Prolonged Film Friday

I didn't get as much Zelda in as I wanted to as Mark came over with Ben Gomm at about 12 and they quickly decided that they wanted to make some fake money as a film prop. 2 hours later they still weren't done and there's bits of dyed paper all over the dinning room. We then had to wait ages for the others to roll around at 6 until we could finally watch Super 8, a film that I wasn't too excited to watch but I was surprised by it in a small way. It did feel like a Spielberg film at times, heavily borrowing from Close Encounters and Jurassic Park and some other older Sci-Fi movies. I liked the children characters and I thought that some of their lines were genuinely funny and there was a good deal of atmosphere in the little town. However there were many other parts that did not work so well, it tried to be scary but all its 'jump' moments, although unpredictable, constantly occurred during a conversation, it worked the first time but after the next 3 it just wasn't really working. The character's of the Fathers could have been done so much better but their scenes are short and undeveloped, I was really interested in the Dad of the blonde girl but he turned out to be very boring. Finally the ending was a huge disappointment, providing little logical or satisfaction/closure and just felt a bit rushed. If you want to see a better film about extra terrestrial beings in a small town vs the military watch the Iron Giant.

Babysitting

The Prime family bi-annual get together was hosted at our house this year and me and Louis were put in charge of looking after the 3-5 year olds. Mario Kart kept them occupied for long enough, although the youngest one could not quite grasp the concept of being player 2 and continued to focus his attention on player 1's actions without registering the fact he had to actually play the game. Oh well...at least he looked like he was having fun. The Steam Holidays giveaway has finally paid off for me as I managed to miraculously net the whole of the Back to the Future game set for free! That's 5 point and click adventures that me and Louis really enjoy so thanks Steam!

Zelda is finally mine

Jamie and his brother agreed to lend me their Wii so I took the lengthy route into Cold Ash and back via bicycle in what could have been the worst cycling experience of my life. It felt like everything was coming between me and my beloved Zelda, uphill climbs, slow moving horses and finally rain with headwinds and the whole journey took about 90 minutes. Theo worst pert is, the game hasn't made the strongest first impression so far, after a strong tutorial section with the to be princess, I have felt a serious lack of motivation to continue playing. Apparently it does pick up in the second half however and many do feel it is amazing and I wanna know what all the fuss is about.

Zelda is laughing at me

There it sits, Skyward Sword in all it's limited edition glory, taunting me with is shiney box and chunky instruction manual. I can do nothing but lament my poor, broken down Wii that cannot play the game on account of my clumsiness. As I hold my golden Wii remote, an idea blossoms in my mind. 'Can I not ask a chum to supply me with a temporary Wii?' I sit in wait, desperately anticipating a reply from Mark on Steam...

The near poetry will end here, Mark replied and said no and I can't get hold of Jamie. So, yeah...

Nice little video...

A calm Boxing Day

If there is one thing I would hate to do on boxing day after a wonderful Christmas, it would be going to go and see the opening ceremony for a Fox hunt. Not only do I object to it morally, I just seriously doubt the entertainment value of watching a bunch of men on horses drinking cherry with a broke shotgun in one hand and a dog lead in the other, in fact, a quick look on Google images just gave me that exact image and I had the advantage of not standing out in the cold. Instead we avoided the hunt and headed towards some friends of the family for coffee and biscuits which was very pleasant. After that we came straight back to the grandparents house for some very nice dinner of turkey and potatoes. I was also gifted a very fine bottle of beer and some jelly beans.

I am currently enjoying a nice sit down while watching some curious programme with Bear Grills and a comedienne, while it is just about providing an entertainment factor an degree higher than a fox hunt, me and Louis are just making pee drinking remarks about Grills; and all is right in the world.

Merry Christmas '11

Hello again faithful readers, once again I write this after spending all day doing festive things like eating turkey and opening presents. This year I got a pair of individual toe socks, Zelda Skyward Sword, coffee, and a bright red waistcoat which is pretty cool. Most of Christmas was spent at our uncles house so we didn't have to fret about preparing the meal or the party games although Mum was quite verbal about her fears of being robbed while we were away; this was quietly unsettling because she said it with such casual conviction.

This year's festivities were not as good as last years in my opinion but I am sure I will look back on this one with fond memory's, I think it's because we didn't see any films or television specials, we watched Michael Mcintyre's comedy roadshow but that was about it.

Hope everyone else had a very lovely Christmas and that you didn't drink or eat too much, indigestion hurts and boxing day still has a bit of magic in it, despite the left-over turkey you eat for lunch being a bit dry.

Twas the night before Christmas...

Really excited about Christmas tomorrow, not sure why though, I know a few things I will hopefully be receiving but there are many surprises in store I'm sure. What I really want to see is the look on someones face when I give them a gift, especially Louis, although he has already successfully guessed what his present is this year, how? I have no idea... Another Christmas Eve party was hosted this year, many people came ate our fine foods and left ready for the big day tomorrow, which is exactly what you fine readers should be doing right now!

