The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars trailer was officially* released at 8am this morning, after a 12 second trailer teaser the night before.

Scrolling through my ex-blog, I found the post commenting after I had first read The Fault In Our Stars and then proceeded to buy John Green's entire collection of written works.

This gif of Will Ferrel is exactly how I was when I found out about the Fault movie, on the 16th of February, 2013 - just under a year today. It was pretty much the most exciting news of the year because ONE OF MY FAVOURITE AUTHORS OF ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOKS HAD JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THERE WAS A MOVIE IN THE WORKS. This meant that I would be seeing it all happen right in front of me. I would see their first meeting, their kisses, their hugs, their bad days, the good days, Isaac. I would be seeing it all in front of me - it would come alive. And it was only just over a year to wait.


Following that, I re-read The Fault In our Stars on the 17th of June, 2013, proclaiming it to be the best book John Green has ever written (still true) and [best book] maybe ever (still also maybe true). Quote, unquote [by me]. It rarely happens that I read a book twice and enjoy it as much, if not more, as I did the first time. There was this, Harry Potter and Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, who is like the nicest person ever (we emailed!!) and also has an epic blog. Check it out. But back to my Fault journey.

There were posts by John and Ansel [Egort] who plays Augustus and Nat Wolff (Isaac). There was this funny sign by the toilets on the movie set and then, after many fan-made movie posters, the actual poster was released, along with the tagline One Sick Love Story. "Not something I would have chosen" - Shailene Woodley (Hazel Grace Lancaster). I have mixed feelings about the tag line, but here's John on it:

"1. I did not write the tag line. To many of you who love it, I say, "I did not write the tag line." To the many of you who don't, I say, "I did not write the tag line." 

2. These things are not my decision. It's not my movie, or my poster. I don't know how to make movies or movie posters. 

3. That said, I like the tag line. I found it dark and angry in the same way that Hazel is (at least at times) dark and angry in her humor. I mostly wanted something that said, "This is hopefully not going to be a gauzy, sentimental love story that romanticizes illness and further spreads the lie that the only reason sick people exist is so that healthy people can learn lessons." But that's not a very good tag line. I like the tag line because it says, literally, the sick can also have love stories. Love and joy and romance are not just things reserved for the well. 

3a. That said, I might be wrong. I'm wrong all the time."

The movie trailer is everything I could've wished for. It's funny and smart and cute and sad. It's moving and beautiful and brings the book to life, but at the same time, it's a completely different media source. I'm going to be like this when I finally watch the movie and it's going to be the best worst experience ever. I'm gong to love and hate the movie and cry and laugh. It'll be a roller coaster of emotions and I'll love to hate every second of it.

Okay?
Not Okay. 

*There may or may not have been a leaked trailer beforehand..

The Last One

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

10 seasons. 10 years. 236 episodes.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. premiered on the 22nd of September, 1994 and aired its last episode on the 6th of May, 2004. During production, FRIENDS went through many name changes including Insomnia Cafe and Friends Like Us, before finally deciding on F.R.I.E.N.D.S. David Krane and Marta Kauffman created and developed the show, with various other producers along the way. 

Thanks to Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc for bringing our favourite six friends to life. Thanks to the series for showing me that life is just better with friends: 

Friends to cry with,
 to cry on,
 to laugh with,
 to laugh at,
 to shop with,
 to have babies with,
 to get married to. 

Everything is better when you're with friends:
Cooking,
Laughing,
Marriage,
Bad Experiences,
The Amanda's of the World,
High School,
University/College,
Relationships,

Traveling to London,

Sex,

The Beach. 

On the 6th of May, this year, it will have been ten years since the last episode was published. Ten years since we saw The Last One air for its premiere. It will mark the period of time that has flown by since FRIENDS ended its reign of the sitcoms. Nowadays, FRIENDS is the golden stuff of the past - its the show to relieve the memories to; to hear one last time that they were on a break. 

