Rascals Returns

Nothing makes you as happy or picks you up when you are down or makes you jump up and down on your bed like your favourite childhood sweets!  That is why I am so freakin excited that my favourite candy is back on the market!  

For the past 5 years I've been moaning and complaining to anyone who would stand it about how I missed Rascal, and no one could understand why it ever went off the market.  Well now it doesn't matter because about two weeks ago I found out they will be back in stores from the 16th of July.  
However to my disappointment, the Gauteng are was (for a change) quite slow in getting them, or everyone else just beat me to it and bought everything, I don't know?  But that also doesn't matter anymore, because I found those little Rascals!!!!!  

I popped into a Clicks this morning, because yesterday my sister told me that a guy she works with found some there. (You see, I've got contacts...[waving my finger]) And there they were, still in there boxes, being packed on the shelves, so I grabbed a handful and ran...for the till.  And now I am happy.  

Rascals

All that is left now is for them to bring back the big plastic Rascal man shaped Rascal bottle filled with Rascals and I'll be over the moon.  And I still need to find some Sour Rascals, I only found the Fruit and the Mixed Berries flavours.  Oh and they need to bring back Fresca as well.


You can follow Rascals on their Facebook and Twitter pages.


Do you know what you should try the next time you go to movies or make popcorn at home: throw a packet or two of Rascals over all the popcorn, shake it a bit and enjoy.  I know it sounds weird, but trust me its awesome getting the crunchy salty popcorn with the chewy fruity (or sour) Rascals.  Learnt that from my sister.  Try it out!

Put Your Lighters Up

So yesterday evening i was at this fundraising dinner. I was invited by a very good friend of mine to accompany her to the event. The Help-net fund which takes care of kids in extremely bad homes and gives them a safe house to live in. What realy shook my world was the man who founded the organisation years ago urged everyone to please spend money during the auction and donate for the new house they are opening up.

And what really hit me in the stomach is he said if there is anyone in the room who can't afford to give R50 should raise up their hands because clearly you need it more than we do. And I sat there feeling the R100 in my pocket, which I had to borrow from a family member just so that I am able to by a drink for the friend I was with, I felt the R100 burn through my being, nudging me to put up my hand and say, well I don't. That same moment I feel guilty that while this man is speaking about giving money for kids who are in much dire situations than me, I'm still thinking of myself.

But then I though, well if I'm not doing good, then how can I help someone else? I also realise that the reason I was feeling bad was because I really, really wanted to contribute to helping these children, but becaus of my circumstances I simply wasn't able to, I could barely take care of myself, let alone someone else.

That feeling is shit. Pure shit. Luckily my mind didn't stop there, because I though about how important it is to realise these things. In that same moment when I wanted to put my hands up and admit in shame that I couldn't even spend R50, I also had the strongest desire and drive in me to get myself out of these circumstances and get to a point where I can whip out R8000 and say, "here you go, for helping others".

The last thing I'm going to bitch and moan about is the stigma connected to not having enough money or not being financially strong. Now it might be in my mind, but if it is, it's because people created this thing about it being bad if you aren't financially secure, but fuck that. I am not financially secure, I don't like it, but I'm not going to be ashamed of it and I'm also not expecting charity!

It gives me a drive to do things I want to do, and achieve things and ultimately be financially comfortable so that I can help those who can't help themselves, and inspire those who can help themselves to do so. It is more rewarding knowing that you rose from the ashes to greatness and that you worked your ass off getting there, so everything that you receive you truly deserve. And I've tasted that before, rising to greater heights. It might have been in small stretches, but they still felt amazing and I can only image how great it'll feel when I do a significant rise. And I know I can acheive it because I've been blessed with many talents, and God didn't create us to play it small, we are made in his image, and He is great, so it is expected of us to be great as well.

