![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
I was so emo back in 2004! Also, whingy. I'm quite surprised I got round to dumping James first, if I were him the relationship wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes, let alone 2 years. Aloso, for some reason it's locked, I have no idea why that is, but I might have a go at unlocking it.
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Chuck Palahnchuck (Dave has actually given Mr. Palahniuk his own theme song, and it's pretty catchy. I'll sing it to you if you like), Terry Pratchett, and Stephen King. I own 100% of books written by Sarah Waters, Toby Frost and Douglas Adams (well, kind of. But you try and find "Last Chance to see", I dare you)
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Two "V for Vendetta"s, "The Ballad of Halo Jones"', and some "Preacher"s. Other than graphic novels, Dave and I have quite different tates in books, so when we moved in they were really our only duplicates.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not as much as it could have.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
I really loved the Man With No Name from "Mystery Man", but I would never date him. It's more utmost respect than romantic love. I do quite fancy Isambard Smith from Toby Frost's books though, in fact I'm getting quite obsessive over them lately.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Probably "Good Omens" I read it about once a year, and probably "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", because I'm a nerd.
6) What was your favourite book when you were ten years old?
"Krindlekrax". Read it, it's the bomb.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
A bloody proof copy of "Heaven Can Wait" by Cally Taylor. It was easy enough to read, but it relied way to heavily on stereotypes, and was actually quite offensive to geeks in numerous ways. I will defend Chick-Lit until the day I die, because well-written genre novels are amazing, entertaining and give you something to think about. This, however, was poo.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
"Mystery Man", easily. I never normally read crime, but I actually got this for free from the nicest customer ever, who realised he wasn't going to get a book he wanted in the 3 for 2 offer, so gave it to me :D Anyway, it was absolutely the funniest thing I've ever read, and now I need to read more Bateman.
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
I haven't tagged anyone, but I guess I would recommend "Good Omens", as it's very clever indeed.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Julia Donaldson.
Even less seriously, when our very literary friend asked Dave who he thought should win, he replied "Ray Gordon with Naughty Schoolgirls 3", to which our friend replied "No! You choose the author, not the work!" and Dave replied "The entire Naughty Schoolgirls series by him, then". He makes me laugh :$
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
"Space Captain Smith", with a suitably dashing Smith, please.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
No real thoughts on that.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I used to have loads of dreams set in libraries, but I can't really remember them anymore. I can kind of picture the libraries though, very fantastical.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
See Cally Taylor, No. 7.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Not difficult in content or writing, but I have never managed to finish "The Time Traveller's Wife". I don't know why, but it gives me a hard time.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I've only seen about 4: "Hamlet", "Macbeth", "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "Romeo and Juliet". Not the last one then, and Hamlet had David Tennant in it. Probably TMWoW, for lack of choice.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Pffft. I honestly don't know. The last book I read by an author of either nationality was "Exercises in Style", by Raymond Queneau. So the French wins by a whisker.
18) Roth or Updike?
Neither.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Not read either, but want to read Sedaris more.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare.
21) Austen or Eliot?
Neither.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Classics. Bo-ring.
23) What is your favourite novel?
"Good Omens", surprise surprise.
24) Play?
"Accidental Death oif an Anarchist", by Dario Fo.
25) Poem?
"The Listeners" by Walter de la Mare.
26) Essay?
What, really? Fine, the one I wrote on Genre and Feminism in "Singin' in the Rain".
27) Short story?
"The Gospel according to Mark", by that guy who writes loads of short stories whose name I've forgotten.
28) Work of nonfiction?
"Female Chauvinist Pigs" by Ariel Levy and "Watching the English" by Kate Fox
29) Who is your favourite writer?
Chuck Palahniuk and Sarah Waters.
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
There are a few, but none who jump immediately to mind.
31) What is your desert island book?
Probably "The Time Traveller's Wife", I'd probably finish it then.
32) And... what are you reading right now?
"I Heart New York", by some chick. And I'm loving it, it's so perfectly trashy I'm looking forward to the sequel already.
- Location:Helena Road
- Mood:
geeky
I should probably write about some sensible things as well. Me and Dave moved in on the 1st April, which was nice. Our flat rocks the hizzouse, so on these bally hot days we can just chill in our basement. We have a spare room for comics.
Dave got made redundant, but it's all ok now as he got a job offer the next day :) However, it's temporary so I'm postponing the librarian course to see what happens. Next September, I'll hopefully be all on that though.
I moved to Fareham. They cut my hours, because they thought I was going to become a librarian, but then, obviously I postponed that. (See above). However, when I asked for alternate weekends off, a usual perk for certain members of staff, they turned around and said no, so that's why I transfered to Fareham. I am now addicted to the weekends, and might be secretly looking for a job that gives me every weekend off, rather than alternate ones.
Terminator Salvation is a big pile of wank.
