“I’m terribly sorry, but you have no idea how thirsty I am!”

Dark Shadows is based on the tv series from 1966 and remake in 1991.  This once again sees Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter working together.  The story revolves around the Collins family who are the founding family of the town of ‘Collinsport’ after emigrating from Liverpool in the late 1700′s.  Barnabas Collins (played by Depp), was changed into a vampire by the witch and his former lover,  Angelique Bouchard, after he rejected her love in favour of Josette DuPres.  He was chained up in a coffin and left for ‘undead’!

Barnabas is finally freed from his entombment in 1972, when construction work begins on his burial site.  He finds his way back to his original childhood home ‘Collingwood’, and the current Collins take him under their wing with some reluctance.  Barnabas is horrified when he realises the Collins family are not thriving as they were a couple of centuries ago and makes it his mission the restore the family business and honour.  However, he soon realises the task may not be as easy as he had hoped.

I think Depp may well have pulled of a vampire to keep everyone happy…..Barnabas bears a slight resemblance to Count Orlok played by Max Schreck in the classic 1922 Nosferatu.  His fingernails and the manner in which he moves his hands are also similar.  He manages to be both charming but deadly, succumbing to his need for blood, (as the quote above illustrates well).  There is no ‘sparkling’ and the sun will set him on fire.  (Personally I can cope with a bit of sparkle, but I know a lot of people find it insulting to vampire mythology, and I understand why).

The film is very funny, with some great one liners as Barnabas struggles to cope with adjusting to life in the year 1972.  Some other reviewers were frustrated by the comedy, but I think it works very well and adds to the film, as does the excellent ’70′s soundtrack.

All of the cast work well, but for me the outstanding performances were from Johnny Depp and Eva Green who plays Angelique.  I thoroughly enjoyed this film and will be going to see it again.  If you’re a fan of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp then you’ll love it!  If not, you may not……Some people have said it’s an excuse for Depp to be self indulgent.  I don’t agree, but even if that was the case, what’s the problem?  It’s Johnny Depp!!

 See it if you liked: Fright Night, The Addams Family

Hey hey!!!  Hope you all had a good, long weekend :>) We spent most of it planting seeds and digging the veggie plot, so we’re quite releaved to get back to moonmaiden work!

I made some very tasty pasties and used quorn beef strips. I fried them in a bit of gravy ganules, marmite and soya sauce to sauce them up a bit and it worked really well. Nom nom indeed!   I had 2 of the cutest turnips in the world, and one went into the pasties and the other one ended up like this!   How cute!!!

We also put up our new weather vane :>)

And will you look at that moon!

So a good weekend was had :>)  We watched all of Deadset, the big brother zombie series, written by Charlie Brooker  (My hero! )  It was very funny, and gorey and bang on with the comments about our wonderful society in which we live LOL!!!  And of course the zombies weren’t much different to the usual BB audience ;>)

Mega busy this week, loads to do, and I’ve been looking to buy some more stock in, I think I’m addicted to buying stuff now!  We’re looking foward to our holiday , we’ll be staying here for a  few days,

So we’re very excited!!  A wonderful place to stay, yummy food, and loads of walking up lots of Tors :>)

Hae a great week and enjoy the sunny shine while it’s here!

Lots of Love

Sarah

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“Start appreciating the memories you have and
stop begrudging the ones you never got to make”

The Lucky One is based on a Nicholas Sparks novel.   Some other adaptations of Sparks novels were Dear John and The Notebook.  Zac Efron plays ‘Logan’ a U.S. Marine who survives his third tour of duty when a lot of his comrades were not so fortunate.  Just moments before a big explosion near him he spots something lying on the ground.  On going to retrieve it, he discovers it is a photograph of a woman with the message ‘Stay safe x’ written on the back.  His friend is convinced the woman in the picture is his guardian angel and the reason he is still alive.  He returns to U.S. with no fixed abode, and lodging with his sister and her family does not work well.  So he sets out on foot to discover the identity of the mystery woman in the photograph in order to thank her, as he believes her photograph saved his life.

I subscribe to an unlimited cinema card.  This means I often see films I would not necessarily pay the full entry price to see.  The Lucky One definitely falls into this category.  I was expecting it to be a total ‘chick flick’, but while romance is a strong theme, there are other elements to it that make it a reasonable film.  While some aspects of the storyline (e.g.romance), follow a very predictable path, other threads are a little less predictable and enrich the story.  Zac Efron appears to have grown up a lot, so much so that I wasn’t sat there thinking ‘isn’t that the one from High School Musical’?!  Credit also has to go to the supporting cast who were extremely cute, cuddly and playful!……Logan’s mystery woman runs a dog kennel

Overall it was a ‘pleasant’ film, that I rate more highly than I had expected to, but is pretty similar to the other Nicholas Sparks film adaptations, kind of ‘same story different actors’.  He seems to work with a formula that is just tweaked slightly for each new novel.

