These are a few of my favourite things...February

Here is a few of my things that I am loving at the moment!

The shoes in this pic (because I couldn't find them at home) are from Factore and I brought them for $5! That's right $5!!!!!

I got this ring from Diva over a year ago and have just started liking it again.  I can only get away with wearing it with certain things.

I got this bag about a year ago. I LOVE IT and have since I got it.  It is small and sometimes annoying when the clip comes undone at the front when I have a lot of things in it, but I still love it! I got it from Colette for $40.

I got this 2012 diary from Smiggle at the start of the year.  I got in a few days after the new year and it was like 20% off, so I was like deal! Only paid about $15 for it which is pretty good at Smiggle.  I carry this everywhere!

I got this for Christmas off my boyfriend its Rhianna's perfume. It smells amazing! Its more of something you would wear out on a special occasion.  I think at the time it was cheap, about $30 or so at Priceline. SCORE.

This lipstick from Maybelline is absolutely beautiful! Cute case too.

 This colour is 710 - Rose Glimmer. Its  a lovely nice pink colour, not many around!

Thanks for reading!

xo

The Academy Awards 2012 Predictions

(Source: http://topics.myfoxboston.com/entertainment/2010-oscars-academy-awards/kathryn-bigelow.htm)

When it comes to Oscar day I am usually glued to the telle capturing every moment there is to be had. Whether it is admiring the gorgeous gowns on the red carpet to eagerly waiting for a winner or an award to be announced.  The day before I make get my whole family to give me there picks on who will win each award and make a game out of it. 


This year I have decided to put my choices on my blog just because I can!  Some movies I have seen some I have not, this is solely just my opinion.  I will highlight in blue who I THINK will win and red who I WANT to win (if I want anyone to win at all) and I will write a brief annotation summing up my choices. Enjoy!

Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"

Realistically its out of, The Artist, The Help and The Descendants. I hope The Descendants win, simple.

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

I think George Clooney is a great actor and I would love to see him win another Oscar but this year it will go to Jean Dujardin for The Artist. The current hype of this silent film will be the edge he needs to bet Clooney.

Best Actress
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Frankly I'm just sick of Meryl Streep being such a darn good actress. She will win for The Iron Lady, a close second will be Viola Davis, but I would love anyone but Streep to win just because she wins soooo many awards, but who can blame her she is fantastic at what she does. It would just be nice to change it up haha.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

I would love to see Jonah Hill win, I am a fan of his and it is very interesting to see that he has been successful in a drama film like Moneyball (which I haven't had the chance to see yet).  But, Christopher Plummer has dominated this awards season and will defiantly win the oscar.

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

I think that any of these actresses have the potential to win Supporting Actress but Octavia Spencer will take it out.  My dream would be for Melissa McCarthy to win but as I said I can only dream...

Best Director
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"

Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Simply, Terrence Malick will probably get Best Director, the only one who can stop him is Michel Hazanavicius.

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
JC Chandor, "Margin Call"
Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"

I really hope and think that Woody Allen will get this award.  I love his work.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
John Logan, "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Can't explain my choice, just think Alexander Payne needs some oscar love since all the other nominations will not win.

Best Animated Feature
"A Cat In Paris"
"Chico & Rita"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots""Rango"

I still maintain that The Adventures of Tintin is the rightful owner of this award but I guess there has to be a winner out of the selected nominees.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)

I wanted The Skin I Live In to be in this list but nay, it wasn't.  Like so many other films it was snubbed. But on that note A Separation will win its had a great awards season.

Original Score
"The Adventures of Tintin," John Williams
"The Artist," Ludovic Bource"Hugo," Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse," John Williams

Will probably win this like it has everything else... Can you tell I don't like it when films get multiple awards haha.

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet," The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio," Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

 Go The Muppets! Show the one other nominee whose boss!

Best Achievement in Art Direction
"The Artist"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"War Horse"

 Yet agian..

Best Achievement in Cinematography
"The Artist"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo""
Hugo"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a beautiful film in the way it is shot and I hope it is rewarded with this award even though The Artist is also a heavy contender also.

Best Achievement in Costume Design
"Anonymous"
"The Artist"
"Hugo"
"Jane Eyre"
"W.E."

and again...

Best Documentary Feature
"Hell and Back Again"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
"Pina"
"Undefeated"

I wouldn't have a clue.

Best Documentary Short Subject
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?"
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
"Incident in New Baghdad"
"Saving Face"
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"

I wouldn't have a clue.

Best Achievement in Film Editing
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"

After watching the opening credits of TGWTDT you will understand why this film should win and will win!

