The Milla Jovovich Quarterly

It's Summer... and Milla Jovovich is going places! She's getting started by putting one top down and another top on!

Taking pictures can be deadly

Black and White (2017? 1987? ???)
Starring: Bobby and Nikitha
Director: Karthik Subbaraj
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A celebrated photographer (Bobby) receives a mysterious camera that literally captures life through its lens. 

"Black and White" is an interesting flick with a strong Twilight Zone vibe. It ends on a serious cliffhanger and every single mystery that arises as it unfolds remains unanswered, without even the slightest indications of what the answers might be. Normally that would bug me to the point where I'd knock the rating a Star or Two but in this case the film moves swiftly and is filled with enough tension throughout that the lack of answers at the end didn't bother me all that much. In fact, this is one of those films that stirred my imagination, and I would love seeing a sequel. I might even make a post about how Bessie Love came across an enchanted camera and took it out of the hands of evil-doers.

With that said, this film is also a bit of a mystery in and of itself. I was unable to track down any history on it through my usual half-assed research, so I can't tell if it's a film that dates from the 1970s or 1980s, or just is made to look like it due to the technology that's featured. If it is a period piece, it's quite well done, with only one major possible slip-up that I noticed. (I know that the Bobby character uses the 35-milimeter camera different than I recall doing in several ways. I can't say if this is the crew and actor having limited knowledge of how such cameras actually worked, or if I just had different habits.)

Why don't you take a few minutes and check out this mysterious little film. I think you'll enjoy it!

Happy birthday, Priyanka Chopra!

Born in 1982 to Indian military doctor parents, Priyanka Chopra was educated in a variety of international boarding schools, including one in Boston. Although she initially was planning to enter a career in criminology, by 2000, Chopra turned a growing sideline as a beauty queen and a model into a full-time career.

In the early 2000s, Chopra swiftly rose to be counted among India's most popular actresses, and during the 2010s, she became increasingly visible on the international stage. In the U.S., she is best known as Alex Parrish in the television crime drama "Quantico" (2015-2018). 

 

In recent years, Chopra has been splitting her time between India and the U.S., making projects for production houses in both countries. In 2018, she married musician Nick Jonas and they have one child together. 
 
Today, July 18, it's Chopra's birthday. She's turning 40, and we're celebrating by posting a few pictures!

Coffee Beanery's Blueberry Cobbler

Welcome to another Sunday and another coffee review here at Shades of Gray! We may soon be coming to an end of this as a weekly feature, as our resident caffeine fiend is running out of interesting blends to try and write about. (But if anyone out there wants to make suggestions for him to try, let us know in the Comments Section!)

A Boy in Blue enjoying coffee! (It might even be blueberry flavored!)

 
COFFEE BEANERY: BLUEBERRY COBBLER

The foundation of this flavored blend is a perfect and mild medium roast. The blueberry flavor is strong but not overpowering, and there are hints of vanilla coming through, like the icing on a blueberry cobbler. This blend was so smooth that I could have consumed it black, so those out there who take their coffee like that with possibly a little sugar, juice, or creamer added will enjoy it, I think.

When I mixed this coffee hot with Unsweetened Almond Milk, the blueberry flavor grew stronger and became an absolute delight. The drink also took on a creamier flavor, which made it even better. I also tried it with Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. Not unexpectedly, the hints of vanilla combined with the vanilla flavor of the milk and brought it more strongly to the fore, but blueberry still dominated. With both kinds of milk, the flavors remained pleasantly stable and very tastily mixed with that of coffee as the drink cooled to room temperature.

When I tried this blend with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, it, well, super-creamy in nature. The flavors of blueberry and vanilla really popped, and the cinnamon that the sell-copy promised would be present also crept in. It was nice hot and it remained so as it cooled to room temperature. 

This blend also worked well when iced. Going in, I wondered if the mild flavor profiles would end up being too washed out when the drink was consumed chilled, but this was not the case. Although it was a little too bland when I tried it black, the flavors of this blend re-emerged perfectly fine once I, in turn, added the milks and the creamer. 

Hot or at room temperature, I liked this blend best when mixed with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. Iced, the flavors came through best when it was mixed with the Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. In all modes in which I tried this blend, the coffee flavor was present to a greater or lesser degree, waxing and waning with the other flavors but never being drowned out. I personally liked this blend best iced with Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk , but I enjoyed it no matter how I tried it.

If you want a mild and sweet flavored coffee that will go great with breakfast or an afternoon snack, I think this might be what you're looking for. If you really like blueberries, there's an offering from Bones Coffee that has a stronger Blueberry taste than this coffee.

In the U.S., it's National Ice Cream Day...

 ... and we're celebrating at Shades of Gray!

Spacegirl Adventures, Part Twenty-four

What Has Gone Before: Spacegirl is on the verge of escaping her pursuers, but then everything gets quiet. Too quiet...

To Be Continued...

It's International Nude Day!

It's the holiday where folks here at Shades of Gray let it all hang out -- International Nude Day!

If Shakespeare had been a surfer...

 

A Moon Girl at Work!

Today, we introduce a new special feature. We shall be presenting verified and fact-checker-approved photos taken by through the telescope at the Shades of Gray Observatory. 

Over the next few months, you will see that the Man in the Moon is just a lazy old coot and that it's the hardworking Moon Girls that are keeping the night sky looking just right.

'Ripped' is strong

Ripped (2007)
Starring: Paul Gray and Freda Evans
Director: Christian Linke
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A artist (Gray) finds a mysterious sketchbook that gives him the power to eradicate what he draws from existence.

"Ripped" is another excellent film that I found while wandering through the deep recesses of Facebook. I thought I recognized the filmmaker's name, but I can't find anything else that's done that I might have reviewed, nor can I find him anywhere on my contact lists. I hope he's done other things since leaving film school, because this is a really neat film.

Writer/director Christian Linke says he was inspired to make this film by episodes of the original "Twilight Zone" series. He's done a great job capturing the look and mood of some of the most iconic episodes of that show while also bringing an appropriate silent movie aesthetic to the actors' performances that echo the best of what that era had to offer. The storytelling is fast-paced, the camera- and lighting-work is creative, and the special effects are simple and effective. Linke did a fine job in general.

There are only two things that dragged the film down from the Seven Rating I was thinking about to the Six Rating that I ultimately gave it. 

First, I found some of the stock music that Linke used distracting. One bit featured a motif that I knew from somewhere, so I found myself thinking more about where from than what was happening on screen. Once I placed the music, I began to wonder why he chose that particular piece; was he trying to evoke the very famous films and even more famous character that it's associated with, or was it just coincidental? (This could just be a "me" issue--I have the same problem when Chinese films lift famous film scores and use them for scenes and genres that have nothing to do with where it was taken from. It could be I notice these things more because I'm a nexus point for film-buffery and music criticism, so this might be a non-complaint complaint as far as most viewers are concerned.)

Second, I kept wanting the stakes to be a little higher, especially in light of the ending. When the Arist realized he could make things vanish via the magic sketch pad, he should have moved onto things far more impactful than just nick-nacks, escalating past annoying pets and to people in quick succession. The film is so well-made that this isn't a huge problem, but it still something I had to "ding" it for.

All that said, I think if you enjoy things like "The Twilight Zone" and "Tales From the Crypt" or classic short-form horror comics, I think you'll get a kick out of "Ripped". Take a few minutes to check it out... and perhaps even let me know in the comments if you could tell what music I found distracting.