101 in 1001 - Complete a 365 Photo Project

Screenshot of every photo I uploaded to the project

The above image shows all the pictures I took for the 101 in 1001 goal:

• 004. Complete a 365 photo project.

To view the photos in each month, you can click the links below:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

I finished it today and it's been a lot of fun! Maybe I'll restart again next year, but I haven't decided yet. :)

Edit: I did restart!

101 in 1001 - Listen to 5 bands beginning with every letter of the alphabet - "A"

The last post was for my 101 in 1001 list and was all about a series, but this one is focused entirely on music. Specifically for the goal:

075. Listen to 5 bands beginning with every letter of the alphabet

I also specified that at least two of the bands for each letter should be new to me, so I chose 3 bands I've heard before (ASP, Aliene Maφriage, Austra) and two that were "new" (Ashbury Heights, Assemblage 23). Either I don't listen to a lot of bands/artists beginning with the letter A, or I just can't remember them right now, but this was quite difficult!

For the recommended music, I've tried to choose a few of my favourites by each - not necessarily the videos - and then some that demonstrate a slightly different sound. I don't really care about genres, so sorry if I get them wrong here! It's just so you know vaguely what to expect. Not being a music critic,  there won't be an analysis of their technical merits or flaws. This is just what I like (or don't, in some cases). Biased personal opinion all the way.

Letter A

1. ASP

Asp the vocalist of ASP

Genre: Neue Deutsche Härte / Alternative Rock / Gothic Novel Rock

About: ASP (said like the name of the snake) are a German group that was formed by Asp (AKA: Alexander Spreng), in 1999, in Frankfurt am Main. They've released 11 studio albums,  2 live albums and 4 compilation albums to date, plus various EPs and singles. Their lyrics are mainly in German, but they do have the occasional song in English as well.

Website: https://www.aspswelten.de/

Thoughts: I don't listen to ASP that often, but enjoy their music when I do. They combine the harder sounds of alternative rock with NDH and electronic elements. They also add in other instruments such as violins/fiddles and even bagpipes to give a more unusual sound. Generally, they have a fairly melodic sound - both music and singing - but there are times when the vocals get a little harsher and the accompaniment faster and heavier too. They're a group that are able to pull off both styles well.

More songs:

20.000 Meilen (2017)

Panzerhaus (Plakat Mix) (2013)

Ich will brennen (2012)

2. Ashbury Heights

Ashbury Heights: Tea F. Thimé & Anders Hagström

Genre: Synthpop / Futurepop

About: Ashbury Heights are an electronic duo from Sweden, originally formed by Anders Hagström (vocals, programmer, music, lyrics) and Yasmine Uhlin (vocals) in Sundsvall, Medelpad in 2005. Uhlin left in 2008 and was then replaced by Kari Berg until 2010, when she also departed from the band. Due to a dispute between Hagstöm and the band's label, Ashbury Heights disbanded in 2011 before reforming again in 2013 with the present line-up. The current female vocalist and co-lyricist is Tea F. Thimé, who had no previous vocal experience, but was formerly a burlesque performer and has a PhD. in English Literature. As of 2017, the band have released 3 studio albums, 1 EP, and appeared on a compilation too.

Websites:

Tumblr

Facebook

Instagram

Thoughts: This is one of the bands I hadn't heard before a few months ago, so I'm still not that familiar with all of their music, but I do really like most of what I've listened to so far. They have a completely synth sound to them - not something I mind - and are very poppy, but still interesting. They remind me a little of 80's bands like The Human League and also the Pet Shop Boys (I'm aware both bands are still going), but with a more modern feel. 

More Songs:

Unbearable Beauty

I Paint Nightscapes

Scars of a Lighthouse

Heathen Crossing

Spiders

I wanted to find videos for their songs 'Phantasmagoria' and 'November Corrosion' because they're from AH's most recent album (The Looking Glass Society) and I like them a lot, but couldn't find any (that link is to the album on Spotify if you want to listen though).

3. Aliene Maφriage / Aliene Ma'riage

Aliene Maφriage

Genre: Visual Kei / Rock / Metal

About: Aliene Ma'riage were a Japanese Visual Kei band (in the music genres: Metal/Industrial Metal and Hard Rock/Rock) who were originally from Kansai, formed by Kyouka (vocals), Mast (guitar) and Ray (bass), under the name Autism in 1997. However, after being picked up by the label Key Party in 1998, they relocated to Tokyo and continued activities under the name Aliene Ma'riage until 2001. During that time, the band released 3 studio albums and 2 singles.

