20.11.05

i have just seen a very, very, VERY good film

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WARNING - this kinda contains spoilers, but kinda not if youve read the book. if you havent read the book but are planning to see the film, then A) where have you been for the last 5 or so years, and B) read the book first you simple minded little goit!
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yes, people, yes it is true. i have seen Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and i saw that it was good.

its much much better than the dire Stone and Chamber, but to be honest thats not hard. i'd say its just a tiny bit better than Prisoner.

the trend seems to be to make the films darker with less 'funny bits for the kiddies', which i like, and theyve also thrown in some funny bits for the older people too (Hermione: "Viktor isnt very talkative. hes more of a physical person" [insert funny look from Harry] and Myrtle with Harry in the bath)

another great thing. they've changed Professor Flitwick. hes no longer Warwick Davies wearing a clingon forehead and funny nose, hes now Warwick Davies with funny hair and a tache and almost identical to how i see him in the books.

to be honest there were still quite a few bits i didnt like. the broomstick/dragon chase was pointless and served no purpose other than to fill the lack of quiddich, and the part with Harry talking to Sirius through the fire was reduced to one scene, which to be honest, wasnt needed.
they also made a big deal about how badly Neville reacted when Moody performed the curse that was used on his parents on the spider, only for it to be glanced over in passing during the flashback of Karkarovs trial in the penseive.

the challenge with the maze was greatly improved however. instead of meeting a series of tests that were pretty much meaningless after the size of the first two challenges it was a much more sinister race through the maze as it continuously changed shape and tried to trap the entrants. and the bewitched Krum made it even better. to be honest i was expecting one of them to stumble across the frozen body of Jack Torrance clutching at his axe (although they wouldnt cos in the original end to The Shining, Mrs Torrence [i forget her name..] goes back to the hotel with the police who search the entire maze and dont find him. but i digress....) it also had my favorite shot of the film (out of the ones that didnt have Fleur in her swimsuit for challenge 2, i mean), which was of Harry with the cup glowing in the background, as he looked back at Cedric being caught up by the maze, but set at an angle.

then we have the graveyard scene. ooooh, the graveyard scene :D

the graveyard scene is what makes this film better than Prisoner.
the general 'wtf?'-ness as Cedric and Harry wonder why they were taken there and Harrys slow realisation. the very graphic death of Cedric. and then.....the return of Voldemort!
the Return was perfect except for three things. Pettigrew looks completely wrong, he was less reluctant to cut off his own hand than i remembered, and Voldemorts voice was wrong. but everythign else right down to how Voldemort looked, was EXACTLY how i saw it. Fan-bloody-tastic.

even after that it was still good. im not one who usually gets emotional at films, but the part where someone shouts out "the boy [Cedric] is dead!" and Amos Diggory runs down to him brought a lump to even my throat.

and then, not long after was what i call the Regeneration Of Evil. or at least thats what ive called it cos it gave me flashbacks to the last episode of the new Doctor Who. Mad-Eye Moody transforming into Barty Crouch Jnr....played by David Tennant!

think thats about everthing i need to mention. oh, and Eric Sykes in his cameo. always good to see.
if i remember anything else i'll tag it on the end later.

ver' good film. not one of my favorites, but still ver' good. go see it. now. this very instant.

13.11.05

by the light of the gibous moon....

hello, my little weblets, im back from Loughborough!

had a reet grand time too. before i start telling you what happened over the weekend, i will say that we watched 9 and a half films, and they were all linked in some way.

they were: The Naked Gun, Napoleon Dynamite, Hot Shots, The Naked Gun 2 1/2, The Mask/Legend of Zorro (whichever ones in the cinema now), Shrek 2, The Naked Gun 33 1/3, Hot shots Part Deux, a Knights Tale and the first half of Shrek.

see if you can work out the links. i'll give you the answers at the end.

WOT I DUN IN LUFFBRA

i caught the train from staffs and got to Loughborough surprisingly quickly. im sure it was never an hour and a half. i managed to scare Andrea cos i sent her a text saying im at the station (meaning Stafford) which she didnt get til she left her lecture, 20 minutes later, and thought i meant Loughborough. hah. i laugh at her.

after id arrived and met Bad Anthea, as she likes to be known *ahem*, at the station we wandered through the streets of Loughborough and found a hyowge and busy fun fair.

we negotiated our way through to Andreas halls which look a lot older than mine [looks smug] but she also seemed to have a bigger room. although this might just be some sort of optical illusion due to my wardrobe almost reaching the ceiling and hers not.

once there we watched Naked Gun before venturing back out into the cold and darkness to A) take some photos for my film Tech assignment and B) go forraging for pizzas in Sainsburys.

both were successful. (see left for the photo ive chosen to submit and the contents of my digestive system for pizza)

after our victorious return we celebrated by cooking and eating the pizza and then watching the remaining 2 Naked Gun films and Hot Shots.

by then it was about 1 in the morning. we found Muscat was still online and then (delete as appropriate depending on if youre Muscat or not) did lots of naughty things to each other involving hand cuffs, chocolate sauce, lightsabres and sheep/wound up Muscat by saying we were doing lots of naughty things to each other involving hand cuffs, chocolate sauce, lightsabres and sheep.

