March Update - Spring Time!

I know it's technically April already, but since I had my best friend visiting me here in Bergen for the end of March I decided it was no crime to finish this post a little late. 

Easter is over, but it's finally spring <3

Did you do anything exciting?
It seems like the answer to this particular question is always YES!
And as I've mentioned before, my best friend, Maria, visited me during the Easter-holiday. We had a thon of fun! However, I've actually quite forgotten to document much of it, so there aren't really that many pictures to show you... I'll try to do better next month :)
However, most of February was spent with my little gang of boys. We've truly had a great time doing all sorts of things... Basically staying up all night and sleeping most of the day :D I'm so grateful that I got to know these guys!

Funniest thing that happened?
Ow... thats hard! There has been so many fantastic moments...
But one I remember was when I decided to visit one of my best friends here in Bergen, Ken Martin, when he was at work. I actually got to know him through Facebook... which I usually never do! Anyway, since I got to know him through messages and such I've actually never met his girlfriend. So when I walked into the kiosk where he works and saw that a girl was sitting next to him behind the counter, I can't be blaimed for thinking it was her... However, she acted really wired as I said hello to him, and did not seem to want to notice me at all? After the longest and most tense silence I've experienced in a while he finally presented us for each other. It turned out that she was just a friend of him waiting to catch a train, and that she thought I was his girlfriend! We all had a good laugh about it... especially Ken Martin himself!

Best movies you've seen?
As you can probably see in the sidebar to the right, I've been watching a lot of movies recently. The best one was probably Argo (rewieved here) which surprised me by being far better than I'd anticipated. Others worth mentioning are Pitch Perfect, basically Glee made into a movie... The Croods, an animation I loved more than I thought I would... And the two "older" movies Monsters, Inc. and X-men Origins: Wolverine.

Favorite edible thing?

Tapas at Zupperia with Maria <3

When Maria visited we ate so many fantastic and exciting things I honestly don't know which was best!  Standout moments were when we tried tapas, sushi and a fantastic noodle-dish with beef. Zupperia and Namo, we are coming back :)

I must also mention the black pasta I got served at a dinnerparty at Simon's house! Cool, right?

Which songs have you listened to the most?
Actually my playlists have mostly been quite similar to the ones I listeden to during February... For me, who's not that good at keeping track of all the new and good music out there, finding new music can take hours! But I kind of "rediscovered" Vices & Virtues by Panic! At The Disco... it's awesome!

"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" - Fall Out Boy
"Try" - Pink
"Sara Smiles" - Panic! At The Disco
"Trade Mistakes" - Panic! At The Disco
"Tokyo Ice Til Clementine" - Kaizers Orchestra
"Let's Kill Tonight" - Panic! At The Disco

Favorite material things?

Here I'm gonna be really girly actually! You see, I walked by Kicks one day and suddenly spotted a new parfume from the brand Escada. I love all their scents so I decided to smell this one as it was the limited edition spring fragrance named Cherry In The Air... Needles to say it smelled so good I actually bought it on the spot. Love it.




Something that made you proud?

I actually went jogging! Once... But still, better that none! It's been so freaking cold here that it's not been very tempting to go outside more than absolutely needed, but as I can finally feel the spring heat creeping upon us I'm going to try my best to get at least a bare minimum of exercise. I need it!

What did you learn?
During the past couple of months I've met so many new people I couldn't count them all even if I wanted to. Meeting new people is always both exciting and frightning at the same time... And I've always been one of those people who has to constantly make a choice to put myself out there and be social and talk to new people. It just doesn't come naturally to me... But the thing I've learned is to just be myself and be open about me and my life and ask a lot of questions... In doing that I'm always nice to the people I meet, but I also know that not everybody will like me or like the way I am. That's life. But in accepting that I also discovered that I had nothing to loose. Those who do not like me wouldn't have been great friends anyway, and those who take me for the person I am can become true friends :)

What are you looking forward to?
I'm actually going home again in two weeks, so that'll be this month's thing to look forward to <3

We'll Finally Get Scott Lynch's "Republic of Thieves"

We've waited. And waited. And waited some more.... 

And no, the day is not here... yet.

But finally we know when it's coming! 

The most brilliant author in the world at the moment, Scott Lynch, finally brought us the release date for the third book about the Gentlemen Bastards. The Republic of Thieves had been eagerly awaited for years... And due to a lot of different reasons the rumors surrounding the book and its release has been both many, inconsistent and false. But finally Lynch himself declared that the book would be published October 8th 2013, and that the only thing that could prevent that would be obliteration of the planet Earth. And since we all survived 2012 I see no future apocalypse coming any time soon...

