Mittens

Woho!

Finally I don't have to borrow my boyfriends mittens or freeze my fingers off anymore! I have just finished knitting my own really awesome mittens!

I did them with a double yarn using red and black (obviously doh!) and I think it is 100% acrylic, but I ran out of black at the end of mitten no. 2 and I just took the next black ball of black, and it had no label. The black yarn is called "Freja"from Black Sheep and I think the label on the red one read "Big Carina" and then I I put on a pair of buttons from "Scrapbooking Moments" (?)

Unfortunate, I will not tell you how I made them, as I have to refine the pattern before, but if you are used to knitting I guess you can figure it out anyway.

((Halleluja - Jeff Buckley))

I will try and make a similar scarf too or something. I have realized how fun it is to knit again. Right now I'm doing so many different knitting projects that I have had to put some away and stop to 2 at the time, otherwise I will never finish any of them! So right now, a scarf and a grey sweater for me in the same mode as my mittens, but they will only be one color. And I also have came a short bit longer with my "Matrix"-coat.

Later I will do a basic sweater for the boyfriend to, for his birthday, but I have to make sure I have enough money for yarn first.

A project I really would like to try is to make thick leggings that I have knitted myself, but I don't know where to start. What kind of needles I will have to use etc, so if ANYONE has a good idea or a description I would love to see it! (Preferably in Swedish though).

((Total Eclipse of the Heart (literal version)))

Well, I guess I better go finish my studying now and try and get some sleep!

The year is coming to an end.

Christmas is rather overrated actually. Well, it is nice to come together as a family for a few hours, but really, it is rather over rated, and I think it's a bit sad you can't get together with your parents and siblings but there need to be some stupid holiday. I guess you will appreciate it more when your older maybe, but I don't really see the point in Christmas. It's just like any other day of the year.

Right now I feel a bit stressed. I have one essay right now on The cultural history of Japanese film that is really interesting. Deadline 4th January, so holiday for me? No way. Next essay deadline is January 14th, and we will get the essay subject on 28th December, so both Christmas and New Year will not be a time to rest really.

Well, the year has been both great and... Well, not so great.

I still have a lot of pain in my body and the physio therapist I have been seeing says she can't find any problems.

On the bright side though, I met the Mr this summer and that was rather awesome really.

Got a few things to think about next year, and looking forward to a lot of things!

Best memory this year: Well, except for meeting the Mr I would guess that it was actually Xmas Special in Gothenburg, a whole weekend of Kali Sikaran training.

Worst memory this year: Oh, well, hmm... I guess it was when I didn't know (both in Feb and in Aug.) whether I was gonna get money for the uni semesters. It was really horrible not knowing whether I was going to be able to pay the loans on my flat at the end of the month!

The coming year will as I said, become rather interesting. The application for Film Science part II will be sent in, in March, work will applied for in summer, moving...

So much to do, so many things to think about, and still it doesn't freak me out as much as it could, but it seems like the right thing to do!

Well, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ju-On

Well, now I'm back home for a few days before going back to Linköping and the last of my course, and a short visit to Gothenburg for a martial arts seminar.

This evening, being very tired, I decided to watch two films that I haven't even got out of the plastic packing yet. The films are the Japanese original versions of The Grudge. The film came out in 2000, and if you want the story, check out IMDb on this link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0330500/plotsummary

What I found interesting was the use of multiple narratives. This can be found in Rashomon by Aikira Kurosawa from 1950, but also in the old German expressionism films from the begining of the 1900's.

After watching myself tired of old German expressionism films, Russian montage films and Japanese films for my two courses, i thought this was going to be a relaxing film session, but no way...

One interesting thing I have noticed that also makes the similarities with the German expressionism films (which have influenced the history of horror films, as you can see up till modern day time) is the use of sounds and exaggerating (sound film became a part of film history during the German expressionism movement). An example is when the small child are making a cat sound when he opens his mouth. This is what the producer are using to scare us.

Sound, are the most important component for this film as of what I can interpret from the film. We have many examples of unnatural sound (like in above mentioned scene with the child and the cat sound), but also in the segment with Yuki, Yuki can hear sounds her friend Kanna can not. We have even an example of non-diegetic internal sound when the teacher (Kobayashi) is reading the mothers diary.

We can also find quite a few similarities with the other film too (in this case not Ju-On 2, but Ju-On: The Grudge II, which I have understood is not second film in the series), both in the plot where we can find for example the pregnant woman and the cat, but also in the way the film is made, with multiple narratives and we can start to assume that sound has a important role even in this film in the opening scene when the radio is not working.

Some days...

Well, SJ has done it once again. At 17. something today I got a text from them telling me my 8.22 train till Stockholm is cancelled! I cant believe it! I should have guessed, everything was going to smoothly with the bastards this time, and BAM, now I'm fucked. I had to get a new ticket, three times as expensive, and an hour longer trip, this means I have to get an even earlier train from here! I'm so totally pissed of right now...

But...

Some days are just meant to bring good ideas!

In need of a dinner, without cooking something that will have left overs, open up new packages or anything that can be spoiled before Friday I came up with a brilliant idea...

As I have lots and lots of cheese and tomatoes, I decided to make stuffed tomatoes! How easy can it be? It's delicious and really simple to do!

Stuffed tomatoes- vego style

First, turn the oven on (about 150-175 degrees).

