Saturday 28 February 2015

If I stay Review

Chloe Grace Moretz is one of my favourite actresses; mostly because she isn't in a load of typical teen films. Saying that, If I Stay is quite a typical teen film adaptation of a book. I read the book in a day and thought it was a very unique idea to have a book set over 24 hours. Before you find out much about anyone, there is a sudden car crash affecting Mia, her parents and her little brother. She appears un-conscious to other people but she can see and hear what is happening after the crash. As more characters get introduced in the waiting room of the hospital and tragic things start to take place, the reader finds out through flashbacks what significance they have in her life. She is a passionate cello player, has an un-expected boyfriend and doesn't fit into her family. Mia must choose whether she wants to stay and wake up or let go and leave the pain behind. 

Because Mia is a 'ghost' we follow her everywhere and see her feelings (which the other characters can't). This cleverly makes you think of yourself in her position. You sometimes forget that she is in a coma when you were watching a flash back and then be completely shocked. Although being quite discrete and reticent, Mia had so many people that loved her and it's had to fathom what you would do in her situation. I think the parents were exactly how i would imagine them from the book: contrasting to Mia but a very similar state of mind. Mia's boyfriend Adam, is played by a British actor which added to their differences. I think that the time that they were happy together was too short and their relationship went too quickly in the film. I wanted to see that Mia and Adam were opposites, just like Mia and her parents are opposite and Mia and her best friend are opposite but they all work so well with each other. I loved the music scenes and the way they showed that music was the one thing they had in common. The directors had interesting characters to play with but their personalities weren't disparate. I don't normally expect unique ideas from a teen film but from reading the tense book, i expected more individuality from the whole film. 

2 stars our of 5

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Tuesday 24 February 2015

The Saatchi Gallery


The other day me and my friends decided to go to the Natural History Museum. We got out of the station and the queue went for miles and miles. It was the same for the V&A and Science Museum. We were so keen on not giving up so we went and found The Saatchi Galley just two stops down the line. It's very grand from the outside but very simple on the inside. I have never seen anything like the things inside this gallery. Everything was so outlandish and contemporary.

You could go up as close as you wanted to everything it was quite interesting that none of the art pieces had descriptions so you had to interpret every piece of art how you wanted to. There was some really wacky and diverse pieces of art and every piece was entirely different. There was art made from hair, optical illations, moving figures and broken hoovers. One of the most unique pieces was a floor full of petrol. It smelt so strong and it reflected the ceiling and looked like a floor. The rooms were long and narrow and there was no start or end of anything. It took about an hour to get through all of the galley. Even if you don't like modern art, you will find it interesting to see the innovative skills and ideas.
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Saturday 21 February 2015

Wadjda Review

Wadjda is a film in the unlikely setting of Saudi Arabia. My mum recommended it because at the moment i am writing a short story about a young girl being forced into marriage in Saudi Arabia. I came up with the idea from listening and reading all the media coverage on Saudi women. Their rights practically don't exist and i find it so interesting that their society is surviving. My story is also about male guardians and the relationships that families have. I read a lot of wikipedia pages about women in Saudi but i wasn't getting the atmosphere from the facts, i needed to see it. The director of the film (Haifaa al-Mansour) was the first Saudi Arabian women to make a film and it be filmed in Saudi. It wasn't easy; she was disliked by the locals and she could not work with men so had to sit in a van and use a walkie-talkie to direct the actors.

Wadjda is a young girl living in Saudi Arabia trying to avoid the prejudices girls are accustomed to. She wants to ride a bike, paint her nails and back chat to everyone. Her father might remarry and society is shaming everyone. Wadjda sometimes finds school difficult but has an aim to make money. She wears converse and hangs out with a boy. Contrary, stubborn and strong.

This film is very relaxed and it doesn't require much concentration (except for the subtitles). The film gives you the basic rights of young girls but rushes over the main limitations of women (like being forbidden from driving). I would have liked if it was equally about her as it was about her mother. A contrast in ages but also a contrast in rights and expectations. It was humorous but lacked energy; only one emotional scene. It shows that women are second class citizens in Saudi's social hierarchy and really helped me understand how children feel living there. If you can persuade them, then this is a good first subtitle film for children around eleven years old. They will relate to Wadjda almost automatically and find her attitude hilarious. I never found it boring and i enjoyed the 'that's life' style of it.