then to bed. Excellent host as ever, Andrea kept her nice comfey bed and gave me a sleeping bag on the floor.
meh, it wasnt too bad. i slept quite well considering. and when we woke up in the morning (just. it was 11.30) i jumped, still in my sleeping bag, onto her bed for a bit.

after we eventually got up we wandered back into town, negotiating our way through the carnival people once again, and got a Maccy Ds for lunch (mmmmmm.....beef deli sandwich....) before heading round to t'cinema to see t'Legend of Zorro, wich is tres bon. i know the Spanish for 'very good' would have been better but i dont know what it is so nyah. [UPDATE: 'Muy Bueno', according to Maddie]
lots of fantastic fights, a good storyline, a small boy who can act, great jokes, Catherine Zeeta-Jones in a low cut dress and Anthonio Banderas naked [for the ladies] (im sure it should have been a 12 instead of a PG cos of that) and a great action set-piece on a train.

while i was saying what i thought about the film and Andrea was saying what she thought about Anthonio Banderas, we bought some STEAK! and chips and then went back to Andreas where we had STEAK!, chips, peas and onion rings, although she had to cook a second lot of onion rings cos the first lot were....erm....well camoflaged on the black baking tray...
aside from that it was a very good meal. especially the very, very, very, very nice STEAK! which cooked perfectly by the lovely Andrea. yummy yummy. i think i'll be going back to that restaurant again...

after that we watched Hot Shots Part Deux, A Knights Tale and Shrek 2, before going to bed.


today we had a pretty lazy day. got up late, Andrea had a shower then i went for a bath, just for the novelty cos we dont have one here. twas a very good bath despite Andreas flatmats thongs hanging on the radiator...
afterwards we wandered back into Loughborough to find that the fair had mysteriously disappeared overnight, and bought a sandwich and rented Napoleon Dynamite from Blockbuster. i also bought my essential student purchase (see right) .

again, we returned to Andreas abode to masticate upon the aforementioned sandwiches and did look upon the aforementioned film.
during the film we were joined by andreas friend James, who isnt a Muscat or a Mullineaux. hes another James.
after Napoleon was finished we only had about an hour before we had to leave to go to the station, and didnt really have anything else to do, so we started to watch Shrek.

the train journey home was pretty uneventful. i did finish reading Dracula though. t'was very good, and well worth reading. now i get to read THe Liar, Stephen Frys first novel, so woo!

anyhoo. now im home so i think thats pretty much it. think sleep might be a good idea right about now.

Goodnight, you lovely people!

wow...its 12.17. i started writing this at 10.47....

THE OFFICIAL ANSWERS TO THE LINKY LINK FILMY MCGAME(TM)
ideally, we would have liked them to all be linked in a continuous loop, or ourobourous if you will, but unfortunately that is not the case:

The Naked Gun
same franchise as
The Naked Gun 2 1/2
also same franchise as
The Naked Gun 33 1/3
written and directed by the same people as
Hot Shots
same franchise as
Hot Shots Part Deux
features both someone pulling off a beauty spot and someone mentioning the joke about a horse going into a pub and the barman saying "why the long face?", as does
Shrek 2
stars Anthonio Banderas, as does
Legend of Zorro (it wasnt Mask)
in which the bad guy is played by the same bloke as the bad guy in
A Knights Tale

this is where it goes a bit wrong. we wanted something to link Knights Tale back to Naked Gun, but thought this might be a bit difficult so:

Napoleon Dynamite
has a mexican character who would have fitted in in
Legend of Zorro
AND in one scene said mexican character, Pedro, makes a pinata in the form of another student and in
Shrek 2
Donkey mentions some guy took him to a party where all his friends tried to pin a tail onto him [donkey, not the guy] and then they all started beating him with sticks and shouting "pinata! pinata!"

oh, yes and Shrek 2 is the same franchise as Shrek

10.11.05

Wibble

First up, Halloween pics:


a dodgy picture of me as Ash


Sanchia looks puzzled


Rachel and Luke trying to work out how youre meant to make an origami beaver


Sanch, Dan and Pumpkin with said Origami Beaver


that guy whos name i can never remember in Lukes pirate hat


Dan auditions for the part of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz


and on friday.....i went home!

twas very very good. on saturday Katie came round in the morning, and we were joined by Emma at 2. we went to see Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (third time for me)

later on i went to Marks and had a go on his purple lightsabre (something tells me i should rephrase that) before we headed off to the pub and got slightly jovial (but only slightly cos i only had a pint and a half). a good time was had by all. and i made him promice to talk to us online more, and to come to Stafford to visit. so far hes done neither.

on sunday i went out with my family on my mothers side for a meal, where mum and my two aunts tried to take the worst possible photos of each other and there were general discussions along the lines of "who is going to get great-uncle Tony's farting clock?"

monday was quite exciting. i got my hair cut (not yet found a barbers in Stafford...), went to McDonalds and told them when id be back to work, then had a major race against time involving a car chase. ish.

saturday and sunday there had been no trains running in Portsmouth due to engineering work. i walked round to the station with dad to go home but all the trains to southampton were running late, meaning that by the time i got to southampton central id only have a minute to find my train before it left for Stafford.

dad offered to drive me there instead. after driving faster than dads ever driven in mums car and jumping a few lights we got to the station with 2 minutes to spare.
ah, well. i got the train and managed to get home, so thats ok

tomorrow afternoon im disappearing for a whole other weekend cos im going to visit Andrea at Loughborough. should be good.

