Best name for a dog ever!

After a slow morning I went of the the bi-annual family reunion BBQ from my Mum's side of the family where the main source of entertainment was the little kids who were mainly bumbling around aimlessly. We were also introduced to Templar the dog (told you it was a good name!) Most of the time he would lie in wait for a fly to buzz past and proceed to jump at it in an often feeble attempt to swat it. The highlight moment was when the dog jumped up onto Dad's seat.

Dad: Oh, bloody hell. Get down Templar. No. NO!
Host: He's a special French breed of dog, that's why we named him Templar
Dad: Ah, I see. Non, Templar! NON!

Back at home

Returned home to my cosy bedroom and decent Internet after the car ride from hell. As we were leaving Bournemouth we had to attach a ladder to the roof of the car, we had done it before however so it was perfectly alright. As mum begun accelerating at about 40 MPH there was and odd tapping noise coming from the roof, presumably something was loose so we pulled over and tightened it up, the same thing happened a few minutes later so we stopped again. After a third stop just before the motorway we had a proper go at it, making sure there were no bits rattling around. We hit the road again and this time there was no rattling, thank goodness.

Now I want you to make a low pitch humming noise, then try to hit a high a note as possible while still humming. Kinda annoying isn't it? Now imagine that, ten times louder, for a little over an hour... That would accurately describe the car trip, oh and that there was little to no leg room, but that sounds like nit-picking in comparison.

After that stressful experience I decided to watch something a tad light-hearted so I put on M.A.S.H. Despite a very mumbly and difficult 20 minutes or so, the film begun to pick up and develop some structure. I probably wouldn't call it a great movie as it has dated a little bit but there is still some humour to be found, the last supper moment was a highlight and although the ending sequence is very unexpected and unnecessary it is certainly a lot of fun.

New Ghibli!

Me and Louis blasted through the remaining 5 hours of L.A. Noire and left a little bit disappointed at the ending of the game, it was a decent ride however but the conclusion, although possibly paying homage to the Third Man, was lack-lustre.

This afternoon we went to the Bournemouth Empire cinema to watch the new Studio Ghibli: Arrietty. We were the only people watching the film, and we almost didn't go because it wasn't in Japanese. I did really enjoy it however, very beautiful backgrounds and quirky characters providing that light-hearted humour that Ghibli films are renowned for. The sense of scale was also great, many things we consider tiny are used by the little people as everyday items, this made looking out for things in the background a pleasure. What better way to clebrate a Japanese film than to visit a great restaurant: Wagamama! Now I'm thinking I celebrated a little too hard... I could barely manage that chocolate fudge cake.

I can't let you do that Dave

I set my alarm for 6 am this morning in preparation for 2001, I thought this Oddessy would be best undertaken at dawn. It was more of an experience than a film, very slow, very musical and there isn't really a narrative, at least not a very conventional one. It was ok, kinda required viewing for a film enthusiast but it is a bit long and a tad non senseical which I don't have an issue with but I can certainly see that some would not enjoy it for this reason. It did have an intermission though, which I felt obliged to take.

Didn't do much else today, have a brief go at painting the house which I was woefully poor at after smearing buttermilk paint all over the windows rather than the walls, fortunatly I got better as I went on and felt like a job well done.

Mark has famously been pestering me to watch Gladiator after my well quoted argument 'I don't like Romans.' Admittedly it was very good, the fight scenes were exciting and the villian was slimy and dislikable while Crowe should be considered a genuine hero and I ultimatly respected him by the end of the film. If Ridley Scott didn't direct it then it could have flopped, it is the atmosphere and mise en scene that he always nails and Gladiator is no exception; I still don't like Romans though...

