Bridge of Spies - Movie Review

Who's In It?

 Sebastian Koch, Mark Rylance, Burghart Klaußner and Tom Hanks


What's It About?

Tom Hanks (James B. Donovan) is an insurance lawyer appointed to defending a Soviet spy, and when he does so successfully he is sent to segregated Berlin to negotiate the trade of said Soviet for an American pilot.

Any Good?

The film starts out with a brilliant sequence of the steps Rudolph Abel (Soviet spy) takes to retrieve a dead drop.It really sets a standard for great methodical scenes that sound boring, but are really well done and interesting; despite the subtlety of a sledgehammer. 

The dead drop in question

The characters are great in the film, with the acting for the Soviet spy and German negotiator being head and shoulders above the rest - and Tom Hanks above even them, despite his constant verge of tears face. James Donovan's CIA handler (Agent Blasco) is total cheese though, it was like he was put in to add a ruthless face to the Americans after all the vilifying of the Soviets.

The biggest problem I had with the film was the obvious pushing of the flawless Nuclear Family American image. While the Soviets were torturing the American pilot and shooting people trying to climb the Berlin wall, the Americans were taking great care of the Soviet spy - and these scenes just looked so biased and forced next to each other. Other than that it was brilliant - but the blatant Zero Dark Thirty-esque jingoism almost killed it for me. 

Rating: 

Things That Rustle My Jimmies

Oh I do like a good unrustling - don't you? If this is your first time, a little explainer: To Rustle One's Jimmies = To Annoy Someone Almost to the Point of Stabbiness.. but not quite. Each week we use the magical restorative powers of gif to unrustle those jimmies & set the world to rights again. 

This week's worst offenders:

1. 'I could of told you that' - Until you learn English you tell me NOTHING!

2. The 'Embed Tweet' function refusing to work on Blogger. 

3. When samples of beauty products are so much better than the full size. J'Accuse, Better Than Sex mascara ~ Tricksy Hobbitses!!

4. Packaged sandwiches that look stuffed to the brim, when it's only a sliver of filling in the centre & you end up eating dry bread instead!

5. Realising friends you highly respected are actually HUGE BIGOTS through their Facebook posts after a tragedy. 

Tell me, can you relate? 

What's been rustling your jimmies this week? 

The Toyota Auris Hybrid ~ Our #HappyinHybrid Week!

I'll start with a heartfelt Thanks to Toyota for the opportunity to work together to highlight their new Hybrid car this month. As soon as I received the brief, to use #HappyinHybrid, I knew I wanted to use the opportunity for good; to put my own spin on it, so to speak. In keeping with our entire ethos here at CherrySue, I wanted to pay that happiness forward; instead of relishing being happy in hybrid myself (which I absolutely did) I wanted others to feel a little of the happiness that came directly from driving the Auris too.

And so was born the week of #RandomActsofHappy, even though I had to fit my plans around my hybrid life as a working Mama/avid Blogger, this was probably the most rewarding project I've ever undertaken with the blog.

First things first was renewing my licence. I'd allowed it to lapse having handed back the fleet car I drove for my job in Road Safety a couple of years ago when our funding was cut. I'd actually half convinced myself that I didn't love being on the road every day from dawn 'til dusk; that and I'd never been able to justify buying a new car when there's teens, college & copious amounts of makeup to be paid for (it's an illness).

I knew I wanted to relate each of our #RandomActsofHappy back to drivers and the driving experience but also that I wanted to highlight some charities & organisations that are dear to our hearts. All the while, hoping that sharing the hashtag might just inspire others to do the same. It did. More often and in more ways than I could ever have hoped for.

So what did we do? You can take a quick squizz at the full five days through the Hashtag HEREbut our highlights include:


Driving the lesser spotted Gorgebag to college for the first time ever.

