Now, my memory might be hazy, but the rain that was threatening the evening as I arrived had definitely parted ways with the West End by the time I left. I wasn't planning on sticking around either. The night had definitely gone on too long. I'm not sure when this realisation dawned on me. Was it between the fourth and fifth innings of Manhattans? Or perhaps when I was on the small stage singing 'Hotel California' with a gang of fetching transvestites. Regardless, there definitely came a point when I could see four cocktails in front of my at the bar, which is odd because I usually order them by the pair.
I climbed up the stairs, emerging from the dank cocktail bar into the fresh London air. It had gone one in the morning, and not being in complete control of my faculties, a brisk walk seemed on the cards. That was until I came across a bike. £1.00 of my money for an hours worth of time! What great value it would have been had I not got lost. The problem with all transports quicker than feet is that one can travel so far in completely the wrong direction. As stated previously, my faculties were not currently in my possession, so it took an hour for me to be able to admit how unfamiliar my surroundings were. It was true revelatory experience. I felt like a better man.
All this led to one conclusion; I'd have to find the nearest telephone box and call my solicitor. I was sure that at 2am, she would love to hear that I couldn't make our appointment at noon. Shame too, she had a wit that exceeded her fine legs. That's when it hit me, I found a safety net. An incredibly fortuitous prostitute had put a map on her call-up card. I found my way to the main road, ditched the bike and walked for 4 hours. I put my keys into the door, tore my boots off and ran upstairs to start a blog post comparing my recent experiences watching the Rum Diary to my recent experiences watching Chico & Rita.
Both are films, both feature sharp suits and sharper tunes, however, one of them is a fair more successful film than the other. Let's get rid of the suspense, the Rum Diary, although not disinteresting, is definitely the more dispassionate affair, which is odd considering the close relationship Johnny Depp had with Hunter S. Thompson. It's a very polished and professional piece, but strangely distant. There are fantastic performances throughout, but Mr Depp's Paul Kemp is always at an arm's distance and for no great reason. It's almost as if Mr Depp holds Hunter S. Thompson with such regard that his performance brings a stately disposition to his friend, but little of the wit and humour that was evident in his writings.
On the other hand, I can't say enough pleasant things about Chico & Rita. A truly heart warming romance that, while possessing a few plot points that don't completely satisfy, is a completely breathtaking visual and audio experience. As has been discussed previously on the blog, I am a complete sucker for most period pieces set between the 20s and 60s. Hats man, people looked better in hats. Anyway, I was completely drawn into the world presented by Javier Mariscal. I would kill to have any of the frames of this movie on my wall.
------------------------------------
Other musings:
Not all of what I wrote above is true, but I certainly did have a time getting back from a cocktail bar on Tuesday night. My legs and back have seized up so I will make sure to do some stretches before bed tonight.
I'm thinking about getting dental insurance. I can't decide how this makes me feel.
I have an incredible weekend of film lined up this weekend. 50/50 on Friday and then My Week With Marilyn, Deep Blue Sea, Moneyball (finally!) and one that escapes my mind right now. Butt-numb-athon 2011. Take Shelter! That's the last one!
I love the Twilight Zone and Rod Serling. Still watching Season 3, just got through some gems including It's A Good Life. Horrible sound effect in that one.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Oh my God, that's the funky stuff and other musings
Words cannot describe how tired I am right now. This fact is a surprise to me, because I've no reasonable reason to be be this tired! Such a reason does not exist right now! Plus I've got very annoying tingly sensation under my left eye. Yes, it would be fair to say right now that I'm feeling a bit cranky.
I've just worked for 3 hours on a follow up to the totally top secret, not at all guessable project I have going on with Mr Jonathan Hatfull (plug: http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/). It may or may not involve creative writing of some sort. It may or may not involve reviving an old project of mine. Anyway, about 2 hours in, I had suitably dissected what I had about two years ago and then it hits me. I don't think I have an imagination anymore. Seriously, ask me to think of a shape, it'd be a circle. Ask me to think of a colour, it'd be grey. Ask me to think of a dinosaur, it'd be the one working on reception at my first job.
There are many things that I don't have a talent for, but why is it that film grabs me so much? Oh Lord knows, this isn't therapy. I'll soldier on regardless. This post is a lot like my doodles though, aimless, no moral.
Exciting things on the horizon for me then: carry on with this writing, starting Berlin Alexanderplatz, sleeping. The rest of the evening will involve dishes and the cleaning of, a bit of light exercise, reading (Vanity Fair, because I'm classy) and sleeping. Don't let me fool you into thinking I sleep lots, I would be able to write a much better blog post had I slept properly.
----------------------
Other Musings:
As I've been writing this, I've been eating dinner (fish, chips and beans). I've just realised that I've eaten most of my chips and beans and have left the fish completely untouched. Fail.
Sid Crosby returns on Monday night. I hope he's been taking this time to cultivate a true stunt man's moustache.
I've been rewatching the League of Gentlemen while I exercise recently. Odd, I know. I am so glad the laugh track was reduced between the first and second series. That is one show that, although hilarious, really doesn't suit a laugh track.
I've just worked for 3 hours on a follow up to the totally top secret, not at all guessable project I have going on with Mr Jonathan Hatfull (plug: http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/). It may or may not involve creative writing of some sort. It may or may not involve reviving an old project of mine. Anyway, about 2 hours in, I had suitably dissected what I had about two years ago and then it hits me. I don't think I have an imagination anymore. Seriously, ask me to think of a shape, it'd be a circle. Ask me to think of a colour, it'd be grey. Ask me to think of a dinosaur, it'd be the one working on reception at my first job.
There are many things that I don't have a talent for, but why is it that film grabs me so much? Oh Lord knows, this isn't therapy. I'll soldier on regardless. This post is a lot like my doodles though, aimless, no moral.
Exciting things on the horizon for me then: carry on with this writing, starting Berlin Alexanderplatz, sleeping. The rest of the evening will involve dishes and the cleaning of, a bit of light exercise, reading (Vanity Fair, because I'm classy) and sleeping. Don't let me fool you into thinking I sleep lots, I would be able to write a much better blog post had I slept properly.
----------------------
Other Musings:
As I've been writing this, I've been eating dinner (fish, chips and beans). I've just realised that I've eaten most of my chips and beans and have left the fish completely untouched. Fail.
Sid Crosby returns on Monday night. I hope he's been taking this time to cultivate a true stunt man's moustache.
I've been rewatching the League of Gentlemen while I exercise recently. Odd, I know. I am so glad the laugh track was reduced between the first and second series. That is one show that, although hilarious, really doesn't suit a laugh track.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The fun one can having being Batman and other musings
So what's new? Not much. Not much at all actually. Since the last time we spoke, I've visited Carlisle, Billinghurst and Manchester on three consecutive weekends. The first was with my brother and my mum. Sam, my bro, is up there on a placement from his medical school. This involved visited a number of small towns in the rain, walking a fair bit and a couple of cinema trips (Anonymous and Midnight in Paris (yes, again)). Middle weekend was spent with Messrs Hatfull and Langridge re-watching our old Europe Road Trip video footage and planning a new trip. The final weekend involved visiting Dr. Iain McGibbon in his new flat and enjoying the fine music of St. Vincent live and in person.