Hollow out the tomates (1 if eaten with a meal or used as appetizer, otherwise, your choice, but try and use large tomatoes, as it tends to be tricky to stuff them as they are small), at the same time as you fry some soy stuffing. Put cheddar or Parmesan or any other cheese with strong taste in the bottom. Add the soy filling and some Greek cheese and spice with Oregano.
Put them in the oven and voila! A really tasteful appetizer!

Last weekend... Then STOCKHOLM!

This is the last weekend before I turn biiiig! ;)

Well, I have a lot to do this weekend. On Monday morning, I'm off to Stockholm, to start a course in Japanese film cultural history. Might be exiting. I haven't really decided yet, but the train trip will be filled with reading to prepare, prepare and more preparing. I have never really understood Japanese film, so this will be a real challenge for me, as I know nothing of Japanese films, except a bit anime...

I'm leaving home at 6am Monday morning...

My darling baby, this is a warning, said that im leaving, on monday morning... *Hums*

Well, it does come to mind dont it?

Well, as I said, at 6am Monday morning, and I will be back "home" in Linköping at 7pm...

Have you hear the news today? I'm leaving town, I'm cashing out
this towns to small for me to stay, the time is now, I'm heading out

This is a bit scary, as I know, next year by this time, I have lived in Växjö for about 3 months too... Gah! I don't want to grow up... I would love to become a kid again and move in with mummy and daddy and play aaaaall day long! But unfortunate, I'm not Benjamin Button...

So, now my weekend is filled with Aikido, all day tomorrow, and then on Sunday, I will have to clean up, do some dishes, the washing, pack my bag and find my course literature I need for the week, and pack my computer so I will be able to do my homework when I'm left alone all day...

Baby i still need ya, but if you stay ill leave ya, cause i gotta get away
and if i ever see ya, my heart is gonna bleed, but im leaving either way

That's really how it feels about next year... There is a few things I really will miss when I move... But I really want to do this, and the only reason for coming home, would be if I got a spot at KAU, but I don't really like that university, so that will probably never happen as after this summer I don't ever want anything to do with KAU or LTU ever again!

But I guess it's alright to spread your wings a bit too, as I want to go to Ireland and USA some day too, then maybe Växjö is a good place to start, as it at least is the same country that all I care for liv

es in, even the same continent...

And a little something for those who are sadist... My really nice bruises I got this Tuesday of Kali training, and this is how they look three days later, and this they look about twice as bad irl! And they perfectly match on where you do a Ikkyo! Which makes it even funnier when we have done Ikkyo both Wednesday and Thursday this week!

But I guess it's better to be off to bed now, tomorrow evening you will get a review on Chucky the evil doll as I have had a Chucky Maraton today, but I got one film left so I will wait till I'm finished with all 5 of them.

Wonderful weekend

Yeah, this weekend was rather okay to be honest! The Mr came over on Saturday and left for home this morning. Haven't seen him since the book fair in Gothenburg in end of September. So it was real good to see him again.

That means this weekend was filled with films! We managed to squeeze in Död Snö (Dead Snow), John Carpenter's vampires 1 and 2, and Saw 3D.

Död Snö was real good! Who could believe Nazi zombies in the Norwegian mountains would make a really good movie?

Död Snö

Plot

A gang of eight Norwegian medical students decides to go for a trip to the mountains. The first evening a old man comes around and tells them the story of a Nazi party who occupied a town close by, but the villagers rebelled and the Nazis fled into the mountains. This is the

start of weird things, and when one of their friends don't show up, her boyfriend starts looking for her while the others stays at the cabin and starts the party. When one of the girls goes missing and they find the backpack of the first missing person, they start to get suspicious and this is when they start the battle against the zombies.

Opinion

Död Snö is an entertaining film, made by a small scale Norwegian company, with a relatively low budget. They have many of the classical horror film traits, but they have twisted them together into something new. They have taken any zombie film and mixed it with Wrong Turn, and the result became a real good horror film, even though the plot has a few holes, but as the effect of the zombies was so good, it doesn't really matter.

I would really recommend it, it is not scary scary, but it's really good when wanting a cozy evening with some not to brutal horror films in the autumn, when there is to cold to go outside anyway.

And if you liked this one, Norway has manged to produce yet another really good horror film. Snarveien. The film is following a couple who has been in Sweden buying booze, and can't get back home to Norway, so they take a short cut...

Such meaningless shit!

A fellow aikidoka earlier posted the song American Soldier - Toby Keith on Facebook.

Beside my Brothers and my Sisters I will proudly take a stand

When liberty's in jeopardy I'll always do what's right.
I'm out here on the front lines, sleep in peace tonight.

Beautiful words, but I can't find anything right with this war! American young boys is sent to a war that seem like it will never end! Not just American, but soldiers from all over the world. they die for no reason, and as far as I know, there is not end to this.

Of course terrorism should not exist, but is the best thing really to send out young men?

Most of them (I don't say all as I guess there is probably someone who loves this, but not all), would probably rather stay home with their families rather than fight this meaningless war, as it has came to be.

George W. Bush started it 9 years ago, and there is still no end, and I really hope Obama will succeed better, and that soon.

And I can't call in sick on Mondays when the weekend's been too strong,
I just work straight through the holidays,
And sometimes all night long.

Think of that the next time your work feel like crap, some has it so much worse than you, and not because they themselves have gotten themselves into it, but they do it for you, for your liberty. For the freedom that the whole western world say they stand for.