Thoughts: Despite my love of predominantly electronic music, at the end of the 90's, Visual Kei stole a piece of my heart as well, and Aliene Ma'riage was one of the groups responsible for that. VK isn't a music genre as such - at least it wasn't back then - but rather a "movement" characterised by the use of make-up, styling, costuming and sets, combined with androgynous and/or theme-specific aesthetics (bit like a very elaborate form of glam rock...but different). Having said that, the VK bands I like do often fit broadly into the metal, alternative rock and gothic rock genres.

The music in VK and its sub-genres can range widely; going from light pop-rock to heavy metal to hard rock and "screamo". I always preferred the bands with darker, heavier, music and looks, with the exception being Malice Mizer - my absolute favourite VK band - who often had darker or more horror/gothic horror-influenced visuals and themes, but would also sometimes pair them with lighter music of varying genres (rock, pop, electronic, classical, opera, metal... sometimes a mixture of all of those). But I'll save more about them for M! 

Anyway, Aliene Ma'riage were on the heavier, darker side of the spectrum of VK, both in look/theme and musically (though there were a few softer, more melodic songs like the one below) and it's something I found wonderful. I had a penchant for the horror genre and theatrical metal/rock bands with a gothic influence (from other countries) already though, so it was hardly surprising that I was drawn to them. Also, as a side note, I didn't know, but the internet has informed me that as of 2016 their vocalist, Kyouka, has been in a band called Insanity-Injection, who I quite like as well. But again, maybe I'll write more about them when the right letter comes up.

More Songs:

Cyber Patrol wo Uchiotose

Native Devil

Yoru no butoukai~Le Soirée

Virgin Mary

Doku no hana

4. Austra

Austra vocalist Katie Stelmanis

Genre: Synthpop / New Wave / Dark Wave / Art Pop

About: Austra are an electronic band first formed by Katie Stelmanis in 2009, in Toronto, Canada.  However, Stelmanis was producing music under her own name and other pseudonyms with fellow Austra member Maya Postepski directly before that. The name Austra is taken from Stelmanis' middle name, but is also the name of the goddess of light in Latvian mythology. The other band members are: Dorian Wolf, Ryan Wonsiak and there were two former members, Romy Lightman and Sari Lightman who were backing singers as well. The band have released 3 studio albums, a remix album, 2 EPs and multiple singles to date.

Website: http://www.austramusic.com/

Thoughts: I first heard Austra in 2010/11 when I listened to the song 'Spellwork' and, though they've never become one of my favourites, as they have songs I'm not that keen on, I do listen to them quite regularly. They remind me of what a gloomier version of Florence + The Machine (who I don't really like) and a little Björk and Gazelle Twin, with some politics mixed into some of lyrics, would sound like. It sounds good! However, if you don't like Katie Stelmanis' somewhat distinctive voice, you'll probably have a hard time listening to this group, even if you appreciate the music and/or lyrics. Luckily for me, I enjoy it a lot.

Other Songs:
Home
Lose It
Hurt Me Now
Identity
The Beat And The Pulse
I Love You More Than You Love Yourself
Change The Paradigm
Utopia

5. Assemblage 23

Tom Shear AKA Assemblage 23

Genre: Futurepop, Electro-industrial, Synthpop, EBM

About: Assemblage 23 is from the US and the project of Tom Shear, who has been making music under this pseudonym since 1988. All the lyrics and music are written by Shear and he is also the vocalist and programmer. Paul Seegers and Mike Jenney join the project during live performances. Assemblage 23 has released 8 studio albums, a remix EP, two "unreleased & early works (pre-1999)" collection albums, and a handful of singles, as of 2017.

Website: http://www.assemblage23.com/

Thoughts: I have often heard Assemblage 23 mentioned, but had never heard or even seen a picture of him until a song (the one in the first video) popped up on an EBM playlist I was listening to recently. He's just one of those artists that I'd never got around to listening to, even though I'd had multiple opportunities to do so.

His vocals remind me a little of Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode, whose voice I love, though Assemblage 23's lyrics are certainly a lot more interesting than most of DM's (sorry, - I like them too, but it's true!). This is an artist that I definitely want to listen to more of, as I've only heard bits and pieces from every album so far. Lesson learnt: in future, don't take so long to listen to bands!

Other songs:
Smoke
Collapse
Awake (Imperative Reaction Mix)
Damaged
Angels & Demons

Well, that's it for the letter A! Any suggestions for the other letters are welcome.