UPDATE: Paula now has a blog of her exciting times in australia. go read now. see link ---->

4.11.05

Halloween, and stuff

i had some photos from last monday, but Blogger is being an arse and wont let me upload them. will try again on sunday. might have some of Sanchias photos then too.

Monday didnt quite go as planned. John randomly dissappeared off to Stoke without telling anyone and Luke had to go to a drama thing. instead, we just sat in Sanch and Rachs kitchen chatting for a few hours, before heading off to the Lounge for a bit, then finding our way to a party in one of the other houses in Stafford Court where i won a game of twister. possibly as i was the least inebreated person playing.

that party kinda broke up after the fire alarm went off, and we went home.

not done much else this week. went to a preview screening of Brothers Grimm yesterday, which was very good, if a bit predictable in places. im really hopeing it does well in the box office so that someone will actually give Terry Gilliam the money to make Good Omens....

well thats about all for now, except im going back to Pompey for the weekend!however, this does mean i wont be online for most of the weekend, but some people will be getting some pretty random text messages when i get bored on the 4 hour train journeys.

anyway, thats all for now. i will return on sunday with (hopefully) halloween photos and tales of what i got up to at home.

toodle pip!

30.10.05

31 hours and 50 minutes

thats how long i was awake for. im fine now though.

cant really think of anything else interesting that i've done.

i bought a chainsaw and pre-ripped my shirt ready for Ash-ness tomorrow. couldnt find a shotgun though, which was tres annoyeax. not entirely sure whats happening tomorrow, but i'll get some photos to put up here.

i got both books of Bunny Suicides. ah, they be great.

its really hard to blog when you've got nothing to say...will leave it for now. toodles!

27.10.05

its 7.23 and i havent been to bed yet

i was having a pretty late night anyway, chatting to Maddie and Johno the Scot over t'internet as well as filesharing over the network, and at about three John asked if i wanted to go into town to Asda. so we did.

i told Maddie id be gone about an hour. we got back about half 5. i dont know why it took so long.
oh, yes. i forgot to mention: i was wearing my Jedi robe and carrying my lightsabre and John was wearing his mexican hat with a parrot on top. we also had Jon who was our token normal guy.
on the way back John managed to sell his parrot to a woman who was on her way home from the hospital after having her drink spiked. we had quite an interesting chat with her and her brother. apparently shes in a band called Lesbian Bed Death. and he can do a good Donald Duck impression.

me and John went back to his flat to have pizza for breakfast. then i came back here.
in asda i got a cheap blue shirt to rip and cover in ketchup so that i can go to fridays halloween party as Ash from the Evil Dead films. am going into town with John again tomo....this afternoon to get a chainsaw and a boomstick.

remember: shop smart. shop S-Mart!

i think i'll have a shower.....need to change my undercrackers too....

25.10.05

some stuff from the last few days

on saturday Andrea came to visit. YAY!
it was soooooo good to see someone i've known for more than 5 weeks for a change.
i'll never forget the look of terror on her face as a tall scot dressed as a mexican came over and sat with us in McDonalds. i DID warn her about John...

she arrived at about 11, we wandered around town for a bit before going to Aprés and having some of their fantastic pekin duck wraps for lunch.
then we came back to the halls and just generally slouched around on my bed for a bit(careful, Muscat). she said her room was bigger than mine. never mind.
later we walked back into town and went to the cinema to see Wallace and Gromit. it was just as good the second time, but i forgot to look out for Feathers McGraws well hidden cameo...

after that we went to McDs where, as i said before, we were joined by John who was cunningly disguised as a mexican. outside we met Luke (also a mexican), phil....actually everyone i mentioned in that other blog entry. we didnt see W&G with them because they were going to a later showing and Andrea had to get home. after chatting to them for a bit they went off to the cinema and i took Andrea back to the station.

im going to be back in portsmouth for the weekend, not this one coming but the next one so WOO! and the one after that im visiting andrea in Loughborough. shes promised to cook me a steak!

dont think much else has happened. my GIR arrived yesterday. may post pics later.
now i have to go as im going to see Corpse Bride with Derwent. should be good. in the evening i will be taking GIR over to Sanch and Rach's cos John demanded it.

see ya. will let you know if Corpse Bride is any good.
-x-

21.10.05

double bloggage

i have a three hour tutorial at 9, but i dont really care. have just got in. may just sleep through 3D Apps....

a quick update from earlier.
breifly went over to Sanch and Rach's to give Sanch her copies of Riget/Kingdom Hospital and John his DVDs. stayed for a bit then came back here and watched some more Scrubs. (only 4 hours today).

at 6 i went back to Sanch and Rachs where Sanchia was concocting one of her veggie meals. this one consisted of quorn kiev thingies, various vegs chopped up with cheese on top and roasted and a mushroom cuppa soup poured on top. looked quite nice til she added the cuppa soup.
John and Rachel kept disappearing as they were doing their laundry, and when they were finished i helped John carry his bag of washing back to his flat and then collapsed on his bed and jealously eyed up his Invader Zim GIR rug while he put his clothes away.

