fanbloomingtastic

Welcome to Fright Night......for 2011 (review, hopefully no spoilers)

Fright Night is without a doubt the movie I've been most eager to see this summer. And it didn't disappoint. Whether it's going to be my favourite movie of the year, I'm not sure....I've still got to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes and I'm suspecting Andy Serkis's performance may steal that crown. But the new Fright Night....it's good :) Sitting here right now trying to write this I:

1. wish I'd written this straight after seeing it because my memory really is shot,
2. want to see it again RIGHT NOW.

 

I'm definitely going to get it on DVD, and despite my self-imposed rule that I'm not going to ordinary 3D movies anymore, I'm only going spend extra money for the occasional IMAX release...there were elements of the 2D Fright Night that are tempting me to break my 3D ban on this one.

There are some movies that have 'suffered' remakes recently. I don't quite understand why they've been re-done when the originals are already brilliant. Oh yeah, to make money....ok, fair comment, but still this doesn't justify some of the remake turkeys.

But remaking Fright Night?

I ADORE the original. It's a classic. It's funny, cheesy (especially the adorable Roddy McDowall and his talcum powdered hair), sexy and, although Goth Child got a bit frustrated watching it because it "doesn't have enough gore Mum" she did admit that suspense builds and builds and pays off with some really scary stuff and lots of gore at the end. 

Fright Night 2011 was clearly made for her generation ;) for people who have no patience when waiting for their frights. I think she'll appreciate the opening sequence of the movie.

That is, when I let her watch it. Fright Night 1985 was the first 18/R rated movie I've let her watch (although an R rating in the US means that an under 17 can watch the movie if accompanied by a parent or adult guardian). To be honest, she's seen the gore (mainly melting vampires) in 15/PG13 movies like the Indiana Jones series or The Mummy. Fright Night 2011 is definitely more scary than it's predecessor and probably has to be as horror movies in the last few decades have desensitised us to suspense and gore.

If what I'm saying is making you worry whether this movie is too scary for you, I wouldn't worry. I am a total wimp. I love being scared by suspense but I can't handle anything like the Saw or Final Destination movies. This movie is just fine.....all I'm saying is it is more scary than the 1985 version.

So will I let my 14 year old daughter come to a cinema with me to watch the new movie. Nope, I don't think I will, but I might be persuaded by her to watch it together in the comfort and safety of our home....where there's a pause button, you can watch it in the daytime and you don't have to have the lights off. I'm possibly being an over-protective mother on this one, but there you go.

So should they have remade it?

Yes. The 1985 version though still fabulously good, is very 80s. It is rather dated. And so are the special effects (although having said that I now want to defend them, they're not THAT bad......but the 2011 ones are brilliant!)

Was I worried that David Tennant (the 10th Doctor Who for any of you Americans who haven't yet discovered the greatest television show on the planet) was going to be playing Peter Vincent, a role so beautifully hammed up by Roddy McDowall? No, not really, I was quite excited. David Tennant has hammy as his pre-set acting function :) And when the movie released this clip I was even more enthusiastic:

 

 

"Maybe not the omlette" has become one of our favourite catch-phrases around the house just from watching this clip. Although when you see the movie, you'll notice that the above is considerably shorter as they've had to cut out Peter Vincent's swearing....and he swears a lot. I suppose they had the 18/R rating so they decided to make the most of it.

Unfortunately David Tennant as Peter Vincent is not a main character and doesn't have half enough screentime. But Anton Yelchin as the teenager Charlie who discovers there's a vampire living next door is very good and so is Colin Farrell as said vampire.

I've never found Colin Farrell particularly appealing but I love him as Jerry ("that's a terrible vampire name"). Unlike Chris Saradon's original Jerry (by the way, if you're a fan of the original, watch out half way through this new one for his brief cameo, it's good) Colin Farrell doesn't major in seducing or hypnotising his victims.

In one of the many better explanations of what's happening and why in this movie than the original, Jerry is described as (and I hope this isn't a spoiler) "a snacker" and yes, he still has that thing with the apples. As characters in the movie explain, he isn't your broody, heart-torn, Twilight sort of vampire. There's some fab use of his vampire fingernails to unnerve and his reaction to crucifixes and sunlight is definitely more convincing than the original Jerry.

Imogen Poots is far less annoying than the original Amy; Toni Collete is great as Charlie's mum (or mom) and Christoper Mintz-Plasse is equally as delightful and darkly-funny as the original Evil Ed.

