Make-up: Liquid Lipsticks

Extremely tardy to the party I know, but I've recently discovered liquid lipstick and I can't stop buying it! Liquid lipstick is well, liquid and painted on with an applicator, so it's easier to be more precise than with a stick of lipstick, but its heavily pigmented nature also means precision is very important. It tends to be more matte than solid lipstick, and it has incredible staying power! Once it dries it stays put for hours. It can actually be quite hard to get it off at the end of the night! Here are the ones I've bought:

This one is Stay Matte, by Rimmel London in Rose and Shine. It's a nice neutral pink colour and good for a natural look. Putting it on always gives me a bit of a boost.

This next one, unusally, is metallic rather than matte. It's Slay All Day by Lottie London, in Boy Bye and is a really dramatic dark red colour, almost purple. The metallic sheen is really shiny and impressive and it goes on really smoothly. Good for a night out.

The next one is fun! It's also by Lottie London. It's a Glitter Switch in High Roller. It's fairly similar in colour to the Rimmel London one, but has a hidden feature. When you paint it on it just looks like a normal lipstick, but when you let it dry and press your lips together a few times it reveals that it's actually glittery. I doubt that's what they were going for when they were creating the lipstick. It seems like the sort of happy accident that they've decided to make into a feature, but still, it's quite fun. It doesn't show up too well in the photo, but I think it's the most glittery lipstick I've ever owned! I really like it.

 This last one isn't really a lipstick, but I've included it, as it's got the same sort of sticking power as a liquid lipstick. It's Extreme Resist by L'Oreal in Never Let Me Go. It's really a very glittery lipgloss. it doesn't dry like a lipstick, but stays sticky. Even so, it's got incredible staying power. It's very glittery and pretty.

Books: The Twits

As previously mentioned, I like to reread old childhood books when I go home, and I've been working my way throaugh the Roald Dahls. Most recently I reread The Twits. It was a favorite when I was younger, and it's still great now. For me, it's on a par with The BFG.

It's about two really nasty, ugly, disgusting people called Mr. and Mrs. Twit. They spend their time being horrible to animals and plotting horrible tricks to play on each other. Until one day the family of monkeys Mr. Twit keeps in a cage in the garden come up with a clever plan to rid themselves of the horrible Twits, with the help of their friends, the birds. What makes this one so good is more of the brilliant playing with words that Roald Dahl did so well in The BFG, the wonderfully creative nasty things that the Twits did to each other, and the very sticky end that they came to. It's all very satisfying.

Books: We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (spoilers!)

As previously mentioned, I like to revisit childhood favorites every now and then. This book isn't actually one I read as a kid, but I loved the series. It's the 9th book in the Swallows and Amazons series, which I've been slowly rereading. It follows the accidental adventure of the Walker children (the Swallows), who sail across the sea to Holland by themelseves. At the start of their holidays they meet a man who agrees to take them for a trip on his boat. Unbeknownst to the children he has an accident while on land getting supplies and is delayed. Meanwhile both a fog and the tide come up. Their anchor chain is too short to hold them in the high water, and because of the fog they don't realise they're drifting out to sea until it's too late. Because of bad weather and treacherous rocks, they decide that the safest thing for them to do is to keep sailing on until the weather changes, and in the morning they find themselves in Holland. They also rescue a drowning kitten from the sea on the way. Luckily in Holland they meet their father who is on his way to England and he helps them sail the ship back to England safely.

I really enjoyed this book, and the whole series so far. The circumstances in which they find themselves sailing to Holland are written in a very believable way. The story takes palces over a much shorter timescale than other Arthur Ransome books, making it much more intense. The long, anxious night, the struggle against the storm, the seasickness and the struggle to stay awake are really gripping. And, OK, the end is a total deus ex machina, but I don't mind that. Like the whole series so far, it's a great read.

 

Game Reviews: Still More Android Games

A few more of my favourite Android games. To start off, Disney Magic Kingdoms. This is a game where you build your own version of Disneyland. You get rides and characters based on Disney films. You send your characters on missions to collect tokens and when you have enough you can welcome new characters or upgrade old ones. As you progress through the game you unlock new films with their characters and rides, and also new areas of land to build on. They also have events where certain films' characters and rides are only available for a limited time. I downloaded it because the description made it sound a bit like rollercoaster tycoon, but it's quite different really. It's much more about the collecting tokens than the building. It's quite fun for a Disney nerd like me, and beautifully animated. It is quite time consuming though, it takes ages to start up, and it's also a but clunky and slow to respond.

