I changed the template, and tweaked things here and there, just so I could feel more satisfied with life. How utterly selfish.

Also, a couple of days ago I started adding quotations that I find enjoyable to this log. It's not world-shattering knowledge, but I thought it's worth mentioning the change. Any change.

You know me. :P

Labels: psa

On a Sunday evening, Carrie went to a cocktail party thrown by the designer Joop -- one of those parties that should be in a movie, with everyone crowded in and the gay boys so lively, and even though Carrie had to work the next day, she knew she'd eventually have too many drinks and go home too late. Carrie doesn't like to go home at night and she doesn't like to go to sleep.

- Sex and the City, Candace Bushnell.

Labels: quotation

Deja Vu (2006);
Shoot the critics, I loved the movie. IT IS ON A RARE OCCASION THESE DAYS, that I can watch the movie in one go. I usually let the disc sit in my DVD player/ have the file open for ungodly amounts of time, watching for 20 mins a day. This was one of those rare exceptions. Lovely.

I felt a bit wary about the ending, though. A part of me was dying to see it end the way it did, but another part of me kept screaming for the opposite. Oh, you know how my beliefs are.

Джентельмены удачи;
A good ole well-trusted Russian comedy FTW. :P It's a 3456th re-watch, but it works every time.

Mr & Mrs Smith;
Yet another re-watch. Yet another movie I can go and watch just about now and have fun, no matter the mood I'm in. Continuously do I stick to my evil ways of killing the movie critics off. :P

Остров;
I can't say that the movie wasn't worth watching, but I definitely don't understand what the buzz was all about. It didn't... touch me, the way it should've. Or at least the way I've expected it to, after reading so much about it and listening to all the awe-inspired comments. I say, "Blah. Go watch if you wish."

Mexican, the;
And another re-watch. (What? I barged into my mother's room, snatched the remote, and demanded ransom. I do it. Rarely, but I do it.) This movie is 6 years old, so I wonder why it still pisses me off, reading overly negative comments about it. I should've got over it years ago, no? No. I can never get over the fact that people refuse to watch movie, any movie, for what it is -- fun. Do I need to spell it out? F.U.N. Christ. There's also another word, it's called 'entertainment', but I figure if 'fun' is too hard to master, 'entertainment' would be a little bit too much. We'll get to it at a later date. >P

Labels: aj, movie, rewatch, russian

If you're still surprised that I read other things besides fanfics about sordid relationships between certain HP characters, then you're to be surprised again. :P

Cards on the Table, by Agatha Christie;
TSK, Poirot novels are my favourite ones. I AM RUNNING OUT OF AC BOOKS IN THE HOUSE.

Fugitives and Refugees: a Walk in Portland, Oregon, by Chuck Palahniuk;
Makes me want to go to Portland and walk all over the place with this book in hand.

I have strange relationships with CP's books. I attack them like crazy, but have the tendency to stop somewhere in the middle for a month, and then finish in one sitting. So it takes me two sittings to finish the book, but they often have a huge time span between them. No idea why.

Red-Headed League, the, by Arthur Conan Doyle;
This book that contains this story, it's older than my mother. It's old, it's falling apart, its pages are all yellow with darker spots here and there. And it's so pleasant to read because of that.

Unfortunately, it's published in a rather... scatter-y way, meaning stories from various anthologies and one novel were crammed into one book, so there's no real order to it. It's no big deal, since it doesn't change the content (and context, presumably), it just means that I'm going to list separate short stories as I read them, not the finished anthologies. :P

Blah di blah...

Sex and the City, by Candace Bushnell;
I've read it in English after reading it in Russian, and was surprised at how much the translation altered the book's mood. I know it happens, but this book is the perfect example, I believe.

Anyway. I like the book, and I like it more than the TV series. *DODGES BULLETS* They're like two different universes anyway, the book and the TV show. There are some particular quotations that I enjoy, but since I didn't own the book and don't have it anymore, I'll be able to post just one.

Wiccan Prayerbook, the: Daily Meditations, Inspirations, Rituals, and Incantations, by Mark Ventimiglia;
I'll have to admit: my first reaction to this book was disappointment. I figure the main reason is that I'm not Wiccan (as I keep stating over and over :P). Or the fact that I'm simply not the one to pray. But as I studied it more, it grew on me. There's certainly something very calming about a lot of these incantations.

Labels: books, mr palahniuk, mystery, paganism, russian, wicca, yay sherlock

ARR MATEY. Apparently I like writing posts about the movies months after their release date. It just makes me happier that way.

Pirates of the Caribbean: at World's End;
I watched this in theatres two times: Once when I was still in America, second time when I came back home, in Russian. I can't stress this enough: I love Pirates. I love them, and obviously I can't come up with any coherent blurb about the movie. I now dream of owning all three on DVD, while I buy PotC chocolate eggs and toys. :P *waves her pirate flag*

Shrek the Third;
I've heard a lot of people say that it wasn't as funny as blah di blah, but whatever. It kicked some major arse. :P

Oh, and if you didn't know, the current state of animation is one scary, scary, scary state. Some things were just too real.

Spider-Man 3;
OK. I guess it didn't help that I watched Spidey right after watching Shrek, because I kept laughing through it. I mean, I see the lyric and the drama, but heck it was funny. The Flying Moment with Flag on the Background, I shall never forget. Ever. But emo!Spidey is pretty brill. :P

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix;
I loved it. I missed the premiere, and I cried and I cried, and when I got to see the movie two days later, I sweat and I sweat, because it was damn hot and I was wearing my Slytherin attire. There are about two things about the movie that I would dismiss and pretend that they never ever happened, but as a whole I really enjoyed it. I want to re-watch it, but now I have to wait for the DVD release, since it's all gone from theatres in here by now.

Lovely.

Labels: arr pirates, cartoon, potterism, russian, watched in cinema

-- У меня есть одна мысль насчет Эванса. Я чувствую, что в действительности он не играет никакой роли, что, хотя он послужил, так сказать, отправной точкой, сам по себе он совершенно несущественнен. Как в том рассказе Уэллса, где принц построил чудесный дворец или храм над гробницей своей возлюбленной. А когда его закончили, оказалось, что один фрагмент все портит, нарушая гармонию. И принц велел убрать его, а это и была сама гробница.

- Почему не Эванс?, Агата Кристи

Labels: quotation, russian

And I cannot lie.

Notes from My Travels, by Angelina Jolie;
This book features AJ's journals during her missions in Cambodia, Pakistan, Africa, and Ecuador. Writing is very simple and very sincere, and I seriously can't recommend this book enough. It opens your eyes to many things, and even when you knew some of those things already, it puts this new light on them.


Wicca: a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, by Scott Cunningham;
Quite a useful book with enough information to get you on your solitary way and going. I don't consider myself Wiccan, but that won't stop me from recommending this book to pagans, whatever their path might be.

Llewellyn Wiccan Almanac 2007;
I mostly bought this book for calendar featured, and some of the articles in it ended up being valuable enough. For a change. :P

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, by Agatha Christie;
Yay, Agatha Christie books. I figure no blurb needed about them. They're cool. Very cool.

Labels: aj, books, paganism, wicca