101 in 1001 - Roasted Chestnuts, Sesame Mochi, and Mango Daifuku

Roasted Chestnuts

Previously, I've written about food for the 101 in 1001 goal:

• 039. Try 10 foods/drinks I haven't tried before.

So here I am again, edging my total up slowly to six with the next three foods: roasted chestnuts, sesame mochi and mango daifuku. Technically I've tried mochi before, but it wasn't sesame mochi. And, technically, I've had daifuku before (it's something sweet wrapped in mochi, basically), but it was strawberry (ichigo) daifuku, which has a whole fruit inside it and is quite different. Therefore, I'm including these two as well!

Chestnuts - I like the deer on the packaging

Making steam vents

The first food I tried was roasted chestnuts. I didn't think it was that unusual to not have tried them before, but when I mentioned it to a friend of mine when someone was eating some on a show we were watching, they thought it was very strange. So, said friend bought me some chestnuts and, after poking the nuts with steam vent holes, we roasted them in the oven. 

The nuts took 12 minutes to cook on 180 degrees centigrade in a fan-assisted oven and most of them had split open by the end of cooking. This made peeling those shells off very quick and easy, but the remaining cases were simple to remove with a knife. The nuts inside were soft, a little crumbly, but very creamy at the same time. Although they were most definitely savoury, they also had a hint of sweetness about them too, so they'd probably go well with either type of food. 

Opened, roasted chestnuts

Whilst, I don't think they're something I'd have all the time, I did like them a lot and they made a nice treat!

Sesame Mochi

The next food I tried was purely by chance. For Christmas, I bought a friend a vegan sweet selection from Tofu Cute and, though it always consists of Japanese sweets and candy, is vegan and comes in a panda bag, the contents varies slightly from order to order. Friend very kindly let me try some of their haul, so I was able to have some sesame (goma) mochi.

Sesame mochi with black sesame seed filling

Mochi is Japanese rice cake made of mochigome, a short-grain glutinous/sticky rice. The rice is then made into the needed shape after being ground, steamed and pounded. It can be plain mochi in a solid shape, but can also be wrapped around various fillings. 

This particular type was coated in sesame seeds and filled with a paste made of slightly sweetened black sesame seeds. The filling was sweet enough to make it count as a dessert food, but still savoury enough to not be sickly. Also, even though each mochi is quite small, they were filling due to the rice/carbohydrate content, which was quite nice. I really liked these, but as with the chestnuts, would probably only have them as a treat now and then.

Mango daifuku

The third item of food I tried once again came via my friend being nice and allowing me to try one of the mango daifuku in their panda sweet bag. 

Mango daifuku

The mango daifuku consisted of mango jelly and a layer of "cream" inside mochi. This was much sweeter and richer than the sesame mochi and was unmistakably a dessert food. Whilst I liked both, I preferred the sesame mochi as I don't really like jelly-filled foods so much. I will probably opt for a different flavour of daifuku the next time, such as a mixture of other fruits and/or anko. It was nice though!

(Thank you to Miseria for taking the photos of the mochi/daifuku for me♥)

I have four more foods left to try now. Any recommendations?

101 in 1001 - Russian Duolingo

Screenshot of my Duolingo homepage with the little "completed" golden owl, featuring a Russian flag scarf

Yesterday, I finished a goal on my 101 in 1001 list!

• 009. Complete the Russian language course on Duolingo.

Я закончил, но я ещё плохо говорю по-русски!
Любимое предложение:

Кто будет защищать наш город от драконов?

Who indeed!

When I started, I only knew a few words from songs, games, and films, but now I'm able to read  and write cyrillic (both printed and cursive - though reading cursive is still hard!), form sentences about various topics, understand what's being said in some of the aforementioned media (without looking at translations), and have even had a few basic conversations with people in Russian too (oh, I sound awful, but I was understood so oh well! Haha). 

So, even if I'm still terrible at Russian, I've made progress, which is what I wanted, more than just to get the shiny golden owl. Obviously, some of the things I learned, I didn't learn on Duolingo, but having somewhere to practise everyday has helped a lot! (And no, I'm not a premium member, I just use the basic free stuff).

Though this goal is finished now, I'm going to continue practising Russian both on Duolingo and elsewhere, because it's a language I've very much fallen in love with. 

Of course, it wasn't the first language I completed on Duolingo though...

日本語コースも終わった❣

でも、昔は、日本語の勉強したので、
ロシア語に比べて難しくなかったですね。

Hopefully, the next little golden bird you see here will be the German Duo owl. I'm learning Korean for 101 in 1001 as well (and other languages just because I want to), but I've learnt German before and have people to practise with, so that seems more likely. Plus, I'm pretty terrible at Korean right now. I mean, really terrible! But I'll persevere. :)

Спокойной ночи!