I'm just trying to be a father,
Raise a daughter and a son,
Be a lover to their mother,

And these are the people who does it, no different from you or me or anyone else. There are families all over the world, not knowing whether their fathers, husbands, sons (or wifes, mothers, daughters for that case) will be coming home alive, or even at all.

Put life in a whole new perspective huh?

Interesting essay

So, this last essay on the "Language and Culture" bit of this English course I have chosen to write on "Is young people today speaking more poorly than they used to?"

And I have found some rather interesting facts.

Apparently, this has always been the opinion, young people have always been slandered for they way they speak, the use of slang has always been looked down on, even in the 30's. Apparently though, we can not blame it all on the youngsters using slang and swearwords, as this is still part of our childhood ways of learning a language, by mimics!

According to Fredrik Lindström this is how young children learn a language, together with creativity, to be able to express themselves when they do not know the words for how to.

I have also read a very interesting project made by Rickard Jonsson, who has done his research on language and masculinity in a 14-15 year old class. Very interesting to see how young people (most of them immigrants) reason when speaking about social status, homosexuality and life and the future, a lot different from when I was that age, and that was less than ten years ago.

I won't tell to much of the essay before I have finished it, but it really is a interesting subject. But the subject have three main areas; social status, gender distinction and sexual orientation. You are supposed to be who you are, nothing more, nothing less, you have to be a part of the norm, to prove yourself without bragging.

Well, I will see if I can give you the essay in full text when it is finished!

Bye!

Road trip, Stroganoff and Friday

Well, then it was time again.

Off to Karlstad tonight, as I am off to Oslo for a leadership course tomorrow morning at 07.00.

Then back home on Sunday.

Next weekend, a new leadership course during a weekend in Sunne, and then 15th November my trips back and forth between Stockholm, Linköping and home will start, I don't really look forward to it that much to be honest.

Well, as I realized I have food that I can't leave or eat that will go bad till I get home on Sunday I decided to make a stroganoff for future lunchboxes. And as usual, the food is 100% vegetarian and lactose free.

Ingredients:

5 soy sausages

1 onion

3 dl of lactose free 10% cream

½ of low fat milk

3-4 dl of heinz chili sauce

3 tomatoes choped in small pieces

Chop the onion and sausages into pieces and fry them till they are cooked. Add the cream and the chili sauce until it's hot and then add the tomato pieces and milk.

Cook till tomatoes are soft and serve with rice.

A fun thing is that today I bought a new coat (looking a lot like one I have that is starting to break) and two pair of pants, so now I will have to make sure I go to the gym so that they will fit, as I think that if I gain weight they won't!

Well, it's time to go finish the packing and start reading books on children's language.

See you on Monday again!

Martial arts is not a hobby, it is a lifestyle...

Well, I have been doing martial arts now for a bit more than three years, and I have come to realize that no matter what martial art you do, it is not just a hobby, it become a style of life.

Benefits when doing martial arts is many. You get a confidence, you get a good posture and probably an change in attitude. You also get strength, cardio, flexibility and you become more relaxed both when training and as a person, you learn to relax, and I think this is a common treat to all martial arts, whether you do Aikido, Kali Sikaran, Brazilian Ju-jutsu or MMA.

No martial art is better than another, even though if you are part of a martial arts group you think yours is the best. And instead of going around saying everyone else is doing it wrong or their style is wrong, why not put down the energy and effort into yourself and to grow as a martial arts person in the one you think are the ultimate one in that case?

No matter what style or sport you do, everyone puts down just as much effort as the other one, the amount of training is just as much, then if a MMA-fighter might be "less" good at one, but a bit good at many different parts of martial art, then so be it, that is the purpose with their training, and that is a completely focus than for example Judo and Aikido has.

If we take an example, Aikido does not train sweeps, but you do in Brazilian Ju-jutsu and Judo (for example) how can you then say that Aikido is the ultimate way to defend your self? But just because of that, the focus of Aikido is not wrong, the main idea of Aikido is to use the opponents force against himself, and that is also a good main idea, and then you do a lock of some sort to keep the other one down. Neither is optimal, neither is wrong, both are great ways of training.

I have my self been doing Aikido for just a bit over three years now and Kali Sikaran since January this year, and I can't see anything but positive things about doing more than one martial art at the time either, you can find similarities and differences and when you do the question "does this really work?" will pop into your head, and a whole new dimension of martial arts is a head of you. Of course there is backsides to this, if you want to be good at one budo- or fighting art if you mix it together but that is a question about whether you understand the concept of the differences, and that can take years to learn, and it is a question on when you feel mature enough to be able to do more than one martial art at the time. But even here, it's a question on focus, do you "just" want to be good at that martial arts, or do you want to know how to defend yourself in realistic situations... They are all valid reasons to do martial arts, the only important to remember is to always have a respect for your partner because you need him or her to be better at what you are doing.

People should stop hating so much on everyone else, and get back to the focus needed for their own training. No one gains anything unless you show each other respect both on and off the tatami.

I hope to see you soon on seminars and take care!

Rather bored...

Well, not just bored, but pissed off, nothing works today.

Let us take the day from beginning to end.
1 .before I had even got out of bed, a phone salesman calls and wakes me up, not very early, but as I had been up late working, I hadn't had that much sleep.
2. The dishwasher is impossible to get to work, as if I screw it on the tap, the rest of the hose is fallinf off, so if i put it on the hose, then it falls of the tap.. See my problem?
3. I got my essay back, a 500 word essay and got the comment: "to shallow", how are we supposed to make a in-depth analysis on 6 or something articles and find the sex of 6 different speakers?
4. Did not have time to eat properly.
5. It was raining and my umberella is completley gone.
6. Kali did not go so very well...
7. Found out I might have been able to cheat with not having to watch the Western film as I hate Westernfilms.
8. I can't find my comic book ANYWHERE! It really is gone

And now I have done more homework than I managed to do during the whole day, and out of boredom, I found a pen and a paper and drew a bit, this was what it became.