Braving Storm Abigail on Thursday night, I picked up my two favourite ladies from Athy as a birthday surprise. I haven't knocked on that door in at least 2 years so SURPRISE was right! We had a mini soiree in the back of the car before heading back up the N7 and arriving in style, safe and sound for the VIP opening night at Ice Skating Dublin in the Blanchardstown Centre. Singing our hearts out in the comfort of the car was probably my favourite part of the lot. Vive la Careoke! 

The most nonidentical identical twins in the world ~ Note the Frozen gift bag as opposed to Marvel!

Being preoccupied with my niblings' surprise birthday bash I gave my tickets to the Absolut Soder event to a good work friend. So a stop at the drive-through before a day of meetings was needed.

That wasn't my only visit to the drive-through that day though. This time 'round, I paid it forward by paying it backward & treated the car behind - see that full Video Tweet HERE:

'Here's hoping it's not a Clown Car!'

Next up was saving my Pops from the tail end of Storm Abigail by doing the Parental prescription run. They may only live 10 minutes from us but it's been quite a while since I've been able to help my parents out like this:

Real medicine & real medicine. Just what the Doctor ordered!

Saturday's idea was to surprise a good friend in a far flung part of the country but when the atrocities happened in Paris on Friday night, I changed my plans. I knew I wanted to help out with people returning to Dublin so offered up free lifts home to anyone that might really need one LINK HERE. When, quite understandably, I didn't have any short notice takers, I came up with the next best thing. I'd take a spin out and leave a warm welcome for one weary passenger on the ticket machine, hoping it would brighten someone's drive home. As fate would have it, these girls found it when they needed it most:

I couldn't quite believe the message from Laura on my Instagram that evening

The reaction to this particular #RandomActsofHappy has been nothing short of phenomenal. Shared thousands of times now and garnering interest on several of the country's largest entertainment websites such as Joe.ie /Her.ie, in print media as I spoke to Abi from The Mirror and on TV as seen above. 

Even now I'm receiving press inquiries about this beautiful little moment of kismet. That and, more importantly, messages from readers & strangers alike to say that it has inspired them to do their own Random Acts of Happy. Now that's an amazing feeling. 

Sunday saw the one and only time it's a good idea to put Diesel in a Hybrid:

Puppy Mani/Pedi Bound with Diesel

Then it was off to give Thanks to some people that have quite literally changed our lives. St. Luke's in Beaumont for the kindness and care they showed my Dad during his illness and Temple St for quite literally saving Adam's life when he was involved in a hit and run accident at just five years old. That was probably the most emotional day of the week to be honest and sincere apologies to those that snapped and tweeted to say I'd made them cry too. That was never the intention. But thank you too.

Heroes for heroes in St. Luke's & Temple Street

I had wanted to offer Patient drops to the Irish Cancer Society for their help during my Dad's radiation treatment but, understandably they need a commitment of time for that. Should you have the time or the resources to do so though, they could always do with some help. Get in touch through Volunteer.ie or Cancer.ie. I've been fundraising for the children's hospital ever since Adam's accident too and if they have helped you and yours, you can get in touch to do the very same at TempleStreet.ie.


On Monday we highlighted one charity that's looking to take your copper collections from you for a very good cause, well for five. Change for Charity support five Irish charities with the shrapnel you have lying in your cars ashtray or down the back of your seats :

Then real life & digital life crossed over once more as I popped across to our venue for our upcoming Fingal Road Safety Roadshow to finalise our numbers:

In fact there was a lot of this hybrid fitting right in to our way of life this week. It being ridiculously economical and good for the environment, which I try to be *ahem*being just two:

Check out that camera for reversing right up to the recycle bins! (Or, like, anything else)

I shared my very last installment of RandomActsofHappy on Snapchat yesterday and won't mention it here as I'm unsure as to whether it's been found yet and I'd really like it to be a unexpected surprise for the recipient. 

About the car itself. What made me Happy? 

