Film: Tintin

When I was fifteen I became obsessed with the Tintin comic books. I went to the library every week and borrowed  a new title until I had read them all. I loved the colourful and funny characters from Snowy the dog to Captain Haddock and the detectives Thomson and Thompson. In my mind Tintin was a man/boy. He had the adventures of an adult but the face of a teenager. I even tried to imagine his dialogue in a french accent as I read the strips. It was so enjoyable that even in the 1990s I could enjoy storylines set between the 1930s and 1970s. It started my love affair with french comics so after Tintin came Astrix and Obelix.

I was excited to discover that Steven Speilberg had decided to bring Tinitin and Snowy and the cast of characters together on the big screen in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. The first trailer has arrived and has promised a HD and 3D experience. My first impression? The animation does seem to bring the comic to life but the French voice I have always imagined has been replaced by an English one. I will forgive that detail until I see the full movie. It honestly can not be as bad as the special effects on 1999′s Asterix and Obelix Take on Caesar!

It opens in UK cinemas in October. See the trailer below:

Film/ Book: Water for Elephants

I LOVED this audiobook. I fell in love with the characters because of the excellent narrators. The actor who portrayed Jacob at 90 (or 93) was so amazing that he made me want to cry. The story takes you through the last days of a failing circus and gives you reality of an aging man. It was equal parts funny, sad, tragic and beautiful. And honestly the only thing I did not love was how it ended.

Now how will it translate to film? I must admit that I am not excited by Robert Patterson playing the lead role but visually from the trailer he seems to be OK. I would have been more impressed if they has used lesser known actors. The only casting that fits the book was Christoph Waltz. He was so sadistically brilliant in Inglorious Bastards that I have no doubt he can bring that same energy to this character. Nonetheless curiosity and my love of the book will make me watch this. Will you?

Film: The Lincoln Lawyer

This was my first Michael Connelly book and the second audiobook I had ever listened to. I recommend both the author and the audio version highly. If you like legal crime dramas this is definitely for you. And from what I see in the trailer below the screenplay seems to have followed the book closely. Looking forward to seeing Mathew McConaughey’s interpretation of lawyer Mickey Haller.

Book: Wife of the Gods

A good book has the ability to transplant the reader into its realm. Whether that place is fictional or somewhere you can pinpoint on a map, the story takes you right there. Kwei Quartey’s book Wife of the God’s all unravels in Ghana. The vocabulary, the customs, the faces of the people, the way life works in the country is the background to this mystery. Detective Darko Dawson is the modern-day incarnation of a detective. He is flawed, possesses no super human murder solving abilities but has the motivation (a mystery in his own past) and the dogged determination to just know the truth.

Happily married with a sick son who he adores and a mother-in-law he disdains, his life is just full of the everyday ebbs and flows. Darko is as normal as they come and as Wife of the Gods progresses you become more and more invested in knowing the truth as well. We learn more about the intricacies of Ghanaian life in big city and the village. The cruelty and the blissful ignorance of ‘Bush’ medicine and the patriarchical nature of their beliefs. This story keeps you guessing till the very end and the little boy in Darko who is still haunted by his past moves you as well. This book is the first in a series of Det. Darko Dawson mysteries and it has left me excited to read more .

I have already added his new novel Children of the Street to my Amazon Wish List. It is due to be released in July 2011

Note: I listened to it via audiobook (purchased from the fantastic Audible) but I did not like the reader chosen. I felt that his European accent did not suit the characters. If I were you I would buy the book instead.

Book: My Name is Jason. Mine too

My cousin told me about this book in 2009. I had seen some of Jason Reynolds poetry and she let me know that he had published a book. I liked the idea of it. Two men with the name, one black, one white and their friendship. But it seems that it’s not a  simply an autobiography but as the book’s strapline says:

Our story. Our way.

A poet

An artist

One black

One white

Two voices

One journey

I hope I get to read it soon. The video enticed me a little more:

A Blog Spring Clean.

