TUTORIAL IT

All You Need to Know About Vivien Leigh on Her 99th Birthday

The 5th of November is usually a day where people go and buy some sticks of colourful delight and light them of fire so they can look up at the sky being ignited for about five seconds. Since Ive never really relished in seeing fireworks go off in the sky (it hurts my neck and ears...I prefer to watch from a distance), Guy Fawkes might as well mean something else for me. On this day in 1913, my favourite actress, and generally my favourite person who ever walked this Earth, Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling, India.

If youve seen either Gone with the Wind or A Streetcar Named Desire, youll know just how amazing she was. If you havent seen either of them, do Vivien a favour on what would have been your 99th birthday: get out from under your rock and see what youve been missing. While youre at it, check out Waterloo Bridge, one of my absolute favourite films, which you can find on YouTube. Honestly, youll love me forever.

I thought that I may as well dedicate an entire post to my love for Vivien Leigh, which started when I was a mere 12 years old. Because I had the tendency to get over obsessed with things back then, I read around five biographies on her, and then wrote my own (honestly, it was just one of the biographies condensed down...all of the quotes and everything were from one of those biographies that Id read). Since I cant share the entire thing with you - and nor do I want to, I was an awful writer at age 13 - I thought Id just throw together a random birthday appreciation post, filled with lots of facts that you likely didnt know. I dedicated a whole period of my life to this woman, so hopefully you will find some interest in it. Alas, here we go:

-Viviens real name was Vivian Mary Hartley. The last name in her stage name is the first name of her first husband Leigh Holman, who she married in 1932 at the age of 19. They had a child, Suzanne, in 1933. Vivien divorced Holman in 1940 so she could marry Laurence Olivier, whom she met in 1935 when they starred together in a season of Romeo and Juliet on stage. At that time, Olivier was married to Jill Esmond, who was also pregnant with their son, Tarquin. Both Holman and Esmond granted their respective spouses a divorce in 1940 and Vivien and Laurence married. They would divorce in 1960, due to both Viviens mental illness and the fact that Laurence was having an affair with Joan Plowright.

-When she was at school, future actress Maureen OSullivan (probably best known for her involvement in the Tarzan films) asked Vivien what she wanted to be when she grew up. Vivien replied "an actress...a great actress."


-It is all because of Laurence Olivier that she got the role of Scarlett OHara in Gone with the Wind. As you probably know, producer David O. Selznick poured about $50,000 into his three year search for his perfect Scarlett. Vivien literally came in at the last minute. Originally, Vivien had wanted to star opposite Laurence in Wuthering Heights as Cathy, but the producers were set on Merle Oberon. They offered Vivien the role of Isabella, but she declined it. When it came time for Laurence to shoot it, Vivien missed Laurence terribly so she went to America to be with him.
In the lead up to finding his Scarlett, David O. Selznick asked the public to vote for their ideal Scarlett. The most votes went to people like Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck, but one guy from New Zealand sent in a vote for Vivien. Yeah, us NZers have good taste.
That lone NZ vote didnt exactly do wonders, and Selznick said himself that he had "no interest in Vivien Leigh" when her name was put forward again in 1938. When Vivien came to America, Bette Davis had dropped out of contention as she played a similar character in 1938s Jezebel (which also won her an Oscar), and Paulette Godard was the main contender.
Vivien signed with Laurences boss, Myron Selznick, who was also David Selznicks brother. He took her onto the set of Gone with the Wind, where they were already filming the Burning of Atlanta scene (using stunt double for the unnamed Scarlett and Clark Gable as Rhett) on December 10th. Myron introduced Vivien to his brother by saying "Hey Genius. Meet your Scarlett OHara". She was instantly given a screen test.
The only actresses left in the race were Vivien, Joan Bennett, Jean Arthur and Paulette Godard. Bennett and Arthur were denied, leaving Godard and Leigh. They were given Technicolour screen tests, which sealed the deal for Vivien. Another factor in Godards failure to get the role was about her relationship with Charlie Chaplin, as no-one was really sure about how that was going down. Vivien was given the part on Christmas day, which was a great shock to her, as she thought that Katharine Hepburn had got the part.

-Waterloo Bridge was her favourite film that shed done.

-In 1944, Vivien started filming Caesar and Cleopatra. She was also pregnant at the time. While filming, she slipped and fell heavily, resulting in a miscarriage two days later. It was here when she contracted tuberculosis and her manic-depression started developing.

-One of the reasons I love Vivien so much is because she loved NZ. In her own words: "This must be the most subdued place in the world. The quiet is unearthly...Nevertheless much more couth and better mannered all round than the Australians and a much better audience."


