Like Crazy

Thought I would do a quick review of the film 'Like Crazy', which I saw today. I had been looking forwards to it ever since the trailer during 'New Year's Eve' and was thrilled when our cinema actually decided to show it, as they are normally not the best.

The basic premise- a couple meet during uni, but the girl is an oversea's student, originally from Britain. Consequently, her Visa runs out shortly after she finishes her studies and she has to go back to England. The only trouble is that, because she is head over heals in love, she doesn't, overstays her Visa and is subsequently barred from America. The story that comes after is one of long distance love and seeing if love can last, despite time passing and many miles being between the two people.

I must say, this film did not turn out to be exactly as I thought it would be. I thought it was a tale of long distance love, but actually it is more about the longevity of love and, I suppose, 'soulmates'. The couple in the film don't want to do long distance, so we follow them each on a journey of exploration and seeing if they can ever get over what they believed to be the great love of their lives.

The style of the film, with montages of short clips, is a fantastic way to show the passing of time and give us a real idea of the couple and what they do, without having to take up too much air time. The division of time between the two characters is geat too, not confusing at all and each get enough shown about them that we can know what is going on and the background things that may influence the relationship between them.

A lot of things that I have read about the film say that the ending is not really satisfactory, but I love the way it was done. I don't want to say what happens, but the film is left pretty open, and I think that is the way it should be. Love never has a set ending or path really and something could happen tomorrow that leads to them getting back together or breaking up, so why give it a fairytale happy ending? Overall there is a great sense of realism throughout and you can believe that life could well play out in the way it does for each of them. The acting obviously comes into this too, and Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin do a great job in depicting that heady romance that comes in your teen years, whilst also being able to be adults and putting across the strain that comes into their lives as they each get going on their careers and deal with the aftermath of loss of love.

It is definitely a love story, but one which is not your run of the mill fairytale romance, it is realistic, shows the strains that do come from long distance, and leaves you feeling satisfied and unregrettful about watching it, even if it maybe doesn't give all the answers you may want.

Reading List

I am starting to read again now that the dreaded dissertation is out of the way- I have 3 books lined up at the minute and am looking forward to all of them. Firstly, I have started The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and am loving it. I started it months ago originally, off the back of the film, but reading it went out of the window (no wonder, since I spotted it yesterday at my mum's house, must have left it there) for a while and I am starting it again now. I am only 50 or so pages in, but want to get it read as I normally hate Victorian period novels, but like this one :D plus, it is on a module reading list for this semester, so that is an added bonus.


I also have Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun to read soon, which I am greatly looking forward to, as have only read Norwegian Wood so far by him, which I found really poignant and beautiful (as is the film).

Lastly, today my mum picked me up a copy of Booky Wook. I never used to like Russell Brand really, but then saw an episode of Ponderland and loved it, so he grew on me :) I don't think I had really experienced him directly before that, so just seeing snippets of him seeming slightly eccentric did not give the best first impresson. I have wanted to have a look at his autobiography for a while anyway and a copy came into the charity shop mum volunteers in today, so now I have it there whenever I want.

Also winging their way to me at the minute are a series of classics for my 2nd semester modules, so I will have a heavy, and maybe not amazingly thrilling, reading load again before long. Hopefully I can get into the swing of things with these few enjoyable ones first, and then see how I go!

Nursing a beautiful cat

On Sunday I had to catch a beautiful neighbourhood stray cat, who is large, ginger and seems very mild tempered but timid. He has been around for as long as I remember and we assumed he must have an owner somewhere, but over time it seemed he may not. We fed him whenever he turned up, as we did worry a bit about him, and had noticed he had a mild cough for a while. It has taken me months to convince him to let me stand next to him, with many very patient times where I ended up sitting the other side of a door so he could get used to my scent/ sitting near him while he ate etc. It is lucky I did this in hindsight, as on Sunday I had to capture him, and that trust helped a massive amount. I dread to think what would have happened if he has not been used to me and I could not get him.

In the morning, you see, I was confronted by this sight:

A very poorly looking kitty indeed! The cough we dismissed as asthma or nothing serious (he seemed a strong and able cat) had developed into something much worse it seemed. It took a lot of effort and some help from a kindly neighbour who loves cats herself, but we managed to wrap him in a blanket and take him into her house (we did not have room with our two cats and no spare space, so luckily she had a place for him), after a little bit of a struggle. All night we were worried about him, but the only advice Cat's Protection could give was to take him to the vet first thing. The problem with this plan- we were both broke and could not afford treatment.


I did not want to part with Ginger, as he has become a lovely companion when I am in the garden and ginger cats really are a favourite of mine, but I knew he was in need of desperate attention. I wanted to know he was getting better and see that he was ok before we decided any other future for him, like maybe having to rehome him. Luckily, after hours of goose chases and 3 charities being involved, I managed to get a reference number from the RSPCA to get him treated. I took him in asap and he was given two strong antibiotic injections and some eyedrops since he was diagnosed with, as we suspected, cat flu.

His breathing was wheezy, he had a fully blocked up and red raw nose (the mucus had literally hardened around the end) and sores by his eyes. The vet let me keep him to give some TLC, but it was hard for that first 24 hours as although he was fairly bright, he was obviously suffering. On Tuesday we began to give him water through a pipette, as he has not eaten since Sunday due to the fact his nose was blocked and tilting his head hurt (according to the vet). We did this several times over the day and the last time he seemed interested in some tuna I had taken around, for the first time in days (and he is a big cat, like I say!). It was such a relief, but he still did not eat and turned his head away when we tried to help feed him. Today though, the effort paid off and his now clearer nose must have been able to pick up the smell and not hurt quite as much, as he wolfed down 3 bowls of food and began drinking independently.


He still has a wheezy chest and sneezes, but seems to be on the mend and it has been decided that he can stay with out neighbour for good, with me visiting as often as I like, and that we will share responsibility for food, to make sure he gets treated like the prince he should be after everything he seems to have gone through. Let's just hope he stays on the mend now!