Review: Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Photo: Columbia Pictures

In total it took me three days to regain my normal (whatever that is) mental state after seeing a midnight preview of The Girl With Dragon Tattoo and another three to be able to even think about writing a review of it.

Taking on the success of the Swedish movie adaptions of the best-selling Millenuim triology, Hollywood now launches its own version of the $200 million worth franchise with The Social Network director David Fincher leading the way.

The first part in the series introduces us to the investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), who comes under fire after publishing a libellous article and therefore takes on an autobiography writing job for a retired business magnate who promises to help the journalist in his libel case. Blomkvist soon finds himself investigating a family murder that occurred 36 years ago and have to take help from the prolific hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara).

Those familiar with the book and the original movie knows that the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is not for the faint-hearted and the American adaption is certainly not an exception. Embrace yourself for a two and half hour of captivatingheart-racing unadulterated brick shitting. Helping you to get completely drawn into the thriller is the impeccable acting by Craig and Mara (already strongly tipped for an Oscar) as well as from Stellan Skarsgård and Christopher Plummer.

Despite the fact of having to cram in 500 plus pages into a movie, it still felt awfully long. After the murder case is cleared up we're led on to a seemingly never ending story closure with  sub stories.

The Girl With Dragon Tattoo premieres on Dec 21 in Sweden and Dec 26 in the UK.

Rise of the Mini Fashionistas

My article in HerUni.com

When I was 14 years old, the most fashionable things I owned were probably striped knee socks and a pair of fake Converse – which tells you a lot about my teenage fashion sense.

Did I wear blazers and skinny jeans? No. Did I wear the next season’s Kenzo heels? No. Did I wear Chanel cocktail dresses? No. Could I even spell Chanel? Probably not. But they do. The mini fashionistas, that is.

Earlier this week I contributed a fashion feature for the student website HerUni.com, where I hit out on the (ridiculously) young and fab. Read the whole article here (or click on the picture above).

Review: In Time

Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake in In Time. Photo: 20th Century Fox

I'd love to start off this review with a cheesy time pun like "time is literally money in In time", but that would be disrespectful to director Andrew Niccol who obviously went headfirst for the task of cramming every possible time pun into a 140 minute movie.

In Time is set in a future where everyone's life is dictated by a ticking internal clock - displayed on your arm like a tacky matrix tattoo - which kills you once it hits zero. The only comfort you've got while you earn, steal or have some transfer extra time to you, is that you stop ageing at 25. At the center of this is Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a good-willing hard worker from the ghetto, who sets out to shake up the system of "the rich lives forever on the expense of the poor" after his mother (Olivia Wilde, yeah really) is cruelly "timed-out".

As much as I love a truly original story idea, I hate being projected far-fetched situations such as a helpless female lead running around in 6 inch heels as if they were a pair of Nike air. The helpless female lead in this case being Sylvia Weis the rebellious rich man's daughter, portrayed by Mamma Mia star Amanda Seyfried who merely convinces us that Sylvia has any guts at all or any facial expressions for that matter.

Timberlake doesn't really meet the Sean Parker standards with his Will Salas neither being rough enough nor affectionate enough. The only one who's leaving this flick with a gold star is Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser. The 32-year-old is impeccably frightenining as Sylvia's 90-year-old aristocrat father.

Apart from time puns, the script (which is written by Niccol) also has a ridiculous amount of oneliners. Only 20 minutes into the movie and the audience have heard enough dowdy oneliners to make 24 Bond movies - leaving the dialogue extremely bleak and cringe worthy.

Despite running out of steam half way and having a pathetic fart as an ending, the concept of In Time together with scattered acting talent (having not mentioned Cillian Murphy, Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki and Matt Bomer) is still impressive enough to be worth a Wednesday evening trip to the cinema.

The long wait

John Lewis 2011 Christmas TV advert

The first time I saw this on TV I actually teared up. It's THE most precious ad I've seen in years (if not ever). The concept is absolutely genius, it's simple yet it hits all the right spots. How come no one has done it before?!

John Lewis, I applaud thee.


On another note, happy advent Sunday everyone!

Eastern promises

Dweller of Eastern things.

Something has happened to me lately. I don't know if it's good or bad, but in terms of finding true inspiration, I'd say it's leaning towards the former.

I'm going to be honest, in the past few months I've been trying really hard to hide my Korean pop obsession. It hasn't been the easiest thing to do. Writing cryptic tweets, private tumblr messaging, creating anonymous blogs -all while hoping it would pass soon enough.

The hoping, as you can tell, has been in vain. What's more, the Kpop thing has turned into a great appreciation for (SE) Asian culture and the minimalism that often goes with it, which prompted the birth of this blog.

It's a portfolio of everything Asian from pop culture to architecture. 'An Asian who likes Asian things', that's the cliché I'm going for here.

'An oasis of minimalist and Asian awesomeness'

A little thing called Fandom

The subject of my fandom for a very long time. Photo: Hollywood Records

I rarely claim that I know a lot about anything. I don't claim to know a lot about movies, photography, politics or whatever. I don't. However, I've come to realise that there's actually one thing that I'd consider myself an expert in; fandoms. Yes, the obsessive, stalkative and screaming kind.

With a little less than a decade of experience (sadly enough), I can say with certainty that I've gone through more or less all of it, everything on the right side of the law that is. Every inch of one's room walls filled with posters? Check. Midnight queuing for a new release? Check. Going abroad for a concert? Check. Waiting outside a radio station in the rain and a temperature below freezing? Check.

What's most often associated with crying or screaming (or both at the same time) young girls, a fandom starts out just like any other interest. Like your fondness over sushi, knee-length skirts or the Young Apprentice (which is rather awesome actually). But for it to turn you into a info hungry, squeal inclined, stalkative fan, there has to be a community of people who shares your newfound interest and a flow of material that keeps it interesting.

Once you've found those things, you're only a few overcomings of pride and a vanished good judgment away from joining me in the rain and minus 5 degrees outside BBC radio 1. Our heavily wired society -make that our heavily wired global society, isn't exactly making it any harder to stay away either.

Being a fan isn't flattering, I can admit that. Most of the time you're impelled to do things that you can't explain, you feel things that you can't explain, you want to buy things but don't know why. You dedicate yourself unconditionally to the fandom with no assurance of getting anything in return. And above all you're frequently subject to ridicule, be it from your friends, other fans or rabid tweeters. It's not glamorous.