Wall paper stripping

Another slow day, spent about 2 hours and 4 phone calls finalising my job application for Lakeland, little bit of a pain considering I don't know my national insurance number off by heart but we got that sorted quickly with a call to granny. I wrote a nice little bit for the 'reason for appication' section so that should put me in good stead. Technically I didn't do any wall paper stripping as we were tasked with removing wood-chip wall paper, after looking up stripping advice online for this type of paper it only came up with one result: 'Move House.' To be put bluntly the job took 4 days to complete as we had to take it nice and slow, I had the job of removing the nobbles on the wall so it was easier for Dad and the steamer to get hacking at the wall-paper.

I still can't believe I watched JFK as I was initially cautious by its long running time (195 minutes approx) but it was really worth it. At the beginning you are greeted by a quick back story and history lesson on the events prior to the assassination of Kennedy and quickly overwhelmed by the amount of information fed into you during the exposition and for another 2 hours, when the third hour kicks in however it keeps its foot on the accelerator and never lets up. The final 40 minutes are absolutely fantastic and a shocking insight to the nature of the US government and most definitely Kevin Costner's best role and performance. I didn't like Stone's other film Platoon, but JFK was just incredible.

Before Sunrise

Woke up a little late, about 9am which is very late for me I must say, got up played some more LA Noire and stayed at home while the rest of the family went into Bournemouth high street, I didn't go because it is admittedly a little boring upon frequent outings, they repeated that emotion after they returned with a shameful tone.

While they were out I got a chance to watch Before Sunrise which was absolutely excellent. It had a concept and a story that we all wish we could say happened to us as two people meet randomly and spend 24 hours together, sharing more with each other than anyone they have ever known. It's a wonderful set up which is helped by the incredible performances from the characters and they simple dialogue that is inspiring, funny and interesting. It is definatly heading into my favorites as we speak.

Later we all watched Moonstruck huddled around the warm glow of Louis' laptop after frequent disc skipping on a DVD player, while the viewing experience was a little bit bodged it was a decent film. Something about it seemed a little bit empty however, now that I think about it I didn't really know any of the characters nor know how they filled up an hour and a half as on reflection it felt like 20 minutes. It was fine though, funny in places and Nicholas Cage was entertaining but something didn't sit right, I think I didn't feel any chemistry in the romance and therefore the ending was a little hollow? I'm not sure, maybe I just feel let down after watching such a great film before ahnd and I bigged Moonstruck up a bit before I saw it.

Castle point shopping centre

It's days like this that remind me why I hate shopping, 90% of shops don't have anything I want and everything else is over-priced. Louis was desperate to get his hair putty which I thought was a bit sad, I never make any effort with my hair yet Louis must apply something everyday just so he can keep up his appearance, funny thing is, we are on holiday so he has no one to impress.

We watched A Cock and Bull Story a moment ago, while it was rather funny in places the first few minutes felt a messy, although the rest of the film lacked a bit of structure I thought that was ok because it did have that day in a life feel to it and had a lot of great British cameos. I would find it hard to reccommend it to most people as the film has a lot of dry humour and it can be a little slow going.

Hittin' the beach

After successfully pruning a large garden hedge we set off for the beaches of Bournemouth, we had amazing weather just before we got in the car and by the time we got there it was continuously cloudy; it stayed like that for 2 hours. Luckily it did not rain and was actually quite fun just watching Louis hopelessly larking around with a boomerang. We got the X-box up and running again after some tweaking with the screws to we got to play some more L.A. Noire which is really good and perfect for making a few gags from, many an in-joke have been formed already and it remains highly entertaining and very classy.  

The holidays have begun!

We packed our bags and travelled down to Bournemouth for the week, bit of a hectic journey down as we had to sit through a major traffic jam but after about an 2 hours we finally arrived at the house. By the way, we only just have Internet down here so if there is a day without a blog it is due to the nature of our connection, a little bit temperamental but I'm trying my best!









We do have the rare privilege of having an X-box 360, after playing a few easy games of CoD 4 ( I won 59-8) and a literal 5 minutes of play on L.A. Noire the damn thing suffered from the red ring of death... at least we have an abundance of films and the gamecube left! It was also Mum's Birthday today so we got a pretty awesome Chinese take-away and some profiteroles with candles on!



