*in no particular order
1.)Humans
Set in a version of today or perhaps in the near future, Humans is like a scifi action drama(and occasionally comedy) series where every household now owns a super advanced robot helper who looks exactly like a human. Basically, all the people's jobs and independence is being taken by these non sentient robots. But there's a few of these robots who are sentient and able to think, act and feel with the same capability of humans and they're being hunted down.Yeah, s'pretty good.
2.)Flight of the Conchords
A comedy that follows two struggling musicians from New Zealand in New York, their manager and their friends. The songs are hilarious. It got two seasons on HBO and while I do recommend watching both, the first is a bit better in my opininon:)
3.)Fawlty Towers
I don't really need to say anything here- I'm sure most of you've seen this indisputably brilliant show. Anyway, for those of you who haven't lived:It's a comedy set in a hotel called Fawlty towers owned by a husband and wife. And it's marvellous. Basil!
4.)Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends
A series of rather comical hour-ish long documentaries hosted by Louis Theroux where he goes and lives with and talks to groups of people with strange beliefs eg.UFO snipers Yah, fun.Anyway, I started watching this only a short while back and am totally hooked. If you are here in Oz they are currently showing season 1 on ABC2 or on iview which makes them very easy to find but full episodes with strange frames are available all over YouTube.
P.S> I know my use of commas)) hyphons,- brackets../ full stops- apostrophes and grammar is atrocious.soz
Sunday 17 July 2016
My top 5 favourite books...and why
1.) Rebecca by Daphne Dumaurier(should that m be capital?)
I am not going to go on about this book yet again even though I could for the rest of time. You can just go to my previous post on this wonderful book :)
2.)Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
I had to put this book close to the top on the list. In fact, it is always competing with Rebecca for first place so I just made a random decision.I just love the... argh how do I even put this-the...atmosphere(?)feeling(?) of the whole book which really stays with it throughout all the brilliant twists and turns in the actual storyline- which is also amazingly fantastic. As is the writing and description. And just the informative aspects of it. I'm going to save myself some time here and just say that it is bloody brilliant!And after writing all this I think its temporarily earned its place back at the top. Sorry Beckie, but I'm sure you'll be up there again soon. After I crack open those dreamy first few pages...dreamy...
3.)The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
I don't think much needs to or can be said about this book. Of course, it is incredibly sad as well as incredibly well written, though presumably has been the subject of a lot of editing, cutting up and rewriting. It was interesting to have read both a copy of Anne Frank's diary released in 1953 and a copy released in 2013 or thereabouts and to observe the differences in the two. To start with, a lot of the names of the helpers were changed completely in the more modern version, perhaps to make them more familiar and readable to speakers of the language they were printed in but more strikingly, huge sections of the book from the modern version especially parts where Anne talked about more 'private' things were cut from the older version of the book as well as a few short passages and comments she made in which she criticised her parents. I suppose Otto Frank had a lot more control over what went into the book then than now and would have been unhappy with certain images of his family and daughter being released for the public to tear apart and for good reason. But yes, I went a little off topic there and the important thing to say is that it is a very interesting book.
4.)The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More by Roald Dahl
I'm not usually satisfied with short stories. Something about their neat little formula- the way they are so perfect and wrapped up with a bow. The way the three act structure is intolerably obvious and the way the plot twist at the end is so well set up and built upto. And I'm not saying these stories don't follow that formula. By all means they do- to an extreme. But... well...that's what makes short stories good and addictive even if it can be slightly annoying.
yeah, none of that made any sense, did it...Anywez they're very good. I won't try to go any deeper than that:)
5.)The Code of the Woosters by P.G.Wodeh
*At this point Ida got bored and couldn't be bothered to write any more
P.S> I know my use of commas)) hyphons,- brackets../ full stops- apostrophes and grammar is atrocious.soz
I am not going to go on about this book yet again even though I could for the rest of time. You can just go to my previous post on this wonderful book :)
2.)Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
I had to put this book close to the top on the list. In fact, it is always competing with Rebecca for first place so I just made a random decision.I just love the... argh how do I even put this-the...atmosphere(?)feeling(?) of the whole book which really stays with it throughout all the brilliant twists and turns in the actual storyline- which is also amazingly fantastic. As is the writing and description. And just the informative aspects of it. I'm going to save myself some time here and just say that it is bloody brilliant!And after writing all this I think its temporarily earned its place back at the top. Sorry Beckie, but I'm sure you'll be up there again soon. After I crack open those dreamy first few pages...dreamy...
