The Reader

I’ve been watching a few movies recently but nothing worth recommending until this one. It’s provocative and disturbing and profound. Tissues are required.

**NO SPOILERS**

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Released in 2008 and directed by Stephen Daldry via Miramax Films. From the critically acclaimed 1995 book by Bernhard Schlink and produced by Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom died before the movie was released.

The movie stars Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz, newcomer David Kross as Michael Berg and Ralph Fiennes as the older Michael.

The story starts in Berlin more than a decade after the Second World War ends. Hanna and Michael meet and commence a love affair that surprises, delights and disturbs.  Hanna is the controlling older woman and she dictates the summer long relationship before one day leaving unexpectedly. Michael is devastated and carries the effect with him until they cross paths again in shocking circumstances many years later.

The storyline tackles the tough themes of communication, of guilt and of reconciliation and of coming to terms with the past.

The cinematography is gritty, the direction is sensitive though unsentimental but the flashback format took me a little while to settle in to. The performances are superb especially Kate Winslet who won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Screen Actors Guild Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for this film. Stephen Daldry was nominated for the Best Director Oscar and the movie was nominated for Best Picture but lost out to Slumdog Millionaire.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a movie that provokes thought. Oh, and I really do mean it about the tissues, I cried absolute buckets.

While we’re at it

Over the last couple of days both the gentlemanly scholar known to his nearest and dearest as The Plashing Vole and the intellectually formidable (and still inexplicably single) Intelliwench have ranted about incorrect usage of the humble apostrophe. All well and good (and as I admitted sheepishly on the wench’s site, I have been known to get the fussy little bugger wrong on occasion) but I have a blunter (or should that be more blunt?) axe to grind.

Who’s heard or read something like these recently?

• I would of made breakfast if I could of gotten out of bed
• I should of known better that to of asked you

It’s one thing hearing these words come out of someone’s mouth but seeing it written down makes the offence so much more inexcusable. It’s the difference between careless and clueless.

Spending five minutes reading comments on YouTube affects me like fingernails dragged down a blackboard. I advocate the return of public flogging for such blatant crimes against grammar and don’t even get me started on the they’re/their/there issue.

Now before I sign off can I make one point clear? This post does not give anyone licence to henceforth critique the grammar in my posts. I’m not one of your students Vole - I’m a giver not a taker.

Keepin’ it real

I love Facebook. I was a late starter to such things. I’d been a member of www.oldfriends.co.nz for years which is a site that reconnects friends via schools they’ve attended but I finally decided to drag myself into the 21st century and try out Facebook and Twitter when I quit smoking in June 2008 and was desperately seeking a diversion.

Facebook has worked for me. I’m not into the games thankfully as I see friend after friend acquiesce to the addiction that is Farmville and/or Cafe world. I’m also not out to collect hundreds of friends – it’s just about being in contact with people who I like and who I want to maintain a relationship with despite us all being scattered around the world. It’s about sharing photos and news with everyone and getting to know better the half of my extended family who are in Ireland. I think at the moment I have around 55 ‘friends’ which is more than enough for me to manage. I keep Facebook and blogging quite separate (with 2 exceptions) as I don’t want to lose the freedom of my relatively anonymous blogging and I want Facebook to be about maintaining real life relationships.

Anyway, finally getting to the point of the post…

An old friend from school messaged me on FB from Massachusetts where she has lived for the last 20 years with her American husband and their children. I say an old ‘friend’ when in fact we weren’t that close at all – acquaintances would probably be more accurate though we did share many classes at high school. In the last few days we’ve (private) messaged back and forth and she turns out to be one of the most fabulous people I know. We have shared more in these few days than I have with most of my closest friends in years. We’ve browsed each others photos and commented on holidays, homes and children. We talked earnestly about our relationships (or lack thereof on my part), our hopes, our dreams and our fears.

I have a wonderful new friend who I already cherish and Facebook made it possible. Thank you Mark Zuckerberg.

…this lonely view

I have had the laziest Sunday in history. It’s been an overcast and cooler day so it seemed the perfect time to take a break from summer and lounge around inside for the day.

I have surfed the web, caught up on news, published a couple of posts, watched some TV and finished a book I started (re-reading) a few days ago. The book is great so here’s a quick review for anyone looking for something easy to read. Scar Tissue was released in October 2004 by Hyperion and authored by Anthony Kiedis with Larry Sloman. 

Red Hot Chilli Peppers vocalist and songwriter Anthony Kiedis shares his personal experiences in a first-person, chronological narrative of his life from childhood through to today.

Anthony has lived a breathtaking life. He started doing drugs with his father at the kitchen table from 12 years old and at around the same time his dad ‘loaned’ him his girlfriend so Anthony could lose his virginity.  Scar Tissue recounts the fascinating and tragic story of Kiedis’ life and the history of the RHCP. His tale of heroin addiction, love, fame and making music lurches the reader from one crisis to the next and gives us an often shocking insight into lives almost crippled by drug dependency. I read this and can’t believe how RHCP made a success of music making for 20 years and still continue to survive and grow today.

A superb read for anyone who enjoys autobiographical non-fiction; a simply fantastic read for RHCP fans.

Count your blessings

I just finished reading the story of American Roey Rosenblith who was a passenger on the almost ill fated Northwest Airlines flight 253 to Detroit. It’s a chilling recount of confusion, lack of information and eventual realisation. It’s well worth the longish read if you haven’t done so already.

Huffington Post 27 Dec 2009

Keeping our heads above water

New Zealand has shocking drowning statistics every summer. Kiwis (and our visitors) are far too casual when swimming from our highly tidal beaches with swift currents and fearsome rips.

Piha, west coast black sand beach, north Auckland. Photo from Wikipedia.

Water Safety New Zealand states that on average 119 people drown in New Zealand waters every year. Only road crashes kill more people accidently. There is a chilling physiological explanation of the drowning process there too if anyone has a morbid curiosity.

All major beaches in New Zealand are patrolled by surf lifesavers through summer but on any given day you’ll see most people swimming well away from the patrolled areas – I think it’s got something to do with the fact that we don’t like being told what to do. The lifesavers do an admirable job of keeping an eye on the whole beach and mostly they’re successful but they’re fighting an uphill battle; we New Zealanders think we’re indestructible because we grew up swimming in the sea.

In the last two days a grandfather and a father have drowned in two separate incidents when they were trying (successfully) to save young children swimming with them. In both cases some foresight about the conditions might easily have prevented them getting into trouble. A teen also drowned jumping from a waterfall.Photo from throng.co.nz 

What’s really sad is that our visitors die too. Our beaches are beautiful and look harmless so people just run into the water at the closest spot to their towels and umbrella rather than checking out where the rips are. I was pleased to see yesterday when I was at Piha beach that there were lifesavers handing out pamphlets in different languages explaining about currents and rips and what swimmers should look for before choosing where to swim.

New Zealand beaches are safe as long as we’re all sensible, know what to look for, supervise our kids PROPERLY (always use flippers with boogie boards) and stay out of the water after drinking. With little children always head to the safer east coast Auckland beaches. Maraetai, east coast inner harbour, Auckland (15 minutes drive east from my place)

EDIT: I just did some research and found that Australia’s latest figures (the year to June 2009) make our figures look even worse. Australia lost 302 people to drowning in that year when of course their population is more than 5 times ours (4m here vs 21m there).

I also note that another person (35 year old male) is missing and now presumed drowned from Piha at about the time I was publishing this post yesterday.