See it if you liked:  The Notebook, Dear John, The Last Song

“Dr. Banner, your work is unparalleled. And I’m a huge fan
of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster”.

This is the latest offering from Joss Whedon (writer and director), probably best known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.  If you’re a big comic fan and action is your priority, I think you may love this film…..Though if you want a storyline to match the standard of the action, then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed!

To be fair I am neither a comic, or an action film fan; (though I did enjoy the
Spiderman and XMen films).  There is an assumption made from the outset that the audience are already very familiar with all of the characters.  I had never heard of Natasha Romanoff aka ‘The Black Widow’.  When I asked a friend I was told she is an original character from the comic, but having never read the comic I had the distinct feeling I was missing something!  I appreciate the importance of staying faithful to the comic, but it is equally important not to alienate the cinema audience, who may have no prior character knowledge.

The plot is based around the ‘Tesseract’, a blue glowing cube that can either provide a sustainable energy source, or  destroy the earth if in the wrong hands.  This is where Thor’s half brother Loki comes into the plot, he wants the Tesseract to control and ultimately destroy earth.

For me the storyline really wasn’t strong enough to hold my attention….I actually
found myself nodding off on a couple of occasions!  (Though I think I was also quite tired).

So to the good points, yes there are a few! There are some great one liners, these are often delivered in ‘quick fire’ style, so be careful not to miss them.  Some quality individual performances also go a long way to add credibility to the film.  Tom Hiddleston is fantastic as Loki, he is everything you’d expect from a villain and more.  Robert Downey Jr. shines as usual in the role of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.

Lastly, but not least!…. (After Sarah’s questions relating to my review of ‘Mirror Mirror’), I feel this review cannot be complete without giving a mention to the element of ‘eye candy’ within the film!

There is not an even male/female ratio.  I don’t normally go for muscles, but in Thor’s case, (played by Chris Hemsworth), I could be willing to make an exception :o)  My personal first choice would definitely be the character of Loki, with his long dark hair and cape, the fact he’s evil just seems to add to the appeal!

See this film if you liked: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man

YAYYYYYY!!! Finally the web site is all finished!!
We have witches, we have candle holders, we have sun catchers, we have jewellery and all sorts of goodies!
We now have more time on our hands and are feeling a little lost with out having to do it all :>)
But not to worry we have new designs to do along with our normal work and loads of gardening to do as well, so I shan’t be bored or anything LOL!!!!
We designed a fab Alice dress the other day and I treated myself to one of these, for when we do the photo shoot ;>)

We’re going to try and make all the new designs this weekend, as the weekend after is Michael’s Birthday! And hopefully after that, the weather will be warm enough to do a shoot out doors. It’s so cold here I had to bring all my little seeds inside to grow, as the greenhouse was too cold. They’re shooting up now though! Trouble is, I can’t remember what’s what as I moved them all around LOL!!! DUH!!! That’s me for you!
On the 12th of May we’re going to go on a basking shark spotting training day!!! Very exciting! Then during this Summer Michael and I will take our turn to spot the sharks ! I’m hoping for dolphins and seals as well! And if we’re mega lucky may be a penguin LOL!!!! This pic summs it up :>)

Have a great week, and please enjoy all our new stock!
Love as always
Sarah
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Well my oh my, have we been busy or what ?   We had a very hectic but fun week with Rachel and her family :>)  Paradise Park, Meadery, Boscastle, Pub lunches a go-go :>)

Loads of work , and I’m still using my new skills as a web mistress and have spent all day sorting through lots of pretty things, and Star Craving Creations!  Wait till you see them all :>)  Star Craving Creations are actually made by Michael’s Brother Robert, so they’re pretty exclusive!  Nothing but the best for you all LOL!!!

If you have been keeping an eye on the site, you’ll notice that not only is the silver jewellery on but also the Pendle Witches! I love them!