However, I've come to think that people who make fun or belittle fandoms, can't possibly have been truly devoted to anything or actually had a fandom because if they would have, they wouldn't be bashing it. Why? Because they would know about the passion and pure happiness one so often feel while being a fan. Practically every waking moment is a natural high. Believe me, it's one of the best feelings there is.

So if you want to keep making fun of people who are genuinly happy, be my guest.

Destinations

Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden

Fiskehamnen in Malmö, Sweden

Household cavalry museum, London

The thing with designer stores

Photo: Mine

I'm just one of those people who are excessively anxious about a lot. School (no kidding), the future, school work, work experiences, socialising, not updating my blogs enough, having to change tube at Green Park (everyone living in London know I'm quite serious about this) and the things just pile up.

One of the things that I get especially anxious about is: designer stores. You see, there's a reason as to why after three years of living in London I still haven't been to Selfridge's (GASP!) and avoid Harrod's like the plague - I know my place.

There's nothing more cringeworthy than people who aspirationally wear designer clothes and particularly; bags. With other words people who shows off their designer wear (might even be real for all I care) when obviously they can't afford the lifestyle.

So when we get assignments which require you to physically visit a designer store, and believe me it happens often enough, I dread it for my life (ok this I'd say would be journalistic sensationalism but you get the idea).

Going into a designer store when you obviously aren't there to shop is probably the most self-conscious thing you can do. Imagine this: a fancy well-lit, minimalist store with huge glass windows on Sloane street with its millions of security guards and well-dressed staff. You don't even have to step into the store with both of your legs before: BANG they see you're not there to buy something. They see it on your bag. They see it on your shoes. They see it on your coat. They see it on your watch. They see.

So if you know a secret sign that says, "Hey please don't mind me, I'm just here to check the country of origin labels. Just pretend I'm invisible and don't talk to me. Cheers!', please let me know.

The fine line between brilliance and silliness

Valentino's Valentina perfume ad featuring Freja Beha Erichsen.


Lancôme Trésor's Midnight Rose perfume ad featuring Emma Watson.

Yes, I spend sursprisingly a lot of time analysing ads. Perfume ads (along with car ads) are usually the ones that play on aspiration and 'artsy feel' so much that they end up just being silly. However I have to admit that, every now they turn out to be absolutely brilliant. Which is which?

Sometimes I wonder

Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it. You know with school, university and getting a degree.

If you haven't gone through university, I'm afraid you can't possibly understand the incredible internal struggle it puts you through. There's not only the physical efforts such as setting aside time and effort to study but the psychological efforts you have to exert just to be able to deal with everything that comes with higher learning.

Believe me, making yourself sit down and study for exams is just one little fraction of that cerebral civil war which constantly goes on in your head.

Not only do you have to exert a ridiculously high amount of (in my case) physiological efforts to be  sociable to fellow students and/or colleagues, you also have to battle with constant pressure to do extra curricular activities to boost your worthless CV. What's most psychologically demanding is however coming to terms with having to deal and produce coursework and exams which demand things you're light years away from being capable to deliver.

The overwhelmingness and feelings of insufficiency (not to mention during a long period of time) beats your brain up. It simply drains you. It drains the hell out of you.

People who don't have a degree survive, right? Despite their obvious disadvantages, they still live on, don't they? Yes, I have the opportunity to get a much better job than they do. But enduring three years of intense psychological battles (which probably will leave me slightly mentally disturbed) to gain a degree from an university that's - let's just say - neither Oxford or Cambridge, just to get this 'opportunity', is it really worth it?

Off mode

The first week back at Uni is almost over (only have the longest day to look forward to tomorrow) and what's the verdict? I have none because I've been too busy studying. Really, I've been studying everyday of this week. To be honest it was a pretty difficult to get back to the studying again (euphemisn for trying to make myself stop being on Tumblr 12hrs a day), but I did what I have to do.

So I was writing a review of the 25th Anniversary concert of Phantom of The Opera from Sunday. You know the glacial pace I work on these things but my plan was to have it done by Tuesday. But then out of nowhere my Reporting and Journalism teacher just threw us out on the street to find a story, write it and send to him before the end of the day. So that totally screwed up my plan, and with the review being outdated now, should I even bother?

The longest Les Mis write up ever seen

For you Les Mis fans out there, here's a more elaborate analysis (probably very long one) of the Malmö production. So if you don't have all day, here's the shorter review.

The music
Although most of it had the orchestration from the Stockholm 1990 recording and to a greater extent also the original London recording, there are also a few snippets of newer settings. So if you're a fan of the original interval in Sörjande Kvinnor (Turning) and the longer version of Little people (which nowadays are limited to 2 lines), then this is going to be very much to your pleasing. As I’m a (frantic) fan of the 25^th anniversary orchestrations, I wasn’t too crazy about the settings.

Having prepped myself with the lyrics from the Stockholm recording, I wasn’t exactly over the moon when I realised they had changed about half of them. Why they did so on the other hand is questionable. Changing “Sången om unga arga män” to “Sången om arga unga män” (in Folkets sång/Do You Hear..) or ”Fast jag vet, jag vet att han är blind” to ”Fast jag ser, jag ser att han är blind” (in För Mig Själv/On My Own), don’t make any difference in my opinion.

The choreography

Se Ner Photo: Malin Arnesson

The Malmö prod. is four times more choreographed than the West End production. Every scene with the ensemble is meticulously choreographed, often with the ensemble moving in unison to the beat. This is especially stunning in a segment in Se Ner (Look Down), in which the ensemble squeezes tightly together and slowly stretches out their arms in different directions to symbolise their miserable begging.

While most of it is visually stunning, the choreographed moves limit the acting a great deal. For example, I love watching the Master of the House scene in the WE prod. because it’s interesting watching what each guest is doing as well as all the scams Thénardier are pulling on their customers. All of this is almost gone in the scene in the Malmö prod. because the cast follows a choreography.

Leathers galore Photo: Malin Arnesson

The costumes
Historical correctness is a foreign concept here. Forget the crepes, cravats and high neck shirts and say hello to leather corset dresses, wine-red floor sweeping coats, bare arms and 18^th century wigs. Still, the periodically incorrectness and gothic costumes works well in the musical, as it accentuate the modernisation of the musical - and frankly they’re just so darn beautiful.

