Random Thoughts

This short can be found on Youtube.

It’s about a guy who lives in the forest, and we follow him around while he’s gathering food and making food and gathering more food. I quite enjoyed this at the start, but then it started getting a bit fetishistic… Especially the somewhat unmotivated switched between normal speed and half speed.

Man of the Soil. Pierre Deschamps . 2009. Dominica.

Dominica

Rosalie Bay Resort’s Bell Coconut Cocktail

• 2 parts coconut rum
• 4 parts coconut water
• 2 parts coconut cream
• nutmeg

Blend the liquids with ice in a blender. Pour into a cocktail glass and grate nutmeg over.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

This documentary short can be found on Youtube.

It’s a very straightforward film: There’s a narrator who explains everything we’re seeing. Very 50s. Or 60s?

But it’s likeable. It includes many scenes of everyday life; people fishing and sowing and just being people, which is enjoyable to watch.

And this films marks the halfway point in this blog series!

Just kidding.

There’s now less than 10% left. So few cocktails left; so many liqueurs in the cabinet.

A Paluan Documentary. Gary Schlosser. 1950s?. Palau.

Luau Coconut

• 1 part simple syrup
• 1 part light rum
• 1 part dark rum
• 1 part canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 parts fresh coconut water
• a dash of lime juice

Shake with ice. Pour into a glass (without straining) and garnish with a lime slice and a maraschino cherry.

This isn’t really from Palau, but it from… that… area. OK, so I cheated! Palauans: Put more cocktail recipes on the net.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

I found this film on Youtube, and it’s kinda very very artifacty.

This film tells the story about East Timor’s struggle for liberation (from the Indonesians, synchronicitily (that’s a word) enough) through the eyes of the titular Beatriz.

The actors who play the central characters are pretty good, but there’s a lot of stiff acting going on around them. The cinematography is basic, but it’s still an engaging film. It has a kind of appealing stillness and reticence going on.

It’s interesting and original and I cried a bit at the end.

Beatriz’s War. Bety Reis/Luigi Acquisto. 2013. Timor-Leste.

Coffee cocktail

• coffee
• Bailey’s
• vanilla vodka

Brew some coffe and pour it into an ice cube tray. Freeze overnight. Put into a glass and pour the Bailey’s over. Add vodka to taste. Serve with a cocktail umbrella.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

Sometimes this blog series is so frustrating. There’s a lot of proper films made in the Maldives (for a country of its size), but none of these are available anywhere and/or subtitled in English.

So I’m left with this short which can be found on Youtube.

“You listen to way too much Neil Young. And suicidal amounts of Bob Dylan.” We who?

This isn’t really a very Maldivian (that’s a word) film, but it’s quite something. It’s basically a camera tumbling around on the coral reefs (pushed around by the waters, apparently), while a guy reads a very portentous text.

I like it!

Rhymes With Shove. Jamie R. Brisick/Isabel Freeman. 2016. Maldives.

Sting Ray

• 1 part vodka
• 1 part Tia Maria
• 1 part Baileys

Shake with ice. Strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with a cherry.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

Ultraviolence! Kung fu! Amnesia! Drugs! More ultraviolence!

They must have had a massive ketchup budget.

This is an accomplished and interesting action movie. Nice actors, too. But it somehow lost me after a while and I started thinking about other things. Like looking up Indonesia on the map. Man, that’s a lot of islands.

If you’re a fan of close-up action scenes, you’ll probably enjoy this film a lot, because they’re really quite spiffy. It does fail somewhat in narrative.

Headshot. Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto. 2016. Indonesia.

Chocolate Baby

• 1 part crème de cacao
• 1 part Coka Cola

Pour the ingredients over ice.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.