New Year Resolutions?

I never quite know what to exactly say on New Year's Eve when someone asks me if I've made any New Year's resolutions. The obvious answer is: yes, of course I have, everyone does, even if it's a half-hearted attempt just to fuse into your brain that it's a new year, so it must be a new start, so you must do new things, or newish things anyway.

But then I stop and think and realise that, actually, I've always given the obvious answer to that question and then never really thought about it until the next 31st December. It was different a year and a half ago - a new house with new people meant for certain a new start, and it has certainly helped change my life. And I guess last New Year was a newish start for me in that I took more of a part in the Christian Union at Christmas.

So this year I have decided to make a stand; for once this year I am actually going to set myself a couple (or maybe even a few) New Year Resolutions for 2008. Then, on this day next year, I can look back and see if I achieved or upheld them.

I think we'll start with the always mentioned, never published books and get those approved by an agent - lets not go nuts after all. There's also the degree to think about as well - I am going to get a 2:1 at least: this will mean a lot of hard work, but I am going to achieve it!

I will eat less chocolate, spend more time with my friends - these are all pretty usually resolutions that I know a Facebook group will be set up for - or maybe I should set one up? Will I have time? You see, this is the problem with New Years resolutions - some are so important, or so huge, that they overshadow the other, smaller ones and eventually pale them in significance.

There is one more - but its not something I'm willing to share on the world wide web, I'm sorry to say - it's too personal for the masses of readers who read this blog to read if you will. That is, unless things work out okay with it - then I'll tell all!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Laters!

A Christmas Message

Last entry before the brief period of festivities, and the madness truly ensues! Just want to wish any readers out there a magnificently merry Christmas, full of laughter, fun, cheer, and, above all, hope and love. Have a good one on me!

Laters!

It's Christmas: Part Three

Yes, folks, today is the last entry in my little escape into my favourite Christmas entertainment. And where better to end than with television? Now, admittedly, I am restricted with this by the fact that I live in Blighty and I'm sure there will be some readers - if there are any readers - who don't.

Christmas Day: the television doesn't go on. Full stop. Except for five short minutes where we set the DVD and Video recorders to tape the stuff we want to watch, it just doesn't go on. Not even for the Queen's Speech. In fact, I don't think I've ever watched a Queen's Speech. Why would I want to? It's not like it's actually written by her - if that was the case I'd watch it all the time! It would be great - "My dear people, this year has been rather shit...", and so forth.

A big, big tradition here is The Snowman on Christmas Eve. Now we're pretty busy usually on this day, with two Christingle services and all that during the afternoon, but my sister and I always find time to watch this beautiful, tear-jerking cartoon. Trust me, if you've never seen it before you have to. The music, and there's a lot of it, is haunting and gorgeous and there's quite simply one of the best endings to a television programme ever!

Comedies usually come out good at this time of year. Their Christmas specials can be quite mixed at the best of times, but this is when they can go on for a bit longer or have some special guests on that they wouldn't normally have so they're usually okay watching.

For my family recently the big Christmas television event has been the special episode of Doctor Who. Now, I'm not a huge science-fiction buff, but this is an intelligent, often witty, always exciting series that has been successfully relaunched and whose Christmas specials are always amazing to watch. This year Kylie Minogue is the special guest star. The big names are attracted to this show, believe me!

Were it not for the Christingle services, Carols From Kings would be another on my list, but as I never get to watch them all in full they only deserve a mention for their longevity here. Thanks to cheap DVDs the number of films we have to record this year has also been slashed, seeing as how my mother, who I feel is addicted to buying these said cheap DVDs, has usually got them already!

But throughout these last few days I am reminded of the two most important things about Christmas, namely Christ and Family. Let us never forget these things, at the best or worst of times this holiday.

I should be able to make a final entry tomorrow before I shut down for a few days - hopefully!

Laters!

It's Christmas: Part Two

Well, festive greetings once again! Just to point your attention to above where I have updated my list of films I'm looking forward to seeing in 2008 with a few juicy hyperlinks to trailers. Sorry I can't find all of them, but that's life!

