No, please no!

Madonna wants to make a remake of Casablanca and she wants to set it in war-torn Iraq.

The source said: "Madonna is talking about taking the Ingrid Bergman role for herself, even though Bergman was in her 20s when she played Ilsa and Madonna is nearly 50.

"She wants to update the story and maybe set it in a modern war zone such as Iraq. There is no script yet."

No, please no!!! This will not get Madonna's film career going. On the contrary. She will become a laughingstock because nobody can ever replace Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart . And having the film set in Iraq. Totally ridiculous! There should be a law against remakes of old classic films. There is a reason why they are classics and it should stay that way.

Missing London (again)

I don't know whether it's the recent warmer weather (11 degrees today. Last week it was -5) or me seeing a film last night set in London, but I miss London terribly and I wish I was there right this minute. Looking in my calender from last year this morning also got me thinking about London. The end of March last year was the start of my more or less weekly trips to London which went on for about two months.

I really can't pinpoint why I love London and everything British, I just do. I guess that's what being an Anglophile is all about. But never less I wish I was there and not here.

Happy second anniversary!

On this day two years ago The Good Things in Life was born. Born to me, Cathy, with support and inspiration from an old time blogger.

The content and format have changed many times, but it's still my thoughts and ideas regarding the good things in life and a few other things.

Here's to a third year!

Raised on-line

A report in the UK last week showed how a generation of children now is being raised on-line with spending most of their free time on social networking sites.

It says that many under-16s spend more than 20 hours a week glued to the internet, three times higher than official estimates.

20 hours is a lot. I who even work with the Internet, have a blog and in my opinion play around at Facebook quite a lot, do not manage to spend more than 20 hours of my free time on the Internet.

The report also showed that young people are constantly connected staying up to the early mornings surfing the Internet and leaving their mobiles on during the night in case they will get an important text message.

It's very easy to shake ones adult head in dismay and say something about today's kids... And it's also very easy to forget how things have changed over the last 10, 20 or even 25 years, because it really has. Computers, mobiles and the Internet are part of everyday life. Society has changed a lot too and as well as it being hard growing up it's not easy being an adult either. Since what's missing really is time. Time for parents to spend with their children and time for children to be children.

As an adult I do believe it has to start with us. We are the role models and if we fail then our children will fail too.

A reason to get married?

A recent study in the US has showed that married people have lower blood pressure than single people.

Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad, of Brigham Young University, found that men and women in happy marriages scored four points lower on 24-hour blood pressure than single adults with a good group of supportive friends or relatives.

The study also showed that singles with a great network of supportive friends or relatives still had higher blood pressure than happily married people. Which in some sense shows that it must have to do with being two. To always have someone around to give emotional support in good and bad times.

I can agree with those facts since I do belive that we are meant to be twosome, but what would happen in my case if I got married? I already have low blood pressure. Would faint all the time or walk around dizzy (as I already do from time to time)? Remain to be seen...

Too much of everything

With Easter almost over I'm realising that it's been one holiday of too much of everything. Too much food, too much candy, too much chocolate and too much wine. To be honest I slipped somewhere in early February and haven't really gotten back on track since then. I've been very good with coming up with excuses, but not with get going again.

I now have closet full with cloths that I love, but when putting them on they are all snug and tight. And all my suits... Out of seven suits there is only ONE that I can breath normally in. Some I can't even put on because they are too tight. Sigh! I promised myself this would never happen again, but it did...

My nephew is getting married in five weeks and on Saturday both his mother (my stepsister) and I complained about not having anything to wear. The two of us have also loved to shop, but now just thinking about it made us cringe.

I was hoping to be able to go to London soon again so I could do a bit of shopping. But other than spending a fortune and knowing that I would be the only one at the wedding with that dress, I would still be one (or two) sizes too big.

So I guess the real question is, where do I find my mojo again?

Happy Easter!

I can't remember a colder and snowier Easter, but needless to say it's very nice to have some time off. Tomorrow will be the last day of five glorious days off.

Quote of the day

What we say is important for in most cases the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

~Jim Beggs ~

Travel myths

I think we all have heard that if you use a mobile phone on a plane it will crash or recirculated cabin air on planes will make you sick. All very common travel myths which Forbes Traveler explains truth behind.

As an European I have to wonder though where the myth - Trains are the way to go within Europe if you want to save money - comes from. Train hasn't been cheap in Europe for the last 25 years. But yes, those were the days when a Euro Rail pass could take you all over the continent. Too bad I never got to experienced it myself, but then I'm a child of the low cost airline era.

McCartney-Mills divorce

I know I really shouldn't go down this road since someone's divorce, public figure or not, clearly isn't my business. It's just gossip and speculations, but after reading in The Telegraph about how a High Court judge presiding over divorce from Sir Paul McCartney more or less has shredded her to pieces I'm actual a bit astonished.

In his judgement, Mr Bennett said Miss Mills, a 40-year-old former model who lost a leg in an accident, had lost her sense of reality when she met and married Sir Paul

"The wife for her part must have felt rather swept off her feet by a man as famous as the husband," he said.

"I think this may well have warped her perception leading her to indulge in make-belief.

"The objective facts simply do not support her case."

Ouch! That's all I can say. The British Media and the British people have never really liked that she married “their” Paul, and I have to admit that after reading Heather Mills book “A single step”, I'm not really that found of her either. But this is harsh stuff and her credibility as a mother, activist and spokesperson has truly been severely damaged. Ouch!

A tad bit late

A former German Luffwaffe pilot fears that he might have killed the French author and war time pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery back in 1944.

Saint-Exupery, who achieved worldwide fame with his fairy-tale-like book "The Little Prince," died in mysterious circumstances when his plane came down near Marseilles while on a reconnaissance mission. His body has never been found.

