Rachel Getting Married.

I liked this movie, though I didn't think I would. So surprise.
In Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway plays Kym, a young woman who has been in and out of rehab for years for drug addiction. She returns home for the first time in nine months to attend her sister's wedding as a bridesmaid. But her return upsets the dynamics of the wedding and surfaces tensions that the dysfunctional family would certianly rather do without at a time like this.


What I liked about the film was that it was like real life - not like those soap operas that pretend to be like real life, no, this movie was real. It was honest. The performances were honest, the characters were believable, the filming made you feel part of the story, and the plotline unfolded truthfully.
In saying that, I' not rating this thing five stars, end of review. I mean, the filming does take some getting used to. Shot with a handheld camera, the constant movement makes one dissy and irritated at first but if you're able to get past that it makes you feel like you're really part of what's going on. The film gives all the actuality of preparing for a wedding, the way things blur together between chaos and excitement, preparation and expectations, timing and organization etc. etc....
The characters are well presented so that as the film goes on you quickly get to know them well and you feel Rachel's frustration as she feels like Kym's trying to wreck things for her, the awkwardness that rushes over the restaurant table when Kym stands to give a speech to her sister and ends up talking about herself, and Sidney's calm composure as he holds the fort ... what a sweet guy, I can see why Rachel married him.

The one thing that bothered me though was the actual wedding - it's like ... weird. I can't really think of another way to describe it. It's random and quirky, I guess to add to the contemporary feel of the film, the fact that in this day and age you can do whatever you want? I don't know. I mean, Rachel's a white American girl, her husband's Jamaican, and they're having an Indian-themed wedding with saris for the bridesmaid dresses and a blue elephant cake? With the wedding march being played on an electric guitar by a teenager with an afro? And the grooms wearing what seriously looks like whatever each of them personally wanted to wear? Not to mention the belly dancers. Okay. Whatever floats your boat.

All up though, three and a half stars. Go see it, it's cool.

Peril at End House, by the wonderful Agatha Christie

Hello, reader.

If there even is a reader.
Here's another book review. I wrote it for an assignment. It's ok. But it counts as a review and one half of this blog is about reviewing things, so here it is. Enjoy. Or not. Whatever takes your fancy.


How many times can a killer make a mistake before he reaches his target? That is the question Detective Hercule Poirot ponders over in Agatha’s Christie’s seventh Poirot novel Peril at End House. Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as “The Queen of Crime”, having written over 150 novels, short stories and plays, all of which have together sold over a billion copies in English alone. Christie is no doubt one of the best novelists in history.
Originally published in 1932, Peril at End House features who is arguably the most lovable detective ever put on paper, the little man with the egg-shaped head and impeccable moustache – Hercule Poirot, whose “little grey cells” get him through every mystery put to him.
Holidaying in St. Loo at the Majestic Hotel, Poirot, accompanied by his close friend Captain Hastings, comfortably turns down a mystery he has been asked to investigate and instead reclines on a balcony overlooking the sea, enjoying his “retirement”. But his relaxation does not last long when he stumbles upon Miss Buckley, a pretty young girl who lives at End House, the ramshackle place not far from the hotel. As their conversation unfolds, Poirot learns that “Nick”, as the girl goes by, has had several narrow escapes from death. First, the heavy picture that falls above her bed; second, a boulder that thunders past her on the cliff path; then third, the brakes in her car fail on a steep hill. And fourth – the bullet that misses her head by inches. The bullet that was shot at her while she is talking to Hercule Poirot. So ends Poirot’s holiday, and so begins the mystery of Nick Buckley’s attacker.
Captain Hastings tells the story from first person, and is likable as the narrator, putting in his two-cents whether Poirot finds it helpful or not, and amusing the reader with his subjective views of the other characters. He does his best to help Poirot protect the young Miss Buckley while searching for clues to move them forward in the case. But there are certainly more red herrings than clues. And no motive. Who could have any reason for killing Nick Buckley? End House is heavily mortgaged, asserts Poirot, and therefore inheritance cannot be the motive ... or can it? The little detective is sure that Nick is hiding something – something that will make everything match up.
Poirot and Hastings have no trouble getting themselves right in the midst of the action, attending a party with a fireworks display at End House, where everyone seems to be acting strangely. Ellen, the housekeeper, does not attend the fireworks display as she generally does. Nick is unusually fey and wears a black dress and red shawl to the party, though verbally admitting that she hates black.
After dinner, whilst everyone is out watching the fireworks, Nick and her cousin Maggie, who has come to stay on Poirot’s insistence that Nick must have someone else in the house with her, go back inside to get coats. Poirot can’t stand the damp grass any longer and so soon returns to the house with Hastings. On their way they see a figure lying on the grass, wrapped in a red shawl.
Maggie Buckley is dead, mistaken for her cousin in the darkness.
Quickly Poirot and Hastings devise a list of the suspects. Who would want to kill Nick Buckley? Could it be Frederica Rice, Nick’s closest friend? The man in love with Nick, Commander Challenger? Perhaps Charles Vyse, Nick’s closest of kin. Or is the seemingly friendly older couple living on Nick’s property, Mr. And Mrs. Croft?
No matter how difficult the case, Poirot will get to the bottom of it, you can be sure.
Peril at End House may not be Christie’s greatest novel; most of the characters are not very likable, and some of Poirot’s conclusions seem coincidence, but the book definitely delivers what anyone wants from a Poirot mystery – an ingenious solution to a puzzling plot. Poirot’s perfection in knowing how to solve a case is intriguing and exciting. He knows what he needs and how to get to it. Poirot and Hastings are characters we’re happy to read about again, or meet and get to know for the first time, depending on your previous knowledge of Agatha Christie novels. All the same, Peril at End House has been constantly popular since its publication almost 80 years ago. The book has been adapted into a play, a graphic novel, a TV movie and even a computer game. Whether you’re looking for a good thriller to read over the weekend, wanting a mystery to snuggle down under the covers with at night, or just in need of a page-turner to get you reading again, Peril at End House by the Queen of Crime may be exactly what you’re looking for.

