To prepare cream of leek soup did not turned out to be such a challenging task as I had expected. Especially, when I finally got this bloody dragon's wart ( = a nice, folk name of tarragon).
Because I had been looking for tarragon for over three months. I searched for it every time I visited any grocery store. Nothing. Eventually, I remembered that there was this nice, little natural shop, where you could buy various kinds of spices, tea etc. by weight. Bingo!
Which reminds me how much I miss spinach. I do. While abroad, I got used to having spinach-based dinner at least once a week. But I did not use this awful frozen spinach pulp - I used fresh, packaged spinach leaves, which you could find at the fridge shelves around fruit/vegetable stands at every supermarket. And you had to be quick in order to get it - if you didn't make it before lunch time, little was the chance that there would be some spinach left!
Anyway, I learnt that tarragon goes well together with spinach (as well as with courgette, avocado and pears) and that is where the association comes from.
As for the cream of leek - it was pretty good, considered that it was the first time ever I prepared such a soup and I did not follow any recipe but just improvised.
Or I could call it The One In Auschwitz, if you will.
Peter Broderick's song, as remastered by Clint Mansell (score composer to Black Swan and some other films by Darren Aronofsky):
Unfortunately, the original score to Last Night, the movie this piece comes from, has never been released separately. There is the soundtrack album, however, quite extra-ordinary, one of my favourites of the kind.
Gunnar Goes God
A semi-documentary film presenting an existential crisis of a middle-class, middle-aged, Scandinavian guy, whose life - from the perspective of a casual observer - could be perceived as almost perfect.
Actually, there was not much about God. There was more about finding one's goal in life and the meaning of one's life, and about living your life consciously.
If you take it lightly, it may seem a grotesque, a comedy even, filled with nonsensical answers to pointless questions.
If you decide to look deeper, it will become a very sad story of... Of what? I believe the answer depends on the person who watches the movie.
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho's books qualify to what I call things you ought to familiarise with (no matter how painful it might be to do so), in order to know what everybody is talking about and to be able to state your own opinion on the matter. And so I did, eventually.
Surprisingly enough, in this case it was not that painful. To tell the truth, not painful at all - I quite liked it.
If you think of chapters or couples of chapters and consider them separate short stories, they are pretty good, some of them ingenious even. If you take the whole story, it is not bad either, although a tad too optimistic.
The weak point I can see here is the main character with his devil-may-care attitude - which is unfortunately too big a thing to overlook or come to terms with and spoils the general impression of The Alchemist.
As for the bombastic phrases that Paulo Coelho is notorious for: they do not seem so irritating when intertwined with corresponding events and normal dialogues and descriptions.
All in all, Santiago's treasure-hunt journey did not turned out to be that big torment I had expected.
The good news, however, is that instead of Let It Snow we have Let It Rain - my favourite song from the Plenty album by Red Box is now a single:
What is more: next Summer they are going to have a concert tour around Poland (I'll be there, no matter what!).
Wait, there is more: the tour is going to result in a live album. Delightful.
Wow. They claimed frequently - the Red Box I mean - that they felt so welcome in Poland, like nowhere else. Still, you could never help wondering whether they only said such things out of courtesy or they did mean them.
Now I believe this case can be considered a sincere and mutual affection of the band and their Polish fans. The proof would be that Simon - the lead singer and a founder member - has come to Warsaw in a sole purpose of announcing Let It Rain première only tonight on the Programme 3 of Polish Radio. (Oh, Simon Toulson-Clarke and his deep, velvet voice, mmm... I like the way he sings - I love the way he speaks!)
He turned round, revealing that what had seemed from the back like a harmless navy sweater was actually a V-neck diamond-pattern in shades of yellow and blue — as favoured by the more elderly of the nation's sports reporters.
Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
Pity, in the movie Mark Darcy is not wearing a diamond-pattern sweater, which was replaced by a reindeer jumper. Still, the scene is hilarious; it makes me smile and creates some kind of a soft spot for both diamond-patterns and reindeer-decorated cloths. Tricky, since it's Christmas time and reindeer lurk pretty much everywhere and can pop out unexpectedly anytime...
Catching up with Adele:
She has been popular for quite a while now. And the more praised she was, the more prejudiced and reluctant I became.
Unnecessarily.
However, it started quite nicely: not with long but scrappy and empty wishes, or with thoughtless Merry Christmas.
It started with considerate, forethought and sincere words.
Nonetheless, I am certain others will follow and that each time the experience will be less and less pleasant and just more irritating...
It took us three weekends to go through all the eight movies of the series, but we managed.
I stand by my opinion that the case with films is exactly opposite to books: the further you go, the better they get (the movies - the books get worse); except maybe for the last one but it is only part two of the Deathly Hallows, so if you look at it this way and take average of the last two films, then my statement still holds, I think.
