Dolittle Movie

The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle (Universal Pictures)

Set Robert Downey Jr. in the middle of a bunch of animals, add a dose of humor and a golden combination has been created! I suppose that might have been a thought from the makers of The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle. Smart move because Downey Jr. has a huge fan base and a real fan (like me) shall not skip one of his movies! Do you say Dr. Dolittle, then images of the humorous Eddy Murphy, who has played the role in quite some films, are coming in right away. Now it's up to Robert Downey Jr. to portray the role of Dolittle, the doctor who’s able to communicate with animals. Of course Robert is best known as Tony Stark / Iron Man, a role that in my opinion truly was made for him! But also as detective Sherlock Holmes, he proved that he can be called an actor with the capital letter A. 

In Dolittle, the Avengers actor brings along one of his Marvel colleagues: Tom Holland, the current Spiderman from the MCU. As Jip the dog, he dropped four legs. (Because spiders have 8 legs, I know bad joke..) Bohemian Rhapsody actor Rami Malek also has a role in this film, namely Gorilla Chee-Chee. The female roles in this film are portrayed by (among others) Emma Thompson and Selena Gomez.

If you are following Robert Downey Jr. on social media, you probably have seen some of the promotion that he did for Dolittle. Around the 10th of December, he shared a humorous video in which the animals supposedly did an audition. (Several existing films included, shall add the video below). One thing was Barry the tiger (Ralph Fiennes) roaring like a dinosaur from Jurassic Park. A little later he says: "Put me in the movie or it's Downey for dessert .." I saw that in the morning, so I didn’t wanted a dessert, but it did made me look forward in seeing the film even more!

Also, from the first second, the trailer took me to the adventurous and somewhat fairy-tale world of Dolittle. The film was produced by the makers of Disney's Alice in Wonderland & Maleficent and you can certainly see that in it. Dolittle is set in the Victorian era and based on the equally named children's book series (the first one now is a 100 years old). Eddy Murphy’s version was compared to the books and earlier films quite different in details such as time, story and characters. Dr. John Dolittle, portrayed by Downey Jr. with some traits of characters that can be found on the IMDb list from Johnny Depp, prefers only animals around him. Due a serious illness of the young Queen Victoria, the eccentric doctor is needed, urgent. Together with his faithful parrot Poly and a student (Harry Collett), he’s going on quite the adventurous quest to find an extremely rare medicine for the queen. The rest of the crew includes a polar bear and an ostrich who are constantly arguing, a squirrel with sinister plans and a silly duck. Compared to Dolittle’s animal chaos, Tony Stark was lucky with just one talking raccoon!

Dolittle is a film for the whole family. (Although Dolittle takes his pet gang everywhere, I don’t think the employees at the cinema will appreciate it if you bring your own pets to the film..) Not just among children, but also among grown-ups, animal films are still hugely popular. And obviously the dose of animals and humor are all well present in Dolittle! 

 And no, I’m not Robert Downey Jr. tired yet. Hell no! I’m happy that we will at least see him one more time as Tony Stark in the Black Widow movie & that there’s a Sherlock Holmes film scheduled for 2021!

Have you seen Dolittle? What did you think of it? Feel free to share it in the comments!

Holiday in the Wild

Holiday in the Wild

Do you recognize the following: It’s easy to choose out a series to watch on Netflix, but finding a good film is quite a challenge! May I tip you Holiday in the Wild, starring Kristin Davis & Rob Lowe? Even though you might think it’s just an ordinary Christmas movie after you have seen the first scene, but I can tell you: it’s not. After her husband has left her, Kate (Kristin Davis) takes the second honeymoon to Africa herself, what she actually had planned as a surprise for her husband. There she meets Derek Holliston (Rob Lowe, doesn’t he look like Robert Downey Jr?), her pilot for doing some sightseeing in Zambia. Together they help saving a baby orphan elephant who just lost his mother due poaching. The animals and especially the baby elephants are the ones who are going to make your heart melt during this film!

Rescue our wild friends!

The film states that we, the humans are the most dangerous species living on this planet. I do agree with that and it’s absolutely sad that there’s still animal cruelty happening such as poaching. Humanity also comes with a large group of heroes, and fortunate this group is getting larger and larger. Heroes that live for their goal of rescuing the involved animals. This film sets its light on the elephants who after their futures seemed to be stolen, were found and rescued by Game Rangers International (GRI), a non-profit organisation established in Zambia. Also most of the scenes of this film were filmed at GRI. On their website I read that lead actress Kristin Davis once helped in the rescue of a orphaned elephant in Kenya, an event this film was inspired by. Kristin has a heart for animals and with that I think she surely sets the right example. She became a Patron to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. On both the named sites above you can donate or digitally adopt a elephant, for giving these wonderful projects a financial support! This film has inspired me to do so, it’s the only thing I can do from the other side of the world.