A couple short book reviews....

If you're looking for something to read I recommend Exposure by Mal Peet.

A very interesting take on Shakespeare's famous Othello. Love his writing style. It's very "in the moment", and pay attention to what Mr. Peet chooses NOT to tell. He lets your imagination do some work too.

I've also just finished The Book Thief. It was quite a lovely story. I cried in the final chapters, so I tip my hat to Markus Zusak for pulling me so far into his story that I loved the characters almost as much as Liesel did. It is a rare thing for me to cry when reading a book. I frequently cry in movies, but that's because the image is right there in front of me, easy to respond to. Markus Zusak does just that - writes so well you can see everything. The characters. The scenes. The colours. His writing style beautifully crafted. He has a wonderful voice.

So now I'm on to reading To Kill A Mockingbird. Let's hope I enjoy it just as much. I'm quite sure I will.

- Erin Michelle

IIIIIIII, I, I, I won't worry my life awayay, heyayay, ohhh....

Just sitting here in my room with Trent (my laptop), listening to Jason Mraz's Rand McNally... gosh, his voice is amazing. I can't get over it. It's literally an instrument. Love it.

Umm ... yeah. What to write. I'm kind of procrastinating. Kind of not. Because it's a public holiday so I guess I can do what I want. But I suppose I could also be doing something more useful.
Just watched the season finale for Lost. What a waste of time. That was THE WORST ending I've ever seen. Ever. The only reason I'm still watching the silly show is because I've seen every single episode ever aired on Australian TV, so I guess since there's only meant to be one more season I may as well just keep watching. See how it ends. Yeah, I won't spoil the ending in case there's some avid fan somewhere who actually cares, but seriously ... the whole show is just going to end up with an infinite-loop-motif. Sigh. Epic fail.

I should practice my scripts for NIDA. The Devil Wears Prada scene and the Dead Poet's Society one. I like the Prada one much, much more. It's fun. I get to play Emily. Love her, love her. Even though she's a jerk. Ha ha. And I need tow ork out my costume. I think I'll get Beth, Kris and Naomi together sometime this week and help me work out what to wear. I shall take my Susan shoes for the Dead Poet's Society practice next week. And I'm hoping Jess and Claudia manage to get to the costume rental shop and find themselves some dresses for Pride and Prejudice because that would just be awesome. It's quite funny, some of the costumes are going to completely clash for the two characters that eveyrone plays - me for one, being completely fashionable and uptight in one, and then a lazy school-kid in the next .. then along with Jess's PP and dress, for her next scene she'll be barefoot and wearing a hospital robe.

Hmmm. Let's hope this all pulls together in the next two weeks; not to mention Commedia Dell Arte needs to work itself out ... and I still have to learn how to dance. Maybe I'll close the door and practice in my bedroom....

Anyway, signing off. Mulder and Scully await me for the next installment of the X-Files.

Till next time. - Erin Michelle

"I'm going home, to the place where I belong, where your love has always been enough for me..."