So those were the events. Superfluous to these, I've manage to lose my winter coat and gloves, leaving me with only a scarf to battle the elements. I have also picked up a computer monitor, so I think that would be described as a net win overall. Honestly, I always make comments like "oh, I'm going to write this...", but my productivity is rather lacking. I worry about this more now that I have an amazing home entertainment package hooked up in the corner of my room. In fact, it is so amazing, that I think it needs a name. I think I shall call it Lindros 3000. The 3000 is because it's cool. The Lindros is because, after prolonged playing time, headaches will ensue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lindros). Actually, I feel bad about that. Sorry about the cheap shot Eric!
Oh well, that's enough fluff, let's get to something comment worthy. When I haven't been travelling or at work over the last three weeks, I've been playing Batman: Arkham City. My goodness, that's a very pretty game. Unfortunately, it hits an issue that I have with so many video games - plotting. Arkham Asylum was a rarity in so much as it provided a well thought out and, more importantly, satisfying narrative. This isn't to say that I don't like Arkham City (in fact, beyond my love of NHL 12, it's definitely my favourite game for a long time). I would highly recommend this game in a heartbeat, but my goodness, I wish that a video game would one day succeed in its aims for some form of cinematic denounment. Obviously Arkham City isn't alone here, GTA IV is definitely a big offender here as well. I worry about video games like these. By appropriating so much from cinematic language, are the games designers limiting their own work? I assume a lot of my issues are caught in the essence of an immesive game. If a character as avatar represents you, what happens when they act in a manner that you yourself would never do (I'm looking at you, L.A. Noire!)?
Let's sum it up. I hold the belief that games appropriating cinematic language adds to the experience for the majority of the game, but fails when any sort of moral choice is presented or if the conclusion doesn't work:
Arkham City: I've not seen an ending so overwrought with angst since David Tennant left Doctor Who.
Dead Space 2: Fails as soon as Isaac opens his mouth.
GTA IV: After parodying a number of films and TV shows, asking for an emotional response to a rushed ending is asking way too much, especially given the suddenly morality of the so far immoral Niko Belak.
Heavy Rain: The biggest problem here is that the plot doesn't tie up, way too many loose ends. Considering this is a glorified animated movie, that's a big problem. Bitching soundtrack though.
L.A. Noire: To be fair to it, Pop Matters ran an incredible article about why the plotting work for them and from a intellectual level I can agree with what they're saying. Unfortunately, emotionally it did nothing for me. Is that a problem?
NHL 12: Winning the Stanley Cup never feels as good as I hoped.
If there's one thing Arkham City really does well, it really makes me feel terrible about my figure and my lack of tree trunks for arms.
----------------------------------------------
Other musings
Paloma Faith v Miranda July was a very enjoyable twitter interview. More please!
Is everyone who writes in to Vanity Fair just pitching for their own articles? Certainly reads that way.
Single again, oorah.
The Holiday Inn in Kensington is rather pleasant. Nothing special, but pleasant.
That PopMatters article can be found here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/145319-unplugging-the-player-from-the-protagonist
Cornerhouse in Manchester does one hell of a nice cocktail. If you go, order the Maple Manhattan and tell them Ben sent you there. When they look confused, just nod. Things will work out.
Seeing Midnight in Paris twice was incredibly enjoyable if only to see how different the two audiences reacted. In Cumbria, they didn't find Hemmingway funny at all. In fact the first audience was way better, if only for the fact they didn't have a walking Cliff Notes explaining all the jokes to her friend very loudly in the back row.
Other potential names for my speakers, monitor, PS3 combo; Hal Brooklyn, Stilton Joe, Freddy Quebec, Mr 2010, the Future, the American Dream. All would be good names for wrestlers.
Hoping that everyone at OWS is ok. Regardless of your political beliefs, we are all on the same page that police operations against its own citizens whilst a media blackout is in operation is a bit worrying?
So those were the events. Superfluous to these, I've manage to lose my winter coat and gloves, leaving me with only a scarf to battle the elements. I have also picked up a computer monitor, so I think that would be described as a net win overall. Honestly, I always make comments like "oh, I'm going to write this...", but my productivity is rather lacking. I worry about this more now that I have an amazing home entertainment package hooked up in the corner of my room. In fact, it is so amazing, that I think it needs a name. I think I shall call it Lindros 3000. The 3000 is because it's cool. The Lindros is because, after prolonged playing time, headaches will ensue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lindros). Actually, I feel bad about that. Sorry about the cheap shot Eric!
Oh well, that's enough fluff, let's get to something comment worthy. When I haven't been travelling or at work over the last three weeks, I've been playing Batman: Arkham City. My goodness, that's a very pretty game. Unfortunately, it hits an issue that I have with so many video games - plotting. Arkham Asylum was a rarity in so much as it provided a well thought out and, more importantly, satisfying narrative. This isn't to say that I don't like Arkham City (in fact, beyond my love of NHL 12, it's definitely my favourite game for a long time). I would highly recommend this game in a heartbeat, but my goodness, I wish that a video game would one day succeed in its aims for some form of cinematic denounment. Obviously Arkham City isn't alone here, GTA IV is definitely a big offender here as well. I worry about video games like these. By appropriating so much from cinematic language, are the games designers limiting their own work? I assume a lot of my issues are caught in the essence of an immesive game. If a character as avatar represents you, what happens when they act in a manner that you yourself would never do (I'm looking at you, L.A. Noire!)?
Let's sum it up. I hold the belief that games appropriating cinematic language adds to the experience for the majority of the game, but fails when any sort of moral choice is presented or if the conclusion doesn't work:
Arkham City: I've not seen an ending so overwrought with angst since David Tennant left Doctor Who.
Dead Space 2: Fails as soon as Isaac opens his mouth.
GTA IV: After parodying a number of films and TV shows, asking for an emotional response to a rushed ending is asking way too much, especially given the suddenly morality of the so far immoral Niko Belak.
Heavy Rain: The biggest problem here is that the plot doesn't tie up, way too many loose ends. Considering this is a glorified animated movie, that's a big problem. Bitching soundtrack though.
L.A. Noire: To be fair to it, Pop Matters ran an incredible article about why the plotting work for them and from a intellectual level I can agree with what they're saying. Unfortunately, emotionally it did nothing for me. Is that a problem?
NHL 12: Winning the Stanley Cup never feels as good as I hoped.
If there's one thing Arkham City really does well, it really makes me feel terrible about my figure and my lack of tree trunks for arms.