101 in 1001 - Digital Paintings & 365 Days of Art: Piercings

166. Piercings

I drew the above image for the 101 in 1001 list goal:

• 032. Finish 10 digital paintings.

Luckily, it also overlaps with one of my 365 Days of Art list themes (166. Piercings), so I can cross off another of those at the same time.

101 in 1001 - Watch 5 TV Series - Bad Guys (나쁜 녀석들)

For my 101 in 1001 challenge, I've been slowly working towards completing various goals on the list. Lately I've been watching a TV show and calling it part of the goal:

• 067. Watch 5 new (to you) TV series (all current episodes).*

Apparently, Netflix suggested this particular series to me because I like 'Gotham' and 'Hannibal'. Those are two of my favourite shows, so how could I not watch it!

Title: Bad Guys [Korean title: 나쁜 녀석들 / Nappeun Nyeoseokdeul]
Year: 2014
No. of Seasons: 1*
No. of Episodes: 11
Cert: Mature (PG - 12...no sex but lots of violence / mature themes. All the knives and some of the gore are blurred out though.)
Genre: Drama, action, crime
Language: Korean (Subtitles available in various languages on Netflix; I had English)

Cast (main):
Kim Sang-joong as Oh Gu-tak
Ma Dong-seok as Pak Un-Cheol
Park Hae-jin as Lee Jung-moon
Jo Dong-hyuk as Jung Tae-soo
Kang Ye-won as Yoo Mi-young

Plot: Oh Gu-tak is a detective that will use any means necessary to catch criminals and this results in his frequent suspension from the police for using excessive force. Detective Oh decides to bring together a team of "bad guys" to assist on difficult cases and help hunt down other criminals. The plan is approved and the ambitious Inspector Yoo Mi-young also joins the team to keep an eye on them. They release three inmates from jail to form the team: Lee Jung-moon - the youngest member, who is a genius with an IQ of 165 and doctorates in maths and philosophy, but is also a convicted serial killer; Pak Un-Cheol - a gangster who took over the Seoul underworld in just 25 days, and continues to be in control, even in prison; and Jung Tae-soo - he was previously an uncaught hit man who never made mistakes, before suddenly confessing and turning himself in one day.

Overall: This wasn't a show without flaws. The story was mostly, though not always, predictable,  some of the acting was a little over the top and melodramatic in places, and sometimes I disliked Oh Gu-tak so much that it made me not even care about the loss and suffering he'd been through or what he was trying to achieve. However, none of that prevented 'Bad Guys' from being a highly enjoyable, entertaining and watchable show, with great characters, solid, complete narratives for all the characters involved, and interesting storytelling techniques that made even predictable plotlines somewhat uncertain. In short, I loved it! 

Yoo Mi-young at the base of operations

Jung Tae-soo's tattoo

Side note: if you're expecting to see Yoo-Mi-young showing off her legs in short skirts all the time, as on the poster, sorry to tell you that you'll be disappointed (she usually dresses as in the above image, or in a formal police uniform). So don't just watch it for that. Jung Tae-soo does like taking his shirt off rather a lot though (because of his tattoo, naturally) so, if you're interested in that, then it's rife. Don't watch the show just because of that either though. :P

The crime boss (Madam Hwang) in this episode was so over the top

Jung Tae-soo visiting Park Sun-jung

Best Bits: The cinematography - from the framing to the lighting to the angles and colours used - is gorgeous. From a storyline point of view, the way the line between who is a "bad guy" and a "good guy" is extremely thin or sometimes non-existent is great. There are really only anti-heros at best in this show. Also, Jung-moon and Un-Cheol's unlikely "friendship" is fun and gives their characters more depth and the friendly rivalry between Tae-soo and Un-Cheol is amusing as well. All of the characters have relationships/interactions with people outside of the team as well though. It gives insights as to how they ended up on their individual paths and the differences - or lack of differences - between how they act towards various kinds of people.

Inspector Yoo interrogating a suspect

Also, I like that the events that happen are clarified by the end, too. Sometimes I want things left up to my imagination in series, but not in this case. They go a little overboard with explanations sometimes, but I don't think I'm in a position to criticise them there!