Ok, so I haven't written anything on here for a while ... excuse being I had nothing to write about ... but now I do! So here I am. Hello lovely person who cares to read about my life. I hope you'll find something interesting or amusing in this blog to brighten your day.
So there's that song, called Human by The Killers, I believe, with lyrics going something along the lines of "are we human, or are we dancers?" I had a somewhat mild but fast-talking arguement with a couple of friends about this song - me and Meg (the NON-dancers) against Asha (the one who looks graceful on the floor), and Meg and I insisted that we would rather be human than anything else...!

Well ... I'm sorry Meg. Maybe I'm not human anymore.

Or at the absolute least, there's something very, very wrong with me. All my friends must think I'm sick. Because I WANT to dance. For once in my life. I spent four hours at NIDA yesterday running aross the room, doing little head-turns and tricky foot-moves (tricky for me anyway), sliding across the floor and practicing lifts, and it was ... FUN. No way! Who knew? To explain to anyone who doesn't know me, I was dreading this dance-thing at NIDA for weeks - it was compulsory for our mid-year performance. I didn't think I danced. Apparently, as clumsy and choppy as it may look (compared to Yana and Jess, who are quite awesome hip-hop dancers), I do dance! So now my evil-mastermind-of-a-plan is to make an attempt to join the little dance class at the drama hall and psyche everyone out. Just for fun. Oh, and I need some excerise. Not to mention that reall, deep down, I've always wanted to be able to dance. Why not learn before it's too late?

So ... I'll end on a note of "get out there and follow your dreams!!"

Ha ha ha.

Mulder, It's Me: 9 Necessary X-Files

Mulder: Soo… lunch?
Scully: Mulder, toads just fell from the sky!
Mulder: Guess their parachutes didn’t open.

Mmm. X-Files. Want some? It’s quite a delectable recipe. Start with an FBI agent searching for “the truth”, throw in a redheaded skeptic for his partner, add some conspiracy, a dash of humor, a sprinkling of in-jokes, let simmer with a cigarette-smoking man and a unpredictable Executive Director, fry up some secrets and shocking past-experiences, toss in some deaths … oh, and let’s not forget a generous, heaping tablespoon of unexplainable phenomena and some U.F.O’s for flavor. Interested?
I’m going to give you an insight to the best 9 episodes from the first three seasons. Must-watches. Although I must warn you – you will need to be able to tolerate some eerie “something’s watching me...” feelings, handle American humor, and put up with the 90’s dress sense. Yes, people, this TV show is over fifteen years old. But just because Mulder’s mobile is like a brick doesn’t mean you have to scream in terror. That’s not the scary part.
Oh, and after watching these … don’t go into the bathroom. I’ve warned you.


Number 9: Ice

Mulder: Scully, get that gun off me!
Scully: Mulder, you have to understand!
Mulder: Put it down!
Scully: You put it down first!

Dun dun dun!! Have I got your attention now? This episode is one of the best in Season One. Surrounded by not-so-great-episodes, yes, but this one is well worth the watch. Guest starring Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) and some other people I don’t recognize, this episode has Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, our FBI agent duo, quarantined in the arctic with some crazy geologists, their plane’s pilot, and a dog. Everyone is afraid of being diseased with a kind of strange bug that makes you really, really angry … enough to point a gun at someone, shoot them, and then shoot yourself. The agents are investigating the deaths of the previous inhabitants of this little home-away-from-home (not) down in the ice; it’s cold, the tension’s high, and somebody just died. Quick! Rent the X-Files, turn on the TV, and find out what happens!!



Number 8: Wetwired

Margaret Scully: Dana, you’re not yourself. He’s telling you the truth.
Scully: It’s not the truth, Mom. He’s lied to me from the beginning. He’s never trusted me!
Mulder: Scully, you are the only one I trust.
Scully: You’re in on it. You’re one of them. You’re one of the people who abducted me, you put that thing in my neck, you killed my sister!
Margaret Scully: That’s not true, Dana.
Scully: It is.

Oh no! Where did it all go wrong to take us to this point? I must admit I was a little skeptical about this episode on first seeing it, but after reading a little more about it, it certainly grew on me, to the point that it’s gained a spot on my top 9. The stakes are high, the paranoia is mounting, and Scully has been watching just a little too much TV. This second-last episode of Season Three sends Mulder and Scully on an investigation about a man who has killed five different people – but thinks they were all the same man. It leads Mulder to realize that people’s thoughts are being controlled by subliminal messages in TV programs. This ep includes few good scenes with the well-loved “Lone Gunmen”; and Gillian Anderson certainly delivers. Scully tears apart her motel room, flees the investigation, and ends up pointing her gun at Mulder and her mother. Well, 36 hours of subliminal messages is bound to have an effect on you. Also, I was advised to pay attention to Gillian Anderson’s hair in this episode – and it’s a nice little detail to pay attention to. As the paranoia mounts in Scully her hair style is affected by her feelings. Something to appreciate if you’re looking for it.