then there was general wanderingness and i ended up with Sanch in her room and giving her encouragement as she went through a difficult part of Fable:- The Lost Chapters until midnight. good game. may have to buy it/get a copy.

then i helped John carry spare bedding over to his flat and help him set it up for his two friends who were on a 14 hour bus journey to come and see him, then the two of us met up with Harriet and Felix (two people John knows) Felix is the one i thought looked like Naboo from the Mighty Boosh. he was amazed by the revelation that i was the bloke with the lightsabre from the other evening. he didnt recognise me without the robe.

the four of us, at about 10 past 12 in the morning, walked the 25 minute journey into town (which this time took closer to 40), went round Asda, then went to the bus station to await Johns friends arrival. they arrived about 2, then we wandered back home again.

have now arranged for me and Andrea to meet everyone at the cinema to see Wallace and Gromit on saturday cos they were going to see it too. so that will be Me, Andrea, Sanchia, Luke , John, Rachel, Amanda, Danni and Fiona (Johns friends), Phil (Lukes friend) and one of Rachels friends whos name i didnt catch. so thats 11 of us. tis good.

maybe i should try to get some sleep now.....

-x-

20.10.05

normal service has been resumed....

yesterday i got up for 9 and went to film tech where we had a lecture on lenses. i had a flashback to AS Level physics, but Paul didnt say 'imagine the cow is a sphere' or tell us an incredibly gorey story bout a friend of a friend, so i was alright. plus the lecture was only 35 minutes, which was good.

after that i came back to my room, put on Layer Cake and collapsed on my bed. not seen Layer Cake before. twas very good and i think wossname will make a very good Bond. after that i had a marathon 8 hour session of Scrubs watchage which consisted of all of series 2 except for the first 7 episodes which i watched a few days ago. after that it was time for Lost. i think my eyes must be well and truely squarified by now.

had a scriptwriting tutorial and digital image production this morning. grabbed a BLT (and i made sure it had lots of L in it) and a Snickers from the student onion shop (like the student union shop but funnier) which i have just eaten. am now going to have a quick shower before going over to check my post and then take the DVDs of Kingdom Hospital and The Kingdom which i copied from my copies for Sanchia over to her. must take back Johns Invader Zim vol 3 and Aliens DVDs back too.

Andrea is coming here for the day on saturday. hopefully seeing a friend will help us both with our homesickness. we're going to see Wallace and Gromit.

toodles
-x-

19.10.05

Mina Murrays Journal

No diary for two whole days. I have not had the heart to write. Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our happiness. No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker, whilst her mother's hours are numbering to a close. I do not understand Lucys fading away as she is doing so. She eats well and sleeps well, and enjoys the fresh air; but all the time the roses in her cheeks are fading, and she gets weaker and more languid day by day; at night I hear her gasping as if for air. I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at night, but she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open window. Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I tried to wake her I could not; she was in a faint. When I managed to restore her she was as weak as water, and cried silently between long, painful struggles for breath. When I asked her how she came to be at the window she shook her head and turned away. I trust her feeling ill may not be from that unlucky prick with the safety pin. I looked at her throat just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed. They are still open, and, if anything, larger than before, and the edges of them are faintly white. they are two little white dots with red centres. Unless they heal within a day or two, I shall insist on the doctor seeing about them.

16.10.05

ok, so i havent blogged for a while....

cant really remember what i got up to last week either...

i did buy two more force FX lightsabres, one Mace Windu one for Marky Mark, and a Darth Vader one for Muscat. i think they might be slightly happy with them...

oh, yeah, on thursday i went over to Sanch and Rach's flat to give John a CD, then found myself in the student union bar dressed as a jedi with Sanchia dressed as some army type person, Rachel dressed as a policewoman and John in a bullet belt and an eyepatch ("what? have you never seen the Scottish RSPCA?").
it was some money raising thing for the uni rugby club. me, Sanchia and Rachel went through to Legends, which is the club half of the SU bar, where Rach had a great time and me and Sanch got a bit bored, although my lightsabre did prove quite popular. unfortunately mostly with guys though.
also at the rugby thing were many doctors and nurses as well as loads of policemen, a group of 70s american cops, the three musketeers and a couple of teenage mutant ninja turtles.

yesterday my parents arrived at about 10.15. we went into town and found a nice cafe where i had a duck lieing shredded in a pancake, soaking in the hoisin of your lies. after that we went to asda where i managed to get my parents to pay for £50 worth of shopping. should last me for a few weeks :P
then we went to the B&B my parents were staying at for the night and had a look at their room. they did have tea and coffee making facilities, but unfortunately there was no trouser press. then we went across to where the resteraunt was and had mussels. yummy.
they brought me home about 9ish.

this morning my parents wanted to go to some boring national trust house, but i complained and so we went to see Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. which was fantastic!

to start off with there was a short film about the Penguins from Madagascar, which're easily the best things in the film, so getting a whole 10/15 minutes of them was great. then it went on to the proper film.....
if you're a fan of Wallace and Gromit (lets face it, who isnt?) you're going to love it. cracking jokes, great sight gags, hilarious references, and a storyline full of twists that is also very moving. and a surprisingly scary Were-Rabbit transformation too.

go see it. NOW!

the only thing about it that i didnt like was the adverts at the start. seriously. they were a combination of Linda 'please kill her now' Barker talking about sofas, car adverts and washing powder adverts for the parents and adverts for kids that made you embarrassed on behalf of the people who made them, especially that one that could NOT have been more pink if it had been made somewhere very pink for a 'way cool' cartoon on DVD about 4 stick thin women with names like 'chelsea' that had no purpous other than to make small girls want dolls of said stick thin women with names like 'chelsea'.

but dont let that put you off. go for the W&G goodness!

