Meeting online buddies

I received a comment:

wow! friends from online
This sure is sounds exciting

what if the online friend is not in Finland with you? How far to travel would it be ok?

If you're a nerd there is nothing particular about having online friends. It's just part of the scene, and not even that exciting actually. But I wouldn't travel abroad for someone I've met online. Definitely not. I guess it wouldn't be even possible for me to click enough with some foreigner in the first place. You know, I only meet the special ones, the ones I feel truly connected with. I wouldn't meet just anyone.

I guess I should summarize my weekend then, since it was out of doubt something extra ordinary. I rarely leave my home for more than few hours at one time. So I traveled to J.J. who lives at Tampere. He moved there about a month ago and he's still a bit lost there too. Anyway.

On Friday I was simply hanging out at J.J. digs since I got there so late. We did watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest though which is a great old movie in case you have not seen it yet. On Saturday he made us waffles for breakfast. Isn't that a good service? He also cooked us traditional macaroni casserole (if you're Finnish you know what I'm talking about) and some killer pizza. I tried to help him with the cooking part but let's just face it: I'm hopeless and completely useless in the kitchen. It's just not my cup of tea, or my piece of cake, or whatever.

J.J. has started to play acoustic guitar so of course he needed to show off his new skills. Which is awesome since I happen to love acoustic guitar. It's pretty much the coolest instrument ever. No matter how crappy you play it, it always sounds great. I have nice pictures of J.J. actually playing the guitar but unfortunately he's quite hysteric over his anonymity so I don't dare to post any of them.

On Saturday we also go to the cinema. We chose to watch El Orfanato though I was afraid it might be too scary for me. I'm not good at handling anything scary, I get nightmares. Anyway. It was a good choise. It was a bit scary but not too scary for me to watch. Anyway. It was indeed a good movie, maybe even better than el Laberinto del fauno. I have not decided about that yet. So in this movie there is a family: a mother, a father and an adopted son with HIV. The mother brings them back to her childhood home which happens to be an orphanage. And it doesn't take long when the son starts to have invisible friends... and to everybody's horror one day he disappears without a trace. I know it sounds lame but trust me with this one. If you like Spanish movies, if you liked el Laberinto del fauno, and if you didn't find the Others too scary, this movie could be just for you.

On Sunday we slept late as you're supposed to do on Sundays. Then we walked to visit Elina. She still had like the most coziest apartment ever. I'm almost jealous. And I am jealous for her armchair. Like is there anything more comfortable to sit on than an old armchair? Seriously? And she had piled some glossy magazines next to it. It's irresistible. And Elina served us glögg which was like heaven after the walk in the cold weather. Anyway. We compared the sizes of our laptops which is something that girls do all the time... or not. And then I headed back to the railway station since it was already time for me to go home.

So it was a nice trip. It was nice for change to hang out with J.J. face to face and to get to know that side of him too. And it was indeed nice to meet Elina.

Mysterious Skin (2004)

Yesterday I watched Mysterious Skin alone. I have seen it earlier but I wanted to see it again since it's one of my favourites. It's very disturbing and sometimes even painful to watch but always totally worth it. This is how the story starts:

The summer I was 8 years old, 5 hours disappeared from my life. 5 hours. Lost. Gone without a trace. Last thing I remember I was sitting on the bench... at my Little League game. It started to rain. What happened after that remains a pitch black void.

Brian thinks that during those lost hours he was abducted by aliens. Even ten years after he keeps having nightmares, nosebleeds and blackouts. He's determined to find out the whole truth. And then there is Neil, former victim of pedophilia and current teenage prostitute. Two boys totally different: one can't remember, the other can't forget. Eventually they discover the truth together.






Trailer (Quicktime HQ)

When I watched this movie for the first time, I didn't see it right from the beginning. I was just surfing through channels until I bumped into this. I just couldn't change the channel anymore. Mysterious Skin was so haunting but yet so beautiful. Day later I downloaded it and watched it trough and it still got my full heart.

And now to the warnings: In Finland this was K-18 (for people aged 18 years and above). So if you're extremely sensitive, simply don't watch this. This movie contains violence, explicit language, child abuse, prostitution and quite vulgar gay sex scenes.

Latter Days

I haven't write a movie "review" for a while, so I thought it's time to make one. This movie happens to be my all time favourite so I hope you consider watching it.

There are two types of good movies. Some movies are good because of all the money and time they have spent while making it. You know, these Oscar-worthy movies. You go and see them, you feel amazed but afterwards you feel... nothing.