A cute little ghost, just soooo right for it soon being Halloween.

Well Im actually gonna go to bed now, as I don't want more horrbile things to happen to me...

Bye!

No freeze!

Well, then my cap is done, least the first try-out version of it. The one I will make for my self to use will be black and white instead.













The one thing I noticed when taking a photo of it, it looks like a mushroom, like, the Mario mushroom. I wonder if any nerds would be happy if I made a red and white one!?


I think I will have to do it some day, just because of the fun of it!

There is a button missing, but I haven't bought any yet, so just imagine one please? I just haven't decided what colour goes best with the marine blue and ice blue colours of the cap... Maybe something fun, like... Mint green or something. I think yellow is the colour for my black and white cap! That will be quite cute!

Well, I better star doing some school work now so I can have the weekend off... Going to Oslo on Saturday for a leadership course...
Bye!

Recipe time! Leftover Minestrone

Thought it was time for a new recipe again. This recipe is a vegetarian Minestrone soup I made from leftovers. It's lactose free and completley meat free, but of course if you would like to use meat instead of soy and regular cremé fraishe, that is also possible.

After realising there was about nothing at all left in my fridge except this weeks leftover I decided to do a quick Minestrone soup.
The word Minestrone is Italian and means "The Big Soup" or well, the soup with loads of ingredients (think I heard that on Jamie Oliver's show once too...)

Ingredients:
2 cups of quorn or soy filling
1 onion
2-3 potatoes
1 cup of pasta or noodles
2 cups of red lentils (boiled)
1½ cup of Heinz chili sauce
2 cups of mixed beans and chick peas (this was made from tin packaged, but if you want they can be made by fresh ones too, but remember to put them in water and boil them at the right time before adding them)
4 table spoons of lactose free cremé fraische (for a more vegan alternative, use soy-yoghurt)
about 1 litre of water (thickness depends on your liking, the more water, the thinner soup)

If you go with fresh un-cooked food, the potatoes and lentils takes about 20 min each so keep that in mind.
Start by chopping the onion and fry it together with the soy/quorn in a casserole. Add the water and put the lentils and potatoes in and let boil for about 20 min. After 8-10 minutes, add the pasta (if using noodles, they cook in 3 minutes). When the potatoes and lentils are boiled, add the chili sauce and the cremé fraishe and add the beans. Mix it all together and take it of the stove.
Serve with a teaspoon of cremé fraiche and bread.

(Of course this works with prepared cooked food to, then there will be no cooking time to speak of... Just add the ingredients and let it simmer for a few minutes and it's ready to eat).

First time I made this, I had to little chili sauce and to little water, so it didn't look to appetizing, and for those who have seen "The young ones", it resembled Neil's lentil stew a lot, except with potatoes. But adding a bit more water and chili sauce made it get that orange Minestrone soup color I'm used to...

Next recipe will probably be my peanut-cookie ice cream cake. So look out for that one!

Analysing Obama

Todays school work includes a assignment on analysing a speech by Obama, unfortunate, the present President of the United States, does not follow the rules of speeches. I thought that after analysing speeches by Tony Blair and George W. Bush, this would not be to hard, and that I could maybe even get a really good grade, but no sir no, of course not.

The speech (I will not read the whole one) is addressed the Muslim world and the tensions between the American and the Muslim/Arab world.
And boy does that guy try to tamper with peoples emotions!
It reeks Pathos from this speech!

He is honored to be there, there has to be mutual respect from the two sides, he is bringing up history of the two sides, hi brings up his own childhood in an attempt to get the audience on his side, his own personal history and how he has Muslims in his family from Kenya, and what a great way to make him and the audience he is addressing a "us", a great way to make him a part of the Muslim world too, even though he is a Christian, and he is appealing to the Muslims idea of not killing Muslim, he is trying to be seen as a Muslim in the eyes of the extremists, and not a Christian and therefore not a treath.

I have as I said, not read the whole speech, but the assignment was on parts of it, but I will link you to the whole speech: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1902738,00.html#ixzz0wr22SFSF

I don't know if Obama is better as a President, the war is still going on and I can't see any stop to it yet, and I have no idea what he has actually done since he came in power (care to enlighten me?), but at least he is a better speaker than Bush, just the fact he is not messing up the speeches is a good deal better than what Bush ever managed to do.
But we will see how this ends up when his 4 year period is over.
But I don't think the problem is in Iraq, the problem is all over the world, it's not the Muslims who need to be stopped, but the extremists, of all kinds, not just terrorists, but nazis, rasists, communists...

Obama is speaking about stereotypes, and he wants the Muslims not to see America as a stereotype, as he wants the Americans not to see the Muslims as stereotype, but the stereotype he is mentioning (" America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empre") it's unfortunate so say, that the Americans looks like the that to so many more places than just the Muslim world, and I think the quote "When America sneezes, the world gets teh cold" is a good way to finish this post.

(The picture is taken from http://www.getreligion.org/wp-content/photos/barack_obama2.jpg)

Not so creative...

