Klaatu barada nikto

Spent most of today working on another film studies essay but I did find a little bit of time to watch The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). I watched the remake while I was visiting a friend in Germany, admittedly it wasn't great but I guess it wasn't too bad. That said, after seeing the original I can safely say the 50's version puts the new one to shame. Everything was just so much more mature in the old film, the themes were much more interestingly touched upon, the music was wonderfully old fashioned with a great space feel and was just consistently engaging. If you love Sci-Fi films then it's quite hard to do any better than this one.

Dis Rain!

Oh man, this weather. Didn't get a great night's sleep last night on account of the sound of the rain on my skylight. At first I thought it was charming but as the minutes passed it only became more and more apparent on how wrong I was. In addition to this, the awful weather also ensured a large influx of customers at work today, all desperate to wear-out their children in our soft play centre, and instead they just managed to wear-out all our staff members by providing one of the bustiest days in recent memory. I'm off to bed, here's hoping I don't have to put up with the awful weather tonight!

Mentally asleep

Foolishly, I decided to drink a cup of double espresso at 11pm yesterday evening and I found out the hard way just how badly that can muck up your body clock. I felt shattered all day and even tried to take a little bit of a power nap but got interrupted by Louis so we had a chatted to me about how is musical taste is better than his friends while we laughed at most of the selected tracks on Mark's 'Ultimate Playlist,' that thing needs a serious re-edit; how the hell did so much Nickleback end up on it?! Bed now, I'll tuck into a good comic of the Silver Surfer as I try not to be kept up by the pitter patter of rain on my skylight.

The Avengers

Spent my free first period spending my breakfast Subway voucher with some friends, I can certainly say that it was better value and food than a McDonald's breakfast and a small self conscious grin appeared on all of our faces as we realized just what we were eating fro breakfast. Mark, Jamie and I also went on a 7K run because Jamie wanted to get into shape and I certainty need the practice for the 10K in the not so distant future.

As a collective we watched The Avengers this afternoon which was pretty damn spectacular for a superhero movie. Sadly, I have not seen any of the other lead-in films predominantly featuring the other characters, but you didn't need to see those films to enjoy this one. The characters are great, the action scenes are very entertaining and you'll even find yourself laughing quite a lot throughout this film. It's a complete action package where most of the satisfaction comes from watching your favorite superheros initially clashing in personalities and values but ultimately forging a powerful alliance which provides a very satisfying pay-off. Be sure to watch through the first half of the credits though! There's a extra segment that you don't want to miss!

Back on track

Got up early this morning to finish off my history coursework, I noticed that Mum had been over it all and applied some possible corrections to the entire document in track corrects, a formatting method I was not familiar with so I had to manually over-ride every single mistake I made, this took upwards of 15 minutes and felt completely unnecessary. To make matters worse, finally go into the lesson to hand back the work and the teacher isn't in today...

On a brighter side I saw possibly the best documentary I have ever seen today: Senna, a film about Brazilian F1 racing. From that description alone it is difficult to see how anyone could normally enjoy that topic as formula one racing is typically like watching a motorway, but this film is really something else! Absolutely brilliant and quite moving at times, it is easily the most exciting documentary I've seen after Touching the Void and Senna only uses archive footage to deliver a great character study on one of the most iconic men in Brazil's history. Despite the seemingly mundane subject matter, I urge you to watch this documentary!  

Where's my card?

Worked a bit on my History Coursework and had lunch at Subway because I had an abundance of vouchers to use up. My provisional driving license still hasn't arrived which is a bit disappointing, there's a big ol' empty gap in my wallet which is the perfect size for the card, guess I'll just have to wait until tomorrow and see if I get lucky.

Fancy Eats

For most of the day I was dreading to do a practice exam answer for English in my last lesson because I could never quite get the style right before and they are often quite boring. To my surprise however I found that it was on old fashioned eating etiquette which was a fun little topic which I feel like I answered well. Otherwise today was run-of-the-mill as usual, we havn't been working on any film related projects recently since we are quickly approaching exam season, but we are very eager to get back to it as soon as all the hard work of school is over in July.

Oranges... lots of them

Spent most of the day being really quite cold and tired, just wanted to wrap myself in a duvet throughout most of my classes. I think my cold has finally gotten the better of me, now I just feel ill and tired nearly all the time, I've just been trying to live off vitamin-C all day, that should put me on the path for recovery. Otherwise I spent far too long on a Film Studies essay, I need to break myself back into the habit of writing them, quite pleased that my History chance cards for our board game went down well though. 

