New Year again

          The New Year is comming again. Time flies like crazy lately. I am sure that it will be the same in 2014. Probably I will not even know when and it will be the middle of the year already.

          I decided not to make New Year's resolutions. I guess you can make a fresh start anytime you wants. New Year or Monday is not neccessary to do it.

         I only hope I will not waste my time :)

Morasko Meteorite Nature Reserve

             There is a very magical place in in the north part of the city Poznań. A place which came to be thousands of years ago. 

             On some point in the history of the world the meteorites were showering the earth and a few of them landed in the Morasko Meteorite Nature Reserve in Poznań, Poland. Over the years the scenery around the craters changed but they themselves stayed pretty much the same. Now there is a beautiful wood around it with all those meteorite lakes in them. 

              Quite a magical place to visit and walk around :)

On my way to the Reserve

Entering the Reserve

A parking along the way

The biggest lake (a bit obscure)

One of the little lakes (from Internet)

A deer met along the way

The way home

My city from the heel

Stars

         My next project were ... stars :)

       I decided to make a small decoration made up of little stars. I made the stars using baking utensils. After I made them I connected them all together using a little bit of water. I arranged them the way I wanted and later I added some color.

        I cannot wait for it to be fire. I will put it on the wall in my bedroom.

Before putting some colors

With some colors :) Next step ... firing

After firing

Misery

            I have always liked Stephen King's and his style of writing. He has this rare gift of comming inside people's heads and discovering their fears. That's why he writes great, scary books. Because he KNOWS what scares us and he uses it.

           My number one book is Dolores Claiborne (about which I wrote earlier) and my second favorite book is Misery. 

            The book tells a story of a famous writer (maybe King wanted to let some crazy fans of his know that he doesn't appreciate them that much) Paul Sheldon, who has a very serious car accident in the middle of nowhere in Winter. He would surely died if it wasn't for a good, kind and very strong Annie Wilkes, who rescues him and carries him to her house. Luckily she is a nurse and she tends to Paul most perfectly. Until ... (because there has to be the until) she turns out to be completly mad. The rest I will not reveal :)

               In that case also the movie was great, what doesn't often happen when the book and movie meet. Kathie Bates gave a magnificent performance and not surprisingly she reveived the Academy Award for it. The movie is scary and it makes you wonder what happens in such people heads.

Perfect Kathy Bates as Annie

Slaughterhouse Five

              I have read, or rather listened to, that book many times. Once in a while I simply have to come back to it. It is a book about coping with fear and bad situations in life. It is a bout our frail psyche and of how much we can stand.

Everytime I listen to the book I discover something new and I hope that I understand something more. This book is not easy, but beatiful. It is "Slaughterhouse-Five" by  Kurt Vonnegut. It is a must read.

P.S. I listed to the book read by Ethan Hawke. His read makes a second place on the best read books I have ever heard. First one belongs to Stephen Fry.

Twilight (saga)

               Once in a while a book appears and it becomes an instant success almost anywhere it is published. People read it, queue to buy another part, filmmakers try to secure the rights to film it, and the author, from an unknown person, becomes a celebrity. That was, undoubtedly, a case with Twilight saga books.

I first heard about the books after seeing the movie (again). And I even didn't know what movie it was, but watched it but accident. I quite liked it (unlike the rest of the movies). It was an interesting love story with the usual dilemma (in this case: turn her or not) and quite good acting (unlike the rest of the movies). But, going back to the book.

After seeing the film and becoming interested in the story I naturally turned to the books (to audiobooks to be more specific). I would listen to the story almost all day and felt very unhappy when I had to stop to do something else. In fact I have listened to the books many times since the first time, and I will probably come back to it again in a while. I was gripped by the story and the characters. The more I read the more fascinating it became.

I liked that the author reveals details about the characters slowly. We first get to know Bella's, Edward's and Carlisle's stories. Later on Esme tells her tale fallowed by Emmett and Alice. In the third book we find out more about Jasper and Rosalie. They all come from different backgrounds, different times, they all had different dreams when their lives ended, and they deal with what they are in a different way.

But the vampires are just one part of the story and the second one is the Quileute tribe, who can transform into giant wolves. They protect humans from "the cold ones" and they want to protect Bella from turning into the enemy. Especially, Bella's best friend Jacob doesn't want her to change. Introducing the tribe into the story was a very nice move in terms of not losing readers' interest I think. We have a whole set of new characters, very misterious ones, who really exist. For me it was a lifesaver, because on some point you can get sick of Bella and Edward and their everlasting love. The Quileutes seem much more real and human, and some of the character are very funny :)

I liked the books because they speak about love, protection, friendship, keeping promises and trying to do your best with what you get.

I didn't like Bella's relationship with Edward because sometimes it was too intense and controling on his part. He was stifling and too protective in my oppinion. But apparently Bella liked it, so what can I do ;)

Book covers with titles

The additional book

World War Z

               There is something fascinating about zombie movies. There have been so many of them already but we seem to be still into them nevertheless. I have recenlty seen "World War Z" directed by Marc Forster and I have to say that it was perfect in almost everything.

Firstly, the mind blowing special effects. Helicopter chases, car chases, explosions and off course thousands upon thousands of zombies, who/which would jump great hights, run and tumble like house of cards. The Israzel-wall scene portrays that perfectly.

Secondly, Brad Pitt. He never fails. I have seen almost all his movies and tere is no doubt in my mind, as I assume in many other people's minds, that he is a great actor. I don't think, however, that he was in a movie with that much action before. Sometimes in such movies the special effect and the acting kills the actor's skills. He/she seems to be invisible. That luckily didn't happen here :)

The only flaw, like in all action movies, is the fact that all the things that can go wrong - go wrong. And that the main character survives it all.

The things which I like most about such films is different, however. They make me wonder about our chances against diseases and epidemics. If such virus like the one in the movies springs somewhere in the world, how will we protect ourselves? Will we be able to survive and fight? 

We have used medicine and vaccines for so long that some of the viruses and bacterias mutated and became immune to them. We need new ones. But will they be developped before it is too late?