Past days have been so much school work, that I haven't had the time to do anything creative, even though I have been knitting while watching films, and hopefully during the weekend, my first try of a cap will be finnished. It looks nice at the moment, but we will see, I'm trying with colors that don't match, and the one I will actually do for myself will be black and white...
But more about that when it's finnished. Also, I have brought some fabric to make super cool spider-man pillow cases! They will be awesome!

Today I got a lovely pair of winter shoes! The are so awesome! Too expensive though, but they wont be out of date next winter either so it doesn't matter, just hope they keep whole for more that a year, that my friends, will be a challande!

So nice.

Saw a film the other night, The Wild Bunch, and I suddenly realised why I never watch Western films. They are really boring. I can't even write an analysis of this as I don't even get it. I don't know who was the bad guy and who was the good ones, and there was so much speech in Spanish as I had no subtitles so I didn't understand any of it, but I guess it was alright if you like Western films.
The story was quite lame, a guy who got a mission and rode of to get his men, a bunch of, well, I don't know, who went of to Mexico, and fuck with some Mexican general and stuff. I really didn't get the film.

Later I will watch a film called Koyaanisqatsi, I have never heard of it, but it will be fun to see if it's any good, apparently it's going to be some experimental film, or something like that. Will try and finish my cap also then!

Just a minute ago I screwed together a chair too! Woho! The first chair in this house! I still can't eat at the table, but I can now do my schoolwork at my desk! Making progress. I just fear for how to move all of it next year, will be fun to watch I bet!

Well, I better start watching the film and have some dinner and later it's time for Dr Pepper float! Nom!

See you!

Spooky photosession...

That was that day...
Well, the weather was not nice a bit cold, but at least it didn't rain, so I went out an hour and a half or something, taking some photots. And as usual, I went to my favourite place for picture taking, the churchyard. I think that next weekend I will go there in the evening, think I can get some really nice pictures then! Okay, you might think I am crazy, but I can't do much about that... That's your opinion ;)

You will get a taste of the pictures I took here, but the rest is found at:
http://sanna-b.deviantart.com/gallery/#Me-as-a-model

This ones I put on here will be my favourites though (they end up in Picasa webalbum in case you want to check there instead).

But as I said, next week, I will try and take some in the evening instead, to get some real Halloween feeling for them, but then I wont be so vain so that I only take pictures of my self (there are pictures without me, but they are to many at the moment to go trough, and I will do that when I have more time to DO things. But it was really nice today to take a break and do something that I think is fun. Last night the idea was to knit, and do some scrapping, but, it took to long time rolling up the yarn in a ball, and I need a ruler before I can finnish my Halloween cards anyway. So my creative side got a bit neglected...
But at least now I could do something, even though I for sure will knit when watching films later. It was so long since I last did, and I need a new cap.

In a bit I will go and watch Snow White. Haven't seen it in ages. Not since I was a kid, but I think it will be more interesting than the other film we were supposed to choose between, as I can't even remember the name of it, but I do not really look forward to having to watch a Western film, that's not really my cuppa tea at all! Unfortunate I can't watch either of the films and just enjoy it, as I have to watch for things, but on the other hand, I have already studied animation earlier and Snow White is the first ever film using cell-animation. But I think I will try and watch Coraline once more again, it's such a cute film. And the way they made the film reminds a lot about Nightmare before Christmas, and that's what I really DO wanna watch, unfortunate, it's not a part of my DVD collection yet.

Well, I better go do what I actually said I'm going to rather than sit here!

I will see if I can get my cap done till tomorrow! See you!

Lazy night!

Yeah, that's exactly what I will have.
Films, carrot sticks, guacamole and Dr Pepper, and to top it all of, films! Films, films and more films!
This could make any girls just as happy as anything else. Well, maybe a cup of tea could be nice too, I'll go make one in a bit...

Todays film choise:
The Birds
(Alfred Hitchcock of course! )

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/ (lol, release date on my birthday!)

A film whit no soundtrack? Rather interesting, but I have to say... It would probably not be as scary as it actually is if it had violins playing like Mr Hitchcock has in Pshyco. Thw choise of film actually was because in "Film Art: An Introduction 7th Edition" (Bordwell & Thompson) is having more than just a few examples from the film in the editing part. And they did combine a lot of longshots, close ups and straight forward pictures with a few from "bird's eye view".
Other than that, I don't really think the cutting was so much better than in other films. I would say though, it is good, as he gets it in a POV, and you can se action and reaction on what is happening. This I would say, does not show the clip in cronological order that one clip is straight after another in time, but they happen at the same time.

Also, the next film choise is "Kaw", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491005/
I guess a remake of "The Birds", but a rather bad one. It looks like most modern thrillers/horror films. The first feeling you get of it it that it looks a lot like the remake of "Amityville Horror" from 2005 ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384806/).

This makes a big difference from "The Birds". Less long shots, a soundtrack (don't every film have that now a days? Couldn't they just try and make one without, I wanna know whether that works or not), and many clips to make the tempo go up in big parts of the film. A more modern way of doing horror films basically as I said before...

Well, I don't like it, and it seems like most people don't like it if you look at the rating on IMDB.

