Sunday 1 September 2013

Movie review

The summer holiday is coming to an end and reality will soon set in. Tuesday I will begin my year long exchange at University of Copenhagen. It's gonna be a busy year, and hopefully a great one.
With all the flying about this past holiday I have had the chance to watch lots of films, there are however two that I particularly liked. I hope you will enjoy reading my short summaries of why I think they are worth watching, and hopefully you will be inspired to watch them :)

42
Photo from the movie's official website
42 is a film about the baseball player Jackie Robinson. Personally I have never watched a baseball match, and I don't have the rules down. I'm from Denmark, baseball isn't big around here - but don't let the theme of baseball fool you. It is a touching and amazing film.
It features amazing acting from the likes of Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford's portrail of Branch Rickey is oddly endearing, however I would say it takes a little time getting used to him. T.R. Knight's portrail of Harold Parrott often times stole the screen in the most subtle of ways, with what, at least to me, seemed like camera shyness Knight manages to tell a story of a man very much appreciative of Branch Rickey. Mentioning these three actors does not do the film credit, there are many amazing performances by the whole cast. I take my hat off to the cast - what an amazing job.
My initial thought after watching the film was WOW. I loved how the movie manages to balance the at times subtle reference to the racism surrounding Jackie Robinson's debuting on the Brooklyn Dodgers team and at others full blown display. Overall I would very much encourage anyone to go watch the movie, it has something for everyone - even those who don't understand baseball.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Photo from the movie's official website
You have probably heard about this great british comedy directed by swedish Lasse Hallström starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas to name a few. It is a delightful story of an attempt to introduce salmon fishing to the Yemen.
We are first introduced to the characters through an e-mail exchange between Emily Blunt's character, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, and Ewan McGregor's character, Dr. Alfred Jones. Ms Chetwode-Talbot represents the visionary Sheik Muhammed who wants to introduce salmon fishing to the dessert in Yemen.Sheik Muhammed is played by Amr Waked a relatively new actor on the international scene. Dr. Jones is initially very much against the idea as he does not see it as plausible and potentially very dangerous, from the perspective of the fish, due to climate, transport etc. However through the course of the film Dr. Jones grow with the task and the trio embark on an amazing journey of fish and faith. The process is by no mean straight forward, there are several things working against them. Kristin Scott Thomas makes a delightful appearance as the prime minister's press secretary, she has some of the best one liners in the film, and is splendidly inappropriate.
Overall this film is amazing, so if you are in the mood for a film with a little more to say than a sappy chick-flick this is the film for you.

That was it for now, I hope you enjoyed it.
Have a great day :)

Wednesday 3 July 2013

IKEA hack... Sort of.

As promised here's an IKEA hack I did recently. I have to confess that it is not the one I initially planned to post today, but as I am still not fully done setting cleaning up after the other one I have no pictures yet. So I'm afraid that one won't be up till after I come back from Peru. In the meantime there will be a few posts coming the coming days.

This hack came about when I was wondering what to do with the side of my IKEA PAX closet. I had initially stuck Slätthult stickers on the side, but grew a little tired of them and needed something else. I remembered I had these picture ledges, so as soon as I could get them from my mum I drilled holes in the side of the PAX unit and I was away.


I unfortunately forgot to take pictures (read: too excited to do this hack), but the same idea applies as hanging the shelf on walls: hold it up at the desired hight, use a spiritlevel to make sure it is level, mark the holes and drill.
I had played around with the screws that is used to attatch two PAX units for my other IKEA hack, that I will share in August, and thought they ought to be able to be used in this hack too. I ordered 4 from IKEA, unfortunately I found out the screws were too long, and I didn't have the tools to cut them shorter.
Instead I used metal washers to make up for it (check pictures below).

All in all I'm very pleased with the result, and I think it is perfect for anyone renting not wanting to hammer nails in the wall. I love that I can change what I display as it is very close to my bed and I wake up to it every morning.




I will share some snazzier after-pictures as soon as I get the rest of the room in order ;) Oh the joy of living in a flat with very little storage :)

Have a great day :) 


Sunday 6 January 2013

Quick and easy: Dried flower wreath

Supplies: Basic wreath (I bought mine from Wilkinsons, just before Christmas), any kind of decorations - in this case dried flowers, and patience ;)

Time: Depending on concentration and amount of flowers, mine took about 30 min - but as I was listening to an online lecture at the same time, I could probably have finished it a bit quicker.

Process: I had dried some carnations that I bought a few weeks before christmas. Drying flowers can be really easy. Cut their stems to the desired length. In this case about 15 cm. Next tie them together and hang them with the heads down. This ensures the flowers keep upright and therefore look nice.

I took the bundles apart, and started adding the flowers by gently into the gaps in the wreath, making sure they were stuck in place between two branches. I added all the flowers, but you can add fewer or more depending on your preferences. Here are a few progress pictures:



If you don't have a wreath like mine, but a general wreath (or just want to attach the flowers more) you can attach the flowers by using metal wire, or even a glue gun in some cases. I suggest you try the metal wire option first as it ensures that the wreath can be reused if you want to change it later.

Result:




Hope you like the result. It is now hanging on my bathroom door. As this is rented university accommodation I am not allowed to put nails in the walls. Fortunately I had a suction hook that could attach to my metal door. Check back later this week for a post on living in university accommodation. It will be the first in a series where I give a few examples of things you can do to make it feel more at home, while still complying with university regulations.

Hope you had a great weekend!
Best wishes Sasha :)

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