As per-Mum's Birthday choice we watched The Heartbreakers which is a French Rom-Com, It was very good and fun, certainly if Americans made it they would screw it up royally but the French know what good comedy is; It almost persuaded me to watch Dirty Dancing but hopefully I won't have to endure that anytime soon.

A bit of the old, ultra violence

Got in today for my working breakfast which was pretty sweet, a few muffins and doughnuts were present so I had some with some OJ, it was a pretty relaxed day overall apart from our very boring whole school assemblies. We were confronted with the task of applauding to sport captains of every year, for every sport, for each gender and then the runner ups; suffice to say it quickly got tedious.

Film Friday choice was A Clockwork Orange which is a film I have been interested in seeing for quite some time. Alex's character is amusing thanks to his dialect and mannerisms but overall the film wasn't quite the masterpiece I had hoped for. I think it didn't quite express it's undertones in as an effective manner as possible but it did deliver some iconic sequences, again mainly those of which that have been parodied in the Simpsons, but I would still argue that it is not my favorite Kubrick.

We need a name

During our radio meeting today we realized that neither the radio, nor our film segment had a catchy name, after many minutes of thinking we simply gave up and went to lessons... But we need a name desperately so we can sound cool and appeal to the younger audiences. Nothing special today, fun(ish) lessons went down but apart from that it was a normal day. Tomorrow we get to have a 'working breakfast' so I will have to bring in some fancy(ish) food items and maybe a coffee, maybe that will help me express my personality but probably not; either way it will be a tasty day tomorrow!

My final free Wednesday

Seeing as it was my last lazy Wednesday I thought I would make it count, sadly I did not live up to that expectation as I really didn't do much. I went to a party in the evening, I was again reminded how crap modern music is and how socially awkward I am in party situations; I've known these people for 4 years but why can I never have a decent conversation with them?

I did manage to complete the Star Wars original trilogy today with Return of the Jedi which was alright, I have learnt what to expect from the series now and I only really watched it because so many of my friends have been pestering me to see it. It did feel like the weakest in the saga as I was getting a little bit bored throughout the extended ending sequence which went on for FAR too long, one redeeming quality: Admiral Ackbar, enough said. In the afternoon I discovered that we did have a copy of A Matter of Life and Death which is supposedly very good, so I gave it a watch and was genuinely very surprised at the calibre of film; for something made in 1946. It just had such an interesting and original story to tell, the concept as a whole is absolutely wonderful and at times provides some delicious dark humour about death and the afterlife. The conversations between Peter and the French 'Conductor' are delightful to the ears and the contrast of colours are very interesting, also prompting the funniest line in the film. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone studying philosophy as it was clearly very sophisticated in tone and context but is still completely accessible to any movie lover.

B-name games!

I was rudely awoken again today by Louis' music as he burst into the room with a big old grin which was a huge contrast to my miserable face; it only got worse when discovered that I had overslept. Luckily I had just enough time to get ready but since our printer has run out of ink, I had to copy out my PowerPoint notes by hand. Speaking of, the PowerPoint was really good, my presentation skills were not so good as I fail on a very basic level to have any ability to speak spontaneously while under pressure so I was forced to bury my nose in my notes and interestingly sound them off... at least it looked nice.

I didn't have much time for a film today, so I watched another short film which was ok, 'SIGNS' was it's name and you can find it on youtube. Most of my time today was spent playing Cthulhu Saves the World, I know it sounds like a B-game, but it embraces that fact and is actually more of a genre parody. It plays a lot like the older Final Fantasy games (Which I love) on a very basic level, but then again it was only £1.79 and paired with their other game Breath of Death VII, combine my favorite gameplay with some tongue and cheek humour and you got yourself a customer!

Now that I have swatted a pesky daddy long legs I can finally go to sleep without fear of it crawling into my mouth or up my nose, I sleep easy tonight.

