Well, since this has become somewhat of a tradition...







Yes, this man is now 56 years old. Miracles happen. ;D

Wow... that was quite a busy weekend - for me, anyway (which is an obligatory disclaimer, I suppose, since I have noticed most people have a different definition of "busy", and might possibly interpret it as "relaxing"... LOL). Saturday included chiropractic appointment, grocery shopping AND an unplanned trip downtown to see a movie (more about that later). Sunday was spent mostly at my parents' house, doing the classic Easter binge.:) And today was supposed to be just chilling, sleeping in, taking a long, hot shower, cooking etc. - but somehow I decided I needed to add another shopping trip to the mix (possibly because my parents handed me some cash as a belated birthday present, LOL). So I only just had dinner now, and there isn't as much time left for LJ as I thought there would be... *sigh*

By the way, I had today off because I asked for it - it's not a holiday here, in case any of my European friends are wondering. Neither was Friday. We don't get any extra time off for Easter in this country. Or perhaps some workplaces with plenty of European and/or South American employees do, but mine doesn't. I just usually take Monday off if I am planning to visit my parents on the Sunday before it; otherwise I have to rush madly to get everything done, and that just defeats the purpose of a weekend for me, LOL.

But speaking of rushing madly - that's pretty much what I did on Saturday, having discovered Friday evening that they are showing Viggo's recent Argentinian movie at a theater downtown. This weekend only. It was a limited release, only in selected cities in the US, and when I first heard about it a while back, it was supposed to happen the week before (on the 22nd). So I simply assumed that if they weren't showing the film anywhere in Chicago on the 22nd, that meant Chicago wasn't included. But guess what? I checked the Chicago Reader website Friday at work, and there it was. Which almost gave me an anxiety attack, since at first I wasn't sure how I was going to fit in such a lengthy cinema trip into an already busy weekend (it's about an hour and a half, one way, to that downtown theater from where I live). But I HAD to fit it in, of course, and so I did.:D Hence the rushing, and quite a fair bit of angst, which resulted in poor sleep the night before, followed by a ridiculous degree of exhaustion throughout the day. But I did manage to see the movie, so it's all good.:P

In case anybody cares (other than meathiel, perhaps ;), the film is called Everyone Has a Plan, and Viggo plays a double role of two brothers with very different lives and personalities. ( Read more... )

Anyway... back to work tomorrow, so I should be getting ready for bed. I'll post more later... maybe.;) For now, I hope everyone had a nice celebration - whatever you celebrated this weekend - and I wish you all WARM, SUNNY, welcoming SPRING weather (which, from what I'm hearing, hasn't been much in evidence so far). Well, it was sunny here today, but very cold. Way, way too cold for April. I still had to wear my winter jacket... *grumbles*

Well... time to shut up now. Good night.;)

The full schedule for the Chicago International Film Festival (October 11th-25th) is now available. They are NOT going to show Viggo's latest movie, made in Argentina. How dare they? I mean, it premiered at TIFF, and in recent years, each and every one of Viggo's films that was shown at TIFF, was also later shown in Chicago. So why not this one? I was SOOO looking forward to seeing it on the big screen. *sulks* As it is, I might have to wait for the DVD. Also, there really isn't anything else on the schedule that made me go, OMG I've GOT to see this. There are a few films that sound interesting, but if I am to pick only two or three (I can afford to take about 3 days off during the festival this year), I really don't know which ones they should be - and most of the interesting ones are quite likely to be available through Netflix sooner or later... and I find I am perfectly content to wait. I mean, I don't need to pay $14 for a movie ticket if it's something I will be able to watch cheaply and comfortably at home. So I don't know. My festival excitement sort of dissipated and I can't decide if I should bother attending at all. *shrug*

I've been quite lethargic for the past few days due to my period - which was mild enough not to need a sick day from work, but perhaps because of that I wasn't feeling up to much in the evenings. So I am terribly behind on LJ comments - I did read my flist every day, just had no energy to say (or rather type) anything. I'll try to catch up now that I'm feeling better.