3.)The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
I don't think much needs to or can be said about this book. Of course, it is incredibly sad as well as incredibly well written, though presumably has been the subject of a lot of editing, cutting up and rewriting. It was interesting to have read both a copy of Anne Frank's diary released in 1953 and a copy released in 2013 or thereabouts and to observe the differences in the two. To start with, a lot of the names of the helpers were changed completely in the more modern version, perhaps to make them more familiar and readable to speakers of the language they were printed in but more strikingly, huge sections of the book from the modern version especially parts where Anne talked about more 'private' things were cut from the older version of the book as well as a few short passages and comments she made in which she criticised her parents. I suppose Otto Frank had a lot more control over what went into the book then than now and would have been unhappy with certain images of his family and daughter being released for the public to tear apart and for good reason. But yes, I went a little off topic there and the important thing to say is that it is a very interesting book.
4.)The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More by Roald Dahl
I'm not usually satisfied with short stories. Something about their neat little formula- the way they are so perfect and wrapped up with a bow. The way the three act structure is intolerably obvious and the way the plot twist at the end is so well set up and built upto. And I'm not saying these stories don't follow that formula. By all means they do- to an extreme. But... well...that's what makes short stories good and addictive even if it can be slightly annoying.
yeah, none of that made any sense, did it...Anywez they're very good. I won't try to go any deeper than that:)
5.)The Code of the Woosters by P.G.Wodeh
*At this point Ida got bored and couldn't be bothered to write any more
P.S> I know my use of commas)) hyphons,- brackets../ full stops- apostrophes and grammar is atrocious.soz
Rebeca by Daphne Dumaurier: Muh Favourite boook
WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ REBECCA OR HAVE ANY INTENTION OF DOING SO: SPOILERSS!!
When I was...6?7?8? years old my mother showed me the 1940 film Rebecca (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) and for a few years after that whenever somebody asked me the question I would respond that Rebecca was my favourite film(at the time I don't really think I liked it any more than Toy Story 2 but enjoyed feeling mature and sophisticated). A few years later, around 10 maybe, I watched it again and hated it. I kept on telling everyone that it was my favourite movie because that had sort of become programmed into my brain over the years that I had thought it my reality but eventually I forgot about it. Then, a few years later when I was 12 or 13 I found an old copy of the book in my school library. It had been borrowed once in the 60's when the school had bought it and that was it. Remembering the passion I once had for the movie I picked it up and started reading the some 500 pages. Even if my reading experience was somewhat lessened by the constant buzzing voice at the back of my skull saying "He killed her!He killed her! He killed her!", I loved it. The creepiness, the stupidly drippy main character, the poetic writing, the setting and world of scandal and secret that you are dragged into. I loved all of it. Oh, and my favourite character? Mrs Danvers all the way. Arghh, so darn creepy!! After I first read it, I did a school English project on the symbolism in my chosen novel and of course I chose Rebecca. I made a collage of the main character and Maxim standing on top of the white house( it was the only big Manderley looking building I could find in the Sydney Morning Herald), her in Rebecca's big white dress which they both wore to the ball and Maxim wearing a mask, facing away from her. Manderley was sinking into messily cut waves out of newspaper articles and a slender, manicured hand with a wedding ring on its finger holding a gun was coming out of the water. I got okay marks back and still have it now.Since then, I think I've read that lovely yellow covered book at least five times over and those first few pages(last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...)too many to count. If you haven't read it well... erm sorry for the huge spoiler and you should go read it!
