The Help - The movie that baffles me

I just read an article where Mark Wahlberg said he cried about 8 times while watching the movie, The Help. I don’t get it. I watched the movie and I did not cry – I don’t remember crying. I remember being very disappointed. Don’t get me wrong – the movie was alright – but I read the book before, and it was so powerful. The movie left me really empty – expectations dashed like a Carib bottle on the side of the road. It was Hollywoodisation at its best/worst, because the story is so fantastic. The movie did not channel the fear and misgivings the black maids felt as they volunteered to tell their story. It was too “feel good” for me and I did not like that the best emotions of the story were so watered down. All the award season hype now has left me really blah cause I did not think it was THAT good.

So no, I did not cry. I was just indifferent. I did, surprisingly, cry during One Day – a movie I swore not to see, because they cast the ever annoying Anne Hathaway in the lead role. I so enjoyed the book that I did not want to bear seeing Anne Hathaway massacre my image of who I though Emma should be. Now, she did not win me over in the least but I enjoyed the movie anyway. I had very few options on BA 2158 and chose it as one of my movies on my 8hr+ flight. Can you imagine trying not to cry on a plane? Lol. The scene I knew would get me – as it did in the book version – GOT ME! And there I was, trying my best to be cool but fighting the errant tear threatening to make me look like a sap in front of the passengers nearest to me. Hilarious.

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Three Degrees of Sexy, and Four Degrees Celsius

Brrrrrr. It is biting in London today. I all but pounced on the train this afternoon, just eager to get on it. The heater is on. I refused to even go back out to put the recyclables in the bin. Nope. This is it for me.

Once upon a time I used to stay up late to watch the Oscars, but then I said to myself, these people are millionaires and I am not. I have to get up early to make a hundredth of what they make. Sleep is more important. I love movies but not to the detriment of my beauty sleep not to mention my personality. Lack of sleep + trininista = homicidal creature. And with the time difference, well...forget it. I am glad that The King's Speech won everything they should have won. I cannot comment on Best Supporting Actress cause I have not seen Melissa Leo in The Fighter, but Helena Bonham-Carter, though a bit weird, is an excellent actress and I would have liked to have seen her win. But Christian Bale got his and I am happy for that.

But my first sexy - is this woman aging at all? My God. My personal hero, this one. Stunning. My Oscar winner.


Halle Berry at the 2011 Academy Awards
Courtesy: Yahoo

 And though I am not really a techie person, this just looks sexy and I want one. The Dell Inspiron Duo convertible tablet. Not an Apple groupie really. Sorry.

The Dell Inspiron Duo Convertible Tablet - sexy

Finally, lunch with the neighbours yesterday was truly impressive. True Caribbean hospitality. Everything was so incredibly good and by the time I left their place, I was stuffed. And though Arsenal losing the Carling Cup Final jeopardised my fishcakes, she still sent over apple pie and custard, and a slice of good Barbadian sponge cake. Wicked. I can say nothing ill about my wonderful neighbours here in London. That pie was uber sexy.

Homemade apple pie, with yummy vanilla custard courtesy my awesome neighbours

My pillow right now - super sexy. I am so tired. I am going to insulate myself under the covers and try to stave off frostbite, and get some sleep in the process so I can hopefully be academically productive later.  This heater is taking its damn time to warm up my room though.

And while I may not miss out on sleep to watch a bunch of rich people collect awards, I will miss sleep to watch a bunch of Trinis fight it out for $2million on Friday night.  9.30pm start time in Trinidad, means 1.30am start time in London. God help me.

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127 Hours

James Franco (left) and Aron Ralston (right)

Two things stood out in my mind as I readied myself to watch 127 Hours this evening. First, if Aron Ralston could have survived cutting his own arm off, with a dull knife, then I could survive watching James Franco playing Aron Ralston cutting his own arm off. Second, the video where James' grandma said anyone who could not sit through the gritty scene was a p...y. lol. If granny could stand it, then so would I.