Merry Christmas again, from Cafe Studios and myself personally, I really do hope everyone has a damn good Christmas despite the lack of snow. I have griped about the general lack of Christmas cheer all month, but I am certainly feeling it now... and I hope you all are too!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

It's a wonderful movie

Vey little was accoplished today, mostly Batman, which is really good and I completed LIMBO as well. What has felt like a small achievement is the fact I finally got around to watching It's a Wonderful life, trust me when I say you pretty much need to see this film at some point in your life, it will just enrich you spiritually and morally. James Stewart performance is, without a doubt, one of the best in movie history, we totally empathise with his every action and when he returns to his home after losing the money you can see in his face how much of a broken man he is.

Louis has put up the new Edmund and Darrel short, based on a slightly true story as I do tend to get him rubish gifts, or so he claims...

View it here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/586498

Christmas Shopping? Sorted!

I spent so much money today. First of all I got Louis and myself Payday: The Heist, then I saw Batman on sale, and while I was browsing in town I found Deus Ex for really cheap! Dead chuffed with what I got everyone, lots of nice things for some very nice people, I even got Louis his very late Birthday present so that's a huge plus. While I was away worrying about what to get my Mum and my Girlfriend (easily the two hardest people to buy for) Mark, Dan and some others headed off to London to see the theatre production of The Woman in Black, I didn't go because it sounded scary and I am somewhat of a wuss. They bought back someone called Derek who was constructed in the Build-A-Bear Workshop, Mark and the others crowned his as the Cafe Studios mascot as he also wears a little blue hoodie... With little ear holes which are so cute.

As you may be aware, the new Christmas video is up, just a short little seasonal one that we are sure you'll appreciate, if not, then you are a scrooge who needs to eat more chocolate orange.

Merry Christmas!

Old vs New

Sonic generations is a game I have been saving up for a long time, and with the Steam sales on for Christmas I picked it up at a good price. The game has, very nicely, bundled into my nostalgia nerve as, in my life, Sonic came before Mario. All the old levels are amazing in every way, the music, the speed the set moments are just great.

Hugo was a very, very impressive film. It started off quite slowly and you weren't too sure where it was going, but eventually each mystery is replaced with another and you can't take your eyes off it. The secondary characters were great and a lot of fun, especially Sacha Baron Cohen for providing some pleasant comic relief within a misunderstood villain. Frankly it is hard to do the film justice when it's still showing in cinema's just go see it, its for all ages and appeals to the old and young.

Christmas break

School Autumn term is finally over and everyone can now get ready for Christmas. After warfing down the past 5 days worth of advent chocolates I put on an ugly tie by request of my friends and headed into my last day of school in 2011 which went by very quickly. Not much else is new, watched Bad Santa again to get Louis in the holiday mood, great little film that, much better than you would expect. Not many plans for the rest of the week either, I'm watching Hugo tomorrow which should be good, so until then...

Til next year Misfits...

Today, I watched the season finale of Misfits, I think I can honestly say that it was possibly the best episode made to date, it was so good I just wanted to watch more and more but sadly, I will have to wait until next year. Even an hour later I feel like it has been 'the end of an era' thing and I must reconcile thoughts with a fellow Mistfit-er, but alas, I must wait until tomorrow for that but with my sore throat it will certainly be a bit tricky.

The team went back to Mark's house today to film our Christmas special sketch, it is very much in the style of Card-ception so I apologise if you don't think it's amazing, but I can say that it is definitely a little bit funnier than the Birthday video; certainly made us feel a bit festive making it thanks to Mark's lovely living room decorations.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

Today was pretty standard, got my 3DS ambassador titles which is amazing, been trying a few of the GBA games out while I have had the time. In the evening Louis and I decorated the tree while listening to Christmas hits, as the tradition goes. We knew the Christmas spirit hit us though as we glanced at one ghastly penguin tree ornament and just couldn't stop laughing.


I had high hopes for A Scanner Darkly, its a sci-fi written by the same guy who did Blade Runner (Philip K. Dick) so I knew it would be pretty good and it certainly delivered. However, like Blade Runner, the plot was a times difficult to follow, something that will undoubtedly be remedied with repeated viewings. The actual film was very impressive, delivered in an animated style that is rarely seen it is a bit of a visual treat. Robert Downey Jr was very good in his small role and provided some neat comic relief from time to time and was clearly gave the best performance. If you like Science Fiction I would definitely recommend this, it is quite underrated.