Besides the white baby doll dresses for the prostitutes, there is another major costume arrangement blunder. Imagine a 70s punk rocker; the green fitted jacket (with pins on the collar), the tulle skirt, the combat boots and as a cherry on the top add a giant green bow on the head. That is Éponine my friend, yes Éponine.

The scenes

The scene that bothers me most is Sköna Damer (Lovely ladies). I’m not a big fan of Lovely Ladies in general but I really don’t like how they’ve changed the whole tone of the scene in this production. Instead of having the prostitutes sing the song (which is really the whole point of the song), it's the madams/pimpettes (plus the occasional nuns who acts as pimpettes-confusing yes), the pimp and (correct me if I'm wrong) the buyers who sings it. With the graphic poses, ruthless buyers, the madams tugging on their prostitutes and their empty facial expressions, the scene accentuates on how miserable and forced the prostitutes are, making the whole scene very raw and sinister. While this may be more accurate to the real situation, I miss the sassy and confident lovely ladies in the WE production (but perhaps it's just my prude talking).

Although I was hugely disappointed with Herre I Sitt Hus (Master of the House), since it's one of my favourite scenes in the WE production, there are some additions to the scene that I liked. I love how they've given young Éponine's a bigger role. She's the ginger ball of frizz among the dozens of grey drunkards (all looking like they're in a zombie version of Cats). Being present in the entire scene I keep eyeing back to her and love seeing her play with her doll, be repulsed by a guest offering her wine and so on.

A scene in the Malmö prod. that I prefer over the WE one, yes hold on to your hat, is the Sewer scene. Adding Madame Thénardier to the scene and having her picking the pockets of the dead students makes Thénardier's Hund Äter Hund (Dog Eats Dog) more eventful and less dull. I absolutely love her playing dead when Valjean approaches with Marius on his back. The interaction between the Thénadiers in the scene is simply golden.

The characters

(Left) Ida Högberg, Mathilda Ahnell, Philip Jalmelid
Photo: Malin Arnesson

Éponine - Despite her disastrous new attire (it's difficult to take her seriously because of it), I do like the character changes they've made. She's more like brick-Nancy Sullivan-Éponine; carefree, radiant and bratty. I like that she helps the Thénardiers to beg in The Robbery and how she messes with Marius' hair and thinks (sings) he's peculiar.

For me, it's a logical development of her character, I don't like the Disneyfied and silly Éponine you see so often nowadays. (Yes,the whole love triangle is very sweet and touching, but is there no way to have both?). Still I don't think Ida Högberg delivered this Éponine very well, I never really felt that she was in love with Marius which in turn takes away all the sentimentality from A Little Fall of Rain.

Marius - I extremely disliked Philip Jalmelid's Marius when I first saw this production, because he's practically the opposite of brick Marius (whom I'm very fond of). He's easygoing, playful and very expressive (I'm talking about spinning around out of joy). However in the last show (I saw) I started to think he was quite charming and he does the awkward part quite well (the awkward wave to Cosette is precious!).

There's no reason why a character who's nothing like its brick-self can't be brilliant and I'm sure that Philip will become more and more convincing the more shows he does. (He doesn't have an understudy so he ought to)

Enjolras - I said in my review that I liked Anders Gjönnes as Enjolras, but after 2 more shows I'm not sure anymore. The Malmö prod's Enjolras is very different from the WE one who's very idealistic, serious and inspirational. Enjolras is now a wild and vulnerable character who, during the the battles, seem to enjoy the fighting, perhaps a bit too much. He doesn't come across as someone who's burning for liberty and freedom of the people, just someone who wants to stuck up his nose to the bourgeois.

Not only are the students reduced in number but also in clothing (the whole bunch of them run around bare armed and with very tight revealing pants). Together with lack of passion, you simply don't believe in them and it's clearer than ever that they're going to lose the battle even before it has started.

Grantaire - Having been introduced to Gleen Daniel Nilsson (played Marius in the Finnish-Swedish production in Åbo), I had an extra eye on him during the whole show (his foreman is perfectly sleazy and cruel). Out of all the characters portrayed in this prod. he's a close first to Fred Johanson's Javert, very close!

His Grantaire has no interest in the revolution whatsoever, he even crinkles a flyer Courfeyrac hands him. It's clear that he's there for one purpose and one purpose only-Enjolras. Seeing him admire (I'd like to use the word 'fangir'l but that would seem a unprofessional), on the brink of squealing, Enjolras in Folkets Sång (Do You Hear..), put a huge smile on my face. He's adorable! I like that he's less of "the drinker" and more of "the disbeliever" in this prod. I also love his relationship with Gavroche and that he's the one catching Gavroche when he dies.

Thénardier- Peter Harrysson as I said is rather worthless as Thénardier. However his understudy David Lindquist is GOLDEN (notice the caps)! He does the comedic character absolutely spot on. Being the opposite to Harrysson, Lindquist is all over the place; dancing, standing on chairs, waving with his arms etc. I like the fact that he actually hears Madame Thénardier telling (singing) her part in Herre i Sitt Hus (Master of The House) and becomes upset but disregard it as soon as the guests sings "his tune" again. He's without a doubt the funniest Thénardier I've seen.

And lastly, if anyone gets the symbolism behind the Wolf, please let me know!

Going back day

Goodbye Malmö. Photo: Me

Going back days are always bittersweet. Then again it's supposed to be 26 degrees in London tomorrow, so no worries.

Toodles, see you all back in Londonland!

THIS

One day, I will not hold myself back.

Review: Les Misérables at Malmö opera

Innovation in new production of Les Misérables. Photo: Malmö Opera

Taking the gloominess and misery on to a whole new level, Ronny Danielsson delivers a visual version of Cameron Mackintosh's beloved Les Misérables that has never been seen before (in line with Virginia prod. in 2008). In a meticulous modernisation, the musical has been given a darker and cutting edge atmosphere - think Tim Burton meets Cats meets Micheal Jackson's Thriller.

Based on Victor Hugo's 1400 paged novel with the same title, Les Misérables tells the tales of the people's misery in the early 19th century France. It centers the ex-convict Jean Valjean's journey to redemption, while being hunted by the relentless Police inspector Javert.

Equipped with a hefty budget, a mini army of an ensemble and a continent of a set, the scenography department was able to conjure up an astonishing set and props, including an enormous turbine and a giant bird cage descending from the ceiling.