Mystery Man and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies might very well be the books of the year.
- Location:Helena Road
- Mood:Alright.
One books the cooks …
I've loved reading about the MP scandal, but also really hated it at the same time. Firstly, I love gossip, and I'm nosy, so finding out what people have in their houses is very cool to me. However, I really hate the way people are getting outraged over this, because it's a work benefit which they';re taking advantage of, and who wouldn't do the same?
So I know I'm a bit late with the social commentary, but the reason I had to mention it was after the local headline "CANDIDATES LINE UP FOR MP POSITION". Really?! How fascinating!
Anyway, I applied to write shiz for work the other day, but they didn't even get back to me, the bastards. So, here's the review I wrote, cos I want at least *one* other person to read it.
British Science-Fiction and Comedy go together like tea and crumpets. It helps that us Brits have an abnormally large funny bone, but also a healthy taste for the cult- most of the works mentioned have worldwide cult status, with mass production of buttons, badges, T-shirts and even towels.
First up, both chronologically and alphabetically, is Douglas Adams with The Hitchhiker’s series, sometimes shortened to H2G2. It’s brilliantly funny because it’s easily identifiable: Arthur Dent, the English protagonist, is neurotic, well-mannered to the point of detriment, and drinks a lot of tea. He also pushes buttons clearly marked Do Not Press, which I believe is an innate human trait and also why the panic buttons at Fareham shouldn’t have that particular message written on them. Like the companions of Dr. Who, Dent serves as a guide to the madness of alien worlds, which seem to suffer the same frustrating levels of bureaucracy. The series is also very silly, with the President of the Universe stealing the most advanced spaceship in the world; the universe’s smartest robot is also it’s most depressed; and ‘Belgium’ is the worst swearword you can use. Cult status was achieved through ‘42’, recognised by many as the answer to life, the universe and everything, and the importance of towels (The 25th May is ‘Towel Day’). The series is quite an easy one to sell to customers, as it’s more financially smart for them to buy an omnibus, but I can guarantee they’ll be back for the new one in October (written by Eoin Colfer; Adams sadly died of heart attack in 2001) as well as Adams other series Dirk Gently.
When talking to particularly obsessed customers, or booksellers I suppose, they’ll probably mention that H2G2 started life as a BBC radio series (available on audio- if you listen to nothing else, I highly recommend this), and it was the BBC who commissioned another staple of British SF, Red Dwarf by Grant and Naylor. The novels are actually a college of elements from certain episodes, so if you’ve ever caught an episode on Dave you probably know a portion of one of the books. They only used the funniest bits, some of which are condensed to one line (such as Rimmer writing “I am a fish” 400 times in an exam) to the main focus (the novel Backwards takes much of its inspiration from the episode, um, Backwards). Rob Grant (the funny one of the Grant-Naylor partnership) has also produced work outside the R.D universe, but each novel progressively edges further away from overt SF and more into speculative fiction. Fat, his latest novel, is really more of a satire of a potential Britain- a bit like Ben Elton, but funnier. It’s still a good read and and easily sold to lovers of the author as well as slightly darker comedy.
Fans of Red Dwarf can be easily persuaded to read the new series Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost. What it lacks in cult status, it compensates with sheer bally Englishness. The front covers are reminiscent of dashing hero Flashman, whereas the content generally focuses around tea. A quick scan of any sociological study of Englishness will tell you that the core of our humour centres on a good dose of silliness, puns (we’re so damned witty) and innuendos (or ‘dirty puns’). Smith certainly rams the goods home, with a sex-toy android making double-entendres constantly. The series is also full of Sci-Fi parodies, from Blade Runner (via one of my favourite characters, Rick Drekkit), Space Children (in which Smith needs to escape mind-controlling kids by increasing his moral fibre- by eating raw tea) and The Matrix/Neuromancer.
If you like this, you’ll love (a rundown):
Douglas Adams
Rob Grant and Doug Naylor
Toby Frost
Road to Mars by Eric Idle
Starship Titanic by Terry Jones
Terry Pratchett
Harry Harrison
- Location:Helena Road
- Music:Dave watching BSG in the background
Anyway. Good things have been occuring! Me and Dave are moving in together! (uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh). I'm going to Brighton to do a librarianship degree! Huzzah! Um. I got a new tattoo! Of Delirium! From Sandman!
I got a new computer too. The keyboard is sexy slinky great. I can type so fast on this baby, rrrwarr.
Work is still good.
I've been reading well loads. Do you remember I wrote a review for "Christie Malry's Own Double Entry", and said it was a big pile of poo and I only watched it to impress Dave? Well, try the book instead, it's a squillion times better.
Love you all well loads! Hopefully I'll write a better entry when the temperature has subsided. Heh, I accidentally just wrote subsideed, which in my opinion is a way better word.