A bit of telly

After watching Film 2011 and A History of Film: an Odyssey I now realise why I tend not to watch very much TV: It's so time consuming! God help those poor people who watch soap operas on a near daily basis. One cool thing that happened today was I got to play Mario Kart 7 for a bit today in multiplayer, very enjoyable and I hope to pick it up soon.

A bit of a fuzzy feeling

Film Friday consisted mainly of me, Mark and Nick sitting on our laptops drinking shots of apple and orange juice while listening to Christmas music, can't think of a finer way to spend my Friday afternoons to be honest. Afterwards we got around to watching Love Actually which I am happy to admit was a lot of fun and full of Christmas cheer and the like. It pretty much is the Pulp Fiction of British romantic comedies as it deals with the entangling storyline of several characters, some more successfully than others. The Hugh Grant Prime Minister scenes and the Alan Rickman ones are probably the highlight of the bunch, there were about 2 or three sidelines I really didn't care much for, like the Kiera Knightley love triangle and the Laura Linney relationship thing never really got as much screen time as it should. Overall however there were some laughs to be had and plenty of the Christmas fuzziness to go around, recommended viewing during the holiday season.

Shoot-out time!

I recall tell you fine readers that this video would be coming out 'sometime next Wednesday' about 2 months ago, but with deadlines and whatnot it has been a tad awkward editing videos in our not so spare time. But now we are finally proud to present to you our new video featuring a large ensemble of our school chums as extras. Basically we figured that we wanted to make a shooting film, but on a super low budget, solution: use finger guns! Although a tad immature, there are several references to many action films and even a western in there so keep your eyes peeled!

Beating Exam Boredom: All Guns Blazing

Running XP like a boss

Today I managed to get a free laptop from Mum's computer graveyard at work, I found a really decent looking one with a working battery this time, got it home and begun installing all the old 90's PC games we own; I'm playing Zoombeenies at school tomorrow! The explorers Xmas party was on today, of which I was completely unaware so I was not in a party mood whatsoever, at least they had crisps and cola which was nice despite me fretting about all of my history homework due in for tomorrow which is all done now but it was a lot of work.

Feeling a little more festive

The one thing I have noticed about Christmas this year is that I simply have not noticed it enough. I haven't heard many xmas songs on the radio, haven't seen any xmas adverts and we have run out of mince pies so we certainly don't have much xmas food. To remedy this I watched Charlie Brown's Christmas Special since I love Snoopy Come Home. The short had some very lack-luster animation and voice acting, and some puns I am sad to admit were not very funny, but in the last 5 minutes you feel a sudden wave of empathy with Charlie Brown that really makes it worth a watch; I don't even know how it happens but it just gets amazing suddenly. Additionally I attended the first of my Christmas parties, this time with my volunteer job, the meal reminded me just how crap crackers are and how much I love turkey and gravy. All in all, today was very important in making me feel just a wee bit more 'christmassy,' I hope this feeling lasts longer and I really do want to hear more Christmas songs!

A greater sense of motivation?

Today was pretty standard at school, the noteworthy aspect being playing a game of chess with Josh that I openly compared to the Vietnam War, perhaps crudely but I truly did feel like President Johnson as he ignored the advise of the wise men and struggled against the guerrilla tactics of the Vietcong.

The other interesting thing that happened, at least in my eyes, was The Breakfast Club. Easily one of the best high school movies ever and a great insight into the lives of teenagers that was fun and thought provoking. It didn't feel too dated either, with the exception of the famous theme song that is so 80's its too awesome to feel old. The film inspired me to do something good and out of the ordinary, I don't know what yet though, just waiting for that single idea to come to mind except it never comes. 

The Bastion is complete

My one claim to fame today is that I finished Bastion. It was quite good for a downloadable game, had some very nice visuals and a neat progression rate with a surprisingly satisfying ending. I was a bit confused at the 'moral choices' section of the game because I didn't really know how much actions would affect what, the whole final decision felt like a bit of a shot in the dark to me but it was still good. I even had a little go at tiding my room today, it just feels a little emptier and a whole lot colder, spent most of the day wrapped up in my duvet and I was still a bit nippy.

'The Mini Band' Music Video

Mark and Chris recently created a video for The Mini Band - if you've got a moment then take a look by clicking here. You can also watch the behind the scenes video on our channel below:

Stuck between a landing and a hard place

Sorry about no blog again last night, another party. This time is was a relatively tame house party, I say tame but there were a couple of people who were shamefully very drunk before I even arrived, by the end there were 3 people being violently ill in various items that link to the sewers while we all enjoyed Finding Nemo and Mean Girls. I was offered a space on the landing under the impression that it was spacious and had very comfy carpeting, 50% of this turned out to be true so I didn't need a roll mat but my head was poking through a door as the surface area of the landing was the size of half a dinning table.

