TOUCHES THE HEART

German films can be depressing, although not so much as Finnish films...still be prepared.
Schultze Gets the Blues/ German film...thought provoking. Touches the soul. Everyone works most of their life and then retires and wonders if they can find something to give their life spark. Schultze realizes he has to do what he wants for once. The metaphors are inspired. An easy understated film about music and life.  First time director uses his limited funds to make this very real film set in Germany in the potash mine area of Saxony-Anhalt and in Texas/ Louisiana.  

After being laid off from his job at the salt mines, Schultze and old guy with a boring life deals with the crisis of trading polka music for zydeco. 

I enjoyed this slow-moving different type of film. No Hollywood hoopla here. Recommended!

SO YOU LIKE TARINTINO?

DJANGO A Tarantino movie...written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. That says it all. Torture, superfluous killing and quirkiness in a western. If you hated KILL BILL don’t see this one. I can see a parallel plot with Uma Thurman’s “Bride” and Jamie Foxx’s “Freeman” where the downtrodden-victim trains with the master to overcome evil but not without plenty of gratuitous violence and gore before he triumphs. Watch out for projectile bleeding, blood-splattered walls, and attack dogs tearing a man apart. For Tarantino fans there are bizarre occurrences, events and dialogue inconsistent with history. There is humour and black comedy. You will see snowman shooting practice, bad guys painting a birdhouse, Ku Klux clan with ill-fitting hoods, sunglasses in the wrong century and a bad-ass hero choosing to wear aqua-satin britches. And how odd is a German-speaking slave or an evil plantation master whose property is named Candyland? Tarantino creates a good guy-German dentist (Christoph Waltz), a cold-blooded killer who helps Foxx (Freeman) rescue his wife. This movie is long. I’m surprised he didn’t split it into parts as he did with KILL BILL. Since the Hobbit and Skyfall are equally long, perhaps Tarantino decided he would stick with the agenda. Django is not Tarnatino’s best but hey, if you like his style go for it!

HAUNTED NEW ORLEANS

The French Quarter is haunted. Yes, go to New Orleans and you will see what I mean. While the bars on Bourbon Street are packed with patrons wasted on potent Hurricanes, partying into the wee hours, fifty feet away on Orleans Street the ghosts are everywhere. The street will send shivers up your spine. Orbs surround the haunted Bourbon Orleans hotel. If you go up to the seventh floor don't be surprised to see a gaunt man clothed in a Confederate uniform pointing at you. He'll speak softly in a southern accent asking you for a kiss. When he follows you to your room, close that door...lickety-split! His kisses are deadly! Just as you fall asleep a little blonde-haired girl will join you, curling up close and pulling the cover away. She's very cool to the touch. Even if you tell her to leave she won't--typical eleven year old. Oh, and if you feel like dancing go to the ballroom and see your partner waiting for you under the chandelier. Can't wait to finish my book BOURBON STREET BURNING



AnastasiaAmor.com

N'ORLEANS HAUNTED

Fear of muggings--a realistic worry.Yet I knew research doesn't happen in the safety of a hotel room. My French Quarter residences were far from safe. N'Orleans is the most haunted city in North America. The Vieux Carre is a spirit party place. Ghosts--easily found in my hotel. Doors opening and shutting, the room card demagnetizing twice, jiggling in my bed on two separate occasions and a gift left by the ghost in my suitcase. Fun? Material for my new novel...BURNING ON BOURBON STREET...wait for it!

New Orleans Voodoo

Watch out for Papa Le-Bas. You want to be on his good side as he is the keeper of the Crossroads. In the 50's Antoine Domino gave him a shout with his "Hey! Le Bas Boogie". It was interactive with the audience shouting back. This was the start of FATS DOMINO'S fame and his new name. "Blueberry Hill" became Fat's big hit. Giving a shout out, or recognition to the African messenger god gives you good energy...maybe he'll help you get what you want. So try it! Light a white candle on Mondays, leave candy by your door and some change and see if your luck changes.

