Amelie

Tonight mom, Greg and I decided to watch the film Amelie. Mom and I have been making endless trips to the library in attempts to rent this lovely film, but alas they were to no avail. So we got it off Netflix. I simply adored the film. I loved the use of color, red and green, the vibrancy, the light and images. It was so pretty to look at! It made me wish I lived in France. Amelie tells the story of Amelie Poutin, a girl who is not quite as normal as everyone else.

I thought Audrey Tautou so cute and wide-eyed. I loved her character! She's so quirky and odd with her strategies and endless planning and yet she's also very relatable. I think the director really has a gift for films that are unique but in a very good way. I loved City of Lost Children, and this movie was no different. I feel I must see all of his films someday.

I also loved the other characters in the film. The man in the bar, the father, the sad fish, the man with the chicken and of course the garden gnome. It was such a splendid film that told a story in a way we don't often see. Almost like an odd little fairy tale. It may even be one of my favorites films, that is how much I enjoyed it! Even though it was in French, I didn't seem to mind, in fact I sometimes forgot I was reading subtitles.

In the end, I highly recommend this film. It is worth seeing. A treat for the eyes, the ears and the heart.

Welcome Back to Reality

It is here.

As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of the television show Fringe. After a long summer wait it is finally back! All I can say is, YES!!

School Time

School has started once again. Homework, classes, calculators and of course friends. I must say this year has been excellent so far! Being in 11th grade has been so much fun! I haven't been stressedby homework, or the annoying people, on the other hand I've had such a great time.

And it's so good to see all my friends again, I forgot how much fun they are to be around. I'm also enjoying the new schedule as well as most of the new classes.Even beach day, which is one of the worst days of the year, was a bit

better than last year! Which is saying a lot!

Here's to a great new school year!

Two Gentlemen of Verona

This year we hadThis summer I was part of the teen repertory production of Two Gentlemen of Verona at Theatricum Botanicum. In fact, I actually got one of the lead female roles and Ventana got the other. It was a really good experience even though there were some things I wasn't happy about at all (my love interest for example). The group had a bunch of people from other years as well as new people. two directors, Aaron (who we had last year) and Willow who I've also had before. It was interesting because they never directed on the same days which was rather confusing since they might give us two different notes. Two Gentlemen of Verona was Shakespeare's first play and thus has some story issues as well as themes that you see throughout the rest of his plays. It tells of the story of two best friends; Proteus and Valentine. Valentine go off to Millan to serve the Duke, while Proteus stays behind with his love, Julia. When Proteus goes to visit Valentine he finds himself under the spell of the beautiful Silvia who Valentine is engaged to. Trickery ensuing, Valentines is banished, Julia disguises herself as a boy serving Proteus as a sevant, and everything ends in the forest. I played Julia. I had a really amazing time doing the beginning scenes of the play with Rachel, who played my sevant. We got along well and it was very much fun to do. I feel like this part was very good for me to play because it was challenging and diverse and different from the parts I normally play. I learned a lot did new things. It was fun to see everyone else who had more comedic parts. For example, my friend Mallin played Sir Eglamour, a flamboiant suiter of Julia and friend to Silvia. She seemed to be having lots of fun and was really quite funny to watch on stage. We also had an amazing dog who was part of the play. She was so cute and all of us were always petting her. She was super sweet and would always do things on stage that were perfect and hysterical. I had some really good friends in this group. Mallin, Katie and Lily were both in it last year and it was so nice to be with them again. I'm really sad that Mallin is to old for the camp now. Thankfully we'll still have a year with Lily, she has really nice energy and is great to talk to. I also loved being with Danny again. He was in two of our plays several years ago and it was great to have him back. In all it was very different from years before, and challenging, but still quite fun.







(last picture is Miranda, me, Ventana, Mary and Danny. Mary and Miranda were not i the play)

Pictures thank to Scott Garen and Ben Neuhart.

Julie and Julia

You know it's going to be amazing as soon as you hear Meryl Streep is playing Julia Childs. I mean, let's face it, she's brilliant. Dad and I went to see Julie and Julia the other day. I expected a lot from the film, and I wasn't disappointed. The film tells two true stories; the story of Julia Childs and her journey to publishing her cookbook, and the story of Julie Powell, a government worker who challenges herself to cook through the Julia Childs cookbook within the course of a year. The stories are similar and relate to each other in many ways, even though they are about people in two different times. Meryl Streep is wonderful as the colorful, sweet and tall Julia Childs. She is so perfect for the part, that I can't imagine anyone else playing her. The part of the film that take place in Paris are so beautiful. Julia's house is so amazing! I wish I lived there! Stanley Tucci was great as always, he has such a nice film presence! Amy Adams was great as Julie Powell. She's sweet in the normal Amy Adams way, but she brings something new to the table as well. Not only does the film look amazing, but the script is also great! It is funny and yet full of truth. In all it was just a very good film. I will say this, it left me very, very hungry. After the film all I wanted to do was saute mushrooms and bake with tons and tons of butter. Yummmmm.

I would highly recommend seeing this film, it's lighthearted, real and full of amazing food, what could be better?