Waking up was also very fun, walking home in 2 oC temperatures was a good way to jolt my brain, defrosting my bike and cycling in however was one of the coldest experiences of my life, I had to hug the radiator afterwards to regain circulation. Film of the evening was The Ox Bow Incident which was really amazing, kinda like 12 Angry Men... with COWBOYS! The film was very ahead of its time, dealing with issues of justice and morality very maturelyproviding a thrilling third act and a great conclusion. It was a little slow to sstart off with, but after 15 minutes in you will not be let go. It even has Henry Fonda in it so that seals the deal.

Reviewing footage of nasty things

Me and Mark went through all of our zombie film footage and marvelled at some of our special effects, we have not 1, but 2 head explosions and they both look fantastic. Other than that there is really nothing else to report, I got Bastion and it's pretty good, awesome narration style in it but I hope it goes on for a bit longer than I expect it might. Friday tomorrow and I can't wait for the weekend!

My first pub pint

After a pretty meh day of school (highlight was the questionnaire I did on chocolate fingers) I went down to a pub with Jamie and shared our first legal, mid afternoon pint. It was quite weird sitting outside by the canal, everyday I would walk on the other side of the water back home, but then I sat on the alternate side, where I previously have never been but always saw it walking home; it feels like some sort of metaphor for a rights of passage.

I watched a Fish Called Wanda this evening, it was a pretty fun movie with some inspired moments but as a whole film it felt a little lacking in places; the ending feels very rushed. John Cleese was the best character by far, having some of the best lines and moments, but Otto certainly had some very forced lines that rarely hit their mark unfortunately. Not as good as I thought it would be but it has its moments.

Game show filming?

I slept horrendously badly last night, I first got to bed at 10:30, but I do distinctly remember after a lot of tossing and turning seeing my clock stating it was 12:14. I handed in my coursework today and had an alright day, in the evening Mark rounded up me, Dan and Laurie to star in his media game show coursework. The rest of the day was just some me time, dawdling on the Internets and playing games, it's good to be free again.

The Sword of Damocles has been lifted!

Sorry about no blog again yesterday, the weekend and today was just one big rush to get coursework finished. Mark has very graciously posted the amazing zombie stuff from yesterday. You may be asking, 'Hey Cafe Studios, how did you get the head explosion to look so real?' Basically, you take one 3 week old watermelon, hollow it out jack-o-lantern style, fill it with coloured apple pulp and break it with a golf club. Pro tip though, if your going to do this effect, tell your actor to swing the club lightly, the carnage of the melon landed on 3 walls and a ceiling which meant 20 minutes of some serious sponging and moping because someone doesn't know their own strength.

All the shooting for the zombie film is finally complete however, let the peasants rejoice! Editing should be somewhat speedier than our other projects because now we got it in the can we need to get it done very soon for the coursework deadline. Speaking of deadlines, after coming home at midnight on a school night from filming, I had to request additional time (one day) to finish my English coursework which was a tad embarrassing but now at least it is all full sorted... this means... DAY OF PROCRASTINATION TOMORROW!

By the way, the language may be quite eccentric today because I am very tired, and have a nasty throat sore. I will endure, and defiantly unwind with a coffee and a film tomorrow.

Hope you like the pictures!

Zombie Preview

Moon Face!

I still feel like I havn't really had a nice weekend to myself in a long time. I don't mind my volenter work, it's fun and I get awesome food. Working on my English Coursework took much longer than I thought it would and it still isn't great, I just don't feel comfertable with handing in courswork that I don't feel is any good. In addition I know I have to do it all of tomorrow morning, and then jump straight back into filming mode for the afternoon/evening so it may be hard to get up in the morning... unless I really get into the mood to change my life sround tomorrow and just really enjoy everything I do, now I just have to get into that mentallity...

Highlight of the day was easily watching a very pessimistic and ill Louis playing the first section of Majora's Mask. He was verbally expressing his anxiety and illness at the same time as the moon slowly decended apon Clock Town and it was hilarious.  

Bye bye beard

I wasn't really doing a 'No-shave-Novermber' this year but I was growing a beard of sorts, you can see it quite clearly in out Card-ception video. Today was the day where I would have to finally shave it all off and let me tell you, the facial fuzz was about 4 times as nasty this year so it would only take 4 times as long to shave with a dull, manual razor. 30 minutes later I felt like my old (and ironically younger looking) self but I do miss it already, my face is going to be pretty cold in the mornings now...

The Conversation was the film of the evening and my God was it good. It felt like everything Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy should have been like, it had a much slower pace that let us absorb the character of Gene Hackman which was fantastically performed, the best Hackman film I have seen so far easily. The soundtrack was also brilliant with some classy jazz numbers and lovely piano pieces, kind made me feel like I was playing a Hotel Dusk game. The plot is also very good, I shan't go into any spoilers but it does have a really good ending; I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to see a impressive spy drama/thriller or just a damn good movie.