First snow of 2005-2006!

I was expecting snow today, but Neuchatel snow usually isn't anything exciting, so when I woke up to this, I was pretty excited. It's not the most flattering picture of the area, but whatever. You get the point. There was a bunch of snow on the ground.
So now I'm at work, and getting ready to go to a Cheese Factory. How Swiss.

Brice de Nice

A couple weeks ago, I watched Brice de Nice, a movie that all of last year, there were a bunch of ads on the TV about this movie, and afterwards, lots of ads for getting ringtones from clips and songs from the movie.
I’m almost positive that this movie didn’t get to Canada, but it’s quite easy to sum up the storyline. There’s this guy, named Brice...and he’s from Nice. He’s a surfer dude, and that’s about it. He has long blonde hair that falls in front of his face and needs to fling his head back every so often to get the hair out of his way, but not completely getting it out of his face.
I was scared that I wouldn’t understand the movie since it was all in French (okay, I guess this was the first movie that I’d seen all in French before Joyeux Noel), but there were French subtitles if I needed them. I’m proud of myself though. I knew what was happening, and even though there was some slang, I did okay. I guess the language level was a lot lower than in Joyeux Noel (or that my reading skills really helped), because I felt a little bit more overwhelmed watching Joyeux Noel.
This movie is par to Dude Where’s My Car. Not a classic movie by any means. It’s really light, ridiculously silly, and I wouldn’t watch it again. It was funny to say that I’ve seen it before (after all the hype from last year), and that I had another opportunity to practice my French skills.
Anyway, if you want to watch a really pointless movie in French, with a funny musical number, watch Brice de Nice. It’s a good laugh.

-picture courtesy of www.bricedenice.com

Domino

I saw this movie in Belfast and was the first movie in a long time that I saw in English without having to be distracted by subtitles and such.
Domino is about Domino Harvey, daughter to British actor Laurence Harvey and supermodel Paulene Stone. Played by Keira Knightly, who is in almost every movie out right now, I have to admit that I didn’t quite enjoy this movie.
Okay, I fell asleep for part of it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I thought that the movie was boring, but I was REALLY tired. As soon as I sat down to watch the movie, I was ready to fall asleep…and I guess I did. Not for very long I don’t think. Maybe 15 minutes or so.
I was really distracted by all of the bright lights and changing colours and loud sounds. I can’t even really describe much about this movie, I guess meaning that I didn’t really enjoy it much. It felt like the movie was trying too hard to be an artsy movie, but it just got really annoying.
The film includes a cameo by the real Domino Harvey, who committed suicide soon after the movie was made. Coincidence? I wonder.
Well, this was a disappointing "review" about the movie. I don’t think I could do any better seeing as how I don’t really remember much about the movie itself. I must say that I cannot recommend this movie.

-picture courtesy of www.dominomovie.com

Joyeux Noel

Seen in Paris, on November 12th, this was the first movie I’ve seen in French without any subtitles, or watching the English version prior. I lucked out a bit because some dialogue was in English (with French subtitles) and German (with French subtitles, and I’m okay at reading French).
Joyeux Noel takes place during World War I and is about the cease fire of the Scottist, German and French troops on Christmas Eve of 1914. We are involved in the lives of a romantic couple, a family, a leader and many other people and how they are affected by this war. It is based on a real story, although I’m sure some of the scenes were romanticized for the movie version.
As I mentioned in my post from last year I don’t really feel anything when it comes to Remembrance Day. This year, I wasn’t at the same ceremony that I was at last year and didn’t get to walk the battlefields and trenches, yet this movie really moved me. My heart actually hurt for awhile while I was watching some of the opening scenes. It wasn’t as gruesome as Saving Private Ryan, but it sort of had that same effect of me cringing and feeling rather uncomfortable.
I really enjoyed the use of music in this movie. Since two of the characters were opera singers the idea of music in the movie was inevitable, but even the use of incidental music, along with the particular singing music selections that were used were very fitting, and emotional.
I had a little bit of difficulty with the French speaking...it was a little bit fast for me, but with the other languages being used along with the subtitles, and of course the fact that visuals give away so much, I followed along with the basics of the movie.
The movie was of course very emotional and in the "drama" genre, but it did have some really nice funny moments.
I felt that the end of the movie cut short a smidge. I felt that some issues were unresolved and that I wasn’t sure (maybe because I don’t have a firm grasp of history, and how this story played out in real life) how the different groups in the movie continued on, and what happened to them soon after the movie ended. It seemed like because it was a movie, they wanted to leave off as a happy ending, but wars aren’t always happy, so I would have liked to know more about what happened after the movie ended. A quick blurb at the end of the movie as is often seen would have been sufficient I think.
I’m not sure if this movie is out in Canada or not, but I would recommend this movie for sure. I was lucky enough to watch it just one day after Remembrance Day, but it would be a great holiday movie as well.