But right now I don't feel like analyzing and comparing films, so you will have to be alright with me only mentioning them, got a lot to do with my English courses this weekend, but tomorrow I will have the whole day to work, so I hope I will finnish at least something. Right now, I don't even like studying English, and I so badly need a dictionary, I'm getting rather pissed of when my internet decides "Na ah, I won't work, so you won't get on either tyda.se or lexin", which is just *instert ugly word of choise*

But at the moment, I'm quite looking forward to the next week of Film studies as we will probably watch Snow White, and I can cheat! Yeeeeaaah! As I have already learned the history, and a lot more about animated films in another course I have taken, but I guess, everyone else will make it better than me anyway!

Hopefully, I will have my book by next week to! It feels so great to be able to mark things in the book, that you can use in essays and so on, and be able to look in, in the future. Maybe that's the reason so few of my grades are very good... I always have to give the books back to the library before I am finnished with them...

Now I'm blabbering... Better go finnish watching films and making tea...
Tomorrow, there will be pictures up here as I will try and have the time and take some nice autumn pictures outside (if the weather is good that is...)

See ya! :)

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Some decisions are easy, some, a lot harder than expected, and I am already nervous for the future. I mean, if everything go as planned, in less than 11 months, I will move from here to Växjö! If that don't succeede, I will move here to Uppsala. I mean, things could be less scary. And if neither of it succeeds, I will take part 1 of 2 of a documentary course in Linköping. Life is just as hard as you make it!
Yeah I know I live on my own at the moment, but I have my parents less than an hour away by car, I have my grandmother and brothers and friends in the same town, the only one not that close, is my boyfriend, which I still have to be on a train for a minimum of 1½ hour to see, wherever I go.

But I want this. I think it is right.

The hardest thing to leave?
Except my parents and family, it must be the aikido/kali clubs, specifically my sensei(s), and this means Iwill come home as often as I can, to train, hard.

Even though it scares me, it fills me with a calmness. I think it will be alright, I have about found someone to live in my flat while I am away (someone who will not re-paint or destroy it in an other way!!!) and I am good to go.

The decision was quite easy to make when I realised what amazing film teachers there is in Växjö (at least so far) and when realising exactly what I want to study in English, the decision to at some point in life living in Uppsala was not that hard either. Life is good when decisions are so hard, but still so easy to make.

So in mid-august 2011, my stuff will be put on a trailer and going somewhere else in Sweden. It is already making me nervous as hell to think of sometimes. This flat, that I have put down so much effort in making "my own personal space", will be someone else, and I have to live in a rental flat, with most probably light colours. Just that fact makes me nervous!

Next summer I will (probably) take my last class in a long while in Karlstad (and I have even noticed that one that I want to take, have a good similar one in Linköping), but maybe one day I will come back and study (more?) Documentary filming.

Well, bring on the future, I am ready for all your takes and turns!

Best film in a while!

Been watching "The Others" today, a really good film with Nicole Kidman.

Nicole Kidman, here as Grace Stewart, has with her children moved into a big house, waiting for her husband to come home from the war. Three people comes knocking on her door and asks for work and after a while her daughter starts to see a boy, whom none of the others can see, but after a while Grace starts to feel the presence of something non-human. When her husband then comes home, the mystique is closing up on you.

The story is not something completley new, it does not always look the same, but the basic concept is the same. An unbeliver who starts to believe after and encounter, the spooky house maids and gardners, the child who sees ghosts. All are elements that exists in other films, the thing that makes this film really good is light and sound.
As the kids are sensitive to light, big curtains are always drawn, and therefore, sound is not as it's supposed to be. Also there is a lot of whispering, which makes the atmosphere as there is secrets, things not everyone is allowed to hear. And as all the curtians is there, there is always dark, very rarelly light. Together with the whispering, and the lack of sound, the mice-en-scene gets rather interesting, you never know what lurks in the corners, what will jump out in the next dark hallway or whom will show up next. You hear sounds, but you don't know what's making them.

The film in all is an incredibly good film. The end is not suspected (at least not from me!) and it's frightening in a way impossible to tell.

An interesting thing would have been to watch the film without the soundtrack, but with the sound (e.g steps, cracks and so on, but without the music) as I think it would be real scary.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230600/

As the photo nerd I am...

I were walking back home from training today in the beautiful, but rather cold weather, and found the most wonderful red leaf on the way, and of course I had to take some pictures. I really love my camera, and I have to figure out all the settings, because so far I have adapted the pictures after how it looks like, using auto on everything, and do the best of it. But it has worked quite well so far anyway.
This one on the left is one of the original pictures that I took.


And these two following are the photoshopped versions I made. Not much change but a bit, just for the effect! I really love the red colour coming to its right in the picture on the grey background! Just so lovely!

This was the colour I wanted on my desk! That is just so unfair that it is about painted when I find a good sample of the colour I like! Red+Black=<3
So unfair!
Now I just need to find a nice red or purple colour for my armchair, which I will put new padding into first though. It's not to comfy at it is at the moment.



And that state of my hand yesterday was just horrible. I had paint about everywhere, it looked like I hade punched someone very, very hard... Many times. But I think the red desk will look great with my black furniture, even though I had been wishing for a darker colour.

Well, I wont complain to much about it, at least I got a desk! That's a starts, now I just need to buy a proper chair and my back pains will go away (I hope).

Well, it's time to start with some reasonable things instead, as tomorrow will be hectic, got to get up early and go buy a new can of paint, and hope I will finnish the desk before I get my new tv-bench!
Wish me luck!

No reading, only renovating!

Well, so far the reading I was supposed to do today, has not been done!
The weather is so nice I had to take a walk so I have been outside 3 times so far and now I'm on my way to the gym to do some swimming. Nice!