----------------------------------------------
Other musings
Paloma Faith v Miranda July was a very enjoyable twitter interview. More please!
Is everyone who writes in to Vanity Fair just pitching for their own articles? Certainly reads that way.
Single again, oorah.
The Holiday Inn in Kensington is rather pleasant. Nothing special, but pleasant.
That PopMatters article can be found here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/145319-unplugging-the-player-from-the-protagonist
Cornerhouse in Manchester does one hell of a nice cocktail. If you go, order the Maple Manhattan and tell them Ben sent you there. When they look confused, just nod. Things will work out.
Seeing Midnight in Paris twice was incredibly enjoyable if only to see how different the two audiences reacted. In Cumbria, they didn't find Hemmingway funny at all. In fact the first audience was way better, if only for the fact they didn't have a walking Cliff Notes explaining all the jokes to her friend very loudly in the back row.
Other potential names for my speakers, monitor, PS3 combo; Hal Brooklyn, Stilton Joe, Freddy Quebec, Mr 2010, the Future, the American Dream. All would be good names for wrestlers.
Hoping that everyone at OWS is ok. Regardless of your political beliefs, we are all on the same page that police operations against its own citizens whilst a media blackout is in operation is a bit worrying?
Monday, October 24, 2011
I saw six films at the BFI London Film Festival and they didn't offer me a lousy t-shirt & other musings
Ok, this one is going to be a bit of a catch up post, much like last times. I promise to start making more of an effort after this, please don't beat me up.
So, as I've probably mentioned in the last three consecutive posts, I've been seeing some films as part of the BFI London Film Festival. If it's okay by you, I thought I'd just give them a bit of a shake-down and then be on my merry way.
Karen Cries on the Bus: I saw this a year to the day that I saw my first film at the last London Film Festival. I was a tad worried because last year, my opener wasn't very good and this film had hit most of the ticks to be a disaster. No recognisable names involved, no buzz (good or bad), a tenuous link to an influential piece of literature. I'm very pleased to report that this was a perfectly fine film; breezy and enjoyable. The story revolves around the titular Karen who, after a lengthy marriage has robbed her of her youth, escapes her husband. There's a passing reference to Ibsen's A Doll House, which leads us to believe that Karen is escaping an oppressive patriarchal homelife, but things are that clear cut. That last statement isn't meant to suggest any form of intrigue, as plot wise, there's not a great deal going on. Instead, I mean that Karen is no saint, though she can be caring and kindly. Her ex-husband is definitely no monster, but is inattentive This film does a great job of portraying people as people, it is well acted and the story quite engaging until the last 10 minutes. I am very eager to see what the first time director Gabriel Rojas Vera does from here. With the right material, he could emerge with a cross-over hit.
Last Screening: The first of the two French films that I viewed this year. For some reason, I see a lot of French films as part of this festival. I've totalled 4.5 (one was French Canadian) out of 10 over the two years. This is probably ranking 3rd on that list, but there's still work to be done. For a dark giallo-inspired work, there's a surprising amount of humour, but it seems lacking in most other regards. The central performance is as sharp as a disaffected loner with few lines can be and there's certainly a fair few dark chuckles. Recommended with a few drinks and friends who are well versed in horror.
The Future: I think I've earned major "bro" points for life after getting tickets for this. Like Last Screening, I went with my favourite font of film criticism, Jonny Hatfull. He's a huge Miranda July fan. Due to my lack of a BFI membership, we had to wait until the screening was open to regular people like us lot. Thus, not many seats left. In fact, our two seats were pretty much the last two together. Now, you may think me odd, but I quite like sitting close to the screen. I'm not adverse to sitting in the front row of a cinema, unless it's IMAX of course. However, I know many people do have issues with such proximity, so I booked them expecting some sort of "oh, shame they're so close" comment. Anyway, we found ourselves front row, direct centre at the West End Vue, Screen 5, mere feet away from Miranda July presenting a Q&A session on her wonderful new film The Future. I haven't seen her previous effort Me and You and Everyone We Know, but I shall definitely be seeking it out now.
This film was such a pleasant surprise - gloriously shot, exquisite sound design and incredibly funny (if you like your humour extremely dead pan). John Brior's score is suitably engaging and tinged with melancholy. I must admit to finding this film strangely moving. Despite the fact that I couldn't be further from the two main characters in motivations, goals and situations, it was incredibly relateable. I'll probably dissect this one further later in the year, maybe around December time. There may be lists involved.
The Screen Illusion: I knew very little about this going in. In fact, like a couple of these other films, my method of selection is adequately described by a conversation I overheard featuring a couple sat next to me:
'Why are we seeing this one again?'
'Because it was on at day and time we could go to. Because it wasn't sold out. Because it has Mathieu Amalric in it.'
Okay, now that last point is not true of any of the other films I saw. In fact, it's not true of this one either. He directed it as far as I can tell. And it's very good in an Ethan Hawke Hamlet kind of way. Although I didn't know it at the time, it is an update of L'Illusion Comique - a 17th Century play by Pierre Corneille. Not being a French speaker, I did spend a while wondering why the subtitles were translated in such a flowery manner. Soon I was noticing rhyming couplets fairly often and from then on it was easy to spot certain "this is an old play in modern times" conventions. Still, a very entertaining way to spend a Sunday morning. I must confess though, I did miss chunks of the film. I've not been feeling too great and I've got a bit of a cough at the minute. I was so conscious of bothering people, I was too busy biting down on my knuckles in an attempt to fight back the tickle in my throat.
Silver Bullets: My first Joe Swanberg (hmm, maybe I could write children's books about directors that they really shouldn't be watching until early adulthood - my first Jodorowsky anyone?). I really didn't think it would be as cohesive or as fun as that. After a little video introduction (bless, he was so polite - I'm compelled to email him now), the film cracked on fairly sharply. The plot involves an actress dating a small-time director of arty films. She starts working on a more successful director's werewolf film. Tensions rise. Now, in another director's hands, I would have loved to see the romance of studio lots, location shooting, but in line with Joe Swanberg's aesthetics, everything is very lo-fi, including an entertaining sequence with Ti West (playing the horror director) and the story of his first movie and its props. There are some very powerful moments in this, a couple of others are more confounding, but such is the nature of lower budget films. They have to take more risks with cognitive narrative.
Footnotes: Okay, I haven't seen this one yet. I'll be watching it tomorrow night, but I really wanted to get this post out there. I must admit to feeling a tad reflective and melancholic so I'm trying to be prolific. Expect some pretentious short stories soon.
----------------------
Other Musings:
For those interested, my ranking of films I've seen at the BFI London Film Fest is as follows:
1) Heartbeats
2) The Future
3) Silver Bullets
4) Elisa K
5) The Screen Illusion
6) Karen Cries on the Bus
7) Love Like Poision
8) Last Screening
9) Special Treatment
And from this list you can deduce my ranking of French films.
Next week is looking incredibly hectic. Thursday night, I'll be on a train heading back to the Wirral, then Friday lunch time, I'll be driving up with my Mum to Cumbria to visit my brother (he's on a medical placement there). Sunday driving back down, Monday at home, Tuesday morning on a train back to London in time for work. Then I'll have my Auntie, Uncle and lovely cousin Amelie (she's six years old and quite the madam) going on holiday in London and I'll go do some touristy things with them after work. Definitely looking forward to it though!
The week after all the tourist stuff goes down, I'll be on a two day conference in a hotel in Kensington as part of my actuarial exams. Expect me to be in the bar with a nice whisky at some point.
Other films I've caught up with recently: Midnight in Paris & Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The latter actual inspired me to buy a briefcase. The former inspired me to call people old sport, hold certain truths in my writing, wish that I could be a surreal as Man Ray and generally sigh a lot.
With Halloween fast approaching and all this talk of River Phoenix's last film finally seeing the light of day, I feel compelled to post this song. Ignore the bizarre fan nature of the video.
So, as I've probably mentioned in the last three consecutive posts, I've been seeing some films as part of the BFI London Film Festival. If it's okay by you, I thought I'd just give them a bit of a shake-down and then be on my merry way.
Yes, this is last years poster, but it is sooooo much better than the concept this year. Oh look, it's a magic red carpet all over London, except you'll only see it in real life for the big films at Leicester Square. No red carpet for the Curzons or the Ritzy.
Karen Cries on the Bus: I saw this a year to the day that I saw my first film at the last London Film Festival. I was a tad worried because last year, my opener wasn't very good and this film had hit most of the ticks to be a disaster. No recognisable names involved, no buzz (good or bad), a tenuous link to an influential piece of literature. I'm very pleased to report that this was a perfectly fine film; breezy and enjoyable. The story revolves around the titular Karen who, after a lengthy marriage has robbed her of her youth, escapes her husband. There's a passing reference to Ibsen's A Doll House, which leads us to believe that Karen is escaping an oppressive patriarchal homelife, but things are that clear cut. That last statement isn't meant to suggest any form of intrigue, as plot wise, there's not a great deal going on. Instead, I mean that Karen is no saint, though she can be caring and kindly. Her ex-husband is definitely no monster, but is inattentive This film does a great job of portraying people as people, it is well acted and the story quite engaging until the last 10 minutes. I am very eager to see what the first time director Gabriel Rojas Vera does from here. With the right material, he could emerge with a cross-over hit.
Last Screening: The first of the two French films that I viewed this year. For some reason, I see a lot of French films as part of this festival. I've totalled 4.5 (one was French Canadian) out of 10 over the two years. This is probably ranking 3rd on that list, but there's still work to be done. For a dark giallo-inspired work, there's a surprising amount of humour, but it seems lacking in most other regards. The central performance is as sharp as a disaffected loner with few lines can be and there's certainly a fair few dark chuckles. Recommended with a few drinks and friends who are well versed in horror.
The Future: I think I've earned major "bro" points for life after getting tickets for this. Like Last Screening, I went with my favourite font of film criticism, Jonny Hatfull. He's a huge Miranda July fan. Due to my lack of a BFI membership, we had to wait until the screening was open to regular people like us lot. Thus, not many seats left. In fact, our two seats were pretty much the last two together. Now, you may think me odd, but I quite like sitting close to the screen. I'm not adverse to sitting in the front row of a cinema, unless it's IMAX of course. However, I know many people do have issues with such proximity, so I booked them expecting some sort of "oh, shame they're so close" comment. Anyway, we found ourselves front row, direct centre at the West End Vue, Screen 5, mere feet away from Miranda July presenting a Q&A session on her wonderful new film The Future. I haven't seen her previous effort Me and You and Everyone We Know, but I shall definitely be seeking it out now.
The Screen Illusion: I knew very little about this going in. In fact, like a couple of these other films, my method of selection is adequately described by a conversation I overheard featuring a couple sat next to me:
'Why are we seeing this one again?'
'Because it was on at day and time we could go to. Because it wasn't sold out. Because it has Mathieu Amalric in it.'
Okay, now that last point is not true of any of the other films I saw. In fact, it's not true of this one either. He directed it as far as I can tell. And it's very good in an Ethan Hawke Hamlet kind of way. Although I didn't know it at the time, it is an update of L'Illusion Comique - a 17th Century play by Pierre Corneille. Not being a French speaker, I did spend a while wondering why the subtitles were translated in such a flowery manner. Soon I was noticing rhyming couplets fairly often and from then on it was easy to spot certain "this is an old play in modern times" conventions. Still, a very entertaining way to spend a Sunday morning. I must confess though, I did miss chunks of the film. I've not been feeling too great and I've got a bit of a cough at the minute. I was so conscious of bothering people, I was too busy biting down on my knuckles in an attempt to fight back the tickle in my throat.
Silver Bullets: My first Joe Swanberg (hmm, maybe I could write children's books about directors that they really shouldn't be watching until early adulthood - my first Jodorowsky anyone?). I really didn't think it would be as cohesive or as fun as that. After a little video introduction (bless, he was so polite - I'm compelled to email him now), the film cracked on fairly sharply. The plot involves an actress dating a small-time director of arty films. She starts working on a more successful director's werewolf film. Tensions rise. Now, in another director's hands, I would have loved to see the romance of studio lots, location shooting, but in line with Joe Swanberg's aesthetics, everything is very lo-fi, including an entertaining sequence with Ti West (playing the horror director) and the story of his first movie and its props. There are some very powerful moments in this, a couple of others are more confounding, but such is the nature of lower budget films. They have to take more risks with cognitive narrative.
Footnotes: Okay, I haven't seen this one yet. I'll be watching it tomorrow night, but I really wanted to get this post out there. I must admit to feeling a tad reflective and melancholic so I'm trying to be prolific. Expect some pretentious short stories soon.
----------------------
Other Musings:
For those interested, my ranking of films I've seen at the BFI London Film Fest is as follows:
1) Heartbeats
2) The Future
3) Silver Bullets
4) Elisa K
5) The Screen Illusion
6) Karen Cries on the Bus
7) Love Like Poision
8) Last Screening
9) Special Treatment
And from this list you can deduce my ranking of French films.
Next week is looking incredibly hectic. Thursday night, I'll be on a train heading back to the Wirral, then Friday lunch time, I'll be driving up with my Mum to Cumbria to visit my brother (he's on a medical placement there). Sunday driving back down, Monday at home, Tuesday morning on a train back to London in time for work. Then I'll have my Auntie, Uncle and lovely cousin Amelie (she's six years old and quite the madam) going on holiday in London and I'll go do some touristy things with them after work. Definitely looking forward to it though!
The week after all the tourist stuff goes down, I'll be on a two day conference in a hotel in Kensington as part of my actuarial exams. Expect me to be in the bar with a nice whisky at some point.
Other films I've caught up with recently: Midnight in Paris & Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The latter actual inspired me to buy a briefcase. The former inspired me to call people old sport, hold certain truths in my writing, wish that I could be a surreal as Man Ray and generally sigh a lot.
With Halloween fast approaching and all this talk of River Phoenix's last film finally seeing the light of day, I feel compelled to post this song. Ignore the bizarre fan nature of the video.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
LOVEFiLM's Conspiracy to Make Me Like Baseball and Other Musings
Boy, exams are fun.
So, due to a nice coincidence, when I hadn't been studying over the last month, I've been watching sports movies. Call it an unplanned sports marathon. I have a similar story to Stephen Fry regarding sports. I couldn't be far enough away from them as a teen, but as I've grown older (wiser?), I regret not taking an interest sooner. To be fair to my younger self, I still maintain a lot of the blame has to go on the PE department at my high school. On my first day there, all of the new kids had to jog around one of the school fields. After fifteen minutes, the head of the department shouted out letters while we finished our laps. I was assigned to Group D (the worst). I was wearing glasses. A friend of mine was assigned to Group A (the best). He had asthma, but he was tall.
Since time has gone on, I've learnt to appreciate the fine art of ice hockey and motorsports, but I can watch most sports now with a semblance of knowledge. However, there are two sports that baffle me; cricket and baseball. They're pretty equivalent sports; balls get chucked, balls get hit, people in the stands get drunk and the whole thing lasts an eternity, but there's just something about them that has never inspired my imagination. So, what does LOVEFiLM decide to do? In a four film run of sports, it sends me two baseball films. Ah well, at least I'll be clued up on it before I go see Moneyball (stupid November UK release date).
To be fair, the selection of the films was quite well balanced. There was a mixture of fiction and documentary, comedy and drama. In order; Bull Durham, Slap Shot, the King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and Eight Men Out. Like I said, quite a good selection. KoK is highly touted, Bull Durham was held on a very tall pedestal by a screenwriting book I own, Eight Men Out would be my first John Sayles and Slap Shot is about ice hockey - the greatest sport devised by mortal personage. For the sheer sanity of anyone reading this, I'll quite these reviews brief.
Bull Durham: Damn, that's a good opening line, but I don't think this is a great baseball movie. That's not to say I don't rate it, but I never see why their only drive is the game. You could replace baseball with nearly an art, craft or frivolity and this film would work just as well (hmm, the Wedding Planner meets Bull Durham - I think I need to call Fox). Tim Robbins is pitch perfect (boom boom), Costner is...well...Costner, but he works well here.
Slap Shot: This is quite an odd beast. I've only ever heard about this film second hand; in news articles from hockey writers referencing a joke here and there when discussing current events. From this I was expecting some silly farce in the vein of Airplane. Sure, there's definitely a lot of humour in this film, but I feel that it plays out like an elegy to the working class aesthetics of that period. Sure Paul Newman is very funny, but his far from being a "cool" character in this. In fact, his inability to correctly place the anger caused by the loss of his livelihood (be it from financial collapse of the club, the evolution of the game or his wife) makes him incredibly pathetic in his impotency. There's definitely a lot to love in this film (the chance to see a pre-Twin Peaks Michael Ontkean makes it well worth the rent) and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.
King of Kong: This is definitely the urgent of the four. In fact, as soon as I finished watching it, I slapped it straight back into the DVD player and watched it all again. It plays out very similar to another documentary I saw this year, Senna. If you're at all familar with some of the "controversy" surrounding Senna, you'll instantly recognise the same issues with KoK, which hits on an interesting point. How truthful should a documentary be? Should it forgo honesty for an immersive narrative? Either way, it's an incredibly well constructed film and I look forward to seeing what director Seth Gordon can do when he's finished with his "commercial comedy" phase.
Eight Men Out: I can't believe I'd ever watch a film that made me nostalgic for a by-gone age of a sport I don't even like. Maybe I'm just a sucker for rose-tinted history, but I thought this was a wonderful film. This nearly had me excited about the World Series, nearly. But I tell you what, unlike Bull Durham, the threat of never playing baseball again is very much more real in this film. There's one shot especially that brings the thrill of the sport to life (you'd recognise it if you saw it, tracking shot around the diamond).
Maybe cricket just needs a good movie.
--------------------------------------------------
Sorry this post is a bit disjointed, I think I need to get back into the swing of things a bit here. Hopefully should be on top of posting once a week, maybe twice if I become incensed about something.
The BFI London Film Festival is on at the minute. I'm five films out of six down right now, last one is on Tuesday. Expect the next post to feature this heavily.
I received my first celebrity twitter follower t'other day - Sam Neill. Maybe this is because I sent a pro-Event Horizon to my favourite film podcast. He's quite big into his wine, I hope he doesn't find out that I often (read always) pick wine out by how cool the label looks.
I finally read the Great Gatsby. Jeez, those last three chapters are sheer perfection. Almost makes me too depressed to put pen to paper.
Yay! New Jersey aren't doing as bad as last year! I still think the playoffs are out of the question this year, but hopefully we'll be a better state next year. Larsson is looking like a thorough-bred right now.
Excitement is picking up on the current project with Jonathan Hatfull (http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/). Nothing of great interest to report yet, but it's all coming together rather nicely.
Since time has gone on, I've learnt to appreciate the fine art of ice hockey and motorsports, but I can watch most sports now with a semblance of knowledge. However, there are two sports that baffle me; cricket and baseball. They're pretty equivalent sports; balls get chucked, balls get hit, people in the stands get drunk and the whole thing lasts an eternity, but there's just something about them that has never inspired my imagination. So, what does LOVEFiLM decide to do? In a four film run of sports, it sends me two baseball films. Ah well, at least I'll be clued up on it before I go see Moneyball (stupid November UK release date).
To be fair, the selection of the films was quite well balanced. There was a mixture of fiction and documentary, comedy and drama. In order; Bull Durham, Slap Shot, the King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and Eight Men Out. Like I said, quite a good selection. KoK is highly touted, Bull Durham was held on a very tall pedestal by a screenwriting book I own, Eight Men Out would be my first John Sayles and Slap Shot is about ice hockey - the greatest sport devised by mortal personage. For the sheer sanity of anyone reading this, I'll quite these reviews brief.
Bull Durham: Damn, that's a good opening line, but I don't think this is a great baseball movie. That's not to say I don't rate it, but I never see why their only drive is the game. You could replace baseball with nearly an art, craft or frivolity and this film would work just as well (hmm, the Wedding Planner meets Bull Durham - I think I need to call Fox). Tim Robbins is pitch perfect (boom boom), Costner is...well...Costner, but he works well here.
