RhaenysBee

I want to say I should have read the reviews but there’s a chance they might have prompted me to watch it anyway to see for myself if they were right. Well, if there ever was an ungracious adaptation…

Nope, whatever else you do with your three hours will be a better choice than this movie.

I finished Blonde. It’s the most ponderous, narcissistic, overdone mess I’ve seen in ten years. Andrew Dominik must have never heard the phrase less is more. It’s over-written, over-directed, over-edited, over-acted and overall overwhelming - it’s this sentence, but on the screen and for 3 hours. This is an objectively bad movie and I could fill page after page why. It suffers from a chronic and severe lack of self-awareness, it is neither respectful, nor graceful to Marilyn Monroe’s memory or its own underlying themes. It’s offensively long for no good reason, it can’t keep a plot, it can’t tell a coherent story, it expects you to know Marilyn’s biography at the same time as changing/omitting vital events of it. It’s a visual hodgepodge that does nothing for the atmosphere or the storytelling, half of it is pseudo-artistic garbage that should have landed on the cutting room floor and the other half is still a splintered clutter. The characterization of Marilyn Monroe is a stagnant renter’s beige graph, there are no ups, no downs, the movie and the life it depicts don’t pulsate, it’s a flat line of neurotic misery which kills any chance of tension, investment or you know, just basic interest. Now I don’t claim to know anything about the truth of Marilyn Monroe’s real life, but I can tell you this doesn’t work in a 3 hour long movie and that it’s hella demeaning and disrespectful toward Marilyn. As for the acting, I genuinely believe that Ana de Armas would have the acting range to do justice to playing Monroe if she were given a decent script and direction. What we got instead brings to mind an interview with Emma Thompson in which she recounts the best piece of direction from her career to be “don’t sigh, don’t cry”, or if you must, do it once and with meaning - not for 3 hours straight. And yes I do think that Pam and Tommy was far more intelligent, nuanced, respectful and graceful to the real people and the essence of that story than Blonde and the mainstream criticism of that show was being the opposite, so there’s that for scale.

It’s not I was genuinely delighted (let’s blame written communication and not go into why the internet perceives me as a bitch all the time ) anyway, I 100% (without sarcasm) sympathize with the obsessive overdoing of cooking and baking. I overcook everything. Because somewhere along the way I developed a good safety anxiety and my brain thinks that heat treatment is the solution to that. I just can’t let it be I’m a mental case really.

Not even close, sorry nope, I didn’t come with this expectation, because I had no idea Poe would be in this movie in the first place. I came for the supernatural period crime drama the thumbnail and the title and the algorithm insinuated and it took me 30 minutes to even realize Poe was in it. Then he became the center character who moved the plot, had a romantic sub story, was a hub center, nearly became a victim and eventually solved the crime. This baffles me because the movie isn’t about him. It’s like a Poe fan fiction. To which I would have found it preferable for my taste if it were either a Poe biopic, or a different character rose up as protagonist and Poe remained a 5 minute cameo. Well, the balance of the universe needed me to stumble on a few movies I didn’t like, because I had a lucky streak with great movies on the previous days.

Ah lard. Honestly I have never made pastry with lard, because it brings back memories of my great aunt’s apple strudel from pig slaughters which could make me gag as a child because it tasted like pure lard. (Pig slaughters are a culture thing, we aren’t barbarians) so anything I ever made was always margarine, butter, or sunflower/olive oil. I… might experiment with this for a tiny batch of mini pies, but I’m team butter. I usually pop butter into the freezer for a bit before mixing the crust pastry, it usually sits in the fridge for 4-6 hours (I prep in the morning and bake late afternoon/early evening), and after I roll it out and place it into the pie plate, I once again pop the crust back into the freezer for 10 minutes, especially if it’s a par-bake. That usually works okay. Thank you, I’m so grateful to you for this! Probably the most helpful link ever. I did most of these points but far from all, so maybe we are onto something and it’s not the butter after all! first crust: I used a new glass plate, which I got for its perfect size, but it’s the first time I par-baked in it, I only made standard double crust apple pies since I have it, so there’s that I also par-baked on the same temp as I did the full baking, which was in line with the recipe but probably misguided anyway. Will make sure to try lower temp for the par bake next time. Edges were left thin because my plan was to add a leaf edge from a half-portion of crust pastry. Second crust: Probably overworked the dough because I was in a hurry to combine the leftovers of my first crust pastry with the half-portion I intended for decoration. Glass plate and standard temp again, but I had the sense to freeze the prepped crust pretty long before and I think that helped. Made edges a lot thicker because miraculously I also had the sense to do this. For this second round only a part of the crust collapsed and only so much that it was still usable. Anyway, it tastes lovely, it’s just ugly.

