Coming Attractions: Pirates, Detectives and a Virus

Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
I love Glee, but do they really need a 3D concert movie?
a) Live action 3D just looks weird. It's real life, you don't need to 3D-ify it. It's real.
b) When did concerts become movies? Concerts are concerts, movies are movies.
I'm with Sue on this one.


The Pirates! Band of Misfits
First look: Oh, another funny kids' animated movie. Oh, more pirates.
Second look: It's claymation! And David Tennant (Oh, you don't know/care who that is? You're not all Doctor Who geeks like me? Sorry.) is listed in the cast! (Although, unfortunately you only catch one line of his sexy Scottish accent in this trailer.)


Hugo
Martin Scorcese does a kid's adventure movie? A change for him, and what looks like a treat for us.


Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
It's weird to see Noomi Rapace as not-Lizbeth Salander. But I love me some Robert Downey Jr. Don't we all?


Brave
Because we all know all Scots are redheads. In plaid.


Girlfriend
Just because I love Jackson Rathbone. Okay, also, it looks quite interesting.


The Sleeping Beauty
You know my thing for fairy tales. This just looks so badass, crazy and French!


Lucky
I'm not quite sure what to think of this. It's a "dark comedy", I guess. I love Ari Graynor, so it looks strange and delightful.


Contagion

A whole bunch of famous people and a virus. That's really all I got from this.

Film Fashion: Lying

This is one of those movies that, just by seeing the trailer, I knew I would want to watch for the visuals alone. It looked so dreamy, light and pretty. The girls all wear light, flowing, loose, pretty, girly, fun clothes all weekend. The whole movie just makes me want to go away to the country for the weekend, wear pretty clothes, and have some fun. Even though the movie's plot is quite sinister, at least the girls look pretty.




New Hair, No Pants.

These photos are from a while ago, after I dyed my hair back to dark brown. Except that one container of dye was not enough for my short, yet massive amount of thick hair, so I had some lighter bits that I had to try to hide. I've since dyed it again, so it's back to a nice dark brown. Oh, and that's my new favorite sweater.



Atomic County

Remember the good old days, when the lives of rich kids in Orange County were the coolest thing ever? Yes, I'm talking about the glory days of The O.C. Oh, the drama! But I'm not going to talk about the show, I just want to talk about Seth's comic, Atomic County. It was based on his friends and their lives. He turned the people in his life into super heroes.


I was wish Atomic County was a real comic, because I would totally love it. Googling Atomic County led me to this. They actually made it into an animated series. Which totally sucks. They changed the artwork, which was the best part. And it's totally cheesey.

Heather Snow

Meet one of my favorite artists, Heather Snow. She also happens to be my best friend Addie's mother, but I would love her art anyway. I'm just lucky enough to have seen her beautiful home full of her artwork, as well.


Heather considers herself a mixed media assemblage artist. She uses found objects and materials and techniques not usually intended for art.

Her pieces all have a beautifully dark, twisted feel. I love it. I don't know what else I can really say about it, you can see it all here for yourself at her website. Or pick up a piece for yourself at her Etsy shop.
[My iPhone photos from Heather's space at the Kemptville Dandelion Festival Art Show.]

UPDATE: I forgot to mention her YouTube where you can watch her create her art.

Links & Likes

I'm going to try to do one of these Links & Likes posts every week. There are so many great things I find all over the internet everyday, but they don't all warrant their own post. So this is my way to share some great blog posts, videos, photos, etc. that deserve your attention.

I discovered the amazing note-taking, organization tool Evernote [I Just Might Explode]

Some Springtime eye candy. Tulip Belt of the Netherlands! [Doe Deere Blogazine]

A beautiful fashion video, The Curve of Forgotten Things for Rodarte starring Elle Fanning.
(I actually like the visuals of the video as a whole, more than the actual clothes.)


I've got to get these molds! Fight Club Chocolate Bars! [A Beautiful Mess]

I'm in love with Anna Sui Spring 2011, Wildfox White Label Spring 2011, and Wildfox Fall 2011.

I've got to try this DIY: Lace Sunnies [Audrey Kitching]

This beautiful animation...