Anyhoo, today is Music Wednesday so where better to continue our Christmas journey through Christmas entertainment than with my personal favourite Christmas music?

• "All I Want For Christmas Is You", Mariah Carey - this is a top tune to start any party to, and perhaps the last great Christmas song that has ever been written. At the time of writing this here in Blighty thanks to downloads this song is at number 4 in our music charts! Now that's popularity! Download it more, people, make it Christmas number one again!
• "The Christmas Song", various artists - another cosy fire blazing song to snuggle up to someone to, made immortal by Nat King Cole but later justified in a very smooth version by none other than Barry Manilow...seriously!
• "O Come All Ye Faithful" - lets not forget the true reason for Christmas. I love singing this at Midnight Mass as the last hymn; we get to sing all seven (or is it eight?) verses for one day a year and it is one of those triumphant carols of complete and utter rejoicing. As is...
• ..."Hark The Herald Angels Sing" - as a tenor this is a high-pitched joy to sing, with a brilliant descant for any soprano brave enough to try.
• "The Bells Of Christmas", Barry Manilow - not a very well known song, taken from his first Christmas album, Because It's Christmas. Growing up in a house with my mother who is a huge Manilow fan, this album is put on every year at Christmas and is simply the best single artist Christmas album ever. This song, however, reminds us that sometimes Christmas can be a rather disappointing, perhaps depressing time for a lot of people, something that all of us who are happier during this time should remember that we need to watch out for those less fortunate.
• "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" Judy Garland - this is a dark song, full of hope, but performed in a way which chills your bones. Again it's trying to look on the bright side of life against an uncertain future, something which I'm sure a lot of people are going through right now.
• "The Power Of Love", Frankie Goes To Hollywood - not technically a Christmas song, as there's not a mention of the time in it. This is still, however, my absolute favourite of the bunch - a gorgeous and, lets face it, surprising number from FGTH, about love, perhaps the greatest gift that we humans can give each other at this time of year

Well, again, I am only stopped by bad memory, 'cos I could go on for pages if I could. Tomorrow will be the last day I look at my Christmas entertainment and there's only television left! Looking forward to that!

Laters!

It's Christmas: Part One

Ho ho ho! As we are in the festive season, I thought I should let you know a little about what classifies as Christmas entertainment in the old Hardgraves head! As it is usually Film Tuesday today, I thought I'd start with films...doi!

So here, in no order whatsoever except for when I remember them, are my top Christmas films!

• Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - as a huge Tim Burton fan, this is always a must. You don't see a lot of stop motion animation these days, and when its done so wonderfully as it is here you celebrate the fact that at least someone is still flying the flag for this particularly painfully slow animation technique. The story is typical Burton - ghoulish and full of dark humour, when Jack Skelington, king of Halloween, decides to liven up his rather boring life by having a go at Christmas for a change. The characters are all individually gorgeous, and the atmosphere is added to by Danny Elfman's gorgeous songs and score.
• A Christmas Carol - now there are a lot of versions of this film out there, one more of which I will cite in a mo. This particular one is a fairly recent made for television adaptation starring Patrick Stewart as the famous Mr Scrooge, with Richard E Grant as Bob Cratchit and a cast of faces you may recognise but are not sure where from exactly. This is a very faithful adap of the book, which is one of my favourite stories anyway. However, try as it might, this version can never uphold to the standards set by...
• ...The Muppets Christmas Carol - here, instead of dumbing down the story to make it feel more family friendly, the wonders of the Jim Henson group actually at times make a fairly frightening but faithful vision of Dickens' tale. Yes, so I doubt there ever was a rubber chicken factory in Victorian London, and yes, nearly all the cast have American accents - that's all the felt cast, mind - but it is a witty, dark film with plenty of good songs and a great performance from Michael Caine as Scrooge.
• Fred Claus - this is very recent, having only just been released. It was also mercilessly slated by the critics, but then of course it would be. All in all, we know its a pile of Christmas wrapping paper, but it is full of sugar and spice and everything nice, with a good name cast featuring Vince Vaughan, Kevin Spacey, Paul Giamatti, etc. You can't help but feel christmassy when you watch this film.
• Snow Day - another interesting one, as technically it's not set at Christmas. But I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, so it works for me. Again not very popular with critics, it again is full of the sweet candy cane good stuff that just makes you feel all good inside, just like a decent Christmas film should do.
• It's A Wonderful Life - not much else can be said about this that hasn't already been said.It's a masterpiece, a work of genius, with a brilliant performance from James Stewart. I find the little girl semi-annoying, but other than that this deserves to be the number one Christmas film on any list!