-In 1949, she was introduced to the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, as she took the role for a London stage production. The show ran for 326 performances, and clearly took its toll on Vivien as shed often be seen shaking and distraught at the end of it, but she received rave reviews for her performance. It wasnt too long before a film adaptation was in the works. Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden were all a part of the stage production in New York, with Jessica Tandy playing Blanche. Kazan and writer Tennessee Williams favoured Vivien, so she was ultimately cast in the role. The role won her a second Oscar.

-She was going to star in Elephant Walk, which sent her to Ceylon, India. There, she started an affair with her co-star Peter Finch. She also suffered a mental breakdown, which resulted in her losing the role and being sent home. In one episode, she began reciting lines from A Streetcar Named Desire, and became so involved with that role again that when a nurse tried to calm her by saying "I know who you are, youre Scarlett OHara", she replied "Im not Scarlett OHara! Im Blanche DuBois!" She was deemed unfit to go back and finish Elephant Walk, so Elizabeth Taylor took the role.

-Vivien suffered another miscarriage in 1960. This had a clear effect on her relationship with Laurence, and they divorced that year.

-In 1963, Vivien won a Tony award for her performance in Tovarich. This was quite a remarkable feat as Vivien had never needed to sing before, and her voice was failing because of her tuberculosis.

-Vivien died on Friday July 7th, 1967, aged 53. She died of a severe tuberculosis attack. Many years later, Laurence Olivier was found watching one of Viviens old films on TV. He had tears in his eyes, and he said "This, this was love. This was the real thing."

Vivien Leigh had a pretty tough life, which is why her story is so fascinating. Seriously, if you ever want to know any more about her (this was a pretty brief overview), I know just about everything there is to know. But for now, a huge Happy Birthday to the most beautiful, interesting, talented woman who ever lived (in my opinion). May she go on in our hearts forever.

What do you think of Vivien Leigh? Got any favourite films/performances from her?

Available link for download

any time you need em slice and bake chocolate chip cookies

For a long time, I thought the New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe had ruined me for good. Based on a recipe from famed chocolatier Jaques Torres, it makes a cookie SO GOOD that I find myself daydreaming about baking and eating it once a week. And I probably would, if it weren't incredibly, incredibly, incredibly fussy to make. The uses two types of flour and rare (not to mention, expensive!) disk-shaped chocolate chips called feves. And to add insult to injury, it makes you wait at least 24 hours before you can eat it.

So what happens when I just need a chocolate chip cookie right here, right now?

Tara, the incredibly talented blogger behind Seven Spoons, saves the day with her recipe for Basic, Great Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe, found in her beautiful cookbook, is pretty much the exact opposite of the New York Times recipe. It's the least fussy thing ever. There's no need for a mixer; heck, you don't even need to bring the butter in the ingredients list to room temperature before using! And even with the incredibly simplified baking process, it produces a chocolate chip cookie that's just as good as the one from the New York Times — crisp on the outside, chewy in the center, and the perfect balance of sweet and salty:


The only problem is that with Erlend all the way over in New York, it's literally just me, my cat, and two dozen incredibly delicious cookies in my apartment. And if you know me in real life (which, shameless plug, follow hummingbirdhigh on Snapchat for a glimpse, though I'll admit I have no idea what I'm doing or how to really use the damn thing), you know that I can plow through 24 chocolate chip cookies in just one sitting. Without even taking a breath. For real.

So in order to prevent myself from gaining 200lbs, you know what I do? I allow myself one on the day that I make the dough, and freeze the rest. After measuring the dough out into cookie dough balls, I unceremoniously stuff them into a square baking pan to basically create a homemade version of the Nestle Tollhouse slice-and-bake cookies from my childhood that I loved, loved, loved. Only this time, with homemade quality dough that doesn't use and any weird preservatives or ingredients.


Plus, the kicker? There's some crazy voodoo cookie dough magic that happens the longer the cookies sit in the freezer. That is, the longer the dough rests (and these babies keep for AGES — I'm still going through a batch that I first made about two months ago), the more flavorful and amazing the cookies will taste. Think: a chocolate chip cookie with strong notes of brown butter, toffee, and salted caramel. It's all there, even though I used none of those ingredients. I don't know how or why. The reigning theory is that the flour fully absorbs all flavored oil from the chocolate, butter, and other ingredients to produce all those new flavors, but honestly, I don't really care.

Because it's that good.


Now if you'll excuse me, writing this post actually made me crave one of these damn things again. I'm pretty sure I have one or two left in the back of my freezer somewhere. And if I don't, no biggie. Thanks to Tara, I'll just whip up another batch, give or take twenty minutes. Just like that.

