Photo Every Day #341

Yesterday I walked into a stack of boxes whilst trying to shut the kitties out whilst my dad came round. He's severely allergic to cats so they're not allowed in the same room as him when he's here. I've ended up with a massive and really sore bruise sadly. We've also officially swapped the contracts for the house and we've officially got our completion date! Starting to get exciting, but not looking forward to packing everything up.

Battered & Bruised:


Song Of The Day: Machine Head - Elegy
Reason: Beautifully haunting yet heavy

Highlight Of The Day: A nice lie in

Photo Every Day #340

Today I had a much needed day off. I met up with a friend from work to buy a gift for another of our friends and we had coffee, then I went to the pet shop in Stockton Heath. I ended up buying treats for the boys and a woven nest for them and also an xmas pig toy for kitty stockings. I then spent my afternoon wrapping presents, watching a film and chilling out with my kitties.

Afternoon Nap:


Song Of The Day: Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
Reason: Nice and relaxing

Highlight Of The Day: A nice day off that sadly went far too quickly.

Film Review: The Woman (2011)

I first heard of The Woman when I saw it was doing the rounds on the film festival circuit. I had read some rave reviews and it generally seemed to be making a splash, so I decided to rent it via LoveFilm. Directed by Lucky McKee, the film is one of the best horror films o come out of America in recent years.

The film tells the story of the Cleek family who are attempting to 'civilise' a feral woman that the father, Chris, (Sean Bridgers) has captured whilst on a hunting trip. Although the women in the family are clearly shocked, appalled and against the idea, his sinister teenage son Brian, relishes the thought. After the women are forced to participate in the civilisation tasks set by Chris, they soon discover that it is much harder than they initially thought, especially as the woman is uncooperative.
However, all hell breaks out when she is finally free from her restraints.

I like how this film explores the idea of civilisation vs uncivilisation. The audience is left wondering who exactly is the uncivilised party after the captured woman and the wife and eldest daughter of the Cleek family are abused and subject to violence. It also gets us thinking about what could be going on behind the closed doors of our friends and neighbours unknown to the rest of the world. It also makes us consider if being civilised really is the best way to be. The woman is clearly happy surviving in the natural world; why force changes on those deemed feral just so that those who are civilised don't have to understand worlds other than their own. It is fear of the unknown that forces civilisation on the uncivilised. To me, it is this thought that is far more scary than that of being attacked by an angry feral female.

One of the main things I liked about the film is that I feel like I hadn't seen it before. Usually it is the wild, cannibalistic people chasing and terrorising the ordinary family, so I felt this was a bit different. It also brought out that feeling where you want to yell at the tv screen whilst you're watching it. One key example of this is a scene where the woman's restraints are beginning to come lose. The woman makes continuous eye contact with Belle, the mother (Angela Bettis) and they seem to have a connection. As a viewer, you have all of your fingers crossed that she won't say anything and gives the woman an opportunity to escape, but instead she points out the loose restraints to her husband. It's almost as if she can't free the captured woman because she can't even free herself from her husband's violence.

My favourite part of the film are the performances of Pollyanna McIntosh and Alexa Marcigliano who play the woman and 'Socket' respectively. Alexa plays a feral, dog-like girl and her performance is just out of this world! I've never been so convinced that a person was genuinely raised by dog! She is by far the most underrated character and I would have loved her to have featured more heavily throughout the film. Alexa reminds me of Doug Jones who plays the Faun/Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Pollyanna's performance also makes the film. If the title character hadn't been played just right it would have destroyed the dynamic of the entire film. She is brilliant and still manages to look amazing with dirty covered skin and matted hair. The two older children played by Lauren Ashley Carter and Zach Rand also give excellent performances.

As a horror film I think it manages to balance the build up of the plot with the gore and violence of the conclusion really well. I was drawn in finding out about the Cleek family, and was kept intrigued by the fast paced nature of the ending. I can see why people were shocked, at the end of the day the Cleek men do some pretty awful things. I don't however feel that it is a feminist film. I think it is a film that deals more with nature vs civilised society rather than a females' triumph over a male.

I would highly recommend this film and will be buying it asap for my dvd collection!

Rating: 10/10

Photo Every Day #339

Today my Mum ordered us our new dining table! We're slowly starting to have most of the stuff we want and need for the house, which is good. Most of it's being delivered straight to the house too so that's useful. I really hope our sofas don't quite take the full 8 weeks though. Only 16 days until we get the keys!!!

Come Dine With Me:


Song Of The Day: Corey Taylor - Wicked Game
Reason: Possibly the most beautiful song in the world, this is my favourite rendition.

Highlight Of The Day: Coming back to a relatively tidy flat!

Photo Every Day #338

Today we bought a washer-dryer from Comet and our sofas from DFS! We chose a model up from the washer-dryer that we have in the flat (which isn't ours) and saved £150! For our sofas, we chose a 4 seater Nikkita and the matching cuddle sofa. The cuddle sofa is just a huge chair basically and I can't wait to get it! We chose a nice charcoal grey colour and it has chrome legs, so it's comfy yet doesn't take up too much space. Today is also the first time we've caught the kittens sleeping so close together too!

Sleeping Siblings:


Song Of The Day: The entire Songs For The Deaf album by Queens Of The Stone Age
Reason: I love this album as a whole. The songs are in perfect order and I love the radio style filler.

Highlight Of The Day: Buying house things!

Photo Every Day #337

Today I don't feel ill anymore! Yay! I am still extremely tired though. I'm only doing a short shift tomorrow and don't start until 1pm so hopefully I'll have some time to relax in the morning and have a bit of a lie in. We've finally got a completion date on the buying of the house, so this week we're signing more documents and finally handing over the remainder of the money to make it officially ours! We're also going to go scrounging for bargains at Comet since it's fallen on bad times and is closing down. For now though, I'm just having Draco cuddles.

Watching Tv With My Buddy:


Song Of The Day: Olly Murs - Trouble Maker
Reason: Get in my bed, mmmm!

Highlight Of The Day: Being awake the entire day! Albeit not entirely with it....

Photo Every Day #336

Today I am feeling even worse that yesterday purely for the fact that I feel even more tired and exhausted than before. I really need a break from working so much and being under such pressure in work, with buying a new house and with general everyday stresses and strains.

One Tired Eye:

Photo Every Day #335

Into the last month of the year for my PED feature. Sadly I'm still not well so just a quick one again today. Normal blogging will resume ASAP hopefully. Today's PED is of Jacques sharing my sandwich.