The periodic 1830s clothes have been systematically thrown out the window and replaced with black leather dresses, burgundy floor-sweeping coats and tulle skirts. All gothic enough to make you think Helena Bonham Carter would walk onto the stage at any second.

Melted together with a innovative choreography and flawlessly orchestrated music (the electric guitar is more suitable than ever), there's one thing that's certain: there's never a visually dull moment in the show.

However, putting aside the praiseworthy scenography and costumes, one is left with an hoard of dull and uninspiring actors. The performers are amazing singers, there's no doubt about that, and if the audience would've suffered from a sudden collective blindness just as the show started, their performance would've been more than satisfactory. But unfortunate for them, we managed to hang on to our eyesight during the whole show.

Jean Valjean, played by Dan Ekborg, was neither rough as a convict, humble as a reprieved man, anxious as a pursued man, loving as a father nor sincere as a man who wishes to forgive. For Karolin Funke's Fantine it's the same story. Funke's Jag Drömde En Dröm (I Dreamed a Dream) was performed standing upright with her hands hanging on the sides - giving the character as much emotions as a sock.

The Thénardier couple who's usually the comedic essence in an otherwise gloomy musical, was now portrayed as sinister and, to be honest, terrifying. 'Så ska det låta'-host Peter Harrysson does the most motionless (or every now and then rolling on a wheelchair) Mr Thénardier to date. Still, mobility isn't a indication for good acting, but any of that was absent in Harrysson's case as well.

As a shining beacon in a sea of blandness, there's Fred Johanson's spot on portrayal of Javert - authoritive at the right time and perplexed at the right time. With an incredible roaring voice (enough to make every viewer's skin crawl) and just as brilliant acting, Johanson's performance is definitely the highlight of the show.

More glimmer of lights are Cosette, whose youthfulness and flirtatiousness Emmi Christensson does impeccably, and Anders Gjønnes' vulnerable but idealistic Enjolras.

Hard work is evident in making this production one of its own, and there's no doubt that it could've suceeded becoming a brilliant such, however if there was more focus on the casting and character delivering this production could've have gone the whole way.

Les Misérables (2011) Ronny Danielsson, Malmö opera, Malmö
(Performance: 18/9/11)

(You can't imagine how much I've edited and cut out. Jeesh! Fret not, my full WE comparision and character analysis is yet to be posted)

Words of Victor

Photo taken and edited by me.

Malmö opera's open repititon of Les Misérables enthralls hundreds

"Is the second half going to be this f-cking gloomy as well?" says director Ronny Danielsson and the audience burst out in laughs. Danielsson was imitating the Swedish King who saw the Stockholm production of Les Misérables in 1990 and is said to have thought it to be depressing.

Emmi Christensson as Cosette and Philip Jalmelid as Marius

Saturday's (10/9) open repitition of the latest Swedish production of the world's longest running musical "Les Misérables" was a packed one. An hour before the doors opened to the refurbished Malmö Opera, the foyer was already bustling with people.

After a warm welcoming from the director, an overwhelming number of sweatpants-wearing people trots onto stage and organise themselves to their designated spots. The final scene had to be polished.

"When you sing "the chain" everyone has to have come forth," reminds choreographer Roger Lybeck and continues to give further directions on the pace they were to enter in.

Having established their definite curtain call positions, the audience could finally get a taste of the highly anticipated singing. And oh what a singing it was, the harmonization was enough to make even the toughest of guys tremble.

The cast rehearsing the curtain call

The trembling hightens as the genious move to put the orchestra in the back of stage instead of in the pithole, gives the actors the ablility to be touchably-close to the audience. With the glorious vantage point from the 4th row of the center stalls, one got the feeling you were actually on stage with the actors.

The repitition now turned into a sneakpeak of the (close-enough) actual musical as they performed every song from Sörjande kvinnor (Turning) to the Epilogue without any interruptions.

Similar to the West End production, the Malmö production also have a rotating stage centre which gives the play a bustling atmosphere, not least in the Wedding scene. On the other hand, as the barricade was more of a set piece than a prop (different from the WE production), one will have to do without the students climbing and shooting from a platform made of chairs.

At Tomma bord och tomma stolar

Sörjande kvinnor, which is a precedent for Tomma bord och tomma stolar (Empty chairs at empty tables), saw a line of women sing appealingly and gesturing, each behind an empty chair. Marius, played by a backward cap donned Philip Jalmelid, is then wheeled into the dark and smoky stage.


After a less than emotional but a stomach-tinglingly beautiful sung Tomma bord och tomma stolar and Jalmelid's first interaction with Emmi Christensson's Cosette in Everyday, Dan Ekborg enters as Valjean and sings a perfectly remorseful Valjeans confession.

It is followed by the quirky Bröllopet (The Wedding) where the Thénardier couple, portrayed by Marianne Mörck and Peter Harrysson, enters for the first time under applause. In contrast to Bröloppet, the Thénardier Waltz of Treachery was surprisngly bare (on the verge of awkward), but it was fortunately followed by a magnificently powerful Epilogue.

There are no doubts in musical heaven that these performers are well-trained and brilliant singers, what's left to see on the other hand is whether they're as brilliant actors. However, disappointment over the production seems to be as unlikely as the King seeing Les Mis again.

Les Misérables premieres at Malmö Opera on Friday the 16th of September and is scheduled to run until the beginning of February.

It's KevJumba's fault

Good Lord.

Screw journalism and marketing! I want to be a Korean boy band stylist!

10 reasons why I'm not cool.

Not that I ever thought that I was, so should we just call it the '10 additional facts about me that emphasise my social awkwardness'?

1. I'm as sociable as a christmas ham in the summer.

2. I blooming love jazz and classical music.

3. One of my favourite pursuit is to sing my heart out to musical songs. (Once sang Phantom Of The Opera out loud on the train and I regret nothing, my friend did though)

4. Normally, I check my Twitter account at least 7 times a day.

5. My absolute biggest wish when I was 14 was to go to Hogwarts. Seriously.

6. I spend more time flogging my opinions on Twitter than to actual real human beings.

7. I secretly wish I lived in the 1940s.

8. The most romantic thing I ever told I guy is that he's a studmuffin via Twitter.

9. I've spent more Saturday nights at home than Linsday Lohan has been to rehab.

10. If I had free yearly supplies of new movies I wouldn't have any reasons to go out again.

Review: Unknown where most is known

Unknown (2011) Photo: Warner Bros

House of Wax director Jaume Collet-Serra taps into the action genre for the first time with Unknown (2011). This $40 million investment takes place in Berlin, Germany where Liam Neeson's Dr. Martin Harris and his wife Liz (January Jones) have come to attend a biotechnological summit. Soon upon arrival Martin is involved in a car accident in which he and the cabbie (Diane Kruger) is flung off a bridge. He wakes up 4 days later with no memory of anything before arriving in Berlin. In all haste he seeks up his wife only to find out that she doesn't recognise him. If that's not traumatic enough, there is also another man in his place, someone claiming to be Dr. Martin Harris and married to Liz. Failing to convince the police he really is Martin Harris, he starts to hunt back his past.

