Locke and Lemonade | Days 25 & 26

Back in Manchester obviously means back at the cinema, so yesterday me and my sister went to see Locke. It's Hardy's new film, and consists of no less than an hour and a half of nothing but Hardy's face, with intervals of Andrew Scott's (Moriarty, BBC's Sherlock) voice. What could be better? Nothing at all, that's what.

Gotta love the smell of fresh cinema

Cloudy lemon-limeade for a cloudy day

More on Locke later though - a review is in order. Today I've not done much but started watching Suits [which is scarily similar to The Good Wife] and made myself a bout of cloudy lemon-limeade. I was trying to coax out the sun, but it didn't work. What did I expect from northern England?

The Overlooked Truth | August: Osage County Review

Rarely reviewed, little advertised and barely spoken of, August: Osage County has gone practically unnoticed in the cinemas this year. It was nominated for 25 awards, but only won 6, and those that did review it did so scathingly. But when I watched it, I was unbelievably moved. So what did I miss?

When I saw the cast list for this movie, I expected one of those all-star movies that focuses so hard on cramming celebrities into the credits that the movie is forgotten. Well, I was wrong on that count. Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts absolutely crushed their mother-daughter roles. I'd be willing to credit Roberts' performance as the role of a lifetime. She was incredible. The costars, although they get infinitely less screen time, are just as strong. There's some harrowing stuff in this film, and they handle it perfectly.

And it's not the acting that the critics lay in to [rightly not]. The Guardian published two reviews of the film, one by Mark Kermode, the other by Peter Bradshaw. Both gently slate the movie. Kermode's problem with the film is John Wells' direction, and that the audience is left feeling like "little has been gained, but much has been lost". Well, here's my problem: this film is about addiction in a fragmented family. Not to go into gory details, but anyone who has experienced either of the two will know that that's how it is: you don't gain anything from addiction, nor a broken family - you lose from it. It's not a happy ending, but you'd think that a professional film critic could handle an anti-cathartic plot. This isn't a Disney film, Kermode. 

Bradshaw has a problem with the way that the "dialogue has an entropic tendency towards shouting." Where are these guys from? PSA: When people get emotional, they shout. When, like AOC's Barb, you're battling someone who is caught by addiction, and you can't get them to see sense, you shout. Screw it, you scream. It's frustrating. Would they have preferred a film where every situation was discussed quietly and democratically at the dinner table? That's not how life works, sweethearts. Wake up and smell the reality.

What the Guardian's writers seem to have in common is a shared disappointment in John Wells' direction. Bradshaw says it "doesn't add up to anything very nourishing", while his counterpart maintains that "it's hard to see how the play has benefited in the transition from stage to screen". Judging by the awards the play reaped, it's fair to say it's a good one - winning 21 awards out of 28 nominations. But Letts adapted his own screenplay, so I'm not convinced that Wells is completely to blame for any mis-translation. It seems to me that everyone's quick to jump on the director and praise the writer. 

Letts' award-winning show was the mother of the new movie

Robey, from the Telegraph, isn't so harsh on the direction; he's the only critic I've seen to criticise the writing. But wait until you hear what he's got to say. "It's a weakness of the play that the men are much less interestingly drawn than the women." I'm sorry Robey, this film is weak because the men aren't written as well as the women? If you discredit a film because the genders aren't written equally well, then there are only a handful of films in history which are worthy of praise. It's only noticeable here because we've seen a switch; the female characters are finally written better than the male. So why don't you hop of your critical horse and realise that the struggle you're feeling on behalf of the male characters is one that female characters have endured since film began.

So maybe I did miss something, but I can't say that I'm seeing things from the critics' point of view. For me, this film was a well acted piece of film which captures almost exactly what it's like to deal with addiction in a dysfunctional family. Props to everyone involved.

