Friday 31 July 2015

Book - "Men on the Menu"

Author, Bambi Smyth has traveled the world, looking for love, dating men, and matching their qualities to the local cuisine.


In her book, "Men on the Menu" she writes about her 75 blind dates with an Italian Prince, a Spanish Gigolo, Russian Billionaire, and a Vatican Priest and more.


She thought she'd found The One in Rome. Tall, dark and handsome, charming.....

Find out more from Franki Hobson's post over at The Carousel website.
Here's the link; http://thecarousel.com/travel/men-menu-woman-dated-italian-prince-spanish-gigolo-russian-billionaire-vatican-priest-heres-happened-next/

Have a scrumptious week!
Ashlyn

Friday 24 July 2015

Movie - Magic Mike XXL

Source: Warner Bros

Magic Mike XXL and Channing Tatum...and a little bit of imagination goes a long way...

There was a few sizzling surprises in the movie that I didn’t see coming until I bought my ticket, and sort of sunk down in the cinema seat, forgot about life...relaxed, and fixed my eyes on the mambo action. Woah!

Dancing wise - Magic Mike XXL moved on from the original movie where the buff guys danced at a club twirling umbrellas in their hands, and wearing raincoats, army uniforms, cowboys, firemen etc, fellas imitating fantasies to turn on the ladies.

The second time around, MMXXL had some refreshing ideas about whooping it up on the dance floor. How to burn out female brain cells and roast the pleasure centers of the body, particularly down low…like the chocolate sauce on the inner thigh…

Foreplay and female desire, are two words that come to mind from an article written about the movie by the Huffington Post. Here’s the link if you’re interested; 


source: giphy.com

Youtuber, Laci Green has also made a video called; “The Female Gaze is Real in Magic Mike XXL”. See it here;  https://youtu.be/FdHJG67xmsQ 


So what was the story about besides the obvious – Channing Tatum + Hunks stripping off their clothes? Not every woman needs a plot for this movie so I’ll keep the premise short!

MMXXL is about a group of adult male entertainers who go on a road trip to attend the stripper convention at Myrtle Beach where they plan to give their final performances.

The guys travel in an ice cream/yogurt truck, which doesn’t have enough seats for them to sit down on, or any beds for them to sleep in. They aren’t too worried about what they eat or where they sleep…or who they sleep with. Seems a freedom-loving, “make it up as you go” movie guy thing to do.

There’s lots of bro-talk during the journey about their past dance performances, failed relationships with women, and wanting to change their lives.

It was the different groups of women they meet at the stops along the road who were the catalysts that challenged the bro thinking. To the story hunks’ credit, they were open-minded and receptive to the influence of the women. I had some hot-faced moments watching the guys getting their re-alignment to female pleasure.

There were 2 scenes in the movie that short-circuited my female brain;

Rome’s Club at Savannah.
Actress, Jada Pinkett-Smith played the character of Rome, who was the boss lady of a private, sexy club. Ladies payed a subscription fee to be part of the club. I know about book subscription services but Rome’s type of club…still learning about that one.

So in this dimly lit, classy old house, there are male entertainers performing in different rooms. We see women of all races, ages and sizes coming for the live, ooh-la-la action. A largish lady wearing a short dress has a good time lying on her back getting a massage, or was it being teased by one of the entertainers, (think getting in the mood/foreplay here). Lots more happening in the house but I don’t want to give the movie away.

I couldn’t resist including the featurette;
  

The Dance Finale at the Stripper Convention.
The mirror dance routine by Channing & Stephen “tWitch” Boss was spectacular by movie standards, maybe even brilliant. But I couldn’t imagine myself being bodily tossed around Channing’s hard physique like I was a pole dancer. (I don’t have the flexibility in the joints – ha-ha!) Maybe I should try to imagine it!

My big brain fry came from  Joe Manganiello in his traditional bride and groom scene. He escorts his new bride (from the audience) to the stage, to the sex sling…gulp…all of sudden there’s red lighting, bass raunchy music…what is he going to do to her now!

Arrrr…freaking out!

Honestly, my pelvic floor muscles squeezed tight and dropped to the carpet. I’m not joking, it was a real, physical reaction. I think I also held my breath. OMG were the only words, my brain could understand at the time.

Before I go, I’ll leave you with some more positive take-aways from the movie.

There’s a stripper who theatrically paints the portrait of an everyday woman from the audience, and her image turns out to be a silver, glittery goddess. Aww…loved it.

In two scenes, Rome (Jada) proclaims to all of the women around her, of every size, race, and age that they are “Queens”, who are deserving of pleasure and worthy of getting what they want from men. Jada made Rome a captivating character, she was a cat,  grrr to feline growl. She can be a spokeswoman for orgasm equality any night.

Thanks to the hunks and the amazing women who made this provocative movie. My last thought from the movie is- foreplay can be mind-blowing, exciting, surprising, fun, and you can be an everyday woman and enjoy the skin you’re in.

Going off to fan myself,
Ashlyn

Here's the teaser, I mean Movie Trailer #2.


