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SPICYWATCH

Staying Zen When You Don't Feel Like It

29/8/2018

4 Comments

 
When you work with children and hit the seven to eight week mark of the third term of the year, you have really hit that part of the year that tests your fortitude in so many ways. The weather relentlessly teases you with hints of the coming spring by supplying glorious afternoons where the sting of the sun can be languished in, only to slap you down again in the evenings with night temperatures plummeting below zero and freezing up the pipes and windscreens of everyone in town.
The children that you work with now know you well enough to exactly estimate where your line in the sand is in regards to behaviour tolerance,  and they will now also feel compelled to do their very best to see if they can nudge that line just one more inch across in their favour. It is also a time when, no matter where you may be working, the honeymoon is truly over. The rest and recharge from the last break that you had has completely worn off and been replaced with a dull sense of fatigue, repetition and lack of personal down time that forces you to work extra hard to maintain your sense of zen and not turn into a whinge or a tyrant. 
This is the time of the year when yoga, meditation, excellent whiskey and movie marathons become absolutely imperative to one's good health and wellbeing. A day of PJ's and couch time, lengthy sessions on Pinterest, long dinner dates with friends, hours hunched over sketchbooks, long hot bubble baths with saucy novels and endless cups of coffee are all necessary solutions to combat the negative effects of too many children over too many days. 
Self preservation of one's zen is absolutely key when it comes to the hard yards of the back end of a winter term. You have to find what it is that makes you feel happy and more resilient, and you have do that thing to death. Do it as often as you can and for as long as you can, whenever you get the chance to. Finding what makes you shine when you don't feel very shiny is so very important, because we all have days when we just want to punch stuff and get shouty, but it's not ever okay to do that; especially if you're working around children! So save yourself the bloody knuckles, the heartache and the worry and learn to stay zen, even when you really don't feel like it. 
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LOGAN
Release Date: 2017
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 135 mins 

Hugh Jackman reprises his role of Wolverine for the very last time in Logan, and what a swan song it is! Revered by critics and superhero fans alike, Logan does not fail to entertain with its heartfelt sentiments of a failing mutant as he struggles through his final days on earth.
In the dystopian future of 2029, mutants are almost completely wiped out. At a remote outpost in Mexico, Logan attempts to keep a low profile as he cares for the now severely ailing Professor X. Their belief that they are the last of their kind is shattered when they become entangled with a young mutant female that is on the run from the authorities. 
Produced by Marvel Entertainment, Logan took over $611 million at box offices worldwide, making it the fourth highest grossing movie of 2017. And I have to be honest here, this is a terrific homage to all things X-Men which I found extremely and surprisingly entertaining.
Dafne Keen is absolutely amazing as the young fugitive mutant Laura; adorable and lethal in equal measures, and Hugh Jackman is at his best as the ailing 'old timer' mutant Logan, bringing something perfectly human to the Wolverine character for the very first time. The MA 15+ rating is completely necessary due to the graphic and high level violence fight scenes, but this film is more adult than the other X-Men movies for so many other reasons as well, and it is certainly a feather in the cap of the X-Men juggernaut franchise, and hopefully a sign of more adult super movies to come.  
FINAL SAY: Bad shit happens to people I care about.
4 Chilli Peppers