Well, that's all the films I can think of. Tomorrow: music!

Laters.

Oooh - shiney laptop!

So here I am, back home again for the holidays, and huzzah! We have the internet on a brand new modem and a brand new laptop- very nice! This will make it easier to keep up to date with the blog throughout Christmas, though I got to tell you, if you're expecting anything long from me on Christmas Eve or Day - good luck!

Laters.

It's Been A Loooooooooong Time...

...since I added anything to this blog, so big apologies to any readers out there! This will also be the last blog I write here at Winchester for a few weeks, as I'm going home today for the Chirstmas holidays - woo hoo!!

I will be more frequent at updating this blog whilst at home, plus keeping you up to date on various films, music, books, etc that strike me as worthy of mentioning. the first has to be a film I am awaiting with immense anticipation, Tim Burton's latest, Sweeney Tood. And look what I've managed to find... the openign titles for it! Right here! And it looks as dark and gothic as it should coming from Burton's wonderfully imaginative warped mind!

Enjoy, just don't have nightmares...not yet anyway!

Laters!

The Spy Who Loved Him

Below is my latest film review, Paul Verhoeven's Black Book. Enjoy!

I think I could probably count the number of foreign films I've seen out of my own choice on one hand. I am also not exactly the hugest fan of Paul Verhoeven. But there was so much hype surrounding this film that I just had to see it.

I'm glad I did. This film brings back to memory the classic war spy films of the 40s, 50s and 60s, where brave men and women risked their lives against the Nazis for freedom. But the fact that it is based on real events creates a very sinister atmosphere to it, none more so than during the final third of the film, where history once again shoves a bitter blow to the face of "peace lovers" by showing what happened to those poor men and women who fell in love with Nazi soldiers or sympathised with them.

There are some excellent performances here, but although he seems to have come back with a bang, I just can't stick Verhoeven. It is now obvious after more than 20 years of his films where his interests lie - blonde women and violence. Just look at Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, Denise Richards in Starship Troopers, even Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls - and now Carice van Houten. If this is the way in which Verhoeven is to become an auteur, I suppose you could argue that he is a sub-par Hitchcock, but then I shudder at the comparison.

It's a shame, because this is a great movie, with plenty of twists and good historical background. You genuinely feel for Rachel/Ellis as life keeps dealing her with bitter blows. In the same instance, however, it does leave quite a few questions open and there are some parts of the plot which are left unexplained. Ultimately, the theme is of violence once again - with the ending shot a rather pessimistic view of the rest of the 20th century.

7/10

The next film review will be of Perfume.

Laters.

Life's A Bitch

Abysmal.
Botched.
Catastrophe.
Disgusting.
Excrutiating.
Foolish.
Grating.
Horrible.
Ignorant.
Juddering.
Skin-crawling.
Lousy.
Moronic.
Nonsense.
Obsolete.
Pathetic.
Queasy.
Rubbish.
Stupid.
Typical.
Useless.
Vulgar.
Woeful.
Exhausting.
Yuck.
Zzzzzz.

Now, am I talking about the performance of the England Football team last night, or am I talking about the recent slip up by the government regarding the loss of two CDs containg the personal information of 25 million people? The power is in your hands: you choose!

Laters.

What's In A Name?