Unknown's greatest appeal wasn't perhaps being another "Liam Neeson action flick" but January Jones' movie debut post-Mad Men. Those of the latter would however be mad-tastically disappointed as Jones' character is next to nonexistent.

Alas, the disappointments don't stop there. Unknown is neither as mysterious or thrilling as it wished to be. Not only failing to realise the plot's intriguing potential, they also hugely underestimated the audience's imagination. While we've already figured out most of "Martin's" past, 38 minutes were still to pass before it was revealed in the movie. The storytelling was therefore filled with nothing but laughably see-through mystique and a loads of redundant scenes.

Another great acting waste was Diane Kruger's Gina, an illegal Bosnian immigrant. Why they thought that they should put German Diane Kruger in a movie set in Germany as a Bosnian immigrant is beyond me. Kruger is neither convincing as a Bosnian nor an illegal immigrant, however that may be the cause of the costume designer and make-up people. Giving Diane a messy ponytail and make her wear a tank top and jeans doesn't by far make her look like a ragged poor immigrant. (Then again, can she ever look anything less than flawless?)

With a tedious storytelling and redundant action, Unknown is best kept unseen.

A little narcissim never hurt anyone

Photo: New Car Networks

Doesn't everyone love to talk about the "social media" nowadays? The journalists loves it, the politicians loves it, your consumer psychology lecturer loves it, the snotty kids on the train certainly loves it. With the rise of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc, there are more ways than ever to put whatever you want about yourself online whenever you want. People have even started to define our era as the "Mum mum look what I've done era".

You can sit there in your hipster corner and try to convince yourself that you "only" use Facebook to stay in contact with friends (you know all 403 of them) or keep up with news through your Twitter account, but both you and I know it's not true (believe me the sooner you leave that corner the better).

We all use social media platforms to put things about ourselves (to what extent is another a story) out there for people to read, and then hope that maybe, just maybe, someone will acknowledge it or even compliment you. The journalists, politicians, lecturer and the snotty kids on the train however are now questioning our need to put every little detail about ourselves online - everything from what we ate for breakfast to what we think about the new Spiderman trailer (it was so-so). Why do we consciously or unconsciously cry out to the world to see us, to hear us? Most importantly, is the social media fuelling such ego-centric indulgence?

Perhaps, but why does it have to be a bad thing? Of course it would be terribly aggravating (to say at least) to be around people who constantly need to tell everyone what they're doing and thinking, especially if it's meaningless jibberjabber like "I bloomin' love Jaffa cakes". In a culture where narcissism is a big no-no, we've been taught that it's not polite to boast or to be conceited.
But unless you're an altruistic saint, it's only natural to want to tell people what makes you a good, cool or nice person and what your opinions are. Social media is a place for that.

Why is it so bad to have a place to vent all of our narcissistic needs? Why is it so bad to express oneself and hope that someone somewhere might feel the same? Aren't our opinions as valid as anyone else's? Aren't there enough of things we keep suppressed inside us already?

But still you may think there's no need for people to flog who they're dating and not dating or whether they care about Amy Winehouse's death or not, all of which just make them look like desperate attention-whores. Well, let them decide what they're going to put up and how they're going to be perceived according to it. When did you become the useless online info police, huh? No, I didn't think so.

Scrapbook 2.0

Here are some of the pictures I've taken this summer. As you can see I haven't left the borders much.

Simrishamn, Sweden

Västra Hamnen, Malmö

Helsingborg, Sweden

Malmö, Sweden

Simrishamn, Sweden

Simrishamn, Sweden

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Twitter Style

Here's another Twitterature post. Been working on this for a while now, it's somehow still quite long.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
@BehindTheseGreenEyes

So this giant Santa-Clause guy says I'm a wizard and enrolled at a magic school. Right! He must be on crack.
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Hagrid (giant) is serious. Currently in London, getting stuff for school. Went to the wizard bank, turns out I'm loaded. Eff yeah!
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Why is everyone telling me I'm famous?! And stop touching my scar you freaks!
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At King's X. Info guy looked at me as if I was barking asking for platform 9 3/4. Awesome. Hey..did that ginger just walk through the wall?
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School's a proper Dracula castle I'm tellin' ya. Got into Gryffindor. It's normal to tell a talking hat where to (or not to) put you right?
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Classes are wicked! Flying lessons sure beats PE! The Potions prof. Snape hates me though. Not my fault you haven't gotten laid in years!
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Who's the youngest in centuries to play for their house's Quidditch (kind of basketball on brooms) team? Who? Yes, moi. #swag
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TheDailyProphet
Dark wizards/witches believed to be behind Gringotts break in. Spokesgoblin insists nothing was stolen. Investigation continues.
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This guy Malfoy is pissing me off! Seriously needs a life. Challenged me to a duel but never showed up. Wuss.
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A 3-headed dog locked inside school. Check! (Was it standing on a trapdoor?) #notevenjoking
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Apparently Ron and I are friends with this valedictorian from hell, Hermione. She's better now, after we saved her from a 12 ft tall troll.
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First game and we totally beat the crap out of Slytherin!170-60! Snape's officially an ass for trying to kill me. #gryffindorslytheringame
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None of my business but Snape's up to no good. Bitten by the 3-headed dog, huh? Too bad it was only his leg.
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Merry Christmas folks! You won't believe what I got - an invisibility freakin' cloak! Girls bathroom next! Just joking. #or
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None of my business but does anyone know anything about Nicolas Flamel? Anyone?
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Baby dragons sounds a lot cuter than they are. Not that I know someone who has one or anything..
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Not supposed to tweet during detention, then again what kind of detention is walking around the forest? Malfoy is totally shitting bricks.
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It's normal to get a head splitting headache from seeing a guy drinking unicorn blood right? It was V------?! Well no big deal. #youknowwho
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None of my business but the Philosopher's stone eh? No wonder Snape wants it, eternal life and all the gold you want. It'd def get him laid.
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Revision is a bitch. Especially with this freakin' headache. Do they have Nurofen in this world?
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Snape's gonna make the move. None of my business but I need to stop him.
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Turns out it wasn't Snape. However, prob. shouldn't tweet about it. I'll just say: Man with 2 faces - totally kicked his ass.
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So it's back to Kent tomorrow. Sucks. Oh well, can at least threaten Dudley with turning him into a pig.