So here's to the fighters, the phoenixes, the dreamers and the believers. Carry on, even when it's at its darkest and there is no hope. Don't turn around and don't give up. Stay. Keep on. Soon you will see there has been a light all along, your eyes just needed to learn to see it. Keep fighting and put those lighters up so that others can see your light and find their own. (Yes, part of that was an Eminem lyric quote, it doesn't make it less true.)

A Leap of Faith!

For someone who prides them self at taking chances and trying new things, I do come to quite a shocking halt when reaching a cliff.


Okay, let me stop speaking metaphorically for a moment (only a moment). So many times I feel like running away when a new opportunity or challenge comes along. It is a knee-jerk response that I find quite strange and weirdly enough unnatural. Why are we so afraid of things that are unknown? I was afraid to go to University, did I make it out alive? Check. I was afraid I would never be able to drive a car, but now it is second nature! (weirdly enough not so unnatural)


So now for the first time in a long while, on my long journey to who knows where, I have come to a cliff in the road and the gap I need to jump is freakin huge! In fact I can't even see the other side of the cliff! How the heck will I reach the other side, that is if there is an other side?!


But then I think of all the other cliffs I've jumped over, sometimes I was pushed over and other times I had to trick myself to jump. And in that moment of remembering I get this strange sensation of just wanting to jump, just to see what will happen and it doesn't feel unnatural. Not jumping, not taking that leap of faith seems unnatural.


That is truly what a leap of faith is: leaping with all your might and carrying on and believing and knowing that once you have jumped the net will appear, because only once you've jumped you truly believe and only once you believe you will see God standing there with the net stretched ready to catch you. And if you miss the net, well He'll be standing by with some Mercurochrome.


So that is what I'll do. I'll take the chance. I'll accept the challenge. Even if the result was just me stretching my legs. Every time jumping a little further and with more flare each time. So, see you on the flip-side!




Ps. Just incase someone is reading this and thinking that they should really jump off an actual cliff, don't. That would be the opposite of a leap of faith. And that is quite unnatural. Stick it out for a little while more, it'll soon get better, and you'll be glad you stuck around.

Everyone loves free shit!

That really is the truth.  Getting something free can really lift your spirit on any shit day and make a good day even better!  I've always found it quite weird when people get all excited about stuff which I think is really quite stupid.  So stupid I can't even think of an example at the moment, because let's face it, I don't give a crap!  But, I have been thinking about it on occasion... (and it's not that I didn't know it, I just chose to not spend energy in trying to understand it) ...but I can understand why people react to things they like and suddenly turn into a child again, because every now and then I'll stumble upon something that makes me feel and want and act like a child again.  


One of those thinks is getting free stuff.  Blame it on my dry student life which I'm trying to shake of bit by bit (if only I didn't have that stupid study loan I would be able to shake it off quicker, but I'll get there), but free stuff makes you happy.  But there is something better that that though.  That is getting stuff you actually WANT for free.  


Luckily I discovered this one blogger who regularly gives away loads of awesome stuff - blog.spoongraphics.co.uk.  One of the posts that had me jumping in my seat, like that little closeted gay short guy, was this post with a couple of vector ornaments and flourishes.  And for that split second I understood and accepted every person who has ever annoyed me while going on and on about something they like which I simply could understand, because in that moment when I saw those free elements I was really excited and wanted to share my excitement with everyone.  Maybe next time I'll give a damn when someone wants to share their excitement and joy.  

Glee - S03E15 - We Think You Are Too Dumb For A Clever Storyline

I cannot begin to explain how disappointed I am with Glee, and I know it sounds strange because of my previous post.  I went on and on about how they are getting it right.  Well, I believe that that episode was simply a fluke.  It was a fantastic winter mid-season finale, and I've been counting down the days until the new episode.  I even stayed up until 2am to watch the episode, what a waste.