What I particularly liked about the movie that I might not have appreciated if I'd never moved to the USA, is the setting of Charlie & Jerry's neighbourhood. I swear it's pretty similar to many of the streets where I live now - the houses look the same, the wheelie bins (trash cans) too, the same short drive and you're out into the desert (there's a fantastic scene that shows this off brilliantly). I suppose this makes sense if you're to believe that it's set in the suburbs of Las Vegas, or somewhere nearby in Nevada.......but it was fab seeing a movie that I identified so clearly with its setting. I understand that I'm probably the only person who's going to get excited about this one ;)

Anyway, I've talked too long again - go see it. It might not be the best movie you'll see this year, but it's great fun, it's got David Tennant in it and he has some great lines and it has the possibility of becoming a classic like its predecessor with the current generation of teenagers....when their mums/moms finally let them see it.

 

Grand Canyon - no words can do it justice, and yet I keep talking...

We went to the Grand Canyon a couple of weekends ago. It was surreal. It wasn't at all how I expected it. I expected this big hole in the ground that I'd have to hold onto Melchett to stop her getting too close to the edge. Something desolate and barren.

Perhaps there are certain stretches of the Canyon that are like that. I'd love to go back to different bits of it and see. But for now we met up with some of our family from the UK doing a US roadtrip and we did part of the South Rim. Here are some pics, that don't do it much more justice than any words could:

 

The size of it was mind-blowing.....but even though you could work out the other side was a ridiculously long way away, it felt like it could easily be a painted backdrop, and that we were just part of a Truman Show world.

 

We couldn't even see the bottom, that final drop, or drops, from the ledges at the centre of this photo down to the Colorado River.

 

 

And the amount of greenery in some places, trees and bushes desperately clinging onto the sides of the rock, but only a few miles away....

 

 

It looks like something I'd imagine on Mars, or in a Ray Bradbury novel about Mars. You can see the river here though, just, in the centre of the photo.

And yet with all this majesty, one thing fascinated the kids more than anything else....

 

SQUIIRRLLL!!!

Silent Sunday #silentsunday

 

(What is Silent Sunday? Check out Mocha Beanie Mummy's blog: www.mochabeaniemummy.com/silent-sunday)

 

The World's Scariest Christmas Tree Ornaments.....you decide.

I was going to blog a review of Fright Night (new remake of the camp horror classic now starring Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Toni Colette and the kid who played Chekov in the Star Trek reboot). I'll have to do that later this week, because this morning I went to our local Hobby Lobby and discovered some things EVEN scarier.

Are you ready fright fans?

You might want to hide behind the settee. Or at least have a cushion handy.

You have been warned.

 

No, it's not them. By the way, did you realise it was Christmas? If you've been following my Twitter account, you'll know that I first posted pics of Christmas decs appearing in the shops/stores here in Phoenix back in July! It's ridiculous. They're right next to the Halloween decs. Also ridiculous. It's still Summer for goodness sake.

Ah well, the Americans do like to party (any excuse) and I suppose they need to get their stocks in. The essential Nutcrackers of course....they're HUGE here:

 

Nope, they're not the scariest either. Not even those 2 Rat King Nutcrackers in the centre there. No. Way. Near.

You can tell I'm teasing you, can't you? Building up to a big finish.

Of course, these are not to be confused with the World's Scariest Happy Meal Toy. Though I'm beginning to understand why American children might be desensitised to horror now.

OK, here you go.....I can't even decide which of the following is the most surreal or scariest - you might have to decide, we might have to have a vote, democracy shall prevail (some how I don't think this is quite as momentous as the events happening in Tripoli and Libya at the moment). Leave your opinions and pleas for counselling after the trauma in the comments below....

Ready?

OK, I predict that this year's top/hot trend in Christmas tree decorating will be..... forget your black tinsel trees, they are sooo last year.......*drum roll*....

Planet of the Apes!

 

These weren't ACTUAL Rise of the Planet of the Apes (or ROTPOTA as I keep hearing it being called) merchandise. They were just one of three different types of ape/chimpaneze Christmas tree ornaments I spotted today. I bet there WILL be official ROTPOTA decs too. You can get almost anything here in the USA. Goth Child couldn't decide between a Tron: Legacy racer last year or a Darth Vader for the tree. She eventually went for a glittery pink rhinocerous doing karate. Hmmm.