That didn’t show in the movie, it was a period crime drama with Poe guest starring rather than a Poe biopic. And this didn’t happen in real life so it isn’t a puzzle piece one can directly insert into their knowledge of Poe and his work and its influences. Anyway, I’m not trying to argue with anybody, just because I didn’t like this movie, anyone else is free and welcome to enjoy and appreciate it.

Never posted my curly girl method side quest. So my hair is naturally wavy-curly-ish. Somewhere on the murky border between 2C and 3A. I have been straightening or blow drying it for 15ish years (or hair wash days, never in between, so say every 4-5ish days). Also dying my hair (its natural color) for 10ish years. So it’s definitely dry but I wouldn’t say it’s overly damaged, I have always conditioned, deep hydrated it, used heat protection, etc. anyway, my consoling thought for potential chemo treatment was always, hey at least I can grow out my hair curly and dye it silly colors, so I’ve been toying with this natural curls idea for some time. Then I didn’t have to get chemo, so I wanted to enjoy my looooong bouncy blowout/flat iron waves. Then one day didn’t want to bother with the flat iron and thought to myself well why not try having natural curls now. First time was kind of a disaster but then I got curly products and found the right method. Curly cream and air dry was not a good combo for me, but curly gel and diffuse dry or curly gel and air dry do work. Never got so many compliments on my hair, a colleague even told me I look like a Disney princess. Apparently people like when you don’t look like everybody else and do not conform to hair trends. I don’t like it. Maybe it’s the cut, because I have long layers and curtain bangs which are suited for barely there waves and blowout rather than curls, but it looks kinda alien to me and brings back feelings of puberty struggles with my unruly hair and not having the right products, tools and knowledge to manage it and feeling like an ugly duckling. I don’t want to commit to a curly cut because, I’m attached to my hair length. Oh and the reason this is an issue is that my flat iron is living out its last days and getting a new one is either €200 expense or worse quality and result than my 15 year old flat iron. So basically the conundrum comes down to, do I chop off 15cms of my mid back length hair to see if I like the way curls look on me better or stick with the hair trends and pay up for a proper flat iron. (I did attempt to get a new flat iron at €70ish, it’s utter garbage)

23rd October 1956 Hungarian Revolution against the USSR occupation.

Why does the side of my pie crust collapse into the pie plate? This doesn’t usually happen, not to this extent anyway (had to throw out an entire crust and restart with a similar but more manageable result), and I can’t think of anything to blame than the butter. It’s not the right consistency or fat ratio or I’m not sure what it is about this butter, but it is my prime suspect.

Small roundup from a not reading heavy couple months: I read A Line to Kill which was an okay whodunnit but I do feel like I’m beginning to tire of the series and the overarching character story of Hawthorn is dragged out way too much. It was okay, I’ll finish the series. I listened to Dopamine Nation which did nothing for me, I guess I went in with too high and too strong expectations. It’s a collection of case studies about various addictions from the author’s clinical psychology practice. The book is trying to make the point that dopamine and other hormonal imbalances and reactions are the shaping forces of addictions but it doesn’t really say anything overly useful, practical or revolutionary. Not my favorite listen by far. But then, I listened to Persians by a gentleman called Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and that one was, is and forever will be one only my favorite listens. It was so much fun, it’s such a deep and rich story of the Achaemenid empire and its culture and customs and struggles, it’s 19 hours of pure epic bliss , it reads like a story, it feels the gaps of between the snapshots you learned in history class, it includes the international context. I can liken it to the Genghis Khan book by Jack Weatherford which I also absolutely loved. Wonderful. One of the best. And yes, now I think about the Achaemenid Empire every day I nearly finished Doom by Niall Ferguson. You wouldn’t think I like a book about catastrophes, the hypochondriac worry worm I am, but the truth is, cognitive understanding and structured information work very well on my brain. It makes me feel secure and comfortable because if I understand something I don’t fear it. What an unpleasant deep dive into my mind. Anyway, the book is about natural and manmade catastrophes (accidents like Chernobyl or Titanic, volcanic eruptions like Pompeii, wars, pandemics, epidemics, etc) and how humanity handled and managed them. Works with a lot of data but not boring at all, insightful, no conspiracy theories or rewriting history, just a side of the coin we don’t think about. The momentum for the book is obviously the Covid pandemic and it does come back to it multiple times to juxtapose against previous pandemics. Really enjoying it. It’s also my gateway drug to Niall Ferguson, because I want to listen to a few more of his books, including the one about the history of money. I seem to be in the age where I have favorite historians and watch biopics of famous women while I do needle point stitching projects. I have prematurely become both of my grandmothers. And I’m also reading Frankenstein because I’m still a millennial at heart who desperately wants to be influenced by the US YouTube autumn and Halloween culture. I do like Frankenstein, much more than I expected, but I don’t enjoy Halloween culture. I just don’t. 90% of spooky season content recommendations of the internet do nothing for me. Autumn culture, yes, Halloween, I’m too old and European for that one. Anyway, Frankenstein reads like a classic, being one, and explores topics far deeper and more meaningful than oh it’s spooky season, read and watch spooky stuff because it’s spooky. Why am I rambling on like this in the book thread? Sorry.