They reverted back to their old shlep of a ship.  Cliches around every corner, no real story line, I was bored out of my mind.  If it wasn't for Blaine's cute brother in this episode I would have said total waste of an hour in my life.  The Goyte song at the end was also a saviour for them, but I still prefer the original and it was a cheap trick on their part.  Luckily Blaine's rendition of 'Fighter' was fairly good, but only because I think that no one should cover that song.  It's one of those songs that only the original artist can sing... well that being said, maybe it's rather one of those songs which you can only listen to the original studio song, because even Christina Aguilera singing that live does not sound as good as the studio track.  But Blaine's version was fine, it was not a disaster, which in it self is difficult to pull off.

But the rest of the episode was pretty shit.  The whole new anti-texting campaign, Finn and Rachel's are-we-going-to-marry-or-not which has been going back and forth this whole season, the way they duck out of Quin's accident, and then Artie feeling all sad again because Quin does not want to accept her reality.  It's stupid and not well written.  And I don't know why?  Glee has an excellent writing staff.  The head writer, Ryan Murphy, has written many amazing scripts, just look at the 6 seasons of Nip/Tuck.

But that being said, I think that the bigger problem is the longevity of Glee.  Even though it is a musical TV show, it's not about the music, music is just another part of the story.  The premise of Glee is a bunch of miss-fitted teenagers who want to feel part of something special, thus they choose to win a national show choir competition.  So, they are now in senior year and this is their last shot.  If they win it this year, we are happy.  If they don't win it, we are bummed, but either way it should end this season.  As much as I love them making amazing covers of some of may favorite songs and teaching me some fantastic new songs, their time has come.  I thought that by them creating a proper new storyline in the previous episode that where going to be able to craft a new story arch which will lead them into a new breath on life and give them a few more seasons.  But no. No. No. No. Even if they do whip out some new rabbit, I'm not falling for it again.


I think once they know that this is their last season, they will also start writing towards a specific goal and once they do that the story will suddenly pick up and seem like they have their mojo back, but thats the point.  Every story should have a beginning, but most importantly an end.  I don't want to watch a story that isn't going anywhere, otherwise I would have watched something like Days of Our Lives or Bold and The Beautiful.  So FOX, please let Glee know that this is their last season and they should start writing towards an end.


All in all I don't want you leaving feeling all bothered by Glee (or this review if you don't agree) so I include a fun little number that they did which I really enjoyed (It was not in this episode though).

I also had to include this song.  Killer dance scene.  Old school!

Glee - S3E14 - On My Way

The first time in 2010 when I discovered Glee I was captivated from that first episode.  I think I watched that episode 9 times in the following two days.  The whole of season 1 was amazing all the way up to the finale with their awesome Journey set list.  Season two introduced new characters which I quickly fell in love with, interesting a daring storylines, but it started to go down slightly in season two.  Season 3 however I felt like they were losing me a bit.  I didn’t enjoy the songs and there wasn’t really a great storyline either.  That being said it was more of a case where they had 14 episodes of which 5 were kind of lost.  But as they drew closer to the mid-season finale, they got their old steam back.  And I think the reason is because they got a decent storyline again.  For quite a while in season 3 I wasn’t sure where they were heading and if they were even heading somewhere, but as I said, they found a story again and I could see it is moving forward. 

This episode in particular was a fantastic climax of various storylines and of the winter finale as well.  First I thought the other reason why I didn’t enjoy some of the previous episodes was because I didn’t know a lot of the songs.  This episode disproved that, because I didn’t know most of the songs, but they where earth shattering.  And I mean that.  For two days the song ‘Cough Syrup’ was stuck in my head, I bought it immediately on iTunes and I’ve been listening it on repeat for days and days.  The rendition of it is absolutely hauntingly beautiful.  And the scene that accompanies is truly amazing.  I’ve liked the Dave Karofsky character from that first day he bullied Kurt, not because he was a bully, but because even there I could see how much deeper his character is, and it is a testimony to Max Adler who plays the part, because I think Ryan Murphy also so it and that is why the character developed the way he did.  He was meant to be in this story from the beginning, whether the writers knew about it or not. 