Last Days and Homeward Trains | Days 23 & 24

I'm back in the city of eternal rain! To be honest I'm pretty chirpy about it too. I can't pinpoint why, but this visit home felt a little weird - I think Manchester is swiftly becoming "home", and it's strange when I'm back in the south. That said, I've had some very happy days over the past week:

Bulmers with my bud

Me and my sister looking particularly elegant on the train

It wasn't a long stay in the south, but I managed to see friends and have a decent amount of free food, so mission accomplished, really. The British sun decided to grace us with its presence on Monday, so me and Lantz graced the pub with ours! Fruity cider in the sun + gossip and a catch up always equals a good day. Today, on the other hand, was groggily begun at 6:45am. An early train was definitely not what the doctor ordered, but it was a relatively calm journey with my sister, and I've even managed to migrate to the library for a few hours and whack out part of an essay since I've been back. Success!

On another note, me and Libbi are headed to get our fill of Tom Hardy (who has been sorely missed on the big screen) tomorrow in Locke, so watch out for a review. Gorgeous pics of Hardy will be included.

P.S. August: Osage County review hits DormDiary tomorrow!

Banana Pancakes on Easter Weekend | Days 21 & 22

Hello chiquitas! I hope everyone's had a wonderful Easter, or just a wonderful weekend if you don't celebrate. You probably know what's coming up... Food-filled happy days photos, that's what.

Banana Pancakes in the making

A roast fit for a king

I've had a delicious weekend, that's for sure. Banana pancakes are my absolute favourite thing [and remind me of that great song by Jack Johnson - a super simple recipe kindly donated to me by my big sister which only has two ingredients. One egg, one banana. Mash the banana, whisk the egg into it, and cook like you cook pancake mix. Perfect. For our Easter Sunday we had a family dinner in a local railway station-turned-pub. They've got a cute old train carriage out back which they've converted into a restaurant area, which is really nice for a family dinner. The roast I ordered was actually a lot bigger than it looks in the picture [needless to say I couldn't finish it]. It's been a lovely, if very filling Easter weekend on my part, how was yours?

About Town | Day 19 & 20

I'd forgotten how much I missed people (and dogs) in Somerset. Actually, I knew I missed them, I just don't think I realised just how much. The snaps from the past 2 days:

My beaut of a best friend enjoying some spicy chicken

My beaut of a bear enjoying some quality time

Yesterday I went to town with Alice and we stuffed our faces with Nandos and Shakeaway [with intervals of shopping], which always makes for a good day. You can imagine my despair when I found out Mum had cooked a roast for dinner! Today was spent mainly lounging around with my beautiful black labs - Chrissie is in the picture; Poppy, the older one, is a little more camera shy! 
I do love seeing these loonies, but I'm still missing Manchester! 

Ron in Real Life | Dallas Buyers' Club Review

I had a really hard time evaluating this film. The first time I watched it in the cinema, I came out completely awestruck. The second time, I was impressed. The third, and it all began to fade. Dallas Buyers' Club has been heralded by the Academy, praised by film lovers and has grossed $33.2 million. Why, then, were the critics not so loving?

Well, the Academy and the film-goers have sunk their teeth into exactly what they saw; the filming and the acting. In his review, Mark Kermode talks about the realism of the filming. He's not wrong, you know. The still camera is avoided like the plague in favour of what Kermode calls “loose-limbed” camerawork. As I've said before, I'm a fan of realist cinema, so this kind of filming really hits the spot for me. A camera which moves like a person draws a viewer in [and that's the point of a film as far as I'm concerned]. The film's cinematography is quite something, too. Yves Bélanger at the top of his game.

As for the acting, the Academy Awards said it all really, didn't they? Kermode makes quite a claim in saying that McConaughey's performance “elevate[s] this drama out of the realms of the ordinary into something quietly remarkable.” I'm not going to argue with him, he's right. In what the mob have been calling the “McConaissance”, Matthew has leapt out of the realm of the rom-com with all of his might and landed comfortably in a weightier genre. I don't usually find it easy to choose a favourite scene in a film, but there is one insanely raw shot in which McConaughey gives us the most fearful acting I've ever seen from him. If you've seen the film, you'll probably understand that I'm talking about the scene in the car on [what he believes to be] his last living day.