But who (except perhaps Dian Fossey) would want to hang this on their Christmas tree? And how will Andy Serkis hang on every Christmas tree around the world on the same night? Is he in league with Father Christmas/Santa? I'm assuming both of these are Andy Serkis right?

And as I say, these were only one of three ape-related decs I spotted....and there were about 5 rows like this to choose from....I may have missed some:

 

Actually I tell a lie. There were 4 ape/monkey/chimp decs I spotted including this one: What the heck is this trying to be?

 

I tell you, no wonder the apes want to take over the planet if they see us hanging stuff like this on our Christmas trees. 

I'm guessing in a planet ruled by apes they'd get their revenge by hanging like this on theirs:

 

What is this? An Osmond gone wrong? And what possessed the designer to put nylon ginger hair on it?

It has friends though, including:

 

 

So sorry it's out of focus. I couldn't stop giggling. It's the synthetic hair that does it for me.

OK, some more scary/surreal ones. What about some more animal-related ones?

Gecko in a Santa hat anyone?

 

Cow with a Christmas wreath around its neck? And wearing Christmas pyjama bottoms/pajama pants?

 

Large pink poodle (actually this is possibly the sanest of the lot)?

 

What about hanging symbols of our modern way of life on your tree? The essential chips/french fries and burger Christmas tree ornaments:

 

And of course, a gun-toting Snowman on a rocking horse:

 

I've saved my 'favourite' until last. And by 'favourite' I mean the one that I had to pick my jaw up off the floor for. This is one where I prove I'm a Brit and not a native Zoni (Arizonan). Sorry it's out of focus slightly again, but I was gob-smacked/giggling/concerned - Santa, in camo combats, with his hunting rifle in a glitter jeep containing presents.

I'm sorry, I might have to type that again, I never thought I'd ever type the words:

Santa Claus.

In camoflaged combats (though red trousers/pants).

With his hunting rifle.

In a glitter jeep...

...with presents:

 

Huntin' shootin' fishin' Santa. *speechless*

 

So which one do you reckon is scariest? I'm not convinced I can decide. I suspect the nearer we get to REAL Christmas I might find some even scarier.

*Shudders*

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Remember your vote counts. This isn't Celebrity Big Brother or X Factor. This is even scarier....

Progess on the 'Trophy Room'/loo/guest WC/bog/restroom/half bathroom/little girls & boys room....

Do you see this?

This is a blog post to shame me into getting a move on with the decorating.

Do you reckon it's going to work?

Nah, me neither.....or possibly.

Despite  people looking at me strangely when I mention this, I think it's FINALLY getting cooler. We've stoppped having days where the temperature is over 110F/44F, I'm having the air con on less and less and coping more with just the fans, and I've finally started getting some more serious gardening done.....although admittedly I'm doing this at 6.30am whilst it's the coolest part of the day.

So it's time I stopped moaning about the house not looking like our home and being very brown (though not as brown as the world's brownest house) and started thinking about decorating.

In my defence, I reckon if you didn't paint quick enough the paint would dry quickly in the heat so you couldn't take breaks......ok, unless you do one wall at a time and stop in the corners. This is my 'justification' and I'm sticking to it.

So I'm starting with one of the smallest rooms in the house....the downstairs loo, guest toilet, restroom, half bathroom and all the other mad & crazy things we Brits and those Americans call this type of room.

One of the more interesting things I learnt when I arrived in the USA is that whereas Brits use the word toilet generally to mean the room the loo/bog/porcelain throne etc is in, the Americans tend to use it for the actions you do whilst sitting on one. Hence, I now understand that "I need to go to the toilet" whilst perfectly acceptable in the UK caused me strange looks in the USA. A friend from New York explained to me that any mention of "going to" or "using" the toilet was actually considered rather crude....and the nearest he could describe it was if you heard someone ask "do you want to go potty" (he was desperately trying to be polite hoho). So trust me, if you're in the United States and need "the little girl's room" ask if you can use a restroom or bathroom.......or go totally Mary Poppins like me and refer to the loo all the time just to confuse our Colonial friends ;)

Our Trophy Room has a toilet in it, a sink/basin, a mirrored medicine wall-cabinet, a big oval mirror and a strange, high-up, long, thin window. Here's our only pic of it before we moved in, Melchett had been charged to take photos of everywhere, this one wasn't her best:

 

It's the room to the right of the photo.

So why do we call it the 'Trophy Room'? British humour I'm afraid. You have to remember that Mr Devyne and I were brought up on a diet of Carry On movies.

