Ninjas, blood and synchronisation

I wanted to watch "Shogun Assassin" by Robert Houston because I want to be just like Quentin. So finally today i watched it, I was in the mood for blood and slaughter. It was great! I loved the english dubbed voices it was very tacky and therefore awesome. I liked the kid, Daigoro, played by Akihiro Tomikawa (?!) and his hair was really cool. I just IMDB'd the film, and realized that the supremeninja is supposed to be dubbed by Sandra Bernhard. Now that, I find very amusing. I feel a sudden urge to explore asian cinema, also the non-dubbed stuff, in any case I want to see some more Samurai badassness.

Supremeninja: "I am the supreeemeninjaah! "
Ogami Itto, the Lone Wolf: "Ooooh!"

- Andrae

Shane

We completely forgot to write about Shane in December, so i'm gonna do it now. Almost every day in December I watched a programme on the danish channel "DR Ramasjang" called "Shanes jul" (Shanes Christmas). Shane is American, Norwegian and Danish, but lives in Denmark. He's a desginer and a children's book author, and now he's got his own show "Shanes verden" (Shanes world).

Anyway, we were absolutely hooked on the christmas version, which was like a advent calender. On the show he makes all kinds of christmas decorations, presents and food. It's very inspiring, and relaxing to watch. While playing with dolls in a little toy village filled with snow he creates a long story with very amusing characters and episodes. Finally some good children's TV!

Wow, I really miss Shane! Hope he'll be back next christmas!

"Hej hej! Find din yndlingssiddepude frem og kom her hen og sæt dig. Skynd dig, for vi skal hen og hilse på Shane og hans bedste ven Jacob i deres juleværksted. Her i juleværkstedet bliver der bygget, malet, klippet, klistret, leget og fortalt julehistorier morgen, middag og aften. Shane smider aldrig noget ud, og han har altid plads til flere nisser og mere juletingentangel. Alt kan bruges, for både Shane og Jacob elsker at finde på julelege, og du kan tro, det smitter. Lad os folde juleørerne ud og sætte øjnene på granstilke, for nu begynder det." From the beginning of every episode of "Shanes jul"

- Juhan

Weekend; wine, cookie dough and shitloads of movies

I had an absolutely terrific weekend. Whilst knocking back many a bottle of cheap redwine and uncooked baked goods, we watched films, the following will be the ones that are worth mentioning;
"The Big Lebowski" by Joel Coen, with Jeff Bridges ( I love that he, "The Dude" also stars in "The mirror has two faces" with the lovely Barbra Streisand, incidentally that movie is peculiar and nice), John Goodman (whom I only remember from "Blues Brothers 2000" and that sitcom called "Roseanne") and Steve Buscemi (wroof! "Ghost World", "Con Air"(Haha), "Resevoir dogs" etc.) and also the fantastic mr. David Thewlis (He plays Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter films, also; "Naked") has a small but well-played part in this film. I've watched it before, I have faith that it will never lose its greatness. Fantastic Soundtrack!

The Dude: "Walter he peed on my rug"
Donny: "He peed on the Dude's rug"






"Inglourious Basterds" by Tarantino, with many many people that have been credited too often, yet i feel a need to mention Eli Roth in the role as the "Bearjew", sgt. Donny Donowitz (who incidentally also stars in "The mirror has two faces" - every badass nazibutcher has a past, nudge nudge), Til Schweiger as my absolute favorite character in this movie the german basterd Hugo Stiglitz. Denis Menochet as Perrier LaPadite from the first scene, and of course Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa. Also I think it is amazing that Samm Levine from "Freaks and Geeks" is playing a basterd, that really made my day. I thought it was amazing watching it in the cinema, but I certainly do not regret buying the DVD.

Hugo Stiglitz: "Say Auf Wiedersehen to your nazi-balls"





"Me and Charly" (Danish: Mig og Charly) from 1978 which is a danish teenage drama-comedy film about two boys and their (at times rather homoerotic) friendship. They become friends despite their different backgrounds. I love it, I really still do.
Lovely.

- Andrae

Deliciousness!!

This is one of our favourite weekend-dishes; kartoffel-scramble! Yum!
Ingredients:
potatoes
onions
eggs
salt
pepper

Mix it all together and... ENJOY!

-Juhan

L'auberge espagnole

L'auberge espagnole is about a young French man, Xavier, who moves to Spain for a year, and ends up living in a small apartement with 7 other young people from different European countries. It's nice and funny, and it makes you wanna go to Barcelona or just take a year off and chillax with cool people! I especially like the danish charachter named "Lars"!

"Je suis français, espagnol, anglais, danois. Je suis pas un mais plusieurs. Je suis comme l’Europe, je suis tout ça. Je suis un vrai bordel." - Xavier

- Juhan

The Squid and the Whale

I've postponed watching this film for quite a while, my immediate thought was that it seemed kinda dull. It most certainly is not. It is a sad story about divorce and the effect it has upon children. I found it beautiful and very simple, to the point. Particularly the depiction of the heart-broken father (an immensely pretentious writer, beautifully played by Jeff Daniels) who decides to turn his oldest son against his ex-wife. The lovely Laura Linney (Driving Lessons) plays the mother, the children are played by Owen Kline and Jesse Eisenberg, and the film is directed by Noah Baumbach (The Fantastic Mr. Fox).

- Andrae

Australian Lovelies: Strange Planet

I had a wonderful, yet hungover time yesterday watching "Queer as folk 2" (UK), "Strange Planet" and "Sliding Doors" (we love John Hannah!).
Strange Planet (1999) has been forgotten, rather unfairly I think, and thus it is time to mention this incredibly sweet film. It is directed by Emma-Kate Croghan, whom I do not know anything about, since I am not very geeky upon the subject of Australian pop-culture... yet.
It is a story about three women and three men and their many, many problems with their respective lovelives. The film begins and ends at new years which made it very appropriate for watching yesterday.
I feel that this film is a bit more complex than other romantic dramas or comedies. I am not saying that this is an artsy film though, it just has a different and interesting twist/quality to it, and it does not cease to be realistic (in contrast with other romantic comedies way of glorifying single and/or married life).
It is one of my favourite movies because it is hopeful and has possibly the tackiest ending in the world. Lovely.
Starring in this film are three very beautiful ladies; Claudia Karvan, Alice Garner (I love love love her!) and Naomi Watts.
Unfortunately what happened to the "Ghost World" movie cover has happened to Strange Planet as well - Naomi Watts, who is not the main character, but merely one of 6 main characters, has been placed in focus because of her popularity in Hollywood. I hate that, I really do, although placing Scarlett Johanson in the front of the "Ghost World" cover is more of a crime than the Naomi Watts stunt.
That aside, this is a lovely film for the gigglish, and also for those hopeful romantics, and as seen above, I found the proper cover.
Incidentally this film has some rather quirky film-references that are worth noticing. De Niro in "Taxi Driver" is not only mentioned but also impersonated by one of the male characters, and scenes from the 1959 series "The Twilight Zone" are used for the purpose of making a point about life and fate and that sort of thing.
Lovely film.

- Andrae