Happy boxing day everyone! Hope everyone had a lovely day yesterday. Mine was brilliant- got to see my family at their very best. Plus, I got a really awesome gift that proves just how awesome I am- Scene It on the XBox (Won 90% of every game played so far? Oh yeah!)
Here's what I got, anyways.
From Dave: A FOTC poster, a "Create with Fimo" book, Beatles Monopoly and "True Brit" (Superman graphic novel).
From friends: Penis Pasta and Penguin socks (Isie), Doctor Who film cells (Toni), Playdough and a scarf (Secret Santa at work), The Sandman Papers (Paul), badges (James).
From Family:
> Harvey Birdman vol. 1
> Kids in the Hall series 2-5
> Essential Sandman vol 3
> Juggling Balls (They're bloody brilliant, I played with these all day yesterday)
> Subscription to Empire magazine
> Scene It on the XBox
> Dr. Who top trumps on Wii
> Nintendo monopoly
> Here and Now World Edition monopoly
> Bookshelf monopoly
> Loadsa Fimo
> £40 HMV vouchers
> That Malorie Blackman novel that I've forgotten what it's called.
> Flipping giant tub of Flying Saucers
> £20 to go towards more fimo
So, yes, I like monopoly and fimo. We played loads of scene It, watched a fair amount of Wallace and Gromit, and now we're watching the Dark Knight. (Yay Aaron Eckhart.)
2008 has been a wonderful year, with graduation, brilliant job, new awesome boyfriend and new and old friends being/continuing to be swell. Thanks to everyone, hope your holidays are going as well as mine.
- Mood:
content
Bonjourno! So, apparently it's difficult to write a blog with anything resembling frequency when you've got a new boyfriend and a new job. Saying that, friends on LJ seem to be doing ok, so I think it is just me... ok, well from now on I'll defintely at least write every Wednesday, and I'll aim for every Sunday as well.
Life is going swimmingly, Livejournal. Recently, I had the halloween party, although a) it wasn't all that recently, and b) I can't remember if I already wrote about it... regardless, a splendid time was had by all. The categories (and winners!) were:
Scariest Girl: Pippa Cooper as Ventriloquist Dummy
I am aware her grinding Amy Winehouse isn't that terrifying (or is the epitome of terror, depending on your view,) but this photo shows off her freaky mouth and eyelashes bestScariest Male: Andrew Wells, as The Jackal from "Thirte13n Ghosts"
Most Original Lady: Becci Demark as Amy Wino
Notice the track marks? The girl takes her costumes very seriously ;)Most Original Gentleman: Mr. David Arnold as Jean de Baton (from the graphic novel 'Hitman')
However, he felt that it was a fix that he won, (even though two of the freaking judges won!) and shared all his chocolates out ^_^ I love this man.Woman Who Best Portayed a Character from Popular Culture: B as a Weeping Angel, from Doctor Who series 3 (Episode: Blink)
Dude Who Best Portrayed a Character from Popular Culture: Chris Anderson as a Sim.
Heh, rubbish picture, but best shows his Happy Diamond. (IYKWIM...AITYD)Most Effort (Girl): Heather as...temporarily forgotten her fictional name, but the character from "Sweeney Todd" as played by Helena Bonham Carter.
Sadly I couldn't find a full length photo, but Heather made practically everything from scratch, and she looked pretty darned cool).Most Effort (Boy): Andy Damzen as Captain Jack Sparrow
Best Overall (Female): Natalie Jacobs as Sweeney Todd
The trousers really completed the look, but again, no full length photo, dammit!Best Overall (Male): Teabag as...
a Killer B! For some reason, my social group is allergic to taking full length photos of people. There wasn't a single one of him standing up where you could also see the costume! Crazy.And here's one of me and B handing out prizes:
I'm a dead gangster if you can't tell ^_^Anyway, so some of the prizes didn't fit exactly, but we did some adjusting so that everyone who deserved a prize got one, even if it was in the wrong category! The prizes were Amicelli chocolates, apart from the main prizes: an Archer's giftset for the Natalie, and a selection of Cider for Teabag.
There was also recently a manga event at work, hopefully I'll be able to pop a few photos from that up soon. I went dressed (sort of) as Ed from Cowboy Bebop, which mainly meant I wore no shoes. There were other elements, but my feet still haven't forgiven me for that... Anyway, 60-odd kids hopped up on sugar makes for one entertaining evening, especially as sugary-nerds are still infinitely better behaved than even non-sugared up other kids. Hannah looked very swish as Misa from Death Note, and no one else dressed up ¬_¬ The best bit about it is that I dyed my hair red, and B cut it for me, so I'm looking way better now than I am in that photo (besides the obvious)
As you might be able to tell from the subject line, I'm excited about christmas. I've been listening to "Fairytale of New York" on repeat for about 6 hours, whilst working out what presents I still need to buy, what decorations I need to buy, and what cards I need to send. I realise this makes me the lowest type of person one could be, but I don't care :D I get paid tomorrow, and I'm going to buy a big sparkly christmas tree...