Neil Diamond, an artist whom I am not that familiar with, has admitted that his song "Sweet Caroline" was inspired by Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of the late President John F Kennedy. (Incidentally, wouldn't it have been brilliant if Schlossberg wasn't her married name, but her true surname? Then we would have had President Schlossberg!)

Ahem. Anyway, it made me start to think about other songs which could have been inspired by famous people - or C-listers as they are usually referred to now.

Erm...damn, I thought this was going to work, but I can't think of any. If there are readers out there (and that's a big "if") I need your help with this one! The weirder, stupider, more politically sharp satirised the better! I am, after all, a Struggling Writer and I do indeed struggle!

Laters.

"You Don't Get Me, I'm Part Of The Union..."

I'm not sure how I should respond to the strikes going on over in the US of A by my fellow Struggling Writers over the shores. Obviously, I'm all for them getting better pay, better screen credits, or whatever they can get out of these protests. But the film/television viewer in me is panicking so much right now.

Already several films in pre-production have been hit by these strikes. Admittedly the only one that bears me any sort of interest would be Angels And Demons, the Ron Howard directed and Tom Hanks starring prequel to The DaVinci Code, which coincidentally I haven't actually watched yet but will probably do so at some point. But the number of films is slowly increasing, and I can't help feeling that some films that I'm really looking forward to will soon be affected.

Unfortunately I have fallen out of love with Ugly Betty, having missed so many episodes of the second series that joining it now would be pretty pointless. But I'm still looking forward to the next series of Desperate Housewives, and knowing that this series has also been affected by the strikes...well, it just breaks my hearts.

All in all, I'm totally behind the strikers, but I just hope that it's resolved quickly.

Laters.

I See Dead People

There's been a lot of fuss recently about the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen. First of all we saw his mummified face for the first time in decades. Now we have a huge exhibition of his treasures taking place at the O2 Arena which people have been queuing in droves to get tickets for. The same happened with the Terracotta Army earlier this year. I just have one question: why?

A couple of Saturdays ago I was in Stratford-Upon-Avon with a few friends doing a research project for a presentation we must do next week. This is where, in case you didn't know, William Shakespeare was born and was buried. Although I couldn't go into the birthplace, namely because of it being rather expensive, one of my friends and I went and did the next best thing, which was to go to the local church and see his grave.

It cost us 50p each at student process. We walked slowly up to the long velvet rope which lay as a barrier in front of the altar. There, second from the left, we saw the cold stone slap which underneath lay the remains of arguably the greatest writer ever.

And...that's it.

We weren't exactly expecting any kind of epiphany, but the fact is we didn't even get a hint of one! Oh look, a grave stone in a church. How exciting. What a flipping waste of money more like. I could have stayed outside the church and looked at all the other gravestones in the churchyard and not paid a thing! But because Shakespeare is considered so fantastic, so amazing, that you just have to go inside the church (which, coincidentally, is named on the sign as Shakespeare's Church) to see what all the fuss is about.

It is, point blank, a huge tourist trap. The only decent thing in Stratford is the RSC theatre, which is offering tickets at £5 for 16-25 year olds. Who wants to queue up for ages and spend vast quantities of money to see dead people' stuff (or dead people) when you can pay a fifth of the price and see something that actually meant something to them: a play, for example.

What? Me, a Struggling Writer, actually recommending a play? Never!

Laters.

Food Glorious Food

As avid readers (if any) of my blog will be aware, I am a big fan of food. I have very little that I will not eat, though I am sure that I haven't exactly eaten everything that there is to be eaten which, if you were being really strict about it, would probably contain items such as kangaroo's anuses and human beings.

I am also a huge fan of chocolate. In fact I would be bold enough to say that chocolate is the third mot important thing in my life, after God and my family. Last night, whilst walking back from a friend's house, I could not help but quickly dive into the University's open washing room to buy a Dairy Milk from the vending machine. It cost me 60p, which I'm sure is a bit more expensive than in a local shop.

Food can be expensive, but food can also be dirt cheap. I find that buying my vegetables and fruit loose costs me less money than buying them in bagged form. I try to get the cheapest mince and bread. I am often found diving into the cheese section and spending at least five minutes looking through every small block of cheddar to find which one is the cheapest. My record for this little activity so far has been 91p.