The FRIENDS characters are there to remind you that while life can be full of Amanda's and infertility and shitty relationships, someone will always be there to help you through it. Whether it be by talking or shopping or baking or phone call, friends will always be there to break open their beloved fooseball tables for you, comrade.  

 

The Garden

  The garden is a magical place.

It's a place away from technology and the 'new world'. It's natural and beautiful and there's sometimes unexpected surprises on the ground. There's soil and sometimes it gets in your hair or your nails, but that's okay. There's butterflies about and maybe the odd dragonfly or two, if you're lucky. The paving stones are hot in the afternoon sun and the grass looks a bit worse for wear, but at least it's go character. What fun would it be if the grass was a perfect green? There's gerberas and daisies and chili plants and passion-fruit vines and a fern. The hose snakes its way across the grass and stones, often tangling itself around the metal chair and table legs. The pots are all a brown colour and we're not allowed to use the red one because it doesn't match. The sun is everywhere and it makes the black material and metal of the trampoline too hot to touch. The sun burns into your neck and feet and on the back of your legs. The deck makes your legs stripey if you lie on it and the mat is falling apart. The pebbles and shells are spilled onto the deck, in front of the homemade pot that is painted a light orange.

I need to see this more; smell the strong smells of the lemon thyme and mint in our garden. I want to see my watermelons and tomatoes (maybe) grow and my gerberas flourish in the ground. I want to feel the sun on me and the butterflies flitting around the garden as they fly from plant to plant.

I will spend more time in the garden in 2014.

Bedroom

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

“To see the world

 things dangerous to come to

to see behind walls

draw closer

to find each other and to feel

 That is the purpose of life.”

Quintessence: The pure, concentrated essence of a thing. 

This movie is the quintessence of life, like negative 25 was the quintessence of Life Magazine. This film is a delight to watch; a joyful experience. It's not too scary, or too boring, or too romantic, or too adventurous. It's different and special and captures exactly what movie making should be like. It makes you smile and laugh and sometimes tugs at your heartstrings. It's that breath of fresh air when you've been underwater too long and you come up to breathe. It's a punch in the face; a clementine cake to the tastebuds. Beautiful, sometimes painful, and sweet.

The setting was beautiful. Iceland, Greenland and the Himalayas (all filmed in Iceland, I think) were absolutely breathtaking. There were rolling hills and snowy mountains and of course Eldgos. 

Thank you Ben Stiller for directing this 'negative 25'.
Thank you for not making this story too much about the love, even though it started with a wink [that didn't actually work].
Thank you Sean Penn for playing your small, but absolutely pivotal role with such certainty and ruggedness.  

ART

Art is what you make it really. 

It can be big, small, minute, ginormous. It can be a sculpture, a painting, a drawing, an installation or a music video your friends and you made. That's what I love about it. It's such an open form of life and includes so many facets. There used to be a strong line between what was considered art and what wasn't. It was either a drawing, a painting or a sculpture. These days everything is art. It's not so much what your artwork is, it's what the idea behind it is. 

Today, I went to an exhibition called Melbourne Now and it was a collection of artworks representing Melbourne city and the people in it. There was everything in there. Paintings, drawings, clay figures, plastic figurines, records, books, stamps, photography, an installation house, an installation with a trapeze artist, sound art (which scared the shit out of me every time it went off) - and sounded like really loud waves crashing at the beach, resin letters (which were AMAZING), graffiti on canvas, videos, postcards, a Nike Air - just everything was in there. 

It really did show me what was considered art these days. Not everything was so top notch, but it didn't matter - the reasons and ideas and artists's statements was the real mastermind behind the art. It showed what the original idea was; what first inspired them to make this artwork. It was the words behind the cover - the exploration proposal behind the finished work. 

And I appreciate that. I welcome the fact that almost everything is considered art in some way or another. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I appreciate that the world is so open about art, whether the person, as in individual, like it or not. That rust in your garage could be considered as art and might end up as the next phenomenon. Someone might hate the idea, but at least they accept that some people think of it as art. 

Thirty years ago, Christo's art wasn't anything. Now, he's a world famous artist. 

It's 2014!!