Seaport. This is a little like Boom Beach, only without the fighting. You have a home port and send your ships on missions to explore new areas and gather resources that you then use to improve your port. To keep it intersting the game continually has a different events running, so that the look of the game and missions are always different. The theme is always to do with famous boats or stories about boats. Themes since I've started playing have included the Titanic, the Mississippi, Darwin's voyage on the Beagle, Odysseus and, for Hallowe'en, Dracula.

Next Word Cookies. You get given letters and blank spaces for words. You need to find all the words you can make out of the letters to fill the blank spaces and progress to the next level. It's a fun game, though I do get annoyed by it sometimes when it omits obvious words and uses obscure ones instead. The ads are quite instrusive too.

Now Machinarium. This is a game that's been around for a while. I first became aware of it as a PC game, but didn't play it until I came across it for Android. It's a really special game. You play an adorable little robot who has to solve puzzles and find objects to get through a city to find your robot girlfriend and rescue her. There's no dialogue at all, so all nationalities can play it. Each one of the puzzles is new and different and some of them are genuinely really hard. Some took me a day or more to work out. The artwork really sets it apart too. It's so quirky and detailed and beautiful. It's not really a game you can play over and over again, but it's certainly worth it.

Finally, Monument Valley 1 and 2. This is another really special game. Again you play a little character who has to make her way through a world by solving puzzles, but a lot of the puzzles are based on optical illusions! It's totally mind blowing to spin the platform you're standing on and find yourself a storey above where you were before. It's so clever and well done, and both the art and music are beautiful. Some of the puzzles are really difficult too. Monument Valley 2 is more of the same except that now you have a daughter and you both have to make your way through a confusing world, sometimes alone and sometimes together. It's not as difficult as the first game though. My criticism for both these games though is that they're both pretty short, and also pretty expensive for a game that, again, you can't really play more than once.

Game Reviews: Even More Android Games

Here are some more of my favourite Android games. To start, Township. It's a cute game where you build your own town. You build houses, roads and community buildings and expand your town's area to satisfy the needs of your people. You grow crops and make goods in your factories for them. In addition you send goods elsewhere in exchange for building materials so that your town can grow. As you level up you can build additional buildings and make new goods in your factories. The supply chains can get quite complicated. For example you might grow wheat and corn in your fields, combine them in your feed factory to make food for your cows. Once fed the cows can then be milked, the milk can be used to make cheese in your dairy, and it can then be combined with syrup, strawberries and cookies in your pastry factory to make cheesecake. I enjoy playing. It has fun events and mini-games, although it is quite time-consuming.

Next, Klondike. Looking for gold! It's quite similar to Township in that you have a settlement where you grow crops and a dairy and a pottery and things where you make goods. As well as your settlement there are other areas to explore. Your characters use their energy to cut the rocks and trees and things out of their way, and to collect useful materials such as coal and iron ore, and treasure like gold, amethyst and malachite. It's a beautiful game. Really well-drawn and nice music. You do run out of energy really fast though. It often takes three sessions of playing to cut out a single rock.

Diggy's Adventure: Another game that's fairly similar to Klondike. You have a base and also explore ancient Egyptian tombs, looking for clues to what happened to your father. You run out of energy much less frequently than you do in Klondike, which is nice. There's no challenge in this one whatsoever, but, well, it's kind of cool to explore tombs and talk to Anubis and stuff. After all, didn't we all want to be Egyptologists at some point?

Obviously, being a big Harry Potter fan, I've tried the Harry Potter phone game. It's a role-playing game where you play a Hogwarts student a few years older than Harry. You have to solve the mystery of what happened to your brother. You can customise the way you look, and choose a name, pet and Hogwarts house for your character. You meet familar characters, such the Hogwarts professors, as well as people like Tonks and Bill Weasley. To move forward in the story, you need to learn spells and potions, make friends, find objects and win duels. Like Klondike and Diggy, you need energy for this, and like with Klondike, you run out of energy annoyingly fast. The game's storyline is interesting enough, but to be honest, gameplay is repetitive and boring. Fans of Harry Potter will enjoy the familiar aspects of Hogwarts, and the fantasy of seeing yourself having your own adventures at Hogwarts but I don't think this is a game for non-fans.