I love the photos and video for 31 Bits New Line "Haven" [Promise Tangeman]

Emily Browning is so beautiful it pains me to look at her because I'm so jealous. Also, she makes me want a bowler hat.

Lost Tales of the Brothers Grimm

Once upon a New Year's Eve, my friend Kelsey and I were watching telly, waiting for midnight when we stumbled upon a most unusual show. It was one of those strange low-budget shows that you're not sure if it's supposed to be funny, or it's just so bad it's hilarious. It was mainly fairy tales being reenacted by puppets. Between the stories, was two children and their Oma, telling them these stories, and life lessons, often involving God. It felt like such a contradicting show. The puppet stories were so hilarious, and often the jokes were quite "adult", if only subtly, and then it turned into this after school special/childrens Christian program.


We've been somewhat obsessed (okay, probably I am more than Kelsey) with the show ever since the show marathon that night. We haven't seen it on TV since. However, I did find the official website, and from there found some clips and previews of their episodes and even feature films. They even have some hilarious clips on their YouTube channel, which is where I get my fix for the show every so often.




I once emailed the production company about how I could possibly get the show on DVD, but I got no response. I'm seriously considering phoning or mailing the company begging for some way to get my hands on all of the episodes. What can I say, I'm obsessed! If it was as easy to download as any other show, I wouldn't be so crazy about it. I would just be happy to have the show. But, because it's so elusive, I'm desperate for it!


If anyone has seen Lost Tales of the Brothers Grimm, or knows anything about it, tell me! As far as I know it only aired December 31st, 2006 on OMNI, a Canadian station. It's just such a gem, they need to air this show more often and make more!

Fuzzy Apple

Back in grade 9, I got into zines. I'm not sure how, but I think it must have been the book Please Don't Kill the Freshman, and later Hard Love that introduced me to that world. I subscribed to the magazine Broken Pencil, which was all about zines. And, of course, I started making my own.

I named it Fuzzy Apple and made one every month for the last few months of grade nine and a few months in grade 10. It was mostly my horrible teen-angst poetry, old journal entries, ramblings, and the occasional properly written article. The most fun was assembling the zines. I would go through all my magazines cutting out letters and interesting pictures. I would print out all my writing in cool fonts, cut it all up and reassemble it on the pages.

I would give copies to all my friends at school, and occasionally some would get passed around to other people. One very controversial article got passed around and photocopied a lot. Ya, I was a little teenage rebel who enjoyed pissing people off.

Well, despite being thoroughly embarrassed by most of the contents, I went to the trouble of scanning them all into my computer, assembling the pages in the right order and uploaded them to my flickr. So, if you fancy, you can check out some of my very old work.

Here are some pages that I'm not too embarrassed by...






(Remember, I was only 14...)

A Peek At My Work Outfit...

The dress code at work is beige & black only and top & bottom have to be opposite (if top beige, bottom black, vice versa.) So, this is what I've come up with. It just occurred to me that this adorable jumper I made would be acceptable at work. I don't know why I didn't think of it before! It's so much cute than the skirt I usually wear or dress pants. Not pictured is the black apron that I have to wear, which I'm pretty sure looks silly, but I can pretend I still look cute like this at work.

Week of Italia: Stealing Beauty

For a break from the mainstream romantic comedies, here's something very different, Stealing Beauty.



A beautiful movie written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director famous for his graphically sexual, provocative films. This movie is no exception. However, it's not as obscene as The Dreamers, which I tried to watch once. There is nudity and a few strange sexual encounters, but it's never crude. The story is about 19-yr-old Lucy (Liv Tyler) trying to solve the mystery of her mother's suicide, her diary, and who her real father is. She also came to her mother's friend's Italian estate to reconnect with the boy she fell in love with last time she visited and have her likeness sculpted by another family friend. Lucy is trying to discover who she is by learning more about her mother, writing poetry, and struggling with her unrequited love.
Overall, it's a very serious, intriguing, odd feeling movie. It gave me a feeling of being out of place amongst these people who let it all hang out. But, in the end you get a beautiful story of self discovery. The trailer should give you an idea of how the film feels.



Besides the beautiful story, there is, of course, beautiful Italy...


Week of Italia: Letters to Juliet

Something about Italy must inspire sappy romantic comedies. Although, it also inspired Shakespeare, which led to this combination of the two.


