La Saint Sylvestre

This year our family broke a tradition!!!!!

Every year since forever we have spent the New Year's Eve in Viljandi at my grandparent's (okey there was this one year we were in Tallinn as well, I think 2010? It was the year Estonia went over to euros anyway), but this year we're in Tallinn, having a party at our place, some guests are coming over and I am very excited!!

There is this saying that your year will be shaped like the last moments of the year before. I used to really believe in it,  because somehow all my New Year's Eve's had been miserable and well my years were quite shit as well. Now I've reconsidered. I think the last moments of your year are shaped like the year you've had and so I hope for a very nice New Year's Eve this year!

i was left in charge of the decorations

Til next time,

Ingrid

"the Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

I finished this book very recently (I don't really have time to read much during school, so I picked the book up when our winter holiday started), so my feedback is very fresh and emotional. I bought the book on  the 7th of December when I was in Helsinki with a couple of friends (oh god I still gotta edit the video from that day). We visited the Academic Book Store and, oh wow it was glorious. I have a good 10 minutes of video footage only from that store. It was truly amazing. And I was surprised by how many books in English they had and furthermore by the fact that they also had books in French. It was very nice anyway and obviously I had to by myself something if not the whole store. So I got Erin Morgenstern's "the Night Circus" because 1) I had heard a lot of good about the book and 2) the store had the book in a Vintage Magic edition, with a very very nice cover.

isn't it beautiful?

Well, the book itself was as beautiful (if not more beautiful) as the cover. The story takes place in the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century and centers around a magical circus that is only open at nighttime. I think that's all of the plot you need to know when going into the book. It's one of those books that has surprises on every page and just when you think you know everything about the story, a new wonderful, unforeseen trick arrives. 

I have never really liked circuses. Maybe because I've never been to a great one, the only ones I've been to are the ones that come to Viljandi in the summer and I don't know, they aren't the best. Also the animal cruelty associated with most circuses isn't very nice in my opinion. The circus in this book though is one I would love to visit. It is described in such fullness and richness that I can't help wanting to visit it. 

I really loved the characters of the story as well. They were very bizarre and not people you meet every day, what made the story that much more interesting. Also the two main characters are precious oh god, also Poppet and Widget!! So precious!! If I'd have to choose a favourite character it'd be Tsukiko tho. She was just so fab. 

I also really liked the descriptions in the book, because they weren't too long, but they did convey the pictures in such detail. They really gave my imagination a shove, so I could imagine all the characters and their outfits and surroundings. 

All in all it was a magical read, the book was impossible to put down, the plot twist will make your heart burn and I cried. 10/10 from me, the supreme book critic.

Til next time,

Ingrid

P.S. 

A picture of my mind whilst reading the book:

i have such photoshop skills

"Mandariinid" - a review of sorts

As a family who isn't very big on that whole talking thing, we always watch a lot of movies when over at my grandparent's place in Viljandi. Recently they (my grandparents) got this new thingy on their telly called NutiTV, which inter alia has this thing called the Film Shelf, where you can watch movies for free (well given how much the whole NutiTV thing costs, it ain't that free). It is however very convenient for our stoic family and so on the first Christmas holiday we all sat down and chose a movie.

The first movie on the "shelf" was "Mandariinid" (or "Tangerines" if you're not one of us Estonians). It is an Estonian movie, that came out a bit over a year ago. It has been selected as the Estonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, making the January Shortlist. It is also among the five nominated films at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards for best foreign language film (copied this part from Wikipedia lol). Knowing that I went into the film with quite high expectations, it had made the bloody Oscars list ffs.

I can only say, that I was not disappointed. The movie takes place in the 1990s in Georgia, the Abkhazia region, where an Estonian man named Ivo is staying to harvest his crops of tangerines. One day there is a bloody conflict right at his door in which two wounded man from either sides of the conflict get left behind. Ivo takes them in and practically saves their lives.

Although the film is very related to war, it talks more about humans and emotions and mostly about emotions that are more important than the war and the feuds going on. In addition to the emotional plot the film has very many very very very nice nature shots. Being a bit of a cinematography nerd (*khmmkhmm* camera angles are my main thing) I really enjoyed how the movie was filmed. Also the soundtrack was amazing and fitted the scenes perfectly.

All in all it was a very nice experience, the actors were marvelous, I cried (what isn't a big surprise as I cry at almost every movie that has anything sad in it at all) and the nature shots were top notch. 10/10 from me, the supreme movie critic.

Til next time,
Ingrid

A blog?

I've wanted to start a blog for a while already and with the changing of the year I thought why not give my blog a start as well. It is still 2014 as I'm writing this post, but I have the calendar of 2015 I got for Christmas up already, so let's just say that it's 2015. 

First question you might have 'bout this blog: why's it in English? Well, because I have internet friends, who I think would like to read this blog as well as those unfortunate friends that have to tolerate seeing my irl. I did give the blog an Estonian name tho, simply because I couldn't think of a name in English and I happen to love the word "anduvuses" (I have a tumblr blog with the same url). It roughly translates to "in dedication" and I don't really have a reason for liking the word so much. I just think it sounds damn nice. 

I can't really say what you should expect from this blog. A variety of things I think? Some posts about my life (as boring as it might be, I usually have a lot to say about even the smallest things), some including my writing or photos, some book and music reviews, some recipes. I dabble. 

This is mostly it. I hope I wont forget this as I always forget my little projects (the side effect of being a dabbler) and that I have a change to update this as frequently as possible. 

Til next time,

Ingrid