But there's expensive and then there's silly money. In today's Times (and I seem to be quoting a lot from this particular paper recently) I read a small article which went like this:

"A white 750g (26oz) Italian Alba truffle that sold for a record £102,000 at a charity auction will be served at a private dinner in Hong Kong on Sunday."

Now I'm not an idiot; I know that truffles, particularly rare ones, are expensive. And there's nothing wrong obviously with the money going to charity. But perhaps there's something in this anyway. The fact that someone would pay such a vast amount of money for a piece of food makes my wallet weep.

Last night I had Pasta Bolognaise (hope that's spealt right!) with mince costing 76p, pasta which in a huge bag cost £1, chopped tomatoes 15p, tomato puree 30p, plus onion, garlic, carrots and mushrooms which together would only probably have cost a pound. That 's £3.21p all together, and I was stuffed afterwards. So you can take your rare truffle and your private dinner. Everyone is welcome to mine for Bolognaise. Though not tonight, as I have to go shopping.

Laters.

Tut, Tut, It Looks Like Rain

After a rather length cell group meeting last night I got into my house and collapsed on my sofa. With only the energy left to cook a garlic bread for dinner I wanted to stay there for the rest of the evening. Alas, this was not to be.

I can only describe it as being like when you haven't turned a kitchen tap off properly and so a thin stream of water still emerges from the faucet. That was what the water was like which ran from a small hole in our kitchen ceiling. I may have mentioned our leak here before on this blog, possibly as a Monday Moan. It has evidently got worse.

Panicking, I ran upstairs and told my housemate who was in the shower to get out asap and switch the water off. After a swift examination of the bathroom we found our culprit, a thin crack between two small bathroom tiles, big enough to let in a lot of water that runs over the side of our awkwardly shaped bath when using the shower.

I suppose it was rather ironic that the Bible passage we had been looking at during cell was from Philippians and contained the verse:

"Do everything without complaining or arguing" (Philippians 2:14).

Almost immediately God tested me with this - not sure if I passed really, as this blog entry probably counts as a complaint!

*****

I couldn't help noticing this rather unusual news item in today's Times:

"A man in southern India married a female dog in an attempt to atone for stoning two other dogs to death. P. Selvakumar married the former stray, named Selvi, in a Hindu ceremony at a temple in the state of Tamil Nadu."

I know that a dog is supposed to be man's best friend, but that's just plain ridiculous!

Laters.

Thursday's Child Is A Right Whinger

So due to the fact that I was so busy on Monday and could not therefore add an entry to this week's Monday Moan, it seems that fate has given me plenty to talk about today so as to make up for it. So I present to you all now for the first time (and hopefully the last): The Thursday Tantrum!

Though maybe that's a little extreme to call it a tantrum? Maybe it should be The Thursday Ticking Off? Or The Thursday Troubles? Thing is, the day has just piled one thing after the other in an attempt to get a mention on my blog. At least, that's my theory. After all, I have the Monday Moan, Film Tuesday and Music Wednesday - but nothing so far for the other days of the week.

Anyway, it is money really that has caused the woes of today. First the gas runs out and we realise that we need a better way of paying it, half of us not being around half the time anyway. Then my accommodation fees refuse to subtract themselves from my bank account into the depths of the University's vault. So I have to write a big fat cheque and fill in another form - don't you just love paperwork?

It is also raining - joy upon all joys - and there are some unfortunate idiots in the library now who are making rather a loud noise.

I am very tired.

I have Alpha tonight.

I also have been informed that I need to get up at 6 in the morning on Saturday to go to Stratford-Upon-Avon for group presentation work.

Help. Me.

Laters

"Oh, I'm Sorry, Did I Break Your Concentration?"

As promised, here is my review for Pulp Fiction. Enjoy!