And then there are these movies that weren't supposed to be masterpieces. Just told stories. And sometimes some story hits you hard and changes you. And those movies I call good. It doesn't have to had Scarlet Johansson in it or killer stunts. Sometimes more simple things work.

And Latter Days is one of those more simple movies. It's definitely not a masterpiece but it's something extraordinary. It's a gay romance. Now you're warned. But if you think it's all about gay relationships and that is what makes it so special, you're totally wrong. "It's beautiful. And funny. And good." And a bit heartbreaking too.

Normally I would write something about the plot and characters myself, but this time I use a direct copy from latterdaysmovie.com. I think they say it more clearly:

Christian (Wes Ramsey), a hunky, 20-something, West Hollywood party boy gets more than he bargains for when he tries to seduce 19-year-old Elder Aaron Davis (Steve Sandvoss), a sexually confused Mormon missionary who moves into his apartment complex. When Christian exposes Davis' secret sexual desire, Davis' rejects Christian for being shallow and empty, The encounter shatters each boy's reality and draws the two into a passionate romance that risks destroying their lives. Latter Days is a charming, sexy, and moving tale that will leave you believing in the transformational power of love.

"And what if everything has changed like that... and lions lay down with lambs and colors mix with whites. What if you're the one that I've been waiting for my whole life and I let you go?"

The Bourne Ultimatum

Yesterday we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum. Aleksi wanted to see it and I had nothing against it. And we got the tickets for free. It was a treat from my aunt.

The Bourne Ultimatum is the last movie of a trilogy (I hope I got this right). I was never so excited about the two first ones. Mainly because I saw them with crappy subtitles and on our own TV. But basically I'm totally into action movies. And for me the Bourne Ultimatum is like an ultimate action movie but with more complicated plot.

There is this guy called Bourne and some bad people messed with his mind and eventually he becames a total mess. And then he breaks free and tries to hide from those guys. But then they kill his girlfriend and he wants revenge. And in this last movie he is about to end it all. I like how it is made as a trilogy even though you could deal all these things in one movie too.

I have never really liked Mat Damon though he's a very good actor indeed. He's just not my type since he always lacks a lot of sympathy. Anyway. He hardly says a word in this movie. He just kills people who come to his way or looks serious. And in my honest opinion Julia Stiles is ugly and can't really act. But though it has these two actors in leading roles I find it very enjoyable to watch.

OK. Maybe I shouldn't babble this much. I'm totally putting you off the mood.

So the actors are quite from the B-list what comes to my taste but the plot is very thick. And it looks so good it nearly hurts. I'm totally into movies that look like self recorded and have all these warm colours. Action movies can be artsy too.

Here is a trailer for you:

Hot Fuss

The super cool movie I mentioned earlier was Hot Fuss. It's seriously awesome! There is this über cop called Nicholas Angel who is banished from London to boring countryside by jealous colleagues. There he gets a new partner who is not very bright but good-hearted. In no time Nicholas realizes that there is something funny going on in the village... And he is about to find out what.

Before I saw this I thought it was just an another action movie. And even though I happen to like action movies I was really skeptic about this one. Within the first few minutes I realized that I was mistaken. It was indeed a movie about cops, crime and mystery, but it was also a brilliant British comedy. Hot Fuss has the same writers and director as Shaun of the Dead, and that is not the only similarity between these movies. They also have the same leading actors and some similar lines too. And actually the plot is quite similar too. Though it took me long to realize the connection between these two movies because it has been a long time since I saw Shaun of the Dead. It was difficult to recall those details.

Anyway. If you liked Shaun of the Dead, you will love Hot Fuss too. It's guaranteed. But if you haven't seen Shaun of the Dead yet, make sure that you watch it first, otherwise you may get disappointed. Hot Fuss is so much better. Here is the trailer for you:

Movie Magic

Yesterday we watched the Illusionist. I immediately thought about the Prestige which is also a movie about magicians. I liked the latter better because the plot and the actors were better. Scarlett Johansson has a lot more depth than Jessica Biel. Biel is not even pretty. But the Illusionist was very visual and therefore very pleasant to watch. I don't care so much about the plot if everything else is from the top.

Anyway. The Illusionist is a very typical love story: A certain man loves a certain woman. They are separated by higher powers. They meet again but the woman is involved with other man. Bla bla bla. How many times have we seen this already? But these both movies hold one ultimate trick we haven't seen yet. You can do a lot when little magic is added.