4 Comments

Keep Your Childlike Whimsy

26/8/2018

0 Comments

 
Growing up, it's a pretty overrated thing to do if you ask me. You only get to be a kid for around 18 years (although to be honest it is probably more like 15 years these days because the pressures, decision making and expectations start really early for kids now) and then after that, you're an adult - for the rest of your life! And being a 'grown up' is mostly just one big mix of constant responsibility and expectation, and although there is a lot of emotional intelligence that comes with being an adult, a lot of the other stuff is not nearly as fun as I imagined that it would be when I was a child. 
As a child I just wanted to grow up to look as hot as one of those sexy chicks from ABBA and wear really cool clothes, drink coloured liquids from flashy glasses and wear lurid make-up, because that is what cool adults appeared to be doing when I was growing up. I imagined that adult life would be uber cool, carefree and would basically resemble one big unending party of awesomeness where you got to eat whatever you wanted to and drink alcohol and dance the night away every night of the week; which I suppose that you can do as an adult if you don't have any real responsibilities. But who the hell has no real responsibilities? A Kardashian? No, not even a Kardashian, because I am pretty sure that even they probably do have things to get done as well! Seriously, a completely carefree adult life is pretty much a total pipe dream because all adults (even the really rich and famous ones) have responsibilities.
​Unfortunately, as a child, adults never tell you about all of the incredible responsibility and expectation to succeed that comes with being a grown up, but they really should.  I know that I wouldn't have been in a such a damn rush to grow up if I had known how difficult it was to be an adult for the rest of my life. I wish that I had had a realistic idea of what being an adult looked like, because it looks nothing like ABBA or high fashion for me or most of the other adults that I know. 
Most adults that I know are often running around on empty, looking and behaving in a pretty un-glamourous state most of the time. They are often worrying about money or their employment whilst trying hard to juggle their social, private and professional lives and many of them often claim to feel utterly overwhelmed with responsibility. Now if someone had of told me about that, and the realities of how you feel after partying every night, then I would not have rushed through my brief childhood years wishing that I was a grown up.
On the contrary, I think that I would have milked the shit out of being a kid for a bit longer! I like to think that I have still reserved some level of childlike whimsy in my life, but  let's not bullshit ourselves here, no almost 45 year old woman can get away with claiming their 'childlike whimsy' without raising a few eyebrows, it's considered too weird, even for the most open minded of us. And even though we all know how tough it is to be an adult and how much we all need respite from all of the pressure and responsibility of being an adult, we still willingly deny ourselves the opportunity to a embrace our childlike whimsy, which is pretty sad really. And not only  do we deny ourselves of it, we also frown upon other adults that are doing it because it is considered to be a bit on the kooky side. 
Well, if you know that you are doing that, than you need to stop doing it immediately. All adults need to not only keep a sense of childlike whimsy in their lives, but they need to reconnect with that part of themselves that believes that life can be carefree and fun, like we all believed it was when we were children. If you allow your life to get too bogged down in responsibility and expectation, then you stop really living and you just start surviving, and life is not meant to be survived, it is meant to be lived. Lived like you lived it as a child, without constant worry and concern, but with a sense of being in the moment and grabbing as much fun out of every minute along the way as you can. 
You may not be able to do it everyday, but on some days, you most certainly still can. You can still do loads of the things that will make you forget about your adult concerns for a minute and just be in the moment, you just have remember how to do it. Most of us forgotten how good it feels to forget our troubles and responsibilities and just cut loose. It is totally okay to dance all night long, or run in the grass, or drink coloured drinks from fancy glasses, or fly a kite, or climb a tree, or skip with a rope, or sing at the top of your voice when no-one is around.....or to just feel alive. That childlike whimsy may not be something that you feel particularly connected to any more, but you can't let go of your inner child, not ever. Your ability to reconnect to the wonder and free abandon of your inner child will help you to recognise how important it is to let go from time to time. 
​Allow yourself a bit of time to be childlike again, you'll be surprised how good it feel to not be in an adult mindset for a spell. Being an adult has it's rewards, but being in touch with your childlike whimsy is exceptionally rejuvenating and I highly recommend a break from adulting whenever you get the chance. 
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CORALINE 
Release Date: 2009
Rating: PG
Running Time: 100 mins
Based on the Neil Gaiman novella of the same name, this stop-motion realisation is a dark little tale indeed. Having also read the book, I was delighted to see that none of the magic or the macabre had been watered down, but this is definitely not a movie for smaller children and parents should heed its PG rating. 
When curious Coraline finds another world that is a strange and yet more exciting version of her own, she thinks she has hit the jackpot. But things are not as they seem in this other world and something sinister is at play. 
Under Henry Selick's direction (Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach) you are going to get creepy undertones and deep metaphors, but you'll also get intelligent children's cinema, so hooray for that - I loved it!
FINAL SAY: I don't want buttons for eyes!
4 Chilli Peppers ​