And finally, Helix Jump. This is a fun and simple game. Think of it as an upside-down Doodle Jump. You control a bouncing ball, and you have to control its fall down to the bottom of the level. There's a pole in the middle with platforms attached to it, and you use your finger to turn the pole around so that the ball falls down the gaps between platforms. There are dark areas of platforms that you need to avoid, as they kill you, and to make it harder there are some very narrow gaps and also some platforms that move. Like Doodle Jump, you need fast reflexes. It's a good game, although the adverts between attempts are annoying.

Board games: Sushi Go

This is a fun little card game. You start off with a hand of cards showing different types of sushi and have to choose one card to keep each turn and then pass the rest of your hand on to the next person. At the end of the round the cards you kept give you points. The number of points the cards are worth depends on the other cards you have, and the cards the other players have too. You have to make a quick decision on which card you're going to keep by predicting what other cards are going to come up and what cards other people are going to keep, so for a quick and simple game there is actually quite a lot of strategy to it. The game also changes dramatically depending on how many people are playing. If there are only two people playing, there are only two hands of cards in the game, so you can very quickly learn what cards are available. If more people are playing there is a lot more guesswork involved. And the pictures on the cards are so cute!

Book Reviews: The Magic Finger (spoilers)

As I've mentioned before, I like to reread my old childhood books when I go home, and recently I've been working my way through the Roald Dahls. The latest one I've read is The Magic Finger. It's a very short one, and I got through it in one sitting, but it certainly packs a punch. It's about a little girl with a magic finger that tingles when she gets angry and makes weird and wonderful magical things happen. She uses this magic finger to teach her hunting-mad neighbours not to hunt, by forcing them to swap places with a family of ducks and learn some empathy.

As I said, it's small but mighty. It's very well written, and the anti-hunting message comes through loud and clear. The difference between good and evil is also much less clear-cut than in a lot of other children's books. Even though the family of hunters is clearly the villains, as you follow them on their journey as ducks you can't help sympathising with them and how lost, confused and uncomfortable they feel. Their redemption is very genuine and you're left feeling that they really have changed and are on the right side now. Not bad for something only a few dozen pages long!

Book Reviews: The Ambassador's Mission

This is another book by Trudi Canavan, set in the same universe as her Black Magician trilogy and her The Magician's Apprentice prequel. It's the first book in a trilogy called The Traitor Spy trilogy. It's got many of the same characters as the Black Magician trilogy, but the focus has shifted onto the next generation.

I liked the jump forward in time and how the world I knew was facing new threats and challenges which were very different to previous books. Though I liked the new characters, I actually thought that the older characters were still the more interesting group. The younger generation seemed to lack their own identities and were merely their parents' children. As the start of a trilogy it works well, but considered by itself it's not as good. The ending isn't very satisfying and there are a lot of questions left unanswered. The focus seems to have been on setting up the next books rather than having much action in this one. Still, it has achieved what it meant to though, in that I'm eager to find out what happens in the next book.

Book Reviews: The Magician's Apprentice

The Magician's Apprentice is a prequel, from one of my favorite authors, Trudi Canavan. It's written as ancient histroy to her Black Magician trilogy. The Black Magician trilogy concerns the goings on in the Magician's Guild in the land of Kyralia. The Magician's Apprentice is set long before, and is about how the Guild was set up, and about how one young apprentice discovered the secrets of healing magic, which had eluded magicians for so long. There is also a third important character, Stara, a young woman from Sachaka, Kyralia's enemy. In Sachaka women are very much second class citizens, and so Stara runs away and starts an organisation called the Traitors. She wants to set up a women's sanctuary, but in later books the organisation has also become guerilla fighters and assassins. As a prequel it works well. When it's set there is no Guild for educating young magicians and instead magicians each take on an apprentice and teach them individually. But of course everybody teaches slightly different things. The way the magicians come to the conclusion that setting up a guild to share knowledge would be a good idea is convincing, and the way the young magician, Tessia, slowly discovers the secrets of healing magic is very good too. There's a properly nasty and threatening villain, Takado, who drives the plot forward nicely.

I do feel, though, that it falls into a trap, that plenty of prequels do, of being more concerned with fitting into the larger narrative than with working well on its own. The main story could have been more exciting, and there's a shocking bit in the epilogue where, with NO warning, you find that in subsequent years Tessia's master was assassinated. I know the epilogue was trying to sound like a history book, but I could have done without that bit.