If you've got no idea why this is such a big deal for me and a whole lot of others across the world, I should probably mention that the books about the Gentlemen Bastards are probably my favorite books in the entire world, at least so far... And that says a lot actually, as I've read a quite substancial amount of books considering the fact that I'm only nineteen years old.

Amazon about: The Lies of Locke Lamora

In a distant world, orphan Locke Lamora is sold into a crew of thieves and con artists. Soon his natural gifts make him an underworld celebrity, leader of the flamboyantly larcenous Gentleman Bastards. But there is someone who covets Locke's talents, his success, his very life, forcing him to put everything on the line to protect himself. Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival that is one part Robin Hood, one part Ocean’s Eleven, and entirely enthralling.…

(full description here...)

Amazon about: Red Seas Under Red Skies

Like its roguish protagonists, Lynch's colorful sequel to 2006's The Lies of Locke Lamora is charming, unpredictable and fast on its feet and stands surprisingly well on its own given its convoluted plot. Initially poised to rob the Sinspire, the notoriously thief-proof casino where the penalty for cheating is death, Locke and his partner, Jean, are unwillingly sidetracked into joining and then leading a pirate crew, swindling their way across the sea as they had previously done on land. 

(full description here...)

If you haven't read them I strongly suggest you do. If you'r into fantasy or not it won't matter, as this is just a really good story that anyone (of any age or gender) can find something to love about it. Locke Lamora is probably one of the most interesting and original characters ever to appear in a book... Hurry to get to know him so that we can wait for the next book together!

The Republic of Thieves - release date October 8th

Sources:
Lynch Industries
Gollancz
The Little Red Rewiever
Amazon
Science Fiction and Fantasy

Troy (2004) - Review

When: March 11th

What format did I watch: DVD

Review: This was my third re-watch of the movie, and it was still as good as I remembered. It just feels epic from the moment it starts until the very last minute. King Agamemnon wants to rule the entire world, king Priam wants peace, prince Hector wants to watch his son grow old, Helen of Sparta wants to be free, prince Paris wants love, king Menelaus wants revenge, and the fierce warrior Achilles .. he only wants to be remembered. Together they form the perfect storyline that immediately draws you in. However, when watching this movie I never quite know who to root for. There truly is no good guy or bad guy here, only two opposite sides in a war. This is quite possibly the best and most "objective" war-movie I've seen so far. And it also shows that in war there truly are no winners, only losers. War is always brutal and horrific, never glorious or honorable.

Drawbacks: Well... you must be bored with me if I once again say that I can't think of any? But when I decide to watch a movie I've almost always done quite a lot of research on beforehand. So most of the time I kind of know that the movie I'm about to watch will be good. This one is one of those. I even liked it so much it inspired me to write about the city of Troy for my history assignment two years ago...

Why you should watch it: It has got some epic battle sequences! Achilles and Hector... say no more. But what I like best is that we, as an audience, grow to care for almost all of the main characters. By the end of the movie you feel like you know them. With so many characters and so much happening all the time that in itself is a huge accomplishment. The story of the events taking place in Troy 1190 years b.c. is the mother of all stories. I can understand why...

Rating: 10/10 - AMAZING

Argo (2012) - Review

When: March 7th

What format did I watch: Cinema

Review: When the trailer for this first came out I must admit I didn't find it particularly fascinating or interesting... But then it started to gain massive attention and eventually ended up as the big winner of this year's Oscar for Best Picture. So when a friend of mine suddenly called me asking if I wanted to go see this I instantly said yes. Im so happy I did! Even though all the actions is based on a true story, which by the way I normally don't like, Argo managed to make me forget just that. I totally felt like this was well thought through and extremely exciting! I never thought that "everything will go perfectly and they'll all live happily ever after". I couldn't be sure exactly how this was going to end, and I hate it when that happens, but that also tells me I'm watching a really good movie. And when it surprised me by turning out to be so exciting in places that I literally held my breath from time to time I suddenly understood how it earned it's Oscar...

Drawbacks: I actually cant think of anything? And it would be too stupid if I have to sit and come up with something to pick on... I'm not saying it's perfect, I'm just saying I can't think of a reason not to like it?