2 and a half stars out of 5

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Tuesday 17 February 2015

My Hawaiian Party: Games

Although i am fourteen, i really wanted all the childish party games. Only the best parties have pass the parcels. Everyone enjoyed playing and reminiscing over playing these games in our childhood. For most of the activities, i made some part of it. Here are the games that we played:
Pass the parcel
Musical bumps
Musical statues
Doughnut game
Pin the tail on the stitch
Hawaiian Quiz
Around the centre of the pass the parcel were sweets and hibiscus temporary tattoos and the middle was a pair of Stitch slippers. We made the games less childish and more fun just by being older. I also had the Lilo and Stitch soundtrack for all the games; it mostly consisted of Elvis. For the doughnut game, i decorated the string with small, paper flip-flops. I painted the large picture of Stitch for the pin the tail on the stitch with oil paint and water colour. There was also a lot of dance routines being created.
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Saturday 14 February 2015

My Hawaiian Party: Food

Last week it was my 14th birthday and on the day before i had a Hawaiian- Lilo and Stitch party. L&S is obviously my favourite Disney film. I love it because it has so many hidden jokes and it is very different to all the other Disney films. If you didn't know, it is set in Hawaii. My new years resolution was to 'not buy and make more' so mostly everything from my party was made including the food and decorations. This is the first of a series of blog posts which will show you my whole DIY party and maybe give you some ideas. So firstly (the most important) the food...
The pictures above show the main food and not the snacky stuff like crisps and mini roles because they weren't homemade. All the food had a tropical theme. For nine people this was a perfect amount and was very suitable for veggies. Everything here was so easy and quick to make and i think it looked very appropriate for the theme. Please leave me a comment if you would like a full post on one of the recipes. Here is the food we had:

Two (colour co-ordinated) fruit salads
A watermelon rosette
Balsamic rainbow vegetable kebabs
Peanut butter and jam flip-flop sandwiches
Cream cheese and cucumber flip-flop sandwiches
Vanilla Cupcakes with an umbrella
Carrot and celery sticks
Stitch biscuits 

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Tuesday 10 February 2015

Noki's First Snow

Noki has never seen the snow before and randomly the other day it started to snow. I took advantage and shot a few photos. My camera is broken and won't take nice pictures; this is the best i can do. The snow makes everything so much more beautiful and pristine. The weather lately has been hot one day and cold the other. I love being able to wear everything in my wardrobe. Sadly, the snow only lasted for the morning and was gone by the end of the day but it was entirely mesmerising. Noki loved to smell around and kick it.

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Saturday 7 February 2015

How to Make Tofu Taste Kinda Alright

Now, being a vegetarian might stink sometimes especially when having to explain to every nosey person the reason for this change in your diet (caused by a mid-life crisis, being an animal obsessor or a hater of blood and guts). But whatever your reason, you have to find a substitutes for meat, like tofu. Upon first trying tofu, it reminded me of a soggy sponge that took a very long time to chew. For once, having a large jaw was a bonus in this situation. I have finally found a way to make it taste, not so much like a cleaning appliance, but more like a juicy, meat-like food.
 Drying: Drain all the water from your pot of tofu and take place the brick on a board. Get a clean, medium sized tea towel and wrap the it around the tofu and gently apply pressure to the towel. Making sure the tofu doesn't break, continue this until the tofu is extremely dry (should take around 10 minutes). After that, cut it into small cubes.

Marinating: Marinading helps give the inside the flavour that it does not get from being crispy like the outside. I chose to add some things to soy sauce to give it a sweeter and less salty flavour. I added ginger, maple syrup, brown sugar and sesame oil. I guessed the amounts of each and kept tasting it to see what it needed more of. Place the tofu cubes into the marinade and leave for as long as possible (i would recommend a whole night). 

Baking: Here is where people make the mistake; tofu is better baked not fried. The outside becomes crispy and the inside still moist. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and arrange the tofu cubes on it. Bake at 200 degrees for twenty-five minutes. Turn the cubes over after 10 minutes and keep checking that they are not burning. After this, they are ready to put straight into a stir fry. 



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Tuesday 3 February 2015

Drawing Calendar: January

For a few years i attempted to keep a diary but i just felt like i had nothing to say and it was just full of me complaining about teachers. Last year i decided that i would start to keep a calendar and occasionally draw a stick man or write a sentence in the squares everyday. This evolved into colourful drawings. It is my second year of doing this and i find it so lovely to look back on and see very clearly what i did on each day. Although i just do silly cartoon, it is still very fun to have a reason to do a little bit of drawing every day. As you can see some days i literally did nothing except homework and a dog walk.

-Watched Breakfast at Tiffany's
-Found a new walk to do with Noki
-Got four more piecings
-Did a lot of homework
-First day back to school
-Finished my 18 page Geography essay
-One of the fastest at the 12 minute run in P.E
-Learnt about pasta in Food Tech
-Tried out for Cross Country
-Watched The Theory of Everything
-Drew a skull for art homework
-Found £20 on the floor
-First cricket club of the term
-Chosen for the P.E trip to Devon
-Got two teeth taken out
-Went for a walk up a massive hill
-Planned my 14th birthday party
-Went on a walk with my best friend
-Noki Vomited
-Noki got spayed
-Test for contact lenses
-Food Tech was cancelled
-French Homework and doughnuts
-Went to Kenwood House
-Run with Noki
-Choose my GCSE's
-Got my report
-Funniest Geography lesson ever
-Made stir fry in Food Tech
-Got my contact lenses
-Dirty Dancing sleepover with my three best friends

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