Pak Un-Cheol and being shown a photo by his boss, Lee Doo-kwang

Other than that, a certain character getting an apology (more than just an apology) in the end and their reaction to it is satisfying, because they are probably the closest thing to a "good" person in the whole story, but have to go through a lot. There are other "best bits", but they're spoilers (Prosecutor Oh Jae-won is awful, but a fantastic character at the same time), so you'll just have to watch it and find out for yourself. :)

Jung-moon & some douchebag (AKA: Prosecutor Oh)

Worst Bits: There was a lot of music all the time. I got used to it, but sometimes it would have been nice to have a break from it. There were a few too many slow motion scenes as well, to the point that it became corny and during the fight scenes I'm not sure why 30 - 50 guys with baseball bats, golf clubs, and hammers - there's always a hammer! - need to all fight 2 or 3 guys at once. They seem to just fight amongst themselves at some points.

Drama with Tae-soo  (for a good reason here, though)

Then, Tae-soo being so overly dramatic was somewhat mood-breaking at points, although, I admit it was also highly enjoyable in a cheesy sort of way. 

Detective Oh with his daughter

And, last but not least, Gu-tak spitting everywhere or having spit/snot dripping from his face all the time - just, WHY? It's mostly the spitting part though.





Also, I watched this with a friend (who enjoyed the series too) and they want me to tell you that Jung-moon's hairstyle - his face in general, in fact - was one of the "worst bits", but that has nothing to do with the show being good or not. It's true, you see his face a lot in the show, even when he's not in the scenes (that will make sense if you watch), but I disagree with my friend. So I'll end this section with a nice screenshot of Jung-moon and his hair:

Lee Jung-moon...gets injured a lot

Watch It If You Like: Crime dramas with an undertone of comedy; Korean drama shows that don't focus on romance; storylines about psychopaths; hammer and golf club fights; dramatic acting; storylines about serial killers; action scenes; character-focused narratives.

Rating: 8.5/10

*Technically, there is another season (Bad Guys 2/Bad Guys: City of Evil), but it's about completely different characters, has different storylines, features different actors, and only the premise - criminals helping to solve crimes - is the same. I consider it a sequel rather than another season of the same series and so didn't watch it for this goal, but will probably watch it at some point.

101 in 1001 - Go to a party

Ticket

Last night, I completed another goal by chance:

• 068. Go to a party 

That might seem like a strange goal but I was trying to push myself out of my comfort zone a little, as I don't particularly enjoy parties (if I'm with friends, or somewhere with good music, it's fine, but often neither seems to be the case). Usually, I'll turn down invitations or leave very early when it comes to these large merry gatherings, but I decided not to this time. 

It just so happened that the place I volunteer at was having a Christmas party last night. The photo above is the only one I took (though I'm sure there are others somewhere); it's of the ticket, and even though I had number 28, there was around 120 people there in total. I went, had free food  and drink, hung out with people, and danced (to terrible music, haha) until just after midnight. It wasn't so bad. I even got listen to some music in Danish, because some of the people I knew there (who are Danish) got talking to the DJ when we went outside and it turned out he was half Danish, half Irish, and just happened to have a song they knew. Also, I found out about climate change, snowfall and other random stuff in Poland from the taxi driver (talking to people is interesting!), so I learnt a little too.

And that's another 101 in 1001 goal completed.

101 in 1001 - Write 25 Poems (No. 7 - 12)

Another photo from my 365 Project

Last month I posted the first 6 poems for my 101 in 1001 list goal:

• 021. Write 25 poems.

Again, I rarely write rhyming poems and hardly ever let anyone read anything I write at all. Despite that, here are the next 6 (numbers 7-12) for the challenge goal (under the jump cut)....

101 in 1001 - Watch 20 films: Selkies, Sexuality, and Synthetic Intelligence

As I mentioned a few posts ago, one of the goals on my 101 in 1001 list is:

• 020. Watch 21 films I haven't seen before.

Last time, I opted for a modern Japanese drama-comedy about a cellist turned funeral director, a 1980's US fantasy animation with an evil psychokinetic ice magician, and a 1920's Russian silent docu-drama about the October Revolution of 1917. So, continuing on with the theme of  "films that are nothing alike" - variety is good! - here are the next three.

Title: Song of the Sea (2014)

Director: Tomm Moore

Starring: David Rawle; Lucy O'Connell; Brendan Gleeson; Lisa Hannigan; Fionnula Flanagan

Cert: PG

Genre: Animation, fantasy, adventure, drama, family

Language: English (Gaeilge in song)

Plot: After the death of their mother, Ben, a young Irish boy, and his younger sister Saoirse, a selkie, go on a quest to free the fairies and save the spirit world, as well as their family in the process.