Why you should watch it: I believe that what made this movie so particularly great was the fact that it actually made me, as an audience member, truly care for these people. That's a really hard thing to do... But somehow I felt like I kind of connected with the characters and truly cared about what would happen to them. The guy I was watching this with pointed out that neither of the actors were "overplaying" their character, like a lot of hollywood actors tend to do. All in all, strong characters, great actors and an awesome director. Run to the cinema as fast as you can!

Rating: 10/10 - AMAZING
(I don't have any reason not to...)

February Update - Poker, Kaizers and Oscars

And suddenly it's time for another monthly update!
I know it's technically March already, but this post took more time to write than I first thought...
For me February has been quite eventful actually. I even traveled to Stavanger not only once, but twice! So let's just get into it :)

Did you do anything exciting?
YES! A lot!
And to not make it too tiresome for you I'll just list some of this month's highlights:

- Poker-tournament where I got to meet a lot of new people!
- Got to know and become friends with a group of boys here in Bergen. They are awesome!
- Finally got to see Kaizers Orchestra live at their concert in Stavanger!
- Had my sister visiting me in Bergen for a whole week!
- Went to a christian youth-conference with great people and great concerts!
- Went to Stavanger to stay up all night and watch the Oscars live with my sister <3

Copyright: Bente (thebenteway.blogspot.com)

Funniest thing that happened?

(I'm awesome at drawing!)

Remember the boys I said I'd made friends with? The day after I'd met most of them for the first time we all were at that poker-tournament I also mentioned. (I'll come back to that soon...) But after that we all went home to one of the guys to actually play some more games! However, at approximately 2:00 a.m. we were all getting quite hungry, so we decided to drive into town to get some kebab. Classy! We must have been quite a sight as we were four guys and one girl sitting there a saturday night all dressed up in suits, shirts and even bow-ties and (for my sake) a skirt and high heals! Anyway... The most awesome moment actually occurred during the car-ride back to this guy's house. Imagine me and four guys crammed into a tiny car, and then add the sound of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" suddenly blasting through the radio-speakers... And the hillarious thing? All four boys spontaneously and simultaneously starts to belt out the lyrics from the top of their lungs! First thing first... They're guys and that's freakin' Taylor Swift! And secondly... They knew all the lyrics! After that shocking moment where I realized what was actually happening I tried to sing along as well... but failed miserably as I could not stop laughing!

Best movies you've seen?
"Life of Pi" (reviewed here), "Silver Linings Playbook" (reviewed here), and the 1999-classic "Fight Club", an incredibly odd and yet massively intriguing film with a lot of fighting... even though that's oddly enough not at all what it's about. I'll have to re-watch it to be able to write a proper review, but I know it's one of the best films I've ever seen. Loved all three of them and recommend them highly!

Favorite edible thing?
I have recently been loving the white-and-blue Burn. The one that tastes like apple... I'm not a big fan of soda, but *this* is literally heaven in a bottle! Sadly it's very unhealthy, contains massive amounts of sugar and caffeine and is very expensive... I love it anyway.

Which songs have you listened to the most?
I've listened to a lot of music this month! Suddenly I decided to get updated on what the earth's population is actually listening to at the moment. That resulted in me buying more songs on iTunes than I initially planned... But right now there are actually a bunch of half-decent songs on the top-lists. Unbelievably! But because of this massive overload of newly discovered music I have a lot of favorites this month...

"Bleading Out" - Imagine Dragons
"I Knew You Were Trouble" - Taylor Swift
"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" - Fall Out Boy
"One Day / Reckoning Song" - Asaf Avidan & The Mojos
"Battle Scars" - Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian
"I Feed You My Love" - Margareth Berger
"Running To The Sea" - Röyksopp & Susanne Sundfør

Favorite material things?
I finally decided to do something with the fact that I have to hold things up to my face to read them... So I got glasses! They took some getting used to, but now I love them!

Something that made you proud?
I made the worlds best Chinese wok one of the nights my sister was here...

What did you learn?
As I've mentioned several times by now, I joined a poker tournament. What I didn't say was that I'd never ever played (or even seen anyone play) poker before that night! I literally had to learn it by scratch when I came there... And during the first couple of rounds I had no idea what I was doing or how I should be playing so I lost round after round. Until suddenly I realized what I did that made me loose... When I stopped doing that, I actually started to win. A lot! I went as far as knocking several people out of the competition and unbelievably enough made it all the way to the finalist-table. I ended up in third place out of more than 35 players! It was awesome and completely exhausting and a great deal of fun!