Dave and I are still awesome.
Jeff died a year ago today. I still miss him.
Hope everyone is well!
- Mood:Festive
- Music:"Fairytale of New York", The Pogues and Kirsty McCall
I had the most wonderful day today ^_^ Me and Davey attended his big sister, Liz's wedding. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, it was all sweet and lovely and made me go all girly XD. Dave's newphew, Tom (Liz and Jules' son) continued the girly-feelings by being an adorable six-month old baby, and cute as a button. The lunch was at a posh restaurant, and I was way out of my depth. I had guineau fowl! And scallops! (Although that was stolen from Dave...) It was completely divine. Dave's family are totally wonderful, they treat me so nicely and are genuinely nice and hilarious people. I've been grinning non-stop since about 10 this morning ^_^
So, I've been reading other people's blogs, and living my own life (obv.), and I've come to the conclusion that
a) people called Dave make lovely boyfriends
b) people who work at Waterstone's are highly fanciable and gorgey
c) a combination of the two = one man who makes me very happy indeed ^_^
- Location:Portsmouth
- Mood:
pleased - Music:Katamari Damacy
> Watching the English by Kate Fox
> The Silver Chair by C.S Lewis
> Agent Z Goes Wild by Mark Haddon
> Papillion by Henri Charriere
> Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash
> Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
> Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher
> Five Fists of Science, it's a graphic novel and I can't remember the authors sadly
AND I have "The Night Mayor" (Kim Newman), "The Taste of Night" (Vicki Pettersson, but this is probably erotica so we'll ignore this one til I know for sure), and "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" (Philip Jose Farmer) to even start! And I can't stop buying and borrowing books, it's insane. I might be addicted.
Anyway, movies! I have about five thousand to get through, so I might skip some of the information, especially as I'm extraordinarily knackered.
...oh, bugger me, I've watched 139 movies, LJ tells me I've written about 115. Sigh. I'm going to be uber, uber, lazy, and write one sentence reviews of them all, and I'm not going to bother with different fonts or anything as I'm dead on my feet/in my computer chair.
116) "You Don't Mess With the Zohan". Ok, best bit was that I got to see it with Isie. Worst bit was in the toilets afterwards, hearing a 13-ish-year old girl saying "There wee too many foreigners in it". Gaah.
117) "La Vie En Rose". Oh, absolutely beautiful, Marion Cotillard was wonderful in every way.
118) "Persepolis". First movie I saw with DA ^_^. Um, also, first movie I saw with Hannah and Trevor, but I didn't fancy them. Anyways, the movie was really good, loved the 'Eye of the Tiger' scene.
119) "Ichi the Killer". Bloody brilliant, I wanted to give Ihi a really big hug. Inspired me to make some fimo I'm particularly proud of, of a man being cut clean in half.
120) "The Witches". I bloody love this film! I love the music, I love the mise-en-scene. I love the adult actors and I love the child actors. Aces.
121) "Mission: Impossible". Only sort-of half watched this film, as it was very boring.
122) "Natural Born Killers". Robert Downey Jr. is King.
123) "Apartment 1303". Really boring, and exceptionally dumb.
124) "The Ladykillers". The second film I saw at the cinema with DA! Um, also, Pooky, but I didn't fancy him at the time either. Quality film, enjoyed it big time.
125) "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". "He makes me laugh!"- in my top ten of all time favourite films. Love it to pieces, it's so very clever.
126) "I'm a Cyborg (But That's Ok)". One of the first of many films that I enjoyed, but missed several important plot points as I was too busy trying to impress DA. I did like what I saw, though.
127) "Christie Malry's Own Double Entry". Another film I saw to impress DA... um. It got better, started off pretty dire though. I would have rather watched "Roger Rabbit" again though :P
128) "Girl Next Door". Funny, enjoyable, good film to watch with friends. Played with fimo throughout, Trevor's a bloody genius with the stuff. This is the evening Hannah and Trevor showed themselves to be bloody geniuses on a unicycle.
129) "Jack Said". Well, Hannah, Pook DA and I saw the premiere of this film! Sadly, it was shit. Might do a more full length review of this film at some stage, and if someone reminds me.
130) "Neverending Story". ARTAX! Noooooo!
131) "Little Miss. Sunshine". 'Nother good 'un. Thought it was funny and cringe-worthy, I liked all of the actors in it. Liked the teen and Steve Carell especially.
132) "Sweeney Todd". Bugger me, this was brilliant. Loved the songs, loved Ms. Bonham Carter, loved the stmosphere and look. Pretty sweet all round.
133) "Pineapple Express". Oh my, one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. Will definitely watch again.
134) "Semi-Pro". Not brilliant.
135) Now, I have written "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", but I have a feeling I've missed out some movies there... well, til I remember, "KKBB". Robert Downey Jr. is still king, except even more so.