History = sleepytime

our 3 lessons of history today were really boring. Our teacher basically set us an independent assignment during lesson time to be worked on but it only took 30 mins and we were given an hour to do it, then our second lesson teacher didn't even show up, even more free time. Problem was, there was nothing to do apart from play hangman with words from our curriculum. Coming back home I decided to finish off my kick-ass presentation on Japanese etymology which looks amazing right now, its got some funky pictures with some subtle fade-in animations and stuff... and some great text written by me... I'm not selling it too well here but it looks cool.

I'm still not sure why I decided to watch The Spirit of the Beehive and I honestly could have lived without seeing it. It's one of those films that reviewers gingerly say 'It's brillient' or 'A masterpeice' when absolutely nothing happens whatsoever throughout its whole 97 minutes. It was like a lullaby and I was seriously dropping off about half-way through, it was just dull and tedious to sit through despite one or two decent shots. Feeling mildly unsatisfied with my film viewing today I turned to some short films which were miles better than what I had just seen. Vinnie Pukh was really awesome as it's a Russian adaptation of the Winnie the Pooh books, if that doesn't already sound amazing then there is something wrong with you. Today's highlight goes to a little film called La Maison en Petits Cubes which was really great, it was charming, creative and emotional, if you have 11 minutes to spare then don't think about it twice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX0Dvtvev1E

Mini Madness

Went into town to meet up with an old scout leader and friend to discuss a hiking route for a scout overnight hike, it was agreed that we would meet up at 10 but as I arrived late at 10:15 I got a text saying they would be 20 minutes late. After aimlessly wondering around town for a good while I finally got a call saying they would be another 10 minutes late, I ended up standing in the rain with and umbrella for 30 minutes; when we finally met up for coffee the Starbucks coffee machine was broken. Shortly after we went up to... I can't remember but it seemed like a decent place to have a hike, despite the very large muddy puddle we urged our scout leader to drive through; it will take a few washes to get off all the mud.

Goldfinger was my evening movie and I must say it was a lot better than I expected. after barely getting through Dr. No I was very skeptical about how this Bond film would keep my interest but to my surprise there was a thrilling or amusing moment every 5 minutes. Every scene was very original and kept on providing enough twists and one liners to keep me amused throughout.

Them!

There was a major bug infestation in Newbury tonight, but not the type that would force people to call the exterminators, in Newbury we greet them by the hundreds; especially if they are 10 feet tall. The special Spanish street performers returned this year with some big paper mache lanterns in the shape of bug and plants while motorized and animated with a small engine. It all ended with a battle of epic proportions as a spider and a mantis clumsily battled it out over territory, I guess... The event was ok, it did get loads of people's attention as it resulted in mass crowds in the marketplace, but at the end of the day, it was quite lack-luster as the cast supported of the fore mentioned mantis and spider as well as 2 identical ants, the Venus flytrap was the highlight but overall it was a weak turnout for the bugs; It would have been awesome to see something with wings like a butterfly or a bee.

Earlier this evening I had the pleasure of watching a director's debut movie which was pretty damn good. Submarine had quirky characters and some decent performances that really helped you grow attached to them. It was kinda like a mix of Squid vs Whale and Amelie, which can only be a good thing. I recommend it if you are sick of summer blockbuster movies with poor characters and plot, Submarine delivers these elements wonderfully.

End of the Potter Era...

I am really glad I went to the Harry Potter double bill last night/this morning, the atmosphere was really good, a lot of long time fans turned up in some form of costume and the cinema was practically full. Having not read the Deathly Hallows novel I actually didn't know how the story ended so it was very good to see it finally on film and can openly discuss it with peers without being afraid of the ending being ruined.