Another case of a young woman about to marry the wrong man going off on an adventure, discovering her true love. And, sigh. This time it's Amanda Seyfried (Sophie) about to marry Gael García Bernal (Victor), but instead falls in love with Christopher Egan (Charlie).

Yes, it's a very formulaic story, but as with all generic romantic movies, it has its little details to try to make it special. While visiting Verona with her fiancé, Sophie discovers the Secretaries of Juliet; the women who answer the letters women write to Shakespeare's character with their heartbreaks. Sophie discovers a very old, unanswered letter and responds. The now very old woman, Claire, takes her advice and comes to Italy to find her long lost love, Lorenzo. Sophie, Claire and Claire's grandson, Charlie, set off driving around Italy to find the right Lorenzo. It's silly, it's sweet, it's romantic and they all live happily ever after.



Of course, it wouldn't be so romantic if it wasn't Italy they were traveling around. I mean, who could not fall in love in Italy?



I'm about ready to fall in love just looking at Italy...

Week of Italia: Only You

Take a trip with me back to 1994. Unflattering haircuts, shoulder pads, Chicago accents and a young Robert Downey Jr. Sounds fun, doesn't it?


Marisa Tomei (Faith) and Bonnie Hunt (Kate) head to Italy in search of Damon Bradley. As a girl, Faith asked for the name of her soul mate and got the name "Damon Bradley" from a Ouija board and then a fortune teller. Faith is about to get married, but gets a call from a man named Damon Bradley, who is heading to Venice. On a leap of faith (pun!), Faith runs off to Italy to find her soul mate. However, instead of Damon Bradley, she finds the adorable RDJ (Peter), who at first pretends to be Damon Bradley, and then helps her to find the real Damon Bradley. You get the point- misunderstandings lead to hijinks, lead to our two main characters falling in love.



Let's get to the real reason I want you to watch this movie; Italy. Faith and Kate travel to Venice, Rome, Positano and all over the Italian countryside tracking down the elusive Damon Bradley.



Aside from the beautiful shots of Italy, Only You is a cute romantic comedy. If you can get past the horrible 90's hair and clothes, there's a sweet story and an adorably young Robert Downey Jr.

Downloading Detox

A Downloading Detox: Can I do it?

I am constantly downloading movies and TV. Constantly. I have a constant need for new, new, new. I'm a Downloadaholic. It's a form of Shopaholic, which I also am.

The general idea of this need for detox is that I download too much. I'm usually pretty good at staying under my 60GB/month internet limit. However, last month I was completely addicted to Doctor Who Confidential and knowingly went over my limit because I did not want to wait a week for the new month to start. My sudden Doctor Who obsession is part of the reason I think I need a download break. (I downloaded all 5 seasons, watched them twice, then downloaded and watched the corresponding 5 seasons of Confidential within the past two months.) I'm starting to feel like a junkie who is going into debt to feed their habit. Doctor Who (and Confidential) is my crack.

My detox has a few rules and contingencies because it's not as simple as ceasing to download anything.

First of all, my downloading will not completely stop. I will continue to download all the shows that I watch that are currently airing. (I don't watch any TV on the actual TV, I download it all.) And, near the end of the month, I can download movies & TV to fill up my leftover download space. (I'm paying for 60GB/month, I'm not going to waste it!) So, it's not really even a detox from downloading, it's more the mentality of more, more, more! I need to stop myself from using up all my download GBs in the first week of the month!

The other reason for this detox is the fact that my 'Unseen' (movies and tv seasons) list stands at 87 (out of 968). I think 87 is quite a large number of movies and shows to have downloaded and not watched yet. It gives me this guilt akin to buying a pretty dress or shoes that I liked in the store, but months/years later, have never actually worn.



Therefor, the other part of the detox is replacing watching new movies & TV with watching all the unwatched movies & TV I already have. I download a lot of things thinking that I want to watch them, but then I seem to just not be in the mood and they sit there for a long time until I make myself watch them. A lot of my unseen movies are 'classics' that I downloaded just because they are famous movies that people reference all the time, that I felt I needed to see. However, I've never actually wanted to watch them.

