All hail BBC

Mama and Julia and I watched the first two episodes of Thirteen last night.

So moving/thrilling/unsettling that I went home with a headache and nightmares.

(Mom even stayed awake for at least 1½ of the episodes = v. V. good content)

This is one of those shows that made me cry quite unexpectedly. Like I did when I watched Schindler's List for the first time: with no conscious thought behind it. 

Just very sudden tears. 

Boom.

We're watching the rest of the episodes tonight. 

 

Pet Peeves #1: Givers of the bad kind of goose-bumps

1. Disproportionate reactions to stalking 
Example 1: Someone wakes up with another someone in their bedroom. The appropriate, normal response to this is NOT to proceed to make out with the stalker..
Example 2: Someone follows another someone around for days because they "saw them from afar and got interested", in the hopes of eventually.. I don't know - save their life? Kiss them? Kidnap them (and then make a coat out of their skin?)?

2. Using "whore" as a term for a promiscuous person
To sell one's body, which essentially is what a whore does, isn't something I imagine is easy or joyful to do. Using the term as an insult, therefore, feels very much like kicking a kitten in the face.

Wes: "Don't you hate me?" Bianca: "I'm glad you asked. Yes, I do. But only because you're a dipshit. And a manwhore..".

3. Idolizing female virgins whilst mocking/bullying male virgins
The concept that women shouldn't desire to be sexual creatures while males loose their worth (they end up far down the hierarchy; no girls will want them) if they're not, baffles me to no end. Mostly because that's wrong and also makes no sense. 

Mr. Grey: "You're still a virgin? [...] You've done other things, right?" Anastasia: "No." Mr. Grey: "Where have you been?" Anastasia: "Waiting.".

4. Slut-shaming
The idea that there's a finite number of sexual partners a person (most often a female) can have before they loose their "worth" as a potential partner is disgusting to me. Consequently I have a hard time with the usage of "slut" in TV-shows or movies - regardless if it's used in a comedic context or not.

5. The ugly duckling
I specifically mean those movies where one person is thought of as very plain/odd/weird or socially awkward (and negatively so), until they get a makeover and suddenly become the most well-loved person in school. See She's All That for a female version and Can't Buy Me Love for a male one.

 The animals don't judge each other - why should we? Have sex with whomever you like, I say. As long as it's consensual AND legal! 

Tired of the slump

I have absolutely no desire to watch movies, at the moment. I don't know why that is, but I know that I've slowly cut down on them during February and March. Sure, I've started several, but haven't wanted to finish any of them (although I got close with Hotel Transylvania 2). Also, I was repeat-watching Flipped/Keith for a while but since I saw Mockingjay - part 2, that's all I've wanted to watch instead. I love the Hunger Games movies with a passion. So much so that I've even contemplated getting a Hunger Games-related tattoo. I feel no shame whatsoever; I love Katniss!

So yes, I'm watching Youtube and How I Met Your Mother on Netflix but few/no movies. That's why I'm ending this post with my recent favorite quotes, to cheer myself up:

Whatever you do, do not let go.. 

I'm gonna let go!

WHAT?! 

You love me. Real or not real?

Real. 

[singing] 

The itsy bitsy spider is not an insect at all, because it has eight legs and two body parts

On your tomb stone, it will read: "Lily Aldrin. Caring wife, loving friend, slap bet commissioner."

And your tomb stone will read: "Got slapped by Marshall so hard he died!"

The story of: Ugh

For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to watch Cape Fear last night. Like a reward for studying as much as I have, or something.. (Damn you, cost-benefit analysis! When I'm done with you, I'll burn thine information in a righteous hate fire) 

Ugh.

To rectify the queasiness Max Cady made us feel, we decided to watch The Talented Mr. Ripley right after. You know - go into it blindly, take our mind off things.. 

UGH. 

 UUUGH! 

Julia left when someone beat the other someone to death.

I got nightmares.

 The end. 

Giddy as a 13-year-old (aka: Leonardo DiCaprio won)!

There's something special about those movie stars that you grow up with. One of the most impactful ones, for me, was Leonardo DiCaprio. As the oldest of five siblings, I never had any real say regarding what we watched at home. It was all Disney or Swedish movies based on Astrid Lindgren's books or Björnes magasin. Consequently I hadn't watched anything remotely "grown-up" until my 11th or 12th birthday, when my aunt gave me a VHS copy of Dirty Dancing. In other words: It's not hard to imagine why, when I went to watch Titanic in 1997, I was literally swept of my feet. I was 13 and it was the first movie that made any real impact on me as a person; it made me think more deeply about life and death and the meaning of everything.