This is the toilet that guests will use when they come to the house so we wanted something quintessentially British. The original ideas were to create a men's club reading room, smoking parlour or big game hunting trophy room. I've always wanted somewhere to display some of the kids achievements (and mine and Mr Devyne's) but being British I've never managed to put anything up because I thought people might think I was showing off or bragging.

Happily, this attitude isn't one fostered in the USA, you can blow your own trumpet without fear of being called a show off. And, if I put things in a loo/restroom I can relax my inner British worrier and tell myself I'm being ironic. It's just like you hear of British actors and actresses displaying their Oscars in the loo.....just mine's on a much lower scale.

Having certificates up on the walls shows me and the kids that we HAVE actually achieved something in our lives. They also help on my bad cyclothymia days when I hate myself and think that world would be a better place without me, I can look at the stuff on the wall and try and tell myself, I've done some good stuff before so I will be able to again one day.

(P.S. we also thought calling a toilet/restroom 'The Trophy Room' funny because unfortunately we're all children in this family and delight in toilet humour......and the room has initiated the phrase "I'm off to deposit a trophy" makes us laugh.....sorry if that's TMI).

So anyway, I'm rambling....here was the first addition to the 'Trophy Room', he's called Neville for some reason:

 

 

I need to get my bicycle repair kit out though, his right antler has a puncture and keeps going floppy.

Then we started adding the certificates on one wall, trying to mix our serious ones with sillier ones (Brit not being able to admit to successes again). I've had to blur out the kids' names on these as for some reason the schools and clubs refuse to call them Goth Child and Melchett:

 

So we've got academic awards mixed with sporting achievements and some less serious ones like 'first place for animal made out of vegetables' at the Village Hall Annual Show and 'member of the Cloud Appreciation Society'. I've also got all the newspaper cuttings we managed to feature in and to the far right there is a big frame with lots of pics of our ancestors....the oldest person pictured is my Great Great Great Grandad John born in 1829.

 

That 'trophy cabinet' Mr Devyne saw in IKEA and wanted it. It's a Freden. It does take up slightly more room than I wanted but is a great place to hold all of Goth Child's karate awards she keeps winning at tournaments.

A few weeks after buying it, I was checking out the clearance area in my local Lowes (think B&Q or Do It All) and saw a very similar basin pedestal cabinet reduced down to $33 (£20) for a quick sale so had to buy it.

 

 

Oops you can see I haven't taken off the sticker yet. And there's the loo itself. I don't like it, it was put into the house not long before we bought it by the Bank owners and it's a bit basic. I don't think I'm going to be able to change it just yet, but I will at least change the toilet seat, probably to an oak or similar dark wood one. Obviously I want a Crapper eventually, preferably with a high-level cast cistern.

Mr Devyne doesn't like that oval mirror, but we might compromise if I can use the jigsaw to make a suitable plywood frame for it and then paint it black.

He's also bought in a sale a huge black photo frame that has multiple holes for pics and he wants (to prove without any doubt that the whole Trophy Room is tongue-in-cheek) me to photoshop the four of us into famous historical photos and into handshakes with Kings/Queens/Presidents etc. He particularly wants himself shaking the hand of President Obama to annoy any Republicans we have visiting. And I think we'll have to mock up us kissing on Buckingham Palace's balcony with the frowning flower girl.

I'm going to see if I can get some big burgundy tapestry or velvet curtains/drapes and edge one side with gold tassel trim, put up a dark wood curtain pole almost up by the ceiling and drape curtain across the end wall with a tie back, basically ignoring the whole window and it's pretty useless:

 

 

And obviously those walls need painting something far more interesting than their current beige. I ideally want a hunting green or deep burgundy....and yes I know this will make the look smaller but that's ok, it will cope. I'd love some victorian over-the-top wallpaper, but they just don't seem to do wallpaper in the DIY shops in Arizona and I'd need to do something about the textured paint on all the walls first (I hate it, but it's on every wall and ceiling in the house).

Aaaaaaanyway, that's the room as it stands at the mo. I think it's probably time to do something about it........or sit with a cool drink browsing pinboards on Pinterest and Polyvore, or other great blogs of those who have gone before me (I adore so much about Wisecraft's bathroom re-do especially the colour and Michael Sowa paintings) and wait for the temperatures to drop another 10 or so degrees.....

If I haven't shown you any progress pics by January, please nag me to get on with it. Thank you.