136) "Night of the Hunter". Fricking aces, scared the life out of my from about halfway in til the end.
137) "The Weather Man". I hate Nicolas Cage, the freaky looking bastard. The film was shit.
138) "The Messengers". Godawful.
139) "The Life Aquatic". Loved it. Bill Murray can rule alongside Robert Downey Jr.
I'll keep up to date from now on! I promise!
- Mood:
happy - Music:By the Sea, Sweeney Todd
How are you? i am fine. sorry I haven't spoken to you in ages, i actually started some reviews but forgot to finish them- they're sitting in their little 'private journal' world as we speak, waiting to be unleashed one day.
so, life has been treating me astoundingly well. I have got me a new beau, whose name is David. Also: Dave. Also: D.A. Also: Arnold. the nerdier among you will have realised his full name is the two first names of the protagonists of red dwarf. There was no easy way to write that sentence, i think. anyway, he is a lovely, lovely man, although his laptop really hates capital letters. i met him at work, as, you know, he works where i do. i couldn't really miss him. i got genuinely, furiously angry at one of my friends today who sent my a text message saying "i love you", as I'm so comfortable with Da that the idea of anyone trying to separate us fills me with dread. So yeah, although the guy was joking, it was fucking stupid, so there's two people I'm not talking to. (As he sent the text when his BFf told him too. He's an even bigger cock).
I'm sorry, i don't normally get angry, but i feel a bit protective of this relationship. i don't really feel like i deserve him, and one day he'll sit up, say 'hang on a minute', and go out with a more sensible, prettier lady. So, if you're reading this: please do not be a massive idiot rearding me and romanitc feelings, or i'll beat you.
so even though I haven't been posting, i have been reading. Hello to everyone! Was a bit surprised to only see one response to the stupidest wb I've ever seen, namely the 'simpliiy of the Cold war' one. i mean... seriously?
also: read the graphic novel series "Y: the last man". it's absolutely wonderful. Don't read "hater" by David moody, it's a pile of wank.
Lots of love,
cayleigh
> Remember to go to work. That's pretty important.
> Save enough money to buy: The Kids in the Hall Series 2-5 (Bah)
> Remember to keep paying rent (Again, pretty important, this one)
> Read all of the Scary Go Rounds I haven't got round to reading yet
> Catch up on a new (for me) blog I have found here. It has made me very happy already.
> Read as much manga as possible.
> Watch the remaining hundred-odd movies or so.
Now all I need is two days off in a row to doss around in, and I'll be set. I keep taking overtime though, all that beautiful money will be my undoing.
I have been reading A LOT recently. I just finished "Instructions For Living Someone Else's Life", and I must say that if you can get hold of it, grab it now and read immediately. Never has a book made me laugh from the get go as hard as this one: Luckily I had a very quiet lunch break a while back otherwise I would have gained the reputation as the Crazy who laughs alone in the staff room. (Mind you, there's still time.) A man living in the '80s wakes up one morning to find he's actually in 2006, and has no idea how he got there. It's not exactly amnesia, but his reaction is stupidly hilarious. Added bonus: The Author's called Mil Millington, who some of you may already know is a genius.
I also finished Chuck Palahniuk's new read, "Snuff". I'm a big Chuck fan: "Lullaby", "Diary", "Choke" and "Rant" in particular can do no wrong by me. "Snuff" however was really disappointing: not only was it a good deal shorter then the others, it wasn't as interesting, and of course by interesting I mean thoroughly depraved in a morbidly ace way. There was no awesome payoff either, as some of his novels have bloody fantastic twists. So yeah, I needed to buy it for my collection, but otherwise I could have done without.
So, what studio Ghibli tat should I get?
This is how I chill at 11pm on a Wednesday: reading webcomics, writing LJ posts, and listening to the one minute intro to "Katamari Damacy" on repeat. That song is another instance of where I'm easily persuaded to do something: an edition of XKCD had a man running over a mailbox as he had the Katamari song in his head, and I felt obligated to love the song too.
So, I have been very busy lately, but busy with real life stuff! I am now properly settling into my job at Waterstones, which is where good people go when they die. When I worked at the cinema, every day was an affront to my nostrils who were the helpless POWs to the overwhelming smell of popcorn. Eurgh, I hate popcorn so much. Walking into a bookshop is like a sweet, sweet reward, that I haven't necessarily earned. Sometimes the place will smell of books and chocolately-coffee, as there's a Costa upstairs: That's when I know I have done something to appease Karma. Thanks dude. Plus, I'm surrounded by books! I honestly couldn't ask for anything more in a stopgap. I mean, I want to eventually become a librarian, so to be surrounded by books is pretty much my ultimate life goal. Well, career-wise, anyway. Once I've had kids, my life will be complete and I'll have to be very careful when crossing roads or eating seafood.