Number 7: Pusher

Mulder: Modell psyched the guy out, he put the whammy on him!
Scully: Please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy.

Pusher. The name of this Season Three episode, and the name of the bad guy. And my, is he one good badguy. The tension in this episode is excellent; it has one of the best climaxes of X-Files I’ve seen so far. I like it. This episode sends Mulder and Scully after a man who appears to possess the power to push his will onto other people. But the way he puts it, “they kill themselves”. And when Mulder and Scully find out that Pusher is a dying man, It changes things. The final scene puts both agents’ lives on the line with a high-tensioned game of Russian Roulette, in which Scully isn’t even playing! But, (by the will of Pusher! He he that sounds so cliché) the gun gets turned on her without hesitation – by her own partner….
You’ll have to watch to find out what happens. High tension, as I said. Fearful tension mostly, and a little sexual tension between Dana and Fox, which always adds to the show. 45 minutes of my life not wasted.



Number 6: Squeeze/Tooms

Scully: Oh my god, Mulder, it smells like … I think it’s bile.
Mulder: Is there any way I can get it off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior?

All right, all right. So this is two episodes. Separated by eighteen episodes in between. I know. But these episodes in season one are by far great, even if they are pretty scary. The monster-of-the-week is Mr. Eugene Tooms, a human (or not) who hibernates every thirty years and comes out only to eat people’s livers for survival. I’m as grossed out as Mulder and Scully are in the above quote. But because of the scare-factor these eps are worth watching! Grab a blanket and maybe keep the lights in the next room on. And don’t go into the bathroom like Scully does in “Squeeze”. Just stay clear of there for a while. Make sure you go before the episode – though, I must admit, even if you do you’re gonna have to go again halfway through. Enjoy!



Number 5: Anasazi/The Blessing Way/Paper Clip

Mulder: Lots of files.
Scully: Lots and lots of files.

This trio of episodes (the finales of Season Two and the opening to Season Three) have Mulder acting rash and punching Skinner, Scully finding a small computer-chip like implant in the back of her neck, the murder of Mulder’s father, Scully shooting Mulder, a mineshaft full of files (as says the above quote), Scully’s sister being shot by a sniper, Mulder being left for dead in a burning railway car, Krycek going rogue, and Scully and Skinner pointing guns at one another. An edge-of-your-seat three parter that you’ll probably wanna watch all at once. So get some cookies and milk, plenty of pillows, and make sure you close the windows so the neighbors don’t hear you yelling at the TV like a lunatic.



Number 4: Irresistible

Mulder: People videotape police beatings on dark streets. They see Elvis in three cities across America every day. But no one saw a pretty woman being run off the road in her rental car?

What’s happened to Scully?? We’ll get to that in a moment, but this Season Two episode, though a scary one, due to the lack of super-naturalness that makes you know it’s not real, is a brilliant one. Well written, and make sure you pay attention to the filming of it. The camera angles really add to the suspense. Meet Donnie Pfaster, a normal-looking guy with the horrible obsession of cutting the hair off dead bodies. Yeah. Freaky. Especially if you’re Dana Scully, who has a hard time dealing with this case, and has the unfortunate experience of being kidnapped by Pfaster himself, once he converts to people who are … well, alive. Don’t worry, it all finishes off with a lovely heart-warming moment between Scully and Mulder that makes you go “aww, I love Mulder!!” … well, maybe that’s just a girl thing. But anyway, you’ll love it all the same! Just don’t make the mistake of walking down the streets to a friend’s house just as it’s getting dark, like I did immediately after watching this episode….



Number 3: D.P.O

Sherriff Teller: “Suspicion of homicide by emission of direct electric current”? You don’t really believe this. Let me get this straight, now. You’re telling me this kid’s throwing lightning bolts?
Scully: In effect.

Two words. Well, actually, four: Giovanni Ribisi. Jack Black.
In the X-Files!! What more could we ask for? If you love Jack Black and/or Giovanni Ribisi like I do, you’re gonna love this Season Three episode from before either of them were famous. Ribisi carries it, and you’ll be wanting to see him instead of Mulder and Scully for once, even though he’s the bad guy. This episode has our heroes investigating a supposed murder outside an arcade, where the victim seems to have been cooked from the inside. Ribisi is “D.P.O”, a young guy who seems to be able to “throw lightning”. When the town he lives in chalks up five lightning-related deaths, Mulder suspects something is amiss…. Despite the apparent validity of the autopsy results Mulder asks her to review, Scully for once finds herself in perfect agreement with her partner – especially when the suspect jump-starts his boss's heart-bare-handed. An intriguing, well acted episode.