On the other hand, Telegraph's Tim Robey said in his review that Dallas Buyers' Club has performed a “resuscitating miracle” on the career of Jared Leto, that it's the work of his life. I wouldn't dispute for a second that it's the work of his life – after all, Fight Club didn't hand him an Oscar, did it? But the first comment makes my blood boil. Perhaps you could say that the film has resuscitated his acting career, but his career as a whole is going pretty well, I'd say. Are we ignoring his hugely successful band 30 Seconds to Mars, Robey? I think so. Apart from making a rather pretty girl, Leto rocked this role like the proverbial boat. He took a fantastic opportunity and pumped emotion into the character like Rayon pumps drugs into her arms [and legs... and feet and any other limb she can find a vein in].

The problem, then, that the critics had is probably in what the film doesn't show you. The Guardian published what is basically a revealing master post of everything that the film changed, covered over or added in, and the list isn't a short one. But it's just a film! I hear you say. True, but this is advertised as the true story of Ron Woodruff, AIDS victim and creator of the Dallas Buyers' Club. Instead, what we get is what we saw with Rush an expressionist painting of him by the ever-famous artist; Hollywood.

If we move chronologically, the first expression of “artistic license” in the film is the rodeo. The opening scene is a raunchily intimate one under the stalls at the rodeo. A rodeo that had no place at all in the real Woodruff's life. This is an add in from the writers. Some have suggested that the rodeo is a metaphor for... something, who knows what? The only benefit I can draw from it is that it drives home the “Dallas”, Texan aesthetic.

The second is the removal of Woodruff's girlfriend, and the apparent sex change of his doctor. It seems that his girlfriend and his doctor were merged into one character, but why? Simple: the Hollywood flirtation factor. Every box-office hit needs a romantic subplot after all. [Or maybe it was to make rom-com McCon more comfortable with the script!]

The third, and most disconcerting is the liberty with which the writers portray Woodruff. The Hollywood Ron seems to be a twisted caricature: he's very texan, very homophobic, very 'masculine', very sleezy, very offensive, and violently alcoholic. In fact, what does he share with the real Ron? A haircut and a life-threatening disease, and that's about as far as it goes. Oh wait, the Buyers' Club, too. He wasn't a rodeo-goer, he wasn't single, and apparently he wasn't homophobic. Some of his friends have even said they wouldn't be surprised if he had been bisexual himself. Not exactly the player we see in the film.

So there it is. This film is fiction posing as truth. Inspired by Ron Woodruff's life, not an account of it. We've seen this with almost every historical drama in the industry; the truth is dressed up to be entertaining.The Baader Meinhof Komplex [Uli Edel, 2008] is guilty of a similar crime – disguising historical figures as celebrities for entertainment value. It's a eternal problem: entertainment versus accuracy. To be honest, I don't think that the historical account is suitable for the screen. If you have to sacrifice reality, it's not a reliable way to convey meaning.

That's not to say this isn't a good film. It's to say it isn't an accurate one. Like I said, I loved the film and could watch it to the death, but I will have a hard time forgiving it for the liberties it's taken. And for the effect it's had on the once beautiful McConaughey's physique, but that's another matter all together.

Cityscapes and Skyrises | Day #16 to 18

Three days later and finally a blog post appears! I've been busy with packing and travelling to come home for a week, so I've been AFK for a few days. So it's three photos in one day today.

Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

Owen's Park, Manchester

Sunset, Bath

That last one is definitely my favourite [see it better on my instagram] in terms of aesthetics, but the first is in terms of happiness level. Schönbrunn Palace was seriously beautiful; one of Vienna's biggest landmarks. It was a boiling hot day when we visited, and the hill you have to walk up to get there is an absolute killer, but it was definitely worth it. The middle is Owen's Park Tower in Fallowfield, and in front of it are my halls. I know that we're conditioned to think that cityscapes and skyrises are eyesores, but sometimes the tower can be pretty - especially this spring. The last is a picture from my bedroom window. I came home today, and while I'm ecstatic to see my puppies, my sister and my best'un, and soak up some long-awaited sun, I can't help but miss having an Ethernet connection [therefore flawless internet] while I'm snuggled up in bed, and corner shops open round the clock. I guess it's going to take a day or two to adjust away from city life? P.S. The Dallas Buyers' Club review is coming tomorrow!