If you've been following along with our adventures you'll know I shared right the way through my favourite features of the car itself - but what were they for those of you that missed it?

1. Hybrid Engine - firstly the fact that I got all of the benefits of an electric car, without ever needing to plug it in. For someone that often forgets to plug in her phone, never mind her car this was a BOON. 
2. The intelligent Hybrid engine decides how best to fuel itself, braking charges the battery, which in turn kicks in when you're braking a lot. So pretty much all the time during city driving. That means silent, economical joy - and more money for lipstick (again,illness). 
3. Automatic handling - there's no clutch, no catch and in fact the Auris handles very much like the swishest golf cart of your dreams. Given that I've driven every jallopy known to man in my Fingal days (Lisa Dingle in a Hi-Ace has nothing on me) this was a dream to glide through the week in. 
4. Heated seats. I suffer with sciatica because of slipped discs. Not so this week. One flick of a switch and I was in heaven; sliding out of the car and about my business all week long, much like Mr. Burns bringing Love. 
5. Alloy Wheels, OK, yes this is a pretty shallow one but when a fat cat in 3 Series BMW and an eagle eyed driver in an Audi R8 spend their time in traffic gawking at your wheels then that's a little slice of happiness in itself. 

All in all, my week with the Auris and my #RandomActsofHappy was one I won't soon forget. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I renewed my licence in time to take part. I'm thanking every single reader/tweeter/Snapper & RandomActsofHappy participator for their outpouring of joy and encouragement during our five days and I'm thanking Toyota for helping me to fall in love with driving all over again.

Got any questions or comments? 

                               I'd love to hear from you!

The Airfield Christmas Experience ~ A Magical Time for All!

We were invited to Airfield in Dundrum to bring our 5 children to their Christmas Experience and from the moment we arrived we loved it! Having visited earlier this year with Fun.ie to film for Ireland:AM (see that adventure HERE), we heard all about their plans for the upcoming festivities from Marketing Manager Shauna. Being a self professed Christmas nut, I advised we would most definitely be back to see their Winter Wonderland.

For those of you that have never visited Airfield it’s a 38 acre urban farm, visitor centre and restaurant just off the M50 near Dundrum shopping centre. They’ve recently undergone a multi million euro renovation so everything is in pristine condition. We arrived on Sunday late afternoon so we still had some daylight to visit the farm yard. Two wonderfully jolly elves Twinkle & Buddy were at the main gate to greet us. They gave us a map and a rundown on what we would be doing.

Twinkle was our guide throughout the experience and I have to say she was fantastic with our over excited children. As we walked through the estate they chatted away to her and she never once broke character even while speaking to me. With 5 little ones aged 9 and under we’ve gone on a lot of Christmas outings, through experience we’ve learned that the staff either make or break the whole enjoyment of the visit. Every elf & staff member we encountered were lovely to us.

I won’t spoil all the surprises but I will tell you that there are lots of festive things to see and do like seeing if you can find the fairies along the route. On our journey to the farm yard we passed by two donkeys and stopped to see them as they are my son’s favourite animal. When we got there we saw some really cute calves; some of which were only two weeks old. My little ones were amazed to see Blitzen and Comet relaxing in one of the stables.

It was soon time to go to the letter writing station where the children wrote and posted their letters to Santa in the magical post box with some help from McSprinkles the elf. There is also a fabulous sleigh in this room for a family photograph, they cost €10 each and €5 for copies. We got one and unfortunately it turned out really dark. So if you get one make sure you check it as I’m sure it can be rectified there & then.

Mr & Mrs Claus’s bedroom was really well decorated and Seamus my 7 year old thought it was hilarious that he saw Santa’s long johns hanging up to dry! It was funny to see them sneak in for a look as if they would be caught by Mrs Claus any second. From this point on there are speakers on every lamp post so you can listen to Christmas carols while you wander through the magical forest to Santa’s hidden grotto. Giant nutcracker soldiers, oversized presents and real Christmas trees with twinkling lights line the walkway right up to the grotto. The smell of the Christmas trees instantly gave me that festive feeling. They did a great job of creating the perfect yuletide atmosphere.