Life is good.


Some baker's notes:

• Please note that the recipe calls for chocolate feves (that is, round chocolate disks) and NOT chocolate chips. Chocolate chips have some weird edible paraffin wax that helps them keep their shape while baking — we don't want that for these cookies! Chopped chocolate, on the other hand, melts into the cookies and helps infuse the dough with chocolate. This is an especially important quality if you're freezing the dough for an extended amount of time. If you can't find any feves, you can substitute with a bar of good-quality chocolate (if you're on a budget, consider using Trader Joe's Pound Plus bars — they're great quality considering their price). Be sure to chop the chocolate up unevenly and coarsely to create an interesting texture throughout the cookie; I even left some feves whole and it was awesome!

get the recipe »

Available link for download

All Ya Need is Energy and Ambition

Attack the Block (2011) / UK / Out on DVD now / Written and directed by Joe Cornish / Starring Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Franz Drameh, Simon Howard and Nick Frost / 83 mins

Give a man a chance to show his ambition, and his ambition can work wonders.

After all, film-making is all about ambition. Youve gotta have ambition sitting on your shoulder right throughout the process, otherwise theres no point in sharing your story. These days ambition runs a little thin. And one genre that is seriously lacking ambition is the monster movie. These things are easy to do - just create a monster, and let people fight it. Attack the Block is a fairly simple monster movie, but the thing that sets it apart from all of the others is its relentless ambition. Joe Cornish wasnt given the biggest budget for his movie, which only drives up the ambition even more. With that ambition comes a truck load of energy, which is unlike anything Ive seen recently.

Set against the backdrop of London council flats, Attack the Block begins with nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker), on her way home from work, getting mugged by a bunch of locals. While theyre mugging her, a meteorite interrupts them. Sam escapes, and the leader of her gang of muggers, Moses (John Boyega), goes to investigate the wreckage. There he finds a strange, alien-like creature, which he kills, and then takes it up to resident drug dealer Ron (Nick Frost) so he can take care of it while he figures out what to do. In that time, a whole pile of gorilla-like aliens descend upon their block of flats. Suddenly, it is the gang against these aliens as they fight to keep their block. Despite the fact that these guys mugged her earlier that night, Sam joins forces with them in order to keep their block intact, as these aliens try to take hold.


Given the extremely short running time of 83 minutes, Attack the Block wastes no time getting straight into the story, and once it gets going, it doesnt stop. It has such vibrant energy running through it that it is impossible not to get swept up by it. Theres a pulsating soundtrack from Basement Jaxx giving it an extra push (in the same way that The Chemical Brothers music did for Hanna), with some British hip-hop adding some more hipness. The entire thing plays out like it is on a livewire - just about the complete opposite to the dwindling post-Red-Bull crash that I experienced with The Amazing Spider-Man - giving us plenty of colourful characters to look out for, plenty of things to keep your eyes busy. Such unrelenting energy is a rarity, but Attack the Block is able to take you in from the first few minutes, which is no mean feat. Taking place mostly inside an apartment block, Attack the Block could draw comparisons to The Raid. And they would make for an interesting, if a little exhausting, double feature. Both of them have the same, simple energy, even though Attack the Block is a little more excited about it all.

The relatively small budget isnt that much of a problem, either. The design of the monsters is simple. Theyre gorilla looking things with neon mouths. And theyre as effectively terrifying as anything Ive ever seen. Thats probably because they arent the same old CGI messes that are covered in snot. They look like you could cuddle them, but those neon things serve as a warning as to why you shouldnt. Which is a great shame. You could sell those things to kids, and then theyd make their way into homes before taking over the world. Maybe Im looking a bit too much into it but hey, if Attack the Block wanted me to put the scares up, thats how I did it.


If these guys did end up taking over the world, maybe wed be okay in the hands of Moses and his gang. They start out as the people we are supposed to hate because of their treatment of poor Sam, but they come to the party as heroes. What partially troubled me was that they were cut out of the same bread as the group of teens in another post-apocalyptic British film Shank. The Attack the Block kids are a little easier to side with, but they still have the same thin character development as those annoying people in Shank. At least Attack the Block has energy running through it, instead of anger.

Even though it has been over a year since Attack the Block first surfaced and everyone went pretty crazy over it, Ive managed to keep relatively blind about this film. So I definitely didnt expect to be so inspired by Joe Cornishs efforts. But when ambition and energy runs as thick as it does here, its hard not to be uplifted by what is essentially just a simple monster movie.

What I got:

Available link for download