0 Comments

Finding Common Ground

22/8/2018

2 Comments

 
Last night I went to see BlacKkKlansman at the cinema, which I really enjoyed and felt was very 'of the moment' given the climate of racial tensions around the globe at the moment. The movie really got me thinking about how undeniably evident it is that we have such a long way to go when it comes to tolerance, equality and prejudice, and I feel really overwhelmed by the amount of hate that still exists in our so called civilised and evolved world. And all of that hate does pose some concerning questions around the true nature of how evolved we really are. 
I only recently discovered that it is frowned upon to use the term #alllivesmatter. I must have been living under a rock for the last 3 years, because I had always believed that it was a slogan associated with a person's respect for every living thing -  equally - every human, every animal and every plant - EVERYTHING LIVING! But apparently that hippy theory of mine is definitely not the case. 
To use or support #alllivesmatter is considered deeply offensive because white people have used it as a form of racial slander against the #blacklivesmatter campaign, which in turn created further tensions and stirred up more hate and fighting, and now there is no way that I can use that term in good conscience.
I am so naive about the whole topic that I literally had no idea that it was even racially linked! I genuinely do believe that all lives matter but I am definitely not going to use that term again because for one thing, I am white and for another, I am afraid that I will offend someone unintentionally if I do use it. I am most certainly not at a racist, and I would not like to be mistaken for one just because I ignorantly misused the term #alllivesmatter. 
​There is just no room in this world for all of the hate and all of the tension that is occurring on a daily basis. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from everyone pointing out how different we all are from each other all of the time, what we really should be working harder to do is to find more common ground. We are all more alike than we are unalike, and when it comes to this beautiful planet of ours we really are all on the same side. 
We need to unite and together we need to march for peace not power. We need to celebrate our differences and empower each other to love and most importantly to heal from a very fractured past. We need to learn to stand tall side by side, against tyranny and oppression, and find peaceful ways to move forwards together with our energies firmly invested on nurturing our planet...but we all know that we are not even close to achieving that goal right now. 
While our planet, the one place that we all share together and the one thing that we all have in common withers beneath our feet, we - the people of the globe, would still rather fight and disempower and hate and rape and pillage and steal and condemn; and honestly it just breaks my heart that we are still so damn disillusioned and blinded that we can't see how easy it would be to just love one another instead.
Call me a hippy, call me a dreamer and yes, I suppose that I am both of those things, but you cannot deny that the world would be a far better place to live if we could all just move forward together with a greater purpose. I would love to see that happen in my lifetime, but in reality I am happy to plan and work towards it happening in my grandchildren's; because like I said, we've got a long way to go and the work needs to start now. 
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BLACKKKLANSMAN
Release Date: 2018
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 135 mins

A biographical drama directed by Spike Lee and based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. I was unsuspectingly lured to the cinema by what appeared to be a pretty amusing trailer for this film, but trust me when I say that a lot of what is happening in this movie is anything but funny. There is certainly a very serious and important message being conveyed in BlacKkKlansman and after premiering at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival the movie has gone on to receive great critical praise for its ultra-relevant subject material. 
In the 1970's, an African American Detective at Colorado Springs police department sets out to infiltrate and expose the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. 
With a sharp script and stellar performances from John David Washington (Denzel Washington's son) as Ron Stallman, Adam Driver as Detective Flip Zimmerman and Topher Grace as David Duke, BlacKkKlansman is gripping from start to end. The 70's have been captured perfectly here from the clothes, the language, the film production and even the style of screen shot, this film has been thoughtfully and authentically produced, and I was completely absorbed throughout every moment.
​This is a movie that people are going to be talking about after they have seen it, and so they should, it is excellent and definitely a must see for 2018. 
FINAL SAY: Power to the People!
4 Chilli Peppers

