Movie reviews: The King of Devil's Island and The Avengers

So far this week I've gone to the local cinema twice. First for a preview screening of The King of Devil's Island, a gritty Norwegian film and second for The Avengers, which we all know is the latest Marvel comics installment. The two films could not have been more different, but I highly recommend going to see both.

First off, The King of Devil's Island. This film, released in Norway far back in 2010, is set in 1915 and tells the true story of events on the island of Bastoy which housed a centre for 'mal-adjusted boys'. Boys and housemasters alike are trapped on this gods-forsaken place as the boys aged between 5 and 19 receive 'treatment' as an alternative to prison. The Governor, played to righteous stoic perfection by Stellen Saarsgard, seems to really believe that what is done on Bastoy can bring out the 'honourable, noble, useful Christian' inside each supposed delinquent.



The simmering tensions between boys and housemasters provides most of the dramatic tension as the harsh treatment and abuses pile up. Reviews I have read about this film present it as 'dour', 'grim' and 'bleak', but having watched the trailer before the film that was just what I expected, so I had the luxury of sitting back and just enjoying what is really an excellent film.

So - The Avengers! I won't waste too much finger-energy on this one. Chances are you've seen it or are going to anyway. Point is: Marvel comic action movie with hot super-heroes defeating less-attractive evil guys and destroying large amounts of city in the mean time. Big CGI, big evil guys, big green man whose pants seem to stretch even if his shirt doesn't (does this plot-hole bother no-one else?) and a whole lot of entertainment. Oh, yeah, and Robert Downey Jnr get 90% of the good lines. But that was also expected. Go see it with a group of friends, it's a fun night out.

Five for Friday no. 16

Fictional character birthdays: find out who you share your birthday with. I am seriously unhappy that I share mine with a lousy Desperate Housewives character while Chuck gets Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne!!!

Tenthings that made 90s TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch cool. Relevant because there is a movie in the pipeline.

Disney poster re-imagined in a simple grphic-designer-loving manner. Am I the only person who sees something suspicious in the Wizard Of Oz poster? 

In Style Magazine's 50 best fashion tips of all time.

If you're like me and you have a big of a girl crush on Zooey Deschanel and secretly wish you had hair like hers ... sigh ... you might enjoy this 'style evolution' slideshow. The early 2000's were not a good time it seems.

 

 

Book review: The Churchills by Mary S. Lovell

While in Maleny over the Easter weekend I wandered into Rosetta Bookshop and as per usual I bought a few books, including The Churchills by Mary S. Lovell.

I bought the book not from any great desire to read about the Churchills but because I have read and enjoyed almost all of Lovell's previous biographies. Choosing slightly off-centre but nevertheless fascinating subjects, Lovell tells the personal sagas eruditely, striking just the right balance between private detail and drama and insight into the world in which they lived and shaped.

When I first picked up the book I thought it would span a greater number of generations than it does. Though starting with John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough and builder of the family seat Blenheim Palace (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the action then skips a century or two to the grandfather of Winston Churchill, around whom the majority of the story revolves. 

The family pile: Blenheim Palace. 

Not that there isn't enough going on in the three generations centred around Winston. His mother was the first of the 'dollar princesses' – the flood of wealthy American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy in the 19thC, bringing dowries to prop up the money-poor Barons, Dukes and Earls in exchange for a title and respectability they could never find back home. In just four generations we learn of innumerable affairs, divorces, illnesses and of course, the huge personality of Winston Churchill and the incredibly journey of his life. 

 'Sunny' Marlborough, 9th Duke and his Duchess, Consuelo Vanderbilt, the most famous of the 'Dollar Princesses' whose money saved Blenheim Palace.

This is not a political biography, it is not a war biography. Lovell's focus from page 1 is the private lives of these tumultuous people. Aside from Winston, people who really stood out for me were his mother Jennie, beautiful and charismatic, who made a rare happy marriage and who moved at the epi-centre of British Society for decades and also Winston's son Randolph, intensely unlike-able on the page despite the author's assurances that he could have great person charm in life.

Winston and Clementine Churchill.

Sitting on my bookshelves right now are biographies on The Mitford Girls – six sisters who exemplified the political spectrum of the 20thC from Nazism, Fascism, Communism to the very peak of the British aristocracy; Beryl Markham, pioneering aviatrix, racing horse trainer, explosive personality and the first person to fly from England to America; Jane Digby, 19^thC aristocratic wife who ended her life as the wife of a Bedouin Sheikh in the sands of Syria; and finally Bess of Hardwick, independent landowner and the first Duchess of Devonshire who built Chatworth and was the second most powerful woman in Tudor England aside from Queen Elizabeth. I recommend all of these biographies because they are well researched yet easy to read and genuinely fascinating. 

The Churchills is a great read and a intriguing look into a history-making family. 

Monday infographic: the world as a village of 100

We're all pretty familiar with these 'If the world had 100 people' diagrams. What makes this one a little different is that it is a) beautifully designed and b) a little more detailed.

Done by Toby Ng Design, they are an international design-award winning set of graphics, now being turned into posters, postcards and a book.

Some of the stats are unsurprising,such as those relating to nationality and gender. These were a little more left-field and surprising to me at least:

And some are just plain clever.

This is Toby Ng Design's webpage, with all 20 graphics. You should take the time to check them out.


All images are the property of Toby Ng, taken from his website. No copyright or reporduction infringement intended.

May I have your attention please?

In more US election vids, here's a fairly hilarious one. (Well, it's interesting if you know anything about Mitt Romney, I guess...)  Amazing editing job, too.

Great time-wasting games on the internet

We all know how super-excellent the internet is at wasting time. Really, how did we waste time before the net came along? Talking? Staring at space? Pff! But now we have the internet, and we have so many more creative, mind-sapping ways to kill 10 minutes.

However, this is not a blog-ode to the near infinite ways to waste time online. Rather, I am merely intended to pay homage to a few online games – innocent, easy, free – that have given me so many wonderful pointless hours.

Firstly, a classic, from my high school days: Smite Thee! Protect your believers and smite al non-believers in your other life as Zeus, mightiest of all the gods!

Lunchtimers: 'magnetic' fridge letters. What is great about this one is that you are battling all other online players for possession of the letters.

Free Rice: This is a bit of cheat because playing this game does have a point. Does the rice end up where it is supposed to be? I don't know. But I love the word trivia!

And finally, my latest fun game that inspired this blog: Where is the Pixel?

Barack Obama singing 'Sexy and I know it'

That's all you need to know.