The Horror!

This house had new doors put in a year or so ago, and I finally got around to getting a new (internal) doorbell. (We’re apparently supposed to have them for safety reasons or something.)

So I got this wireless one:

It works, which is unusual for something that’s wireless.

But listen to it:

It plays these super-cheesy cheery versions of awful classical music. And it goes on for what seems like forever.

I just can’t live with the possibility of that thing ever playing. Why couldn’t they make one of the “tunes” just be a “ding dong” thing? Gah.

WFC Sweden: En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron

Brilliant! Funny and moving. It’s kinda like… Ben Katchor’s Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer. Only Swedish.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. Roy Andersson. 2014. Sweden.

Swedish Snowball

  • 2 parts lemonade
  • 1 part Advocaat
  • 1 part vodka
  • A dash of lime

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

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

WFC Poland: Ida

The DVD is interlaced (i.e., half vertical resolution). Which is weird for a film this short. They kept the length down to one layer. Probably saved a fraction of a cent.

Oh, the film! It’s about Poland and jews and WWII and stuff. It’s good. I adore the “Wanda” character. She’s so blunt. On a mission.

Heartbreaking.

I said “nooo!” out loud.

Ida. Pawel Pawlikowski. 2013. Poland.

Szarlotka

  • 1 part Żubrówka
  • 2 parts apple juice

The Żubrówka is a flavoured vodka (Polish bison grass vodka (is there Bison in Poland?)).

That’s very good ideed. The flavours of the fresh apple juice with the weird Bison grass vodka… It reminds me of something… I’m not sure what… It’s a kinda nostalgic flavour, but I’m not sure it a nostalgia for something I’ve ever experienced myself.

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

WFC Belgium: Le tout nouveau testament

This is what it looks like at the Arctic Circle.

This film is such a shameless crowd pleaser. I can easily see how some people would find it just unbearable. But I really enjoyed it. Forced whimsy and all.

I haven’t seen Forrest Gump, but this is how I would imagine a French version would be like.

So, so French.

I mean Belgian. Belgian!

I’ll rate it on the number of hankies needed to watch this film:

The Brand New Testament. Jaco Van Dormael. 2015. Belgium.

Bianca Castafiore

  • 1 part amaretto
  • 1 part Sambuca
  • 1 part Galliano

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

I thought this would be just horrible. It isn’t!

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