Casino Royale

Last Friday night, I went to see Casino Royale. Starring the blonde (oooh, scandalous) Daniel Craig as James Bond, this is Craig's first appearance as 007 and the went back to the beginning of the series to introduce him to the viewers.
I haven't seen many James Bond movies (only 2 or three of the most recent ones - but not the one with Halle Berry), but I can say that I really liked this one. For some reason, I really liked the opening credits. They were really stylish and went well with the music, theme of the movie and the general "James Bond" feeling.
One of the first chase scenes was WAY over the top (the part on the construction site especially), so that was a little ridiculous, but as a whole I really liked this movie.
There were a couple lines which made me groan...but it's to be expected from a Bond movie. The incidental music was good and as always they weaved in the James Bond motif at all the right times. It's so interesting to hear what composers come up with.
Although, as I mentioned, I haven't seen many portrayals of the James Bond character by other actors, I thought Craig did a good job. He was really good at looking very cool under pressure, breaking a sweat, but not being out of breath. He had this pouty lip thing going as well which a couple of us were discussing if it was natural, or part of the character. He brought a different feel to the character (compared to Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery, I thought). More cool and less suave.
Anyway, it's not like I've read the books or anything, so I didn't know what was going to happen, and I don't know what will happen in the next movie, so I was a little confused by the ending, but I kind of liked that though. A Bond movie should be filled with crazy action scenes and some random twists.
Yeah, I'd recommend this movie for sure.

-picture courtesy of www.sonypictures.com

Babel

Last Friday night, I went to see Babel. I remembered being tipped off about the movie a long time ago when my friends who seem to surf the internet way too much or something mentioned that the trailer for the film looked amazing. I agreed. Actually, I'm glad that they're all up to date (or better) on the times...being so far away from it all means that it's nice to be kept in the loop. So yeah, it came out in the original version here in Neuch and I decided to go see it.
Where there were supposed to be subtitles, they were in French and German, so although my French is good enough that I understood what was happening, there were a couple words here and there that I didn't quite understand which I think might have provided a little bit more insight to the movie.
After all this time, I still can't really pinpoint the type of movie I like, but I can say that usually I like movies that have different plotlines which end up being intertwined. This movie was one of those movies. The trailer gave just enough away that I got an idea of what would happen, but not enough that I knew about everything.
There were three main storylines in the movie - one in Morocco, one in Japan and the other around the US/Mexico border. I think the part in Japan was my favorite. I won't get into anymore details because it's something that you should see for yourself.
I found this movie to be a little long in parts...like it was getting to a point, but taking a long time to get there. At the end, I didn't really feel like it got to a "point", but that I got a certain emotion/feeling from the film. Perhaps it is also due the some of the situations that I have been placed in recently and will continue to be in until around the end of March (if I'm lucky) and perhaps even as an educator who is doing a lot of reflecting on education. As I was watching the movie, I resolved to be a more accepting person. To reach out to others who may feel alone or in an alien environment. To be compassionate. I was reminded that there are many different ways of communicating and that communication, whether verbal or non-verbal is the key to everything.
Perhaps the "point" of this movie is to get you to think. Even though I wouldn't necessarily watch the movie again, I would highly recommend everyone to see it.

- picture courtesy of www.paramountvantage.com/babel

Persimmons

My first memory of this fruit is a flattened, dried up orangish thing that my mom promised me tasted good by I didn't really believe her. Years later, I still don't like the dried version, but if the fruit is really really ripe and super soft, I love them. If they aren't really ripe, they leave a weird paste-y feeling on your tongue. My mom told me about a different species of persimmon which was harder and apparently just as good, but like the great daughter I am, I was skeptical.
Anyway, I've seen persimmons in the grocery stores here in Europe, but have never bought one, because they were really huge and rock hard. This scared me. They were also called "kaki", so I wasn't quite sure if they were the same thing. And they were a little expensive for something that I wasn't sure if I would like (although this hasn't stopped me before). They are 5.40CHF per kilo.
This past weekend, I saw someone eat one, and so I asked her about it, what it tasted like and if it was really an Asian fruit. She cut it open, and it looked exactly the same, just less goopey, because it was harder. I built up the courage the try a bit and it was exactly the same...really tasty, and no weird feeling in the mouth! And the weirdest part is that you eat it like an apple. Skin and all! I would never usually eat the skin!

The point of the story is that:
1. Maybe the persimmons they have here are the ones that my mom was talking about
2. I've found something else to lessen my homesickness
3. My mom was right (grrr...she usually is)

Krakow, Poland (October 13th-16th, 2006)

Again, just a bunch of pictures for now...

In the centre of Krakow is the market square where the "Cloth Market" is. It's an indoor market selling lots of different things, but mostly wooden crafts and amber:


On certain hours there's a horn player that sticks his head out of the window and plays a song then stops abruptly. They stop because apparently one horn player was shot while they were playing.







This is a really old university.

Another city, another opera house.






Krakow skyline at night.




We visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines just outside of the city. There were tons of sculptures carved out of salt and who whole place smelled - well, salty. You could lick the walls in the place. They were salty too. This is the Last Supper...can someone pass the salt please? (har har har)

Regardless of your belief system, try to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau. It's really interesting. Just like with all of the other trips I've been on, I feel so lucky because I get to walk what I've seen in movies, read in books and has happened in history.
Auschwitz itself has very well done exhibitions. Over my career at the ROM and with all of travels, I have come to be somewhat of a museum connoisseur.



"Work will bring freedom"...(I remember this motto from Dachau)




A sectioned off area at the Auschwitz camp, away from the rest of the camp where no one would know of the executions that took place there.





"Auschwitz II", AKA Birkenau. The extermination camp.



At Birkenau, there are only ruins of the "shower rooms" and crematories because they tried to destroy the evidence:



The railway tracks just came to a stop...where the building housing the shower rooms and crematories were.






Living quarters.






Cemetery in the Jewish quarter in Krakow.







This wall is created from remains of tombstones from before WWII.



The "roof" over the tombstone is not original. It has been placed there to preserve the tombstone as much of the carving/engraving disappears over time due to exposure to the elements. Apparently Jews leave stones to show that they visited.






Looks just like in the movie. Another surreal moment.












I found it interesting that the tour guide mentioned that this impressive World War II memorial only said the number of people who died in the war but nothing
about them being mostly Jewish because they were under the Communist reign. It was only afterwards that Jew puts up a smaller memorial behind this one recognizing those Jews who died during WWII.

Helsinki, Finland (June 8th-11th, 2006)

Yes...this post is WAY overdue...here's a couple pictures for now, and I'll add commentary later if I get the chance.
All I'll say right now was that it was a FAB trip...would highly recommend.









The City Hall in Helsinki.


Jean Sibelius is a Finnish composer. This is a monument built for him:















Apparently they eat them too.








Love this store. Not really into the clothing, but the homeware and accessories are fab. I bought a BOLD bag (of course). I love it.




Church built into a rock.








Someone famous is buried here...I forget who. Oops.




On Suomenlinna, there was a group of students hanging out...I swear they looked like they were straight out of Hogwarts...it was a little bizarro becuase I doubt school children actually dress like that in Finland.





Took an afternoon/early evening trip to Talinn, Estonia (1.5 hour boat ride from Helsinki). Another country to add to the list...and a really neat visit!






There was a huge Russian Orthodox church there. I haven't gone to Russia yet (fingers crossed that I can go this year), but this church is exactly what I always thought Russian churches looked like.