11.10.05

good mo...afternoon

its now 12.01. meh.

got up at 8.45 for a tutorial in Digital Imge Production at 9. the tutorial was quite fun (ising various paintshop techniques to improve the quality of a pic etc.
the tutorial was good, but the getting up early is seriously killing me....

just had my room inspected. the only problem is i need to vacuum. she said "you have to stay on top of the carpets" which i very nearly laughed out loud at.
she also said if its not clean i could get ants. would they seriously be able to tell there was a carpet that needs vacuuming on the top floor of the building and then come all the way up here?
our vacuum cleaner is a Henry.

very sad to hear about the Aardman fire...

i got Lego Star Wars yesterday. it is slightly addictive. in the evening i went over to Sanchia and Rachels flat and found that Luke had bought it yesterday too, so me and John did a few co-op missions together. we came to the conclusion that ArFour is powered by Windows...

thats pretty much all i have to say right now. this afternoon i'll be fitting in vacuuming and having a shower between eating, sleeping and Lego Star Wars...

9.10.05

i am in pain...

friday night Maddie made me stay up rediculously late by being on Yahoo messenger and forcing me to watch the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and Shrek 2.
anyhoo, i got to bed about 3 or 4 am and as a result, didnt wake up til 1 in the afternoon. i dragged myself out of bed, remembered that i didnt have anything to drink other than dodgy tasting water or Strongbow, so i dug out my free sample of Shark Stimulation drink.
wasnt really to bad. couldnt place the flavour though. possibly shark...

i didnt really notice any sudden burst of energy, but i was out and on my way to Stafford surprisingly quickly. when i arrived i took my application form to Argos, got some wrapping paper for mums present then went round to the O2 store to ask why i couldnt upgrade my contract online. i was going to do it in store and found a great Sony Ericsson handset, but then found that because its in my mums name she has to be there to upgrade it. good job my parents are visiting next weekend.

then i went to Ottokars to buy 2 more Hellboy books (they really are very good) before heading round to Asda. the one and a half mile walk from Asda to the university seems so much further when you have to carry three heavy bags of shopping and you only have two hands to carry them with...
as a result i now ache from my left elbow, up my arm, all across the top of my back and back down to my right elbow.

oh, yes, in stafford i was approached three times by women asking me to donate money to starving children. that got me thinking......every single person whos acosted me in the street to try to get me to give money or convert to their religion or whatever has had a german accent.
those two or three women yesterday (the third one might have been one of the first two trying again, but im not sure), the "hey, nice shoes. you like walking?" monk, everyone! i wonder why that is.....?

in the evening, after i'd read both my new Hellboy books i bought another 2 and the DVD of the film from Play.com. i hope i get this job at Argos. im starting to run out of money for buying rubbish with.... i still need to get 2 birthday presents and everyones christmas presents this year....

i think the rest of today (woke up at 12) is going to be spent doing bugger all, cos Rachel is still in Manchester and i think Sanch might still be in london. oh yeah, gotta wrap mums present and get it all ready to post. should probably vacuum too....

oh, yes...my new wallpaper:


UPDATE:
have just found the website for the cinema in town. i think im in love. not only do they show current films like Wallace and Gromit or Corpse Bride, they also show old stuff like the original Japanese Godzilla movie and obscure stuff like Ghost in the Shell 2.

however...the best thing on their coming soon page is.......Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story! a feature length Family Guy...........thats so good i cant put it into words.....

7.10.05

You Can Have It So Much Better...With Matt Farmer

just got the new franz album, and i have to say that so far its fantastic (or Franz-tastic).
easily as good as their first album.

i also got mums classic fm CD so theres a chance i'll be able to post it in time for her to get it on monday. however i dont have any wraping paper or envelopes or anything so i can see myself going into stafford tomorrow, buying some paper, wrapping the present on one of the public benches, buying some envelopes at the post office, writing the address right there (possibly with the post offices own pen) before taking it over to be weighed, paid for and abandonned to be delivered.

i would like to draw your attention to the new link on the right there called Muscat's Blog (http://muscatoxblog.blogspot.com/).
Muscat's an old friend of mine who was enough of a smartarse to get into Oxford. this has caused a few problems as i've supported Cambridge in the boat race for the last few years....but i cant get any BBC channels so i wont be able to watch it. thats solved that.
anyhoo...go over to his blog and annoy him.