Part One was enjoyable, but just a little bit laughable in places but not in a truly negative way as it actually helped me enjoy the film more. Part Two on the other hand was truly an epic way to end the franchise, giving the films the conclusion it deserves. As the crowd put on their 3D glasses, we all felt just a little bit like Potter. When the Warner Bros logo came up with that familiar music I suddenly realised 'Jesus... This has been 10 years in the making, throughout my lifetime and this was going to be the final one,' A sense of nostalgia and emotion surged through me. Despite a little bit tedious and slow paced 5 minutes, this was excusable since it was mainly designed as a re-cap. The rest of it was a fun-action packed battle with some very unexpected twists (unless you have read the books), delivering a visual celebration and some highly anticipated moments. Even though I wasn't a die-hard fan of the books, I loved the film.

Left the theatre at 2:30 this morning and was driven home by Adam Osmand, bouncing around to Rebbecca Black's Friday in a very Ironic way was just a hilarious way to end the evening. As I walked into the house I noticed a strange light coming from the living room, thinking someone had left the TV on I went to investigate. The room was gloriously illuminated by the light of the moon, it was so inviting that I sat on the sofa for a few minutes and just pondered about the Potter films that I have enjoyed since I was 7.

So far I have kept myself alive and awake with a series of iced coffee drinks with enough coffee and sugar to kill a baby zebra. Now that I look back on last night while I barely have the energy left to write this blog I ask myself: 'Was staying up on a school night worth it?'

'Yeah, yeah, it was worth it.'

Still not sure why I signed up for this

I have organized to go the the last 2 Harry Potter films back to back this evening. Starting at 9 and going on until 2:30 this morning it is going to be interesting. I will hold off until then and update you on what will hopefully be an epic tale of epics.

Little bit of a wasted trip

Although typically I get Wednesdays off now, I still went into school on the grounds that me and Mark would be attending a meeting about the school radio. We asked our tutor what time the meeting was and it was during Mark's math's lesson which seemed a tad silly so we decided to go speak with the appropriate teacher first thing in the morning. In short, the conversation went like this. 'Hello sir, we came to discuss the radio meeting' (Says I after I embarrassingly attempt to pull open a push door) 'Oh that' says the teacher 'We decided to move that to tomorrow.' I left school very early that day as I had nothing to work on, especially considering I accidentally left my disc of The Evil Dead at home when I could have been analysing the directors commentary.

Spielburg double whammy today: Duel was first, it was very simple and quite tense in places, many shots were pleasing to the eye and that damn truck really gave off a sense of menace, I lent it to Mark shortly after as he is now driving us into school. Temple of Doom was next, although not bad, it was definatly the weakest in the original trilogy thanks to the two extra characters that grated on the nerves throughout the first half and Indy only really stayed in one place throughout the film. Fortunatly it did have that very good minecart sequence and some of the gross-out moments were certainly very creepy and disgusting; I still prefer the Last Crusade however. Unforgiven was the fianl film of the day and possibly the best, I do like to view it as a elegy to the western genre, as so many others do as it practically is the only noteworthy western after the 70's with a few exceptions. ome shots were beautiful and all of the actors were pretty good, Morgan Freeman's character provided an occasional  chuckle and Hackman was pretty brutal at times. Eastwood definatly deserves a nod as well for starting off as a broken down bounty hunter but eventually evolved back into his former self which is very remminicent of his glory days in the Dollars Trilogy. 

Damn, my chest hurts

For some reason, as of this morning, I have found it very difficult to inhale large amounts of oxygen without what I assume to be my heart aching, most likely I slept on it wrong or something but it really hurts at the moment but with any luck the pain should ease by tomorrow. I am also ploughing my way through If Chins Could Kill, I have about an hours worth of reading to go and planning on doing some more before I go to bed.

Broadway Danny Rose was suggested by Dadas one of his favorite Woody Allen films, although similar in tone and feel to Manhattan it was certainly had a more tame and accessible sense of humour. Some moments were decent and the ride was a pleasant one as I wanted to know what happened next consistently, but I think it was just a little bit too simple and can't really be read into very much. Maybe I am just harshly comparing it to Manhattan as it is very good at its purpose: to be a non-demanding comedy for all audiences thanks to it's improbable scenarios and unusual characters.

