Home and home again

thegirlinthecafe 4 Comments

I am off to the Netherlands for a couple of days. My grandfather (94 – and don’t dare to say that that is old because he will tell you he is not) broke his hip recently and my grandmother has had a tough time alone while he was in the hospital so I felt the need to go and visit them.

I will leave London tonight and will be back Monday evening.

I know that updates here are very irregular which is normally not my style. But I seem to struggle a bit with what to write on this weblog recently. I will have a think about that while I am away.

Have a nice weekend!

Pause a while and muse

thegirlinthecafe 8 Comments

Love never ends

A train at 9.47am on a Sunday morning – after a short night and weather that could not be more depressing – demanded a lot of willpower. But I had my book and the prospect of a train trip, and even if it was going to be rain all day, that was enough to have me leave my bed and hop on board to Eastbourne. The BBC promised heavy showers all day.

While approaching Eastbourne it magically cleared up and the grey clouds turned into sunshine and while setting a first few steps on a very steep hill in the direction of Beachy Head I discovered a couple of things:

I really need to work on my condition
Love never ends
and most importantly
I live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Warning: Lots of pictures in this post.

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Things that can make a Friday

thegirlinthecafe 6 Comments

  • An egg/bacon sandwich for breakfast. I know, I am so British sometimes.
  • Good friends. Even when they live 200 miles away. We actually managed to watch Love, Actually together on the telly this week while chatting on MSN, demanding complete radio silence when “he” was in view. Yes we are both 12.
  • The fact that BFI is screening Absolute Hell. Didn’t think I would be able to ever catch that one on the big screen. How cool. And how young he is!
  • The trip to the sea last weekend made me realize that I had to do this more often: trips to the sea. So I googled some good places near the coast (I live on an island after all so there is lots of coast around!) where you can find nice lighthouses and Sunday it will be the beautiful red and white Beachy Head lighthouse in Eastbourne. May the weather be nice.
  • 22 days until departure to the Isle of Man. Five lighthouses!
  • Flashbacks of a fool (Daniel Craig), Happy Go Lucky (Mike Leigh’s new one), In Bruges (duh? yes but Ralph Fiennes) and Street Kings (duh?? yes but Hugh Laurie! I don’t like the hospital bits of House, but I do like House!) are all hitting the cinemas in London this weekend.
  • I don’t know what it is with series built around hospital life, but I happen to like Grey’s Anatomy a lot too. Neither here do I like the hospital scenes!
  • Am currently reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks I had not heard of Sebastian Faulks before a friend recommended and gave this book to me. I love the book and can’t wait to spent more time with it. Another reason why he will be on my radar: he has written Devil may Care, a new Bond novel which will be released on the 28th of May.
  • New on the photoblog: Shells and Under a blood red sky
  • Seeing as you all did so well with the previous one, please add your caption to this picture too (and no this is not turning into a daily thing). Leigh-on-Sea was a dog paradise.

    Here is mine:

    “No I really should not have eaten that. Really not!”

  • Enjoy your weekend!

Imagine

thegirlinthecafe 3 Comments

Imagine, New York

  • Yes that’s New York. Which I kind of have an ongoing love and longing for. This picture is taken in November 2007, on the same place as this one. It’s peace, rock, passion and imagination in one.
  • George Clooney is in town, now that doesn’t make my heart beat any faster, but I am amazed by the attention he is getting (drinking tea with Gordon and all …). Seems like the whole of London is swooning for him. Come on, he is just an actor.
  • On Sunday however, now that we are with “just” actors, Daniel Craig will be in town too, to promote his new film Flashback of a fool. Now my thoughts on Daniel are quite clear: he has one pair of incredible blue eyes. But I am sure loads of women (and men!) are going to want to see this film with a trailer that is as “revealing” as this one. I will say no more … And ehrm, yes, I want to see the film too. Not because of that scene, but because he is such a great actor. OK, also because of that scene.
  • The sad news, from a Bill perspective, is that the release of Valkyrie has been moved to 2009. That means no Bill films whatsoever in the cinemas this year. Waaah!!

    2009 however will be an amazing year with no less than 4 Bill films coming out! (G-Force, Underworld: Rise of the lycans, Valkyrie and The Boat That Rocked). I can’t wait!

    And for the record – he is not “just” an actor.

  • My script is finished. Wow. Only took me about 2.5 years to write it (from the initial few word – there have been long breaks during that period though), which is kind of shockingly long!

    I am prepared for the gap that will appear in front of me, now that it is (temporarily) off the list of “Things I want to do in my life”. I have enjoyed writing it though. Will it ever be turned into a movie? I couldn’t tell – chances are not high, but where would we be without hope. And imagination.

  • So what’s next? The next script! The story has already formed itself a bit in my head and after a short break I will start writing it. It will be a romance/drama. Still with funny stuff too, of course.
  • I have booked a holiday. I will visit the Isle of Man for a week, starting the 10th of May. I think the Isle of Man is going to be the new Bornholm for me. And if it is half as good as that I will make it a yearly return. Apart from the amazing coast, the wonderful nature, the peacefulness and the fact that it is a small island, it has 5 light houses! Time to dust off my camera I guess.