Show Reviews: Kiss Me Kate

I'd never seen this one before. It's a musical about a group of actors putting on a musical version of Tha Taming of the Shrew, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The Shakespeare characters are somewhat mirrored in the personalitites of the actors. I enjoyed this show. The dancing was brilliant and there were some very funny and catchy songs, including Brush up your Shakespeare and I'm Always True To You in My Fashion. The costumes were also great and the actors were very good too. However, it is an old-fashioned musical and there are some bits that aren't palatable to a modern audience, such as the way the leading male treats his ex-wife, including spanking her on stage to teach her to respect him. The end is also a deus ex machina which I quite like, but I know some people think they're silly. Still, if you can think of the show as a product of its time rather than considering it from a modern point of view it's very enjoyable. 

Here's a clip

Movie Reviews: Solo

Solo: A Star Wars Story is the newest offering from the new batch of Star Wars films. Despite reviewing well, it's not done very well in the cinemas. It had a lot of problems during filming, including the lead actor, Alden Ehrenreich, needing an acting coach due to bad performance. They also changed director half way through filming due to creative differences and loads of it had to be reshot. I think these stories, coupled with The Last Jedi not being very good, and the last Star Wars film only coming out a few months ago put people off going to see it. Or perhaps it's a wider problem with the cinema industry in general. Our cinema has halfed its prices lately to encourage more people to come in. It's great for us, of course, but also a little concerning. All that being said, I did enjoy the film. The acting coach clearly did his job well, and I enjoyed all the performances, especially Donald Glover as young Lando. The story works well for the most part and there are some cool scenes, like a futuristic train heist and the surprise return of an underused character from the prequels. Speaking of underused characters, this film has one too. An underused crime boss centipede lady who's sensitive to sunlight. She was cool, for her minute of screen time. There was also a funny droid, as usual, this one voiced by a woman and very into rights and freedoms for droids. So that's something new. I do feel like the end had too many twists though. One would have been fine, not the six or seven we were thrown. I also think that this film didn't particularly look like a Star Wars film. I suppose it could be argued that this doesn't particularly matter in a wide galaxy, with lots of different things going on. I also wasn't too keen on what they did with the Kessel Run. It just seemed like what they did with it didn't particularly fit with what we already knew about it, and as if they just wanted to include it for the sake of covereing everything we know about Han Solo, rather than because it really fits into the story. But on the whole I enjoyed it and would recommend it. I think it's a shame a lot of the fans didn't come out to watch it.

Movie Reviews: Deadpool 2

I wasn't all that keen on the idea of a Deadpool sequel. I loved the first film. It was funny, filthy, full of great characters, great soundtrack and above all, ORIGINAL. Despite being a part of the Marvel universe, it was genuinely different to the other samey Marvel superhero films. It was a bit of surprise hit, and I was worried that the sequel just wouldn't be as good. I thought someone would realise that they could make money from it, and ruin it by trying to tone it down to appeal to a wider audience and change the feel of it with a big budget and an experienced director.

But I was wrong! It was still rude, crude and hilarious, with another great soundtrack! I think I still prefer the first one, but for a sequel it was great! It introduced some great new characters while being true to the spirit of the first one. The main problem is that very early in the film throws the auidence a massive curve ball that I didn't like. But they fix it at the very end of the film. So that's alright. Mostly. Anyway, good film.

Gig Reviews: Christine Bovill

Ok, I'll admit that when a friend invited me to this I wasn't quite sure what I was going to, but I have to say it was a really outstanding concert, and that Christine Bovill has got herself a new fan. She's a Glaswegian lady who sings French songs, from the 20s, through to the 50s, and she's especially a fan of Edith Piaf. Now I don't know many French songs, but I did recognise quite a few of the melodies from their English translations, for example I had no idea that My Way started life as a French song about a marriage that's gone stale. Anyway, Christine is a great singer, and an even better storyteller! The way she introduced each song was amazing, and I really felt transported back to Paris in the first half of the 20th century. And the way she interacted with the audience and set the mood was wonderful. Go see her if you get the chance! If you're not a fan of Chanson Francaise, you will be!

