I only planted a small border but they are wild and bushy and are filling my fence line. There are blue flowers that seem to be big attractants for bumble bees along with white flowers and yellow and orange buds too. All in all it is brightening up my garden and attracting bees and butterflies which was my aim when I decided to plant flower seeds. You can look back at past blogs to see what the garden looked like before the flowers grew.
A few months ago I was excited to hear that Baz Luhrman was directing a new Elvis movie. I've always been a fan of his over the top stylised film making (Romeo + Juliet with Claire Danes and Leonardo Di Caprio being one of my favourites) with mix up of moderns soundtracks with classic stories making for a massive cinematic experience. I was nervous though that an Elvis film by Baz may turn in to a parody of the greatest performer in the world.
I need not have been nervous. In actual fact I think Baz may have toned down his style or perhaps it was naturally overshadowed by Elvis Presley's showmanship and style.
*Spoilers Alert*
Read no further if you haven't seen the film and you don't want to know anything about it (of course, we all know how this story sadly ends) but in my opinion, Luhrman made the film about one of the oldest storylines - good vs. evil. Elvis being the good of course while his manager was cast as the villain in this story. The evil of Colonel Parker was to be proven after the death of Elvis Presley through the courts where it showed that he took advantage of Elvis and mismanaged his affairs.
Austin Butler
The star of the show was Austin Butler who plays Elvis from his late teens to his death age 42. How this is achieved is through costume, make up and acting of the highest calibre. Butler exudes charisma and he develops effortlessly in to "The King". His singing performances are electric and capture the energy of an Elvis show on the big screen.
In comparison, Tom Hanks' Colonel Parker is portrayed as an unlikeable manipulative character who abused his power and position and coerced Elvis in to particular contracts and ultimately brought about the death of Elvis through overwork and keeping him drugged up through the shady "Dr Nick". Through the film you can see the manipulation by Parker as he plays on Elvis's fear of not being able to take care of his mother and father and the rest of his family in Graceland.
Director Baz Luhrman
I tried to just go along with the movie and not to analyse it too much, however, I did notice certain elements that I think Luhrman took artistic licence in these parts. For example, I think he put the song "Trouble" in too early in Elvis's career as I am sure that the first time this song was sang was in the film "King Creole" which was probably after his army career......but maybe it was put in to this film in an earlier sequence in order to facilitate a particular storyline. Anyway, I may be wrong but it was just something that jarred with me when I was watching the film. It was also news to me that Elvis's mother Gladys had a drinking problem, but it was something that was played up in this film so presumably it is something that is true.
Omniplex Rathmines
All in all the total film is a spectacular story of the legend that is Elvis Presley and I recommend you make a night of it and head to the cinema to see this movie (we had planned to see it in the amazing Stella in Rathmines but it was all booked out so had to go to the Omniplex to see it - this worked out fine as the showing we selected was in the big Maxx screen). Both my husband and I were in agreement about the excellent perfomance of Austin Butler but we had a differing opinion on the Priscilla character. I felt she was more believable as an older Priscilla in the later years of the 60's and 70's while Ciaran thought she was more believable as the younger Priscilla. There is so much to tell of Elvis Presley that a lot had to be left out, I was surprised to see that there was no mention of his relationship with actress Ann Margaret but I guess it may not have been something that Luhrman wanted to focus on and may have taken away from the story of Elvis being a "family man". I say family man in a way to emphasise the pressures on Elvis to take care of family and friends with lots of people relying on his pay cheque to be supported. I'm not saying this in a negative way but just more as fact. Elvis liked to surround himself by particular people and presumably needed to have them work for him in order to facilitate this.
So all in all, it's a 10 out of 10 from me for Elvis - let me know if you have seen it, and what you thought of it! It's a pure delight to watch with all of the usual Baz Lurhman "spectacular spectacular" elements (a scene that stood out for me was where Elvis went to his gun store, grabbed a gun and shot up the TV in Vegas - I had heard of this happening and had seen it in the Kurt Russell Elvis biopic, but I thought it was pure "Baz" in the cinematography and making the guns appear shinier and larger than life - it was reminiscent of the way he featured guns in his Romeo + Juliet film too). In my opinion it did justice to Elvis the world's most successful performer and perhaps the biggest star I will ever see in my life time, even though he was dead by the time I was born......which is saying a lot!
Anyway it's a "go see" for sure!
Here's some of the things that I've got up to over the past two weekends.
Alice and I went to Dionne Warwick two weekends ago, which was a lot of fun. The concert in the Bord Gais Theatre was great and afterwards we got to meet up with our good friend Todd (and his fellow band member Danny) and had a few drinks in The Ferryman. Todd is a professional musician and you can follow his Tik Tok here - he does a lot of traveling and is currently in Europe touring with Dionne Warwick.
Squash Soldiers
The latest PIGSY art focus is out and it features me discussing PIGSY's largest artwork "Squash Soldiers"
Click below to watch the video
One of the things I really enjoyed doing every morning on my holiday in Florida was making a pot of filter coffee first thing in the morning. Filter coffee is not hugely popular here in Ireland, with many people having Nespresso or Tassimo coffee capsule machines while when growing up coffee was either instant or made in a percolater.
So when I returned from Key West, I decided to buy a filter coffee machine and ordered one last Thursday and then it arrived by courier from the UK today.
I had bought coffee in preparation for when the machine arrived. Over in the States, I had been enjoying Tim Horton's coffee which is not available in Ireland - so Starbucks and Bewleys coffee will have to do instead.
I brewed the Starbucks today but found the coffee to be a bit weak for my taste. I plan on adding more coffee tomorrow. I look forward to figuring how much coffee I should use to make the perfect cup. If you have any tips, let me know in the comments!
Wildflowers in the garden
When I came home from holidays I discovered that my wildflowers that I planted from seed had really grown a lot (although it is June, it has rained a lot here in Ireland).
I was really pleased to see how bushy and green the border bed is, and they will eventually flower and bloom but perhaps not until next year as perennials can be slow to bloom. You can see how the border looked a few weeks ago here.
After a great trip to Key West, I am now back in Ireland.
It's always strange how in the last days of your holidays, time seems to speed up and the days fly in. Happily, I got to do a few things on my list of definites that I wanted to get done. These were, get out fishing, have a Dairy Queen Ice Cream and visit the Green Parrot for a drink.
So on Sunday I went fishing on the Salty Goat Boat. This was probably one of the highlights of my holiday. I had a great day fishing (it's a long fishing trip from 9am until 2pm) and caught 4 keeper yellowtail snappers and 1 keeper grunt with a fair few throw backs including two small strawberry groupers. As usual there were some people on their boat not taking their fish so I was able to walk away with extra fish which made for a great fish dinner in Amy's house.
And then on the last day I crammed in my other must do's with a stop off in the Green Parrot after a visit to the Gap Store (pictured above) and Banana Republic on Duval Street. The Green Parrot is a chilled out bar with cool air flowing through the open doors and windows and it was great to sit at the bar and listen to music and the general chat of others at the bar. Of course there was also the quintessential experience of a chicken walking through the bar!!
After the Green Parrot, I cycled home for a shower and then met my mother in the Southernmost Cafe on the beach for Happy Hour eats and more drinks. The food was good and the view was incredible. I was glad that we made such a good choice for our last day's happy hour!
Guess I will need to plan a return visit in order to ensure that I get my swim in the sea done soon!!!