right??? I mean, all right but still feels like an idea what you would call clickbait if it were on social media. I kept expecting some impact on Poe’s life or career (starts writing poems, quits writing poems, meets Annabelle Lee, one of the young women in the film are Annabelle Lee, etc etc) but nothing, it’s just an overdone cameo. And might I say, that may have worked as opposed to Poe’s being the main protagonist. Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed it, each to their own and everything should be enjoyed by some. Last night I started watching Blonde, while I waited for my pumpkin pie to cool and did my hair. The runtime should have been warning enough. Anyway, I put the pie in the fridge at 0:40ish, did a face mask and was still barely over halfway through the movie. At this point, 1:05am, I gave up and went to sleep. I will finish it before I pass judgement, but not a fan so far.

Mostly bad luck with movie choices for the second half of the week. The Pale Blue Eye is some sort of… slightly supernatural crime drama that for some reason has to do with Edgar Allen Poe, I have no idea why Poe is in this story, it’s not even based on true events, so why not have a random old Jack protagonist rather than Poe… the supernatural element is a red herring, the crime solving is boring as hell, this movie couldn’t keep my attention for 10 minutes straight. I kept ending up Google searching wall sconces for my hallway. It wasn’t visually interesting, it didn’t have a captivating soundtrack or atmosphere. The one thing it had was very strong acting. The Cabinet of Curiosities - it does what a Del Toro series would do I guess, but again and again I am forced to admit that supernatural macabre does nothing for me. I don’t necessarily mind it if the movie or the series has another element that captivates me (band of kids saving the day - stranger things and scooby doo, cool crime fighting - whatever the hell was the name of that show with Dakota Fanning and Daniel Brühl, coming of age - Wednesday, double life and family - Charmed, genius storytelling - Buffy) I watched the first episode of this, I couldn’t tell you what it was about. There were very pretty antiques and a xenophobic main character who was punished for his xenophobia by being eaten by some tentacle demon. No idea about the other 45 minutes. It was poor even for a background watch. Pamela, a Love Story - I did say I would watch this and I watched it, it was the best film of the weekend, so beautiful, so heartwarming, so wholesome and inspiring. I’m so sorry that Pamela Anderson was upset by the Pam and Tommy thing, I can understand and see why, though I still think it didn’t reflect badly on her and didn’t paint Tommy Lee as a one dimensional jerk either. Yes it was distorted and fictionalized, as are all similar works, but the conclusions and the messages weren’t different from Pamela’s own recounting of the story. Still, I do understand her. Anyway, I don’t regret watching (Pam and Tommy, I mean) because ultimately it was the necessary step for me to find myself becoming a Pamela Anderson fan. I’m listening to something now, but my next audible buy will be her autobiography. Pam’s bottom line message in the documentary was that you have to go forward no matter what, don’t think too much and always choose love and kindness. These are all incredibly relevant in my life right now which may be why her life story moved me so much.

