I can’t believe March is already coming to an end, but at least, I can look back and think about some of the things I truly appreciated. This is not a proper “favourites” post, because I’m not going to pick items from different categories, but rather focus on entertainment.
So here are 5 things I loved.
#1 The Danish Girl. I saw this movie on the plane, which is such a shame because the filmography was absolutely break-taking and I would have loved to see it all detailed, on a big screen. But that didn’t take away from the actual movie, if anything it’s an invite to watch it a second time. The main characters are played by actors whose work I really admire: Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything” was unbelievable, and Alicia Vikander, in Testament of Youth and Ex Machina, was also incredible. So if you put the two of them together, you know it’s going to be good. The whole story, the acting, each setting… everything made it up to be an absolutely great movie. I was blown away. The same day, on the plane back to Japan, I watched Carol first, and already there I felt like I had seen a masterpiece, but after watching The Danish Girl, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I loved it.
#2 Strange Weather in Tokyo. This book was recommended to me by a marzipan here on my blog. When I saw her comment I instantly went on eBay and ordered myself a copy. I’m glad I did – I decided to keep it for my trip to Japan, just so I could immerge myself even more into the story. Not going to lie, I did peek a few times before the trip, but managed to keep most of the book unread until then. And so when I was on the train from Tokyo to Kyoto for about 3 hours, I had the perfect chance to read it. It’s such an unusual, sweet and slightly sad story – just the way I like it. It’s simple, yet rich with deeper meanings. If I find myself looking for a pencil to underline something on a book, that’s how I know it has touched me on a personal level. And this book did. Not because I could relate to it, but just because it carried messages that I felt were somewhat important to remember.
#3 Hanabi. A card game, based around fireworks. PJ, Sophie, Felix and I had been playing this game for months, until eventually, while in Japan, we mastered it. It’s a super fun game that requires team-work and lots of attention, and although the concept is quite simple, the game is hard enough to keep you wanting to do better each time. Basically, you have cards in your hand that you can’t see – only your teammates can – and depending on the suggestions you get, you need to play your hand. The goal is to put up a firework show, and to do that, you have to line up cards from 1 to 5 of each colour. Let me tell you, it’s frustrating at times, but it’s incredibly addicting!
#4 Good Morning Call. A fairly new show on Netflix. I gave it a go after my friend Emma texted me saying how insane it was. It’s a Japanese drama, and if you are familiar with Korean dramas, you know how they easily tend to overreact to things or really mark the smallest things by adding dramatic music, slow-mo and different angles of the same thing. It’s hilarious, but this show brought it to another level. It’s based on a manga, and that’s why it totally feels like it’s an anime “in real life”. It’s a bit silly, but you will get a good laugh out of it!
#5 Stand By Me. This song isn’t new at all. It’s one of my absolute favourites as I remember listening it to when I was really young on Timon & Pumbaa (although it obviously was edited to fit the cartoon). My mom told me it was a real song, and since I’ve found out, when I was probably around 10, this song never left me. I actually believe it’s the first song I ever knew the correct lyrics for (considering I’m Italian, that was a big deal). It just brings me back memories and it sounds so nice; it makes me happy. And this morning at 8am, while I was working out at the gym and they played the song, I had to pause to put up a mini show for Felix. He just stood there laughing while I danced and sang around him – it didn’t even matter that other people where there – I just had to. That’s what this song does to me.
Do you have any recommendations for me? Any books, songs or movies I can check out?
Back to Netflix, Marzia.