Well... that's err...

Took off the plaster over my wart crater today and was absolutely appalled a the state of my finger, I tried to get a picture of it but Louis' camera wouldn't focus in so close. To make matters worse, this was just after I was looking at publicity photos for the Evil Dead which were also very bloody.

I had a hard time deciding on what to watch today but I eventually settled on Fantasia for no real reason apart from the fact that I love animation. The film was very beautiful and well thought out in terms of art direction, at times. The Nutcracker sequence and the Devil one were very impressive and followed the music brilliantly, I enjoyed the Micky Mouse one obviously and the Centaur one was ok (Zeus was the highlight, casually throwing bolt of lethal lightning around like target practise, all while wearing this 'HAHA, what a gas' face). I really had a problem with the dinosaur one as it literally told the story of the big bang and the life and death of the big ol' reptiles for what felt like a literal millennium. The animal one was just too childish and WTF to be taken seriously but, maybe that's how they intended it, I will never know.

Wart-be-gone

I have only just realized the advantages of making my bed in the morning, it makes the room look very clean and the bed is so much cosier when you get in it, I have been going to bed earlier recently just to feel the soft duvet; just like heaven. I am a little bit miffed at my 3DS however as over the past 3 weeks I have been getting updates for my pokedex and a daily basis (it adds 3 new pokemon per day) I am way off the total amount and it has miraculously stopped giving me new ones. That was the highlight of my day and now it just doesn't happen anymore.

A Few Dollars More surpasses it's predecessor in my opinion. It just felt of a higher quality overall, as me and Dad both agreed, the framing was much better and the plot felt a little more accessible and ambitious as the dialogue was vastly improved. The priest-like bounty hunter was just as awesome as Eastwood and the silent sequence where they meet face to face is just gold. The bar has been set very high for The Good The Bad and The Ugly, but I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Weekend score... about a 6? It was fine in general and the pub meal certainly helped it out a lot after the hectic day of work. My main achievement was finally picking apart my damn wart which was extracted from my knuckle orally and with a lot of tissue paper, the blood flowed like Niagara Falls at one point, skillfully catching droplets before they fell onto the new sofa. Now I'm plastered up and should check on it by the end of the week or so, with any luck there won't be a small, bloody crater where it used to be, if there is, then there will have been no improvement and will probably leave a scar.

Overtime?

The Furniture project usually closes at 5pm, a family was still buying stuff at 5:30... and they still weren't done. Eventually their grand total of purchases came to £392.70, the biggest sale I have ever seen there and I was the one serving! It came at a price though as I was rushing around trying to sort them out as I had to get home ASAP to get to a pub dinner on time with the PTA. Once again I was mocked by Louis' peers after ordering a double espresso with casual swagger, 'clutch on to your J2O's and coca colas boys; this is a MANS drink!' At least that sounds like a cool thing to say now, unfortunately I always think of awesome things to say 2 hours after the right moment has passed...

If Chins could Kill

My film studies teacher very kindly lent me his copy of Bruce Campbell's autobiography, so far I am only 20 pages in and I am loving it, very funny and surprisingly well written for a B movie actor. Me and Dan also got a chance to ride in Mark's new car while he was driving it, simply put, he needs a little bit of work but clearly he will be fine within a week and driving us all around the show. We are all very excited about using the schools new radio equipment as well after we carried up the technical parts and the stuff looks pretty pro.

I watched another documentary today, The Cove is about dolphin hunting/poaching in Japan, in particular this little town and throughout watching I got a real sense of injustice towards these animals and especially at the Japanese government who were trying to cover up their somewhat immoral activities. It was made very well and had a very good 'freedom fighter' feel towards it as we get the impression that we have a right to know about the topic despite the barring; a decent watch for pretty much anyone looking out for a great documentary.