A thank you note from Sheldrick Wildlife Trust after donating

Photo: WWF

Africa is the home of my favourite animals and also in a way the home of my favourite Disney film. If you have read one of my earlier blog posts or are following me on IG, you probably guessed that I’m talking about lions & The Lion King. Also the lion is one of the species currently in huge danger and via organisations such as WWF (Dutch name: WNF) I’ve also been supporting projects that are helping the King of the jungle to continue his existing. Also I support their project for the tiger, a specie on the brink of extinction since there are only less than 3900 tigers left in the wild! Forgive me for talking a bit off topic, nevertheless, tigers may live in a total different continent, the circumstances with poachers unfortunately are the same. But all together we'll succeed in creating a better life for all the wild animals out there!

Here at the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation you can find information about about a project called: End Tiger Extinction. Also there's an option to donate. 

Elephants, lions, tigers & all animals need our help!

Photo: David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation 

Soul trips/Dreams

Also Africa is on my to do list for future travels, not in the near future I do assume, but someday. Holiday in the Wild surely has awakened my desire of going on a safari in Africa even more. Perhaps it also gave me a country to start in, namely Zambia, I think that’s really a help since Africa by far isn’t the smallest continent.. I liked that the lead character in this film actually is doing a soul-trip. I think it’s definitely something that brings someone on their right path towards their dreams. I’m going through a lot of changes into my life and that’s good because sometimes you’ve got to change. Sometimes you’ve got to say goodbye to certain things in your life before new doors are being opened. I don’t want to spoil the film for those who haven’t watched it yet, but in this film Rob Lowe speaks a sentence about the positivity of change. At that moment I thought: “Wow, that’s so true!” Once you hear it, you know what I’m talking about.

Normally I’m not that into Netflix films, also I’ve kind of had it with those simple Christmas films (perhaps I should give Last Christmas a chance) but I already shared that Holiday in the Wild is not really a Christmas movie. Holiday in the Wild definitely is worth the watch. I think especially romantic people, creative people and of course animal lovers will love it!

Ilze Kitshoff 

Extra

I've got to share this. You know my favourite Lion King character is Scar. I ordered a Scar plush because I loved it so much. But the delivery got delayed that much (he didn't even had to come from far..) that I thought he got lost or stolen in the mail. I even didn't dared to look at the tracking link I had.. But.. Guess who showed up at my doorstep last night? Isn't he adorable (in his own way)? He's totally going to inspire me in writing stories about the Lion King! (He's standing on my town's flag.)

Zen Blog: Inspiring Quotes and Nature 3

Zen Blog: Inspiring Quotes and Nature 3

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In my second Zen Blog Inspiring Quotes and Nature 2 I already had mentioned that perhaps I would do a blog like this monthly. And apparently the universe wants me to do that because I keep find all these lovely things on my path. Things that make my inner self jumping up side down because she can‘t wait to share it! This jumping inner self isn't new, because nowadays the feeling of sharing my vision, my thoughts to the world has grown bigger and bigger. I always was this quiet girl who never said much, (in person I‘m still not a giant talker..) or liked to stand in the spotlights. 10 years ago I always wore black clothing, even though some black clothes now and then are okay, fortunate my closet has gotten much more colorful. Someway you can say I've turned myself around with wanting to be heard. If you look on top on the page, you can‘t miss the fact that Tom Hiddleston inspired me a lot! But also his fan base brought me a lot. I've started fan accounts on Tumblr, Instagram and among others Facebook, calling myself 'Goddess of Loki' and to be honest I never imagined that so many people would want to follow something that I made! So yes, that gave me a self confidence boost!

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Once again I will also share some lovely quotes that I have found online and in magazines. And if I have given you inspiration, light and perhaps love by the time you reached the end of this post, then my task is accomplished! At the end of the blogpost you‘ll find a source list for the websites and the magazines!

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I've found the perfect bag to take with me while walking. You know a bum bag is easy, but I can‘t get a bottle of water or a small camera in it. This one does. It goes on my back without bothering me. And: The Lion King! 😁 (I‘m so excited for the film!) The Lion King‘s quote 'Remember who you are' suits walking for me, at least when I‘m going for a walk alone. This might sound a little floaty (also that‘s me), but I think there‘s always something about yourself to find out. And what‘s a better way to do that than in silence and in nature? Next part I‘m deepening this subject a little more.

