P.S.: Damn you, Hollywood!

Last week I was in a bookshop and saw Cecelia Ahern’s novel PS, I love you with a film poster cover showing Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. I had heard of Ahern before – all her novels have been translated into German and are quite successful here, I think – but had never read anything by her. I had mainly stayed away from PS, I love you because I thought I’d be crying the whole time if I read it. (The story is that a young man dies of a brain tumor and has left his widow a letter and notes for the months to come.) I had no idea they had made a film adaptation and I like Swank and Butler but didn’t buy the book that day.

Then on New Year’s Eve I had dinner with a friend. When I was about to leave we went into her bedroom to the bookshelf for some reason and she showed me some of her books and PS, I love you (in the German translation) was one them. So I told her about the film version coming up and asked if I could borrow it. She said yes and I basically spent all of January 1 reading it. I really liked it and it wasn’t as sad as I’d expected. It’s set in Dublin, which I loved cos I’ve been there twice (and loved it) so some of the street names sounded familiar. While reading it, I tried to picture Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler as Holly and Gerry. Didn’t quite work. And I kept wondering who’d play Holly’s friends and family (who all play important parts in the story).

Anyway, I started to look forward to the film especially because of the location. Haven’t seen a film set in Dublin in a while. But what did I have to find out today when I picked up Filmtips (a free magazine that lists the local movie theatre programmes and has short texts about all the films in it)? The film is set in New York (City)!! Are they crazy or what?! It says ‘autumn in New York’ in the blurb about the film. Even better. The book starts in February or March. Not exactly autumn, I’d say. F***ing Hollywood. Why do they have to Americanize everything? As I mentioned before, Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler do not quite fit how I see Holly and Gerry. Holly sounds more like a petite blonde, not tough girl Hilary Swank. But maybe it could have worked. They do speak English in Dublin, you know. And I’m sure there are Irish or English or Scottish actors who could have played all the other parts (Gerard Butler is Scottish anyway). But transferring everything to New York? Totally different story. Not that I don’t like New York, but shooting this there with a mostly American cast just destroys every connection to the book except for the basic storyline. So guess who does not want to see this movie? Right. Still, I don’t regret reading the book, and I might buy the English version – but only if I find it with a ‘normal’ (i.e. not movie-related) cover.

New Year's Resolutions

Obvious topic for this new post ... okay, so here they are:

1. Stay in touch with the girls formerly known as the "Eurochat girls". We've known each other for years from a Christian Bale mailing list/Yahoo! Group and used to chat regularly Sundays at 5 p.m. But for some time now we haven't been in touch much for various reasons. I e-mailed the girls (well, 3 of them - 2 from Spain and 1 from Denmark who I've actually met in real life) for Christmas and got sweet replies. Loved that. So I really really want to keep this up and not just feel guilty for losing touch every Christmas. And there are also a few people from Germany who I need to write to again.

2. Work on the things that my bosses mentioned in the talk we had in December. I was pretty shocked that they know me that well and have noticed most of the little things I thought I could get away with. Such as the fact that I don't like talking on the phone too much and try to avoid it by writing an e-mail instead. *Sigh* Must work on that and other things. Won't be too easy cos the things are not just "things" you can learn but they are part of my personality. Does that make sense? Hm. Also, I must try to figure out where I want to be in 1-5 years. As far as I'm concerned, work could just go on like that. I don't have a goal in mind that I want to reach within a certain period of time. I don't really know where my strenghts lie. I'm pretty clueless and don't have a plan or some grand ambition. Dammit. Wow, this is getting pretty deep and depressing. Anyway ... NYR no. 2 basically is to get better at my job.

It's 11 p.m. and I'm tired. So that's the end of my short list ... for now, anyway.

P.S. Dear Blogger, please don't screw up the line breaks again!!

End of the year blah

Sorry, long time no post.

Update: Christmas was okay. I was at my parents' place on the 24th and 25th. My sister's boyfriend was there, too, for the first time. We played some board games. Very exciting : )

As presents, I got loads of DVDs. Most of them Clive Owen films, and of course the Prison Break Season 1 box. Yay. Love the audio commentaries. Unfortunately there's none by Wentworth Miller. I wonder why. Hm. Too bad. The specials on disc 6 are very interesting as well. They were the first thing I watched when I got home on the evening of the 25th.

On Wednesday I met up with a friend/former co-worker. We hadn't seen each other in over a year, I think, so we had a lot of catching up to do. So we sat in a Starbucks for hours and talked. The Creme Brulee Latte was too sweet for me, though. And the next day I went shopping with my sister and we also went to Starbucks cos I felt like I was still half asleep, but what did I do instead of ordering some "normal"-tasting coffee? I go for the Vanilla Latte. Too sweet as well. Yuck. The Christmas Blend they sell tastes good, though. Bought a bag cos I thought it had some spices in it (cinnamon etc.). That's not the case, though. Whatever.

Still haven't seen 3:10 to Yuma. Wanted to go tonight but I have a headache. Argh.

The usual blah

First of all, I'd like to reply to 2w10's comment to the post below: As I think I mentioned, I need to use the Germain railway next Saturday. As far as I know, the most recent news was that they wouldn't go on strike again until Dec 3. I really have no idea what I'm gonna do if they start striking again after that. Okay, I do have a car ... but I'm an awful driver. And I paid 50 bucks for the train ticket already.
Christmas ... I don't know. I'm not feeling christmassy yet. But I did bake cookies with my mum yesterday. And I just ordered some stuff from Amazon as presents for a couple of people. But as I'm not feeling good today I'm not in the mood for anything. Oh, but I put a kind of Adventskranz on my living room table. It's not really a Kranz, but a Gesteck with 4 candles that my mum made. It comes in the classic Christmas colours green, gold and red and smells good.

What else? 2 movies are coming up that I'm looking forward to: 3:10 to Yuma (Todeszug nach Yuma) starring Christian Bale. I had heard of it but had no idea it is a Western and starting so soon here! Love CB in turn-of-the-century type movies cos I just like the clothes and think he looks good in it. The other one is Elizabeth part 2 - The golden kingdom or whatever it's called. Saw a picture of Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh in a magazine yesterday. Hot. Both films are opening on Dec 13 in Germany. Speaking of Clive Owen, I watched Derailed on DVD last weekend ... oh boy ... not very enjoyable. Owen plays a quite weak character - a man who is blackmailed by a guy who always wants more -
and that just doesn't go very well with my idea of Clive Owen who to me seems quite strong and masculine etc.
Hm, now I sound as if Clive is a bad actor. That was not my intention. I can't really explain it, it was just a strange film.

Need coffee. Only had decaf this morning. Am tired. Can't form complete sentences. Hehe.

This and that

Changed the look of the blog again. The one before was just too pink. I like the brown but I tweaked the colours a bit. Don't really like the beige / light brown tone of the background at the left and right, but it'll have to do.

Been over to Cissa's blog (link on the right) - hadn't looked at it for a way too long time. Bad cyber-friend, me. Sorry Cissa. I miss you and the other former Baleheads but work and my stupid slow computer / internet connection get in the way (I'm only online for an hour or 2 on the weekend).

What else? Wanted to post a blogthing quiz yesterday but they were all way too stupid. What's your Mexican name? No, thanks.

Weather report: Snow! As I go to work by car, I'm not too enthused. But it looks nice outside with the trees covered in white. Also, German rail is still on strike. If this continues until December 8 I'll be very mad cos I'm going to meet a friend that day and we both already bought our train tickets. (We're meeting in a city sort of in the middle of where we both live.).

New songs: hm, not much I can think of except for Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park.