2 Comments

Tuning In

19/8/2018

3 Comments

 
I adore music and just like movies and TV, I love music in all forms and all genres, with the exception of Country and Western and Scream-O, I just can't get into them, and I sincerely apologise to any die hard C & W  or S-O fans out there, but I have tried both and they are definitely not for me. However in saying that, I do respect that both of those music genres have a lot of avid fans. And I also strongly believe that any form of music that can transport you to another place or make you feel a certain way is a success on some level. Whether you like a certain style of music or not is irrelevant anyway, because music is an art form and it is not supposed to appeal to everyone's tastes, and like art is about finding a form that suits you and your personal taste the best. 
It is music's unfailing ability to create a mood, set a scene or transport you to another time that appeals to me the most. I have music compilations on Spotify for every mood and moment, from deep transcendental meditations to high energy dance music, and I regularly listen to them all.
The other day while I was perusing Pinterest I came across a list of 30 questions about music that was a lot of fun to complete. The list of questions had me rummaging about through my old CD collection and scrolling through my playlists and reminiscing about all of my favourite songs. I found myself downloading and listening to a heap of songs that I had long forgotten about, and because I had such a great time answering the questions on that list, then I thought that I should share it with you all so that you can have a go at answering them as well.
I would also like to note that it is a lot of fun to complete this list after you've had a couple of drinks, and it would probably be really good fun to complete with a friend and/or partner as well, but you can always just go solo as I did and still have a blast belting out your old favourite tunes.
So, without further ado, here is the list:
1. A song you like with a colour in the title.
2. A song you like with a number in it.
3. A song that reminds you of the summertime.
4. A song that reminds you of someone that you would rather forget about.
5. A song that needs to be played LOUD!
6. A song that makes you want to dance.
7. A song to drive to.
8. A song about drugs or alcohol.
9. A song that makes you happy.
10. A song that makes you sad.
11. A song that you never get tired of.
12. A song from your preteen years.
13. One of your favourite songs from the 80's.
14. A song that you would love to have played/ or played at your wedding.
15. A cover song that you love.
16. A classical song that you love.
17. A duet song that you would be willing to perform at karaoke.
18. A song from the year that you were born that you love.
19. A song that make you ponder life. 
20. A song that you want played at your funeral.
21. A favourite song with a person's name in the title.
22. A song that motivates you to get going or move on. 
23. A song that you think that everyone should listen to. 
24. A song that you love by an artist that has died.
25. A song by a band that you wish were still together.
26. A song that makes you think about falling in love.
27. A song that breaks your heart.
28. A song by an artist with a voice that you love.
29. A song from your childhood.
30. A song that you think best sums up who you are. 
There you go, hours of musical thinking, pondering and some deep emotional responses to get through on that list, and I still haven't even finished my own list completely yet, it's a work in progress.
If this list doesn't define some of your musical preferences for you, then I don't know if anything will, but anyway, just go and get lost in some musical memories for a few hours because it's just a really nice thing to do a rainy day. 
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WHIPLASH
Release Date: 2014
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 107 mins
 
Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, and based on his experiences in the Princeton High School Studio Band, this film took the cinematic world by surprise with it's gripping and inspiring story about an ambitious young drummer. J.K. Simmons won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his disturbing portrayal of the abusive teacher Fletcher, and the movie has since gone on to win a host of over 80 other film awards. 
When Andrew (Miles Teller) finally gets accepted into a prestigious jazz music academy for his drumming abilities, he thinks that his dreams have come true. However, he soon realises that his teacher, Professor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), is a tyrannical perfectionist that will push Andrew to his limits and beyond. 
There is such a raw intensity to this movie; watching the determination of  Andrew as he struggles with his emotional abuse in search of his artistic glory is pretty tough going. When it comes to Whiplash, it truly is a case of 'the agony and the ecstasy,' and with that heart thumping soundtrack racing along in the background all of the time, it keeps a dramatic and intense pace. 
FINAL SAY: Were you rushing or were you dragging? 
3.5 Chilli Peppers
 ​

