Movie review - Giraffada

For the 2014 Munich Filmfest, I saw Giraffada. For the synopsis, please watch the trailer!

I'm not sure how much I can say without giving too much away, except I really enjoyed it although I felt extremely confused about how I was feeling once the film finished. I highly recommend this to people - despite the setting there's very little violence. I found it quite thought provoking on how a warzone (whether you wish to define it like that) affects the daily lives who literally have nothing to do with the conflict - kids and animals.

As a bonus since I was watching this at the German premiere, the director (Rani Massalha - this was his debut!) was present and taking questions. He revealed that the child lead is actually a relative of his and he was therefore able to get an excellent performance from him by using the familial privileges of threatening him. It worked - the kid was excellent.

Not a perfect film, but an excellent debut. You'll have to watch it for yourselves to see the things that I didn't like (you'll probably figure them out).
8/10

World Cup musings.

Since my return from London, my days and nights have been filled with a cycle of going to work and then leaving work to go watch the world cup before going home, or going to work, going to German class, then going to watch the world cup before going home. This is the first time I've been surrounded by so many different people with vested interests in their team and the actions of others. Here are some of my thoughts on this so far: 

Spain played so badly. I understand all things must pass but I don't think everyone expected it to pass so suddenly. 

On the other hand, Australia was better than expected!

Brazilians, such as Carlinho here, have little happy dances that they perform after Brazil wins. 

Luis Suarez has serious problems, but he is comedy gold!

 Joachim (Jogi) Loew, coach of Germany, is sexy says everybody

Actually, soccer coaches in general are better than American football coaches.

Also, given the amount of alcohol I've ingested during this world cup and the time spent watching matches instead of sleeping...I'm going to have to learn to moderate myself better because, good lord, there's still at week left!

Dogs of Munich u-bahn.

Munich people love their dogs. And I love that they love to take their dogs onto the u-bahn.

This fluffster camped himself right in front of the door and the expression on people's faces as they boarded was pure gold.

This photo doesn't really indicate how huge this labrador was. Seriously one of the bigger ones I've seen in a while

I'm thinking of starting a blog of dogs I see riding the trains on their daily commutes.

British Birthday Bash!

The british fun didn't end there! Swisschris and I had planned to hold a joint birthday party and in honour of the place where we've spent a lot of time, we decided to make the theme 'British'. You know exactly what this means!

Bunting! Bunting everywhere!

And comedy masks of famous British people!

Particularly of the Royal Family!

Actually, these masks photographed much better than I expected leading to such weird photos like Prince Charles with cleavage

And Kate and Wills being present at this party. Yes I am wearing my primmy bargain dress!

Actually, I should say something - the night of this party was the Italy vs England WC match - a happy coincidence. Riccardito forgot that this was the case and, as you can see, he rocked up wearing the Union Jack on his shirt. He got a written agreement that his Italian friends wouldn't kill him when he went to the match later. But you know, I haven't seen him since...

Pato and Tom were really happy at how this photo turned out - like she really was with David Beckham!

And so Prince Charles and Her Majesty would love to thank everyone who came and helped put on a jolly good show!

Fundon Shopping!

So what exactly did I buy that resulted in 10kg of new weight? Here are some of the highlights

Satin crop overlay dress from Karen Millen/Harrods. Yes, it is a rip off of a Chanel design! That's why I'll pair it with those pearls!

Jersey blazer from Uniqlo. I also got another pair of jeans here because uniqlo jeans suit me best.

Dress from Primmy. There's a bit of a story behind this find. Pooey first found it with a different pattern but there weren't many in my size left. When I tried it on in the change room, the zip got stuck around the waist due to the fabric and there was definitely no way I would have been able to do it myself if I purchased the dress. We decided that if we couldnt' find one in my size that would zip, we would leave it. BUT THEN!!! Not only did we find one with this pattern - which we both agreed was better than the other one, it zipped up very easily so into the trolley it went. Being the last one on the rack in this size and pattern, it was missing its barcode. The shopgirl said I could run back and get another one and she would scan it when I got back, but she said she knew it was a bit of a bargain. She was right. Even though the dress was tagged as £16 or something like that, it scanned as....SEVEN POUNDS!!!

White batik scarf and Union Jack scarf, also from Primmy. That Union Jack one really came in handy too - it was pretty cold when I arrived.

Assorted Primmy bags. Sharp-eyed readers will note that the clutch and red polka dot were also used on my trip to Bristol/Bath!

And a couple of skirts also from Primmy. I also got a bikini top, a singlet, leggings and socks but...yeah you don't need to see those.

My Dune purchases! Pooey said I should have gotten two pairs of the flower ballet flats since I was planning on buying them at full price the day before...so I did! She was a bit upset that it appears I got the last pair of hot pink leopard print flats and the normal leopard print wedges in our size in London, but she consoled herself by buying a pair of peach leopard print flats and a pair of black suede wedges instead.