Also, last Sunday I finally used my international cellphone plan and called one of my closest friends in Poland. We talked for TWO HOURS... LOL. It was such a strange feeling to hear her voice again after so many years (I can't even figure out how many at this point). And she almost sounds the same as she did at 17 (which is when we met). It's just... utterly incredible that we still have this bond. I mean, we write to each other more or less regularly, so I have always known the connection was there - but still... to actually hear the pleasure and joy in her voice speaking to me, the youthful laughter I remember... Wow. *blinks rapidly* Need to buy more minutes now, since I almost ran out - and I should probably make it a rule to call her only about once a month or so, since I am pretty sure we can easily chat for 2-3 hours anytime...:D

See, my brain is NOT completely buried in gratuitous vampire porn.:P ( Read more... )

So, I did watch that old Viggo flick I mentioned a while ago (La Pistola de mi Hermano). It's a strange little movie about a pair of troubled teenagers. And it's not nearly as old as I thought - it was made in 1997. So Viggo is actually 39 it in... LOL. ( He does look very young - but that's Viggo for you.:D )

In other news, the weather is very grey, windy and uninviting, and I feel lethargic, but strangely restless at the same time. My customary walks to the neighborhood grocery stores exhausted me far more than they should have, and I wanted to talk about other stuff, but it's late now and my brain is shutting down.:/ I can't do the "night owl" thing anymore, even on weekends. It's no fun getting old... LOL. *sigh*

So there's this new lovely Viggo article in the New York Times Style magazine. Called Viggo Talks and Talks.:D With quite a few nice photos, I might add. You can view the whole thing here (someone kindly provided the link on viggo_daily):

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/viggo-talks-and-talks/

My favorite part:

Mortensen’s combination of cheekbones and limpid-eyed sincerity has tended to inspire a slightly awestruck tone in journalists over the years. Some of their more breathless accounts of his chilled-out, barefoot demeanor have come perilously close to making him sound a bit of a pill: a parody of the soulful gypsy artiste, all flared nostrils and rippling Kant quotations. Happily, he is not really as oppressively soulful or as grandiose as such reports might suggest. He is earnest, God knows, and his pronouncements on life and art verge, occasionally, on the sententious. But he’s not a preening nostril-flarer. What he brings to mind, more than anything, is your older brother’s hippie friend from childhood — the one who played you your first Velvet Underground album and instructed you in Trotskyist politics.

Yep. That's our Viggo. The one we all know and love. *sporfle*

( And now for something completely different - long, work-related rant under the cut. )

OK, so I've been traipsing around YouTube, and here's what I found. Someone made a video of Viggo and Ariadna. Someone from Spain, I presume, since there are pics in there I've never ever seen, and some of them just made me weak at the knees. Why? Because it's Viggo-in-love. For real. Not just for a movie. Not that it doesn't feel absolutely real when he's doing it for a movie, but... you know. This is life. He isn't acting here. And neither is she. And the way they look at each other could probably melt an iceberg or two. But enough of my babbling. See for yourselves:



They are just so incredibly beautiful together. Even when he's blatantly staring down her cleavage... LOL (not that I blame him, either ;). And it makes me happy, because the die-hard romantic in me is always happy to see undeniable proof that mutual love exists in this world. Sometimes I tend to think it's a fictional concept, you know...

Anyway... my blessings to Viggo and Ariadna. Not that they need them, but yeah. Never lose that light from your eyes, ya hear me?... ***hearts & hearts & hearts***

God, I do sound like some sentimental granny. *embarrassed cough* /end transmission/

Just got back from seeing A Dangerous Method. It was... sublime. Such a perfect piece of period drama, so beautifully shot and exquisitely acted. Viggo was great, of course - but then, he always is, so no need to elaborate upon it.;) Even if I wasn't too crazy about his prosthetic nose... LOL. I know, I know - he was supposed to look like Sigmund Freud, not like himself; but I have to shamefully admit that I found the fact I could only recognize the bottom part of his face pretty disconcerting.:) Which is, of course, irrelevant to the overall impact of the film. Freud is pretty much a background character in it, anyway. A very significant background character, but still... this film is about Carl Jung and Sabina Spielrein. Mostly, to me, about Sabina Spielrein. Wonderfully played by Keira Knightley. I know people have mixed opinions about Keira Knightley, and I suppose at some point I also used to think she was just a pretty face on a stick. Not anymore. She's done a bunch of really good, really interesting films in recent years, and this is possibly the best one of them all. And she totally pulls her weight (no pun intended... LOL). This woman has depth, I tell you, and I am very much in awe of her talent. And that is precisely what I have always found most attractive about actors. Physicality is secondary...

