I’m excited about the upcoming New Zealand Film Festival! This is what I’ve bought tickets to so far, but there are so many more to pick from…

If you haven’t yet seen A Room with a View, you should really do so at once. Lucy Honeychurch is a young Englishwoman on her first trip to Florence. She and her chaperone meet a group of somewhat unusual fellow Brits at their guesthouse. These people influence her time in Italy, and unexpectedly her life in England is also affected, including her marriage plans. The story is lighthearted, the pace leisurely and the aesthetic and actors gorgeous, especially teenage Helena Bonham Carter. Look at her sullen yet delightful doe-like face! Her wild hair! I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Daniel Day Lewis is also splendid as the rigid and ridiculous Cecil.

I’d also love some tips for other costume dramas if you’re a fan!

I picked Terrence Malick’s ‘Days of Heaven‘, which I’d been meaning to see for ages, especially since one of Lover‘s dreamy recent collections ‘The Harvest’ was inspired by it.

I’d been waiting for corn to get cheap at the markets so I could make creamed corn, and this was the perfect opportunity. Combined with black beans, rice and corn bread (that Jason made in a cupcake maker we got for Christmas, lawl), I thought it made a pretty choice peasant meal. Then, of course, I watched the movie and realised they were working and frolicking in wheat fields, not corn. Duhh.

I used a black bean recipe from Homesick Texan, and for the corn I turned to one of my favourite’s, the Lee Brother’s Southern Cookbook.

Creamed Corn
Adapted (just barely) from the Lee Bros

8 ears fresh corn
6 tablespoons butter
just over a cup of milk (I used super trim & it was delicious but not very thick, you could use whole milk or even cream if you’re feeling extravagant)
salt and plenty of pepper to taste

Cut the kernels from the cob and scrape the cobs with the edge of a spoon to get as much from the cob as you can.
Melt the butter in a large skillet or pot. Add corn and stir constantly for one minute.
Pour in the milk, add salt and pepper. Simmer for about 12 minutes, until the liquid has thickened and yellow. Adjust seasoning if you need to.
Turn off the heat, cover and let steam for two minutes.
When you serve, be liberal with the sauce because it’s GOOD.

This recipe makes lots, so you could easily halve it if there’s less people (I served it as a side for five and there was leftovers) or you don’t want to chop the corn off of eight whole ears, which takes some time.

The film was stunning, filmed almost entirely in the ‘golden hour’, the first and last hours of sunlight in a day.

Set in the early 1900′s, it centres on Bill and Abby, poor lovers who pretend to be brother and sister to avoid gossip. While working on a farm in the Texas Panhandle, the young and sick farmer takes a shine to Abby and the temptation of a better life proves to be too much for Bill to resist.

The film focuses not just on plot points but on the day to day and seasonal routine of both the poor and the rich. The scenes of leisurely days at the river and croquet games in the golden light of the farm really does seem like the idea of what days of heaven might have been to these poor migrant workers.

These amazing posters for Black Swan are apparently of the ‘limited edition international teaser’ variety, which I guess means I won’t be able to procure one for walls, boo! I’m so excited for this movie, I fear I’m setting myself up for disappointment. The last I was so excited about was Where the Wild Things Are and I was, um, not impressed. Oh well, I still have to wait until January to find out! In the meantime I’ll get a little excited over seeing Somewhere this month, and a lot excited over Miranda July’s The Future, which isn’t even finished yet.

via The Clothes Horse

We stopped for a night in Lubbock between Albuquerque and Austin. This worked out pretty well since we got to stay in our nicest hotel room so far (not pictured: huge kitchen, giant living area) as well as getting to a drive-in theatre. We saw The Expendables, which I’d unfortunately confused with another Bruce Willis film about old people with guns I’d thought looked good. The Expendables was the worst movie I have EVER seen. However, a reasonable choice for a drive in, since we could scoff and laugh to our smug hearts’ content in the privacy of our own vehicle. With cheesy fries.

One of the first old films I ever saw. Enchanting.

images from Sweet Sunday Morning via owl vs. dove

Sorry about the blog being broken… working on a new layout so things might be a bit jumbled until friday. I’m excited, I’ve been needing a new look around here for an absolute age.

The best part was Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna Dreyfus. So beautiful! My girl-crazy friend and I both walked out swooning over her. I like these stills a lot but they don’t begin to capture her on-screen loveliness.

And do you know what is even more awesome? Jason and I went shooting on Saturday! Finally, after all these years of me declaring that THIS year would finally be the one where I’d get to do it. We shot four different guns and the best was probably the shotgun. I have bruises from the kickback and I think they might be my favourite bruises yet, even more than my hooping bruises.