Soon after Titanic, my dad showed me What's Eating Gilbert Grape? whereupon I borrowed the book to read and then made it a tradition to watch+read it every summer, along with Marvin's Room. On my friend's 16th birthday, we watched Romeo+Juliet and then, even though I didn't like The Beach that much, I chose to do a project on the book in school the following year anyway. The Basketball Diaries was my first glimpse into certain parts of life that I'd been very sheltered from thus far, which left me with my mouth open for the majority of it.

The point I'm trying to make here is that not only did I grow up with Leonardo DiCaprio's movies but they also helped shape me as a person - and as a movie lover, during my most impressionable years. This process was aided by the fact that he was playing characters just a few years older than I was, which made him feel very relatable to me. Seeing him gain fame therefore, was like seeing a friend succeed (am I sounding stalkery right now?) and that's why; when I learned that he won the Oscar for The Revenant, I got all 13-year-old-giddy again. YAAY, Leonardo!

Ps. This is so un-Swedish of me, I almost feel ashamed..

To stop or not to stop watching..

My sister Julia is one of those people that likes to watch precisely EVERY episode of a show. In order. Without missing a single word of it. I used to think that was crazy! I'm not overly fond of TV-shows myself, because I prefer the format of a movie. When it ends, it ends. Sure, they can make sequels, but the original movie will still be neatly wrapped up; comfortably concluded (and I don't have to watch the sequel). Julia never usually watches a movie more than once or twice; that's always seemed like madness to me.

That's also why I've been no stranger to stopping when I've thought a show has been going downhill - even if it has been in the middle of a season. I can count the shows I've actually watched all the way through on one hand. I'm so glad I haven't done that with Friends. It might have taken me a few years, but I'm nearing the end of season three and it's getting really good. I guess there's actually something to be said for not just watching the same movies over and over and over again (until you know the entire dialog by heart). To actually commit to following a story to the end, no matter how uncomfortable it might make you..

Julia, I hail you as my morning star, because you are the way you are..

Here comes a lion, father..

The moment Chandler babysits his duck while it's swimming in the bathtub.. is the moment I want to hold up season three of Friends and go: NAAAAAANTS INGONYAAAAAAMA BAGITHI BABA!

Home

I would like to preface this post by stating that I in fact AM adventurous when I travel and that I often do cool things like.. well, I'm blanking now, but [insert "cool things that one does when one is all alone in a city where one doesn't know anyone" here]. Now, keep that image of me doing those cool things in your mind, while you read on..

I just feel so at ease in the cinema. And that was my saving grace on Wednesday when I went to Umeå to take part in some introductory shenanigans at the university. I felt uneasy, tired and hungry the entire day but when I finally got to make myself comfortable in one of those red familiar chairs, I immediately relaxed. Unclenched my jaw. Almost fell asleep. Those 12 years I spent working at (and watching close to every movie we showed) our local movie theater must have conditioned me like one of Pavlov's dogs! Not that I'm complaining..

My nirvana

R.I.P brain

I'm taking a course in classical mythology this summer. Why did I choose this? WHY? It's about equal parts interesting/frustrating/like reading Tolkien. Don't tell me Hesiod, Homer, Herodotus, Hera, Hermes, Hades, Hephaestus, Hector, Harmonia and Heracles couldn't just as easily be characters from The Lord of the Rings?! How am I supposed to memorize this?  

I'm taking the test on Friday. When I'm done with it, I'm: 1) Sleeping for a week 2) never again reading anything that requires me to learn the names in both English AND Swedish and 3) never ever watching the movie Troy. EVER.

Tired thoughts

I'm usually not opposed to watching long movies. In the case of  Luftslottet som sprängdes (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), however, I very intensely feel like I want the 2 hours and 16 minutes I spent watching it back. Right now, if possible.

The one where Cotton Ball lives

I've just spent the past two hours with Cotton Ball, Alan Poe and Sardini on board the Con Air.

At least that was what Julia thought their names were, when I asked.

We both agreed that not being able to remember even the main character's name, is a sure sign that you don't care about anyone or anything that happens in the movie.

And maybe rightly so? Just take Vince Larkin for example:

That man mostly ran back and forth across an airfield and got knocked down a bunch of times.

Caring stops rather quickly, to say the least.

(We never stopped caring about Cotton Ball though and luckily he made it.)

Con Air

I'm living the high life..

When I woke up this morning, I felt like someone had sucker punched me between my eyes.