My Tumblr: an Introduction

It has come to my attention that my new Tumblr layout is somewhat confusing so I'm gonna try to clear things up as much as possible.

www.tiffanyalwaysknows.tumblr.com

First of all, not every picture (GIF, audio, video) on my Tumblr is my own. However I'd like to think about 60% of it are my own photos (for example the pictures marked with a red star in the photo above are mine).

If you're not in the mood for going through a blog full with (mostly) photos that gives me the tingles and makes me happy for being alive in this creative world, and only wants to look at photos that I've taken you can click on the  'My photos only' link (red sq in photo above). The link is quite tricky though, because the text is small and you often have to click on the white space above the text instead of on it. As you can see there are also links to my Streetstyle blog 'Hello Fancy', my twitter account 'Tweet me', my archive and so on. You can also leave me a message by clicking on 'Ask me stuff'.

As you've realized the whole photo is not shown on the page. Being the sensible person as you are, you will click on the photo if you wish to see the whole thing.

For your convenience (or not) I've also enabled endless scrolling, so you can just keep scrolling and scrolling until there aren't anything to see anymore.

Toodles,
Tiffany

Review: How to love 'A pocket full of Sunshine' by Natasha Bedingfield

Photo: Screen Gems

Being one of the last people in the world to see Easy A (2010) had its up and downsides. One being the long line of praisals of both Emma Stone and the movie's humour which made you feel like an complete outsider for not seeing the comicality in GIFs of Emma Stone shampooing her hair (which people on Tumblr are/were eager to reblog in masses). On the other hand, with all the recommendations and "actually-it's-not-that-funny" comments flying around one couldn't help but to build up quite some expectations of the movie.

However, a severe case of laughing cramps and a loud sing-along to Simple Mind's "Don't You" later, I just wanted to hit the play button again.

Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) is a clean-cut 17 year-old who's not very popular with the guys, or as she describes it: if Google Earth was a guy, he couldn't find me if I was dressed up as a 10-story building. Little did she know that a small lie about losing her virginity to a college student would travel á la Gossip Girl style and reach every student at the school in a matter of a few hours.

Enjoying the newfound attention, Olive agrees to pretend to have sex with a guy friend, to stop people from bullying him for being gay. One thing leading to another, she soon finds herself in a 'pay-me-and-you-can-tell-people-we-hooked-up' business that's just waiting to go wrong.

The brilliance of the movie lies in the novel take on teenage life and the spot-on comedy. Casting aside the overdone boyfriend-revenge, unrequited love and mean girls stories, Easy A explores the impact and hilarity in rumour spreading and the thin line between being a virgin-nobody and a "dirty sk*nk".

With a Diablo Cody-sharp dialogue and a brilliant performance by Emma Stone, Easy A is one of few teen movies that neither makes you want to scratch your eyes or wish you could strangle the movie characters half way through. In fact it's one of the best not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman movies since the Breakfast Club.

(and this is why I've developed a weird fondness of A Pocket full of Sunshine)
Tiffany

THIS

Matthew Seadon-Young,

I don't wanna see no more

This song is currently kicking the showbiz music out of me (and I don't know if I'm comfortable with that). I know it's such a clichée but I'm genuinly crazy about this song at the moment.

As a former super Jonas Brothers fan I'm obliged to say that it's very different from the JB sound and Joe is so different now bladibladibla. However the bottom line is: Chris Brown did a good job.

Watch me listen to it the 11th time on repeat.

Toodles,
Tiffany

Review: Love Never Dies



Photo: andrewlloydwebber.com

Any person's reaction to finding out that Love Never Dies is the sequal to Phantom of The Opera is usually either a frowned brow, a scornful chuckle or simply a long 'What?!' (Mine was certainly the latter)

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's decision to spin-off Gaston Leroux's classical story about the impossible love between a deformed musical genious and his apprentice still baffles people today (that is if you exclude the improbable reason to wanting to heave in thousands of pounds of course).

Set out across the Atlantic in New York, Love Never Dies takes us ten years after the Paris Opera House has burnt down. The Phantom (Ramin Karimloo) and his protegés Madame Giry (Liz Robertson) and Meg (Haley Flahrety) have established themselves at the vibrant funfair, Coney Island.

As the title suggests, Phantom is still very much in love with Christine (Celia Graham) - the obsessive love of his life whom married another man, and yearns to get her back. Such plans are at work when Christine comes to New York for a special performance together with her now drinking-and-gambling-happy husband, Raoul (David Thaxton), and their neglected 10 year-old child, Gustave.

While Karimloo does a strong and intimidating Phantom, the real star of the show is Thaxton, whose troubled Raoul is impeccably portrayed. After Thaxton's moving performance of the melancholic 'Why Does She Love Me', one would a heart of stone not to root for him in the strife over Christine.

From the inside of the Phantom's tower to a lonely beach, the set is consistently breathtakingly extravagant. One of the most ingenious scene arrangements were the introduction of Coney Island, in which the curtain is used as a projector showing the funfair's surroundings while the actors move behind it, giving the scene a vivid sense of Coney Island's vibrant atmosphere.

However brilliant and stunning the acting and set may have been, Love Never Dies couldn't make up for the dull and overreaching story line - and not to mention the awkward personality changes of the main characters. What's most puzzling is still why they insisted on creating a relationship between Phantom and Christine that never was intended. Adding to the awkwardness is 'Beneath A Moonless Sky', in which Phantom and Christine sing (more or less) word for word about their night together.

How much one may have wanted to know what led to Christine death in Phantom of The Opera, we definitely could've done without.

