Friday, 10 February 2012

Like and Gentleman

Because I didn't get a chance to mention it yesterday, check out our 'Unprepared Dead' outtake video, especially if you enjoy having a good giggle at our expense. Mark will probably insist that that was the worst filming experience of his life; I could possibly agree...

School today was called 'CoCo day' (Community and Cohesion day,) essentially it was an excuse to make amends to the OFSTEAD report the school got last year complaining about the lack of an existing whole school collective. Apparently that called for making crappy hats and testing urine samples, the latter I will go into more detail on in a moment. We also had to sit through an assembly about MENCAP and learning disabilities, while I have nothing against the charity, they didn't present their point in the most competent way. They rounded up a 6th form and a teacher team to compete in an obstacle course, the necessary instructions were provided in Russian... always helpful. Each team did their best to complete the course and afterwards they basically said 'If you understood Russian then you would know you needed to do x, but instead you did y, dumb asses.' And that was it. I get the whole language barrier thing but it was just ham-handed.

For our science session we were identifying tainted urine samples and producing a poster on our findings. One moment called for the use of universal indicator paper to test the pH of the sample. I thought it would be really cool if we had the bit of indicator paper next to our results to give a bit of spice to the poster, so I dipped my pen into the liquid to retrieve the bit of paper but it was too soggy and it wouldn't budge. At this point the egar to do good year 8 claimed  he could help and tried himself with a pencil, gently tilting the test tube into a more horizontal position.

'Nearly got it' He says as the wee trickles out of the tube on onto my trousers leaving a big splash that slowly absorbs into the fabric. Lovely.

Afterwards I walked into town and in preparation for the Harry Potter party I'm going to tomorrow I went into the local costume shop and bought a prop pipe. Now I look pretty boss in a dressing gown and just generally feel a little bit more like a gentleman.

Finally, I went out to see the Artist this evening. I had been greatly anticipating the film since its 5 star Empire review and it is certainly worth a watch. It starts off with a great title sequence that is hugely reminiscent of movies from the 'Golden Ages' and presents to us George Valentin in a very charming opening sequence. There are a couple of great shots and good moments throughout the film, however I was questioning Valentin's motive to refuse to work in sound pictures but I am willing to put that down to his issue of self pride. It is also worth mentioning that the film does not have any laugh out loud funny moments, it is not a silent comedy but it sprinkles in a few pleasing lines and actions but by the second half there are hardly any humorous moments which is unfortunate as some later moments failed to capture my attention for the duration of the scene. If you have EVER seen a silent movie however you will very much enjoy this, it's almost a love letter to cinema purists and will be a new, refreshing experience to contemporary audiences.

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