And then stuffed my nose with cotton balls. 
If it was the five hours of sleep I got or the fact that I cried on and off during about 60% of The Green Mile, that caused it? I don't know. 
My eyelids does look bee stung though, so I'm gonna go with the latter alternative..
I even tried a hair of the dog this morning and described certain scenes to my sister Hanna while she breastfed, but all it took was talking about Mouseville for me to tear up again.
If this is what a hangover feels like, I'm glad I don't drink!

The Green Mile

Unpopular opinions, yo

A popular movie that you didn't like:

Pretty Woman
I can't stress enough how much I hate this movie. How can ANYONE think it's romantic that Edward buys a prostitute? Even if they eventually fall in love, there are still too many disturbing scenes where he has sex with her while having paid for it (the piano scene for example). Plus I feel like Edward's just another stereotypical "bad boy" with lots of money, a hole in his heart and commitment issues.

The Wizard of Oz
I had quite high expectations for this - firstly because it's a classic and secondly because it's quite innovative given that it's made in 1939 (I think I read somewhere that they created the tornado using a sock?). It felt too long, however, without much happening plus the songs are more "I sing when I could talk" than anything else and I'm not a fan of those types of musicals.

Se7en:
Again, this was a case of too high expectations for me. I think the reason I didn't like it was the lack of real suspense - you never got to see the victims before they were killed and that made it hard to root for the villain to get caught. Also, I didn't much care for either Brad Pitt's or Morgan Freeman's characters.

I don't think it's unpopular to hate snow, but I felt it was fitting since I dislike this image about as much as the movies above..

A popular character that you do not like:

Leonard Hofstadter (TBBT)
He's such a love/hate character for me.. (my hate post and love post)

Edward Cullen & Jacob Black (Twilight)
When talking about these two - I feel it's fitting to sum up my feelings about them using this (slightly modified) quote: "I want to fong you, until your insides are out, your outsides are in, your entrails will become your extrails I will w-rip... all the p... ung. Pain, lots of pain."

Again, I'm about as excited for this to become a reality as I am for the 105th Pirates of the Caribbean-movie..

A popular director that you just cannot get into:

Quentin Tarantino
It's not that I dislike his style at all, I'm just not overcome with the desire to watch all his movies/sing his praises like I feel most people are.


A popular show or movie that you have no interest in watching:
Breaking Bad, Dexter, Game of Thrones
Both BB and Dexter are types of shows that (like Tarantino's movies) are too grim for me. I want lots of light in the things I watch! As for Game of Thrones, I just have a hard time with loosing characters and bad guys winning..

About halfway through The Matrix (for the first time)

I hope someone will run him over.

Just as he's stepping out into the street..

BOOOM!

Squashed. 

Mulan said it best:

"You know how it is when you get those manly urges and you just gotta kill something?"

That's how I feel now. 

I just want to shove his stupid steak up his stupid ass.

The Matrix

Action, slow motion and explosions - oh, my!

I've watched 65 movies in 2015 (so far). I've never counted before and doing so made me realize that I have a really predictable taste. To be fair though - this chart only applies to what movies I'll want to re-watch a 1000 times (I have liked the occasional thriller or sci-fi too):

Just give me a slow motion musical with romance and a bit of explosive fight scenes and I'll love it forever!

Reminding myself, before The Oscars..

Elin, this is what YOU need for a movie to be great (lack of awards shouldn't matter):

1. It speaks to you on an emotional level - You empathize with a character/have been through the same thing/You feel strongly for the main character (You're fond of underdogs)/You learn to see things in a new way etc.

2. It has believable and committed acting (kissing and crying are real tell-tale signs for you..).

3. You've been thoroughly entertained! 

4. It sets a good pace and keeps it, with no gaps in the story and no clues left unanswered.

5. It has a dept if you want to look for it, but it can also be watched solely for entertainment purposes (Take Lord of the rings: Fellowship of the ring, for instance - it's a really entertaining story but when you want to, you ponder the fact that humans are week and vulnerable and not capable of saving the world. They need to be better; evolve. Into sort-of humans (Hobbits).

6. It's esthetically pleasing (slow motion shots are a plus for you).

Two hours into Warrior

Got so nerve-racking, I had to pause it for a bit.
CAN. NOT. STOP. SWEATING!
Or stress-eating sour candies.
I want Brendan to win! Tommy doesn't deserve to! He's just angry all the time.
Great! Even my hands are perspiring.. 
Why is this apartment so hot?

Warrior