Friday 17 July 2015

Coming Soon - 5 Movies Featuring Awesome Females



I found a write-up of some upcoming movies that might be worth seeing on the New York Times, Woman in the World website. 


I thought I’d share a brief low-down of what’s on offer;



Trainwreck  – ROM-COM
 With Amy Schumer, comedian, playing a gender-reversed role - a commitment-phobic, career woman who works at a men’s magazine and doesn’t believe in monogamy. (Eyebrows shooting upwards right now!) What a classic trope about men spun around for the female view.

Ricki and the Flash
With Meryl Streep, multi-talented actress. Is there any role, this woman can’t play? Like a leather-clad rebel who leaves her family behind to join a band and become a rock star? Decades later, when there’s a problem with her daughter, she returns home to confront her past decisions and the consequences.  But the rock chick from the 1980’s still has something worthwhile to offer her troubled daughter.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl
An independent film. A coming of age story about Minnie, that’s based on a graphic novel. After Minnie has sex for the first time, her life looks different, and she becomes crazy distracted by sex and men. The movie looks like an interesting mixture of animation and 1970’s themed-action.

Mistress America   Comedy
Two young women are drawn into a friendship by the marriage of their parents. The story tells of their adventures in New York City and dealing with the enemy.

Grandma Comedy
With Lily Tomlin. Grandma needs to help her young granddaughter who is in "the family way". They need money, and Grandma persuades the reluctant, young father-to-be to hand over the cash by taking his hockey stick, and whacking him in between the legs. Some old-fashioned encouragement happening there! The movie looks like fun with Grandma taking matters into her own hands, saying the wrong things at the wrong times, some wit and cleverness. 

To read more of the reviews and watch the movie trailers, here’s the link to the website;


Have a good week!
Ashlyn

Friday 10 July 2015

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

When the busy-ness of work and kid’s school is finished for another week…it’s time to catch a breath, and think about a treat like…Cake!

The number one favorite in my home is…CHOCOLATE.

Coming in second is Banana Bread or Cake.

And number three is Raspberry Swirl Vanilla Cake.


Feel free to leave a comment with your fav choices. 

I’ve found a new recipe to make chocolate cake in a mug. It’s a novel idea. Something fun and yummy to try. See what’s possible in the video below.

Here’s the link to the recipe.  http://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/recipes/cake-in-a-mug-1266

We’ve done a test bake of the cake in the kitchen. In one of those strange twists of parenthood, the kids mostly made up the recipe but I didn’t get to taste it. Huh? I had chores to do afterwards and forgot about the chocolate cake until it was too late. It was gone.

We did some innovating with the recipe. Tripled the mixture to make 3 serves of cake but only added 2 eggs (instead of 3) to the batter. We made the mixture in a bowl, and poured it into soup dishes to bake. Why…soup dishes? So there was plenty of room on the top to add a scoop of ice-cream and dollop of whipped cream…and they could melt a little bit over the hot cake before they slid down into the tummies.

We also used a conventional, fan-forced oven instead of a micro-wave. It took about 20 minutes at 180º Celsius/356º Fahrenheit but this depends on the size of your cake baking container. The kids didn’t mind checking to make sure the cake didn’t burn and their recommendation is— the cake is best eaten warm.

Smiling,
Ashlyn


Friday 3 July 2015

Bargain Price for 8 Feel-Good Beach Romances

During the month of July, you can grab yourself a special deal for your kindle8 beach romances for under $1.00 at Amazon (maybe Apple iTunes store as well).

I was reading about the boxed set in the RWA (Aus) newsletter. 

The authors took their own initiative and  co-operatively  put together the collection of beachy/feel good romances that are set in either New Zealand or Australia.

Priced at just under $1, and split 8 ways, each author will earn a tiny amount of money.  I couldn’t resist the bargain or helping these ladies get the word out about their stories. 

Love Down Under: Eight New Zealand & Australian Feel-Good Beach Romances Kindle Edition


Here’s the product description from Amazon;

100% pure escape. 
Escape to the Land Down Under, where the sky is bluer, the living is slower, and the loving is sweeter. 

This summer, dive into eight heartwarming feel-good beach romances by bestselling Australian and New Zealand authors. 

And because size matters, they’re all novel or long novella length! We’ve got cheeky, sexy, funny, steamy, sweet—and all with heaps of heart. Enjoy with a tall pitcher of iced tea or a bottle of chilled white wine—we’ll never tell!

Eight standalone novels (NO cliffhangers!) spanning 1,500+ pages
Over 95% off retail for the individual books sold separately
Only available through July--get your copy today!


I’ve started reading Book 1 Tracey Alvarez – MELTING INTO YOU (Due South) 

The story so far...

Bad-boy Ben becomes an instant Dad,
and he needs sassy widow, and school teacher Kezia to help him navigate parenthood.
There’s rough seas ahead for Ben in this story set on an island off the coast of New Zealand.
Especially when Ben can’t get what he wants from his troubled daughter or the attractive Kezia.

Cheers!
Ashlyn