elle in wonderland

perhaps it is paranoia or perhaps someone i know has really found my blog. either way, the desire for greater annonymity means i am relocating to another part of cyberspace. elle_in_wonderland is now defunct. thank you for all your comments, support and advice.

i will invite all my current blog friends to my new blog. anyone else is very welcome to comment or email me for the new adress.

- elle xx

thank you all for your kind comments. i apologise for being absent these past few days and somewhat brief.

it is with a some shame that i admit to have been wallowing in self pity. with each disapointment comes the strong desire to reach for the tiny white pills in my dresser which should be decreasing in number but for my stuborn resistance to taking them. i was even more upset at having to tell both china girl and my ever supportive mum that their high hopes and assurances of success were all misplaced. she has failed yet again.

it seems that just when i am sure things are going better, that there is hope and direction, that it all falls down around me. how can they tell from a few pages of writing that my film would not have been brilliant or that i would not have worked as hard or harder than the others accepted?

i took three days off work to get away from it all and go up north with a couple of the girls. however, the dark clouds of the past few days caused the holiday to be a total washout. it rained as soon as we got outside of auckland and did so until we drove home today. high hopes of days spent sunbathing and swimming on the quiet beaches of north nz were dashed.

all was not lost though. aside from a few stolen moments walking on the beach and a bit of a topless swimming in the dead of night, we ended inside baking cake and playing pictionary. in the spirit of inventivness skinny minnie and i enmtied half a bag of marshmellows into our choc cake mix, a decision with garnered more than a few laughs when it turned into a pinky, browny, white soup in the oven. don't try this one at home! it was good to get away i suppose - not having to feel guilty about all the errands i have stacked up, tidying the constant mess on my desk or answering calls from work asking me to go in on my day off.

we shall simply hold out hope for sunshine tomorrow. if all fails one must simply see it as an opportunity to showcase her pretty marc jacobs gumboots.

just received email from head of film department. i didn't get in.

grabbed my only single gf gem and went to check out "broken flowers" tonight. wonderfully subtle film with quiet and unexpected humour. for those that do not need a 'proper' hollywood ending i would highly recommend this one. from the director of 'coffee and cigarettes' (i personally didn't much care for this film - stopped watching after 30mins) comes the story of a ageing don juan who receives a pink letter from an old flame telling him he has a son. the unsigned letter prompts a cross-country trip to visit ex-lovers who may be the author of the note.

it has been criticised by some people for being too subtle, too quiet and perhaps an example of lazy writing/directing. it is true that perhaps several of the extended driving or map sequences could or should have been edited. however, people who have made these comments seem to miss the point that the director is putting across - it is not about the destination, but the journey. the character of don never finds the answer he is searching for. while the sudden ending is momentarily disapointing and unfulfilling, one realises that he don found what he was searching for it would have been a completly differnt film. this is a movie about life, not about finding a long lost son.

broken flowers celebrates the excentricities (i know i can't spell - suggestion to blog.co.uk - spellchecker!!) of everyday middle-america - the animal communicator, the popsical-eating teen lolita and the village of idential model homes. it also points out that people must stop living in the past. the many driving scences which have come under attack for their unecessary length illustrate this point with shots of the side car mirror showing a view of the road already travelled.

"...the past is gone, I know that. The future isn't here yet, whatever it's going to be. So, all there is, is this. The present."

if you loved lost in translation then you will love this one. also keep an eye out of "thumbsucker" and "heights" which both look like they will be worth a watch

Red States vs. Blue States

With the Blue States in hand, the Democrats have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, over 90% of our pineapple and lettuce, 92% of all fresh fruit production, 93% of the artichoke production, 95% of America's export quality wines, 90% of all cheese production, 90% of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Amherst, Stanford, Berkeley, CalTech and MIT.

We can live simply but well.

The Red States, on the other hand, now have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care cost spike), 92% of all US mosquitoes, 100% of all tornadoes, 90% of all hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, 100% of all Televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

A high price to pay for controlling the presidency.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually eaten by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% believe that evolution is just a theory, 53% that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11 and, most difficult of all to grasp, 61% believe that Bush is a person of moral conviction!

(about.com)