But yes, Waterstones. The people there are the shiz, I get good perks, and it's made me addicted to tea although I don't know why or how.
My phone has turned to crapola. I've had the bugger 3 years, and how does it repay me?! By breaking continously! Little bastard. I can't afford a new one just yet, so I'm going to see if I'm missing something and Orange can fix it by pushing some buttons, or taking the battery out in a certain way that I've missed.
Incidentally, how good are the Olympics?! Michael Phelps is The Shiz, and more patriotically we're apparently quite good at rowing and cycling. Go GB dudes!
- Mood:
peaceful - Music:Naaaa! Na Na Na Na Na Na, Na Katamari Damacy!
On Thursday 31st 2008 I went to see Hamlet with my good friend, Monique. Due to circumstances beyond our control (namely: we're idiots) we missed the first hour of the play, and sadly also missed the last half hour so we could actually catch a train back.
From what we did see, however, I was impressed. More importantly, I now understand Hamlet better then before. Ophelia was always a mystery to me, but now I know who she is in relation to everyone. The lady who played her in this adaptation was very talented, I was very impressed with her performance. David Tennant was good in bouts: Loopy for 90% of the time, Angsty for the remaining 10% and I must admit it was very hard to look past DT as The Doctor. Particuarly in one instance, where he holds a knife in exactly the same way he holds the sonic screwdriver. I fully expected him to flip it in the air, put it in his pocket and run off stage yelling "Allons-y!". Patrick Strewart was delciously hammy ^_^
Thoughts on Hamlet 2
OH MY GOD! Me an Monique TOTALLY saw David Tennant last Thursday, it was AWESOME. DAVID TENNANT LOOKED RIGHT AT ME! Oh my God, it was so sweet, we'd just arrived in the theatre and David was flashing this mirror around and making eye contact with the audience whilst flashing the mirror around and he ended on ME! AAAAAH! And he was barefoot for loads of it, and he looked really sexy and I think he has the same feet as me, you know common toes where the big toe isn't the longest toe? And we missed the ending which was a BUMMER, as he was just so gorgey I could have watched him for hours more. He didn't speak in his Scottish accent which was a bit naff but I'm not complaining at least I got to hear him speak in person in real life anyway!!!
- Mood:
excited
As I mentioned before, my good friend Pip is staying here with me. We have been watching many a movie, some of which have had themes which I've tried to categorise thusly.
MOVIE THEME: MOVIE WE'VE BEEN GAGGING TO SEE FOR A YEAR- 105) "The Dark Knight" (Nolan, 2008)
Starring: Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine. (Plot: Batman fights the Joker and Two Face. It rocks)
Squeeeee. I love Christian Bale. I love Maggie Gyllenhaal. I LOVE Gary Oldman as Gordon. Aaron Eckhart was unbelievably good, and Heath Ledger was rather good too. As for Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, when have they ever been bad? This film was good. Not as good as Batman Begins, but that's asking for a lot. The Joker was terrifying, Two Face was surprisingly creepy in a 12a way. I'm listing, I know, but to be honest I'm expecting everyone on my friend's list to watch it at some stage anyway. Good.
MOVIE THEME: JAPANESE MOVIES- 106) "St. John's Wort" ("Otogiriso") (Shimoyama, 2001)
Starring: Megumi Okina, Yoichiro Saito. (Plot: Video game developers create a J-Horror Suvival game based in a mansion. Huh. They send a research team to the mansion, only to find life imitating art)
Jonathon Ross recommended this film on his show "Japanorama". Whilst watching this film, I was reminded of why I hate him.* There's a 15 minute sequence of two people wandering around a house, and it's as boring as it sounds, seriously. They walk r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y, and it doesn't build suspense, it creates frustration. The ending, to quote MST3k, STINKS. In a way I can sort of understand- when I was younger and wrote stories myself, I hated writing endings as I could never think of a clever way to finish. The same problem struck SJ'sW, apparently. save yourself the trouble of watching this pile of tosh and play "Project Zero" instead.
*Jonathon Ross is a weird one. I hate him sometimes, really like him at others. Watching this film was a bad time for our fan-star relationship.
107) "The Ghost" ("Ryeong") (Kim, 2004)
Starring: Ha-Neul Kim, Sang-mi Nam, Bin. (Plot: Polite university student Ji-Won has amnesia, but finds herself and three bitchy students being haunted)
Oh, I love Wikipedia! They described one event of the film thusly: "When Ji-won comes out, she has a right royal barney with Eun-jung about the séance". No, an argument doesn't erupt; no, there isn't trouble amongst friends; heck, it's not even a disagreement, it's a royal barney! Oh yeah, and the film was good too. If you're into Asian horror it's more of the same, with lots of water imagery, long girly hair, jumpy pale-lady shots, etc. However, the ending was pretty neat, and it was done in a nice enough way that it felt entertaining rather than a repetitious waste of time. Korean horror for the win.