A new pair of converse dance from Office. Unfortunately not on sale but still so good. 

Pooey and I were walking along Regent St. between Book of Mormon and The Bodyguard when we saw a huge sign on the Furla window declaring discounts of up to 40%. Furla wasn't on our shopping list but with discounts like that, hey, why not?! My. God. This sale was INSANE. Pooey had been looking forward to getting herself a new satchel from Mulberry, but when she saw the Alissa satchel was 40% - at the ridiculous price of £140, she got two! Okay, one of the ones she purchased was a smaller size, and therefore cheaper, but...for that price, I wanted one as well! My sanity prevailed and I ended up getting this two-toned clutch and the keyring/cardholder instead. The two combined were less than £60. SCORE!!!

Okay, here's a moment where my sanity failed. Pooey and I went to Fenwick and saw that Longchamp bags were reduced and these Le Pliage bags were £40, down from £59. Pooey was all, "I'm getting one!" and I was "That's insane! We went to Furla the other day, you got two bags!" Her reply, "I don't care! This is such a deal!" and I caved and said she should get me one as well. I was pretty happy but also, starting to hate myself hahahahaha. 

But all things must end and so did my trip. So here's the last important purchase I made in London - Fortnum and Mason lemon curd at the airport duty free. 

FUNDON Day 7

By now we were dead tired and full of food so Pooey and I were doing more errands and picking up the last few things before I had to fly out.

Compared to previous meals, this last lunch was a less glamorous one.

But still, a roast chicken sandwich with coleslaw is always pretty tasty. 

The fatigue only means that it was a highly successful trip. Pooey escorted me to the airport which was a good thing - all of that eating and shopping resulted in me gaining 2kg of weight and 10kg of luggage!

FUNDON Day 6

My last full day in London, Pooey and I decided to go to Borough Market for lunch. Before that happened however, I decided that while Pooey was doing her morning ablutions, I would go to New Change and see if the shops had started to go on sale . HELL YEAH THEY DID!!! In fact, a pair of shoes that I was considering buying from Dune a few days earlier had been slashed 50%!!!! I phoned Pooey and she raced over to join in!

The good times continued at Borough.

Mmmm, olive bread bites

Mmmmm, bakery stall selling portuguese egg tarts and assorted other delicious looking cakes.

Mmmm, turkish delight stall but..only 1 (one) sample each?! That's fair enough. I was going a little crazy trying all the cheese and sausage and brownie and cookie and oil and tapenade samples available.

Pooey and I ultimately settled on fish and chips and some egg tarts.

Those fries were freshly hot!

After this, Pooey and I split forces - I had a bit of a tummy ache and headed home to die, while Pooey headed to Chinatown to rejuvenate supplies because we were going to celebrate the World Cup by eating steamboat again. Having split forces, I also went to the Twinings shop to load up on different teas that people had requested. Pooey and I then raced each other home before psychotically setting out towards Primark Oxford St. But that's not the craziest of the crazy stories. We went to Dune on Argyll St near Oxford Circus. After the relative calm of Dune New Change...it was like a STAMPEDE had occurred here. There were shoes tossed around everywhere. The shop staff who worked that day were absolutely amazing. Due to the sale, only one shoe of each set in different sizes were on display, meaning that staff were constantly running behind the scenes to collect pairs and then having to find the customer who had requested it. A lot of the customers were incredibly rude about this - they'd request a pair and then wander away, leaving the hapless returning assistant to search for them. Or worse. Me and Pooey decided to make things easier for them by giving all our requested shoes at the same time. When the shopgirl returned with our pairs...another customer came along and started to pick them up! I very pointedly told her to back off. We were both relieved to be out of there and continued on our way.

FUNDON Day 5

This day was Musical Theatre Day. Pooey and I were going to see two shows. That meant that rather than try to shoehorn in lots of activities, we decided to be relaxed - we would run various errantds and eat comfort food.

On the topic of comfort food, we walked past EAT and saw that it was chicken pot pie day so we got one!

And then followed it up by going to C&R for some chicken rice and hor fun before heading to our matinee show. I miss them so much!!!

Me and Pooey were a little bit late to the theatre and missed the first couple of songs from...BOOK OF MORMON!!! DAMMIT!!!!

But despite missing the intro, it's a pretty easy musical to get into and definitely to enjoy. For those who are unfamiliar with it, Book of Mormon comes from the creators of South Park and follows two young Mormons who are sent to Uganda for their mission. Naturally the show is full of social and religious commentary, with highly catchy songs peppered with swears. The leads played the show in the USA (Elder Cunningham also played it on Broadway) . It is HILARIOUS, although not for the easily offended. Hehehe.