Best Achievement in Makeup
"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"

Who am I kidding, Albert Nobbs for the win, they made Glenn Close look so much like a man... or did they...?

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

I wouldn't have a clue.

Best Live Action Short Film
"Pentecost"
"Raju"
"The Shore"
"Time Freak"
"Tuba Atlantic"

I wouldn't have a clue.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
"Drive"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

 I'm very bias towards The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo if you can't tell already..

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

 Sound is sound, nearly in every movie. Well done if you are nominated for this award.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

If you have seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes you will understand how well they presented the main ape Caesar through visual effects and this will win them the award this year. A close second to Real Steel.

As you can see The Artist will be The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire and Titanic of this year.

Good luck to all!

REVIEW: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - 2011

Director - David Fincher

Starring - Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellen Skarsgard and Robin Wright.

Screenplay - Steven Zaillian (screenplay), Stieg Larsson (novel)

Plot - Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) is on a mission to investigate what happened to a 16-year-old girl 40 years ago who is presumed dead.  He gains the help of misunderstood Lisbeth Salander (Mara) who is a research assistant or something more...

Forget 'the feel bad movie of Christmas', this was the feel bad movie of my life!

Wow! What can I say? I have waited a while for this film.  Yes, I am one of those people who has actually read the novel, so you know I mean business. :p

I loved it!

I felt like it was true to the story (although there was one main difference, ill talk about that in the spoilers) and all the characters  brought the film to life. David Fincher you have done it again, a fantastic film that I can't stop saying positive things about!  The whole 2.5+ hours I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it would be brought across visually in this new adaptation, even though knew the plot.

From Jeff Cronenweth's cinematography to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's fantastic musical score, this film was visually stunning to your senses.  The acting in the film was once again fantastic, loved Mara as Lisbeth, she owned the character and made it her own (there I said it).  Daniel Craig was MY ideal Mikael Blomkvist, I didn't like Michael Nyqvist in the Swedish version (he was creepy).  Everyone else was great, these two stood out though (how could they not i guess they were the protagonists).

Comparing this version twith the Swedish one is a easy  for me.  I disliked the Swedish. Why you ask: one; Nyqvist as Blomkvist, two; wasn't close enough to the novel for my liking (too much was changed) and three, to much was cut out.  It had nothing to do with it being in Swedish etc. To me, it was just a film that didn't do it for me as much as this US version does.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

 

Well, to tell you the truth I actually loved this versions ending to the story more than the novels.  When I saw Joely Richardson was cast as Anita Vanger I thought, WTF Anita is only in the novel for like one scene, how is this going to work, well now I know!  How creative is the aspect of Harriet actually being Anita all along (well after she runs away, ofcorse). I loved it and it was  refreshing  to see such a surprising change in the plot.

One thing I didn't like as much was that the film makers didn't add the sexual relationship between Cecila Vanger and Blomkvist... naughty naughty!

END OF SPOILERS

Overall, all five Oscar nominations that TGWTDT racked up are deserving (even though there was no love for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's musical score) and I wish this film all the best on the big day. Mara will not win Best Actress but it is so nice to see her nominated!

Best Part: The surprising end.

Worst Part: The only thing I can think of is the massive screening time. Ha.

Memorable Quote:
 He's had a long standing sexual relationship with his co-editor of the magazine. Sometimes he performs cunnilingus on her. Not often enough in my opinion.  - Lisbeth

9/10

Bring creative...Scrapbooking

I have always been a creative person.
I miss the good old days in high school art class were I could do what I want with what I want.
The uni course doesn't let me be very creative visually.

To my excitement early this year my friends got together and decided to make a scrapbook for our friends 21st birthday. It has to far been a great idea and it looks really good! Ive finished all my pages and thought I would post a few of my favourite ones which I am really excited about!

This one is my favourite of them all.

I used zebra print wrapping paper (so glad I have found this!), gray cardboard, pink paper, diamond stickers, a 'memories sticker' and patterned card.

Similar with this one, black, pink and gray paper, spotted black and pink wrapping paper and a few diamond stickers.

Poka dot, pink and white paper and a few stickers.

So there you have it! What do you guys think of my creations?

P.s I hope my friend doesn't see this before we give her gift to her haha :)

xo

I need to start blogging again..

Wow haven't I been slack!

I guess the reason why I haven't been posting is because I don't know what to write about and haven't formed a regular schedule in my everyday life yet this year.

I think I want to start writing more about my everyday life and such, more like a journal, but still sharing my opinion on things such as reviews and etc.

Hopefully I will start soon, I just need some inspiration to write about something.