3 Comments

Kicking It Old School

15/8/2018

2 Comments

 
Even though I like to think of myself as being reasonably tech savvy, the truth is that I am still totally old school when it comes to certain things. Everyone that was born a Gen X (as I was) or earlier likes to imagine that they are really up with the latest mod cons and gadgetry that is available today, but anyone that even says 'mod cons' is not nearly as tech savvy as they would like to think they are and I know for a fact that I fall into that category. 
I shamefully still read all of my books and magazines in hard copy, regardless of the abundant opportunities that I have to go digital, which is pretty crazy but hey, I like to feel a book in my hand, it's part of my make up now. In fact I even still subscribe to magazines in hard copy and borrow books and DVD's from the local library  which I am pretty sure that no-one under 40 is doing these days. But as I said, it's in my blood now. When you have been doing something for long enough, it is hard to let go of it, even when you are aware that a new and probably better way is available to you. 
So is that just a way of kicking it old school or is it really being an old fuddy duddy pain in the arse? Because I think that I am starting to tread a thin line lately. I still adore a whole lot of old school and dated things that most people are totally over. Like photographs, not instagram shots, but real photos of real people doing real things, that you can hold in your hand. Why do people not like photographs as much anymore? I am still nuts about photos and photo albums and I especially like really old photographs. I also still adore the virtually unused but absolutely amazing fountain pen, and I adore handwritten notes, poetry, cards and letters. I love home cooking, board games, collecting and handwriting recipes into my recipe book, keeping a journal, baking bread, picnics, talking on the phone and retro music compilations. 
Just the other day I caught myself reminiscing about an old school milk bar, the type that had all of the one and two cent lollies lined up under the glass and you could get a little white bag of goodies that were individually selected for just 10 cents. And there were real treasures to be had if you could be patient enough to save up for them, like the all so chic chocolate cigarettes at 25 cents a packet or the illustrious Bubble O' Bill that would set you back a few days of after school bliss to indulge in. I hate to use the term kids these days, but hell, I kind of have to....kids these days will never understand the joy of such a selection or the excitement that was felt when you spied the stamp for a free Sunny Boy ice block on the inside of the wrapper of the one that you had just opened. Pure innocent joy.
And kids today will never understand that joy because everything for them now is completely accessible and available all of the time. Nothing when I was growing up was available all of the time, and although it meant that we had to wait for everything, I think that we also cared about it more for that reason as well. It is true that innovation and technology has enabled a lot of progression, but some of those advances have caused societal and social setbacks that I doubt that any of us could've predicted.
So many people are virtually glued to their devices 24/7 now and they are completely removed from a lot of simple life pleasures. People are spending hours posting pictures, having rants and sharing various goings on about their lives on social media, but half of them don't even know how to hold a decent conversation anymore. It's pretty woeful in some respects. If keeping some old school practises alive makes me feel more alive and in touch with my life, then I am certainly not in any hurry to give them away. Call me corny or old fashioned, it really doesn't matter to me. I like what I like, and although I do love technology, I will always have a place in my heart for the traditional, the old school and the outdated things, even when everyone else has decided that they are unnecessary. 
​And did I tell you how much I love old school horror yet? 
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THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
Release Date: 2009
Rating: R 18+
Running Time: 95 mins 

I absolutely adored the retro 'throw back' vibe of this movie, I actually thought that it had been made in the late 70's when I was watching it. Written and directed by Ti West, The House of the Devil is brilliantly executed, and delivers a satisfying slow burn story that kept me right on the edge of my seat with it's intense sense of impending and inevitable doom.
Samantha Hughes just wants to earn a few extra dollars babysitting so that she can move into a place of her own, however on this occasion she is sitting for an old lady instead of a baby; and the people that have hired her for the job are tremendously unusual. 
With an ending that will make fans of retro gold films like Carrie applaud, The House of the Devil will appeal to nostalgic horror fans that enjoy lots of suspense and a little mystery as well. It was definitely a winner in my books, and a refreshing change from a lot of the torture porn-slasher crap horror that is dished out today.  
FINAL SAY: This one night changes everything for me.
3.5 Chilli Peppers

2 Comments

Annie, Go Get Your Gun! And Toss it on the Fire!

12/8/2018

1 Comment

 
The issue of gun control in the US is certainly a hotly contended one. America is completely unique from the rest of the world when it comes to their right to bear arms, because that right is constitutionally protected, and the American people steadfastly defend that right, even when it flies in the face of what is safe, logical and reasonable.
Although many Americans heatedly debate their constitutional right to bear arms, it turns out that they are actually bearing a shit tonne more arms than anywhere else in the world. In fact when it comes to owning firearms, no-one even comes close to the US when it comes to guns per capita, and the statistics are really quite alarming. 
Recently shared data from the Small Arms Survey listed the top ten countries with the most guns per head of the population. Below is the list from that survey with the number of firearms per 100 residents listed beside each country.
1. USA - 112.6
2. Serbia - 75.6
3. Yemen 54.8
4. Switzerland - 45.7
5. Cyprus - 36.4
6. Saudi Arabia - 35
7. Iraq - 34.2
8. Uruguay - 31.8
9. Sweden - 31.6
10. Norway - 31.3
The US is not only the leader on that list by a very long margin, but they also have more than one gun per person in their country! The only country that even comes close to the US is Serbia, but its firearm habit is part of a hangover from the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 90's and subsequent wars, and although I am condoning the fact that almost 76 people out of every 100 Serbians has a gun, at least there have been reasons to substantiate why there are so many guns in their country. 
Americans vehemently stand by their right to own firearms and defend themselves, however with the continuous onslaught of mass shootings claiming the lives of young and innocent victims, isn't it a moral and social obligation that the US reform their guns laws and enforce stricter purchasing and ownership laws?
In democratic countries where the incidence of gun ownership is much tighter, we also see a massive reduction in gun related deaths, it's hardly rocket science! Currently, Australia only has 1.4 homicides by firearm per one million people and America has 29.7, the highest in the world. Also, when you consider that Americans only make up 4.4% of the entire world population but own almost half of the guns around the world, well....it doesn't take a genius to see that there is a problem there does it?
Since 2012 there have been more than 1,600 people killed in the US in mass shooting incidents, and if you average out the number of shootings that occurred in 2015 alone (355) with the number of days in a year, it equates to there being more than one mass shooting per day in the US alone. That probably makes the it one of the most unsafe countries in the world doesn't it?
Come on America, wake and smell the coffee....countries with less guns and tighter gun laws have less gun related deaths, it's that simple. It is time to amend your constitution and drag your gun laws and restrictions kicking and screaming into the next millennium. Your steadfast commitment to bear arms is making your country unsafe, unappealing and unapproachable and unless you are going into a War of the Worlds alien attack type scenario any time soon, more than one gun per capita is just outrageously excessive and completely unnecessary. It's not too late to throw down your guns America and make a movement towards something more peaceful, united and humanitarian; there's never been a better time than right now.
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ATTACK THE BLOCK
Release Date: 2011
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 88 mins
A British science fiction-comedy, written and directed by Joe Cornish and produced by Big Talk Pictures, better known for Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  Attack the Block received mainly positive reviews upon it's release and quickly became a cult classic, largely due to it's clever mix of witty street dialogue, excellent visual effects and popular electro-dance music.
A group of tough teenagers from a South London housing estate find themselves in a violent turf war against some malevolent aliens on Guy Fawkes night. 
Most of the roles are played by virtually unknown actors, and they make a very interesting mixed bag of thugs; everyone from a local crime lord and assorted gang members to the local drug dealer gets a look in here. Nick Frost has a small role, but it is really the teens that steal the show as they defend their home from the vicious marauders in true British street style. 
FINAL SAY: Big alien gorilla wolf motherfuckers, I swear. 
3 Chilli Peppers

1 Comment

Do We Give Up Too Soon?

9/8/2018

2 Comments

 
How often do we hear about a relationship failing or a marriage ending in divorce? It seems to be happening more and more all of the time. Just last year 47,638 people got divorced in Australia, which means that 2.1% of the Australian population got divorced in 2017, and that doesn't even count the people that just seperated or broke up in a non-marital relationship. When you think about it in those terms, you do have to wonder if people are just giving up too soon on their relationships or if people are just picking the wrong partners to hook with up in the first place. 
The top ten most common reasons for getting a divorce are:
  1. Getting married for the wrong reasons (eg. for the money) 
  2. Lack of individual identity or codependence
  3. Becoming lost in the roles 
  4. Not having a shared vision
  5. Lack of intimacy
  6. Unmet expectations
  7. Lack of finances
  8. Being out of touch
  9. No shared interests
  10. Inability to resolve conflicts
Interestingly, no mention of infidelity there, so cheating or being unfaithful is not one of the main reasons that people break up, it is more about a lack of common ground and vision than anything else when you really look at it. Which is why I wonder if perhaps people just give up a little too easily.
I mean there must have been some common ground, shared vision, idea, expectation at some point for these two people to decided to walk down the aisle and pledge their undying love for each other in front of everyone that they knew, and I have to ask - what the hell happened to those feelings? How do two people that completely loved each other (enough to put themselves through a wedding) just  decide to stop loving each other and break up? Was there no sign that this person was going to do your head in before you went and married them? Did you just ignore that and go for it anyway? 
I know that some marriages are certainly better off ending than enduring, but I do think that maybe some people do quit a bit sooner than they should these days. The arrival of online dating and hookup opportunities has made a lot of people wonder if they are just settling, and the lure of a possibly 'better option' is definitely changing the amount of crap that people will put up with in a relationship. You can literally jump onto any dating website or download an app like Tinder and start looking for the next best thing right away after getting out of a relationship. People used to wait up to 3 years to start dating after a divorce but now some couples confess to being back on the dating scene within weeks of a separation in order to 'fill the space' that has been left behind, which is really quite concerning. 
41% of first marriages end in divorce now, 60% of second marriages and 73% of third marriages, which basically tells me that if it sucked the first time, it will probably suck the second and the third time around as well. And although I am not in any way advocating that you should never get married, divorced or remarried, what I am trying to say is that you need to make sure that it is really, truly and 100% absolutely what you want to do before you just start or end a serious relationship.
Breaking up sure is hard to do and staying together can be equally as hard if it just isn't working. I can tell you with all honesty that if I took flight everytime that my husband gave me the shits, that we would've been over a thousand times by now. Staying together takes work, a bloody shitload of hard work but you have to try, and if you've given it all that there is and it still isn't working than it is totally okay to walk away. Just don't give up too easily, because sometimes it's not as bad as it may seem at the time, and tempers, just like pie crust, soften after a few days and you don't want to throw away something really great because of a few hard yards. In short, what I am trying to say is, that it is totally okay to give up if it's really not working, but just don't give up too soon. 
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THE BREAKER UPPERERS
Release Date: 2018
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 90 minutes

