Movie Review: Hansel and Gretal 3D

I LOVED this movie. Action packed play on an old fairytale with some subtle comedy thrown in prooved to  delight and entertain.

 

Gemma Aterton is fantasitic as Gretel. Usually playing rather manicured characters Gemma takes a fair beating as Gretel but also gives it out just as often. Instant love for Gemma based on this movie alone.

Jeremy Renner is always impressive in his roles and Hansel is no acception. Jeremy pulls off a multi-faceted Hansel showing us a very different side to the character.

 

Peter Stormare is always a great bad guy that you love to hate.

Famke Janssen is gorgeous and terrifing as Muriel

I always love to see an Aussie or Kiwi in the theare and Zoe Bell is a great actress/stunt woman.

 

The movie starts in the childrens bedroom as they are awakened by their father and taken out and left in the woods. He promises to return for them but never does.

The children stumble across the candy house and Hansel is forced fed candy while Gretel is put to work.

Working together the kids off the witch.. credits roll as we see snipets of Hansel and Gretel growing up as witch hunters.

End of credits we meet them again as adults, saving a innocent woman from being burned at the stake.

 

Its a fantastic "where are they now" that takes us on a rollercoaster ride.

 

Fairytales are my favorite. I will definatley be getting this one on DVD

Wine Review: The Chocolate Shop

Combining two of my favorite things, Chocolate and Wine.

I first tried this with my Aunt Janet.

At first she didn't like it, but decided give it another go the next day and found it tasted rather different. Through trial and error she discovered that the wine must sit open for at least an hour before drinking to experience the flavour at its best.

 

While the wine doesn't just taste of chocolate there is definatley more than just a hint of it.

A dark chocoate (maybe the equilivent to 65-70% cocoa flavour) rests inside a delicious shiraz wine.

The brain child of a South Australian vinyard, this is a wine hard to pass up.

Sweet enough to enjoy as a dessert wine it still has enough bitterness in the chocolate flavour that it could also be enjoyed anytime.  

 

This is definatley something to not miss if you enjoy red wine and dark chocolate.

Just remember to leave it open on the bench for at least an hour.

Buy at Dan Murphys for as little as $16!

*Enticing aromas of black cherry and dark chocolate accompanied by a viscous palate of sweet vanilla and creamy mocha that linger ever so delicately on the finish. A Chocolate delight that is an experience like no other.*

http://chocolateshopwine.com.au/

Book Review: Mina Wentworth and the Invisible City (Short Story)

Mina Wentworth and the Invisible City by Meljean Brook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Its a cute little read where we revist the characters of the first novel. Rhys and Mina are now married and Mina has not quite her job as inspector, even though Rhys would dearly love to make her do so.
Rhys is still overbearing and controlling but Mina seems to love it though has made it perfectly clear that her job is her business and thus regaining some control of her life.
Besides catching up with the couple Mina takes us on a short crime solving mystery when a prominent parliment member is murdered in his own home leaving puzzeling clues.

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Reading Coraline: The Beldam

Beldam, an archaic word meaning "hag" or "witch", may also refer to an old woman, particularly an ugly one. (from Wikipedia)

Inspired by a poem?
La Belle Dame sans Merci
(French: "The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy")

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
‘I love thee true’.

She took me to her Elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.

And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.

I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Thee hath in thrall!’

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.

And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Also known as Other Mother, she is the creature that created much of the Other World and the main antagonist of the novel and the film adaption . She looks similar to Coraline's real mother but taller and thinner, with long black hair that seems to move by itself, black button eyes, paper-white skin, and extremely long, twitchy fingers with long dark red nails, and teeth as sharp as knives. She cannot create, but only copy, twist and change things from the real world when constructing her version of it. She collects children, with whom she quickly becomes bored or frustrated, and imprisons them behind a magical mirror , slowly sucking the life from them. She is referred to several times as "the beldam", a Middle English word meaning "grandmother," "ugly old woman," or "hag".

http://coraline.wikia.com/wiki/Beldam

Bookclub Book Review: Cross Stitch (Outlander 1)

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is actually a really nice read. Read as a romance book club pick I'm not entirely sure it fits... sure there is a romance but its not really a romance book.
Claire Randall accidently gets thrust back in time, while on holidays with her husband Frank, and is thrust into the arms of Jamie a young Scottish fugative.
While the romantic getaway with Frank left a little to be desired, I mean how much time did they actually spend together?, the descriptions of life in the highlands of Scotland was brilliant.
Claire being a war nurse from the 40s perhaps helped her a bit in the 1800s with the clansmen, giving her a quick purpose in the castle then later in the lands almost ensured her safety.
Her reactions sometimes seemed a bit over the top but with Jamie the flights of rage really suited their match.
Though drawn out in parts the novel was still beautifully written so that there was something to gain from each chapter.
I actually enjoyed this read at the end of the day, though would not continue the series.
I believe this book ended in a way that allows you to continue on or chose to end here without much of a hassle.

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* Quick note, in the USA this book is called Outlander but UK and Australia it is titles Cross Stitch

Game Review : Zombie Dice

My sister and I played this for hours over the christmas holidays.

Its quick and its easy!

The game includes 13 dice, the canister and the rules

You roll 3 dice at a time,

each die casts either a brain, a gun shot or tracks

You are the Zombie

The Brain = a brain you have stolen

Tracks = a victim that escaped

Shot = a shot in the head

The objective is to get to 13 brains before the other players

3 shots to the head and you lost your turn and any brains gained in that turn

You only need 2 people to play this, but the more the merrier.

This is addictive!

Full rules come with the game but there is really not much more to it.

I LOVE THIS GAME

Its easy to play and easy to teach, it can be quick or it can take forever just to get a score,

depends on how greedy you are

This can be played sober and it can definatley be played drunk!

Quote

“There is a time in our lives, usually in mid-life, when a woman has to make a decision - possibly the most important psychic decision of her future life - and that is, whether to be bitter or not. Women often come to this in their late thirties or early forties. They are at the point where they are full up to their ears with everything and they've "had it" and "the last straw has broken the camel's back" and they're "pissed off and pooped out." Their dreams of their twenties may be lying in a crumple. There may be broken hearts, broken marriages, broken promises.” 

 ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype