As fun as the holidays are, there is one huge downfall to long periods of not having to go to be early or get up early. That is the fact that I slowly turn nocturnal, due to the fact I can lie in for as long as I want (often into the afternoon). Since I haven't been awake for as long, I can go to sleep later (roughly 4-5am). Now I admit I occasionally used to go to sleep this late on school nights, but that would eventually balance out as I would have to get up early the next morning and therefore would go to bed slightly earlier the next night. However with no school, this doesn't matter.
Now I am in no way annoyed at the fact, that I'm not at school, but the nocturnal thing will be a pain in the arse when I go to Norway with my family as I need to get up about the same time as them in the mornings, and also when I go to university at the end of the holidays.
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
General Rant
So now I have two blogs (this and sack of jam productions) I've been updating this one less and focusing mainly on the other blog, so I thought I'd update this one.
Recently I haven't been up to much and yesterday I had my penultimate exam. After the exam I was thinking "yay, only 1 more exam", but that's still over 2 hours of exam time. I haven't had as hard a time of it as my friends though with one of my friends having 5 exams on one day covering 3 different subjects. Why do they do this? Maybe it's because the different exam boards are all childish and refuse to talk to each other to co-ordinate coherent exam timetables.
Although blogspot is a useful fun tool, it's very distracting as at the moment I'm supposed to be revising for tomorrow but 10 mins later, I suddenly find myself posting on my blog. I don't understand how or when the transition occurred but ah well.
Both me and sam have been trying to increase traffic to the sack of jam blog, I figure if we just tag a few posts with words like porn and sex and free that may boost traffic , I may actually try it with this post and see what happens.
I may add an edit on this later but that's all for now.
Recently I haven't been up to much and yesterday I had my penultimate exam. After the exam I was thinking "yay, only 1 more exam", but that's still over 2 hours of exam time. I haven't had as hard a time of it as my friends though with one of my friends having 5 exams on one day covering 3 different subjects. Why do they do this? Maybe it's because the different exam boards are all childish and refuse to talk to each other to co-ordinate coherent exam timetables.
Although blogspot is a useful fun tool, it's very distracting as at the moment I'm supposed to be revising for tomorrow but 10 mins later, I suddenly find myself posting on my blog. I don't understand how or when the transition occurred but ah well.
Both me and sam have been trying to increase traffic to the sack of jam blog, I figure if we just tag a few posts with words like porn and sex and free that may boost traffic , I may actually try it with this post and see what happens.
I may add an edit on this later but that's all for now.
Thursday, 5 June 2008
LOL
Now lol is a popular enough expression and is used in forums, instant messages, SMS, notes handed around in class etc. However worryingly this expression seems to be infiltrating everyday life and entering common usage, I have a friend who used it in a history essay and I have heard many people say it aloud. Now although I find this weird, who am I to judge, I mean I use it worryingly frequently on msn and on forums, but I realised today that it is being over used and the actual definition for it no longer really applies. Think back to the last time you used it, you there?, now were you actually laughing out loud when you put it, or was it merely an almost automatic response when you couldn't think of anything better to say?
Now I know there are alternatives e.g. rofl and (if you're feeling adventurous) roflol but its not the same really. I think people should maybe try to be more articulate instead of just responding "yeah lol" or just "lol" if you're feeling particularly lazy.
Now I know there are alternatives e.g. rofl and (if you're feeling adventurous) roflol but its not the same really. I think people should maybe try to be more articulate instead of just responding "yeah lol" or just "lol" if you're feeling particularly lazy.
Monday, 2 June 2008
Musical Snobbery
Today I had my taste in music questioned as I was listening to Megadeath, now I admit I dislike some kinds of music mainly rap and dance music as I personally can't stand it. However music however you look at it can be categorised as art and as such is open to the listeners personal opinion and therefore should be respected.
However having said this it doesn't mean I approve of people playing their music at a ridiculously loud volume, such as out of speakers in their car with the windows rolled down. Much of the music if not all that I have heard in this manner I have thought shit, however I don't go round playing music other people may dislike 'cos I know many people may criticize me for it. I therefore show some decency by not playing it when they're around, or just generally in public.
The main bands I receive criticism for liking are The White Stripes and Kaiser Chiefs, however I don't see why as both of these bands are fairly good as they both obviously have large followings since they sell a lot of albums and their gigs sell out pretty fast.
