Last day of work, in half an hour begins the friend-packed vacation!

Hello!
Right now, there's only 30 minutes between me and my longed for vacation! (I know, shouldn't be blogging at work, but seriously - NOTHING to do here). The next few days will be packed with social activities, starting out with a dinner with a few of my classmates tonight, celebrating one of my best friends 20th birthday tomorrow, BBQ at my place with a few friends on Sunday, then celebrating another one of my bestfriends the day after her 20th birthday on Monday (yes, I managed to get two great friends born the day after the other - the anxiety for getting good gifts have been through the roof, and I'm still panicking), then off to Twiin's house on Tuesday for a sleepover. (Will you just look at that sentence?! Soooo long! xD) On Wednesday I'm gonna hit the gym with L, and then on Thursday I'll leave for Gotland! My family's leaving early Sunday morning, but I decided I can't live in an enclosed area with them for two whole weeks, so I'm meeting up with them Thursday evening. I'm so looking forward to this vacation!!! :)

When I get back, I'll have a week of not really doing anything/no pre-planned activities. Probably working out, hanging with friends, reading and working some more on my report for the work I've done this summer. Then off for a mini-vacation with my girls from IKG, which is gonna be super fun! I just hope everyone will join, otherwise I'll be the only one with a driver's license (by the way, I GOT MY DRIVER'S LICENSE - old news in my world but I guess I never wrote it here.. Got October 1st last year!), and it won't be as fun without half the girls..

As you see there's a lot of fun ahead, I just hope I'll remember to post something here once in a while as well! ;)

xoxo
Frida

RIP Cory Monteith

I found out about his death Sunday morning, when I was eating breakfast (right about the same time it got out to the public, for everyone to know, I assume). I still find it hard to believe. As a Gleek, I'm sad this had to happen, and I feel so sorry about all his friends and family, especially the Glee cast, most of whom will go back to filming season 5 of Glee in about a month (the premiere date of Season 5 has been delayed, probably 'til november). I'm not sad because I'll have to wait another few months for next season, I'm sad because he will have to die twice, the second time as Finn (how else would they solve this?) and the entire cast has to go through all of these emotions again. I just think they should be respected in their grief, so lay off haters.

RIP Cory

The book that I shall not name

Okay, so last week I finished a book, but I will refrain from writing it's title or the name of the author, as he happens to be an old teacher of mine. And I'm pretty sure he google's himself once in a while, and while I never really appreciated his teaching abilities I still respect him enough to not hurt his feelings by talking about his book. If he stalks me enough to find this small blog in the middle of nowhere in cyberspace, then so be it.

While the core plot was... fascinating, I found it disturbing to read something written by an old (both in the sense that he has passed a certain age and the fact that he is no longer my current teacher) teacher, especially when he writes in first person and the narrator is a seventeen year old psychopathic girl. I think most people who read something written by someone they know, but don't know really well, will understand what I mean. There is something unsettling about knowing what goes on in that man's head, especially since I know whose head it goes on inside. If that makes sense.

Apart from it being weird to read because someone I know wrote it, I also found the topic of brutal serial killing and lesbian orgies not really to my liking. And it was too much of the wholesome mormonism (should be noted that said author belongs to the Mormon church, adn teaches psychology - just like the serial killer-teacher leading his little group of students in a serial killing spree). Also, there are the typos. Grammar and spelling mistakes everywhere! I mean come on, how did the book even get published with that many typos?! Fine if there are two or three mistakes in a book, but not two or three in every chapter - on average (the book was more than twenty chapters). That just annoys the hell out of me, grammar/spelling Nazi as I can be sometimes..

Ok, so I guess it doesn't really matter what the book is called, since I won't recommend it to anyone. If you're intrigued anyways (by the serial killing and lesbian orgies and what not), write a comment below and I might reveal the book's identity to you.

xoxo
Frida

Anna Karenina

This post was supposed to be up on Sunday, but I've been really busy so I didn't get around to writing it until now. It is therefore more than two weeks (almost three I think) since I saw Anna Karenina, the movie based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy.

It is done as if everything took place at a theatre stage, with changing scenery and change of outfits being done "behind the scene", and this is brought to its extreme in the beginning of the movie, making it difficult to get through the first half hour of the movie without turning off the TV. I actually had to see the movie in two sittings, 'cause I grew tired of it after an hour. However, while the first part was confusing and a bit tiring to watch, the second half turned out to be really to my liking. That's not to say it didn't grow even more confusing.

If you've managed to miss what the story is about: Anna Karenina is a married woman in Russia during the 1800s. During a trip to Moscow she meets Vronsky, a cavalry officer who falls in love with her. She is fighting her feelings for him (for about half the movíe) but they eventually become lovers. The story is about love and fidelity, about how one can do anything for the person that they love. Not only between Vronsky and Anna, but also between many other characters in the story. It takes a rather dramatic turn when Anna finds out she is expecting Vronsky's child, and from there it feels as if there is nothing but a downward spiral.

I think Keira Knightley fits in the role of Anna, and Jude Law does a terrific job as her husband, Count Alexei Karenin. However, I am very torn in my feelings towards Matthew Macfadyen as Stiva, Anna's brother. He does a great job portraying the character, but I just can't get it out of my head that he is our beloved Mr Darcy with a ridiculous mustache. The rest of the cast also does a very good job (great job casting director!), and my only problem is that it is soooo obvious that Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Vronsky) is not a natural blond.. It just looks wrong.