Slap Shot: This is quite an odd beast. I've only ever heard about this film second hand; in news articles from hockey writers referencing a joke here and there when discussing current events. From this I was expecting some silly farce in the vein of Airplane. Sure, there's definitely a lot of humour in this film, but I feel that it plays out like an elegy to the working class aesthetics of that period. Sure Paul Newman is very funny, but his far from being a "cool" character in this. In fact, his inability to correctly place the anger caused by the loss of his livelihood (be it from financial collapse of the club, the evolution of the game or his wife) makes him incredibly pathetic in his impotency. There's definitely a lot to love in this film (the chance to see a pre-Twin Peaks Michael Ontkean makes it well worth the rent) and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.
King of Kong: This is definitely the urgent of the four. In fact, as soon as I finished watching it, I slapped it straight back into the DVD player and watched it all again. It plays out very similar to another documentary I saw this year, Senna. If you're at all familar with some of the "controversy" surrounding Senna, you'll instantly recognise the same issues with KoK, which hits on an interesting point. How truthful should a documentary be? Should it forgo honesty for an immersive narrative? Either way, it's an incredibly well constructed film and I look forward to seeing what director Seth Gordon can do when he's finished with his "commercial comedy" phase.
Eight Men Out: I can't believe I'd ever watch a film that made me nostalgic for a by-gone age of a sport I don't even like. Maybe I'm just a sucker for rose-tinted history, but I thought this was a wonderful film. This nearly had me excited about the World Series, nearly. But I tell you what, unlike Bull Durham, the threat of never playing baseball again is very much more real in this film. There's one shot especially that brings the thrill of the sport to life (you'd recognise it if you saw it, tracking shot around the diamond).
Maybe cricket just needs a good movie.
--------------------------------------------------
Sorry this post is a bit disjointed, I think I need to get back into the swing of things a bit here. Hopefully should be on top of posting once a week, maybe twice if I become incensed about something.
The BFI London Film Festival is on at the minute. I'm five films out of six down right now, last one is on Tuesday. Expect the next post to feature this heavily.
I received my first celebrity twitter follower t'other day - Sam Neill. Maybe this is because I sent a pro-Event Horizon to my favourite film podcast. He's quite big into his wine, I hope he doesn't find out that I often (read always) pick wine out by how cool the label looks.
I finally read the Great Gatsby. Jeez, those last three chapters are sheer perfection. Almost makes me too depressed to put pen to paper.
Yay! New Jersey aren't doing as bad as last year! I still think the playoffs are out of the question this year, but hopefully we'll be a better state next year. Larsson is looking like a thorough-bred right now.
Excitement is picking up on the current project with Jonathan Hatfull (http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/). Nothing of great interest to report yet, but it's all coming together rather nicely.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Evangelion 2.0, BFI LFF, Training Camp, Qualms with Revision and Other Musing
Another weekend spent studying. Huzzah. Don't worry, I shall spare you the exciting features of Moment Generating Functions of Probability Density Functions and talk about some of the other stuff I've been up to.
Let's start at a couple of hours ago. After demolishing a solid 7 chapters of CT3 (and lightly tapping another 3), I decided to watch LOVEFiLM's latest offering, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. I don't think I've documented this on the blog so far, but growing up the Neon Genesis Evangelion Saga was of huge importance to me. Let me paint the scene, I was in Lower Sixth (so 16-17 years of age). Hmm, how to put this kindly, I was an odd child. So during primary school, I was a proper geek, hand up at every question, very eager and very much trying to be a teacher's pet. Far from popular. This changed when I got to high school. I was still put in the "unpopular, smart kid" box in the first year, but then after that I started hanging round with some of the cooler, misfit kids. Don't worry, my grades didn't dip, but I became more anonymous. I disliked partaking in class, but I could fit in after-school study and some new found social status (including band practice!). Fast forward a few years, I didn't need to worry about band practice and social life much any more, because my social circle pushed me out. The band I was in kicked me and my brother out (without telling us). The rest of our friends decided that hanging out with the rest of the band and me at the same time was not possible and thus I became persona non grata. Also, my first girlfriend decided that this would be a good time to break up with me. Context over, this was when I discovered Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is the perfect time to discover Neon Genesis Evangelion, especially if you're studying English Literature and trying to force Freudian interpretations on every Tennyson poem you read, in a rather ham-fisted manner.
Assuming you know nothing about this TV show and its epic motion picture conclusion, let's get you up to speed. Neon Genesis Evangelion was a Japanese anime TV show during the mid-nineties. The plot breaks down as follows; it is the future! Shinji Ikari is 14. He arrives in Tokyo-3 having been called for by his estranged father Gendo Ikari (who rocks the Abe Lincoln beard). Gendo is in charge of a Government organisation called Nerv who, get ready for it now, develop, prep and utilise giant mecha (called Evas) robots as Earth's last defence against a force of 'are they, aren't they aliens?' called Angels. As well as having to deal with this threat, Shinji has to deal with this heavy burden that he has had reluctantly force upon him, which includes finding his place among the other 14 year old pilots and learning how to accept or reject the world around him. As far as I can tell, it had an instant audience due to its throwback, retro nature (giant robots fighting monsters was big in Japan in the eighties I'm told). , but much akin to Watchmen in the comic book world, although there was a strongly featured central plot (monsters trying to destroy the world!), it really stood out by showing the internal struggles of the central characters and more over, how utterly fucked up they are. Believe me, I mean it when I say fucked up.
--------------------------------
Other Musings:
Interesting side note, my trip to Japan was rather Evangelion orientated. It is still insanely popular over there. I managed to pick up a mug and chopstick as souvenirs, plus I won an exclusive "not for sale" pocket watch in a Sega arcade machine.
The BFI London Film Festival has annouced its line up! So many films! So little time! While I would love to see Shame and 50/50, I have to come to terms with the fact that they will probably sell out before I can buy tickets. No loss, they'll both have theatrical releases sooner rather than later. I'm definitely going to try and check out a couple of the smaller films. I saw a couple of gems (Heartbeats, Elisa K) and a couple of stinkers (Love Like Poison, Special Treatment), so I have high and low hopes for this year.
I was feeling a bit meh earlier, thus while I was studying I defaulted to my iPod playlist of my favourite depressing songs. I got bored of studying, so I decided to work out instead. I didn't change the soundtrack. Pull ups to Nick Cave's 'Where Do We Go Now (But Nowhere)?' is quite surreal.
I am not that familiar with Steven Soderbergh, however, LOVEFiLM has recently sent me the Girlfriend Experience and the Informant! in a row. My interest is piqued. Both have been much better than Traffic.
Here's a link to my old band's myspace page. I'm pretty sure the recordings were made post my leaving, but I definitely played a couple of these songs live countless times. http://www.myspace.com/zephoria
I miss the days when Green Day sounded like Elvis Costello instead of Elton John.