Best Bit: All of the Irish mythology included. Not only the selkies - humans able to transform into seals - but also fairies, Mac Lir (it means "son of the sea" and is probably loosely based around Manannán mac Lir, whose father is a sea god in myth), Macha (the name of an ancient Irish goddess) and the general merging of magical and human realms. Also, the great care taken with everything, from the gorgeous backgrounds, to the storytelling, to the names carefully chosen for each character, really makes this film wonderful. (If you'd like to read more about that, there's already a great explanation of it here).

Worst Bit: The animation style of the humanoid characters in the film was not to my taste, but that's just a personal preference. Also, I didn't like the way that Ben's father put so much importance and on his sister and somewhat neglected him, even though Ben was suffering from his mother's death too. However, it did make sense within the context of the plot, and I understand why the story was done that way. Other than that, sometimes Ben's running around exclaiming: "woo!" when he was having adventurous times became a little tiresome. I realise that it was probably put in to keep the younger audiences entertained, but, I'm a grumpy old person with no children, haha.

Overall: It wasn't a film I had originally intended to see, but someone asked me if I wanted to watch it with them since they know I like both anything to do with mythology and the sea. I wasn't disappointed - it was a wonderful film!

Watch it if you like: Irish mythology; animation; films with a similar feel to Hayao Miyazaki's animations.

Rating: 8.5/10

Title: Shake It All About [Danish: En kort En lang] (2001)

Director: Hella Joof

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Charlotte Munck, Troels Lyby

Cert: DK7 (It doesn't have a UK rating, but it seems like something that might be a PG or 12 over here?)

Genre: Romantic comedy

Language: Danish (English subs)

Plot: Jacob and Jørgen have been in a relationship for several years and get engaged after Jacob proposes.  Everything seems perfect, until Jacob falls in love with Caroline, the woman married to Jørgen's younger brother, Tom. Things get complicated and Jacob has to decide who he wants to spend the rest of his life with: Jørgen or Caroline.

Best Bit:  Jacob's purple shirt (it made me think of Violet). The ice skating scene. Oh, and the ending because it was so cheesy. Jacob driving, then running, then riding a horse to the airport to stop a plane with a bouquet of flowers was really silly and too much, but it amused me all the same! (There were better bits than these I'm sure, but I can't remember without watching it again).

Worst Bit: Some of the things Jacob did didn't make a lot of sense and his behaviour was pretty immature and selfish at times. Caroline too, but it seemed like she had more reasons than Jacob did. I understand that he was finding himself or whatever, but if your fiance's in hospital because he was upset that you had sex with someone else, got drunk and had an accident, you should probably not continue to have sex with said person. Just a thought. Ah, but it's a romantic comedy, so it all works out in the end!

Overall: A friend recommended this to me because it has an actor in it (guess which one :P) from some other things that I like and I hadn't seen it. Well, romantic comedies aren't my thing, but I chose it at random from my "to watch" list, and it did amuse me in places. It was a pleasant enough film.

Apart from that, I liked that it didn't suggest that Jacob just hadn't "met the right girl yet", and didn't explain his choice of partner that way. Jacob's behaviour seemed to be more about the fact that he was panicking because of the impending lifelong commitment to Jørgen. Also, he didn't really fit into the "gay community", he really wanted to have children (at the time of this film, it wasn't possible for a gay couple to adopt; it is now), that his parents didn't really approve of him being gay (though they never mentioned it until he was with Caroline), and then that he realised that he also had feelings for a woman and might be bisexual. 

Caroline too was unhappy with things about her life and marriage (to Jørgen's brother, a pilot), so the relationship was something of an escape for both. It's really just about Jacob and Caroline figuring out what they really want, but they hurt other people in the process, as a side effect.

Watch it if you like: Romantic comedies; dramatic relationships with happy endings; Danish language films; frilly purple shirts; guys riding on horses to airports to stop planes.

Rating: 6/10

Title: Ex Machina (2014)

Director: Alex Garland

Starring: Alicia Vikander; Domhnall Gleeson; Oscar Isaac; Sonoya Mizuno

Cert: 15

Genre: Sci-fi, drama, mystery/thriller

Language: English

Plot: Caleb, a 26 year old programmer employed by the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at the remote private mountain retreat of the company's CEO, Nathan. When Caleb gets to the compound, he discovers that the real reason behind the competition was to find someone to interact with and carry out an extended Turing test on the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful gynoid.