6.10.05

woo

yesterday i went to the post room at 1 and was given a note from the post office saying Maddie hadnt paid enough postage for the birthday letter she sent me, so i had to go to the post office to collect it and pay the difference (41p) plus a handling fee (£1), but i have to say, after the 25 minute walk into town and 5 minutes finding the collection place (a certain tree in the park. i had to tuck the £1.41 in used pennies under a root, go away and come back in 10 minutes to collect the letter), it was well worth it.

the letter provided a very entertaining read as i walked back to the town centre from the post office. i didnt get run over, but i like the idea of me wandering along, reading the letter, oblivious to the huge pile ups caused by people swerving to avoid me as i walk into the road.

after i'd finished reading i tucked the letter back in the envelope, noticed the 2 bars of chocolate and then tucked the envelope into my bag before doing the various things i had to do in town.
i found an Argos and got an application form, got a birthday card for my mum (next monday...i think....), paid in a cheque and bought Where's My cow by Terry Pratchett. i also bought a Hellboy comic book because it looked good.

oh, yeah, on my way to the post officei passed a bloke and we both double-taked (is that a word? double-took, i suppose...) at each other. i think he must have been the landlord the grapes who stopped me walking to cannock chase, and he might have half recognised me. my theory is backed up by the fact i was walking past the Grapes at the time.

anyhoo, i trudged back to Stafford Court, stopping off at Asda on the way (i bought a loaf of bread and 3 pizzas. i think the till monkey could tell i was a student), then i cooked and ate a pizza and read Hellboy, which was very good.

after that i read Where's My Cow?, re-read Maddie's letter and put her chocolate in my secret stash of food. then i noticed there was a CD in the envelope too...
i bunged it in my PC and pressed play. Thany you, Maddie! i got my own birthday message, just like i sent her one all those months ago.

less than two hours after eating a whole huge pizza, i was invited to join the malaysians with their dinner. we had curry (this time identified as chicken) and something made out of potatoes. i was stuffed by the end of it.

oh, yes...and then there was Lost....
i dont want to spoil it for people who dont have E4, but theres a bit in next weeks episode that....it....well....its just one of the worst things that could possibly happen. and on top of that its episode 11 out of 25/26. we're almost halfway through!!!!
and again they leave us with not one, but TWO cliffhangers....

am going to take Lars Von Treir's The Kingdom over to watch with Sanchia, Rachel, Luke and John later. should be good.

au revoir, people!

SOME OTHER STUFF I THOUGHT OF AFTER CLICKING PUBLISH:
i spent way too much money yesterday morning. i bought the limited edition version of You Can Have It So Much Better....With Franz Ferdinand, a Classic FM CD for mums birthday, the Lego Star Wars PC game and pre-ordered Revenge of the Sith on DVD and Luke's green Return of the Jedi Force FX Lightsabre....
i hope Argos give me a job so that i will have some money....

another thing i just thought of:
i also bought the League of Gentlemens Apocalypse on DVD. go me!

4.10.05

"how do you spell aaaaauuuuuughhuguhghgg?" [not like that...]

this morning i got a phone call from the halls reception saying a parcel had been delivered and they 'wanted to talk to me about it'.

i was slightly worried, thinking i was in trouble, but it turned out they just wanted me to open them in front of them. they said it was because they wanted to make sure i wasnt bringing in a dangerous weapon, like a samurai sword, but i think, judging by the way they all gathered round and took an interest, they just wanted to see my shiney new Force FX Lightsabre!

its amazing! im deffinately going to have to get a job so that i can get the green one when it comes out.....



VVVVWWWWUMMMMMMMM!

i already had the Jedi robe...

i also learned how to use a device called a 'washing machine'. i thought it was about time, as i ran out of underwear...uh....yesterday....

2.10.05

♫Its my birthday, my bu-bu-bu-birthday♫

[thanks to Maddie 2 for the little notes....which should be where those 2 squares are....]

right what did i do today?

i woke up at 12:30

opened all my prezzies (a pot of hair gel, some DVD-RWs, An Askew View: the Films of Kevin Smith [book], War of the Worlds [book], THUD! [new Discworld book] and a video player which i havent got working yet)

then i did bugger all till 5 (mostly consisting of reading about Clerks, reading THUD!, hooking up my video player and wondering how the hell i actually watch the videos on screen) when i brought my sea monkeys to life.....i think.....cant reall tell....

because the malaysians had been out all day and i hadnt seen them and had no idea if my malaysian meal was actually going to happen, so at 6 i just went over to Sanchia and Rachels.
i introduced Sanchia to the wonderful art of downloading a trial version of a program and then finding a key to make it the full version online, an then just sat around chatting, drinking a can of strongbow and not really doing much.

today i also discovered that if a treacle tart (in a box) is left on its side for 2 weeks the treacle tries to escape.

its my first real lecture tomorrow, Scriptwriting, at 10, followed by a practical in Film Tech at 11. should be good. im also going to have to go and investigate the washing facilities as i only have the one clean pair of underwear left.

i think the plan for wednesday is to wander into town with Sanchia and Rachel to try to find a job (im going for Argos on Hogies recommendation...and the Laminated Book of Dreams), stocking up on food that isnt pasta or rice based, and possibly general shopping.

but theres also Tuesday too. not sure whats happening there....

toodles people!
-x-

1.10.05

late night blogging.....you know you love it!

i've had a great day today!