There is something about New Zealand comedy that is undeniably hilarious, and The Breaker Uppperers is certainly no exception to that fact. Directed and written by the dynamic duo of Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek, who also act in the two lead roles, this movie is rife with all of the awkwardness and discomfort that we have come to love from kiwi comedy and I found myself laughing out loud in the cinema all the way through. 
Best friends Mel and Jen run a shady business that specialises in breaking up unhappy couples. Their enduring friendship hits the skids after a series of life changing events. 
I cannot deny that the storyline here is simple at best and that there are some rather cheesy scenes, but trust me when I say that they are seriously overwhelmed by the really great cringe-worthy interludes and dark humour. I flat out loved this movie and was glad to have some quality kiwi laughs back in my life. 
FINAL SAY: The heart goes where the heart goes.
3.5 Chilli Peppers

2 Comments

Some Things Just Won't Make Sense

5/8/2018

0 Comments

 
As much as we want everything to remain somewhat logical in our lives, we do have to make peace with the reality of our lives as well, and that means that we need to be able to accept that some things just won't make any sense. In life, there will be many unanswered questions, confusing interludes, incomplete stories and unsolvable dilemmas, and that is just the tip of the iceberg, because essentially life is just one big mystery and for that reason, some parts of it are not going to make any sense at all; not even a bit. Some parts of your life will be downright frustrating and annoying and absolutely illogical and no matter how much you ponder it, it just won't make any sense. 
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with things not making sense or 'adding-up' in our lives, it should be expected a little more often if you ask me because it happens to us all from time to time. However, learning to accept that some things just won't make any sense and may not ever be properly resolved or understood can be extremely challenging for many of us. Knowing that some things just won't make sense and accepting that some things just won't make sense are not that same thing, and people get into all sorts of bother when they cannot accept when things aren't balancing out with their expectations or ideals.
We all like to imagine that our lives are pretty linear and that we have a certain amount of control over how things will play out for us. We also all get a bit excited about the prospect of a happy ending, a tidy resolution or a big box with a bow that we can pop things into and forget about until we are ready to pull them back out again; but in truth, life rarely allows for things to be that organized and logical, we just like to give ourselves the illusion that it does because it feels a shitload safer and saner than admitting that a lot of the time things just don't make any sense. 
Now I know that some people are going to disagree with me on this topic, claiming that there is always a reason for everything and that nothing just happens without there being a bigger or higher purpose to it all; and to those people I say bullshit!  You can believe whatever you want, but trust me when I tell you that not everything that happens in life occurs for a reason. A whole lot of shit that happens (and will happen to you in life) is utterly purposeless, pointless, meaningless and inconsequential, it is just stuff that happens that doesn't make sense and it doesn't need to. You don't need to fix it, you don't need to stay up late at night deconstructing it, you just have to accept it. It is that simple. Rather than adopting some privileged 'everything happens for a reason' mantra, what you really need to adopt  is the smarts to recognise what you can control in this life and what you cannot. What is worth your time and what is not and what needs fixing and what just needs to be accepted.
One of the greatest challenges that we are presented with in this life is learning to accept that some chapters in our lives have to close without any real closure at all and that no matter how many hours we may pour into some puzzles, the truth is that they were never actually made to be solved in the first place. Some things just won't make sense and nothing that we do, will ever make that truth any different and all that you have to do is accept that fact and get on with living your life. 
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KILL LIST
Release Date: 2011
Rating: R 18+
Running Time: 95 mins 