Ooooh... Mark's new car

Rode home in the new car today, although Mark wasn't driving it, it was certainly a very nice car; I believe it's a Chevrolet Kalos? I think that's what he said. On top of that, he passed his theory test so he get a big round of applause for that and he should be driving me into school starting Monday. We also presented a pitch for a documentary idea as part of our film studies homework, we based it on technology and effects in the media, we mainly focused on the AKB48 'scandal' where it turned out that a member of a Japanese pop band was fully computer generated, which we thought was pretty cool and it went down pretty well.

I thought I would start the legendary Dollars Trilogy today, obviously starting with A Fistfull of Dollars, proving again, that Clint Eastwood is the ultimate badass. The dubbing put me off a little however because I didn't expect it, the end sequence completely made up for it though and I would recommend the film to anyone who wants to start watching westerns like me. Do NOT watch the US trailer however as it basically begins with the end of the film and ruins it completely, if you have seen the film however I then definitely recommend watching trailer; it's hilarious.

Now i'm cookin' with fire

Woke up this morning thank that I would watch a lotta films, and true to my thought, I did, 4 to be exact. Starting with The Man Without a Past which is my first Finnish film which I enjoyed a fair bit due to it's bleak nature and a character that just made you feel good about yourself, reminding us that kindness and beauty can be found anywhere, even in slums in Finland. After that I saw Predator with friends which was ok, it wasn't as good as the Alien films and it did feel longer than necessary but at least it had Schwarzenegger in it, otherwise it probably wouldn't have been as well received as it is today. Gallipoli was very good which is what I have come to expect from Peter Weir as it gave me a story and some characters that I actually cared about and gave me the full sweep of emotion. Barton Fink was the final film and certainly the most peculiar as it was kinda like a cross between Miller's Crossing and The Shinning as yet another writer character descends into near madness and a proverbial hell, it probably had some of the best cinematography of a Coen film I have seen though thanks to the dank and humdrum setting of Fink's apartment block.

I was tasked with cooking the dinner today so I decided I would make my speciality: Pasta Puttanesca (As inspired by The Series of Unfortunate Events books, my favorite series.) First of all however, we had no pasta as Mum forgot to buy it, a short trip to One Stop later remedied this and I got straight to work. The recipe called for 5 tablespoons of olive oil, which frequently I ignore as that seems like a lot of oil, but I was feeling experimental so I chucked in the full whack along with a bit of butter. 'I'll just let that stuff heat up' I thought to myself as I selected A Whole Lotta Rosie on Itunes so I could continue cooking feeling like a boss, it was at this point that the oil started to sizzle rather violently. In a panic to add more ingredients to stop the bubbling I diced some garlic and chopped up the anchovies, although I took the lid off with caution as it left me with a nasty cut last time, I threw that into the oil. I then opened the tin for the tomatoes and again in the panic of the moment inspired by the increasingly sizzling oil and the loud AC/DC guitar solo I threw in the tomatoes only to discover that to save on 50p, Mum had bought the non-chopped variety, this lead to me stabbing in vain at the whole tomatoes while dodging the hot, spitting oil.

I instead resulted to mushing it all up with the back of my spatula as I prepared the capers and olives, the latter I usually chop into halves, it was at this point I heard Daniel walking around upstairs, I prayed he would come help me in the kitchen but I didn't want to sound like a damsel in distress so I didn't call up to him. His footsteps grew quiet and I thought he just came down to use the toilet so I continued chopping the olives. Then he appeared out of nowhere, without any indication. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, except for the fact that I was still a little on edge after watching Predator and he scared the crap outta me and I almost pressed to hard on the wrong side of the olive that could have ultimately sliced my finger. Dan stuck around for a little while but he merely stirred the sauce for 30 seconds, stopped, bluntly asked 'Have you finished slicing the olives yet?' and then he walked off. The final task was measuring out the weight of the spaghetti which I also made a right pig ear of as I spilled most of the pasta bag's contents onto the floor rather than the set of scales, after the dustiest game of pick-up-sticks ever I tossed them into the ready boiling water and all was right in the world. After that it was smooth sailing, Mum came home and helped me dish up, and in all honesty it wasn't too bad a meal, although I was roped into doing all of the washing up; typical really.