What are you looking forward to?
My best friend in the whole world, Maria, is coming to visit me for a whole week around easter!
Can't wait <3

Zero Dark Thirty (2013) - Review

When: February 18th

What format did I watch: Cinema

Review: So much better than I expected! I wasn't actually planning to go see it, at least not at the cinema, but some of my friends invited me to come along. I'm glad I did. I'll probably not watch it again though... It being a documentary-style movie and all. But having lived through all of these events it was interesting to get an in-depth look at what was actually going on at the heart of things.

Drawbacks? The film was a tad too long for my taste, but never boring though.

Why you should watch it: Jessica Chastain's portrait of Maya, the woman who devoted all her time and a large part of her life to hunt down Bin Laden. Her acting is an absolute delight to watch as she carries the entire movie on her shoulders.

Rating: 7/10 - COOL

Silver Linings Playbook (2013) - Review

When: February 13th

What format I watched: Cinema

Review: I knew I was going to love it! I mean, with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the same movie it had to be great. The mood is actually quite light even though the story deals with people with different problems and psychological issues, but for my taste that's a welcome change compared to a lot of other movies dealing with the same things. It's honest and real and has got three-dimensional characters that you actually grow to like and roots for. A truly great movie that gives you *so* much more than your regular romantic comedy.

Drawbacks? The entire movie being so different and all, the ending was a little bit too predictable... The bet and the dance-competition was not as original as I might have hoped?

Why you should watch it: The acting is some of the best I've seen in a long time... It was not surprisingly nominated for Oscars in all of the acting-categories (as well as best film). Cooper and Lawrence are standouts, and Lawrence won a well deserved oscar for her portrail of the exciting and difficult role of Tiffany.

Rating: 9/10 - AWESOME

Life of Pi (2012) - Review

When: February 14th

What format I watched: Cinema 3D

Review: I'd heard the book on a digiplayer, so I already knew the story. But that also ment my expectations were even higher when I learned that they were actually going to make it into a movie! You see, this story has actually been said to be impossible to film. It's literally about a boy and a tiger all alone on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean... Somehow, I will never understand how, but Ang Lee was the director/magician that actually managed to turn the impossible challenge into gold! Literally. It won several Oscars. I loved it with all my heart.

Drawbacks? Hm... I dont know really? Perhaps it spent a little too much time before it actually got into the story. And it also spent a great deal of time explaining the background-story in India when it most likely could jump more-or-less straight into the journey itself. But honestly, that's just me looking for something to pick on...

Why you should watch it: The visuals. I don't think I've seen a more visually beautiful movie at the cinema before... You have to watch it in 3D, though! And for all of you 3D-haters out there... This movie was made to fit that extra dimension, and does so like no other movie before it. Give it a try!

Rating: 10/10 - AMAZING

The Dragons That Conquered The World

It's been quite a long time since I first got to know the band Imagine Dragons.

Back in february 2012 they released an EP named Continued Silence consisting of six tracks. Shortly after that I actually watched a live-chat with youtuber makeupkatie95 where she talked about this band she'd fallen in love with. I took her advice and searched for Imagine Dragons on iTunes the same day. After having listened to the preview for only the first couple of songs I was so amazed I bought the whole EP right there and then! 

A couple of months later I was thrilled to discover that the very first song to be featured in the fourth season of the TV-series Glee was "It's Time", Imagine Dragons' lead single. After that suddenly everybody knew the song! Friday they were even invited to play on the Late Show with David Letterman...

Like a lot of the bands I've been liking lately, their music can be put under the category indie-rock. Normally that's not the kind of music that gets featured on the radio or becomes number one hits around the world... So you can picture my surprise and amazement when Imagine Dragons suddenly became famous all across the world through the end of 2012 and start of 2013! Chances are pretty high you have heard a lot of their songs on the radio already... Radioactive? It's Time? Demons? Tokyo?

The funny thing about this whole story is that Bergen, the Norwegian city in which I'm currently living, was one of the first places Imagine Dragons got to play in front of an international audience. As early as 2011 they cought the attention of Frank Nes, the General Manager of the annual summer festival Bergenfest. He flew the then unknown band all the way actoss the Atlantic and never regretted doing so! Today, in 2013, they are one of the hugest rising stars in the music industry world-wide, but they never forgot the people who believed in them in the beginning. This summer they're headed back to Norway and to Bergenfest, and now they are the headlining act!