TV Reviews: The Crown, Seasons 1 and 2

I love this show so much! It's about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. It shows the royals as real people and focuses on relationships between people, not pomp, ceremony and riches. Peoples' faults are not glossed over. They are dealt with candidly, showing that these important people are only human. Prince Philip's racism is portrayed, as is Winston Churchill, Lord Mountbatten and the Queen Mother's arrogance Margaret's recklessness and Charles's sensitivity. The series opens with the then Princes Elizabeth and Prince Philip's wedding, before she became Queen. A good decision, I think, as the relationship between them is so central to the series. It goes on to cover the death of elizabeth's father, King George VI, the coronation, the Queen and other members of the Royal family, especially Prince Philip who is frustrated by living in his wife's shadow and his lack of personal freedom, becoming accustomed to their new roles and Princess Margaret's ill-fated romance with Group Captain Townsend. The second season focuses on political crises, Elizabeth and Philip's marital problems, Margaret's marriage, meeting JFK and Jackie and Charles's education. It's beautifully acted. Claire Foy is brilliant as the Queen, and Matt Smith is a great Prince Philip.The cast is massive and there is a nice surprise almost every episode, as yet another favorite actor is recognised. John Lithgow is incredible as Winston Churchill. I think he gets him entirely right, very surprising from an American comedy actor! The Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII, is an interesting character. You start off feeling very sorry for him, as an outcast, who made the wonderfully romantic decision to abdicate so he could marry Wallis Simpson, but later end up despising him, as his history as a Hitler supporter and a traitor is revealed to the Queen. I also never realised that some of the other main characters had such interesting histories. I never knew Prince Philip was part of the Greek royal family, and that his family were forced to flee for their lives, and that he was smuggled out in an orange crate as a baby, as spent his childhood more or less in exile, and that everyone opposed his marriage to Elizabeth. He couldn't see his family as they sided with the Nazis. Or that the Queen Mother was thought to be common, as she was only a Lady at the time of her marriage, not royalty, and that this was fairly radical for the time. Altogether a gripping, well-acted and brilliantly writeen series. It seems to teach that money doesn't buy happiness and that not even these people are free from illness and unhappiness, and that bad things happen when people try to stand in the way of love. I'll be very interested to see how the show develops in the next season, as the timeline progresses and the parts are passed on to older actors. And I'm sure nobody else cares, but I love how in the coronation scene Princess Margaret is wearing the tiara that Meghan Markle wore for her wedding to Harry!

Movie Reviews: Little Shop of Horrors

Why, oh why have I never seen this before? I really enjoyed it. It's a film based on an off-Broadway musical, based on an older film, about a man eating plant from outer space, all wrapped up in 80s gloriousness. It stars Rick Moranis with enjoyable brief appearances from Steve Martin, John Candy, Christopher Guest and Bill Murray. Steve Martin is particularly funny as an evil dentist who has posibly the weirdest death scene I've ever seen! Despite gruesome deaths, swearing, sadism and domestic abuse, the film still somehow manages to be warm and fuzzy. But what really made it for me was the music. I'll be singing "Little shop, little shop of horrors!" for weeks!

Book Reviews: The BFG

As previously mentioned, I like to go back and reread childhood books sometimes. Well, a lot of the time actually. Lately I've been working my way through the Roald Dahls. This is definitely the best so far! It's gloriously creative and silly with a big victorious finale. I love the super imaginative descriptions of the weird Giant Country and catching, mixing and blowing dreams. And the frobscottle with the bubbles going down, of course. It's got genuinely detestable villains and loveable heroes. The best bit is the words though. Apparently it was inspired by Roald Dahl's wife, who had had several strokes and was struggling to speak. Often her words came out a bit jumbled up and he used this as inspiration for the BFG's style of talking. Even though he uses a lot of made up words you always know exactly what he means and it makes the book much more fun and colourful. And if it seems a bit cruel to write a book that seems to be making fun of her, Roald Dahl did also more-ore-less single handedly teach her how to speak properly again.

Book Reviews: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stane

As previously mentioned, I'm a masive fan of Harry Potter. This is the Scots translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I really enjoyed reading this! It went a little slowly at first as I was getting used to the new language patterns, but I soon sped up. I read the entire thing in a Scottish accent in my head. It was really interesting reading something so familiar in a different style, and really interesting seeing a style of speaking in print that I'd only heard spoken before. In my head it sounded just liked several ex colleagues! And my Scots came on leaps and bounds! I learned lots of new Scots word. A cat is a bawdrins, a toad is a puddock and an owl is a hoolet. I thought the translators did a really good job with it, being true to the original, while making something new at the same time.