One loud, defining crunch later...

Getting up today felt like a great chore, more so than usual as I just didn't want to leave the comfy sanctuary of my bed and face another day of school. I have had no motivation to do anything whatsoever today or for the past week for that matter, I realized that the only thing keeping me going for today was the anticipation of my packed lunch since the beef for my sandwich looked particularly good. Playing card at break time was fun however, I couldn't keep a straight poker face while playing cheat however as I burst out laughing after placing down an 8, masquerading as a 3, this netted me a rather large and over cumbersome hand when I only had a few cards to go.

In the evening I finally got a chance to see 127 hours and being a big fan of Danny Boyle's films I snapped at the chance, putting it bluntly, it is a cinematic experience that is hard to forget. Being based on a true story the film has a much more believable angle despite the seemingly unlikely events that follow, survivor Aron Ralston even deemed it to be a very accurate portrayal of his 5 day ordeal and Boyle clearly brings it to life thanks to his trademark style. Obviously the amputation section deserves a mention, the sequence as a whole is very powerful and sickening at the same time but is not done in such a way to justify graphic violence as it really does put you in a position to consider your actions and emotions if placed in similar circumstances. Its a delirious adventure and something very different to what you would normally see in a cinema or at home, Ebert probably puts it best when saying '(Boyle) has conquered the unfilmable.' 

Mundane Monday

Successfully managed to present a powerpoint to our history class today after a small issue with file types I have had previously suffered. I went back home after my 3 lessons and watched Grizzly man which I had previously started in our film studies lesson. It was a pretty good film with a unique story and character study where the viewer is left to form their own opinions on Timothy Treadwell due to its generally unbiased nature. Thanks to some beautiful nature shots the experience was somewhat spiritual and remained engaging through out, I would recommend it simply because it is unlike any other documentary you would have likely seen.

I should now be a Russian expert

Spent about 3 hours looking at modern Russian history today as I put off most of my homework until the day before, as usual; my timeline looks fine though so I should be ok. Later on I watched Five Easy Pieces which easily cemented Jack Nicholson as one of cinemas and my personal favorite actors. His performance here was very impressive despite the positively bleak subject matter of the film as it reflects a man who will never be quite happy with his life and doesn't know what he wants which is an interesting concept. Occasionally quirky and provides a thought provoking ending, that is what all films should have, some may not think its as good as I say but I think it was much better than expected as it never went in the direction you expected it to, much like the protagonist.

I wish I could tap dance

Easily today's highlight was Singin' In the Rain which was a celebration of cinema and technology. The dance numbers were amusing and very impressive, the story was original and occasionally funny and is just a great film about making movies. Although I am typically not too fond of musicals this one was just right, there was one extended sequence towards the end which was rather unusual but had some of the most bold set designs I have even seen. It was just as I said, a celebration. It is simply impossible not to be instantly cheered up by this film and can be enjoyed by anyone of any age, I would not consider calling it anything else than a classic.

Damn it Murray!

Watched the last few minutes of tennis today, although he certainly put up a good fight, Murray lost in the semi finals of Wimbledon, which is a shame as he his a decent player but he just never quite makes it. I woke up thinking that today would be really rubbish for no real reason. First thing when I get in to school, our teacher for 1st and 2nd lesson isn't there so we get to do some independent study which was cool and 3rd lesson was pretty awesome as well. I catered for Film Friday today also, it turns out that Iceland do some pretty damn good frozen pizzas for only £1 (This is not a plug, just a bloody good offer!) And Louis returned home today after winning his animation contest and carrying home an Ipad 2... Holy Crap! Today was actually pretty sweet in retrospect!