Dah, my back!

I woke up this morning, went to bend over to pick up the 3DS so I could give Zelda a quick spin (I finally finished it today!) and my back just kaned for no reason whatsoever, guess I just slept on it badly. I picked up another ball buster of a game today: Bit Trip Runner is just insane and I haven't even cleared the tutorial levels, every time you mess up it's all the way back, even if it's just one teeny tiny thing, it already reminds me of meat boy but this is considerably more musical which is a small plus.

To complete my AFI: 100 years of Thrills list on Icheckmovies I watch Hitchcock's The Birds which for it's time must have been pretty ground breaking, mainly for its special effects which mainly consisted of a green screen I believe. I must say however that I really didn't care too much about any scene that didn't have any birds in it after a while as the characters were a little dull. When it came to the attacks however I was quite impressed, the School scene was decent and the town invasion was very cool, of course the ending is very simple and open which I actually quite like. Overall it is definitely not Hitchcock's best but it is amusing to see a very alternative horror film but it was a bit too long; if you need a watered down version watch it here:

http://www.angryalien.com/aa/thebirdsbuns.asp

David Lynch:... why?

I watched Blue Velvet today, while it was not as 'WTF' as Eraserhead it certainly had a very dark and euphoric tone which was intentionally juxtaposed. I would be lying if I said I genuinely enjoyed the film as I probably wouldn't see it again unless forced but it was defiantly an experience like no other. I did enjoy His Girl Friday however, Cary Grant was very amusing and the lines of dialogue are fired like a machine gun, not a single word is out of place and the story is both simple and needlessly complex to the journalists. Funny and impressive for the time but not so heavy on the romance aspect to put off male viewers, at heart it is a comedy like no other and I would recommend it.

I had the pleasure of sitting in on Mark's driving lesson today which was rather insightful, Mark is actually a very good driver, despite some minor hiccups involving the clutch I was impressed. Personally I will probably start learning after I finish University if I decide to go, which I probably will as it will be vastly cheaper in insure myself, and maybe there will be a new cheaper alternative for petrol; but we can only dream for now.

Getting a little bit cooler

I spent most of today playing TF2, I won't lie, but nothing else really happened in my life today. Didn't have time to watch any films but I shall hopefully remedy that with tomorrow and Thursday being free days, unfortunately there is some damn history homework that will need doing, groan. I have been absolutely addicted to Schmoyoho's youtube channel recently, especially their 'Auto-tune the News' section which is just amazing, link below and have a good Wednesday.

http://www.youtube.com/user/schmoyoho

27.9 C?

Again. It is hot. We may be in for some tropical rainfall during the night however which should cool me off nicely tomorrow, otherwise I am going to get claustrophobic and sticky in school again. I got a haircut as well as it was starting to look a bit beastly so I will be graced tomorrow with 'Oh, a haircut' from everyone who knows my name which is really annoying, It'll be payback when they get their hair done, I can wait.

Another crime film that may have been lost on me, The French Connection was a well made film with some good acting but it just seemed to go on and on, until the car chase, which was amazing, then it got boring again. I think the issue was too many characters that I didn't know the names of nor did I understand their motives as I couldn't hear 80% of the character's dialogue with all of the background noise. It also dawned on me that the picture quality in the 60's - 70's was actually pretty poor which is unusual was films like The Apartment still look very crisp, guess it was just the jump in technology when they went to colour.

God it's hot

Tonight is probably one of the hottest nights of the year so far and frankly it is going to be a pain trying to get to sleep since I am already sweating like a roasting pig. Spent most of today playing TF2 on account of the new update which has added some decent new weapons and since it is now free-to-play I am anticipating many new friends to play with me.

Jurassic Park was the film I watched today and I genuinely enjoyed it quite a bit. It was kinda like a more family friendly version of Jaws as it definitely had it's share of tense moments, many originally complained about the violence in the film but I say good on you Spielberg for toughening up any kid who watched this. I was unaware that Samuel L Jackson was also in this film and that just added to the greatness, the dinosaurs looked pretty good and the CGI hasn't dated too much. I don't even like dinosaurs that much but Jurassic Park was a hell of a ride.

This weekend gets a 5 I guess, while there was some downtime and boredom moments it was generally ok as I am nearly done with Zelda again and TF2 was fun on ocassion. Here's to a good nights sleep!

Born to be wild

With the death of Dennis Hopper about 13 months ago I decided to watch the film that probably kick started his career: Easy Rider, another film about eh American Dream and how it has changed over the years into something unrecognizable. It's got a few particular moments in it that don't really make any sense, especially the acid trip scene towards the end but for the most part I enjoyed it, the first half was a little slow, but as soon as Jack Nicholson turns up the film starts moving at a decent pace and we start to get some mildly philisophical moments, although because I didn't grow up in the US the impact and message of the film has been slightly lost on me.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Attended the school magazine meeting and I'm not quite sure what to think, I wanted to do a film review and so did 50% of the group, of which there were only 4 not including me so I am a bit stuck on what to do there. Revolutionary may be a phrase a bit too harsh to use to describe them but they were certainly keen on stirring up some emotions in the students over the new school building and issues in general, mildly intimidating but I hope to continue with them... I think.

Beverly Hills Cop was an ok film, not really as laugh out loud as I had hoped and the pacing was a little bit too slow as I felt that the conclusion took way too long to get to, I did enjoy the ride somewhat however, the scenes with the other 2 policemen where clearly the films highlights and I enjoyed watching their relationships improve with Eddie Murphy. I also got a chance to see the Charlie Chaplin classic City Lights which was rather impressive overall, the slapstick comedy did seem a little dated but still had some great moments within its many set pieces, the restaurant and the boxing match stand out. I was also surprisingly moved by the ending of the film, which I won't spoil here but I certainly didn't expect it when the rest of the film was so silly natured, while not as funny as Duck Soup, it provides a greater 'feel good' factor due to it's simple plot and beautiful ending.