Love Never Dies (2010) Andrew Lloyd Webber, Aldelphi Theatre, London
Performance: 19/04/11

Tiffany

Questions people never ask me 4.0

What do you feel about the making of Les Misérables as a musical movie?
Excuse the language but, I'm peeing my pants out of excitement to be honest. Tom Hooper (director of the King's Speech) is going to be the director, can it be any better? Although I can't think of anyone less suitable for Valjean than Hugh Jackman, I'm sure he'll do a decent job.

What I'm least looking forward to however is all the songs cutting (one of my favourite songs in Chicago is Class which they cut) or translating songs into dialogue. I can't bare the thought of cutting out any of these amazing (i'd like to say phenomenal but then you'll just think me weird) songs. But then again they can’t have a 2,5 hr movie with no dialogue so I just have to live with it. Good lord, if they dialogue Red & Black I will strangle someone.

What are your guilty pleasures?
Honestly, I like (perhaps a bit too much) going through things I've blogged/tweet about and photos I've uploaded. From time to time I like scrolling through my tweets/tumblr/blog posts and think hey that's quite funny or wow, I am really sad.

What do you genuinly think about Nick Jonas in Les Misérables?
(Judging from the O2 concert) He's not great because of 3 reasons. 1. He's not a good enough vocalist for musicals 2. He's not a very good actor 3. His performance is overshadowed by all these real show-biz people who are, let's face it, mind-blowingly amazing. Although he's not great I genuinly think he wasn't bad, he just wasn't as good as the others.

Who's this Scott Garnham person you keep talking about?
Why, that's an absolutely splendid question. Thanks for asking (This is Tiffany roleplaying with herself). Scott is a current actor in Les Misérables at West End in London. He currenty plays Feuilly and is understudying Enjolras and Marius. (Very interesting stuff yeah?)

The reason I talk about him, other than that he's plain awesome, is because I'm a really sad person. The most recent time I went and saw Les Mis (27th May to be exact), I for some reason felt compelled to tweet about how awesome Mr Garnham was during 'Drink with Me'. Little did I know that I would wake up to find my tweet retweeted with a comment by Scott himself. There you go! Go ahead and laugh all you want but you're not the one having 3 @mentions from him are ya?!

If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?
New York or Hong Kong (or backstage at the Queen's theatre in London would also be nice)

How many times have you seen the musical Les Misérables? (actually people ask me this all the time, but I'd just like to accentuate how awesome it is)
4 times, one of which was the 25th Anniversary concert at O2.


(Wait, there was a theme in there somewhere.....)

Yours sincerely,
Tiffany

Phantom Of The Opera: Twitter style

Insipired by Twitterature I decided to have a go at Phantom of The Opera (rewatched it yesterday). However, rather than retelling the book (by Gaston Leroux) I'm retelling the movie (Phantom of the Opera, 2004). Yes, it's somewhat vulgar but that's all in the spirit of the Twitterature.

Phantom of The Opera
@ChristineOftheOpera

Got this awesome song teacher. Don't know his name but he sounds hot. Let's call him Angel of Music or Phantom.
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OMG, the new opera patron is my childhood sweetheart Raoul. Yup, he still wants me.
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Phantom took me down to the dungeons tonight. T'was awesome and not scary at all. He groped me but it's ok.
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Despite that scary ass mask, I'd totally tap that.
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Think Phantom likes me. He told everyone I should have the lead in the next opera. Think daddy would've been proud.
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Opera owners decided to give the lead to that diva bitch who can't even sing. Phantom wasn't happy, he killed a guy.
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I went to the roof with Raoul. Yup, we totally did it. Think some perv was watching us from behind the statue. #privacyplease
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PARTY TIME! Raoul proposed. Don't want to tell anyone yet. What would daddy think?
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Phantom totally crashed the party and was pissed at everyone. He had a black mask. My panties dropped to the floor.
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He said I was his forever? Wuut?! Confused. Wish daddy was here, he would sort this out. Right, gonna visit his grave.
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Daddy? Is that you? Darnit, it's just Phantom. Raoul's here too. They're fighting each other now. Too tired to intervene. #boyswillbeboys
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Raoul made a trap to capture Phantom. Planning-Raoul is so hot!
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Shite, I must be the bait. What if Phantom takes me? Did I tell you the dungeons stinks?!
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Haha! Tore your mask off in front of the whole audience. That's what you get for groping me!
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In the dungeon, listening to Phantom's sob history. Nobody loves me sob sob... Oh yes Raoul's here to save me!
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Feel sorry for the deformed dude. Alright I'll kiss you and you better let us go!
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We're free! But the opera burnt down. Oh well. Andrew Lloyd Webber better not make a sequel and call it Love Never Dies or something stupid like that.

Twitterature

Nowadays I'm a full-time lazy ass, which is incredibly nice. I've been reading quite a bit. I finished Sherlock Holmes' The Hound of the Baskervilles a few days back and went on to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, which I've never read in English before (yes, gasp and disgrace). While at the library I stumbled upon this absolutely brilliant book:

Picture: Penguin Books

You may know I've had some serious cases of Twitter addiction and I would like to believe it's better now, however some of it is still there I'm afraid. Twitterature takes 60 classical books and retells them in tweets. Beowulf, Pride and Prejudice, Dorian Gray, the Odyssey, you name it! The brilliance lie in the straight forward and sometimes quite vulgar comments (tweets) which tells the story in its uttermost essential and what you should've picked up from reading between the lines.

Excerpts:

Emma (Jane Austen)
@Darcylover1815
Isn't it funny how I'm always thinking about things I seem to not care about, people I don't love, and marriages I don't want to have?

Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
@OedipusGothplex
WTF IS POLONIUS DOING BEHIND THE CURTAIN?

Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)
@heathbar
My dying wish: that my spirit be united with Catherine's, that we roam the heath together forever, and that Kate Bush writes a song about us.

Cheerio,
Tiffany

Happy July

Can't believe it's July already. In a couple of weeks time I'll have had summer break for 2 months. Jeez, time flies.

For a whole week now I've basically done nothing, i.e reading, watching TV and randomly break out to Les Mis. However wonderful (but occasionally boring) that may have been, I feel like I must get off my lazy butt and actually do something. I have a list, I'm not gonna lie.