Anyway... the film is a true work of art, and I loved every minute of it. I will most likely go see it again when it hits the theaters at the end of November - not even so much for Viggo as for the entire experience. As for Viggo, I can't wait to see that film he just did in Argentina, where he plays twin brothers, one of whom assumes the identity of the other after his death. I just know that one will be another "Mortensen tour de force" - as someone once said about, I think, Eastern Promises. And, hopefully, there'll be no prosthetic noses involved...:D

The other two films I have seen so far were also interesting, but I think I'll write about them some other time. Now I feel really exhausted after all the running around I've done for the past few days. Just like I suspected, I'm going to take it easy tomorrow for a change.:)

Finally. I have both the time AND the means to post something in here... lol. For the past week or so, this has not been the case.:D

First and foremost, my new PC is here. It's an HP Omni 200 all-in-one with a wireless keyboard and mouse... and it is a thing of beauty, let me tell you. When I first took it out of the box, I just kinda stared at it for a few minutes, before I even attempted to find the power cord etc. Because, you know, it's BIG. 21.5" across. Now, you have to understand I've spent the past 8 years glued to a laptop screen which was no more than half the size - and our monitors at work were only recently changed from old-style, square ones to more modern, rectangular ones. Which at first seemed overwhelmingly huge... but now, my computer screen at home is actually BIGGER than the one I have at work. O_O It's absolutely MASSIVE. It looks like a small plasma TV. Which was exactly what I wanted. ( Read more... )

Btw, there were some connection issues in my area over the past few days, and I hear LJ was down, too - not that I had much opportunity to notice, since my old laptop did a number on me last weekend and lost "display functionality" again. This time permanently, it seems. It might amuse some of you to know what caused this final crash. Namely, I was trying to watch the online trailer for A Dangerous Method. Yes, surreysmum - if you are reading this, know that it was all your fault.;P You posted that link to an article about Viggo's latest movie projects... and I went, OMG there's a trailer!!!, and clicked on it, even though I knew my old laptop couldn't really handle streaming video anymore. So of course it crashed, and even after several reboots the screen resolution remained ridiculously low. It took forever to load any webpage, even as simple as a plain text email - forget LJ or other fancy html stuff. Of course, it didn't really faze me much, since I knew the new computer was already on its way here via FedEx, and I can check private email at work. But still - I could have waited a few days to see that damned trailer, couldn't I?... *headshake*

Anyway... the old laptop had a severe case of death by Viggo, apparently.:P Or, you know... by Keira Knightley, if you prefer.:D It never fully recovered. So after I had set the new one up, I shut down the poor old thing, packed it up in its black laptop bag and tucked it away in a closet. Which seemed, strangely, like a funeral. Yes, I was emotionally attached to that ancient piece of junk - why do you ask? Do you know anyone else who uses the same computer for eight years?... But I am already deeply in love with the new one, so I think I'll be fine.:D (Yes, I have issues, no need to tell me as much, kthxbai.)

In other news... what other news? If there was any, I forgot. I am behind on emails, comments and such - but I will get there eventually. I'm not ignoring anyone on purpose.;) Just feeling a little preoccupied with my new toy.:P Btw, I just downloaded a few new icons, some of which were made specifically for me by roxicons. I love the one I'm using now - so calming and hopeful, isn't it?... Most of the stuff roxicons makes on request is shareable, so snag away if you like it.:)

So, the 20th of October is usually Viggo Pic Day in here.:) But starting this year, it is also Spirit Day. Therefore, to honor both occasions, I hereby present Viggo in Purple.:D




( Read more... )

Good news at work today. The long-promised raises were finally approved. I got 4% - which is certainly more than I expected, since the typical annual raise at our company tends to be around 1-2% (ridiculous, I know, but they offer good benefits). And, of course, due to the economic crisis we haven't had any since 2008. So it does make a difference. Besides, the boss clearly implied that not everyone on my team got this much (she said she wished that were the case, but it wasn't possible). So it appears I somehow deserved it, despite my less-than-stellar performance on certain projects (*cough* phone calls *cough*). Which is certainly good to know.

Maybe - just maybe - my bank account balance will stop going DOWN now. Right on time, too, since it wasn't that far from hitting bottom... *sigh*

In other random news, Viggo TOTALLY looks like Freud these days. It's damn disturbing, actually. I'm all for actors submerging themselves in their characters etc.... but he is barely recognizable. He's wearing CONTACTS, for Pete's sake! The famous Icy Blue Gaze is gone!... The bohemian messy hair is gone, the scar on the upper lip is gone, he looks all prim and ELDERLY and just... yikes! Where is my Viggo???... *freaks out* ;P