Training camps for the NHL have started today! My first chance to read tweets and see photos of Adam Larsson playing hockey with the big kids! Whatever happens, I'm hoping it can't be as bad as the start of last season for my beloved Devils. In other league news, I am loving seeing Jagr in orange.
Laura found a flat! She should be moving to London in mid-October, which is around when my exams finish! Perfect timing!
Let's start at a couple of hours ago. After demolishing a solid 7 chapters of CT3 (and lightly tapping another 3), I decided to watch LOVEFiLM's latest offering, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. I don't think I've documented this on the blog so far, but growing up the Neon Genesis Evangelion Saga was of huge importance to me. Let me paint the scene, I was in Lower Sixth (so 16-17 years of age). Hmm, how to put this kindly, I was an odd child. So during primary school, I was a proper geek, hand up at every question, very eager and very much trying to be a teacher's pet. Far from popular. This changed when I got to high school. I was still put in the "unpopular, smart kid" box in the first year, but then after that I started hanging round with some of the cooler, misfit kids. Don't worry, my grades didn't dip, but I became more anonymous. I disliked partaking in class, but I could fit in after-school study and some new found social status (including band practice!). Fast forward a few years, I didn't need to worry about band practice and social life much any more, because my social circle pushed me out. The band I was in kicked me and my brother out (without telling us). The rest of our friends decided that hanging out with the rest of the band and me at the same time was not possible and thus I became persona non grata. Also, my first girlfriend decided that this would be a good time to break up with me. Context over, this was when I discovered Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is the perfect time to discover Neon Genesis Evangelion, especially if you're studying English Literature and trying to force Freudian interpretations on every Tennyson poem you read, in a rather ham-fisted manner.
Assuming you know nothing about this TV show and its epic motion picture conclusion, let's get you up to speed. Neon Genesis Evangelion was a Japanese anime TV show during the mid-nineties. The plot breaks down as follows; it is the future! Shinji Ikari is 14. He arrives in Tokyo-3 having been called for by his estranged father Gendo Ikari (who rocks the Abe Lincoln beard). Gendo is in charge of a Government organisation called Nerv who, get ready for it now, develop, prep and utilise giant mecha (called Evas) robots as Earth's last defence against a force of 'are they, aren't they aliens?' called Angels. As well as having to deal with this threat, Shinji has to deal with this heavy burden that he has had reluctantly force upon him, which includes finding his place among the other 14 year old pilots and learning how to accept or reject the world around him. As far as I can tell, it had an instant audience due to its throwback, retro nature (giant robots fighting monsters was big in Japan in the eighties I'm told). , but much akin to Watchmen in the comic book world, although there was a strongly featured central plot (monsters trying to destroy the world!), it really stood out by showing the internal struggles of the central characters and more over, how utterly fucked up they are. Believe me, I mean it when I say fucked up.
You'd be fucked up too if you had to see this sort of stuff as part of your 9-5 job.
Anyway, it wasn't all blood and guts and phallic symbols, the show also did a great job of depicting the "teenage experience". Unlike many shows set in high school, Neon Genesis accurate showed what it was like to be at that age and being unable to relate to the people around you, hell, being completely uninterested in relating to the people around you,. Don't worry, there were still laughs and frolics on the way. It was a good tale of growing up. In many ways, what I feel toward this show is what I imagine a lot of people feel towards the Harry Potter series of films. Beyond this, due to all the psychology/philosophical techno-babble was also a gateway for me in a great deal of other art (Nietzsche, Camus, etc), so it was quite the big deal for me at that age.
A couple of years ago, Hideaki Anno decided to revisit his magnum opus and, something that George Lucas would appreciate, touch up his beloved series with the intention of making a few tweaks along the way. The first film in this proposed teratology, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, was fairly tame. Beyond a few visual tweaks, the plot stayed close to the original 6 episodes. I enjoyed revisiting these characters that were integral to my teenage years, but despite the joy of seeing some of my favourite moments relived on a gloriously crisp Blu-Ray image, I had great reservations about this moving forward. As you would imagine, a lot was cut out from the series, and what remained was still jam packed into the 98 minute running time. What had been a show that interspersed brutal action with, sometimes, whole episodes of atmosphere and wandering around the wonderfully realised Tokyo-3 backdrop, had changed into a frantically edited, action fest. In addition, some of the changes made resulted in very subtle changes that (in a similar manner to Zac Synder's Watchmen) betrayed the motivation of the characters. Just to present an example of this; in the show, there is a scene between Shinji and a school bully. The bully hits him because, during one of Shinji's battles with an Angel, his sister is injured. However, his sister tells him off as, despite her injuries, without Shinji's intervention, she would have been killed. The bully demands that Shinji punches him to even the score, but Shinji can't, highlighting both how passive and impotent he is a central protagonist, especially compared to the usual leads in mecha shows. In the film, he has no such qualms. He doesn't even pause to consider it. I have no problems with a reimagining, but I was concerned that such subtle changes would falsify the ending if the remaining plot stayed true to the series. Oh well, no worries of that.
Evangelion 2.0 takes a very sharp turn into left field from the opening shot. New character, new Eva, new battle. In fact, there's very little recognisable from the series in this film beyond the characters and part of the soundtrack. Unfortunately, much like the first film, there is an awful lot stuffed into the running time that hinders the quality of the movie. There a very nice segments, but currently the plot isn't tying up. It's not just that character's motivations have changed from the series, but more that their motivations don't make sense. I was disappointed, especially with the amount of techno babble during the climax and generally with the dialogue. There are so many lines that are just too obvious with their intentions. Also, there are a couple of filmic tricks aped from the original concluding film, but it seemed to rely on emotional attachment stemming from familiarity with this and therefore had not earned the emotional payoff it was seeking. There is also the matter of "fan-service". The original series featured plenty of nudity, however, none of it was erotic in the slightest, due to intense psychological trauma each of the characters were face. In contrast, this film features an absolute tonne of almost glamour model poses from its female leads. In the years since the original series, the merchandise of Evangelion has definitely focused on the stereotypical pervy Japanese figurine sector, however, these sorts of shots have no place in this film and to me highlight how far the people involved have grown away from the source material. I'm still eagerly anticipating the next instalment, especially considering how brave the film-makers were in their deviation from the series, but I'd probably give it a 2/5.
Other Musings:
Interesting side note, my trip to Japan was rather Evangelion orientated. It is still insanely popular over there. I managed to pick up a mug and chopstick as souvenirs, plus I won an exclusive "not for sale" pocket watch in a Sega arcade machine.
The BFI London Film Festival has annouced its line up! So many films! So little time! While I would love to see Shame and 50/50, I have to come to terms with the fact that they will probably sell out before I can buy tickets. No loss, they'll both have theatrical releases sooner rather than later. I'm definitely going to try and check out a couple of the smaller films. I saw a couple of gems (Heartbeats, Elisa K) and a couple of stinkers (Love Like Poison, Special Treatment), so I have high and low hopes for this year.