Here's an excerpt:
Study PR (got a stinkin C last term, so I just wanted to recap things before the other PR module in the fall)
Study Chinese (you know, when I get bored and feel ambitious)
Drive and study driving theory (still not decided if I'm going to try to take my license in September but either way I'm preparing for it now)
Get together a decent review portfolio and contact Malmö Opera (got this crazy idea of getting a press pass, I know completely crazy!)
Travel and take photos (need to work on this. So if you're going anywhere, please let me tag along)
Read books (currently finishing Sherlock Holmes: the Hound of Baskerville. Have a PJ Wodehouse waiting and planning to reread the Harry Potter series, however the latter seems a bit farfetched)
Get a decent tan (is that such a crime?)

Bonne chance to me.

Toodles,
Tiffany

Haunting words

- Jenny Mellor (An Education, 2009, Sony Pictures) Photo: Mine

Review: Actually very super

Picture: Paramount Pictures

I promised myself a while ago that I'd think twice before watching a sci-fi movie (after Knowing) or a movie with a bunch of kids in the lead (after Narnia 3). So what made me throw myself headfirst to go and watch Super 8? 3 reasons: 1. Elle Fanning. 2. J.J Abrams 3. Elle Fanning. (Not even joking)

Super 8 is set out in a small town in Ohio during the late 70's. When 13-year old Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) loses his mother in an accident, he's left battling with the loss and the distant relationship with his police father. Thoughts of his mom were put on hold when his best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths), an amateur movie maker, asks beautiful Alice (Elle Fanning) to star in his latest project. While filming a scene for Charles' entry for a film festival, they witness a catastrophic train crash which releases an unknown creature. Not before long strange things starts to happen in the city.

What I love most about Super 8, is it's story telling. I love the deliberate mystique around the creature, and that as the characters learn more about the creature the more we get to see more of it. The cast is just as brilliant, you know I'm a sucker for brilliant child actors (man, I'm in that age this kind of sentences can be taken wrong), even AJ Michalka was watchable.

I truly enjoyed the movie, I laughed, I cried and I screamed. You know, just as much as I love to be the only person in the cinema screaming out loud I was genuinely, as my friend would say, shitting bricks.

Tiffany strongly recommends.

Toodles.

A long lost friend

Long time no see, my 6 stringed friend! And yes, I haven't gotten any better I'm afraid. Here's my attempt to cover Jonas Brothers' Make It Right.

Toodles,

Tiffany

101 Pet peeves

A while ago I started #101petpeeves on my Twitter where I list things I find really annoying and/or hard to stand. RELAX I'm not actually going to come up with 101 things, but here goes a few (including those on my Twitter). The order doesn't classify their degree of annoyance.

• People who write 'lol': Firstly, there ought to be at least one capital letter in there since it's an abbreviation of laughing out loud. Secondly, you're not really laughing out loud so don't write it (in abbreviated or any form). Thirdly, simply writing lol makes whatever you say before or after 10 times less intelligent. What's wrong with writing haha? (Then again I write XD a lot, which is almost just as bad)
• People who 'likes' things on Facebook: Especially people who like statuses. Even though it's a great ego boost when people 'like' your status, you know they don't really like what you're saying/doing. It's more like they want to acknowledge your status, whether it's "I just had a steak" or "Ryan Gigg is an [insert degrading noun of your choice]". What's the point? People who 'like' everything on their newsfeed should be banned.
• Incorrect use of it's an its: Actually any grammatical error make my eyes hurt. This may be my production editor days talking but they really do annoy the heck out of me. (I know, I know, I make them too)
• Tourists: Sorry, but 2 years of living in London genuinly justifies this. I just can't stand their 10x10 metres foldout maps, their "comfortable" shoes, their slow motion walking pace in the underground and the lists goes on. Most of all I can't stand their general noob-ness. Let me just put it out there that I strongly dislike tourists on the tube, but above all; Spanish tourists in the tube.
• The ending sequence at news programmes: I always feel so awkward for the broadcaster when he awkwardly fixes his notes or pretending to fix something on the laptop at the very end of the programme. It's even worse when there are two of them, and they have to pretend to talk to each other or awkwardly stare at each other. Once it was actually so bad I had to make myself not watch the TV screen. (OCD much?)
• Interviewers asking stupid and/or obvious questions: (Oh dear, the Oscars are full of them.) I hate standardised questions (questions that have been asked 1000s times already) and I hate questions that have obvious answers -"When you started doing this film, did you ever think it would become this massive?" Well obviously! Even if he/she actually thought so he's not going to tell you is he?! Or just really awkward questions - "Why don't you like hugs?"
• Pictures of oneself/girlfriend/children as cellphone background picture: I get that you obviously love whoever person on the picture but you seriously don't need to see that person's face everytime you do something on your phone. It's awful and it's tacky.

Love,
Tiffany

Review: Kill the pig! Spill its' blood!

Photo: Open Air Theatre

A bunch of screaming 14 year-old boys running around in their underwear, isn't something you would typically pay 30 quid to see. But when it's for a new adaption of Lord of the Flies, it's certainly worth it.

Directed by Timothy Sheader's, this stage adaption of Lord of the Flies is not only impeccably choreographed but also visually stunning.

Based on William Golding's novel from 1954, Lord of the Flies tells the tale of a group of young boys stranded on a deserted island after their plane was shot down. They soon conspire to survive and how to get rescued. With conflicting views on what's the best way to act, the boys soon find themselves in two competing teams. The story gives a frightful insight into human nature at its most primary.

Cleverly staged at Regents Park Open Air theatre, the nature together with the life size broken down plane gives the play an authentic set and ambiance (even the socks hanging from the trees are brilliant). It's in fact so engaging that 40 minutes into the show, one was tempted to jump up and down and join the boys in shouting: "Kill the pig! Spill its' blood!"
The appreciation of the natural surroundings however gradually fades away as the cold of London evenings grows more and more vivid. The audience neither felt any warmer from seeing the cast run around practically naked during the entire second (bless those boys).

Besides the marvelous stage set, the storytelling and choreography is equally as impressive. The use of well choreographed slow motion and standstill (the latter to tell the two team's stories simultaneously), gives the storytelling a twist and, not to mention, a joy to watch. All of which balances out the mediocre acting from the teenage actors.

However the question of time and historical correctness still remains. While the dialogue is neatly modernised, the laptop on the beach and talk of "the war" leaves us wondering whether the show's a modern take on World War II, referencing to Afghanistan/Iran, or if the laptop was simply misplaced.

Lord of the Flies (2010) Nigel Williams, Open Air Theatre, London
(Performance: 07/06/11)

Tiffany