zaterdag 15 juni 2013

In My Mailbox (101)

Only 4 officials this week. But some really great ones. This fun hot air balloon came from Augsburg, Germany.


Sent: june 7th 2013
Received: june 11th 2013
Distance: 473 km (294 miles)
Travel Time: 4 days

Just look at those eyes. How can you not fall in love with this gorgeous dog? It was send to me from Kiev, Ukraine. He looks like such a faithful friend.


Sent: june 5th 2013
Received: june 11th 2013
Distance: 1,722 km (1,070 miles)
Travel Time: 6 days

When I received this card from Maarssen, Netherlands, I was having a great day. This only made it better. This is on my favorites list, I love it!!!


Sent: june 11th 2013
Received: june 13th 2013
Distance: 124 km (77 miles)
Travel Time: 2 days

I new US map, from Bound Brook, New Jersey. I love those mapcards. The sender wrote a lot on the card. It's really nice to sit back and read the story. Such kind words and wonderful handwriting.


Sent: june 9th 2013
Received: june 15th 2013
Distance: 6,039 km (3,752 miles)
Travel Time: 6 days


Thanks Marlen, Inna, olade and Katie for the fantastic postcards this week.

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 22: George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Title: Geoge's Marvelous Medicine
Author: Roald Dahl
Story: George's Grandma is a grizzly, grumpy, selfish old woman with pale brown teeth and a small puckered up mouth like a dog's bottom. Four times a day she takes a large spoonful of medicine, but it doesn't seem to do her any good. She's always just as poisonous after she's taken it as she was before. When George is left to look after her one morning, it's just the chance he needs...
Start: june 12th 2013
End: june 15th 2013
Comment: Roald Dahl is a writer that can impossibly disappoint me. All of his books are a joy to read, for kids AND adults. I think this was even the first book by him I ever read. We meet the very likeable and thrilling George, who has to deal with his nagging old grandmother. Comparing her to the grandmother from "Th Witches", this one is a grandma from hell. Nothing George does is ever good enough. But that's a trademark for Dahl, in every book there is at least one adult that kids would dispise. The story was funny and magical in its own way. It's timeless. I highly enjoyed "George's Marvelous Medicine", like any other Roald Dahl story.
Rating: 4,5/ 5

Me & 3 Coen Brothers Movies

This director duo is very unique. Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, always wit a dark edge. I picked out three movies directed by Joel and/or Ethan Coen.

Fargo
Genre: Drama
Year: 1996
Director: Joel Coen
Cast: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare
Description: Jerry (William H. Macy) works in his father-in-law's car dealership and has gotten himself in financial problems. He tries various schemes to come up with money needed for a reason that is never really explained. It has to be assumed that his huge embezzlement of money from the dealership is about to be discovered by father-in-law. When all else falls through, plans he set in motion earlier for two men to kidnap his wife for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father (who doesn't seem to have the time of day for son-in-law). From the moment of the kidnapping, things go wrong and what was supposed to be a non-violent affair turns bloody with more blood added by the minute. Jerry is upset at the bloodshed, which turns loose a pregnant sheriff (Frances McDormand) from Brainerd who is tenacious in attempting to solve the three murders in her jurisdiction.
Opinion: The Coen brother know how to write a great screenplay. I love the dark humor and Marge Gunderson is f***in’ awesome. Frances McDormand rocks this movie. And William H. Macy is perfect playing the ‘not-so-lucky’ Jerry.
Favorite character: Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand)
Most memorable quote: “Say, Lou, didya hear the one about the guy who couldn't afford personalized plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L2404?” -Marge Gunderson-
Best scene: Marge finds the car and then sees Gaear Grimsrud putting someone in a woodchipper, like it’s nothing.

No Country for Old Men
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Year: 2007
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Kell MacDonald
Description: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
Opinion: A great story told with some interesting characters. Javier Bardem plays one of the most relentless killers ever to be seen in film. Very calm, but that’s the scary part.
Favorite character: Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones)
Most memorable quote: “And you know what’s going to happen now. You should admit your situation. There would be no dignity.” –Anton Chigurh-
Best scene: Anton Chigurh at the gasstation, where he’s talking to the gas station proprietor.

Burn After Reading
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Year: 2008
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins
Description: A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.
Opinion: A great combination of dark humor and light humor. Some memorable characters, some likeable and some extremely annoying. The Coen brothers made another good film.
Favorite character: Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt)
Most memorable quote: “I have a drinking problem? Fuck you, Peck, you’re a Mormon. Compared to you we ALL have a drinking problem!” –Osbourne Cox-
Best scene: Harry shows Linda what he’s been building in the basement. That’s one weird chair that made me laugh so loud.

Favorite of the 3: Fargo

donderdag 13 juni 2013

Top 5 Thursday: Upcoming Movies I'm Excited About (June 2013)

There are so many great looking movies coming out this year. Many to look forward to, but these five are my absolute favorites and must-sees.