A tad bit late to fear for something that happened for more than 60 years ago. But I guess even at 88 one wants to have 15 minutes of fame.

Powerful blogs

Last Sunday The Guardian wrote about the 50 most powerful blogs in the world, and yesterday (only a week later) Swedish media picked up the story. Better late than never I guess...

Having played around with my own blog for almost two years now I'm very happy to see some of my favourite blogs on the list, including Samizdata at number 39. Two friends of mine are part of this blog that never leaves you untouched.

Samizdata is one of Britain's oldest blogs. Written by a bunch of anarcho-libertarians, tax rebels, Eurosceptics and Wildean individualists, it has a special niche in the political blogosphere: like a dive bar, on the rational side of the border between fringe opinion and foam-flecked paranoid ranting. Samizdata serves its opinions up strong and neat, but still recognisable as politics. On the other side of the border, in the wilderness, the real nutters start.

I tend to disagree with their views most of the time, but somehow I find the rather thought provoking posts interesting which keep me coming back for more.

Snow

After no snow all winter we woke up to a white world this morning. Totally unnecessary and unreal after yesterday's beautiful spring day with sunshine, clear blue sky and temperatures close to 10 degrees.

But on the flip side, I got to air my parka and heavy boots today. And yes, they still do the trick to keep me warm and comfy even on the wintriest days.

This is life

I was watching This is life +10 last night on television. I had seen part of it last year when it aired in the UK, but seeing the whole thing this time really made me realise that things change A LOT in 10 years. Back in 1997 I was more or less living the same life as Egg, Anna, Milly et al and now 10 years later I'm doing it again. Anna's life it is. She's so much like me it's scary. So I never made it to law school, but I dreamt about it at least...

What also got me thinking was my own reunion in a couple of weeks with the people I worked and partied with for almost seven years. I guess one could say that we grew up together. All young, with maybe girlfriend/boyfriend but not family yet, working with cutting edge technical solutions in the media and television world. We worked, partied, laughed and cried together just like a family. When the company we worked for decided to downsize and most of us were made redundant we promised to stay in touch, but...

An era or phase of our lives was over I guess. Just like in This is life. And then we meet again and try to create what we had back then, which is impossible. That's what scares me with this reunion. But it's going to be fun seeing them all again. I know I have changed these last fours years, so I'm pretty sure they have too.

Tired and melancholic

Feeling tired and melancholic tonight this song fits my mood perfectly. Sometimes songs just make you think about special people and places...

British humour

The British sense of humour is one of many things that I adore about Great Britain. The dry, witty and sarcastic humour that almost make you want to cringe. Or a hearty insult or a good joke about something totally inappropriate. No one does is better...

Now scientist have actually discovered why this sense of humour is so unique. It's dictated by the genes. Dr Rod Martin, who lead the research, has proved that Britons enjoy cruelty more than those from other countries.

He said: "It is possible that differences exist between nations in their sense of humour and that these may be the results of different genetic and environmental differences.

"The British may have a greater tolerance for a wide range of expressions of humour, including what many Americans might consider aggressively sarcastic or denigrating, like in Fawlty Towers and Blackadder.

"In the North American version of The Office, the lead character is much less insensitive and intolerant than in the original UK version."

I fully agree, and somehow I think it goes along with that stiff upper lip and life goes on attitude. If you can't talk about it- joke about it.

A crack in the crack

When popping by Tate Modern back in September for a drink the Turbine Hall was closed off for work with the next installation in the Unilever Series. From the the noise of the jack-hammers we could tell that the next things was going to be something extra. And it sure was – a big crack.

Visiting Tate Modern again with some Swedish friends in January we were all astonished by this and could not see the art in a big crack running from one end of the hall to the other end. And just think about all the work they have to do when fixing it up for the next installation...

Hilarious enough now it turns out that next to the fake crack there are actually real ones, probably cause by the fake one. Is this what they call the real world imitating art?

Colourful tulips

I love tulips and during season I buy fresh ones every week. The more colourful the better, which can cheer up any gloomy mood

Having been in a blah mood for the last couple of days (more rain and wind hasn't exactly helped...) I actaully realised by looking at these ones that everything isn't as grey as it seems. Things can be rather yellow and purple as well... And there are beautiful things out there, even if I at the moment have some trouble seeing that.

Quote of the day

With one project out of the door it was time to start up another today. And after a day of meetings this quote is rather true.

I'm extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.
~ Margaret Thatcher ~

Red bananas anyone?

The latest thing in British supermarkets are now red bananas, yes red. The fruit has a sweet slightly raspberry flavour and creamy white pink flesh and is now for the first time been imported to Britain.

Grown more slowly than their yellow counterparts, the red banana plant takes 10 months to fruit and six months to mature with fruit taking a further five days to ripen.

After seeing some pictures of red bananas I actually don't think they look that very taste, but then on the other hand I like my bananas quite unripe. Very ripe ones are only for baking.

THE place to meet men

According to Cosmo The Apple store is THE place to meet men.

Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques. The vibe at the stores is conducive to man meeting too: You can check your email among cuties, take a free workshop on anything from Photoshop to podcasting (a great opportunity to strike up a conversation), or just survey the, ahem, good-looking merchandise

Hm, interesting. I just realised last week that I "need" an iPod touch so maybe that's my chance... Hopefully he'll be able to pay for the iPod touch as well since the cost of $500 is dampening my need somewhat.

Diets are sad

Diets are sad
Originally uploaded by cathy257

I couldn't agree more.

I just had to to take a picture of this poster at Pret a couple of weeks ago while in London. Diets can be very sad and boring, but if you eat with your head they actually works.

Too bad I'm not using my head at the moment though...