Here is the official trailer for you:

"Girls with asses like mine do not talk to boys with faces like yours"

Last night we decided quite ex tempore to watch She's the Man. I have seen it before but It was still extremely funny. And in a matter of fact I could say it's the most funniest teen comedy made so far. Movies in this genre usually just suck deeply so it's a real gem.

I assume that most of you my non-existing loyal readers have already seen this movie so I try to keep the long story short. The heroine of this movie is Viola who loves to play soccer. But her team got cancelled and her school does not allow her to play in the boy's team even though she is a better player than most of them. And meanwhile Viola's twin brother Sebastian runs to London even though he should be going to a new school... So since they are twins Viola decides to act Sebastian, join his school team and finally beat the team that did not allow her play in the first place.

I know. It sounds like a really bad movie, but what makes this movie so cool is the way Amanda Bynes acts her role as Sebastian. She is absolutely brilliant. So reevaluate if you skipped this film earlier.

Here is an official trailer for you:

Third time lucky

I just finished watching Kate & Leopold. I can't remember the first time I saw it, but I know that this was the third time I saw it. It is truly a traditional romantic comedy and definitely a chick flick. But I have to admit that I love this movie. I just love it. The actual plot is not so believable but the good characters and great actors are enough to save the whole movie. Hugh Jackman does a wonderful job as Leopold. He steals every scene from Meg Ryan and turns them to pure charm.

I also watched Lucky Number Slevin for a third time yesterday with Hannes. It is a movie that gets better and better the more times you see it. It's absolutely brilliant and it gets me hooked every time. And have I mentioned that I have a thing for Bruce Willis? He used to be my favourite actor when I was young. I was into action movies back then.

"Your tea is getting cold!"

I don't drink coffee. I used to drink when I was very young but one day I just stopped. I got bored I guess. I think coffee is seriously overrated anyway. And most people drink it only to get their daily dose of caffeine. I'm a tea drinker instead. I got a nice teapot, some serious teacups, an urn (makes the best tea ever!) and, of course, a water boiler. And, of course, I have a nice selections of different kinds of teas. Today I chose to drank African Rooibos.



Yesterday we watched The Queen. I expected it to be dull but I was so wrong. It was very interesting and instructive. Even though I was old enough to watch news when princess Diana died, I can't really remember any of it. So to me watching this was more of an essential lecture of history than just a movie. And Helen Mirren totally deserved her Oscar. Her acting was so good.

The video below is a trailer for The Queen.

One of these days

Yesterday we watched Hannibal Rising. It was boring. I love the Hannibal trilogy by Thomas Harris but none of the movies really capture the Hannibal from the books. Hollywood tries to make him so monstrous. In the books he is mostly charming.

And today we went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I think it was pretty good. But it is a total waste of a character if there is not going to be any romance between Harry and Luna. They would be a perfect match. They should rewrite the books to make this happen for me. Potter itself looks a bit plastic though. I would like to see him more messier.

Aleksi's aunt gave him an CD. It was a bit weird gift since we don't have a CD-player anymore. We mostly listen to mp3s. Anyway. He didn't really listened to it but I did. It was a Dutch band called Kane. It was their new album. His aunt said the band is very popular in Holland. I guess she knows what she's talking about since she lives there. Below is a live video of Kane performing their song "Believe It". It's not their greatest song but it's a good example of their music.

John McClane has things to do

Yesterday we went to see Live Free or Die Hard aka Die Hard 4.0. I really didn't know what to expect. Die Hard used to be my favourite movie when I was about 14 years old and I still love it. But the two following sequels pretty much hit the rock bottom. So there was a chance that it was more like the first Die hard or the chance that it was just another poor sequel to make some more money out of it.

Now when I have seen the movie I have no other choice than to say that it was better than the first Die Hard. They took everything that was good in the first movie and totally updated it. So the result was very modern but still very original at the same time.What I especially loved was that John McClane was still reluctant to save the world. That is the one thing we can always count on.

If you loved the original, you will love this too. The video below is a spoiler-free trailer for the movie.





"All you gotta do is go pick up a kid in New Jersey, and drive him down to D.C. How hard can that be, huh?"

Confessions

I just watched Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen with audio commentary on. I can't understand why some people don't like that movie. I absolutely love it. It's brilliant and inspiring. They say that it is not realistic. Hello? It's a movie and all movies are unrealistic. That's what the movies are about unless they're like documents. They say that the plot is dull. To me it's fresh and very funny. They say that Lindsay can't act. But her acting is absolutely amazing in this movie for sure. She can act and that is the fact. All the people she have work with have said so. And what I especially love in this film are the costumes. I could kill somebody to get Lola Steppes wardrobe. She is so cool and versatile in her clothes. And the movie is also very aesthetic to watch in every single scene. I like when there are plenty of details and colours.