And this is how I see the HP series: I do not know the directors names; but I do know the score composers and I listen to the music from almost the whole series. The curious thing is that the progress of composers nicely reflects how the whole film series evolved.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Music by: John Williams. Wonderful, playful Hedwig's Theme, which appears repeatedly in many other pieces as well.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Music by: John Williams. More or less the same what you can here in the first part.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Music by: John Williams. This time more varied but still close to the previous two films.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Music by: Patrick Doyle. Nothing distinctive or catchy, he has composed some much better scores e.g. for Sleuth or Gosford Park.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Music by: Nicholas Hooper. The only music composed by him that I am familiar with but it's brilliant: both sentimental and lively, nicely reflecting the romantic scenes as well as frolicsome episodes.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Music by: Nicholas Hooper. Almost exactly the same themes as in the previous part with addition of a few pieces. All in all, still pleasant to listen to, and surprisingly well matching the storyline, despite its being a repetition.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
Music by: Alexandre Desplat. Well, he is one of my favourite movie score composers ever, so I may be a bit prejudiced. Anyway, I think the music is beautiful - gentle but not sweet, rather nostalgic.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Music by: Alexandre Desplat. Different themes, same spirit - I also like it, maybe just a little less than part one of Deathly Hallows.
The next movie challenge of that sort - The Twilight Saga...?
It could have been such a good film... As it is, it only makes a decent movie with very pretty, eye-candy shots - which brilliantly reflect the times changing! - and unconventional formula: One Day is the story of Emma and Dexter's friendship throughout twenty years; but what we see of this relationship is only one day each year, namely 15th July. Some major dramas take place exactly on that day and of some others we only see the consequences.
I couldn't help comparing Emma's and Maggie's (from City of Angels) deaths. The latter makes perfect sense and makes the whole plot meaningful. The former makes the movie all the more sentimental and pointless. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it for the most part and believe it to be worth watching.
The origin of this peculiar regret lies in the everlasting question: is a platonic friendship between a man and a woman at all possible? Or is it only feasible when certain conditions are fulfilled (e.g. at least one of the party is in a relationship)? Or is it simply impossible and to think otherwise is to deceive oneself, since all attempts to maintain such a friendship are doomed to end miserably any way...?
And, by the way: can you stay friends with your ex(es)?
(My experience so far says the answers are: yes and yes. But I fell like I am about to revisit these conclusions.)
Most of my friends are men. However, some pattern emerges here: they are all married or engaged, or in long-lasting relationships and/or I am friends with their wives or fiancées, or girlfriends etc. as well.
Sooo... Can I truly be friends with guys who are not currently engaged in any relationship? Or do I have to wait till I am in one...?
As I said, I believe it to be possible and that I have already managed to do it. Still, life would be sooo much easier if...
Midnight in Paris
I think everybody who truly wished to see this film has seen it already. And everybody has stated their delight and admiration. I shall not stand out and join in with praising and approving on - well, on pretty much every element of the movie. I loved it, in spite of there being too little bitterness to overcome the overall cuteness and sweetness of the magic city of Paris.
Just one personal comment on the greatest surprise of the evening: Owen Wilson actually can act. He was brilliant portraying the traditional, neurotic, Allen-style male character. Wow. I am all amazement.
That day had to come... Today marks the day when I heard Last Christmas for the first time this Winter. Grrr.
I have never been much of a gamer. Yes, once in a blue moon it happened so that I encountered a game which kept me engaged for some time. Still, my commitment was never very intense or lasted long.
However, today I have been presented with a few items that could possibly make me alter my attitude. One of them is Little Big Planet and, oh! I can already see myself enjoying it from time to time - when I am too tired to focus on a good book, or downcast and in need of a cheer-up (e.g. instead of watching WALL-E for the hundredth time). Moreover, while trying out some thing the whole different, Heavy Rain, I got an epiphany on what those two totally dissimilar games have in common: they both resemble the exact types of movies and books I am keen on. Which also explains why I hate Heroes of Might and Magic: I love fantasy but Heroes only pretend to reflect such a world; in fact, the presence of fantasy characters and motifs have very little meaning or consequence there.
So, as of today, PlayStation goes to my list of stuff-to-buy-when-I'm-more-or-less-settled. Somewhere after a digital SLR but before a dishwasher.
Oh, and on that list there is currently an electric kettle. However, I have found out what is one of the reasons why you can be fond of regular, old-fashioned, non-electric kettles. You see, when you possess one such thing and your electricity provider acts up, you are still able to make yourself a tea.
BTW, a nice word from the HP marathon part 2: gamekeeper. And it has nothing to do with games as I refer to them above.
The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), pronounced /ˈɒsəˌlɒt/, also known as the dwarf leopard, is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico(...).
The ocelot is similar in appearance to a domestic cat. Its fur resembles that of a clouded leopard or jaguar and was once regarded as particularly valuable.
Looks cute, doesn't it. Well, velvet paws hide sharp claws... So I believe it fits perfectly.
You’re a good watcher though eh? Us loners always are.
Usually I find much pleasure in the activity of going to the cinema itself. Moreover, I haven't been to the cinema for a long time and really missed that.
However, yesterday's movie was just too good to care for anything more.
Colin Firth, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch (Holmes himself from the new Sherlock TV miniseries) and many more... But most of all: Gary Oldman as George Smiley, a semi-retired MI6 agent who is to uncover a Soviet mole within the Circus (as they call MI6 structures). He stole the whole film.
Very good story, a bit complicated but unravelling gradually and therefore not too difficult to follow. And this lazy, yet tense atmosphere of espionage, thick of cigarette smoke, French songs, ringing phones and typewriter clickety-clack.
Marevellous. Both technically and at the artistic or interpretative level.