This cold is just not leaving me though I do feel loads better than I did last weekend and early this week. Anyway, I watched Pam and Tommy. I’m not sure when and why it got on my watch list originally but it was there and I wanted a break from movies. I liked this series. I enjoyed this series. I appreciate this series. The acting is pretty solid even though both leads are delivering an over the top representation of their characters’ real life counterparts. This doesn’t keep you from taking either show Tommy or show Pam seriously. In fact, the series actually manages to make you empathize with not only Pam, not only Tommy but even the asshole who stole their tape. That says something about the writing. It isn’t preachy (for which I bow down before every show) but it takes a very solid stand on the morality and sociology of the events. It can be genuinely humorous and genuinely serious when it chooses and makes you feel like you’re on the wild ride with Pam and Tommy and feel their joy, their sorrow, their anger and their love. I know there was quite a bit of controversy around the series (actually, name one series around which there isn’t quite a bit of controversy…. Oh well) because they didn’t ask for Pamela Anderson’s permission to make the movie but stirred up traumatic events from her life to capitalize on. I mean… that’s just being a public figure. The series doesn’t in any way reflect badly on Pamela, quite the opposite. My knowledge, understanding, perception and regard of her was hugely influenced by this show, and I spent half an afternoon watching old interviews with her, I want to watch her documentary and listen to her autobiography on Audible, because - permission to shoot or not, Lily James’s overplaying her or not - the show made her my most favorite person in the entire celeb world right now and I want to hear more of her life story. That is hardly a disservice and probably the reason why Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Seth Rogan and the rest choose to bring this series to life.

Still feeling moderately shit, so here’s what I watched yesterday. Downton Abbey the movie as part of my Downton Abbey rewatch, which felt way too fast paced now (compared to 2019 in the movie theatre when I hadn’t yet seen the series). But it made me nostalgic for the series as well as for 2019 which was the last and most happy and peaceful year before the shit tsunami hit. So sweet, pretty enjoyable, visually beautiful, feel good. never a bad choice. Tolkien - I started this one months ago, might have been an entire year as a background movie for ironing and stopped midway through. But turns out I really enjoyed finishing it and The Great has made me appreciate and enjoy Nicholas Hoult’s acting style. Its atmosphere was really in line with the period movies I’ve been watching, it was heartwarming and full of lord of the rings parallels that made me nostalgic for Lord of the Rings and the 00s when I was most obsessed with Lord of the Rings. I will rewatch this movie, because I want to appreciate the first half of it too. The Last Duel - yes I got back to this, because I want to consider myself an adequately open minded person. I can appreciate it, but I can’t say I liked it much. Generally, it dragged on a bit, which I’m sure is down to several reasons, the attention span of the audience, its fundamental structure of retelling the same plot from 3 perspectives, a general slow pace, some odd editing choices . I was a bit lost at their historical accuracy and attention for detail choices as well. Like why give the contemporarily absurd wig to Matt Damon but have married Jodie Comer walk around with flowing maiden hair (and not even be frowned upon by her mother in law) instead of a headdress? I could go on and on nitpicking weird details they didn’t pay attention to. There was this circumstance, upon which the entire story rested, that wasn’t explained or put into context in any of the povs. The acting was fine, especially on Adam Driver and Jodie Comer’s part, because I’m sorry, when I looked at Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, all I saw was Matt Damon and Ben Affleck - in ridiculous hair styles. The curse of an all star cast. The atmosphere was grim, dreary, cold and uninviting, very much your usual grim medieval vibe, I don’t remember the score if there ever was one. I did warm to Jodie Comer’s character but it wasn’t really enough for the story to grip me. I applaud the choice of subject matter because it was brave and said more about a relevant issue than any shove down your throat streaming platform messaging ever did. I applaud the nuance, the approach. It’s just that the film failed to captivate, it felt like a big, fancy paint by numbers project.

Well, it’s reassuring to hear that it’s a general sentiment rather than the peculiarity of my taste in movies. Though I’m sure that plays a part too. And Then There Were None was okay because Charles Dance carried it, but never tickled me in any other way. I love a good detective story but so much depends on editing and cast. I watched BBC’s Sherlock about four times and never got bored. I also loved See How They Run - maybe because it was a creative twist on your average Agatha Christie whodunnit that bores me so much. anyway, instead of The Last Duel, I watched The Electric Life of Louis Wain and spent about 25-33% of the runtime ugly crying. And then another good 15 minutes after the movie was over, because I kid you not, I just cannot stop crying. What has this movie done to me? And why didn’t I stick with Jodie Comer and her 14th century French bulldog?

