New Films #28: Did the hype help or hinder?

I’m a big fan of Jake Gyllenhaal and let’s cut straight to the chase, when I was on holiday a few years ago in New York I met him! He was in an off Broadway play and I waited by stage door to meet him. He was very nice and patient while I found someone to take a picture of us.

I’ve seen a large majority of his films; Jarhead, Brokeback Mountain, Love and Other Drugs, Source Code to name a few. But I hadn’t seen the film that brought him fame first, Donnie Darko. Quite a few people told me it was going to be dark and twisted, so I braced myself for that. However while watching it, although there were weird things, it wasn’t any weirder than I’d seen in other ‘weird’ films.

I really wanted to be raving about the film, but I finished watching it and it didn’t really have a big impact on me. I think I found episodes of a kids show called Round the Twist more dark and twisted!

New Comedians #5-8: Laughs for Charity

Last Tuesday me and my flatmate Charlotte went to the Teenage Cancer Trust’s an Evening of Comedy at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a great night with 5 comedians doing sets.

                        No way of being picked on by the comedians from where we were sitting.

Kevin Bridges compared the whole evening and did stand up throughout the night. He was much funnier than I thought he would be.

The first comedian to do a set was Doc Brown, whose main selling point was funny raps. Then Kerry Godliman pretty much did a set about her washing machine. Although just as she was getting into the swing of things and got really funny her set was over.

Frankie Boyle within minutes was causing controversy with his jokes. You do wonder how his brain thinks the things he says.

After Frankie Jon Richardson did a set, but having seeing him a few years ago I can’t count him for the challenge. However Noel Fielding who was last one I can count and he as expected was completely random telling a weird dream about being a tea bag and impersonating a character he created called chicken boy.

What I noticed was different with this comedy night, to the ones I’ve been to at comedy clubs is with comedy clubs the comedians try to cram in as many anecdotes as possible in their time. However with the comedians at the Albert Hall they focused on one or two stories and really got a lot of material out of them. 

8 comedians down, 21 to go!

New book #8: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer

When it comes to cricket anybody who knows me knows that my favourite player is Alastair Cook 

(yes even now) and my least favourite player is one Kevin Pieterson.

My friend Ando knew this and so for my birthday he bought me KP’s autobiography, he is too kind! I’ve had a strong dislike for KP for years. I thought he wasn’t a team player, only cared for his profile and was only kept in the team because of the 2005 Ashes, even though his form had long gone.

                                         Me and Ando after meeting Graeme Swann

I started to read the book and slowly but surely my mind changed. When the book came out there was a lot of controversy surrounding it, a lot of things happened in the England changing room that created a toxic environment. And unless you were in that changing room you’d never fully know what went on.

From reading the book I think KP was treated unfairly a couple of times. One in particular was when there was textgate when KP supposedly was texting members of the South African team and revealing tactics. He denied this, but even with the denial KP had to have one to ones with all the team to apologise for his actions. It was supposed to be his way of being reintegrated into the team and if he didn’t do these one to ones, he was out of the squad.

Another time Matt Prior aka the big cheese bragged about being part of the Big Bash, an aussie cricket tournament. When KP talked about the IPL which was a similar format, it was ignored and frowned upon.

It was either very good writing of KP’s or a sign of me maturing but I actually felt sorry for him. He simply just wanted to play cricket for England. Yes he made some off the cuff comments on twitter, but in the grand scheme of things that shouldn’t affect his performance.

Now the dirty laundry has aired so to speak, I’d be interested to see whether KP can get back on the England team this summer. I’m not a fan of him yet, but no longer have a strong dislike to him.

New films #26-27: Historical pieces

First things first I’m not a big fan of historical pieces. I haven’t watched Downton Abbey, and even though Jeremy Piven (who I think is great) is in Mr Selfridge, period pieces I find quite boring or so I thought.

As I said in my blog a while back, I thought I would watch a few classic films to see if they are better than the new. To kick things off I started with the epic, and some might say the best Gone With The Wind. It’s a jaw dropping 4 hours in length, so I watched it over a few evenings. It was a well-made film, rich in story and was a film where the score really did narrate what was going on. Scarlett O’Hara was annoying at times, even when she was older in the film. And with Rhett O’Hara you never fully got who he was, but he was quite witty at times.

The second film I’ve seen recently is Suite Francaise. It’s not a classic film as it’s only just come out in the cinema, but it is set around the Second World War in France. I thought I wouldn’t find it compelling but it was the opposite and each character was developed, with their own battles to face in the film. It was well acted, beautifully shot and watch out for a nearly unrecognisable Margot Robbie of Wolf of Wall Street and Neighbours fame.