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CANUCK DAY Myths

MYTHS ABOUT CANADA AND CANADIANS.... (have edited the original site...too serious…sorry) *We live in igloos.??? No…houses…usually brick. Some tents for camping but mostly trailers. Nobody lives in trailers here…that’s Florida …Snow Birds settle there for the winter. (those are the old Canucks that didn’t win the lottery) *Canadians do not have the same technology as Americans???. We read books in print or e-format and there is cable and internet…but sometimes we ignore technology and sit in hot tubs. *There is snow everywhere all year long? Hm-mm… Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and lots of places... in winter  Not my favourites…besides I can’t grow a beard. Vancouver is rainy. We go swimming from May to October without the cooling effect of snow, which would be helpful when the temps hit 90F. There are even hot springs. Many benefits there  *We don't get the same movies Americans do? Unfortunately, yes….Guy blowup movies.Fact is we get the same movies, on the same day, and our censorship is less severe. Canadians are not uptight… Apparently the Paramount theater in Montreal is the most attended and most lucrative movie theater in North-America. Does that mean all Canadians are escapists? *Canada does not have a film industry? Duh? We do… syndicated US TV shows, AND CANADA IS CHEAPER TO FILM IN not to mention Canadian films are very quirky *Canadians all say eh and aboot. Really…who??? Maybe… but HEY...DUDES...IT'S THE 3rd largest country in the world. There are regional dialects just like the rest of the world. BTW I did hear a Scottish girl in high school say aboot *Everyone in Quebec speaks French? Not really but you will encounter a person/s who speak a strange sort of arachic French. There are Italians in Montreal and other immigrants. Canada’s English area is full of Germans/ Serbians in Kitchener and Portuguese in Cambridge and Orientals almost every city…not to mention Jamaicans, Ukranians, Swedes, Russians, Aboriginals and many more nations.We are Multi-Cultural! Love that about this country. *Canadians have fewer guns than Americans. Canadians have just as many, if not more--- just have fewer murders. (Documentary, Bowling for Columbine). Some us carry Kubatons and use martial arts …or a sturdy hockey stick *Canada's national sport is Hockey? Hockey is considered our national pastime but our national sport is Lacrosse. Oh, and we invented Baseball too. Not to mention mind-blowing sex! *In 1994, the Federal Government introduced Bill C-212 that officially made Hockey Canada’s National Winter Sport and Lacrosse Canada’s National Summer Sport. BTW It's half time that gets more interesting when the women lure the men away from the TV *Canadians policemen are all Mounties dressed in red uniforms? Mounties dress up in red for special occasions. When…who knows? Mounties ride horses and look cool!

SKYFALL REVIEW

ANASTASIA'S SKYFALL REVIEW: Skyfall receives buzz reviews...anywhere from “It was the best Bond yet” to “sloppy”. For starters it’s way better than the disasterous Quantum of Solace. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell director) worked for me but to say Skyfall is the BEST BOND only someone who never saw Sean Connery would say that. Realistically speaking that era is finished but my nostalgic memories live on. The thriller starts with Adele’s theme song “Skyfall”. The track is excellent, on par with Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice” and Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger.” Why then did no one point out a Bond movie ends with the theme song? Get with it, Mendes! I did like that the Bond music was in the movie and a gunshot filling up with blood was in there somewhere. These are essential features of a Bond movie. To be fair this review comes after seeing the movie two weeks back. So what stands out in my mind? That’s a test of the merits of the film if a big blank comes up. No one can forget Dame Judi Dench. She literally ends her “M” career with a bang. Will the “M” replacement be good? We shall see. To be fair, he shows promise. Back to the movie.There was the usual action, with the train scene hooking the viewer in and introducing the new Moneypenny (Naomi Harris) as well as highlighting "M’s" fallibility and foreshadowing her eventual demise. The Bond car is in this film with all the bells and whistles. But where was the sizzle? It’s great if you like discreet but isn’t Bond supposed to be “over the top” or even real? I’m not saying we should go back to the Roger Moore era but what’s Bond without a good sex scene? Casino Royale nailed that one as well as showing an emotional side to Bond but Skyfall fell short. And then there were the lines. Connery mastered the witty quips but poor Daniel Craig wasn’t given any. I like a little humour in my serious blowup movies. Skyfall was meant to capture the “spy” angle with the focus on the weary downtrodden spy. Ian Fleming was not Len Deighton or John Le Carre and his books were hardly on that level. He had a macho Bond who rose above the other spies with pure shutzpah. That’s what I loved about the original Sean Connery films. Daniel Craig does his own stuntwork, obviously works out and there is no question that as an actor he knows his stuff but sadly lacks the sex appeal I find essential for a Bond. Hey, but that’s only me. I will see the next Bond after Skyfall because it has a breaking ground approach. It is not the best Bond. Hate me if you must. I give it a “thumbs up” and hope Mendes improves. AnastasiaAmor.com