Ben Wheatley movies are all a little left of centre, and Kill List is certainly no exception to the unique and often undefinable style of filmmaking that we have come to expect from him. This intriguing, disturbing, edgy and often horrifically gory crime/ horror will have you reeling from its graphic violence, intensely volatile characters and indescribable outcomes. 
​A desperate and explosive hitman joins forces with an old friend to take up a mysterious job that requires the men to perform a series of kills. Each kill leads them further into a world of depravity and madness. 
Kill List could be called a psychological thriller or a straight up gore-fest or even an art house horror, and in some ways it is all of those things, it is truly in a league of it's own and often seems to flippantly fly in the face of all established genre expectations.
​Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley are tremendously good as the two loutish best friends and hitmen, and their combined efforts when matched with the sharp script writing and excellent direction from Ben Wheatley really lift this film out of the realms of mediocre gore porn to be something quite poignant and yet also completely deplorable.
Love it or hate it, you most certainly won't forget it in a hurry. 
FINAL SAY: They are bad people. They should suffer. 
3 Chilli Peppers

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INFJ

1/8/2018

4 Comments

 
I hate to admit it, but I am secretly obsessed with finding out what Myers-Briggs personality type people are. I know that people say that the test is a certain amount of bullshit, but I find it really interesting to know what people come out as when they take the test. I do think that the test results make it a lot easier to understand how other people are perceiving the world around them, what makes them tick and how they will apply themselves to problems or team tasks. Call me naive, but I do think that there is something to the Myers Briggs test and most people do appear to suit their report results fairly well. 
As with all types of personality tests, there is never going to be any test that offers 100% accuracy. Some people will definitely get different results on different days, and I can see how mood could seriously affect the results in a personality test. Also if a person is neurotic or not able to own certain truths about themselves, that too could seriously alter the accuracy rates of this type of test.
So I guess what I am trying to say is, that although I do not believe that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a definitive personality test to run your life by, I do believe that it is deeply interesting, and if you've not taken the test yet (or haven't in a long while) it is worth a revisit just for the fun of it. 
I have taken the test 4 times now, and every time I come out as an INFJ. I have had a ten year stretch between the first and the last time that I sat the test and it seems that I have not changed at all in that time, because I still got the same result. I am always:
Introverted
INtuitive
Feeling
Judging
The thing that I love to do the most with my results (because I clearly have nothing better to do with my time) is to type my personality type into google to see which famous characters have the same personality type as me. Kind of sad I know, but if you haven't already realized this by now, I am a huge pop culture fan, so of course I want to know who I am most like in my favourite TV shows and movies!
Here are some famous INFJ characters that share my personality type:
Galadriel (Lord of the Rings)
Remus Lupin (Harry Potter)
Daenerys Targaryen (GOT) 
Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)
Doctor Strange (Marvel) 
Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy) 
Elsa (Disney Princess) 
And in the real world, some famous INFJs include:
Gandhi
Kurt Cobain
Benedict Cumberbatch
Nicole Kidman
J K Rowling
Marilyn Manson
Al Pacino
Nelson Mandela
​Martin Luther King Jr.
But enough about me, you must be intrigued to know who you are most like by now yourself. You are literally only one google click away from total geekdom right now, and for that I do apologise! 
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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Release Date: 1962
Rating: PG
Running Time: 129 mins 
Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee and regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, To Kill a Mockingbird has received overwhelmingly positive responses from critics and audiences alike since it's release. It deservingly won three Academy Awards, including  a Best Actor Academy for Gregory Peck for his stirring portrayal of the lawyer Atticus Finch. 
A lawyer (Peck) who is raising his two children alone in a racially divided town in Alabama, agrees to defend a young black man who has been accused of raping and savagely beating a white woman. As the evidence surrounding the case is presented, it becomes clear that the accused is not guilty but convincing a completely white jury in a small town of that, presents the biggest challenge. 
This powerful movie about racial discrimination speaks volumes about the social climate in Alabama during the 1930's and could certainly be viewed as historically significant for it's honesty and accuracy. It has definitely stood the test of time, and makes for compelling viewing even today. It is an unmissable cinematic experience that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime.  
FINAL SAY: Remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. 
​4 Chilli Peppers

4 Comments

    Author

    Hi, my name is Barb.
    I crave excellent, high quality viewing experiences. 
    ​Share in my addiction. 

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