Reconnecting #12: At the pub

Last weekend I watched the England vs France six nations match at The Victoria Pub in Hitchin. It used to be my local as I lived pretty much opposite, but now it’s an almighty 10 minute walk.

                                                                   Me at The Victoria

At half time during the match I was on the way to the toilet when somebody called my name. I turn round and it was a girl called Christi who I went to school with. She was watching the rugby from the other side of the pub and thought she recognised me.

We hadn’t seen each other since upper school which is over 10 years ago, but we had a good catch up on where we are both at in our lives. She’s married with 2 children and living in Stotfold where I grew up.

It was only a 5-10 minute catch up but it was a good way to spend half time of what was a very dramatic match.

New Book #7: Full of Life

I’m in reading mode at the mo and last week I finished another book. It was Lynda Bellingham’s autobiography; There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You. She recently passed away with a publicised battle with cancer, and she didn’t go without putting up a fight.

I thought the book would be quite sad because of the cancer, but it was actually a very upbeat and humourous at times. And surprisingly I didn’t cry once at the book. This is probably because Lynda was so full of life and made the most of her time left, that there wasn’t a reason to cry. That you shouldn’t feel sad because she died with no regrets and spent her time with family and friends and doing lots of charity work.

It’s a great read, and not your usual sob story.

New Film #25: Redemption

Cast your mind back a week and I watched a film called Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater. I was less than impressed. But he did make the Before Sunset trilogy, so it was time to give him another chance.

On Thursday Rachel and I watched a documentary about Linklater called 21 Years: Richard Linklater and it was great. It had lots of interviews with different stars of his films: Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black and Zac Efron to name a few.

The documentary went through Linklater’s entire back catalogue and what’s really interesting is how you can pinpoint his style of film. He’s done every sort of film including; period, comedy, kids, drama and romance.

What you learn from this documentary is he’s really passionate about film and Austin, Texas where he lives. He’s put a lot of work in to getting films made there, and is very involved with the Austin Film Festival, and when an airport closed there he helped get a film studio made in the airport hangers which were now redundant.

It was a great documentary and I left feeling inspired to get up and make something myself. Two of the guys contributing said that Linklater goes and makes films and leaves you thinking; well if he can do it with barely any money, there’s no excuse why I can’t.

Time to start thinking what I can make. 

Reconnecting #11: Nostalgic Neighbours

The show Neighbours is 30 years old this week, but I haven’t seen the show in 5 or so years. I guess with the increasing amount of good American and British shows made, little shows get pushed to the side, and Neighbours was one of them.

Last night there was a documentary about Neighbours turning 30 and I absolutely loved it. It made me laugh, it made me cry and shout a lot at the TV. It was great that people that made it big like Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue embraced the show and weren’t ashamed of it.

I have been a fan of the show since birth really, although around the age of 9 or 10 was when I became a really geeky fan. So geeky in that I’d go to jumble sales in the search of Neighbours annuals from the 80’s. I won £50 in a school raffle and £10 of that went on the 10 year anniversary video of the show. And around that age I spent my school holidays writing a Neighbours book, yes you read right. I drew pictures of the characters and wrote the biographies of them, as well as draw out family trees. Me and my sister found some of these in the loft last year and my writing was embarrassing.

For our last family holiday before we all left home in 2008 we went to Australia and New Zealand, and while in Melbourne we went on the Neighbours tour. The tour bus played old episodes and I could have stayed on that bus all day. We even got to meet Jackie Woodburne aka Susan Kennedy!

So last night’s trip down memory lane took me back to being a 10 year old Neighbours geek again. I may watch a few episodes coming up that are bringing back old characters. Happy birthday Neighbours, you’re looking great for 30.

New film #23 and #24: How do some films get made?

On Friday night my friend Rachel and I watched Richard Linklater’s first film. He’s the director of the Before trilogy and recently Boyhood which are all great films. We wanted to see where his career began and so we watched his first film Slacker. Rachel’s view on it was she was half enthralled and half bored. I thought it was the most pointless, bizarre film ever made. How it even got on the screen is beyond me. For anyone interested, it’s about a day in Austin, Texas and the people in it. Some people are normal; others are oddballs and others you see for a fleeting moment.

Speaking of bad films, I continued that theme on Saturday night when I watched The Room with my friend Coops and his girlfriend Fran. Now this is a film that every knows that it’s bad. It’s so bad, it’s actually good. Coops had wanted me to see it for a while, because they show this film which is a cult classic at the Prince Charles Cinema, where seeing it there is like watching a pantomime.

                    Coops and Fran doing their best impersonation of Johnny in The Room.

The film is about a guy called Johnny and his fiancée Lisa is sleeping with his best friend Mark. The dialogue is clunky and terrible, making the performances wooden. Because it’s so bad and you know that before you watch it, turns out to be quite funny. We all had a good time watching it, and I wouldn't mind seeing it at the Prince Charles Cinema.