So the flu season finally caught up with me too. Movie rundown from the past 36 hours of camomile tea, nose spray and echinacea drops. The Last Letter from Your Lover (Netflix) is the most redundant movie you will ever see. It is so dragged out, there’s so much plot it leaves no breathing room for either character or atmosphere, the jumping around between the 60s and present day ruin both vibes, we don’t spend enough time with really any of the characters to really draw them out and understand them and thus care, the present day plot always pretends to be solving some mystery about the past but never ends up doing so because the movie simply chooses to go on with other time line story as well and spoil itself. One of the most bland and lackluster will-they-won’t-they rides, lacking in every possible area. The Crooked House - I have a feeling that Agatha Christie is just not my cup of tea. The Kenneth Branagh Poirot adaptations bored the life out of me as well, but I blamed the direction and the all star cast. Well The Crooked House, with a less A list cast, and with Julian Fellows who I absolutely adore because Downton Abbey has a special place in my heart, also bored the life out of me. Sure the last 15 minutes was interestingish, but it dragged on way too much, it failed on the atmosphere front and neither of the leads managed to carry the movie. Oh well. Spencer - this was brilliant. There was an atmosphere, a pleasant visual world and five times the tension for fifth the plot of either of the above mentioned two. It’s really just two hours of Kristen Stewart acting out inner turmoil with award worth skill, humility and dedication. It was absolutely beautiful. By far my favorite of the sick day movie marathon. The Wonder is, if anything, cinematographic masterpiece, I felt like I was stuck in a gothic Victorian painting. The raw, dreary, unforgiving visual world was for me in line with the story but not the ridiculous horror sounds they added, that’s an entirely different genre and feel for me which took away from the depth and layers of the themes the story and the visuals conveyed. While it had a rather well built plot and solid storytelling, the movie still only worked because Florence Pugh carried it. I tried to watch The Last Duel, lost me with the first scene, wanted to give it a chance anyway, lasted 10 minutes altogether. Hire cheaper actors and pretend to listen to experts who you hopefully consulted about historical accuracy.

Update: the repair of my heating cost $300. Plus the $75 I paid last week. This is more money than I pay for heating in an entire fcking year. What an utter disgrace. the silver lining is that I ended up paying it to a decent repair person as opposed to the sketchy people last week. Aaaaaand that he did need to do repair work, not just push two buttons, so at least there was some added value. Still, total rip-off.

Last week people came over to do heater maintenance. One day later I tried to turn on the heating, didn’t work. Since Monday, I’ve been calling every day, they promised me to come every day, never showed up. Today they don’t even answer the phone. So I’ve been trying to get someone else to come and make the heating work. One lady on the phone told me they don’t have fixed prices and the professional would be able to tell on site how much it costs. I asked her to give me a range or an estimate. She can’t do that either, they work with brand repair prices . I said ok can she be more specific because that doesn’t help me much because I can’t really get them out here blind and find out on the spot if I have to pay $100 or $300. She told me to call someone else then. The next person was helpful but just for the house call wanted $150 excluding any work. So now a person is coming who will allegedly show up and turn my heater on for $130ish. That puts me at $200 for turning my heater on. That’s more than I’ll pay for gas bill during the entire 6-7 months of heating season. (For scale, the average monthly salary in this country is $1000) The nerve of these people… well. I suppose I won’t be getting a new vacuum or a sewing machine this month. This is the most Friday-13th Friday 13th I ever had.

And here I am having a week off and getting up at 8 to get ready super slowly and then drag my ass to a cafe to read crime fiction and have a mid morning cappuccino. I did clean the bathroom yesterday. No, I’m not traveling or doing anything special, I’m just savoring every second of not having to work and it’s the best feeling I’ve had all year. Home-cation for everybody.

I have never actually done Secret Santa before but I’m afraid I’ll have to wait for a non-recession round to join. I do promise it’s a bucket list item and one of these years I’ll do it. Have fun and looking forward to pictures of the fun!

I think halloween is a 100% apt time to raise Pictionary from the grave.

1. 5 2. 2 3. 1

Oooooh that divorce is the tea of the season. I have no idea how Joe Jonas’s PR/legal team thought he could ever win the public in this and age by framing Sophie as a negligent mum. But I hope that turning a page and starting fresh in the UK will be good for Sophie.

Sorry sorry but I must already request an extension may I have till Friday?