Progress (finally) | Day #15

I've managed to get some work done, shocker! I desperately need to get back into the swing of giving my brain an allocated time each day for academics [that means not watching The Good Wife 24/7]. It doesn't help that I've completely mentally blocked the fact the exams start in just over 2 weeks and I've got 2 essays in at the same time. Anyway, here's today's photo:

As you can see, definitely enough highlighting and post-it noting for me to call it revision. I've even annotated the text. Pat-on-the-back worthy, don't you think? I am good at this... I promise.

Glorious Food | Days #13 & 14

Another absence, another apology. I've actually started revision now (praise the Lord), so it's likely that these happydays posts will be every other day from now on. Anyway, the past two are both food related, guilty! I figured out today that in the past 12 days I've watch 95 episodes of The Good Wife... That, combined with study, means that food has been the prettiest part of my day. There's no shame in that, right?

Prep for spaghetti carbonara - healthy ingredients, right?

Nothing like a cheese-ham toastie decked out with salad!

I did think about taking a picture of the wedding going on in my halls today, but I thought that was a bit intrusive. On another note, I've been taking notes on Dallas Buyers Club ready for a review, so keep your eyes peeled!

Absence, Signs and Sun | Days 11 & 12

First things first: sorry about the absence. I decided to go to the gym late last night when I usually write my posts, so I missed my slot. It just means two happy days today instead of one.

The first made me chuckle; I tend to notice grammatical mistakes because of my degree, and I'm always astonished to see that these things don't get checked. The second is my dorm room here; the light flows in really nicely just as the sun peaks in the sky. 

Until next time,

Out of Town | Day #10

So no revision, alas; but a lot of tidying, a lot of Good Wife, and a little shopping. My 100happydays photo:

Didsbury

Manchester isn't exactly a notoriously beautiful city, but its surrounding towns are great. Didsbury isn't far from the city center, but it's one of the cutest towns I've seen in a while. I just wish I was rich enough to live there!

On Stationery and Becoming Stationary | Happy Day #9

Day nine! Not exactly cloud nine, but close enough. Today was dedicated to running errands in town, grocery shopping and watching more Good Wife. Stationery lovers among you will understand the eternal struggle that is resisting a splurge whenever you're in the vicinity of  Paperchase, WHSmith's... just about any similar retailer. Well, guilty as charged: I couldn't help myself. Here's my happyday's snap:

Leatherbound from Globetrotter | Kraft from Paperchase

I'm telling myself that these are for strictly revision-based purposes. Truthfully, I haven't started my revision yet. Some of you will be alarmed, others not so much, to find out that I've 3 weeks until my first exam and I've come to a complete academic halt. My brain has been completely stationary since Thursday. It's probably wise for me to start revision ricky-tick if I want to pass, but TV and internet calls.  Maybe tomorrow will be more revision weighted, who knows?

Red Sky at Night | Day 8

Day eight has arrived, and I'll be the first to say it's not been exciting. I've spent the majority of my day doing washing and watching The Good Wife, but I did manage to blag a pretty nice shot for my 100happydays today. Here it is:

Red sky at night?

I was outside my flat just as the sun was setting, and the sky was bright orange. I make an effort to look at the sky more often, and this is why. Beautiful, right?

Until tomorrow,

Egg Free, Effort Free | Happy Day #7

Good afternoon! What a lazy day I've had. I'm aching seven ways to hell after the gym yesterday and I've got a nasty feeling that I'm in for a cold. So what's the solution here? Cake, obviously. But that means I have to leave the house... so maybe not. After racking my brain for a while, I remembered a recipe we tried in Vienna: Chocolate Microwave Mug cake. It's perfect for a lazy student like me - it's cheap, easy, and it's made of things you've probably got in your cupboard. Here's my photo for the day, and underneath is the [egg free] recipe!

The rather attractive result of our experiments in Vienna

So this is the kind of recipe which you can bend until it breaks. Some versions call for cinnamon, some vanilla, others mint. So here's what I used. 

...