For dinner we went to our old favourite, Four Seasons Wardour St. for assorted roasted meats and vegetables. Pooey allowed me to select the ones I missed the most. I settled on char siu pork, soy chicken, and of course roast duck. We also got rice and veggies which we ended up packing up and taking away for smee.

Our final show - THE BODYGUARD!!! Based on the Whitney and Kevin movie of the same name, if features songs from Whitney Houston's early career e.g. Saving all my love, So emotional, How will I know, and of course, the songs from the movie. This show is super-duper cheesey, but will be highly enjoyable for fans of the movie or Whitney Houston. In the Whitney role was Alexandra Burke, a winner of the UK X Factor, and I've got to say, she was excellent! She was definitely a very strong part of the show. The weakest part for both me and Pooey was the actor in the Kevin role. His US accent was terribly fake and the two leads had absolutely no chemistry. But all of that doesn't matter when the show conducts a singalong at the end and the entire audience sings and claps along!

Out of all the four shows we watch, I'm going to offer this very controversial preference list:
1. Book of Mormon. This can not be challenged.
2 - with conditions. The Bodyguard. This position is due primarily to my knowledge of Whitney Houston's music and therefore being able to sing along with the cast. I walked out singing on the street and bus ride home, and I can't say I did that for the following two musicals. If you don't like her music or hate the movie, drop this one down to 4.
3. Wicked.
4. Matilda.
Disagree? Feel free to watch them and decide for yourself!

FUNDON Day 4

Pooey and I discussed that since I was in London for so long, we should do some actual tourist activities rather than only shopping and eating. We bandied about ideas like visiting Highclere castle (it wasn't open for visitors in June) or a trip to Dover (decided there wasn't enough for us there), before deciding to just go to Kensington Palace. Pooey had never been there at all; I had only been to the gardens and Orangery, and it's close to Harrods for post-tourism shopping so off we went! 

The gates leading to the palace. I approached the palace from the rear and ended up in the wrong place before a guard came out of the palace and told us where to go. He knew we were lost because he could hear me singing.

The palace has been a royal residence for centuries and had a banquette with embroidered portraits of various residents.

Me with cushions of two current residents - Kate and Wills!

There was also an exhibition of dresses worn by the Queen, and Princesses Margaret and Diana. It was quite interesting in how it displayed how the dresses are designed and chosen.

For example, in their youth, the Queen and Princess Margaret would wear dresses in light colours so that they would stand out in a crowd of dignitaries, who would be likely wearing dark clothes.

The Queen would also wear more 'traditional' and feminine designs. Also....(whisper...the Queen was stacked).

Princess Margaret had a teeeeeeeeeny waist that was accentuated by her clothes.

She could also be more daring with her outfits than the Queen due to having less restrictions. 

Also, I'm just going to put in this portrait of Princess Margaret taken by her photographer husband Lord Snowdon. I think we looked at this and then me and Pooey commented to each other that Princess Margaret was clearly a hottie of her time.

Diana's dresses were less codified, say compared the Queen's, and instead reflected the direct fashions of the time - lots of drop waists and shoulder pads. Also, looking at these dresses made me realise how tall she was. 

After this, we went through the rooms, starting with the Georgian state apartments and then onto Victoria's rooms.

We had a bit of fun with the displays.

And Pooey dressed me up in a costume so that we could have the experience. It was quite heavy to wear.

Seriously, the panniers were a bit ridiculous

There were some actors pretending to be nobility wandering around, and they showed us that women had to walk through the doors sideways to accommodate their dreses.

The Victoria apartments had a section on Queen Victoria's lonely childhood and examples of the toys she would have had. As I played with them, Pooey pointed out that I also really looked like a child. 

And after all that history, we walked past the Albert Memorial to get to Harrods.

For dinner that night, Pooey and I met up with Aussies Amandine & Justin, Liz & Chris, and Cam & Esther. I had been craving steak and Pooey suggested we head to Goodmans, with the City location convenient to all. We also made the best decision ever to have a 3 course meal but to share all the courses rather than have each of our own because we both wanted the same things.

Entree of pan fried foie gras with brioche and fig chutney. As I was eating this, I realised that it's been a long time since I had foie gras...

Our main - Irish fillet cooked medium rare. Mmmm, look at that blood.

Shared sides of beans, fries, and truffled macaroni and cheese. To be honest, I couldn't really taste the truffle in the mac & cheese. That was kind of annoying. Also, I realise I didn't take an photos of my friends! But that's Amandine's arms opposite me!

Finally, our dessert of fried pineapple. So retro 80s :D

Sharing our meal was the best decision we ever made. Pooey and I usually eat until our eyes can't handle it anymore but this time when we stood up, we felt full but not overly, needing to sleep on our sides full. It was a good feeling to have after many days of continuous overfeeding.