day 4: favorite book

i've been slacking a bit with this lately which i know is bad but i'm glad this post came up today because yesterday morning at work i chatted with carol for almost 2 hours about our favorite books, this is mine:




2yrs ago i had a bit of an obsession with "mental health memoirs" ie girl interrupted, the bell jar, i also really loved poppy shakespeare although that was fiction. i picked this book up in HMV for £3 and although it took a while to get into- there is very little punctuation, and any speech is written out like a script.
however. it is one of the most honest and poignant books i have ever read.
at the time of me reading this i was at a very low point with an eating disorder. i'm not going to sit and preach that it helped me in recovery or anything like that, because i got worse before i got better, but it helped me understand what i was going through, and that an addiction is an addiction- one line in particular stood out to me:
"An addict is an addict. it doesnt matter whether the addict is white black yellow or green rich or poor or somewhere in the middle the most famous person on the planet or the most unknown. it doesnt matter whether the addiction is drugs alcohol crime sex shopping food gambling television or the fuckin Flintstones. the life of the addict is always the same. there is no excitement no glamour no fun. there are no good times there is no joy there is no happiness there is no future and no escape there is only an obsession. an all encompassing fully enveloping completelly overwhelming obsession. to make light of it brag about it or revel in the mock glory of it is not in any way shape or form related to its truth and that is all that matters, THE TRUTH."
sometimes realisation is better than help.
it has since been alleged that some or all of the book is fabricated, but to me it doesn't matter. as far as i'm concerned james frey can write hella well (also read "my friend leonard" and "bright shiny morning") so it doesn't matter if the book is fact or fiction truth or lies, it still made a mark on me, still meant an awful lot, still gave me a realisation, its still a fucking good story whether the story is true or not.

day 3: favorite television programme

the blue planet



admittedly, i don't watch much t.v, but i'm a total geek when it comes to stuff like this.
also david attenboroughs voice makes me sleepy+the beautiful imagery= a perfect nights sleep!

day 2: favorite film

again, choosing one favorite film is something i can't do!!
so here i go with another list


1. Stand By Me

Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Will Wheaton
River Phoenix
Corey Feldman
Jerry O'Connell
Kiefer Sutherland


I think that this is one of the most beautiful and genuine films I have ever seen. Based on a book by Stephen King, Stand By Me is a "coming of age adventure-drama" but the reason I love it is because it has one of the most honest and truthful morals I've ever seen in a film. Plus, first seeing it aged 12, I feel in love with River Phoenix (who is supposed to be playing a 12 year old in the film but there is one point in particular during the film where it is obvious this is not the case ;) ).
I got the film on dvd for my 13th birthday and remember watching it with my 3 best friends and then we went for a beautiful long walk when the sun was setting. We thought we were the characters in the film :) I think the moral stuck with all of us. Really, really lovely stuff.

2. The Green Mile

Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Tom Hanks
Michael Clarke Duncan


The first time I saw this film I cried for 3hours straight- my parents thought that "something had happened" and banned me from watching the film for a while because they thought it made me too sad (haha that seems so silly now!)
I love films that make you think, and if there ever was one, this is it. I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but this is a film that will really make you FEEL something, I promise you!!


3. The Shawshank Redemption

Director: Frank Darabont (again- he is amazing at epic "period" movies which I really love!)
Starring: Morgan Freeman
Tim Robbins


I first saw this film whilst crammed into a 4berth caravan with 7 members of my family whilst the rain was pouring down outside. When my uncle suggested we watched Shawshank I wasn't at all keen at first, but he assured me, "it's not your average prison-break", and he wasn't wrong.
Every time I watch this film now, I wish it was the first time. Plus, it has the amazing Morgan Freeman narrating, and I could listen to that mans voice all day long.
One of the most poignant endings to a film I think. Annoyingly, my dvd copy has a scratch at a really crucial point so I haven't seen it for ages...must get round to buying a new copy.


4. Where the Wild Things Are

Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Max Records
Catherine Keener
Mark Ruffalo
Lauren Ambrose
Chris Cooper
Paul Dano
James Gandolfini
Catherine O'Hara
Forrest Whittaker


This is a relatively recent film but I fell in love with it immediately. I loved the book as a child, and was anticipating the movie for months- when it finally came out I saw it at the cinema 3 times and went on about it so much my dad actually bought me a pirate copy dvd...!! (knock off nigel)
The book, by Maurice Sendak (1963) was made up mainly of pictures. As a child I loved this, it let the imagination run wild thinking of Max's adventures with the Wild Things. It did make me wonder, however, how a feature length film version was going to be made, but I was not disappointed. The original story was elaborated beautifully by writers Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers. The cinematography was jaw droppingly beautiful- the colours were fantastic and the landscape was mind blowing- as a photographer it was like some kind of idea of heaven to me! :)
I also loved the soundtrack which was done entirely by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and "The Kids". I not only have a CD version of this but I also have it on cassette so I can listen to it in my car :)
I really really fell in love with this film. It is beautifully nostalgic and will really release your inner child/wild thing.


5. This Is England

Director: Shane Meadows
Starring: Thomas Turgoose
Joe Gilgun
Andrew Shim
Vicky McClure
Stephen Graham
Rosamund Hanson


Another film I only saw for the first time rather recently- which I now find hard to believe, as it is one of the best films I have ever seen, and another one with a moral.
The film is a visual illustration of the "skinhead/rudeboy" subculture and how it was adopted by white British Nationalists, despite having musical roots in ska, soul and reggae.
The film is deep, meaningful and I feel it communicates a message which is important for young people to understand. Again, I loved the cinematography but in a rather different way- rather than being overly beautiful like WTWTA, This Is England portrays a truthful documentary feel: somewhat more mundane, but creating a much more truthful feel. Definitely an important one to watch, helping the English understand their own country.

6. Atonement

Director: Joe White
Starring: Kiera Knightly
James McAvoy
Saiorse Ronan


With Ian McEwan being one of my favorite authors of all time, this is one of the best film adaptations I have ever seen.
If you haven't seen the film or read the book, I will-again- not give too much of the plot away as I wouldn't want to ruin it. But let me assure you, this is one of the BEST twists EVER!!
The film ever so slightly changed the ending of the book, the last chapter of which I felt was exceptionally excecuted. For this reason I would reccomend reading the book first- it takes a while to get in to, but trust me, this one is really worth it. I can forgive the ending of the film due to one scene which is possibly the most stunning 5 minutes of cinema ever created. The "Dunkirk Beach Scene" is 5 mintues of continual shooting on an epic scale. Words can really not do it justice...and I tried to find a clip on YouTube of this seem but all of them have disabled embedding...therefore your only choice is to watch the film!! go!! now!!!!