Got my desk today too, so now it's time to polish and paint it so that I can fit my new TV-bench and chest of drawers on friday! That will be awesome! Dark red and black furniture, so nice!

Got hold of a book on German and Latin grammar today, oh my, me who has such difficulties with spare time AND languages, how will this go!

Well, I think I have to finish this here today actually as I have to go to the gym before someones is coming over to help me with a few shelves that needs to be moved!

Update and pictures before and after will come tomorrow! :)

Bye!

Home again

Well, then, home again from Gothenburg.
I must say, ut just gets harder and harder to say good bye to the Mr everytime he or I have to go home. That sucks!

So this was my weekend. On Friday I went down to Gothenburg, quite late in the evening, around 22, as the train was more than 30 minutes late. So I went over to my granpas cousin where I watched an episode of the new season of Wire in the Blood, which has became really bad compared to the first seasons I must say, and then staright to bed.
Saturday: Woho! Up early to go met the wonderful one at the bus station! Went back so he could eat something and then we went to do some window (and regular) shopping. Bought a Gaiman book; Interwolds.
In the evening we went to see Micmacs!
Quite an awesome film!

Micmacs
Bazil dad dies when he is very young and he gets sent away to a boarding school when his mother can't take care of him. He runs away, but his life up till adulthood seems quite alright, until he got shot in the head. Then he loses his flat, his job and all his things, so he gets adopted by some people who lives on the junkyard.
When he find the company who makes the mine his dad was trying to disarm, and the company who made the bullet that he got shot with, he and his friends decides it is payback time!

A wonderful film by the amazing Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who is also famous for his films Amélie from Montmartre, Delicatessen and The Long Engagement. The mice-en-scene is recognizable from all other of his films (maybe except Alien:Ressurection...) and the funniest thing is that in parts of the film, he makes commercial for the films! The shot in the film is also shown as a billboard, or the cover of a DVD. The whole idea with some people aveniging the whole weapons industry is so surreal, and without all the things and stuff that exists in the film, it would not have worked, you would not have believed how they could get such things to where they got them, or how they could pull some stunts. The tone of it was fun, but with a dark undertone that people DO get killed in war, and that war is never beautiful. The war Bazil and his friends are fighting with the weapon dealers, are just as bad, just hidden under fun incidents.

A very good movie, and all of Jean-Pierre Jeunets french movies should be seen, they are usually awesome, even though some most probably would see them as a bit odd, and weird but if you like one of them, you will probably like all of them.

Well, furter on with the weekend...
Sunday: Book fair today, walking and walking and walking. Unfortunate, I didn't find any good books, a few films and the Mr bought me my Christmas present, a doctoral dissertation that I had as course literature this summer, which I could have a lot of use for when I do my own Bachelor's degree. Well, not as much fun as last year, but I got some valuable tips on Photoshop, which I will be trying next time I have time to do some photoshopping (most probably on wednesday).

So this weekend I have really only done things and learned thins revolved around things I love, books, film, the Mr, photoshop.
I have to say, life is just great at the moment, I hope they continue like this for a while, and that my oral examination will go alright tomorrow, I really don't feel prepared enough for it at the moment, and a horrible head ache is sneaking up on me! Uh oh!

Well, I'll see you in a day or so as I will have to read quite a lot these following days!

Bye!

My reason

http://www.tam-lin.org/front.html

There are reasons for everything I think, some reasons might be good, some might be not as good as some might be just as fucked up as...

Tam Lin, the reason for so much in my life.

(http://www.tam-lin.org/tamlin1.html ; other versions for those who wants to check both musical and poems)

A scottish ballad, as beautiful as anything. If you listen to any of any of the musical adaptions of it you will be in awe as it will touch your depest.

It's hard to say exactly what it is that makes it so beautiful.

My first encounter with the ballad when I read the book "Tam Lin" by Pamela Dean, which is not an especially great book, it's very american, as the author is paid by how much she writes, not how good it is. But it was the book who made me realize I really want to study English, it was the book who got me to appreciate fantasy-litterature in a different way, it proved that you don't have to write books like The Lord of The Rings to be able to call them fantasy.
The way I can relate to the main character is probably the reason why I like it so much.
Usually when someone says he or she can relate to the main character (or some other character in a book) it's usually when it comes to something "cooler", like how your parents don't understand you or your teachers or friends, how you do not fit into society or something, but this girl, what she worries about is, school, and not her friends and teachers (not so much), but what to study, to study litterature, to study classics..?
And that is how my life has been the past year...
What to study? What to research? Do I want to be a double profferssor? Do I want to study more film science or English? Do I want to study in the US? When am I going to Ireland?
All those questions just floating around and everyone around me says to stop bothering, but, that's hard. I'm used to always know what will happen, what year I will be studying what, syllabus that are exact for years to follow, and now... I have to make this all by my self, to decide, what do I think is the funniest thing to study? Where to study? Do I wanna move away? How will I be able to cope being so far away from family? Will I be able to sort my finances...
Just more and more questions, and those questions can't be answerd till I am there, till I have taken the decision that takes me there.

Well, maybe sometimes just a book, or a song, or something else who touches you are what will show you the way, no matter how stupid it looks to everyone else, if it matters to you, then it has to be important.

See you again on Monday, book fair this weekend, and I hope all of you will make a great decision this weekend! :)

Scrapping day, Writing day, Aikido day...?

