Top 5 Thursday: Movie Friends

It’s always nice to see a movie with a great friendship in it. Here are my five favorites.

5. Harry, Ron and Hermione (“Harry Potter” series)
They were a good combination from the beginning, although the two boys didn’t really like Hermione at first. The calm and troubled Harry, funny and nervous Ron and smart and kind Hermione. A match made in heaven.

4. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson
You have to be very patient to have Sherlock Holmes as your best friend, but he’s a genius. And with that patience Watson makes a perfect friend.

3. Bob and Charlotte (“Lost in Translation”)
A middle aged man and a young, newlywed woman befriend each other. It sounds weird, but it’s one of the most honest and convincing friendships between a man and a woman ever portrayed in a movie.

2. Gordie, Chris, Vern and Teddy (“Stand By Me”)
They are not your typical group of friends, they aren’t popular and they don’t belong with all the other kids. Together they are a great group of friends and it’s really hard to dislike any of them.

1. Red and Andy (“The Shawshank Redemption”)
I love how this friendship started. Red liked Andy from the start, although he didn’t think much of him when he entered Shawshank prison. They are great friends and I think anyone would be thankful for a friend like Red or Andy.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Harry and Sally (“When Harry Met Sally”), Annie and Lilian (“Bridesmaids”), Rob and Barry (“High Fidelity”), Shaun and Ed (“Shaun of the Dead”), Adam and Kyle (“50/ 50”), Katniss and Gale (“The Hunger Games”), Timon and Pumbaa (“The Lion King”), John and Ted (“Ted”)

Wanted: Book Recommendations

The ones that read my blog frequently know that every month I read books with a certain theme. Like this month I'm reading graphic novels. But this time I need your help. I would like you to recommend me a good book. Your favorite, a book you just love, a book you think everyone should have read, a book you think I will like. I'm very open minded, I'll try anything. Please send me some recommendation and leave them in the comment box. Thanks in advance and maybe I will read your book next month. I also posted a request in goodreads.

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 14: Days Gone By by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead Volume # 1)

Title: Days Gone By (The Walking Dead Volume # 1)
Author: Robert Kirkman
Story: An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled: There is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. Rick Grimes finds himself one of the few survivors in this terrifying future. A couple months ago he was a small town cop who had never fired a shot and only ever saw one dead body. Separated from his family, he must now sort through all the death and confusion to try and find his wife and son. In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally begin living.
Start: april 15th 2013 2013
End: april 16th 2013
Comment: I love the TV-show and I really like zombie stories. But this is the first time I'm actually reading a book about zombies. I was really excited about it and I almost read this novel in one sitting. We follow cop Rick Grimes, who wakes up in a hospital finding out that it has been abandoned and that the world around him has changed. It's infested with zombies and all he wants is to find his wife and son. Rick is a really easy-to-like character. We meet a bunch of other characters: like his wife Lori and his son Carl, his partner Shane who is more of a big mouth then Rick, the two sisters Amy and Andrea, loner Dale who is srt of the conscience of the group, and the quick Glenn. I missed the depth in most of the characters. I know them from the show, but if you start reading this without seeing the show, you don't get to know the characters that well. Some of them are pretty one-dimensional. The great graphics and story make up for that, because I couldn't stop reading this book. I enjoyed it and I'm reading the second book next.
Rating: 4/ 5

Weekly Photo Challenge 2013 - Theme # 15: Brown

Here is this weeks theme:

This theme really gave me a hard time. I didn't really know what to photograph for this theme, so I decided to go through the pictures I already had. I ended up picking this picture I made during my trip to Uganda. It's a buffalo, who was cooling of in the mud. So he was covered with mud! We got really close.

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 13: A Dame to Kill For by Frank Miller (Sin City # 2)

Title: A Dame to Kill For (Sin City # 2) Author: Frank Miller Story: Dwight's thinking of all the ways he's screwed up and what he'd give for one clear chance to wipe the slate clean, to dig his way out of the numb gray hell that is his life. And he'd give anything. Just to feel the fire. One more time. But he can't let himself lose control again, can't ever let the monster out. And then Ava calls.
Start: april 11th 2013 2013
End: april 14th 2013
Comment: The second volume in the "Sin City" series stars Dwight. He's a good guy with two bad habits: drinking and women. And one weakness: Ava Lord. Although it's a different story, it's easy to recognize Frank Miller's signature. And you really can't compare it to anything else. There are some characters in this story we already met in "The Hard Goodbye", like stripper Nancy, waitress Shelly and off course the brutal Marv. The story also overlaps a little with Marv's story. There are also some new characters. Our leading man Dwight, who only wants to do the right thing, but ends up in extreme situations almost every time. And femme fatale Ava Lord, who can play a man and she makes him do whatever she wants. She always ends up with stabbing the guy in the back. We meet Bob and Mort, two dirty cops. And some of the ladies in Old Town. Gail was in "The Hard Goodbye", but we get to know her a little better. And Miho, who is a real killer woman. It's really hard to say which of the two books I like more. I love them both equally. I'm just a big fan of the way Frank Miller made this comic, I love his style.
Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (81)

Here are this weeks movie trailers.