Here are some pics :>)

LUCINDA PENDLE WITCH £30.00	ALICE NUTTER PENDLE WITCH £38.00	OLIVIA PENDLE WITCH £22.00
AGATHA PENDLE WITCH £30.00	CASSANDRA PENDLE WITCH £42.00	CRYSTAL PENDLE WITCH £30.00
FELICITY PENDLE WITCH £30.00

Also we’d like to say a big thanks to Magpie for all her brilliant film reviews!   You don’t all have to be shy you know, you can comment too if you log in ;>)

We were planning on going to the May Day celebrations this year, but seeing as they start at 5.45am, I think we’ll have to give it a miss! Yet anther good reason to move down West. There’s no way I could be down Penzance by that hour, so we’ll set the alarm here, get up quick to see the sunrise and then go back to bed  Haha!!!

Have a good weekend, we’re having Quorn Peanut Satay for dinner and watching a Wind in the Willows with Matt Lucas in! I rekon he’s going to be Toady!!!! Poop poop!!!!

Love

Sarah

“Poor Jill who no one believes, not even the police!”

Amanda Seyfried turns detective in this tense crime drama.  She plays Jill, who we gather from flashbacks at the start of the film was abducted in the past.  The story starts when Jill returns home from work early one morning to find her sister Molly is gone from her bed and none of her belongings have been taken.  She goes to the police immediately to tell them of her fears, that the person who abducted her two years earlier has returned and taken her sister.

However, after a huge investigation, no evidence whatsoever was found to back up Jill’s claim of her own abduction and she ended up getting sectioned under mental health
laws.  Due to Jill’s medical history, the police are very quick to dismiss her and the fears she has for her sister.

Convinced her sister will be killed if action is not taken quickly, she decides to take
matters into her own hands.  Once the police learn she has a gun, Jill’s situation is made more complex.  While she is searching for her sisters abductor, the police are searching for her!

Though this film is not Oscar material, I found it to be very watchable and quite gripping.  I thought Amanda Seyfried gave a convincing performance and found it refreshing to see her in a tougher, more gritty role than some of her previous roles. I was pleasantly surprised by the film, as I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did.  The one thing I would say though is Jill, played by Amanda Seyfried, is very much the main character,
so if you really don’t like her as an actress you probably won’t like the film!  Otherwise, I would recommend it.

 See it if you liked: Taken, Abduction

“I’m so sorry I nearly shot you.  I probably wouldn’t have”

This review will be short and ‘unsweet’, as I really didn’t rate it at all!  It begins with a well used formula, a group of friends travel to the woods to holiday in a cabin in the middle of nowhere……..(Honestly, do these people ever learn)?!

I felt the film started off with potential to be interesting, and then just got silly!  This film suffers from an identity crisis, in that it really can’t decide what genre it wants to be.  It jumps around zombie / slasher / big brother and doesn’t pull any of them off.  It would’ve been much more effective to pick a single genre and do it well!

This film has received a lot of critical acclaim.  I’m no expert, but fail to see why….The critics are emphasizing the ‘big twist at the end’.  While there is a bit of a twist, it’s not particularly big, original or clever!

I know there are people who are impressed with this film, I was going to suggest
they’re most likely fans of no brainer zombie films, (which is totally fine if that’s your thing), however the zombies in the film aren’t even that good!  I think this film may well be one of those you ‘love or hate’.  I’m definitely in the latter category.

See this film if you liked: Severance

Yo dudes!!!

I’m telling you otters are the answer to all our prolems :>)  So sweet, these little squeaky buggers are the cutest thing in the world EVER!!  Apart from maybe Pymgy goats!  We haven’t been to http://www.paradisepark.org.uk/ for a while, so we thought we’d take Rachel and all there, and it was pretty good!   Just take a look :>)

Squeaky Otter Video – click me! (we kept the video short, as any longer and the squeakiness would drive you insane!!!)

And then we came back home and went out to the meadery :>)  That hadn’t changed much either!  But probably for the best! Fried food isn’t the healthiest but it’s the yummiest HA!

Tomorrow we’re off up to http://www.badgersholidaycottages.co.uk/ to say Hi to the badgers !!  Nah!  We’re going to say Hi to the Crowes  !! Ha ha!!! See what I did there! Then we’re off to Boscastle THE best place in Cornwall!

Yesterday I eventually made it to the garden center and what a shock I got!  A pack of cucumber seeds, £3.50!!!!  If I’d got all the seeds I wanted I think I could have said goodbye to £30.00!  That’s a bit steep! Growing veggies is a hobby for all, and should not be more expensive than actually buying them! Jeeze!!! And who needs 3000 seeds of one thing anyway ?   STUPID!!  So I came back home, cranked up good old eaby, and there it was, all that you wanted for 99p a pack and not millions of them :>)    I tell you it comes to something when you need to get a mortgage to get a few seeds!

Must get on with work now, hope you all had a good weekend :>)

Love

Sarah

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