Kurt Hummel, was a character which I though was stupid on the first episode, but the Chris Colfer who played him also brought something extra.  On the exterior it is this stereotype, but he quickly breaks all of them.  My initial prejudice might have also originated form my jealousy towards Chris Colfer for doing something I would have liked to do at an age younger than me, but he really is exceptional, I he quickly made me get over my hang-ups.  I really believe he deserves that Golden Globe and I think we are going to see amazing acting from him. 

I also have to give props to the writing team, because the way they say things and speak through the characters, well it’s absolutely amazing.  They have a way of saying something that sounds complex in my head in such a way that it makes all the sense in the world without having to use to many words. 

The cliffhanger, as predictable as it was, I was still shocked that they would go there, but also happy they went there.  It shows that they’ve decided to take risks with their characters.  Go places that you usually go in real life.  They are taking off the training wheels and pulling out all the proverbial stops.  I’m looking forward to seeing what else they have to offer and what new fantastic songs they will introduce to me.  What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. 

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

I’m surprised that I haven’t written about this film earlier.  I watched it last year while it was on circuit.  Well, all good things come to those who wait.  This is a phenomenal film.  Such a lovely story.  I am an enormous Emma Stone fan.  I absolutely adore her and every time I see her in a film I like her more and more. I think the reason I like her so much is because she reminds me a little bit of my one friend, Louren Bezuidenhout.  Such a vibrant personality, flaming red hair, always positive and heading somewhere.  The type of person who has so much fire they ignite everyone else’s passion around them just because they are do everything with such vigorous passion.  But ja.  I also like how Emma has a way of being super hot without even trying.  She is just who she is and does it in her goofy way and we all love her for that. 

Now I have never been such a huge Ryan Gosling fan, even after the whole The Notebook thing.  Boy has he worked on his body! It looks phenomenal!  Would work my ass off to look like that, so I’ll get there one day.  But his acting was also great, not that the role was exceptionally difficult, but it was a good role.  Steve Carell on the other hand had such a fantastic character and he played it perfectly.  Since Dan in Real Life I’ve had so much respect for him as an actor.  He can do funny, he can do heart breaking. He can do anything.  You have to see him in this role.  I really felt his pain and his joy and his struggle. 

Again, as I said in my previous post, I love Julian Moore, so the fact that she was in this film just made me want to watch it even more!  And it was a great joy to see her character go through this whole process.  Now Kevin Bacon, well… He was fit perfect for this role – a douche.  For some reason he likes being typecast as the asshole that no one likes and I also have to admit that the years have not been kind to his skin, but in the end he plays the role he is supposed to play very good.  I just wish he would try some new avenues and new types of roles to challenge himself.  I think he is a good actor and can do so much more than what he is doing right now.

So if you haven’t seen this film, go buy it or rent it as soon as possible.  If you don’t want to see it, change your mind.  It really is a great film, it has a good combination of comedy, romance, drama and heartbreak.  It is a real gem.  And it’ll give you a good excuse to make a huge bucket of popcorn and just stay in.

A Single Man (2009)

I don’t know why I did not hear about this movie earlier.  That is sometimes the problem with the blockbuster mentality, is that the fantastic films get lost because they don’t get enough advertising.  In a way, I think this film found me.  For 3 years, I didn’t hear anything about this film and suddenly I saw posters of it in new magazines and saw people reviewing it or heard people speaking about it and how good it is, so I got it.  That was an incredibly valuable decision I made.

I have to admit, I was never a huge fan of Colin Firth, but at the same time I never disliked him either.  I enjoyed the roles he played in films and I really enjoyed the films as well, but I was never sold.  Consider me all in, buying everything, even if it’s not on sale!  In A Single Man Colin was unbelievable.  But it wasn’t just him.  The cinematography was exceptional; I could look away for one second!  The combination of every carefully planed shot with the skillfully edited pace and the amazing score that draws you into this man’s reality, it’s just magic. 