Book Reviews: A Web of Air

Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines quartet is one of my favorite series of all time.   It's about a post-apocalyptic world where cities are mobile and travel across the world eating each other.   A Web of Air is the second book of the prequel series.   The first book, Fever Crumb, told the story of how London became the first city to become mobile.   At the end of the book, the main character, Fever Crumb, runs away with two orphaned children.   When the second book opens Fever and children have joined a travelling theatre and Fever is their lighting technician.   They reach a city which seems to be in our Portugal.   It's been built in an ancient bomb crater and the buildings are on rails and slide up and down the walls.  Along with people the city is home to a race of super-intelligent seagulls called angels who have learned to speak human language.   Fever meets a reclusive boy called Arlo who is experimenting with flying machines.   Fever decides to help him.   The two make great progress. but enemies don't want the project to succeed.   Arlo and Fever move to a more remote island to work and incorporate some ancient technology into their machine.   They succeed (and fall in love) but their enemies ultimately catch up with them and their flying machine is destroyed.  Arlo feels betrayed by Fever and disappears.   At this point Fever's parents catch up with her and take her back to London.   So not what you'd call a happy ending. 

This book's strength lies not in the story, or in the characters, but in Philip Reeve's imaginary landscapes.   Though brilliant, Fever is not a particularly likeable main character.   This is because of her engineer's upbringing.   She has been taught to be cold and logical.   Despite knowing this about her I still find it hard to empathise and warm up to her.   However, I loved the idea of the city in the bomb crater, the moving buildings and the talking seagulls.   Very original and creative.   A good read, but still not as good as Mortal Engines, or Larklight, Philip Reeve's steampunk series.

Film Reviews: Porco Rosso (Contains Spoilers)

I wouldn't describe myself as an anime fan as such, mostly because I've not really seen much of it and don't know too much about it.   I am, however, a huge Studio Ghibli fan.   Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away are all firm favorites.   Porco Rosso seems to be a lesser known Ghibli film, for some reason.   I really enjoyed it though.

The plot is fairly wacky, even by Ghibli standards.   It's about an anthropomorphic pig called Porco Rosso (red pig in Italian), who was an Italian fighter pilot in WWI.   Since being turned into a pig by a spell he now spends his time living alone on a hidden island, visiting his friend Gina, who is secretly in love with him, and fighting air priates for cash.   He's always careful not to permanently put the air pirates out of action though, in order to ensure himself a continuous supply of work.  Eventually the air pirates get fed up and hire an american pilot, Curtis, to take out Porco for them.   Porco however, has no intention of fighting Curtis.   He tries to fly to Milan for repairs, but Curtis is waiting for him and his plane gets badly damaged.   Porco manages to get it to Milan and a young female engineer, Fio, plans a complete redesign and overhaul.   Porco is impressed, despite his earlier scepticism about her skills.   With repairs complete Porco and Fio set off for Porco's island, but the air pirates are hiding in wait for them.   They threaten to tear up Porco's new plane but Fio gets them to agree to a duel, Porco versus Curtis, instead.   Their dogfight degenerates into a fist fight when both their guns jam.   Porco wins and Curtis has to pay Porco's repair bills.   Just then Gina arrives with the news that the air force is on the way.   Everyone scatters and Fio kisses Porco goodbye.   It's hinted at that this breaks the spell on him and he and Gina live happily ever after.  

I love how light-hearted and care-free this film feels throughout.   Despite the conflict, there aren't really any villains.   Everyone is essentially nice, they just happen to be on different sides.   As usual with a Ghibli film, the animation is gorgeous and the characters are larger than life.   For me this film has a special appeal because it looks so much like home.   The artists have really made an effort to make their landscapes look like Italy, and for certain locations I even have a pretty good idea where their inspiration came from.   The possible exception here is the canal in Milan.   It doesn't look quite right, somehow.   Too wide, perhaps, or too many bridges.   But this aside, there's still plenty to make me feel homesick.   There are also parts of it that feel pretty dated.   It was made in 1992 and I don't think a film could get away with the kind of sexist remarks that crop up in it today.   All in all though, a very enjoyable film.

 

Gig Reviews: Barenaked Ladies

Most people remember these guys for fun songs during the 90s with fast rap bits, or possibly more recently for the Big Bang Theory theme tune, but they're still touring, still going strong and still being awesome.   And their new stuff is just as good as their old.   I've seen them both times they've been up here recently.  Both times they had the same opening act and he was awesome.   A mad man with a northern accent singing about the monkey that got hanged in Hartlepool and getting the whole crowd to join in with him.   Good times.   They did a great mix of old and new songs, including everyone's favorite, If I Had $1,000,000, and they just seemed like such cool, chilled out, friendly guys.   And Ed, like, totally made eye contact with me.   Swoon!