-picture courtesy of www.joyeuxnoel-lefilm.com

Decision time

A) taking a pill once a week, but side effects may include depression and nightmares

OR

b) taking a pill once a day, but side effects may include diarrhea

The chance that the side effects happen are equal in both, and depend on the person. I know of people who have taken both and have and haven't had the side effects. One example of nightmare under the drug was stabbing themself in the hand with a pencil.
I know it would such to have the second side effect, but the first one makes me think that I'm going to go all delusional and stuff.
I should also say that I have issues swallowing pills. The pills are of approximately equal size and are NOT sugar coated. Darn it. They are more flat tablets rather than long pills. I get the feeling that I won't have access to yogurt to mix them in.

P.S. They're to prevent me from getting malaria in Kenya.

I Dreamed of Africa

I Dreamed of Africa, by Kuki Gallmann

Some of you may know, that from December 17th 2005 to January 3rd, 2006, I will be in Kenya. It will be a once in a lifetime experience. I can tell.
Anyway, as a lead up to this experience, I decided to read I Dreamed of Africa, by Kuki Gallmann, the founder of the conservation site at which we will be staying at.
The story is non-fiction and is about Ms. Gallmann’s life in Africa. It described how she ended up there (after growing up in Italy), her relationships, her friendships, her encounters, her experiences, her dreams, her passions, her children, her loves and so much more. She is a woman who has experienced much and seems to live life to the fullest and enjoy the simple things. She loves animals and the nature. She breathes in the air and takes nothing for granted.
This wasn’t the most compelling book that I’ve ever read by any means (I flipped through the last half of it I think – didn’t really feel like I actually missed anything important, I glanced over the pages and if any words stuck out as I was flipping, I would stop to read a sentence here or there), but I do have a certain image of what I imagine Africa to be like. It’s an amalgamation of movies, TV shows, pictures, books and stories that I’ve been exposed to. I’m sure that when I arrive it’ll be nothing like what I expected…it’ll be better. I don’t think anything can prepare you for a trip like this one. It’s like before the first time I came to Europe. I had a stereotype of what I thought Switzerland would be like, and Leysin was a perfect place to end up because it is quite stereotypically Swiss, but it was so much more than just the picture in my head. It was being there in person, seeing the mountains, smelling the fresh air, standing in the clouds that made it different from everything that I’d imagined, for had a picture of Switzerland in my head, but it never included me in it.
I too have a picture of Africa in my head, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot see myself in the picture. I can’t wait to get in the picture for myself.

-picture courtesy of www.chapters.indigo.ca

Mezzo Mix

This past weekend, I tried a new drink. It’s called Mezzo Mix and apparently it’s produced by CocaCola. It’s apparently (though I didn’t look too closely at the label when buying it) orange flavoured cola. Now, if I had knew this at the time that I forked over the cash, I probably would have picked something else…you see, I like to say that I’m allergic to Coke, Pepsi and Root Beer. I don’t think I am, but let me give you a bit of history about that decision.
Back in the day when there was always a cooler filled with a variety of pop cans in the trunk of the family car that toted me around from extra-curricular venture to venture (especially in the grey station wagon days), I used to enjoy a pop after a trip to the ballet studio (usually a good half hour drive to the intended destination – which could have been a variety of places…long enough to drink a pop, for sure). I enjoyed orange Crush, Sprite, 7up, Wink, Mountain Dew and maybe my favorite, Hires Root Beer. Anyway, at some point, I noticed that everytime after I drank root beer, I would get these rashes on my hands. And from that point on, I told myself that I was allergic to Root Beer, and similarly Coke and Pepsi (maybe because of the colouring or something?!?). I’ve heard of people becoming allergic to something that they’ve had in excess, so this was my rationale. I don’t know if I ever really seriously believed it, but I never actually drank the stuff, until quite a few years later, I drank a can of Dr. Pepper, and had no reaction. I also had a “shot” of Coke in 1st year university (whole other story) and didn’t react to that either. Bottom line is that every since I was young and got these rashes, I never really drank Coke, Pepsi or Root Beer. I figure it’s probably also better for my health that I don’t drink these products (although that’s more of a recent idea from a couple years back to convince myself to continue not to drink these products). I do enjoy root beer gummies though, and still like the flavour of the products, and enjoy smelling a friend’s pop every so often to remind myself what the stuff smells like.
So this brings me back to Mezzo Mix. I drank it, and I have to say that I probably would buy something different next time. I think it’s because I haven’t tasted Coke in such a long time that the “cokeness” of the drink was a little bit overpowering. I couldn’t taste any orange at all (don’t know if it was truly because there wasn’t much orange flavouring in the drink or the “cokeness” was too much for me to take)…it was a strange drink.
Leads to a question…am I still "allergic" to the stuff? Well, I didn’t get the same rashes that I got when I was younger, but after awhile I noticed these weird, itchy bumps on my palms. Was probably just a fluke, but I’m still going to tell people that I don’t drink Coke/Pepsi/Root Beer and if they ask why, I’ll either tell them I’m allergic, or if I feel like elaborating, well, I’ll tell them what I just wrote here.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon

One of quickest reads that I can remember (sure, it’s a pretty small book, but I still went through it really really quickly), I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading this book.
I read through it really really quickly. I guess it was a page turner. I wanted to keep reading to see where the story went, and therefore started to read faster, meaning that I started skimming, but that was bad becuase then I wasn't absorbing as much. So I had to force myself to read slower so that I could take in all the words on the each page.
I don’t want to go ever everything that happened in the book, because I think the less you know about the book before you read it, the better. It’s better to discover and uncover as you read.

I will include the paragraph written on the back cover of the book:
"Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years."

As an educator, I loved this book. As someone who enjoys math, I loved this book.
I still am not good at deciphering why I like certain books, or why I like certain movies. I know why I dislike them, but the same cannot be said for the opposite. Hmm, I wonder why this is.
One thing that I can say about the book it that I wish it was longer. I wanted the sotry to continue to see what would become of the character and how the relationships would evolve and/or change.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. Read this book.

-picture courtesy of www.chapters.indigo.ca

Match Point

Last night, I went to watch Match Point. Before I went to see it, I did a little bit of research, going on the web to read about the movie, watch the trailer and read some reviews. I'd never heard of the movie before, so I had a little work to do because I don't like watching movies that I don't know what they're about. The trailer looked pretty good to me. I don't think I'd watched any Woody Allen movies (although after the movie, someone told me that this one wasn't anything like the other ones that he's made), so I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that I would be watching a "Woody Allen" movie. Scarlett Johansson's pretty happening right now, and from what I can tell her movies seem to be more of the type that I would enjoy, so I was willing to give the movie a shot. And the trailer looked not typically "big picture" Hollywood, which is always a good sign.
It was only about 2 hours long, but it felt like a really long movie. I liked the first hour, maybe hour and 15 minutes (the theatre was too dark, I couldn't see my watch), and then the tone of the movie changed, and it got a little boring. I felt like events started happening at too slow a pace and because I felt like I knew what was coming, I got a little agitated. I've watched quite a few movies recently that I've tried to look at my watch during, which leads me to think that either: a) my attention span is shrinking or b) I have been watching some pretty boring movies. The movies themselves aren't longer or anything, so I know that's not the problem. I'm hoping that the type of movies that I've just been attending aren't "my type". I gotta ask some friends from home about things I should watch. They always watch cool stuff.
So the movie's about a former tennis pro who comes from a not very well off background and is working his way up the social ladder. He puts effort into this, but admits that there are things in life that result from luck. He meets his future wife (who is from a very wealthy family) and is greeted with open arms into their family, but becomes tempted by another woman who is struggling to move up the social ladder herself.
Anyway, as mentioned before I predicted what was going to happen (or maybe the older I get or the more I watch movies, the better I am at predicting what's going to happen), and there was definitely an exasperated "that's so lame" moment. Ooops, I definitely think I said it out loud too. But to give the movie some credit, you knew right from the beginning that it would happen, so whatever...it just made sense.
Okay, so I didn't love the movie, but I didn't hate it either. I wouldn't highly recommend it by any means, but watch it. It's not that bad.

-picture courtesy of www.matchpoint.dreamworks.com

tidbits

Monday night I saw two small groups of children going around my town for Trick or Treating.

Tuesday night @ 6:32pm, the temperature in downtown Neuchatel was 16 degrees celsius.

This morning I saw a brown squirrel.

I just got back from a fabulous game of ultimate and for once didn't get blisters (wore bunga pads around my feet).

This weekend I am going to Stuttgart. Unfortunately, the ballet is on tour in Japan.

I exactly one week I will be on a plane heading to Nice, France. I will be doing a day trip to Monaco. I will be flying to Paris from Nice. I am planning on getting my hair cut in Paris. I will fly to Berlin from Paris.

I still have to write about my trip to Dublin and Belfast.