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

Not really a Wallflower, more like a Social Bird

It's crazy!
This week I've met like fourteen friends, and some of them I've met several times, like Linn, whom I met for lunch and went to the gym with, or Kalle (I met him three different times!). I'm exhausted. Included in these social activities was a sleepover at my Twiin's house (it's like we're back to our normal Tuesday routines, without the bollywood-dancing) and a BBQ-party last night. It's all very much fun though, so I shall not complain.

If I've done more? I've been working, cleaning the house (which looks like I haven't cleaned it all two days later), reading My Sister's Keeper (finsihed it today, and I cried for like a good half hour, for full "review" see earlier post My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult) and working out. And that's pretty much it! Getting some Glee songs right now, so I'm gonna listen through them (again!) and might post something about my favourites of Season 4 later. And maybe something about Season 4 as well?

xoxo
Frida

One last summer

I'm back baby! (And with a new font, since I've heard the last one was difficult to read)

This last year I've been super busy with med school, an expanding social life (that my fifteen-year-old-self would have wished for) and activities with the school's student organization. That's the reason I haven't written anything since I started school in September. Two weeks ago was the last (and only) test of the semester (which I recently found out I passed!!!), and I'm officially on summer break! So, now I'm back with reviews, bursts of "intelligent" opinions and other tidbits of my life. 

The post's title.. Yeah, since my user name's Friida93, it is kinda obvious that I was born in 1993. This means my years as a teenager will effectively end this year in December, and the point of having a blog called "Speculations of a Teenage Girl" will sieze to exist. I might start another blog, if I find energy, time, inspiration and whatever else I might need. So, this is the last summer I will post new things in this blog, and I hope I'll get some interesting things out there (highly doubtful as I'm spending the summer at my uni campus, doing research, and when I'm not there I'll spend time hanging with friends or working out - but I have a pretty long reading list this summer and some movies I really want to see, so you'll probably get some reviews, if nothing else). Also, I might add reviews of some of the few things I've seen or read this past year (pathetic, really, how little I've read). 

Ok, with promises of the future I end this post to get back to some pointless watching of TV-series.

xoxo

Friida93

Those were the best of times..

I'm sorry I haven't written anything in a while, but I am now a med student and it involves lots of social activities as well as remote studying/completing assignments. I've had a fun week and I think I'll try to squeeze in reviews later (probably sometime in the weeks to come) about what I've seen/read these last couple of weeks.

The reason I felt the need to write right now, however, is that I just started processing that my now-ex-classmates (from Gymnasiet) are never going to be my classmates again. I won't ever be in the same class as my Twiin (one of the most important people in my life), which means not meeting her on a daily basis. And it just hurts so, so bad. I met her and a couple of friends (also ex-classmates) for a sleepover last night and we parted, what, 3 hours ago maybe? And now I just miss her so much it physically hurts. So now I'm processing graduation.. I'm sort of glad I didn't process it when it happened, since crying this much on the actual day might have been a bit of a downer..

So, to all my friends: I love you and miss you, and I am so, so, so enourmously happy that I ever got the privilege to meet you, and get to know you. To my ex-classmates: I miss all of you (yes, that includes the most annoying of you too, that I seriously disliked), because together we were a class, and there is so much from our last three years together that I will look back to with a smile on my face. Even though it hurts now that it's gone, I am happy that it ever happened. Now I'm ready for new experiences, and I hope something as amazing as my last three years will happen again.

xoxo
Frida

Movies, Plays and Books

This past week, during which I have been as awful as ever at updating this blog, I have read Alice in Wonderland, seen Captain America (twice) and Hunger Games (for the second time) as well as seen the play The Greedy (L'Avare) by Molière and in the writing moment I am watching Wuthering Heights. So, as you see, there's quite a lot to comment/review.

For a review on Hunger Games, see my previous post on the matter; Hunger Games - The Movie, but if you want to know more about the others, please keep reading.

Captain America

Upon the request of one of my dear friends I rented Captain America for our "movie afternoon" last Thursday, and that was the best suggestion I've had in a long time. It was a fantastic movie with action, comedy and a wee bit of love and tragedy. And lots of hot guys! At least three of them (Dominic Cooper, Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan). ;) I also loved the character of Agent Peggy Carter. I mean she's a kick-ass, beautiful British woman, what's not to love?

A definite 4 out of 5, maybe even a 4,5. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm not too into super heroes, and some things were just a little bit.. I don't know.. off? I would totally give it a five. I really recommend it to pretty much anyone who likes a good movie. :)

The Greedy
A great play by Molière, that I saw with my father Saturday night at The Royal Dramatic Theater (Dramaten) in Stockholm. There's something special about going to a play instead of a movie. The talent of the actors is so much more captivating, somehow. And if you're under the age of 26 like myself, a ticket will only cost you 100 SEK (less than a 3D movie at the cinema!), no matter where you sit. For anyone in Stockholm, I really recommend that you go see the play!

Alice in Wonderland

I read Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
this week, and have just started reading Through The Looking Glass. It's not a very long novel, in fact it might be short enough to qualify as a short story with just about 100 pages (in the edition I have). However, it is quite an interesting read, and it is quite a lot like a dream (which is what it is I guess). Also, there are quite a few things that are present in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (duh!).

If you have nothing to read and have this book available, you should definitely give it a read!

Wuthering Heights
Well, just finished it, and boy was that I waste of time. Hundreds of shots at nature and dying animals, and the interesting part of the story started more than halfway (an hour) into the movie. I was hoping that it would motivate me to start reading the book that it's based on (which I got for Christmas last year, or maybe the year before..), but it didn't.

It would be generous to give the movie 2 out of 5... So, settling for a tiny 1, and NOT recommending that you see it. If you don't love the book that is, then you might like the movie too, I don't know..

xoxo
Frida

Just One Look

Just finished Harlan Coben's Just One Look, which I started reading Saturday afternoon (after finishing Dalton). If that time frame (which includes lost time due to spending the weekend with my Twiin - and during the time I spent with her I didn't read anything, and taking a break in reading the book yesterday to read more fanfics, as well as normal sleeping yesterday) is not a hint to how nail-biting the book was, then I don't know what is. Like always with Harlan Coben (who is one of my favourite authors - did I mentioned he tweeted me?! Some time ago I wrote something about the opening line in The Innocent, "You didn't mean to kill him", which possibly is the beat opening sentence I've ever read, and he responded with something like "enjoy the rest of the book"! Ok, enough rambling..) the language pulls you forward and the plot unfolds in such a way that it's difficult to stop reading. If you've ever read a stand-alone novel of Coben, you know what I mean. There's also the way he has several characters in focus and you won't know how they're all connected until the last couple of pages (and it's often a very surprising connection at that). I love it.

The difference between the previous novels of his that I've read and Just One Look, is that the main character (if you can say that there is one, which I think you can) is a woman. Ok, scratch that, I just thought of two other novels where you could argue that the lead character is a woman. Anyways. Grace Lawson is this suburban mother and painter with a nice life and then her husband goes missing after seeing a photograph from his past, and she's determined to find him. Grace's wit, if you could call it that, is a great contributing factor to the book, and it gives a fun edge to even serious situations. Also, her annoyance with perfect housewives and suburban mothers is hilarious.

It is not my favourite book by Harlan Coben (that is and will probably always be Hold Tight), but it was very good. I really recommend that you read it, even though I don't quite know how to grade it (I've found that grading stuff really isn't my strong suit). Maybe a 3,5 or 4 out of 5.

xoxo
Frida