In addition, you'll need 70ml of water and 2tbsp of vegetable oil. I'd advise not using olive oil for this recipe, it's got quite a distinct flavour and olive isn't exactly chocolate's life partner. The recipe I looked at called for a splash of vanilla extract. I'm inclined to think that it would be a happy addition, but I'm a student so I don't have vanilla extract lying around; that's why I added the Golden Syrup. The method is plain enough: you add the dry ingredients to your mug [flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, cinnamon], and mix them together with a fork until they're evenly blended. 

I also recommend putting the flour and cocoa through a sieve so that you avoid lumps

Next comes the wet ingredients [water, vegetable oil, golden syrup and/or vanilla extract]. I added in my water a little at a time, like you'd make a hot chocolate - this just avoids any of the powdery mixture floating onto the top of the mixture and making it lump. Stir this all together with a fork until the lumps are rare, if there are any. 

Now you just need to pop it into the microwave. My halls microwave is terrible, so it took about 3 minutes on full power to cook. However, this version says that a 1000 watt microwave will cook these to perfection in 1.5 minutes. I'd advise a minute, then a prod with a fork, then a further minute etc. until it's just how you want it. Be warned, even when it's finished, the top is glossy - don't let this fool you into thinking it's not cooking! 

See what I mean? It looks uncooked, but it's actually cake under all that shine!

Then you just need to garnish it and enjoy! Most people add cream or ice cream to this. In Vienna we topped it with "Schlagobers", which is essentially just thick cream. I'm a bit of a sucker for fruity pudding though, so I've added a dollop of raspberry jam to mine. What a perfect way to be unhealthy without even leaving the house! So have your cake and eat it too!
Until tomorrow, P.S. You should check out Libbi and Katie's instagrams; they were the head chefs for the Vienna masterpieces, I was just photographer.

Squats, Soup and the Sixth | More Happy Days

Day six is upon us! After leaving the house at 7am to start a 3-hour gym session, I'm not ashamed to admit that the happiest part of my day so far has been my lunch. Squats and toning is great, but I do prefer my food. Covent Garden soups have been an expensive treat of mine for a few years: few and far between, but oh so delicious and under 200kcal for an entire carton (we'll ignore that half a carton is one portion, shhhh). With a soft ciabatta warmed in the oven for a few minutes on the side, I couldn't have wished for a better student meal. Here's my snap:

Beautiful, right?
Take care sweeties.

Pretty Presents | The Fifth Happy Day

Don't worry - I haven't forgotten the fifth day. Here's today's dose of happiness:

I'll admit that I'm a bit of a tea junkie. I've got a box full of herbal teas in my kitchen cupboard and I've been known to receive boxes of foreign tea from pen pals. My sister, being the wonderful person she is, showed up at my flat with this gorgeous present today. That's a cutsie floral mug, chocolate chip cookies, a sachet of English Breakfast tea (yum!) and a tea egg for loose leaf teas. She knows me too well!

Five down, 95 to go!

Stars and Strikes | Starred Up Film Review

As promised, film reviews! A couple of weeks ago I saw the new Brit-Grit drama Starred Up on the big screen. I'm a huge fan of raw British dramas (This is England and A Clockwork Orange being the obvious examples), so I'm critical whenever a new one hits the cinemas. Here's what I thought of the Film 4's new cockney convict film.

Following Eric Love - a “starred up” 19-year old young offender - as he makes a transition from juvenile detention to an adult penitentiary, David Mackenzie’s new drama is an intensely graphic account of the British Prison system.

Starred up Eric goes from being a leader in Juvi to an underdog Adult Pen.

First things first, credit where credit’s due: Mackenzie and his cinematographer Michael McDonough need to be applauded for the astonishing aesthetic here. What’s best about it is how subtle it is - it’s not showy, there aren’t any frills, and most people will go the entire film without noticing it. That’s what makes it so fitting. The entire film is raw, and the shooting joins in with that element seamlessly.