To climb a mountain

thegirlinthecafe 2 Comments


Last Monday I put my teeth in it, it was quite heavy to chew and it took a couple of days to get back into the writing groove. But I am in it, and spend most of the weekend in a cafe in Fulham, together with Billy, Milky Way Tea, the soundtrack of DIRL and the will power and persistence to finish this script.

I had several problems to solve in the script and it felt like an impossible task, something like climbing the Mt. Everest. This weekend I was relaxed enough to take one step at the time, and it is very close now, actually, it is so close that I dare to say that it will be finished this week.

Now “finished” sounds very final but scripts never are. With finished I mean that it will be in a state of which I am happy enough to send it to some friends to read. To get some comments from the real world.

So that’s how I have spend my weekend: writing in a cafe. There isn’t much I’d rather do.

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Son of Rambow – review (10/10)

thegirlinthecafe 9 Comments

Everyman Cinema, Hampstead
First – this is what the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead looks like. And this is what cinema’s should be like: fantastic chairs (2 seaters if you bring along a friend, one seaters if you don’t), some cushions, a small (close to) heart shaped table beside you, and on the table, a button to press if you want to order a drink. (Not during the film though). Pure indulgence. I can recommend a visit, should you be in London.

And Son of Rambow? Yep, this is one of my favourite films of 2008. No doubt.

[rating:10/10]

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Son of Rambow

thegirlinthecafe 2 Comments

Son of Rambow

No I haven’t seen it yet, but honestly how can a film fail when you have casted fantastic actors like these. I will be very surprised if this is not going to be one of my favourite films of 2008.

Tonight I will attend a preview of it with a Q&A with director Garth Jennings after the film. Garth Jennings is one of my director heroes as he is the man who directed The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and yes I happen to like that film a lot. And not only because of the excellent casting of Slartibartfast.

I have been banging my head for forgetting to take my copy of The Guide with me today. It would have been awesome to have his signature beside the one from Slartibartfast. I might have a go at buying a copy in my lunch time here in Notting Hill.

Son of Rambow trailer
Official site

I have seen some more films recently, and you can find them here. There haven’t been any great ones since Juno.

I know it is kind of on the low site, the writing here, but honestly there is not that much to write about. I guess today’s horoscope (do I believe that crap? No! But sometimes they are just very accurate) is very true:

You’re not sorry to be seeing the back of March. You’ve got a nagging feeling that you haven’t done your best this last month. You’re right. But you know you’ll do better in April. Think ahead, positively.

So I picked up my script yesterday, felt completely alienated from it, but will put my teeth back in it and finish it. There.

Floored

thegirlinthecafe 9 Comments

Pills
In case you were wondering about the silence, I am currently floored by a bug. Bugger.

I have been ordered to live on a diet of dry crackers and water. (not sexy)
And to watch as much Bill films as possible. (very sexy)

Seeing as how exhausted I was to walk the 2 minutes walk to the doctor this morning, I will remain home for a day or two.
Until I am able to eat other things than crackers.
Or until I get tired of watching Bill movies.
The latter being pretty impossiBILL.

I will return here when I feel a bit better. I might sound like I haven’t lost my sense of humour yet, but I can tell you that it has been a close call this weekend. It is no fun really this bug and I hope those Blue/Orange pills will kick its butt out of my body. Rather sooner than later.

INT. ART SCHOOL CLASSROOM – NIGHT

thegirlinthecafe 11 Comments

Art class

When I walked to the toilet yesterday I passed a woman at the shared washing up sink. She was cleaning brushes. Not just a few of them, loads of them. A closer look revealed that she had a small cart filled with glasses with brushes, and palettes filled with paint. I walked on.

But then my brain started working and it said to me:
Scene 25
INT. ART SCHOOL CLASSROOM – NIGHT

Oh! Wait a minute!

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If inspiration hits you, don’t go home

thegirlinthecafe 5 Comments

Storyboarding

Storyboarding

So while you surely are at home, having a nice dinner, enjoying the weekend – I am still at the office. I am the only person in the office. And I am not working, not on work work anyway.

But I found a new song today, I am going to write a bit more about that at some point, because it is a nice story in itself, and that song made me pick up my pencil.
At last, I hear you think.
Yes at last.
I found 2 loudspeakers which I plugged into my (RED) iPod so there is great music.
I have Yorkshire Tea The Milky Way.
I have a pack with 4 3 Twix bars.
I have my Cookie script.
I have Bill keeping a weather eye on the horizon, making sure I am not going into too deep waters just yet. Or eat too many Twix bars.
I have a pencil and paper, and most importantly – I have inspiration.

I don’t know how long I am going to stay here, drawing, but it might take a while. This is good. And – where would we be without music to inspire us.

May you have a great weekend.
Don’t feel sorry for me sitting here, the kick of inspiration hitting you like lightning is nearly as good as, erhm, you know what. Really.