburg. It's Miss Marple. My dad used to call me that when I was little, so it has a little sentiment. Again a beautiful portrait card.

Sent: july 14th 2013
Received: july 17th 2013
Distance: 398 km (247 miles)
Travel Time: 3 days

A dolphin card or the collection. It's from an Ocean Park in Hongkong. Lovely, Dolphins are Always lovely.

Sent: june 15th 2013
Received: july 17th 2013
Distance: 9,292 km (5,774 miles)
Travel Time: 32 days

Just amazing, from Tainan City, Taiwan. A simple photo of a mailbox and bike but I always see beauty in the mot simple things.

Sent: june 27th 2013
Received: july 19th 2013
Distance: 9,625 km (5,981 miles)
Travel Time: 22 days

And three cards from my good friend Patricia from Gdansk, Poland.

Thanks