Number 2: War of the Coprophages

Mulder: Bambi also has a theory I've come to acro...
Scully: Who?
Mulder: Dr. Berenbaum. Anyway her theory is...
Scully: Her name is Bambi?
Mulder: Yeah. Both her parents were naturalists. Her theory is that UFO's are actually nocturnal insect swarms passing through electrical air fields -
Scully: Her name is Bambi?

Poor Scully. She gets left behind with her little dog Queequeg (adopted in the episode “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose) while Mulder is off somewhere else investigating a bizarre case in which cockroaches are attacking people. A hilarious episode. Scully’s moments at home give us an amusing insight to her “off the record” life – trying to wash Queequeg and then losing her soapy little dog through the house, reading “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, eating ice-cream in front of the computer, and falling asleep in bed with the phone by her side waiting for Mulder to call. And call he does – quite a few times, wanting her to come down – though she doesn’t have to for most of the episode, as she neatly elucidates Mulder’s theories on the killing, coming up with alternative, accurate examples when he thinks the attacks are cockroaches. There’s plenty of in-jokes in this episode from Season Three, which is written by Darin Morgan, who I think is brilliant, as he writes some of the funniest X-Files ever. Anyway, I’ll let you watch the episode to hear and see the rest.




Number 1: Jose Chung’s “From Outer Space”

(Manners: Well, thanks a lot! You really BLEEPED up this case!)
Scully: Well, of course he didn't actually say 'bleeped', he said...
Jose Chung: No need to elaborate. I'm quite familiar with law enforcement ... vernacular.

A seek to find the truth! That’s what this episode – of Season Three – Is about … although, no conclusion is officially reached. Jose Chung, an author (portrayed by the well-known Charles Nelson Reilly), interviews Scully to find the truth about a certain case she and Mulder investigated. Told mostly from Scully’s point of view, and even funnier than “War of the Coprophages”, this episode (written by Darin Morgan, surprise surprise), with its twisted sense of humor and unreliable points of view, has you laughing out loud. Thanks to Gillian Anderson, Scully’s facial expressions are priceless, as she has to put up with all the outrageous accounts and actions of the other characters. Explaining about the above quote, as I said, we are completely in Scully’s point of view here, so Detective Manners actually speaks the word “bleep” rather than cursing. It works a treat. Another brilliant scene is the “alien autopsy”, which is recorded on a video camera and watched back by Jose Chung during his interview with Scully, who groans, “It’s sooo embarrassing…” as she presses play. I could watch this one over and over again – and don’t worry – it’s definitely okay to go to the bathroom now. As long as you’re not afraid of people in alien costumes, hypnosis and some “bleeping”, you’ll be fine.


Finally, other notable episodes which didn’t quite make it on my list are as follows: Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose, Quagmire (these two, along with War of the Coprophages, are the “Queequeg” trilogy – the only episodes featuring Scully’s little red dog), Syzygy, Our Town, Fresh Bones, Duane Barry/Ascension/One Breath (skip the episode “3” between two of these, it’s simply a filler and is terrible), and of course, the Pilot.

All right, signing off now…. The truth is out there!

My Hands are High..!

So I went to the Jason Mraz concert last night, 'twas fun fun fun. Lisa Mitchell and Eric Hutchinson were the support, and support they did - I hate it when I go to concerts and the supports suck. Not this time, now I'm impatiently waiting for Lisa to release an album so I can buy the cool songs she played, and maybe if I can found out where she lives I'll sneak down there and steal her guitar. Mad cool. Ha ha.
Anyway I was skeptical about this Eric Hutchinson guy, because I'd never heard of him before and I've had bad experiences before with the second support artists ... they're not always so good... But I dropped all doubts the moment he walked on stage, he has about a billion times more stage prescense than Lisa before him - mind you he is at least ten years older.
So this Eric guy - if you haven't heard him, go get his album! I know it's on iTunes at least, it's called Sounds Like This, and it sounds good. He he.
And then there's Jason. He can sing anything. Anything at all, he makes so many different sounds with his voice, it's amazing. At one point he was versing the audience in a bit of a vocal match, he goes "girls only!" and proceeds to sing the words "Love-a-love-a-love", lower and lower and lower and none of the girls could go that far down of course. Then he gets the boys to sing, and chants like a little bird, and the guys are making terrible squeaking noises in echo.... Hmmmm .....
"Short people only now!"
Huh? That made my cry with hysterics, so I couldn't even sing it.... Neither could Kristen, she was laughing just as hard as I was.