I have never felt this way when watching a movie, where every fiber in your being is drawn into this film.  Not once did I think a shot looked bad, or even just acceptable.  Every shot in the film looked as though it was planned for hours, even days and because of that you simply could look away.  My favorite part is where Colin Firth has an extremely emotional scene and the camera is right up in his face, and as he gives in to his emotions the camera does not move away, they don’t cut to another perspective.  They just stay on him as he bares his soul and is phenomenal.  I’m also a huge fan of Julian Moore and her tragic character was like a breath of fresh depressing air.  That is the only way I can describe her role. 

I can go on for pages about this film, but it still won’t do the film justice.  So my only advice is to go get the film and watch it as soon as possible.  I didn’t have popcorn while watching this, but I think it was better, because I could devote all my attention to the film.  Personally I think you need to see this film by your lonesome self so you can feel and experience the film with only your emotions and the films emotions in the room.  It is a definite must see for every one, this wonderful story of love, loss of love and the best and worst moments in life.  I can’t guarantee that you are going to feel good after this film, it’s not meant to make you feel good, but there is some deep beauty within this heartbreaker.  And at the end of it all it is life.  Beautiful. Ugly. Truthful.  

Sucker Punch (2011)

I really wanted to see this movie.  I didn’t see a trailer, I just saw the poster.  But then it came out and I didn’t go see it and it came on DVD and I didn’t rent it and Heinrich gave me the movie and I didn’t watch it.  Until recently.  I want to say I don’t know why, but I know why.  Before I watched it I didn’t realize why I haven’t watched it, but afterwards I knew the reason I only watched it later was because I was meant to watch it later.  If that doesn’t make sense, I’ll get to that later.

This movie was weird, let’s just be honest.  Not in a bad way though, but there were parts which I wished was longer and others shorter.  What it is, is this continuous jump between fantasy and reality and reality in fantasy and fantasy in fantasy and suddenly it feels like I’m in Inception and need to keep track of where I am.  Not that it’s hard to do though.  The transitions between this reality and fantasy is absolutely flawless and I love it when you can transition from one scene to the next but you can’t see a cut. 

Now Zack Snyder is known for his fantastic look and at many parts in the film I was gob smacked at how some of the effects where done, because it is real life action mixed with a lot of CGI, but then they go slow-mo and the effect is still flawless, so I can’t fault them on that.  I was however more interested in the real life story taking place in this house, instead of seeing the alternate reality of fighting which symbolizes them completing the task.  The reason why I’m so torn is because I love the reality part and I love the fighting part, I just which that they won’t substitute each other’s in between story.  It seems like it was two movies and was cut into one.

Yoav

But all that is just technicalities, because at the end I’m still blown away with this film.  The ending really stuck with me.  The last few words.  And that is why I only watched the film later, because I needed to hear those words at the perfect time.  Very simple but power full.  And I suggest you go watch the film as soon as possible, and maybe try and watch it in HD, it really is worth it.  The soundtrack is absolutely awesome!  They used South African musician, Yoav, to do pretty much the whole score for the film and I love it.  The soundtrack is on repeat on my iPod!  Especially their version of Sweet Dreams and the various versions Where Is My Mind?.  You won’t need to put Salt & Vinegar spice on your popcorn to take your breath away, the movie will take care of that!  Get the Blu-ray, get a large popcorn and watch it!  You have all the tools you need. Now fight!

Safe House (2012)

End of last year I edited a movie review at work about this movie Safe House.  Now I am no fan of Denzel Washington, I never was.  Ryan Reynolds, well, he is okay – good in a RomCom, generally likable, but I’m not crazy about him.  And then the film was shot primarily in Cape Town.  After seeing the trailer I was quite looking forward to it, regardless of the actors, and I can tell you now the movie delivers!