Best Bit:  Caleb's interactions with both Ava and Nathan. The similarities between Ava and Nathan that made them almost like an extremely dysfunctional father and daughter (Nathan even comments on him being "like her dad" at one point). The workshop Nathan built Ava in (the brains!). Kyoko getting to interact with Ava. The ending, because even though it seemed unfair to one - two if you count the events leading up to the very end - of the characters, as they didn't really do anything wrong, it actually completely made sense. (Also, if you go for Roko's Basilisk theory, then I guess it was inevitable at some point anyway). I liked that you don't get to see what happens to everyone once the experiment is over, as well. Even though it's pretty obvious what happens after the events of the film, it's left somewhat open-ended. 

Worst Bit: N A T H A N. I don't think I've disliked a character so much in a long time. But, that was the point really. He wasn't supposed to be likeable. Oscar Isaac did a great job of playing him though! And, maybe the worst bit is really that I started to understand his point of view by the end, whether I liked it or not, even though he just got worse.

Overall: This was one of the best films I've seen in ages and I wish it hadn't taken me so long to see it. It manages to balance hard sci-fi based in the real world, with entertainment, beautiful cinematography, solid effects, and an original take on the AI genre of film. Brilliant!

Watch it if you like: Sci-fi; artificial intelligence; gynoids; androids; robots; horrible "bad guys"; programmers who fall in love with robots; random dance scenes; Turing tests; technology; search engines.

Rating: 9

101 in 1001 - Write 25 Poems (No. 1 - 6)

A photo I took for 365 Project, because I wanted an image

Number 21 on my 101/1001 list is:

• 021. Write 25 poems.

I write (poems, stories etc.) quite a lot, but rarely show it to anyone. Today, you'll find out why! You'll also discover that I neither like to write poems that rhyme nor make a great deal of sense to anyone but me. With that said, let's move on to the first six (under the jump cut)...

101 in 1001 - Persimmon, Longans, and a Ball of Energy

Persimmon

In the last post I wrote about three different films, and this entry is about three different foods. This is, of course, for the 101 in 1001 list goal:

• 039. Try 10 foods/drinks I haven't tried before.

First up was a fruit that I know has been in my house before, but I've never actually tried for one reason or another: persimmon (the photos above). There are apparently different varieties of these, but the one I tried had a texture that was halfway between a soft pumpkin and an unripe (but still pleasant) peach. The flavour was quite muted but there was a definite sweetness to it. I liked these and will probably eat them again in the future.

Next came another fruit: longans.

Longans

I hadn't actually heard of longans before, but I was told that they're similar to lychees, so decided to get them. (I should point out that I don't like lychees, so that was an odd decision to make, haha).  Longans certainly don't look like lychees on the outside, but they both come from the soapberry family of fruits, and once you get beyond the outer casing the similarity becomes more obvious. They have the same clear colour and texture - something like a gelatinous grape crossed with yokan - and a dark, shiny seed in the middle. 

The flavour, however, is what I think is different. Longans are sweet at first and then have a somewhat mildly spicy aftertaste, in the same way that red bell peppers do, but there's another taste as well that I can't quite put my finger on. They don't have any bitterness to them at all, like lychees do. As with the persimmons, I'd definitely like to have these again, and perhaps lychees too, just in case I've changed my mind about them!

The third and last food for this time wasn't a fruit, but was still made mostly of fruit (and nuts). 

Deliciously Ella Cacao & Almond Energy Ball

These cacao & almond energy balls from Deliciously Ella are amazing. They're vegan (for me, this is important), reasonably healthy, filling, and taste, well, delicious! They have a flavour and texture a bit like brownies, but they're just made with almonds, medjool dates, raw cacao powder, almond butter and coconut oil. They're so good! The best part is that they come sitting on a little piece of card that has a link to the recipe, so you can try making them yourself. I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon!

101 in 1001 - Watch 20 films: Cello-playing Morticians, Psychokinetic Ice Magicians, and The Russian Revolution

Goal number 20 on my 101 in 1001 List is:

• 020. Watch 21 films I haven't seen before.

So, here are the first three!

Yes, that is a child's cello

Title: Departures [Japanese: おくりびと] (2008)

Director: Yojiro Takita

Starring: Masahiro Motoki; Ryoko Hirosue; Tsutomu Yamazaki

Language: Japanese (English subs)
Cert: 12

Genre: Drama, comedy

Plot: Concert cellist, Daigo Kobayashi,  finds himself questioning his choice of career after his orchestra disbands. This leads him and his wife Mika from Tokyo, back to the town Daigo grew up in, and a to a new career as the assistant to a nokanshi (ritual mortician).