Breakdown of 'Unseen':
Movies: 60
Christmas Movies: 10
TV Seasons: 5
Airing TV: 6
Incomplete TV Seasons: 6

So, my goal will be to watch all movies and completed TV seasons before downloading any more. I'll save Christmas movies for Christmas. Incomplete TV shows will have to stay incomplete until my detox is over and I can starting downloading again to complete them.

So, I have 60 movies and 5 TV show seasons to watch before I can download any more. Looks like I'm going to be forcing myself to watch at least one movie and one episode a day for a couple months...

Wish me luck!

P.S. The program I use to organize my movies & tv shows is called Delicious Library. You can download it for free, or buy the full version for $25. It's an amazing program. I absolutely cannot imagine my life without it.
P.P.S. I use Torrentz.com to search for movies & TV and I use Transmission to download the torrents.

Be Italian!

I'm so excited to be doing another theme week! This time it's all about movies. I coincidentally watched several movies set in beautiful Italy recently, which made me lust for my own Tuscan villa or, in lieu of that, more movies showing me Italy's gorgeous landscapes and seasides. Commence sighing and swooning...

I hope you'll join me in this Week of Italia, watching all these great Italian-set movies. I may even find some time to share some other posts about Italy!

I'm starting this Week of Italia with a musical. While it doesn't show off those beautiful Italian landscapes I was talking about, it is quite Italian.

I'm rubbish at writing summaries (I never know what to include, what's a spoiler, what's to much detail), so I'll leave that up to IMDb.com:
Arrogant, self-centered movie director Guido Contini finds himself struggling to find meaning, purpose, and a script for his latest film endeavor. With only a week left before shooting begins, he desperately searches for answers and inspiration from his wife, his mistress, his muse, and his mother. As his chaotic profession steadily destroys his personal life, Guido must find a balance between creating art and succumbing to its obsessive demands.



To be honest, this isn't one of my favorite films, but I do love a few of the songs, so if the movie as a whole doesn't appeal to you, at least check out these musical numbers. Good times, hot girls, and great music.







I'll be back tomorrow and every day this week with a movie featuring Italy, as well as other posts about Italy!

Happy Two-Year Anniversary, Blog!

I've been posting on this blog for two years! That's a pretty big accomplishment for me, who has had countless blogs over the years and never blogs consistently. So, I'd like to share my blog story...

I've had many, many blogs over the years, but this one officially started April 9th, 2009. It started as tishcakes.blogspot.com, and I believe I was calling it "tishcakes" or maybe just "TISH". At the time, I was living in my parents' basement (college dropout cliche, I know) and only had dial-up internet! My first post was a review of The Butterfly Effect DVD. My intention of the blog was to share the things I like (movies, telly, websites, people, fashion, etc.) and interesting parts of my life. Amazingly, that remains my intention with this blog. Perhaps that's why I've managed to keep this one for so long.

For that first summer, my blog was mostly movie reviews. And then I moved into Ottawa to go to college, and changed my blog to Tish in the City. I started posting more about my life; my fashion, my adventures, my baking classes. I continued to share what I love, including the videos I was making. I was making a video for almost every week, so I wasn't blogging as much.

I think it was some point in early '10 that I changed the blog name to sugar + razor blades and my URL to tishchambers.blogspot.com. "Sugar and razor blades" comes from the lyrics of Babydoll Gone Wrong by Skye Sweetnam. It's just a phrase that I liked, and then I thought it actually works with my blog since I post about baking (sugar) and crafts (razor blades/scissors) and film (film was originally spliced/edited with razor blades- but that's a bit of an obscure reference).

Although I still can't manage to blog daily, or keep to a schedule, I really enjoy blogging as a way to share the things that I love and my opinions. And just for fun, a bit about me.

When I saw that I was approaching my two year anniverary, I started looking back on my posts, seeing what I've done.

Features that I've tried...
Friday's Fave Five
Fashion Fridays
10 Things I Love Sunday
Music Mondays
Let Them Eat Cake!
La Photo Cabine of the Day
Monthly Movie Marathon
Pretty Sunday
12 Delicious Days of Christmas
None of them lasted very long, as I'm not so good with a strict blogging schedule.