i woke up originally at about 8 or 9 when i rolled over with my face about an inch from the wall and also, i discovered as i opened my eyes, quite a large spider (about an inch including legs). i went to get my glass and a bit of card to evict it, found the glass was wet, dried it, dropped the towel, found the spider had gone, got back into bed and went back to sleep.

while i was asleep i had a strange dream where i met Lawrence Grey who was one of my best friends at primary school and i recently met again cos hes a McDonalds Till Monkey, and we went for a deli sandwich at a McDs. we were sat by a window chatting (cant remember what about) and outside everyone walking past was in a dodgy looking gorilla suit. next thing i remember, im on an open top bus which is made of wood and packed with people. the driver challenged us to find a hedgehog and we spotted one almost immediately. then we passed through a big wooden gate and drove down Ashley Walk which is a tiny pedestrianised road in Portsmouth. either we were smaller or Ashley Walk was bigger.

i seem to remember having a very similar dream before.
now this dream got me thinking that perhaps i'd drempt the spider too, because the glass was back by the sink and i didnt remember putting it there, but the towel was on the floor. perhaps i drempt the spider but did go to get the glass and dry it, i just didnt remember cos i was still mostly asleep.

i woke up properly at 12, decided i didnt have enough time to go into town and back before the post room opened and closed again, so i bumbled around on the internet before going to get my post at 1. i got 6 cards, which (judging by the handwriting) includes one from Deppy, one from grandma, one from nan, one from my aunt, one from i have no idea who and one which looks like it might be Maddie, but she said she sent a letter not a card, unless she lied just to confuse me...Oh! it could be from Emma... thats probably it. My Sea Monkeys were also delivered.

then i think i just bumbled around on the net for a bit longer and then went over to my friends' flat. now theres a security system where to get into someone elses flat theres an intercom system so they can find out who you are before pressing the button to let you in. i couldnt remember what group of flats my friends were in and was just about to press the button i thought it was when John appeared, also wanting to be let in. he pressed the button (i HAD chosen the right one) and we were let in.

in the flat it was just me, John and Luke (none of whom actually live in that flat) because Rachel and Sanchia had gone into Stafford. Rachel returned, bringing her parents, and me, John and Luke went to meet Sanchia at the bus stop before going off to the Animé evening.

that turned out to be a complete shambles. half the people thought it had been cancelled, no one had the key for the lecture theatre, when they got the key they couldnt log onto the computer, and when they'd done that the film they were meant to be showing wouldnt work.
at that point me, John, Luke and Phil (one of Lukes friends from Birmingham who'd come up for the evening) left (Sanchia stayed to see the film they were showing instead) and then we went down to the Lounge for a few games of pool.
i was useless, but also quite pleased that the Strongbow was only £1.50 a pint.

we were walking back to the Halls when we met Bungle (not his real name...) and a very attractive girl called Amanda, who happens to be on my course, selling glow sticks at the bus stop. we stayed with them for a bit, wearing glow sticks, singing to Queen (with Luke accompanying us on Bungles didgeridoo), and generally having a laugh.

Luke went a bit mad with the glowstick sales and started chasing after people. the bouncers at Legends (the student union club, next to the Lounge, the student union bar) apparently had a go at him and as Bungle was selling things without a licence which is slightly illegal we legged it back to my room and hid there for a bit, chatting about the Darwin Awards and things Germans do with gerbils...

after we thought it would be safe we wandered back to the bus stop to wait with Bungle for his bus. Luke was summonsed by Sanchia to go to her room to sort something out, and we chatted about more stuff in general until the bus came and Bungle left.
at that point Phil was also summonsed so we took him to Sanchia and Rachels flat and then went on to Amandas room. there we met another girl whos name ive forgotten who sent us on a quest to rescue her african figure which had fallen out the window. this included a daring stunt invovling John giving me a leg up to climb over the bike sheds (they're only about 5 foot tall), jumping down the other side, passing the figure over then using the wall to climb back up and over.

we returned triumphant to Amandas flat, did more general chattings about stuff, and scrapped plans to go to Johns room to watch the film we were meant to watch on Animé night because Amanda was tired and wanted to go to bed. John went back to his room and i went up to Sanchia and Rachels and watched the Nightmare Before Christmas with them, Luke and Phil while eating Malteasers and drinking a bottle of Becks which i didnt like much. we also watched Vincent, a short animation by Tim Burton about a boy called Vincent fantasising that hes Vincent Price which i was very happy about cos ive wanted to see it for years.

throughout the film Rachel and Luke kept talking, which Sanchia was obviously very anoyed about. shes a lot like me...
afterwards they were sorting out their sleeping arrangements and i told them they were welcome to come to my Malaysian Food Extravaganza on sunday because its my birthday, and Rachel said something about us having to go out afterwards. i got her number so that i would be able to contact them (i did get Sanchias earlier in the evening, but she left her phone in the lecture theatre where they showed the animé so she probably wont be able to get to it til monday)

When i got back to my room at about half 1 i thought i should probably blog about my good day while i was still feeling good and could remember it, but was distracted by the massive number of emails i'd recieved since i last checked in the afternoon (FIVE!!!!) which included an email from Deppy.
that made my day even better because she told me shes going to do something about her depression which means i wont have to worry about her as much.

after that i trawled around everyone elses blogs until i got to mine (havent checked Shari's yet because all my favourite sites are sorted into alphabetical order and Shari's Blog comes after My Blog).
then i blogged, which you are reading now, so i dont really need to tell you about that.
think i might be getting tired now.

tomorrow i WILL go into town because i need bottled water for both me and to bring my sea monkeys to life, and i still need 2 white long sleved t shirt-y things to wear under my blue t shirts. i still want to buy the Scream mask and cloak too....

i started typing this at 2am....