Before we entered the grotto we had to leave the baby’s buggy in the buggy park, it was great that they thought to put a cover on it so we had no worries in case it rained while we were inside. There were more elves here to greet us and provide the children with hot chocolate and mulled wine for adults. I loved that they served all the drinks warm and not hot so we could drink them straight away as the smells were divine.

The visit to Santa is a group visit but they are limited in numbers so they are small groups. The children all sat on cushions around Santa’s feet beside the fire while he chatted to them about what they’d like for Christmas and then told them a funny Christmas story before giving each of them a gift. There was time at the end where we got a quick picture of our family with Santa. Not once did we feel rushed or in a hurry to move on as we have with other Christmas experiences we visited in the past. When we left Santa’s grotto we visited Overends house to see their decorations, it was like walking into a storybook of yesteryear, I think my photographs can tell you more than I ever could. 

Gifts are unisex and are appropriate for either 1-3 years or 3+, 4 of our children received the age 3+ gifts. All the gifts are presented in a printed cloth bag which I think was much better than wrapping paper as they can keep them for years to come with our Christmas decorations. There are two variations of gifts; one is a little wooden music box along with three wooden spinning tops, a Christmas tree cookie and a packet of reindeer food to put out on Christmas Eve. The second is a wooden music box and a xylophone. While I wouldn’t have ever bought a xylophone for my 9 year old daughter she hasn’t put it down since she got it, she’s thrilled with it.

We didn’t pay for our tickets but like all of our reviews, this didn’t in any way influence my views on our visit. Tickets are available from www.airfield.ie priced at €22.50 for children over 12 months, €12.50 for adults with a 20% discount for members of Airfield Estate. While I did initially think that these prices were on the high side and there are places that are more expensive, you actually pay for what you get. It’s great that you don’t need a ticket for babies under 1 year old as when we visited Rathwood a couple of years ago we were made pay full price for our 6 week old baby, despite not wanting a gift for him.

My advice would be to get there early and make a day of it by having lunch in Overends restaurant. While we didn’t on this occasion the last time we were there we had a delicious lunch. They are very reasonably priced for fresh farm to fork meals in a lovely relaxing environment. I've recommended the restaurant as a standalone attraction to people in the Dundrum area so many times since. 

We had a wonderful Christmas experience at Airfield and will pay to go back again next year. If you are planning to go make sure you book fast as most weekends are nearly booked out!

Things That Rustle My Jimmies

I'll preface this week's Jimmies by saying that I'm only just over a bout of jet lag - had this post been on Tuesday there's every chance I'd have to take an extended digital detox... As it stands, this week, so far: 

1. The aforementioned jet lag. It was only a seven hour flight. HOW is it possible to knock you so far out of whack?!

2. The recent uproar about a teenage Instagrammer calling out the digital industry. Can we all agree that if you're taking life advice from a teenager, hell even from someone in their twenties that has never lived a day outside their parent's home then the issue isn't with the industry at all?!

3. Constant posts and threads bemoaning people looking at their phones. The way adults choose to entertain and educate themselves really isn't up for public discussion is it? 

That and phones are hella expensive. 

Mind yo' business!

4. Brands in the UK & Ireland pushing Black Friday deals; usually for a pitiful 10% off. If we're going to appropriate Thanksgiving could we at least make it the humongous dinners & days off and not the half assed consumerism? 

5. Commenters on posts about the horrendous traffic management after an even more horrendous accident in Dublin this week, shaming commuters for complaining about the monumental traffic management failures - the assumption being they didn't care about the lady injured. 

You know as humans we're capable of outrage at two things at once, right? 

Tell us, can you relate? 

What's been rustling your jimmies this week?