Musings, so far, has been a place where I come to say whatever is on my mind. And without doubt it has been a lot of fun. But it’s a new year and its time to get organised. Which is why I have created two new blogs. First http://picturemusings.tumblr.com/ to show my pictures. And now there is
http://fictionmoments.wordpress.com/ where I will be posting my creative writing pieces. Some will be old stories (already posted here) and others will be new. And most will be unfinished, as always! (I promise I am trying to change)
So what will happen here? This will be a place to read my reviews on movies, TV shows, books and occasionally fashion.
Yes the TV addict is back! It is a great time to watch TV again. And the UK is now so up to date with showing programmes currently on in America (usually just one week behind), that I know longer feel like I am missing out.
So expect reviews for some of my TV favs eg Modern Family, Friday Night Lights, Greek, and 24. Movies like Notorious, An Education, Hurt Locker and Avatar. And books such as The Thing around your neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 
Never fear though, I will keep giving my opinions on life. I can’t help myself! 
I hope you like the changes. My blogging life has just become much more exciting, and in the process my social media knowledge is increasing. But anyway you take it, I will keep on writing.

I wish…

I wish I had the uncluttered mind and unwavering innocence of my childhood. I want to take it like a quilt and wrap this adult mind in it, keeping out the chill of reality and age.

Somewhere along the line I have become a cynic and desensitized to so many things.

I wish I still left room for true compassion. I remember the first time I became aware of a homeless person. I was a child, still living in Trinidad, and the man lying on the sidewalk in dirty tattered clothes made me feel sad and a little bit afraid. I wondered if he had a family and why he lived on the street. None of those questions cross my mind anymore.

I wish more children were in love with reading as I was at their age. I have no patience for the distractions of the Wii and the internet and their packed daily schedules. I want to see them enthralled by Oliver Twist and Black Beauty and excited by encyclopaedias and afternoons spent in libraries. This adult me, wants the children of 2010 to be like those in the 1980s. Where life was slower and my imagination had enough places to bounce around in and the technologies of today just did not exist.

I wish that being ‘ghetto’ was not marketed as a fashionable lifestyle.  To me it is poverty and a state of being you aspire to come out of. But I rarely try to consider what it is like for those who have lived ‘it’ for so long that it is now a part of their psyche and heritage. It is easy to abhor because I do not understand it. It usually is when you are looking down from what you think is a great height.

But recently there has been a slow thawing of my adult heart. As I watched those bodies tumble into the mass graves after the earthquake in Haiti and read the stories of young soldiers who have died in Afghanistan, I felt something akin to deep sadness. I realised then that child in me is not completely lost. Why these things made her appear I may never know.  But it made me yearn to hold on to her and start to look at the world with different eyes.

Maybe I am wishing for too much.

Carnaby Street

I have become that woman. The one who can not leave her house without makeup. I am writing this with my head hung in shame. I used to go to work with nothing but Vaseline on my lips. Makeup was reserved for Sabbaths and church. Now instead I literally have a panic attack with the thought of going bare faced, anywhere. My face is beautiful. Smooth dark chocolate complexion, full lips, eyebrows that never need to be shaped, high cheekbones from my mother and a lovely little nose. But my love of makeup was cemented the day I went to the MAC counter and was given a free makeover. I met Pat on Bond Street afterwards and she loved the results. I in turn loved her reaction. I wanted to get that from everyone. So slowly but surely I evolved into my present incarnation. Now those well shaped eyebrows need definition, the difference shades on that smooth skin has to be evened, and the cheekbones need a shade of rouge.

Friday (pay day) I was finally able to replenish my stock so I hurried to the West End. I can’t go to Oxford Street without going to Borders. Me and books, it is serious. So I went to MAC store in Carnaby Street as it was nearby. Truth is I never got to buy the makeup I needed. There were so many stores to go to that I lost track of time. Irregular Choice, Muji, Vans, Office, Size? (seriously there are some fine suited brothers in there looking for trainers. I love black men who have split clothes personalities!). I love the cobbled streets and tiny store entrances. Its like old time London with 2009 style.

Sometimes I walk the same parts of London over and over and fail to rediscover the unbeaten parts. I have decided to spend my summer weekends doing just that.

Thursday’s thoughts.