108) "Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom" ("Kyôfu joshikôkô: bôkô rinchi kyôshitsu") (Suzuki, 1973)
Starring: Reiko Ike, Miki Sugimoto. (Plot: A delinquent girls' school is run by the corrupt Deputy Headmaster and his gang of dominant-in-that-way "Discipline" squad. A group of girls decide that they have to overthrow this oppressive regime after one of the pupils is killed)
Wow, this film was kinky. Obviously I expected some sex and violence from a film included in the 'Pinky Violence' boxset, but I was not expecting to see a hot lightbulb get inserted into a person. I blame my old lecturer Paul Spicer, who decided to show us 58) Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess in the Pinky Violence lecture, which was enormously tame in comparison to this. To be honest though, I don't know why I'm whinging, I thought this film was magnificent. It was interesting, sexy, stylised, cool, and had some really ace female characters in it. Plus it was quite funny, which is unusual in a Japanese film. (Well, unusual for me, I only ever really watch horror though). Expect to see me dressed as a member of the discipline squad this coming Hallowe'en!
MOVIE THEME: VAMPIRES VERSUS WEREWOLVES- 109) "30 Days of Night" (Slade, 2007)
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George. (Plot: Barrow, Alaska is so far North it suffers 30 days without sunlight a year. Vampires take advantage of this situation. Josh Hartnett bumbles around)
Whilst I was watching this movie, I had a long list of bad points about it, but I can't remember any of them right now. In fact, I can't remember anything about this movie, so I think that means it was boring. Ooh, wait, I think I remember thinking the vampires were a bit disappointing, too "zombie" for my taste. Even Pip was a bit underwhelmed, and she sticks up for vampires (normally) indiscriminantly.
110) "An American Werewolf in London" (Landis, 1981)
Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne. (Plot: Holy Crap! Imdb has just told me that Griffin Dunne, AKA the best character in this movie, directed "Addicted to Love"! Who knew! Anyway, the film is about werewolves, and it's flipping A)
When I was in college, I fancied this guy who had lovely eyes, a wicked sense of humour, and an insanely detailed knowledge of films. Then, one day, I overheard him say that he hated this movie and my crush on him disappeared immediately. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you've got a problem with this film, you've got a problem with me. It's THE best werewolf OR vampire film ever made: it's funny, horrorific, sad, terrifying, sexy (to some people, maybe) and all-around genius. Highly recommended.
MOVIE THEME: Either A) FILMS THAT RANDOMLY MENTION THE PERINEUM BY A SLANG NAME, or B) FILMS THAT FEATURE ACTORS/ACTRESSES I WOULD HYPOTHETICALLY 'TAP'- 111) "Baby Mama" (McCullers, 2008)
Starring: Tina <3 Fey, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin. (Plot: Tina Fey is desperate to have babies, and for some reason men aren't queueing round the block to help her with that. Losers. Anyway, she turns to surrogacy as adoption takes too long and teams up with Amy Poehler, who carries it for her. Life lessons ensue.) Nickname for the perineum: "Taint"
Tina Fey has officially taken the number one spot for lady I'd go gay for. I completely adored her in this film, she was very amusing and acted beautifully, and the interaction between her and Poehler was a joy to watch. Me and Pip laughed numerous times, and felt very happy for a long period of time following. A rom-com I would absolutely recommend to all, espeically those wanting a very gentle comedy that is clever and appreciative of women in a way a lot of rom-coms are not. Did I mention I love Tina Fey?
112) "Velvet Goldmine" (Haynes, 1988)
Starring: Christian <3 Bale, Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard. (Plot: Toni Collette and Eddie Izzard both have a pair of double letters in their name, that's odd. The beautiful Christian Bale is asked to do a journalistic report on glam rock star Brian Slade) Nickname for the perineum: "No Man's Land"
Very enjoyable, especially if you like looking at Christian Bale and/or Ewan McGregor. Presented almost as a biopic of the fictional Brian Slade, it follows his life as a glam rock star. It's well acted, moves along very nicely and has strange fantasy moments every now and again.
113) "Wall*e" (Stanton, 2008)
Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy. (Plot: Cute little alien thing from the future tries to clean up the planet, but learns romance from watching "Hello Dolly!", then falls in love with sleeker looking robot Eve)
THIS MOVIE IS SO CUTE. I am completely in love with this movie, I felt giddily happy from the second it started to the second it finished. I also cried a little at the end. Visually, it's breathtaking. Story-wise, it's simple and effective. Some people don't like this movie, but I can't comment as I was a little underwhelmed by Finding Nemo, which is apparently everyone's favourite Pixar. I would really recommend watching this movie on the biggest screen you can, folks
114) "Kinky Boots" (Jarrold, 2005)
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sarah-Jane Potts, Nick Frost. (Plot: Failing shoe company turns to making sex-boots for men)
One of those charming British films that are easy to watch and enjoy, and fortunately this one doesn't have anything too depressing in it (as some do).