I might have not cared too much for the film (which gets a 2/5 from me, I think), but it made me want to read the novel. I think the story is good, the movie adaption is just very confusing, and I'm hoping the book will bring some clarity.

xoxo
Frida

Moulin Rouge!

Last Saturday (I thought it was Friday, then I realised I spent Friday night catching up on Once Upon a Time - will post about that later) I saw Moulin Rouge! for the first time. I know, as a fan of musicals I should have seen it before, but I just never got around to it (actually there are several musicals I have yet not seen, many of which I would like to see this summer so reviews may pop up).  

For those of you who don't know: it's about a young writer named Christian (Ewan McGregor) who goes to Paris just before the turn of the century (19th-20th) to write about the bohemian revolution - beauty, freedom and above all (in his eyes) love. He meets a theatrical group, led by Toulousse, which asks him to write them a play, and get Zidler to agree to put it on/sponsor it. Zidler is the owner of the brothel - Moulin Rouge - across the street, and the best way to get to him is through Satine (Nicole Kidman) - the star of the Moulin Rouge. Through a series of misunderstandings Christian and Satine meet and fall in love. The show is to be produced. They just have one obstacle (or so Christian thinks): the duke producing the play is in love with Satine. 

I liked it. I thought the beginning would make me epileptic and the "Like a Virgin"-number was like bad Glee on crack (I got the Glee association from them actually doing that cover in the first season, otherwise just some bad singing on crack) otherwise I rather enjoyed the musical numbers. Come What May and Your Song are definitely my favourites, but that might be because I've heard and liked them before. (Come What May with Klaine, I mean come one, of course I love it). The dance group I'm in at KI have done Roxanne as a number, and I just like that so much so I found the number in Moulin Rouge a bit all over the place. I liked the plot and the characters, and I think the casting director did a good job in getting Kidman and McGregor as the leads. In total, the experience of the movie was maybe a 3 out of 5, but cut the Like A Virgin and the intro and it probably would have gotten a 4 from me (it should definitely be added that I'm always too nice when rating stuff). 

Some of the music: 

 Come What May
Really bad Glee on crack (Like A Virgin)
El Tango De Roxanne
Your Song

xoxo
Frida

The Beach by Alex Garland

This was supposed to be posted on Monday, so "yesterday" refers to last Sunday. Don't really know why, but it just got saved as a draft instead of being published.

Yesterday I finished reading The Beach by Alex Garland. That's the main reason I didn't post anything at all last week (I put it off 'til the weekend and then I really wanted to finish the book, and when I did I just went to sleep), but this week I'm back with at least three posts so I hope you'll forgive me.  Let's move on to the review! 

The Beach is a fictional travel book about a young man, Richard, who's given a map to a secluded beach on an island in the marine park in Thailand, a real traveller's untouched paradise. With the help of two French traveller's he tries to find the mysterious beach, all the while having the ghost of the man who gave him the map haunting him as a figment of his imagination. A man who committed suicide just after giving the map away, and who one later finds out was one of the first to set foot on the beach. Reaching the beach is an adventure  the three travellers, but it seems like the real journey begins when they actually arrive. 

At first I found the book a bit dull and I had a bit of difficulty getting into it, but as the three travellers set on their way it got easier. Except for their first weeks or months or however long it was (the passing of time is somewhat confusing in the book, but that just contributes to the characters' confusion with the same issue), which was a lot less than exciting to read, the story actually held a lot of suspense. Some bits and pieces were extremely gruesome (at least to me, I might be a bit squeamish, but I don't think I'm more sensitive to these things than the average person) so if that's not your piece of cake, maybe I shouldn't recommend it. Otherwise, I do. I think it's an especially good read if you read it in the summer, or during your own travels, but what do I know? I read parts of it sitting in on an underground-train getting to campus and parts of it sitting in the shadow on our back porch trying to avoid the heat. I might have enjoyed the latter more simply because I had the day off, not because the book gave a better reading experience that day. Or the most exciting parts of the story coincided with my afternoon reading in the sun. I don't know. Overall I think I give it 3/5, sadly knocked down because of how hard I found it to get into the plot.  

The "you have to read this fantastic book"-quote on the front cover of the book that most top-sellers have (or famous authors who live on their previous work) said something like "has all the makings of a cult classic". I think it was Nick Hornby who said/wrote it (no, actually I know it was, it just sounds better if I come off as less of a miss know-it-all). I don't really know what a book has to have to be a cult classic, but I think he's right. Most books I've read that are classics or modern classics (or whatever they are with the word classic in it) have a pattern of confusing me, being a bit difficult to get in to for about twenty to fifty pages and then I like it. Sometimes I love it and often I stay confused about things even after I've put the book down. Maybe I'm a bit too young or too Swedish (I know! Horrible thought!) to get references to make the story more clear.  

In conclusion, a good story about traveling, Thailand, the ultimate travelling destination and how things never go the way you plan. Especially if you don't know how you want your plan to go. And just a bit of love. Read it. (Or see the movie, I guess that works too). 

xoxo Frida