One of my favorite blog ideas was Batman Week! It was fun to take something I was temporarily really into and incorporate it into my blog in different types of posts. I'm planning on a Week of Italia soon, reviewing movies set in Italy. I'm looking forward to doing more theme weeks!

Some common posts I tried...
I did a lot of groups of mini-reviews (Pretty useless, right?)
I shared some of my celebrity look-alikes. (One of my odd collections.)
I shared some pieces I wrote for the book I wanted to write, The Little Pink Book.
I shared some of the odd words I like to use with Tish Vocabulary.

As well as blogging, I've also been making videos since I was 13. I had a few video series over the past couple years...
Tuesdays with Tish was a series I did in the fall of '09. I talked about new stuff I liked, etc.
Buzz Video Blog Net was a video blogging group I joined at the beginning of '10. We did a question and challenge each week.
Runaway Girls was the video girl group I started after I get fed up with BVBN and wanted to start my own video group. We all did videos with questions and challenges every week. It lasted an amazing 16 weeks before we decided to take a summer break. And then we never really got started again...

What I've learned from all this is that I'm no good with schedules. Heck, I already new that, really. But I learned not to try to force myself to stick to a schedule with this blog. If I restrict myself too much, or force myself to do posts I'm not really inspired to do, then I'm just posting for the sake of posting. And that results in uninspired, poor quality posts. Instead, I've started to just go wherever my inspiration takes me. I write what I feel like writing when I'm inspired to do so.

I love using my blog as a way to share things I discover, love, and am passionate about. I hope you'll continue to read my blog to see what new things I discover, and what's new with me.

xoxo
.tish

My Week...



Bleaching my roots · Freshly bleached · What I do when I get home from work
Cheezburger · Bookshelf · Snack at work
Post-it notes I wrote myself and stuck around my iMac

Versatile Blogger Award

I just wanted to thank Bee for awarding me with this Versatile Blogger Award!

The rules are to share 7 facts about yourself and then award up to 10 other blogs. But, since I just shared 8 facts for the last award someone gave me, I won't bother with 7 more useless things about me.
Most of the blogs I follow are very popular, so they probably wouldn't care or notice if I "awarded" them with this. However, I would like to award Mandy from Chocolate & Cream Cake with The Versatile Blogger award. She covers a lot of topics on her blog from Nerd News to her latest obsessions. Not to mention she's very sweet and we like to talk British telly on my Facebook group I made for my friends and I to discuss our favorite British tv shows.

So, please check out Mandy's and Bee's blogs. They're both great girls. :)

Coming Attractions: Fairy Tales

This is one film trend that I am all for. Out with the vampires and werewolves, in with the fairy tales! Ever since grade eight, when we studied fairy tales, I've been fascinated with them. We read the original, gruesome, lesser-known versions of fairy tales and I loved it. I guess I have a thing for uncovering 'the seedy underbelly' of old stories that have been 'sugar-coated'. (I have the same feelings towards religions, particularly Bible stories.)
I've read various versions of many fairy tales and read lots of research about when they were written, what they were inspired by, and their history since then. Although I'm a sucker for the Disney versions, I love other interpretations even more. I love these 'untold stories' of fairy tales and other classic stories*.

Some fairy tale/classic story film interpretations that I love:
Return to Oz (1985) A much darker sequel to The Wizard of Oz based on the first few Oz books, starring a young Fairuza Balk.
Ever After (1998) A perfect example of telling the 'real' story behind a fairy tale.
Alice in Wonderland (1999) A live-action version of the story, which includes many parts from both books which aren't usually included in other versions.
Hoodwinked (2005) Red Riding Hood is turned into a silly murder-mystery in this animated film.
Tin Man (2007) A Sci-Fi channel mini-series that reinterprets the story of Dorothy in Oz in a modern/futuristic way, starring the adorable Zooey Deschanel.
Alice in Wonderland (2010) Alice returns to a destroyed Wonderland in this Tim Burton film.

But this post is about coming attractions, so here are some fairy tale movies coming up that I am looking forward to...

Beastly (in theaters March 4)

Beastly just opened and the reviews I've been seeing are saying it's dreadful. I'm so disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. I've really enjoyed movies that the critics have ripped apart before, so I'll probably still enjoy this one at least because it's a fairytale remake.