Here's a radical idea maybe if everyone wasn't so judgemental the world would be a better place? Maybe I'm wrong but it's worth a shot surely?
However having said this it doesn't mean I approve of people playing their music at a ridiculously loud volume, such as out of speakers in their car with the windows rolled down. Much of the music if not all that I have heard in this manner I have thought shit, however I don't go round playing music other people may dislike 'cos I know many people may criticize me for it. I therefore show some decency by not playing it when they're around, or just generally in public.
The main bands I receive criticism for liking are The White Stripes and Kaiser Chiefs, however I don't see why as both of these bands are fairly good as they both obviously have large followings since they sell a lot of albums and their gigs sell out pretty fast.
Here's a radical idea maybe if everyone wasn't so judgemental the world would be a better place? Maybe I'm wrong but it's worth a shot surely?
Films (warning may contain spoilers)
I am writing this after having seen both Indiana Jones 4 and Speed Racer last week. These two films can be seen as similar in that they're both family orientated and before release they were both supposed to be big box office hits.
They differ however as the critical acclaim for both differed somewhat. Indiana Jones got rave reviews and if I'm honest I fail to see why. Before we go any further I must point out that I am a huge fan of the old Indiana Jones films, with the Last Crusade probably being in my top ten films of all time, however I am reluctant to call the new Indiana Jones film just that. My impressions of it were well below what I'd expected, the trailers for example looked good, however I left the cinema at the end feeling disappointed. It just felt like George Lucas was once again trying to ruin more people's childhoods. The plot to Indiana Jones 4 seemed weak, I mean surviving a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge and Aliens!! Aliens!! Who came up with that? It almost seemed like the writers got bored writing it and threw in some slapdash ending in the hope no one would notice, which is then hidden by I must admit some very good special effects. Also earlier on it said Indiana Jones was one of the experts called to work on the alien body which the Russians steal at the beginning of the film, however I wasn't aware archaeology was a key field when examining wrecked Alien spaceships. Then again I could be wrong.
Also Cate Blanchett wasn't her best in this film, I think she is a fantastic actress, however her Russian accent kept slipping which put me off slightly. Maybe I'm dwelling too much on small points. The special effects overall were good and Harrison Ford gave a good performance, and Shia Labeouf wasn't as bad as I was worried he was going to be. Indiana Jones taking the hat off him at the end was also a nice touch.
Now I move onto the second film Speed Racer, I don't know how familiar you are with the original series as I'm not that familiar myself having only seen bits and pieces of it, however I was very keen to see this film for several reasons. It has a good cast with John Goodman and Christina Ricci as well as Matthew Fox (who plays Jack in Lost). The directors, the Wachowski brothers made the visually stunning Matrix series (even though 2 and 3 were let downs), and finally the trailers showed some truly stunning special effects.
Since the film is a family orientated one I took my littler brother with me to see it, and he was impressed by it.
I think the best way to describe the visual effects was done by Obsidian (a webcomic artist, check him out at commissionedcomic.com). http://www.commissionedcomic.com/comics/2008-05-31.jpg
Now I admit there are many aspects of Speed Racer that can be criticised, the plot wasn't very deep, his little brother just seemed to be comic relief and didn't really add anything to the story, and there was a lot of focusing on family being the most important thing, which was slightly exasperating. This combined with the unnecessary swearing didn't really help the film. However the race sequences make up for all of this with their spectacular neon lights and super speed, I'll admit physics does seem to be broken or just generally ignored throughout most of the film, but when you see someone flip their car over someone else's and give them a punch in the face, well what more do you need?
However the disappointing thing about Speed Racer is the fact it failed at the box office only coming third in it's opening week and dropping to fourth the week after. It upset me that when I advised a friend to see speed racer saying its a superb film, he said "speed racer? aint heard of it". So was it a lack of advertising that lead to this? No I don't think so, I believe that it was the critics who did this. Many of whom said it was terrible and gave it 1 out of 10 and other such scores. What upsets me is that these same critics said that Indiana Jones was fantastic and gave it 8 or 9 our of 10. I have seen many debates on the internet of "Indy 4 Vs Speed Racer" and most times Speed Racer won (however you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet), but I still fail to see why professional media critics said it was awful, with an "over- simplified plot". It's a kids film they weren't expecting Shakespeare were they? I think critics should be forced into taking a kid to see a kids film with them and they should then gauge their reaction to it and use this in their review rather than being snobbish arseholes.