Lunch Rush

Louis made some really pukka soda farls for breakfast this morning, just what I wanted right before going to work which turned out to be a lot more busy than I expected. The lunch rush was awful this time around as we ran out of receipt paper about halfway through so I had to result to writing things down on paper to keep it all in check. It also turns out that there's a hole in the roof of the building just above the cafe area, this was especially apparent when it started hailing this afternoon all over some of the tables, as soon as the maelstrom hit my manager epically turned and said 'get the mop!' After most of the folks left it was pretty quiet and we were told to do a deep clean of the cafe area, this took the rest of the evening, coming home I never realized just how good it feels to sit down. 

Ahh! My hand!

First thing I did today was go on a 5K run, this was quite taxing on me physically and mentally at first as it was at 9am on a Saturday and I hadn't run that far in a long time. However Dad convinced me to come along to a weekly fun run thing around Greenham Common, around 200 other people turn up to this thing each week to see if they can beat their high scores. I did alright, took me half an hour to run the distance and it felt pretty good afterwards. 

Mum called in her Mother Day present today which was for me to watch any film of her choice with her, since she is the whooping and knee-slapping movie viewer type, often the family attempts to avoid watching films with her as a result. But today we watched her favorite: Roman Holiday which was actually very good thanks to some good performances and a great location for filming, quite a quintessential 50's comedy, particularly the Mouth of Truth scene which Gregory Peck brilliantly ad-libed.

Movie Hat-Trick

Mark and I came home today for Film Friday, we ended up watching two movies with the others, First I showed him The Purple Rose of Cairo as I was confident he would enjoy it and I certainly hope that was the case. Next we saw Matilda for the nostalgic lols, many moments were a subject of ridicule but we loved every minute of it. Around the same time time as Bruce Bogtrotter's infamous cake eating scene Louis came in with his Amazon order of 48 Cadbury caramel eggs which he bought in bulk; all I could do was laugh at his purchase.

After a couple rounds of Soul Caliber 2 everyone left and I had nothing to do in the evening, so I sat down with the family to watch Tokyo Story. Just a humble film about humanity and life in general, it's pace is very slow and I did feel myself nodding off at parts, not because it was boring but because it was like a lullaby. It provided some very poignant scenes about the role of someone within a family and made me think hard about my life in he grand scheme of things.  

I can see clearly now the rain has gone

We have been told to make board games for our Russian History class next Monday, basically we have to think up of about 50 different cards with either positive or negative effects based on which social class a team was allocated. We got middle class/ social elite which was undoubtedly the hardest to come up with cards for so I just made up a bunch of quirky ones that may or may not go down so well; we'll see next lesson. I also beat Josh at chess today which was pretty incredible because he always seems to dominate me whenever I go head to head with him but this time I just got very lucky indeed after being totally brutalized by him in the first few moves. 

Walking in the rain is a slightly relaxing thing to do in my opinion, I also kinda like not having to worry about holding an umbrella or wearing an uncomfortable jack-a-pack. It's just nice to get really wet walking home from school sometimes, when you arrive home looking like a drowned rat you really are put in the perfect mood for a hot chocolate, of which I remembered works even better with a small scoop of coffee to give it a slight bitterness.

Shift

Still getting used to the intricacies of my new phone, the alarm didn't go off when I told it to, fortunately I had my back-up alarm go off instead and that woke me right up. Typical easy Wednesday, Mark came back home with me so I could watch how bad he was at GTA4 and Dan joined for a case of L.A. Noire. Later in the evening I went to go see Louis perform with his band: Shift at a school gig thing, we was pretty damn good actually, although I think his style of music was somewhat lost on the crowd who were looking for a family friendly mosh-pit. We also begun recording for the new Edmund and Darrel episode which is looking to be a good'un, my line recording went a lot more smoothly than usual and there were a few laughs in between.  

Good Lord, 80's synth!

All I wanted to do the whole day at school was go home, that said, I have nothing to do at home so I don't know why I complain. I think I just wanted to go back to bed this morning and forget it was Tuesday. I did get a nice new pair of trousers and an ok shirt, of which I have already managed to spill sweet and sour pork on but its all good. With Mark's recommendation I watched The Long Good Friday which was dated in parts but overall it was pretty good and certainly set the foundations for the future Guy Richie films.

