Mystery Object

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I’ve been a bit under the weather the past few days, but today I finally made my way to the post office and collected various packages.  Among these was a package from a store I had ordered a bunch of LED lighting strips for the kitchen.

Included was this pink mystery USB object, not mentioned on the invoice.  It says “Haweel” at one end and it’s bendy:

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I haven’t dared plug it into a computer yet.

WHAT CAN IT BE!?

WFC New Zealand: 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous

Is that… Donald!?

Uhm… it would have been nice if this had been subtitled.

But I got the gist!

This film has 5.8 (of 10) on imdb, and I think that’s as low as the scale goes. That’s harsh! As Wikipedia says, “The film opened in 2005 to negative reviews and had little success at the New Zealand box office.” I can see why it would alienate a lot of people… it’s very lo-fi, with strange colour grading, and… er… it’s kinda awkward.

The girl who played Lou is good. Most of them are charming. But… Erhm. This is like a two pillow film. (That you hide behind during especially embarrassing scenes.) On the other hand, I smiled a lot.

So…

50 Ways of Saying Fabulous. Stewart Main. 2005. New Zealand.

Daiquiri Kiwi

  • 2 parts rum
  • 2 parts lemon juice
  • 2 parts Cointreau
  • 2 parts Midori
  • 1 part simple syrup
  • kiwi

Run everything through a blender with ice cubes. Pour into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of kiwi.

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

Edit: I just watched the making-of featurettetish.  (It’s long.)  Apparently they filmed this film in the rainy season in New Zealand, but they got sufficient money to digitally do colour grading to make it look like it’s in the dry season.  Honey: It didn’t really work.  (It never does?  I think?  Or do some people believe the past five years, in reality, looked really teal?)

It just looks like somebody ran the whole film through a redising (that’s a word) filter.

WFC Peru: La teta asustada

This film won “best film” at the Berlin film festival, and as film prizes go, that’s the one to win, I think. (I mean, if something wins the a major award, it’s usually drek.)

And this is absolutely riveting and very strange and funny. And heartbreaking. I’m not going to spoil the, er, plot, but I think I can guarantee that nothing like the central conceit in this film has ever been done before.

The Milk of Sorrow. Claudia Llosa. 2009. Peru.

Peruvian Pisco Sour

  • 1 part sugar syrup
  • 3 parts lemon juice
  • 8 parts Pisco
  • egg white
  • some drops of Angostura

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon slice.

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