That is what I told myself after 24 minutes of 127 Hours, after the rock pinned James Franco's Aron inside the canyon. It was a wow. I enjoyed the movie. Unlike Castaway which was wrong on so many levels to me, the main one being the mere fact that I was forced to watch Tom Hanks and Tom Hanks alone for more than 100 minutes, 127 Hours was gripping. Gritty, gripping. I always love these survival movies - where the human being most go to extreme lengths to survive. Alive was one of those movies that I can watch over and over as well. You see a man drinking his own urine to survive and you wonder if you could do that if that were you. Chances are, you would. Aron Ralston is a brave man and it was a great story. Here  is one part of the segment the real Aron did with Tom Brokaw. This was how I first learnt about him - before the movie was made.





The movie was just right. It was not some campy, sappy ode to the American super hero, probably because it was directed by a Brit. It was a true to life tale, told in a very realistic way, by a great actor. Oscar nom - deserved.

Thank God I don't have to drink my pee today. I have a pinot gris in the fridge and I just celebrated the end of another assignment (which I finished at 8 this morning, without sleeping a wink til it was done - it felt like 127 hours, lemme tell ya) with the rest of the chocolate ice cream. Liverpool beat Chelsea, so there were many happy men in the house, and life is pretty alright on the whole. Not an American football fan, and not interested in the Super Bowl, but enjoy the party anyway, people.

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Nutella Day, Doughnuts, Black Swan, Books - Life

It's World Nutella Day today. I have not seen any Nutella mascots in the streets nor was I given any free Nutella when I went to the store this morning. There was a Nutella discount but I did not patronise. I have never had Nutella actually. I love chocolate but never picked up a jar of this stuff. For good reason. I cannot say no to chocolate stuff. My running comment is that I am so brown because I eat so much chocolate. It's true. The Scarlet Ibis, which is our national bird back home in Trinidad, is not born red. They turn red over the course of their lives, from eating the red crabs in the swamp. So my complexion...gotta be the chocolate. lol.

And to prove my point about my love for chocolate - I bought these yesterday, simply because they were chocolate covered.

Thanks to Tesco for these little gems.

They were delicious. There were 20 in the box - all bite-sized, so don't think I ate 9 regular sized doughnuts in one afternoon. lol. An hour ago, there were 3 left. Now, there are none. I know. I am a pig. A sick pig.

My cup is multi-purpose!
Soup, cereal, Haagie...you name it!

I also have some leftover Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate ice cream in the freezer. It was on sale in Budgen's when I went to get water  on Sunday (ahem...conspiracy). Half price. I could not just leave it there. Alone. In the Budgens freezer when it could get all warm in my tummy.

So no...Nutella would be overkill on the chocolate. But I wish all the Nutella lovers out there a very happy Nutella Day. There is a World Nutella Day website and loads of Nutella recipes from Nutella freaks around the world. This started off as a tongue-in-cheek ode to Nutella, but I realise some people really take their Nutella seriously. My God!

I was sooooo sick last night that I could not do any work on said assignment and fell asleep while waiting for drugs to work. I woke up over a dead laptop around 6 this morning and then watched Black Swan. I must say, it did not "wow" me. It was good, but it was not "wow". I did not have any real emotional response to it though I will admit Natalie Portman was excellent. My aim was to see 5 of the 10 nominated films for the Best Picture Oscar. I am now on 2, having watched The King's Speech earlier this week. That one made me bawl. That one was WOW. Colin Firth, the ever amazing and not often lauded Colin Firth was wow. So next up...127 Hours. James "Marry Me" Franco. I can't wait. But I need to finish this assignment first - an assignment I realised I was doing all wrong this morning. Still not feeling so hot, but tomorrow Liverpool play Chelsea and that is a BIG game with all the Torres drama and all the Torres haters wanting to see him flop etc. And on a regular Liverpool match day, this house is a nightmare. I have spied beers and chicken wings and peanuts and that can only mean one thing

The boys are all coming over to watch it. I will not be trying to do this assignment amidst the Reds and Blues melee.

Happy Saturday!

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