As for performances, it’s worth an all-round applause. The cast is crammed with fantastic supporting actors, perfectly chosen for a movie this gritty. Rupert Friend fits into the cast nicely as an out-of-place voluntary therapist; Sam Spruell plays the textbook baddie as the Deputy Governor; and Ben Mendelsohn gives a truly incredible performance as Neville Love - a father struggling with his relationship with his son (his character development also involves a poetic little twist). And leading them all in the performance of a lifetime is Jack O’Connell as Eric Love. He’s indescribable, so I’ll start a new paragraph.

O’Connell has always played a rough-around-the-edges kid; the mouthy Pukey in This is England (2006), bad-boy Cook in Skins, and Marky in Harry Brown (2009) being his more notable performances. Eric Love might measure up to these roles in an aesthetic sense, and share Cook’s strife with his dear old Dad, but he shoots past them all in terms of emotional depth and character development. O’Connell has been truly lucky with Starred Up in having a writer like Jonathan Asser (who based the script on his experience volunteering at HM Prison Wandsworth) who could portray the character in a way so close to true life that it’s impossible not to feel for him. The flawless writing, combined with O’Connell’s breathtaking ability to play a role as if the script was based on his own life, creates a character which is indisputably moving scene to scene. But maybe it’s just because he’s gorgeous, who knows?

A final tip of the hat to the realism of the movie. As far as prison movies go, there is a potential to royally bugger up and portray the justice system as some kind of Clockwork Orange descendant, or to hit the nail so precisely on the head that the work will resonate for years (I’m talking Hunger, Bronson (both 2008) etc.) Starred Up might not share the historical value of these two, but it’s undoubtedly in the same league. Filmed principally in HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland, where the infamous hunger strikes of 1981 took root, the grit in the movie literally seeps through the walls. It’s this setting - Prison Maze - which makes the comparison to Steve McQueen’s Hunger (based on the hunger strikes in Maze) so appropriate. That’s not to say they are identical, or even hugely similar - it’s the fact that they are so dissimilar which is great. Where McQueen focused on the history, the precise moment, Mackenzie gives a timeless and ever-true account of the inmate’s time. What they do share is an astounding open-wound style.

All in all, nothing less than you’d expect from Film 4.

DormDiary's Back | Easter Resurrection

Long time no see, right? You'll have to forgive me, the dorm lifestyle has been a little relentless lately - eat, sleep, slave, repeat seems to be my new motto. After a seven-month-long hiatus, I think it's time for a much-needed update on the DormDiary.

Since September last year I've started University, put a deposit on a house, passed January exams, and been buried under piles of revision for the upcoming summer exams. But not that much has really changed. I still spend time I should be working watching films and TV shows instead; and I still spend far too much time on the internet (she writes on her blog - how ironic). After a healthy dose of reflection, I decided that the only thing that was really wrong with this kind of procrastination is that it's not productive. But how do you make procrastination productive? Isn't this the eternal problem of every internaute? 

And then I found this little gem. 

100happydays is a challenge spread across various social media sites which aims to make users, internet-wide, see the beauty in life. How? It's pretty simple actually: you just have to post a photo each day for - you guessed it - 100 days, of things that make you happy. And because you go looking for things to take pictures of every day, you realise just how many little things make you happy. According to their manifesto, people who completed the challenge even began receiving more compliments and falling in love easier. And as a bonus, if you complete the challenge they'll send you a book of your 100 happy photos. Pretty rad huh? Now that's productive procrastination. 

Wait a minute, is this even relevant? It might not seem it, but it is applicable. 100happydays has made me think hard about what really makes me happy. When it came down to it, it turned out to be mainly film & TV, travel, and reading (original, right?). So if I take what makes me happy, and  add my method of procrastination (vigorous internetting), then surely it will be easier to make that procrastination productive? That's the theory. Now I just need to put it to the test, and here's how.

From here on out, I'm going to post my 100happydays photos (which you can find on my Instagram) right here to DormDiary. Where does film fit in? TV? Reading? Well, the posts here are going to be extended versions of my hundred happy days. That means reviews of films, TV show theories, travel photos - paying attention to what makes me happy, not just snapping pictures of it. C'est parti!

To make up for lost time, here are the pictures of my first four happy days

...

See you tomorrow for my fifth, sweeties!