Rock me Amadeus

This morning I spontaneously decided to watch the Directors cut of Amadeus, I told myself that it was that it was the last day of the holidays so I deserved to honor it somehow. I wasn't too sure if I would like what I saw but I was pleasantly surprised with the film, it was just awesome and really succeeded in getting me interested in Mozart's life and music, you'd have to be a really awkward person to not like this film, everything about it just reeks of excellence. After watching it however I was washed over with a sense that nothing else that I would do today would top the film so I was just kind of plodding around until the day ended. Got all my homework sorted though and I suppose it will be good to get back to see everyone else at school.   

Age gap

Woke up feeling absolutely knackered, really wasn't looking forward to work in the afternoon either, Overall however, work wasn't all that bad although we had a mad rush in the evening as someone wanted to have their 18th Birthday party at a kids soft-play center. Between me and my boss, of which neither of us really knew how to prepare party food, we did a pretty good job and I was even congratulated via Email on what good work  did this evening. Made me smile at least.

Sunk my Battleship

Woke up this morning under the impression that I would be going on a 5K run at about 8 in the morning, instead I got up to torrential rain and being told that it had been called off; I snuck in another hour of kip. I sat up with a cuppa Joe and watched Battleship Potemkin, it had to be done sometime and I figure that it had to be seen sometime and now was a good enough. Overall it was interesting to watch considering the time in which it was made and the Odessa Staircase scene was great but the rest was a little bit of a trudge, still not sure how they filled up 75 minutes of film. In the afternoon some peeps came over and we watched The Castle of Caglioistro, another one of my favorites that I rate very highly, I just adore the charming character of Lupin III in this film and the great and inventive action scenes. But there is also some time put aside for the subtle beauty of the animation, especially in the opening title sequence which is gorgeous.

Family Fun Day!

Work today was super busy, management decided to host a 'fun day' that meant that anyone could purchase a meal voucher which made for an absolute nightmare on the till as they clearly hadn't thought the whole through very well. The whole kitchen was in a right mess during lunchtime as a result, but fortunately we pulled through and I felt hat the day was busy, yet satisfying overall.

"I've got my head, I've lost my leopard!"

Completed The Ballad of Gay Tony this morning, the ending left a little something to be desired but it was still a very good ride. I also just finished off Ocarina of Time on Master Quest mode, I just love the ending of the game although it is just a little more perfect on the N64 as there is that beautiful pause between the game and the player as you see Princess Zelda in the courtyard as it turns to sepia, the game freezes and you are left to wonder if you should turn off the console or not; just perfect.

I also watched Bringing Up Baby which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would and it really cheered me up after my dreadful cold. Cary Grant was just amazing in this film, playing the humble man turned into a social atom bomb by the love interest who you could almost smack in the face: Katharine Hepburn. If your looking for a screwball comedy with a amusing love story then definitely see this; it's better than His Girl Friday.

The days begin to merge into one

Mainly I went to work for a few hours and played some GTA4, nearly completed that now. Tomorrow I have planned for more of the same but Mark is supposedly coming over as well and I hope to actually watch a film then.

Sore Throat and Chocolate

Managed to develop another sore throat this morning, I generally get quite depressed when this happens and I'm not sure why, it just really sucks having a consistent pain in my mouth. To take the edge off I have been having cups of coffee, hot chocolates and chocolate accumulated from Easter but it hasn't really helped. I did have Dan over to see the new computer which was nice and we have agreed to meet up to walk into work tomorrow. Finally to keep me occupied I have compiled a short list of films I need to watch and downloaded a bunch of albums from Louis' machine, currently listening to Arcade Fire which is pretty sweet, here's hoping that I feel a little better tomorrow morning.

We're on our way home

Arrived back home after seeing most of our relatives that live up in Kent, almost started one of my Easter eggs but didn't quite as I lost a bet with Louis over sometimesredsometimesblue.com which meant that I had to take the dustbins down the lane in the rain and I lost my appetite; at least he made me a coffee. 

Happy Easter 2012

After a very good nights sleep I got myself a very nice breakfast courtesy of my Grandparents which consisted of some grapefruit, a boiled egg and two home-made hot cross buns. I also got plenty of chocolate eggs, enough to last me a little while at least. Otherwise I spent the rest of the day beating the Spirit Temple in Ocerina of Time's Master Quest mode, I was quite convinced that halfway through Nintendo decided to troll the hell out of their players with the multiple wallmasters and God-awful puzzles that were more tedious than fun.  