I was feeling a bit meh earlier, thus while I was studying I defaulted to my iPod playlist of my favourite depressing songs. I got bored of studying, so I decided to work out instead. I didn't change the soundtrack. Pull ups to Nick Cave's 'Where Do We Go Now (But Nowhere)?' is quite surreal.
I am not that familiar with Steven Soderbergh, however, LOVEFiLM has recently sent me the Girlfriend Experience and the Informant! in a row. My interest is piqued. Both have been much better than Traffic.
Here's a link to my old band's myspace page. I'm pretty sure the recordings were made post my leaving, but I definitely played a couple of these songs live countless times. http://www.myspace.com/zephoria
I miss the days when Green Day sounded like Elvis Costello instead of Elton John.
Training camps for the NHL have started today! My first chance to read tweets and see photos of Adam Larsson playing hockey with the big kids! Whatever happens, I'm hoping it can't be as bad as the start of last season for my beloved Devils. In other league news, I am loving seeing Jagr in orange.
Laura found a flat! She should be moving to London in mid-October, which is around when my exams finish! Perfect timing!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
The Return, Japan, DIY and Other Musings!
Howdy there! Fancy seeing you here after all this time! I can only apologise profusely for the complete lack of any contact for over a month, but there are good and valid reasons! Reason one! As documented here, I went to Japan for two weeks. Reason two! After returning from Japan, I had one week to pack and sort my stuff in order to move house. Reason three! The new house only started broadcasting internet yesterday. Forgive me? Come on, you know you can't stay mad at me. I bought you a gift. See, now you definitely can't be mad.
Despite there being such a huge gap between posts, not too much of interest or analysis has happened lately. Japan, as you could imagine, was absolutely awesome. If you are friends with me on the Facebook, you'll have no doubt seen my completely unedited super rush of photos. If not, there are far too many highlights for me to dump on here. I'll try setting up a tumblr or something (or alternatively, just add me on fb? http://www.facebook.com/bensheppard88 - or is that too forward?).
It wasn't all wine and roses, beer and pizzas however. One problem with the Japan trip was that, despite it being a two week holiday, I came back completely exhausted. I think I'm too old now to travel to several cities in two weeks and spend most days walking for 12 hours. As a motley crew, we visited Tokyo, Nara, Shikoku, Naoshima, Hiroshima and Kyoto. I bought a Hiroshima Carps cap, because, you know, baseball's where it's at right now (see other musings).
Hiroshima, as you'd expect, was a complete highlight. An incredibly depressing highlight, but definitely a very worthwhile one. I really should document the experiences I had there, but currently, I'm quite sleepy, so that can wait for another day. Another day, where I am less busy.
Why am I so busy? Because we're in full on exam season. Hooray, hooray. My actuarial exams start in 17 days. That's incredibly depressing. Time for one to pull one's socks up and all that. I have CT1 on 27th September and CT3 on 7th October. Fortunately, the NHL season starts in the evening of the 7th, so that's a nice reward for myself.
And with that I bid you adieu. Just a brief message to tell you I'm alive, and then I leave you. I leave you like all the warmth and comfort of a bath that you've just weed in.
What gift?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Musings:
The new house is rather pleasant, if a tad out of the way. Quite expensive too. And unfurnished. Unfurnished isn't a bad thing though. It allows me to utilise my sick DIY skills. Look at what I created!
Oh, how my Grandad would be proud.
I've seen a few films lately (what a surprise!). The only one I can remember though was Kill List. Really clever and original use of editing. The acting was also superb. Shame about the plot.
After my exams have finished, I'm focusing on a film project, with my good friend Jonathan Hatfull (him of http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/ and http://fohnhouse.blogspot.com/ fame). I'm not willing to pass on details yet, but expect something fantastic and cheap.
Keeping on films though, I've become part way obsessed with Moneyball and its trailer. I want to see this movie so much, that I'm even downloading retro Baseball Manager games. I don't even think I'll be able to get them to work.
From one sport to another; like many ice hockey fans, I've been bummed out recently. The passing of three enforcers over the offseason has been upsetting to see, but nothing has roused my anger and sadness quite like the Yaroslavl plane crash. I'd like to save my spite and vitriol until further details have come to light, but I am less than impressed with Russian aviation right now.
Despite there being such a huge gap between posts, not too much of interest or analysis has happened lately. Japan, as you could imagine, was absolutely awesome. If you are friends with me on the Facebook, you'll have no doubt seen my completely unedited super rush of photos. If not, there are far too many highlights for me to dump on here. I'll try setting up a tumblr or something (or alternatively, just add me on fb? http://www.facebook.com/bensheppard88 - or is that too forward?).
It wasn't all wine and roses, beer and pizzas however. One problem with the Japan trip was that, despite it being a two week holiday, I came back completely exhausted. I think I'm too old now to travel to several cities in two weeks and spend most days walking for 12 hours. As a motley crew, we visited Tokyo, Nara, Shikoku, Naoshima, Hiroshima and Kyoto. I bought a Hiroshima Carps cap, because, you know, baseball's where it's at right now (see other musings).
Hiroshima, as you'd expect, was a complete highlight. An incredibly depressing highlight, but definitely a very worthwhile one. I really should document the experiences I had there, but currently, I'm quite sleepy, so that can wait for another day. Another day, where I am less busy.
Why am I so busy? Because we're in full on exam season. Hooray, hooray. My actuarial exams start in 17 days. That's incredibly depressing. Time for one to pull one's socks up and all that. I have CT1 on 27th September and CT3 on 7th October. Fortunately, the NHL season starts in the evening of the 7th, so that's a nice reward for myself.
And with that I bid you adieu. Just a brief message to tell you I'm alive, and then I leave you. I leave you like all the warmth and comfort of a bath that you've just weed in.
What gift?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Musings:
The new house is rather pleasant, if a tad out of the way. Quite expensive too. And unfurnished. Unfurnished isn't a bad thing though. It allows me to utilise my sick DIY skills. Look at what I created!
I've seen a few films lately (what a surprise!). The only one I can remember though was Kill List. Really clever and original use of editing. The acting was also superb. Shame about the plot.
After my exams have finished, I'm focusing on a film project, with my good friend Jonathan Hatfull (him of http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/ and http://fohnhouse.blogspot.com/ fame). I'm not willing to pass on details yet, but expect something fantastic and cheap.
Keeping on films though, I've become part way obsessed with Moneyball and its trailer. I want to see this movie so much, that I'm even downloading retro Baseball Manager games. I don't even think I'll be able to get them to work.
From one sport to another; like many ice hockey fans, I've been bummed out recently. The passing of three enforcers over the offseason has been upsetting to see, but nothing has roused my anger and sadness quite like the Yaroslavl plane crash. I'd like to save my spite and vitriol until further details have come to light, but I am less than impressed with Russian aviation right now.
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