New Film #22 and New book #6: Can the book play on film?

I’ve got back into reading mode again, and managed to read Silver Linings Play Book in a week! It was the type I fiction where it gets straight to the action. The characters were in depth, and although Pat’s character ruined quite a few American classics for me, you got see some real emotion from a male character which makes a change. I read the book before I saw the film as it’s easier that way.

The film was a solid film, but there were a few main differences from the book, and I think that’s because of the casting. For example Robert De Niro’s character of Pat’s dad is fleshed out, and has more interaction with Pat. In the book though it isn’t until about halfway through that he makes an effort with his son. The motives of Tiffany in the book are slightly different as well. She doesn’t meet Pat’s family until much later on in the book. Again I think it’s because of the casting of Jennifer Lawrence and the director seeing that the role could be Oscar winning that he gives her more scenes with Pat’s family. The one where she reels off American football stats is particularly impressive.

The book to film adaptation is pretty good, there hasn’t been anything that has been missed out, rather the character dynamics just changing slightly.

Reconnecting #10: Pole sisters

I’ve been going to pole for a few years and friends at pole come and go. With pole lessons you don’t get a pole to yourself, you share it with 2 or 3 others. And when I first started pole classes on a Thursday I shared a pole with Linsey, Alex and Jo. They become your pole sisters. Alex became a mum and so stopped going to pole classes, so we’d still try and stay in contact.

Before you know it over a year has passed since me and Alex last saw each other. We’d been trying to meet up before, but our plans never aligned.

Alex messaged me and Linsey out of the blue as it turns out she’s moving back to Jersey this week! And she wanted to have farewell drinks before she left. So last Wednesday we did just that, and it was as if no time had passed, which is often the sign of a good friendship.

So good luck in Jersey Alex! You know me and my fellow pole sister Linsey will becoming over for a holiday soon!

New Films #19-21: 50 shades of an exotic hotel in the future

I’ve been to the cinema 3 times in the past few weeks; the first was with my friend Hannah on the last Orange Wednesday. Hannah doesn’t watch films that are certificate 15 or above, and the only film that was a 12 or below was one called Project Almanac, so we saw that. I barely knew anything about, but its always good to see films you barely know about once in a while. The film was about a group of teenagers who make a time machine. It was okay, but I felt by the end that it was a film where nothing really happened. But the end credits song was amazing and immediately downloaded.

I then went to see 50 shades of grey with my guy, and what was interesting was we were against the norm. For audiences of the film, it’s usually the woman whose read the book and the men haven’t. My guy has read the book and I haven’t, I went along to see what all the hype was about. It was an okay film and very overhyped. All I could think throughout the film was how nice Anastasia’s jackets were throughout the film; she really did have good fashion sense!

The final film I saw was The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and I saw this with my family one Saturday night. It was a good film to escape with, and it had some funny lines from Maggie Smith. And any film with Bill Nighy and Judi Dench is always going to be good.

New Comedians #2: Round 2

On Friday, me, my guy and a few of his friends went to the Last Minute Comedy Club in Hitchin again to see a couple more comedians. The first guy was Jeremy O’ Donnell  who was quite funny and had to contend with a few audience members thinking they were funny…..when in fact they weren’t.

The main act was Duncan Oakley and he was a bit random. Most of his routine was song based which was good to see something different, and some of his jokes took a while to get funny. But what was most impressive was at the end of his set when he did a song, using himself as a drum, and he kept hitting the beat way longer than anyone else could. Neither comedian set me alight, but with comedy everybody has a sense of humour and not every comedian is going to get your sense of humour.

As usual I didn’t get a picture, but here’s one of me and my friend Alice laughing about something really funny.

New activity #20: I got 99 problems….

Charlotte my flatmate and I like to bake, and the other week she baked some tai chi cupcakes. She gave one to me and offered one to my guy, but he was away on business so he said that I could have it. I said it would be a challenge, but one I’d gladly accept.

To make things funny I decided to film eating the cupcake to rap music, as he likes rap music. And this is the result. I sent it to a few friends as well who found it random, but funny. So thinking of the challenge and trying new activities, I decided to put it on YouTube. Who knows whether I’ll upload anything else?!?!

New activity #19: Jump starting

I’ve had my car Jimmy since August and apart from a little scratch he’s been doing fine. At the beginning of last week though, I’d left an inside light on and as a result the battery ran flat.

My dad didn’t have any jump leads and as I wasn’t using Jimmy to get to work, I waited till the weekend to use my guy’s jump leads that he has. For some reason I thought jump starting a car would take ages to, well it seemed that way on films, but it takes about a minute. All I had to do after was drive around for 30 minutes or so, and then Jimmy was back to his old self!