Man of Steel
Description: A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe
Trailer: Trailer "Man of Steel"

Elysium
Description: In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the crime and poverty that is now rampant throughout the land. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission, one that pits him against Elysium's Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces, but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, William Fichtner
Trailer: Trailer "Elysium"
Comment: Highly anticipated, it looks really great.

Filth
Description: Scheming Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy), a bigoted and corrupt policeman, is in line for a promotion and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Enlisted to solve a brutal murder and threatened by the aspirations of his colleagues, including Ray Lennox (Jamie Bell), Bruce sets about ensuring their ruin, right under the nose of unwitting Chief Inspector Toal. As he turns his colleagues against one another by stealing their wives and exposing their secrets, Bruce starts to lose himself in a web of deceit that he can no longer control. His past is slowly catching up with him, and a missing wife, a crippling drug habit and suspicious colleagues start to take their toll on his sanity. The question is: can he keep his grip on reality long enough to disentangle himself from the filth?
Director: Jon S. Baird
Starring: James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Joanne Froggatt, Imogen Poots
Trailer: Trailer "Filth"
Comment: This is a role of James mcAvoy I haven't seen yet. He really is filthy!

The Way, Way Back
Description: 14-year-old Duncan's (Liam James) is on summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world - all during a summer he will never forget.
Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Starring: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Amanda Peet, Rob Corddry, Liam James
Trailer: Trailer "The Way, Way Back"
Comment: I love coming of age stories.

Rush
Description: Englishman James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and the disciplined Austrian perfectionist Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl), whose clashes on the Grand Prix racetrack epitomized the contrast between these two extraordinary characters, a distinction reflected in their private lives.
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, Stephen Mangan, Christian McKay, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Jamie de Courcey, Pierfrancesco Favino, Natalie Dormer
Trailer: Trailer "Rush"
Comment: I'm not a formula 1 fan, but this movie has Chris Hemsworth in it!

In My Mailbox (92)

I received seven postcards this week. Some really great ones. Like this one from Vancouver, Canada. I love dolphins and this postcard is from the Vancouver aquarium. The sender liked my profile picture with the cotton candy.

Sent: march 29th 2013
Received: april 8th 2013
Distance: 7,869 km (4,890 miles)
Travel Time: 10 days

This card came from Groningen, the Netherlands. The sender shares a dream with me: wanting to see killer whales in the wild.

Sent: april 9th 2013
Received: april 10th 2013
Distance: 229 km (142 miles)
Travel Time: 1 day

From Montgomery, Alabama, US, I received this bridge postcard. Also a sender who loved my profile picture. And she likes maffia movies, like "The Godfather".

Sent: april 2nd 2013
Received: april 10th 2013
Distance: 7,429 km (4,616 miles)
Travel Time: 8 days

This card really made me happy, so cute! It's from Bluhov, Ukraine. Such and adorable postcard. I didn't know how to categorize it though, cats or rabbits?

Sent: february 24th 2013
Received: april 10th 2013
Distance: 1,930 km (1,199 miles)
Travel Time: 45 days

And another card that really put a smile on my face and my favorite of this week. From Sleeuwijk, the Netherlands. Loving this to death!

Sent: april 8th 2013
Received: april 10th 2013
Distance: 102 km (63 miles)
Travel Time: 2 days

Harry Potter!!! My collection of Harry Potter cards is growing, I like that. It came from Tokyo, Japan.

Sent: april 4th 2013
Received: april 10th 2013
Distance: 9,364 km (5,819 miles)
Travel Time: 6 days

And finally I got this Paris card from Leiden, the Netherlands. The sender has a lot of teachers, like me, in her family. I don't know what the picture is upside down by the way. Weird... I can seem to get it right.

Sent: april 10th 2013
Received: april 12th 2013
Distance: 147 km (91 miles)
Travel Time: 2 days

Thanks