Well, as I said, I was gonna give this scrapping thing a shot, and it is really fun to be honest, even though I still prefer to paint and write more as I always seem to get glue everywhere except where it's supposed to be, but I will buy a glue gun soon and se if it works better.
Well, after my outstanding present the other day, I decided that as a think you I had to do her a few cards.
So I made har a thank you card, and then a package with three cards that she can send to friends or family. Also I am making small containers for my sushi chop sticks so that they don't have to take up space in my kitchen drawers.

Even though I at the moment are more looking forward to the weekend, on Friday it's time to hoist sails towards Gothenburg, and spend the Saturday together with the wonderful one, and then on Sunday, it will be walking, walking, walking and even more walking at the book fair.
Think the weekend will be rather great, will try and find some good books too, but I'm afraid all my money will be gone as soon as I find a good scrapping or film store.
Oh the torture of having hobbies and interests!
People should like to do nothing instead, then they would have more money, and more time to do nothing at all! That is some good reasoning! This evening I will try and do some excersise again too. Have been a while now and I noticed that this week of the month is not the best to not do any physical. The good thing is, I have at least stared with my English essay, the bad thing is... it was a lot harder than I could ever guess to write! I have sat for a few hours today and I have barelly written 500 words, and some of them are even quotes! Oh my, how am I going to pull this off?
Least I know what I will be reading on the train down to Gothenburg.

But I have to say, Spotify has been my saviour today, I don't know how I could have done this without it, some people really dont know that, even if there is a door or two between the laundry machines, I can hear them when they are screaming, lauging, talking and banging, well, I don't know what, but I'm pretty sure one day something in there will break, hopefully not before tomorrow so that I can have clean clothes in the weekend.
Tomorrow I will be trying and make a design for Halloween cards, and I have also planned on designing Christmas cards that I will do closer to Christmas, but I like the planning bit just as much as I like the actuall scrapping. But I think that the next big project I have to finish now is, well, there is two of them really:

1. Finihshing the painting in the hallway, but first I need to put some spackling paste in holes in the wall (and no, it was not me who put the holes there to start with, and I aslo think my hatrack need a new shade of white, one who fits blue walls more.

2. Finishing my leather coat, well, it's not actually leather, but fake, anyway, I need to finish it before winter time so that I don't have to freeze to death when in Stockholm and Linköping.

Speaking about Linköping, ah, next time I go there, I will definatley bring my camera and see if I can find some nice places to take picture, worst thing is, I have not seen that much so far that are good objects, but I guess that whit some Photoshop editing, even Linköping will look beatiful in the middle of November.

I guess it's time to get back to finnishing the essay now, see you tomorrow again!

Lucky day and hot chocolate recipe!

Walking out the door this morning, it was cold! Absolutley freezing cold!

But that also put a smile on my face, finally, now you can put on scarves, gloves, hats, woolen caps, and lots of others accessories. My two faourite accessories must be two of my scarves, one is a bright red enormous one made out of acrylics and my red and white palestina scarf.

Yesterday I also got the best present for my birthday (except for the Mr coming over for the weekend) and that was a big package of scrapping things! There were everything from stickers, to papers and envelopes, so now there will be scrapping going on!

As soon as I'm finished with a discussion and have written two papers and the ideas for an oral presentation!
But at least I have the idea for some of the work. Well, now, no more school talk, I have a bad habit of doing that all the time I notice.

Been watching Citizen Kane now, and even though the story is not so fun, not really boring either, but for sure not catchy, the footage and the way they use the camera is brilliant, at least when you think of the fact it's made in 40's. I probably won't watch the film again though.

The story is simple (and I think I have seen modern films with this story too), it is the poor boy who is sent off to live with some rich man, and get brought up that way. Mr Kane becomes the number one chief executor on many of the famous news papers, but of course the most sold amount of papers in a day, is the one when he dies. He marries two famous women, and the whole idea with the film is that a group of movie makers is going to find out WHO Mr Kane really was, what did his last words "Rose Bud" mean? Whom was Charlie Kane deep inside? And the film plainly said, just his life story told by his old friends and family. A cute film, but with a tone of seriuosness and a dark side, how power makes people go crazy, think they can do anything, to anyone.

Also I met a friend today a quicky that I haven't seen in a while to get her some books I borrowed long ago! But then all I could think of was home, sleep, and football tonight. Haven't sleept so well this night
So after a hectic day at University, and no training as I don't want to pull my muscles again there will be a nice relaxing evening, with a book and big cup of hot chocolate and looking forward for the book fair in Gothenburg this weekend.

How to make your own delicious hot choclate that will make you soft in the edges. Both litterally and metaphorically.
This will be about 2-3 dl of hot chocolate (2 cups)
Ingredients:
1½ dl of milk
20-30 grams of dark chocolate
½ table spoon of cacao
2-3 dl of cream (some of it will get whipped)
Warm up 1½ dl of milk with some dark chocolate (the more you use, the thicker it gets, but just a few pieces is enough) and mix in half a spoon of cacao and half a dl of cream. The rest of the cream is preferably whipped and put in the cup just before drinking it. Alternativley you can make 1 dl of strong coffee, heat the milk and add the coffee and chocolate (if you like, add some grated almonds). Add the cream and put whipped cream in it when served. This will probably be 3 cups instead of two as you add the coffee, not switch it for something.

It makes any evening better than the day was. Also had the time to take some photos (as you see in the blogpost) edit them in Photoshop and put them here, will be sat fixing up the picasa web album in a bit too, but now, shower and 1408! See you tomorrow!