Safe House has such an energetic feel to it, but at the same time it is slow moving at bits.  The best way to describe it is to compare it to an iced lake.  Still on top, but you can see the water rushing below and now and then you step on a piece of ice that breaks away and water splashes out on top.  The film has an interesting grungy look; I assume the director wanted to use film specifically to get that film grain.  The action scenes are amazing; they don’t shy away from it.  The car chasing seen through the streets of Cape Town blew my mind.  This is just the tip of the iconic mountain. 

The acting from Denzel and Ryan is amazing.  I have a new found respect for both of them.  But the one thing that Ryan should not do, or practice a bit more before he tries it a gain, is speak Afrikaans.  If that was not subtitled in the film I would not have known what the heck he was saying.  But I’ll give him props for trying. 

It’s not the average run of the mill action film.  It is quite psychological in all.  The downside is the typecasting of the other actors made me recognize the real bad guy quite early on, but it was more of a “It’s probably him!” moment than a “It’s him! It’s him!” moment.  Regardless of that, you still have to go see it, and see it on the big screen.  Seeing South Africa shot without desaturating and bleach bypassing it to show the so called "Harsh-African-Sun" is amazing.  It just goes to show that when you know what you do you can make anything look the way you want it to look.  You better take someone with you to this movie, and make them buy popcorn as well, because ten minutes into the movie mine was already finished.  This way you can share with the other person, because one large popcorn simply isn’t enough.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (2011)

I read the Twilight books. Okay, wait I listened to the audiobooks... I tried reading them and that was torture.  However the audiobooks where a lot of fun and I enjoyed them (except for my new found hate for the word 'riley', because that is the only adjective that Stephenie Meyer knows).

I really enoyed Twilight as well as New Moon, I even did my honours thesis study on New Moon.  Eclipse, well... Let's just say there is no light during an eclipse.

So now you've got the backstory, which I think was needed.  I was excited to go see Breaking Dawn seeing as it was also the book where something actually happens! However I was not that excited that I simply HAVE to go see the midnight screening of it, so one of our friends asked Heinrich if he wanted to go with her and I felt it was okay, we'll just go watch it again at another time.  Two days before the midnight premier, she phoned me, saying she had an extra ticket and asked if I want to go? So I decided, ag why not! So there I was going to the midnight premier of Breaking Dawn.

It does have a very thin storyline, but other than that you can't fault the movie.  What the director did in this movie is what I think was missing in Eclipse: every scene, every shot was used as a chance to convey some additional message.  I may be looking at the movie from too much of a technical aspect, but I can't help it.  The brilliant lighting, the use of colours in the imagery was breath taking.  Even from the first shot, right up until the end.

I want to say there is a specific favourite part or a part that really stands out for me, but that wouldn't be fair, I will say that the one scene I didn't expect and I was really fantastic is the nightmare wedding Bella has. Absolutely stunning!

All round it was just a general improvement from the other films, the actors were makeuped better, everyone looked more beautiful, the acting was great, the editing, the camera work as well.  Every shot felt like it was properly planned and that no other way would have worked as well as the ones that were used.  What was strange was the change of music, it was more upbeat and lively in comparison with the other films, however I still think that it was appropriate, because the tone of the last book is also much different from the tone in the first three. And the special effects, especially the way Bella looks was SO good, I kept on wondering how they did it.

My only bad point is that the credit sequence is cheesy and very 80s.  I can see why they thought it would be appropriate with the dramatic change in colour, but it simply did not work for me, and I'm a strong believer that the titles and credits should fit with the theme and style of a movie.  It's the difference between excellently planned finishing touches and unplanned laziness.

And I also blame the titles for making me miss part of the movie. I found out from one of my co-workers that after all the credits there is another part of the film.  If it wasn't for the horrid titles, I would have stayed to watch them all, but not to worry.  I've been wanting to go see the film again, so when I do, I'll stay through the titles (maybe play with my iPhone until the bad part is done) and see that last bit! So if you haven't seen Breaking Dawn, even if you are not a fan, go and see it. It is part of the filmic culture and you need to see it, even if you still don't like it at the end, but I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Harry Potter still rules though!