Best Bit: The way that each of the corpses Daigo and his boss prepared were all shown to be people, by giving little glimpses of their backstories via their family, friends, and the items they had with them at the funerals, and how their families finally said things they'd wanted to say before but didn't. Also, I liked the scene when Daigo goes to see his boss at his house and every available space is filled with plants - filled with life.

Worst Bit: The octopus & later the salmon (not entirely sure the salmon in the water were real though). Also, Daigo was a little overwrought and over-reacted to things at times, but another character mentioned that when he was a child he "kept everything inside, but cried when he was alone". So I just took his outbursts as being a result of bottled up emotions or something like that. Possibly it was just due to the actor not being that good. I still liked the character though.

Overall: It's a cheesy, feel-good, drama with comedic moments (AKA really not my thing) but I actually enjoyed it. Maybe I was just in the mood for this kind of movie, but I didn't even notice that the running time was just over 2 hours, or get bored by the end.

Watch it if you like: drama-comedies; films about life & death; morticians; funeral directors; nokanshi; cellos; light-hearted Japanese language films.

Rating: 6.5/10

Title: Fire & Ice (1983)

Director: Ralph Bakshi

Starring: Susan Tyrrell; Maggie Roswell; William Ostrander; Stephen Mendel; Steve Sandor

Language: English
Cert: PG

Genre: Fantasy, action, animation

Plot: The evil Ice Lord, Nekron, uses his powers to conquer the Fire Keep, a great fortress ruled by the good King Jarol. After Jarol's daughter Teegra is kidnapped by Nekron's forces, a young warrior, Larn, begins a quest to save her and avenge the people of his homeland, who were also killed by Nekron. 

Best Bit: This guy (Nekron), and his evil cackling and magic! 

Getting ready to throw an ice tantrum

His mother, Queen Juliana, was pretty interesting too. Oh, Darkwolf also amused me, but only because he reminded me of a fantasy version of Batman.

Worst Bit: It's pretty difficult to choose just one, but the Ice Kingdom's warriors made me cringe (the film was made 30 years ago, but even so, I don't know what the creators were thinking with these characters). Also, the fact that people from a Fire Kingdom never once think of putting on more clothing than loin cloths and bikinis when travelling to a frozen realm controlled by an ice magician with psychokinetic abilities. What could possibly go awry?

Overall: The rotoscoping was great, some of the backgrounds/scenery were beautiful, and Nekron and his mother were fantastic villains. It's just a shame that the script and certain other things about the film were so ridiculous. Still worth watching once though.

Watch it if you like: 1970/80's fantasy; rotoscoped animation; mind-controlling psychokinetic ice magicians; characters that look like Batman but in Conan the Barbarian; men in loin cloths; women in bikinis.

Rating: 5/10 (and two of those are probably just for Nekron)

Title: October (Ten Days that Shook the World) [Russian: Октябрь (Десять дней, которые потрясли мир)] (1928)

Directors: Grigori Aleksandrov; Sergei M. Eisenstein

Starring:  Nikolay Popov; Vasili Nikandrov; Layaschenko; Boris Livanov

Language: Russian (English subs)
Cert: PG

Genre: Docu-drama

Plot: Set after the forced abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. It focuses on the subsequent Revolution of October 1917, which was led by the Bolsheviks against the Provisional Government. The film was made in 1928 to celebrate the ten year anniversary.

Best Bit: The often repeated line: "Peace! Land! Bread!" (a quote from Lenin) summed up the message of what the Revolution was about. People didn't want to keep fighting in the First World War, they didn't want to work the land for the middle and upper classes, whilst owning nothing themselves, and they didn't want to keep living in poverty, without food (bread). So the Bolsheviks' gave them hope and the push they needed to do something about their situation and make things better (well, supposedly). Unless you were one of the bourgeois, of course. Then you were shit out of luck, for a little while at least.

Worst Bit: It was all from the point of view of the Bolsheviks and obvious propaganda for the winning side. However, I suppose that's understandable for the time in which it was made. There were also scenes of a horse that I personally found disgusting, but again, that's just from my point of view, looking back at a film made in Russia nearly 90 years ago. Apart from that, the repetition of certain scenes for no apparent reason became a little wearing in places.

Overall: I enjoy silent films and 1920's cinema in general, but even if I didn't, this was an interesting chance to see something relatively contemporary to the Russian Revolution, made in Russia, in the original language.

Watch it if you like: 1920's cinema; Russian history; silent films; Russian language films.

Rating: 7.5/10