P.S. I watched the movie the other day too and I guess It's my favourite film again :)
P.P.S> I know my use of commas)) hyphons,- brackets../ full stops- apostrophes and grammar is atrocious.soz
When I was...6?7?8? years old my mother showed me the 1940 film Rebecca (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) and for a few years after that whenever somebody asked me the question I would respond that Rebecca was my favourite film(at the time I don't really think I liked it any more than Toy Story 2 but enjoyed feeling mature and sophisticated). A few years later, around 10 maybe, I watched it again and hated it. I kept on telling everyone that it was my favourite movie because that had sort of become programmed into my brain over the years that I had thought it my reality but eventually I forgot about it. Then, a few years later when I was 12 or 13 I found an old copy of the book in my school library. It had been borrowed once in the 60's when the school had bought it and that was it. Remembering the passion I once had for the movie I picked it up and started reading the some 500 pages. Even if my reading experience was somewhat lessened by the constant buzzing voice at the back of my skull saying "He killed her!He killed her! He killed her!", I loved it. The creepiness, the stupidly drippy main character, the poetic writing, the setting and world of scandal and secret that you are dragged into. I loved all of it. Oh, and my favourite character? Mrs Danvers all the way. Arghh, so darn creepy!! After I first read it, I did a school English project on the symbolism in my chosen novel and of course I chose Rebecca. I made a collage of the main character and Maxim standing on top of the white house( it was the only big Manderley looking building I could find in the Sydney Morning Herald), her in Rebecca's big white dress which they both wore to the ball and Maxim wearing a mask, facing away from her. Manderley was sinking into messily cut waves out of newspaper articles and a slender, manicured hand with a wedding ring on its finger holding a gun was coming out of the water. I got okay marks back and still have it now.Since then, I think I've read that lovely yellow covered book at least five times over and those first few pages(last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...)too many to count. If you haven't read it well... erm sorry for the huge spoiler and you should go read it!
P.S. I watched the movie the other day too and I guess It's my favourite film again :)
P.P.S> I know my use of commas)) hyphons,- brackets../ full stops- apostrophes and grammar is atrocious.soz
Saturday 16 July 2016
Chai...Nerada vs. Twinnings
Around a year ago I was in a supermarket(woolworths) looking for a more interesting tea to replace my regular earl gray which I had been with on and off for years. As anything with vanilla in the title will appeal to me, I picked up a vanilla chai by Twinnings ( which yes, I do pronounce with a long 'I'- how could you not!?) to try. This particular tea I had some faint memories of from a couple of years back when my mother had bought the same tea and I had tried it. But I had no recollection of whether I had enjoyed it or not, although I have tried Chai made with tea leaves in a sauce pan- but let's be honest, how could anything from a supermarket shelf taste as good as that? So I paid the hefty price of $2.70($13.50/100g- 10 teabags/pack) and was on my way. I did not stop to consider the prices of other similar teas which was in retrospect...regrettable.When I got home I opened my tea and was immediately rather disappointed that my nostrils were not filled with the smell of aromatic spices.Instead, when I opened the box I didn't really smell anything but cardboard and sugar and straight tea. Upon pouring a cup of it, I was disappointed further. The Twinnings chai tasted faintly sweet but mostly of nothing.It was ridiculously weak tasting. Anyway, I got through 10 more cups of what was basically just hot water with a bit of milk and lot of sugar to try to inject any amount of flavour into it and then decided that instead of giving up on chai altogether I would try another Woolworths brand.So I headed back up to the supermarket a week or so after my first chai- related trip and was delighted to find a far cheaper brand to try out. My first score! Compared to the Twinnings vanilla chai, Nerada organic chai tea was far less 'prettily' packaged in a sickly purple colour with a few poorly photoshopped images of teacups and cinnamon sticks thrown onto the side of the box( Thankfully, their boxes have been revamped since then) but for the price of $3.79($4.10/100g-50pk) I really couldn't turn back to that tasteless brand that I had purchased before. So I bought it. And the whole first experience was like the total opposite of my experience with the other chai. I opened the little purple box and the smell was heavenly. I poured a cup of it and, though I do accept that chai is not supposed to be a strong tea, it still felt just right in its slight weakness. Anyway, it was good ,although I cannot guarantee that my instant liking of it did not stem from my glee at the money I had saved by buying this 50pk( me being someone who does not enjoy spending my money). I now have a cup of Nerada tea every morn' and will never and have never reverted back to that awful con that is Twinnings chai. Wait, no that's not strictly true- Twinnings chai original was actually pretty good as well, no offense to Nerada. But that, my friends is a tale for another time...
P.S> I know my use of commas)) hyphons,- brackets../ full stops- apostrophes and grammar is atrocious.soz
P.S> I know my use of commas)) hyphons,- brackets../ full stops- apostrophes and grammar is atrocious.soz
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