Like I said they released an EP named Continued Silence in early 2012. In September they also released their first full album titeled Night Visions, but unfortunately this was limited to the States only... Here in Europe we had to wait until early 2013. But it was worth the wait. I absolutely loved it, and so did luckily the rest of the world!

Radioactive and It's Time, their two singels, are two of my favorite songs of all time actually. Other great ones from their album includes Bleeding Out, On Top Of The World, Demons, Amsterdam, Tiptoe... and just about all of the others as well! The entire album is brilliant and a world-class masterpiece.

If you haven't already, run to the nearest record-store and get Night Visions at once! You'll not regret it.

Some Girls Buy Shoes, I Buy Film-Classics!

I'm a 90's-child, which means that when I was old enough to gain an interest for films (that weren't one of Disney's children's-films) we had already spent a lot of time in the 2000's. And when one of my favorite things to do was to go to the cinema I naturally watched a lot of new films...

Don't misunderstand! A lot of the best movies I know were made quite recently. But now, that I'm older, I have suddenly become interested in the classics. The ones that shaped the industry and the epic ones that stay with you forever. Somehow some masterpieces survive their own time and generations and engage new audiences year after year. As a self-declared film-geek there are some films I just *need* to have seen.

But! When I say classic, it's truly a very loose term. For me it can be used of silent-films (Chaplin) and black-and-white films (Double Indemnity) as well as some of the great pieces made in the late 90's and early 2000's. Yesterday it hit me that 1995 was not quite recently... it's actually nearly twenty years ago! So I must say that movies like these (and a lot of others I don't have here with me in Bergen at the moment) has earned the right to call themselves a "classic"

Gladiator (2000), Edward Sissorhands (1990), Black Hawk Down (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Return of the King (2002), Two Towers (2003), Braveheart 1995)

That being said, I suddenly and compleatily unplanned bought no less than four movies today! I was just going to the grocery-store when I noticed thet the local record-store had a thon of film-classics on sale... Weak as I am I simply couldn't resist. But to justify it all I pretend that I bought them using some of the money I got for my birthday. That somehow makes it more "ok" to buy four dvd's on a whim. Anyway, here's my result...

The Usual Suspects (1995)
"A boat has been destroyed, criminals are dead, and the key to this mystery lies with the only survivor and his twisted, convoluted story beginning with five career crooks in a seemingly random police lineup."

This one is the only one I was actually looking for (along with Memento, which was sold out). A guy recommended it to me this past sunday, and I became so curious I knew I had to see it. With brilliant reviews and the position as #26 on IMDb's list of the 250 best movies in the world I figured it was worth a try?

Cosmopolis (2012) 

"Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo in order to get a haircut, a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager's day devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters that start to tear his world apart."

This is the only new one I got. I remember reading about it in Empire a while ago noting that it had gotten a lot of great reviews. I'm sure it's a very odd and peculiar movie... but that's not necessarily a bad thing? Anyway, it's got Robert Pattinson, and in his post-Twilight-days he's become one of my all-time favorites.

Fight Club (1999)

"An insomniac office worker and a carefree soap maker form an underground fight club that transforms into a violent revolution."

This sounds kind of brutal. I won't deny that. But it holds the #10-spot on IMDb's top-25-list. There must be a reason? At least it's got both Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter...

Lèon (1994)

"A professional assassin rescues a teenage girl whose parents were killed in a police raid."

As always I find myself almost drawn to the slightly odd movies out there... This one reminds me a little of a better version of "Hannah". If so, I think It'll be good. Gary Oldman and a very young Natalie Portman makes this look interesting. It'll either be brilliant or disastrous, as is often the case. Currently at #31 on IMDb's top-250-list I'm hoping for the first.

As you can see I've actually started at the top of the ever-so-famous list Internet Movie Database has made of the 250 best/most liked movies in the world at the moment. I figured it was a good starting-point to get to know some of the must-see movies out there. And as this actually is a combination of fun and school-related education it makes it easier to find the time to enjoy a film now and then...

Lastly, If you're sitting there thinking: "But Bente, what about all the "real" classics? Won't you watch anything older than the 90's?" My answer is no, I've *not* forgotten about them! I'll definitely find time to watch movies like "The Godfather", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "Casablanca", "To Kill a Mockingbird","Vertigo" and "Citizen Kane" which I very nearly bought today. Want to have a movie-night with me!?

Also on my watch-list at the moment...