[yawns] good night people....its my birthday tomorrow!!!!!!
-x-

30.9.05

ahahahahahaaa!

look what i found!!!!!

http://media2.yahoo.com/player/ligans/?key=47611

its the 80s live action/cartoon combination Super Mario Brothers Super Show!

Its so cheesey its fantastic!

Lou Albano makes a great Mario, although its slightly weird cos im used to Charles Martinet being the official voice of Mazza....

anyhoo...go watch them all. they're great!

29.9.05

Blah

hum....havent blogged for a while so id better do one now.

what have i done since Evil Dead Danger Mouse?

well yesterday i had my first Film Tech lecture and found that my lecturer for that is like a blonder, thinner, less bearded Ricky Gervais. and less of a twat too.

he kept saying 'erm' every few words (except it was pronounced more like 'aaahhh-um') i wonder if he can say that more times in an hour than Mr Parsons record for saying 'right' in physics (back at GCSE level when it was fun).
i seem to remember that the one time we counted, Parsons said 'right' 174 times. thats 2.9 times a minute. im sure my lecturer could beat that.

after that i think i went back to my room and just spent the rest of the day on my computer and watching DVDs...oh! yes. at 12.30 i was meant to be having a meeting with my personal tutor. i got there for 25 past, waited outside til 1, then eventually got in and was there a whole 2 minutes, which was slightly annoying.

in the evening the Malaysians brought back the Omen and borrowed Peter Jackson's Braindead. am hoping to get them onto the Evil Dead trilogy soon. i also had a good conversation with them over eggy bread and a glass of some sort of tea.

this morning i dragged myself out of bed to be in F14 at 11 for my first lecture in Digital Image Production.
DIP roughly translates as 'How to use Photoshop' and the introduction to it would have been a whole lot better if hed just opened Photoshop and pointed out what everything did on it instead of putting it all into a Powerpoint presentation.
he didnt even show the presentation as a slideshow! he just opened Powerpoint and scrolled through the slides on the bit where you edit them!
plus he had a monotonous voice which didnt help. the Irish accent made it slightly more interesting.

after that i got a Ginsters spicy chicken slice for lunch and went to the post room. Rachel was about 5 people in front of me. we waved and said hi, but were slightly too far away to talk properly. i didnt want to push in front of the people between us and she obviously didnt want to lose her place. so i didnt really get a chance to tell her about my idea to do something for my birthday with her, Luke, John, Sanchia and Aiden on Saturday.
the annoying thing was i didnt even have any post.

oh, yeah, on the way into the post room we got given bags of free stuff from the student union.
inside were two Pot Noodles (im not a huge fan of them any way, and these are Southern Fried Chicken flavour, which seems a bit weird), two packets of Pepperami instant noodles (hot and spicy flavour. hopefully nicer than the BBQ ones i had) , 6 Brylcreem Gel Shots, a can of Shark stimulation drink, a can of Rubicon (some sort of fizzy mango flavour drink), an incredibly tiny bottle of Lynx shower stuff and two condoms (which will come in very useful if my luck ever changes...perhaps thats what the Lynx is for...)

then i went on the net for a bit and was going to go over to Sancia and Co's flat to make my suggestion for saturday, but i lost track of time slightly while playing The Sims 2, so its a bit late for that.
tomorrow i have no lectres so im going to go into town, buy some more bottled water (the water here tastes funny....) and a couple of thin white jumpers and another black one (for some reason i've started wearing them under my T shirt) from George of Asda ("who art thou, George of Asda?"), get a beef Deli from McDs, walk back (hopefully not via Cannock Chase) dump my stuff and then go over to Sanchia and co's.

the Malaysians have said that they are going to cook a selection of malaysian food for me on my birthday, which i thought was very nice. hopefully the food will be too.

speaking of birthdays, yesterday the instructions for opening my locked bag came. it was marked 'not to be opened until 02/10/05, but i have already read them.
the reason i've read them was because two presents also came in the post and i wanted to hide them in my bag, out of the way, because if i didnt they would have tempted me and i would have opened them...

ttfn, people!

EXTRA BIT: just read the following in this months Discworld Monthly

Do you happen to have a spare 15 million USD?It appears that American investors won't raise that amount to makeGood Omens. Terry Gilliam has been offered 45 million USD from theinternational community but it appears that American investors don'thave the confidence to back Gilliam due to his shaky track record.For all his brilliance some of Gilliam's films never got finished orwent horrendously over budget - Quixote and Baron Munchausen forexample. Gilliam wants to cast Johnny Depp to play Crowley and Robin Williams to play Aziraphale.

i think im going to cry. Good Omens is my favorite books and Gilliam, when he actually gets to make a film, he makes em good. my only problem is Robin Williams as Aziraphale. he needs to be british. Julian Rhind-Tutt would be good, but hes not quite old enough...