Crackers and Chunder

Once again I went off to work to have, what felt like one of the longest days of my life. Best thing about work today: there was a pair of stale muffins I could eat! Worst thing about work today: Had to clean up some kids sick, it was clear that he must have been sprinting and spewing because there was a neat little line of it along the cafe floor. After the hard day I was whisked off to Kent to see my Grandparents over Easter, I watched the first half of Downfall on the journey as I had only seen the second act a few years ago at school but now I can tick it off. Currently I am sitting in a comfy armchair, eating cheese and crackers and attempting to figure out the commercial appeal of Take me Out, just seems like a load of nonsense to me.

Now we are running with style

Spent almost every waking moment on the new computer, my games now all run faster than a greased up pig doing gown a water-slide, it's incredible but I need to get used to using Windows 7, it is much cooler than Vista but it will take a little longer to fully adjust. I'm hoping my shift tomorrow isn't too busy, I hear we are closing earlier by an hour for the holidays and I also hope that most folk won't come in based on the idea that they should all be among family or something...

Huge panic

After the near disaster that was last night's sleeping arrangements, I found out it could only get worse! I woke up naturally at 7:50 and told myself: 'go back to bed, your new PC will arrive today and there is no rush to get up, have a bit more sleep, your in no rush...'

9:00 *beep* *beep* Text message from an unknown contact...

Closer inspection tells me its my boss

Not scheduled for work... wants me to come in ASAP...

Mass panic, me running back home in time for a quick shave and change of shirts, blagged a lift from my Granny where I warfed down my breakfast of s simple sandwich as I embraced the unexpected day of work. My new computer did arrive today as well, just about to go and test it out for myself now that Chris has put on Windows 7 and all the other good stuff it needs.

Back to the Future!

Right now, for a reason I will not go into I am sitting in Chris' brother's room after being locked out of my own home at one in the morning. I also discovered that my new great coat is not such a great duvet as I attempted to sleep on our patio. I'm also typing this on an IPad which is certainly a first for this blog. Once again, cheers Chris!

Tomorrow I may be getting my new computer if I am lucky, I will finally be able to play all may games in their intended glory. Louis, me and a couple of others also went to go see Back to the Future being shown in our local independent cinema which was absolutely awesome, I got goosebumps at all the right moments and I was once again impressed with the entire film, it really is one of the best of all time.

Leeds Roadtrip

Yesterday morning we got up bright and early to travel off to the Leeds Youth Film Festival. By 11 we managed to drive about 200 miles, eat a McDonalds breakfast and I drank 2 very large cups of coffee. The festival itself took place in a very quaint building that looked like something out of The Last Picture Show and lasted 5 hours with 4 separate age categories and a Skype interview with a young filmmaker from Asia. Unfortunately we walked away without and of the cash prizes but we did see a bunch of really pukka short films, it was clear from the get-go that we were in for some stiff competition.

The fore mentioned cups of coffee managed to pool quite heavily into my bladder causing me to very badly need the toilet, I daresay it was possibly the worst personal instance of this in living memory. I declared this fact early on but couldn't go during the festival as there was always a que in the breaks, while  driving to the hotel we got a bit lost and I needed to stay in the car as the others checked in to look after the bags. I sat by my lonesome for an extra 35 minutes until Mark and Dan came along to tell me which floor and room was ours, at this point it hurt to bend over or run because I needed the loo so much. After I finally got into our hotel room and pee for what felt like a lifetime of a mayfly I asked what the hold-up was. Everyone else pointed to Mark and said he spent ages in the bathroom for no apparent reason, to which we replied with a guilty face 'I needed a wee.'

Evening meal was a Subway and a litre of chocolate milk which is a very delicious thing in small doses I found out. Coming home today with a late Burger King Breakfast (we very nearly did a fastfood sweep these 2 days) and jammed out to Tom Petty's Free Falling and I cringed at Chris' selection of Owl City and... Justin Bieber; I died a little on the inside today.

Below are my 2 personal favourite entries of the film festival which are both stellar pieces of animation.

Niagra: http://vimeo.com/groups/1615/videos/36936364 (Explicit language)

Ever Hear a Postman Whistle?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0p4kyuirAio

The Pirates!

Spent last night a Chris' house after going to see The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists which was really good. It had a great sense of humour and some fun characters, the soundtrack especially surprised me at one point and it was incredible when it happened. The film is perfect for both children and parents alike, something for everyone here. Most of today was spent preparing for our big trip up to Leeds tomorrow to see if we have won a prize for our entry of Sunny Side Up. Everything has been packed into the ensuing car journey, playlist has been ensembled and 3DS has been charged. It's gonna be a long one and hopefully we will walk away with something, even if it just is an experience.