Red Riding Hood (in theaters March 11)

I'm curious to see how far they go with this big-bad-wolf, forbidden love story. I feel there's a big mystery there, and I want to find out!

These films are still in pre-production, but all the rumors I'm reading about them are getting me excited! (The IMDb.com pages might not have much information, but check out the news article links on the side for more info and photos.)

Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013) Not so happy about James Franco being cast. Not a fan of his. At all.

Dorothy of Oz (2012) Yup, I think it's about time for a animated musical in which Dorothy returns to Oz with the talented Lea Michele voicing Dorothy.

The Brothers Grimm: Snow White (2012) It's described as 'a dark twist' on the fairy tale, which is always good in my books. Julia Roberts is attached as the evil queen.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) I'm not a Kristen Stewart fan. She better not ruin one of my favorite fairy tales.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2012) Now this is what I'm talking about! Fairy tales gone bad ass!

With all these fairy tale based movies coming out, I don't think I'll be the only one interested in the original fairy tales. I see a major trend coming on...

*On the note of fairy tales, I would like to make it clear that the classic stories (that I also love) Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz are not fairy tales. I understand why they are often lumped together, but it's one of my pet peeves when people call them fairy tales. Fairy tales were written hundreds of years ago. They are quite literally tales that were passed down generations and have many different written versions, usually with one most popular version that gets retold and reinterpreted over and over. Alice 's Adventures in Wonderland was a children's novel written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll) in 1865. It was followed by Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There in 1871. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written by Frank L. Baum in 1900, and was followed by fourteen other books of adventures in Oz. Original novels, not fairy tales.There's a little history lesson for you.

Eight Facts About Me...



Oh, look what my new blog buddy, Mandy has awarded me with. This is one of those "tagging" things going around, and, as I've never been tagged with anything, I figured I better honor this one. Not to mention, I'm flattered Mandy chose me.

Since I've been tagged, I'm supposed to share eight things about myself with you. While I just updated me About Me page with lots of random facts about me, I thought for this I'd do even more random, possibly even embarrassing, little-known things about yours truly.

  1. I rarely sleep through the night. I usually can only sleep for a few hours at a time and I wake up remembering very disturbing dreams. I never have nice dreams. Only unsettling ones. Common themes include; cigarettes (never smoked in my life), teeth falling out, being late, being chased, not having privacy in the bathroom, not being able to open my eyes.
  2. I played the flute in school grades 6-11. I'm no prodigy, but I do have a natural talent for music (thanks, Mom) so I wasn't bad. Recently, I've been missing it and I'm planning on buying my own as soon as I can afford it to start playing again. (Specifically, I've always wanted to be able to play this song.)
  3. I've lived in Ottawa for 18 months and only recently took the bus all by myself for the first time. I've always walked everywhere. I lived in Thunder Bay for 8 months and never once took the bus there, either. (And Thunder Bay winters are no fun to walk around in.) The major reason was my social anxiety about being by myself in crowds, especially when I don't know what I'm doing. But, as with most things I'm scared of, once I did it, it was no big deal.
  4. I used to collect pictures of Paris Hilton. It started out ironic because I didn't like her, and then I grew to really love her. But collecting the pictures wasn't a creepy obsessive thing, it was more like a habit. I had an entire wall of my bedroom covered in pictures of her.
  5. I really regret cutting off all my hair! I miss it so much! Thinking about the next three years of awkward, unflattering hairstyles while it grows back makes me so depressed!
  6. I can quote nearly every line from Gilmore Girls. I've watched the entire series so many times that I can't even remember. I thought about starting a Gilmore Girls video series with my best friend Addie where we discuss Gilmore Girls because we are both experts.
  7. I'm very interested in religions. I was raised Christian, my dad was a Presbyterian minister. But I was never into it. When I was 13-15 I was really into Wicca. I still really like a lot of aspects of it, but I don't consider myself any religion. I have my beliefs, and I think it's fine that other people have beliefs and organized religions, I just wish they would keep it to themselves.
  8. I've never done any illegal drugs, and proud of it! I do drink alcohol, but I don't get drunk. I've only been truly drunk a couple times, and it's just embarrassing and not worth it.