5. This is the End
I don’t know which direction this is heading, it’s either going to be extremely funny and brilliant or simply ridiculous and stupid. I’m hoping (and secretly expecting) the first. Besides James Franco can’t do anything wrong in my eyes.


4. Monster’s University
I love “Monster’s Inc.”, it’s my favorite Pixar film. And Mike Wazowski is my favorite character from the Pixar franchise. Can’t wait to se this prequel.


3. The World’s End
I’m a fan of the combination of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. They already brought us two amazing films, that I can watch over and over again and that are on my favorites list. In my social circle, only me and my brother understand the brilliance of these films.


2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The trailer premiered yesterday and now I’m even more excited. We got to see a lot, like Smaug the dragon. It looks more action packed then the first installment.


1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
I’ve been looking forward to see it, ever since “The Hunger Games”. I saw the trailer and it looks really awesome. It’s based on my favorite book in the series, so I have high expectations.


They Almost Made the Top 5: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, World War Z, Kick-Ass 2

woensdag 12 juni 2013

Quotables: "The Shawshank Redemption"

Off course my favorite movie needs to be spotlighted in this item, so here it is. I can actually quote this movie without any help. That's how many times I've already seen it. But I don't get tired of it.






Red: [narrating] I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that - but prison is no fairy-tale world. He never said who did it, but we all knew. Things went on like that for awhile - prison life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, Andy would show up with fresh bruises. The Sisters kept at him - sometimes he was able to fight 'em off, sometimes not. And that's how it went for Andy - that was his routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for him, and I also believe that if things had gone on that way, this place would have got the best of him.

Andy Dufresne: You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?
Red: No.
Andy Dufresne: They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.

Brooks: [to Andy] Son, six wardens have been through here in my tenure, and I've learned one immutable, universal truth: Not one of them born whose asshole wouldn't pucker up tighter than a snare drum when you ask them for funds.


Warden Samuel Norton: I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.

Brooks: Easy peasy japanesey.

Red: [narrating] I must admit I didn't think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him; looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. That was my first impression of the man.

Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

Red: These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.
Heywood: Shit. I could never get like that.
Prisoner: Oh yeah? Say that when you been here as long as Brooks has.
Red: Goddamn right. They send you here for life, and that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyway.

Red: [narrating] I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.
Red: [narrating] In 1966, Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank prison. All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the nub. I remember thinking it would take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty. Oh, Andy loved geology. I imagine it appealed to his meticulous nature. An ice age here, million years of mountain building there. Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes really, pressure, and time. That, and a big goddamn poster. Like I said, in prison a man will do most anything to keep his mind occupied. Turns out Andy's favorite hobby was totin' his wall out into the exercise yard, a handful at a time. I guess after Tommy was killed, Andy decided he'd been here just about long enough. Andy did like he was told, buffed those shoes to a high mirror shine. The guards simply didn't notice. Neither did I... I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a mans shoes? Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can't even imagine, or maybe I just don't want to. Five hundred yards... that's the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile.


Andy Dufresne: You know the funny thing is, on the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
Red: [narrating] We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation. As for Andy - he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer.

Red: [narrating] I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
Floyd: Red, I do believe you're talking out of your ass.

Red: [narrating] Sometimes it makes me sad, though... Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.
Heywood: The Count of Monte Crisco...
Floyd: That's "Cristo" you dumb shit.
Heywood: ...by Alexandree Dumb-ass. Dumb-ass.
Andy Dufresne: Dumb-ass? "Dumas". You know what it's about? You'll like it, it's about a prison break.
Red: We oughta file that under "Educational" too, oughten we?


Red: There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I'm the guy who can get if for you; cigarettes, a bag of reefer, if that's your thing, a bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid's high school graduation, damn near anything within reason. Yes sir, I'm a regular Sears and Roebuck.

dinsdag 11 juni 2013

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 21: Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater

Title: Mr. Popper's Penguins
Author: Richard Atwater
Story: The Poppers unexpectedly come into possession of a penguin, then get a penguin from the zoo who mates with the first penguin to have 10 baby penguins. Before long, something must be done before they eat the Poppers out of house and home.
Start: june 7th 2013
End: june 11th 2013
Comment: I love animals, I love book about animals, I love children's books about animals. I was sure that I was going to like this. We follow the life of Mr. Popper, who has a fascination for the arctic and penguins. When a penguin is send to him, the journey begins. And that one penguin is only the beginning, because there are more to follow. Kids dig this stuff, it's hilarious and fun. A very quick read for me. I liked it too, but it's not a books I will remember forever and it's also not a book that will be in the children's hearts for the rest of their lives. But I think this book can make kids read, that are normally not interested in reading. It's a fun book, with a lot of laughs, likeable characters and it's very enjoyable.
Rating: 3/ 5

Weekly Photo Challenge 2013 - Theme 23: Light

Here is this weeks challenge.


I made this photo last night, when the sun was going down. You can get some great sunset pictures from my balcony. I thought this one was perfect for this weeks challenge.