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These photo‘s (and the one on top) I took last Tuesday when it was like 34 degrees on the hottest part of the day. Now perhaps you think: what fool goes for a walk with temperatures like that? But it was in the morning and it‘s cooler in the forest. Actually this was an activity that was planned months ago. It was all about finding inspiration in the forest. In stead of some heavy walking the leader gave us some things to do starting with walking a path together without talking, (for some that truly was a challenge!) but also to feel what the nature does to you and to let go! Another thing was to take a step forward and to name three qualities you possess. Light point: the clapping that follows gave a good feeling (2 people even clapped for themselves). As this was an activity for a group of people who are all searching for a new job or challenge, the last thing to do was to walk a path and to speak your goal/wish out loud! Before the path there was a obstacle to pass on which the leader had placed some plush bears. Those bears represented problems that you bump into along the way. (Beren op de weg/Bears on the road: A Dutch proverbial.) What are you doing with them? Do you prefer to walk over it with a bow? Do you accept them? Do you touch them? (I touched the panda, to express my love for animals actually) Or do you take them with you to walk the path together until they finally disappear? (When you decided to let go of) The choice is yours! 

I always like to draw cards so when I got my eyes on the cards she brought with as a bonus, my inner self started to jump again! The cards had Dutch quotes. My first one was "Today I will finish what I‘ve started" but it was the second that truly as a deeper meaning to me. It‘s the one on the image above: "Now I see my vulnerability as my strength. After searching I found the fresh breeze in life." That‘s actually something that I have experienced and still am experiencing. I've always had a small deviation in my legs/feet, restricted (<-- like this, I hate this word) me in my doings. Therefore I have told myself the following a lot: 'You cannot do that, you cannot do this..' Which was wrong! Also I never took much walks either, until like a year ago. I found out that I am very well capable of taking a walk for give or take 1,5 hour. You know, finding out you can actually do something feels really good! It even gave me strength! So yes, turning my vulnerability in my strength is a good way to put it in words. Lately I even took it a step further by standing in front at a Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators performance, (which I also mentioned in my Pinkpop/Music blogpost) while standing in a crowd like that, let along at front always had been something I feared.

Nature gives us a lot, more than most of us realize actually. And I think Mother Nature appreciates it if now and then, we do something back. Or spoken of last Tuesday: Take something out that doesn't belong there. I don‘t understand why people feel the need to dump their cigarettes and plastic there. I feel lots of respect for all the people who are volunteering in cleaning up this mess, but unfortunately that‘s it‘s needed in the first place. But enough about that!

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What have we got to inspire you with today?  

You know that reminds me of:

When Thor finally is reunited with Loki again, he‘s a tiger that can‘t be tamed as well! (This picture I found at the 2018 WNF Calendar for the month of May)

Sometimes life will knock you down. Perhaps it‘s to test your inner strength, but it‘s necessary to let you discover that you‘re stronger than you think you were!

Next time someone tells me they think I‘m weird, I tell them I‘m limited edition!

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Each day I still draw a card from a random online deck. The following three come from a deck called Life Goals. Sometimes I‘m still amazed how the right card (almost) always comes out!

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Is there room for one more tiger in this post?

I‘m in love with this breakfast plate. Perhaps I will buy it (and mostly use it for lunch!)

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My tea labels! ☕💚 In the mean time I got a few pages full of them. Here are three. Beautiful right?

Marbles! 💝

In case if you‘re interested: This is the tea I‘m taking them from.

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Speaking of healthy or organic food:

I love to support the local markets. The products are so lovely. I think here it still needs to grow. Some people even ask me why I‘m eating 'weird food'. For who can‘t read Dutch, these are: Raspberry jam, muesli, appel juice, dessert sauce and honey from a local beekeeper. What‘s weird about that? I understand why it‘s much more tempting to buy a much cheaper version in the normal supermarket but I love these foods, and I especially love raspberries! I haven't switched fully either, but would like to in the future. The picture is a month old, halve is gone by now..

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Don‘t look hard for miracles, but do look high in the sky..⛅

Clouds truly are beautiful. This made me stand still for a moment. I think we should look at the clouds more often. Here a darker cloud covers the sun, but she still manages to shine through. It looked much more beautiful in real.

A few moments later the sun came through.

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All right, one more tiger. I love them!

For those who are still here at the end of this blogpost, I got a little bonus. I would like to share today‘s (the date I published this post: 27th of June) message made by Doreen Virtue:

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Bless you, enjoy life & stay healthy!,

Love,

Nicole

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Source inspiring quotes: WENDY magazine, Flair magazine, Happinez magazine & orakels.net.