So people who don't understand this movie are probably very boring. They have forgot what it is to be in high school. And they probably don't have any sense of humour or an eye to a beauty. There are movies that are not meant to be taken so seriously. Some movies are made just to entertain us and to help us to have a good time.

Here is a clip from the movie. Lola is auditioning to a high school musical.

Weekend

I'm going to Viiala today. I don't know what I'm supposed to do there but I'm going anyway. I don't have so much to do here either. At least I got my own TV there nowadays so I can watch Sex and the City without my parents.

I had a really nice weekend. We watched three movies. Alpha Dog was one of the movies we watched and I don't know what to think about it. Basically it was a bit boring and there was not much going on the film anyway. I hoped that they would have left that kid alone but I knew it wasn't going to happen since it was based on a true story and those never end well. I just need to have a happy ending or otherwise I feel that I have been fooled. Watching movies should be fun.

We usually sleep the window open, but lately there has been some bugs that that eat us (or at least me) during the night. Today I woke up with three new bites and they itch. It's so not nice.

On Saturday we went to a picnic. Our destination was a nice Aurora park. It is really peaceful and beautiful. We have been there several times already and it is definitely one of my favourite parks. The sun was shining so now I got a mild tan on my legs. We played cards and just hang out. It was nice. I forgot to put the sun lotion to my neck so it burned a little.

OK. I better get packing.

Zombie

I'm loosing my mind. Don't give a damn though.

Julia asked me to go to the Linnanmäki amusement park with her. I refused to go because I cannot remember when was the last time I truly enjoyed that kind of amusement. But I appreciated the invitation of course.

A little while ago I received a comment from Kerttu. She said that she reads my blog. So I guess this blog is not as bad as I use to think. I got all these catchy lines and everything now when I think about it. It's kind of cool to know that there are at least three human beings who find my blog amusing! But don't get me wrong: mainly this blog is about self-pity and boredom.

I saw Music and Lyrics couple movies ago. I know it is a bit weird to say "couple movies ago" but I don't know any other way to express this. I watch a lot of movies and I don't even remember all of them. It was recently but I have seen like dozen of movies after that. So anyway. I really liked it. I like movies that make me smile widely. And I definitely love the theme song:



I like the demo version better. I think that Drews voice is better than Haley Bennetts. More likeable.

The Holiday

Yesterday I went to movies with Julia. I really enjoyed the movie, which was called "the Holiday". It was so much better than I expected. And there was Lindsay Lohan in it too, and everybody knows how much I like her! IMDB.com rated that movie only 6.6 and I can't understand why. It even managed to avoid all the over romantic scenes. Anyway. It was really great to go to movies with a friend instead of Aleksi. I don't mean that it is boring to go with Aleksi, but it's quite different. So thanks, Julia, for inviting me.

Today I decided that I'm so going to have a dog. Not anytime soon, but during this year.

Little Miss Sunshine

I almost upgraded to Blogger Beta. Phew. I don't feel like upgrading yet. Just a while ago I whined on my LJ how all the web sites I like to visit change all the time. I like when the look of the site changes, if it's better of course, but what really annoys me is when the most important functions change. And that's why I'm against Blogger Beta. But don't worry, you blogger people, I will upgrade eventually.

Today we decided to go movies. I wanted to see Little Miss Sunshine. It was a very warm and funny film, and I absolutely loved it. It's a shame that it is only shown in a small theaters. People should be more aware of this great movie. Aleksi liked it too. In his opinion it copied Napoleon Dynamite in the end, but I disagreed. Yes, there was a dance scene in the end, but it was nothing like that and the motive was very different.

Volver

Yesterday I went to movies with Aleksi. Normally we watch movies at our home, so it was quite nice for a change. The movie was called "Volver" (Return). I have always liked Almodóvars films and this one was no exception. The plot was very exciting and thrilling. I'm not a special fan of Penélope Cruz, but she did her leading role amazingly well.

This is a plot summary from IMDB:

Raimunda lives in Madrid with her daughter Paula and her husband Paco who's always drunk. Her sister Sole is separated and work clandestinely as a hairstylist for women. The two sisters lost their parents in a fire in La Mancha their birth village years ago. In the village remains only their aunt Paula that continue to speak about her sister Irene, mother of the two, like if she is still alive. When the old aunt die the situation change and the past come back again, in a twist of mystery and suspense.

I definitely recommend this film to everyone.