• It was so hot here last week that I could have sworn I was in Trinidad. It was a scorcher and I actually loved it.
• I calculated last week that I have nine more weeks of work before I go back to full time education. If there was a fast forward button to press, my finger would be on it!
• I am living off of change whilst I try to save for those four months I won’t be able to work full time. In the process I feel like I am stuck. I’ve gotten used to jumping into 2.0 and going wherever. Now I have to consider petrol money and what my spending budget is. I know this sacrifice is worth it but it sure sucks during the actual process!
• Addicted to ‘Best I ever had’ by Drake. Its rude and ‘ignant’ but I like it.
• Reading ‘ No one belongs here more than you. Stories by Miranda July.’ Recommended by my boy J. I’m not usually a short story person but I have been enjoying this collection so far.

• Next book I will be (buying when I get some cash) is ‘The thing around your neck’ byChimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is be a collection of her short stories. I can not wait!

• Had another spider encounter. Researching how to live in a spider free environment.

• Starting a couple of exciting projects with a couple of friends. Both have me writing more and this is never a bad thing.

• I miss coming on this blog and randomly blogging every day. It has been so difficult lately finding both the time and energy. But this phase is ending soon and I am looking forward to making musingsofatrinigirl a fabulous blog space to visit. I am constantly inspired by HarlemLoves. One of my blogging heroes )

• Rediscovered TV love. Starting watching HBO’s True Blood. Very much an adult vampire series but one I find equal parts intriguing and silly and scary. Since I am the girl who runs away from scary movies etc this is definitely a first for me. Next one the list is Mad Men. A lovely TV summer ahead!

• I loved the Michael Jackson’s memorial. I had prepared myself to expect just about anything but in the end they brought a church funeral to the masses. I was moved by all the performances but the tears flooded briefly when Paris Jackson spoke. She told the world about a Mike we never knew. Daddy.

• Spent time on both Saturday and Sunday in parks enjoying the weather. It was beautiful and I have promised myself to do more of that during these summer months.

• A story is forming in my head and I have managed to write a paragraph already. I’m excited to see what adventure this one will take me on.
• I have this picture (left) as my ipod wallpaper. Told L yesterday “I hope you are not with me if I ever I see him because I will embarrass you. Either I will offer myself to him like some sacrifice or straight scream in the man’s face then pass out. Either way you will disown me.” She was laughing about that for a while. And yes I was serious. This is as close as I get to having a boyfriend, lol

• I have started doing Aquarobics and I really really love it. It hurts like it should but I give it my all. I may start liking this exercising ‘lark’ after all!

Zora and Nicky.

I don’t read Christian fiction.
I have tried in the past and found no satisfaction in it. I especially don’t read Christian love stories. I have found them to be unrealistic and preachy. But Zora and Nicky was recommended on Black Girls like us and because the ladies on the blog are so like me I trusted their judgement and brought it.

Last night I had so many plans including writing a children story for a friend but the moment I opened those pages I did not put it down. I went to bed at 2.30am after tears and laughter and word joy and 389 pages.

I have been for the last four years at a lost with God. I do not hear him and ultimately I have stopped talking to him altogether. My heart aches for the people I love you have loved him completely and they have suffered despite all. I question why he has allowed so much pain to enter my life despite my endeavours to keep trusting him. I think he does not love me and like break up I have been suffering from its effects.

Last night I read a story about people who are so similar to me that I could have written their words. They felt that disconnect, they struggled, they sat in church and had no idea why they were there. They loved in different ways and their patterns were fuelled by discontent.

It is not a perfect book. A few parts were predictable and I did not agree with all the biblical doctrines quoted but the sum of Nora and Nicky’s story still struck a chord with me. It made me get up this morning and pray the most sincere, open prayer I have uttered for this entire year.

I could go on and on about all the funny parts, sad parts, the questions of race that were tackled head on and the bible verses that I know by heart but saw in a different light. As a writer other people’s words can ignite a flame in your mind and so often I felt that awakened as I read.

“Because I have broken into a million pieces. Because I have shattered like glass and pieces of me are scattered all over the sidewalk. Because I am not flesh and blood, only glass and dangerous dust that can burrow in your eyes and cause you to bleed, I try to remember that my broken soul is embodied and no one can see that only some shell of a soul is nearly all that is left.” (Zora chapter 16 Page 219)

I could have written those words myself. The imagery, the way Claudia Mair Burney made me visualise the emotional awakening and simultaneously undoing of the character Zora Johnson was just beautiful. And this quote is just a small taste of the words that moved me last night.

I want to write a story that makes someone incapable of sleeping till they reach the end.