Edit: I forgot to mention that George Lucas should not be allowed to make sequels or in the case of Star Wars prequels to any series that he has done, or anyone else's series for that matter. He should also not be allowed to tamper with old films, he should make them and then not touch them again EVER.
Now don't get me wrong Star Wars Episodes I, II and III were ok films, I enjoyed watching them but compared to the original series they were awful. I mean Anakin as a kid was annoying and Jar Jar Binks pretty much speaks for himself.
Indiana Jones 4 feels like a classic example of this with the addition of Aliens.
They differ however as the critical acclaim for both differed somewhat. Indiana Jones got rave reviews and if I'm honest I fail to see why. Before we go any further I must point out that I am a huge fan of the old Indiana Jones films, with the Last Crusade probably being in my top ten films of all time, however I am reluctant to call the new Indiana Jones film just that. My impressions of it were well below what I'd expected, the trailers for example looked good, however I left the cinema at the end feeling disappointed. It just felt like George Lucas was once again trying to ruin more people's childhoods. The plot to Indiana Jones 4 seemed weak, I mean surviving a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge and Aliens!! Aliens!! Who came up with that? It almost seemed like the writers got bored writing it and threw in some slapdash ending in the hope no one would notice, which is then hidden by I must admit some very good special effects. Also earlier on it said Indiana Jones was one of the experts called to work on the alien body which the Russians steal at the beginning of the film, however I wasn't aware archaeology was a key field when examining wrecked Alien spaceships. Then again I could be wrong.
Also Cate Blanchett wasn't her best in this film, I think she is a fantastic actress, however her Russian accent kept slipping which put me off slightly. Maybe I'm dwelling too much on small points. The special effects overall were good and Harrison Ford gave a good performance, and Shia Labeouf wasn't as bad as I was worried he was going to be. Indiana Jones taking the hat off him at the end was also a nice touch.
Now I move onto the second film Speed Racer, I don't know how familiar you are with the original series as I'm not that familiar myself having only seen bits and pieces of it, however I was very keen to see this film for several reasons. It has a good cast with John Goodman and Christina Ricci as well as Matthew Fox (who plays Jack in Lost). The directors, the Wachowski brothers made the visually stunning Matrix series (even though 2 and 3 were let downs), and finally the trailers showed some truly stunning special effects.
Since the film is a family orientated one I took my littler brother with me to see it, and he was impressed by it.
I think the best way to describe the visual effects was done by Obsidian (a webcomic artist, check him out at commissionedcomic.com). http://www.commissionedcomic.com/comics/2008-05-31.jpg
Now I admit there are many aspects of Speed Racer that can be criticised, the plot wasn't very deep, his little brother just seemed to be comic relief and didn't really add anything to the story, and there was a lot of focusing on family being the most important thing, which was slightly exasperating. This combined with the unnecessary swearing didn't really help the film. However the race sequences make up for all of this with their spectacular neon lights and super speed, I'll admit physics does seem to be broken or just generally ignored throughout most of the film, but when you see someone flip their car over someone else's and give them a punch in the face, well what more do you need?
However the disappointing thing about Speed Racer is the fact it failed at the box office only coming third in it's opening week and dropping to fourth the week after. It upset me that when I advised a friend to see speed racer saying its a superb film, he said "speed racer? aint heard of it". So was it a lack of advertising that lead to this? No I don't think so, I believe that it was the critics who did this. Many of whom said it was terrible and gave it 1 out of 10 and other such scores. What upsets me is that these same critics said that Indiana Jones was fantastic and gave it 8 or 9 our of 10. I have seen many debates on the internet of "Indy 4 Vs Speed Racer" and most times Speed Racer won (however you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet), but I still fail to see why professional media critics said it was awful, with an "over- simplified plot". It's a kids film they weren't expecting Shakespeare were they? I think critics should be forced into taking a kid to see a kids film with them and they should then gauge their reaction to it and use this in their review rather than being snobbish arseholes.
Edit: I forgot to mention that George Lucas should not be allowed to make sequels or in the case of Star Wars prequels to any series that he has done, or anyone else's series for that matter. He should also not be allowed to tamper with old films, he should make them and then not touch them again EVER.
Now don't get me wrong Star Wars Episodes I, II and III were ok films, I enjoyed watching them but compared to the original series they were awful. I mean Anakin as a kid was annoying and Jar Jar Binks pretty much speaks for himself.
Indiana Jones 4 feels like a classic example of this with the addition of Aliens.
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