- Mood:
jubilant - Music:"Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from Hello Dolly!
101) "The Counterfeiters" ("Die Falscher") (Ruzowitzky, 2007)
Just lost this review, so you can look it up yourself!
I'm not terribly great at reviewing sensitive movies. I try, but I'm sorry, I find holocaust movies entertaining and informative, like all good movies should be. This and La Vita e Bella are completely astounding, and achieve what they set out to do. I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in history and a good storyline.
102) "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" (Gilliam & Jones, 1975)
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones & Michael Palin. (Plot: The Python team take on the King Arthur legend, very hilariously)
I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a geek. You can tell I'm one because this is my joint favourite movie of all time (tied with Psycho). When I was about 16 I could quote this movie in its entirety, and I still crack up when people say "She turned me into a newt!" People say it more often than you'd think , especially with friends like mine.
It's funny. It's silly, naughty, nonsensical fun, and it totally appeals to me and my sense of humour. There are tangents, puns, silly subtitles, and Michael Palin. He was really lovely when he was younger, wasn't he? I know I would.
103) "Hancock" (Berg, 2008)
Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman. (Plot: Hard drinking superhero with a bad attitude tries to win back the favour of his city's inhabitants, with the help of some lawyer-thing dude played by Jasopn Bateman. There's a craaaazy twist!!! that is incredibly obvious)
Liked this one. Nice and simple, didn't ask you to expect much and delivered goodness anyway. My only problem was with Charlize Theron, who was terrible as the lawyer-thing's wife. Apparently, Berg told her to act like the shady dog who is sometimes seen in The Simpsons, which she did marvellously. Sadly it jarred with the rest of the film. Will Smith was wonderful, and seemed to be enjoying himself playing the role which I always like to see.
104) "Mamma Mia!" (Lloyd, 2008)
When you're gone! How can I, even try, to go on!
Starring: Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan. (Plot: Eurgh. Firth and Streep= ok, everyone else=...meh, plot= stoopid)
When you're gone! How Can I, Even Try, to Go On! So, there's an ABBA song I'd not heard before but I actually really like. SOS, I think? As for the movie, ten minutes in I turned to Isie and said "I want to kill myself". Maybe I was being a tad melodramatic, but the movie was not for me. You'll know if you'll like this movie or not, so if you have your reservations AVOID. If you know you'll like it, you'll love it, go nuts!
My real name is the fault of Marillion. If you know karoke/singstar, you'll be able to power ballad my name with the best of them. The reason it's with a C is because it looks nicer :)
There is a second part to it, however, as the oldest child of every set of parents in my family has a name beginning with C or K: Kim, Claire, Cayleigh, Kieran and Calum. That's why if I have a boy, I'm naming him Clayton. (And only partially because of Clayton Forrester...)
Had I been born a boy, I would have been named Kurt Spooner. I don't feel it myself, but my mum fancied Kurt Russel at the time.
- Mood:
contemplative
My good friend Pippa Cooper is staying with me for a week, and the conversation has turned to zombie survival at least 20 times already. The girl has a plan, and our last conversation was about who we'd have in our Survival Team. I immediately picked her as Leader, and me as third or fourth hand man. I couldn't be second-in-command, as they have to be the kindhearted ones who say "We can't shoot her because she's just been bit by a zombie! She's MY MOTHER." Me and Pip would shoot anyone who'd been infected on sight, including ourselves. Why risk a team, peeps? So what if she's your mum, do you have a zombie Cure about your person? If so, you could have said something earlier, dude.
We would equip ourselves with chainsaws and fuck-off axes. I personally would like something swingable as opposed to stabbable, just as I keep a heavy lamp to hand when I'm alone in the house rather than a kitchen knife. Pip, who sadly is reading alone in her room right now, has memorised the Zombie Survival Guide, but I can't ask her immediately for any quotes about it. In fact, when we were in the tattoo parlour today we jokoed about her getting the guide tattooed to her to make her even more useful in an outbreak.
There is one thing in the guide I remember but disagree with however. The guide says zombies are "immune" to fire. I'm sorry, even a gigantic tree isn't "immune" to fire, a sort-of-living creature isn't going to be either. It might not cause pain, but it'll cause bloody hinderance, that's for sure.
If the attack happened RIGHT NOW, I would gather Pip, my sister, Andrew, and any friends in Portsmouth and run to Harry Law Hall, my old halls of residence. The reason is simple: It's a creepy building with loads and laods of rooms that could have zombies hiding in any one of them. But, kill all of them (which would be easy, as they're slow, lumbering things), and we'd have one heck of a fortress, complete with eerie basement and always-empty courtyard. Aces.
- Location:Land of the Dead
- Mood:
creative