Given the opportunity to get this on a cheap DVD, I decided to seize the day as it were and find out what all the fuss was about. Having only seen one Tarantino film - Kill Bill: Part One, which I suppose actually means I'd only seen half a Taraniton film - and having enjoyed it a lot, plus having read and heard all the hype surrounding Pulp Fiction, my expectations were higher than I would say they usually are before watching a film.

For the majority of it, Pulp Fiction does exactly what I've been led to believe it does: confuses you and thrills you, as well as making you chuckle, albeit a little guiltily, at several points. The story itself - not told in a linear style - can at times be frustratingly annoying in its light-pretentious way of saying, "Ooh, look at me, I'm non-linear, I'm going to muck about with your heads". It is also full of coincidences, especially the story which revolves around Bruce Willis's character. This particular strand goes off into extremely weird territory. I suppose parts of it could happen, but you'd have to be very, very unlucky for it to actually be the case.

The cast are pretty much impeccable. Despite the very good performance of John Travolta, the film's early scenes really belong to Samuel L Jackson, whose rehearsed Biblical scripture sounds at first rather absurd before becoming incredibly chilling. There are nice turns from Uma Thurman and Ving Rhames before the film is once again saved by Jackson. Harvey Keitel is also bwa-ha-ha funny, thankfully good enough to overshadow the rather poor performance of Tarantino himself.

One thing that does rock in this film is the soundtrack, from the opening familiar theme which suddenly changes halfway through into a completely different piece of music, to the final end guitar strains. The stand-out piece must be the Chuck Barry song which Travolta and Thurman dance the twist rather badly to. This is a moment so surreal that you're not sure whether to laugh or just scratch your head and ponder the meaning of life.

On the whole, Pulp Fiction deserves most of the plaudits it has gained, and it is (or was) original enough to justify winning the Palme D'Or at Cannes 1995. But it is not a really great film. I have a feeling that we're still waiting for Tarantino to make one of those. Unless he already has, and I just haven't watched it yet.

7/10

The next review will be of Paul Verhoven's latest film, Black Book.

Laters.

Busy Busy Busy

So busy in fact that I cannot do much other than quickly type this and update this week's passage.

Laters.

The Law Of Sodom

Okay, so the television is fine. The Digital Box for the television works perfectly - we have lots and lots of channels, some of which we didn't have last year, most of which we did and is nice to see them back again - as I said yesterday.

But as for our supposed Internet - they've only gone and sent us Broadband instead of Wireless Broadband. Ho hum. Perhaps I was too hasty in writing what I did yesterday.

Today has certainly been challenging. In our Lunch Talks we have been holding during Missions Week here at Winchester University, the topic for today was about sex. It is perhaps the toughest topic we have talked about all week so far, but I think the panel who were asked to take part did incredibly well. Some difficult questions were raised and I honestly don't know how I would have done in their shoes. It was however nice that two of my friends from my English classes could come along, and it certainly raised a lot of interesting ideas for them.

Alpha tonight and then the best way to end Missions Week - the cocktail party!

Laters.

V Good!

Hooray - just at the point of despairing, the nice man from Virgin Media came and fitted our Virgin Television box and gave us a CD-Rom for the Internet set-up. It's taken them ages to get things sorted, which does not bode well for Second Year when she moves back in next year.

The point of our annoyance is that we were customers of said digital company last year, having had no choice after their takeover of NTL. But when we tried to reapply online and put our postcode into the database, our house didn't appear in the drop down list. Every other bloody house on our street did, but not ours. So we sent them our address and they replied to us with the message that it would take at least 72 hours to figure out if our house could get cable. Which makes no flaming sense because we had cable last year! Virgin Media cable!

Oh, and this was at least four weeks ago.

So, after Smoker said some rather polite things down the phone to them - well, what's classed as polite in Smoker's dictionary anyway - they finally came round yesterday with a box and a CD Rom. And for all that moaning, all that waiting, it was actually pretty worth it. Why? Well, we now have Eurosport and MTV. And The Jazz Digital Radio Station. I mention this just so I can put at the bottom of this entry the label "Music Wednesday", but it really is a great radio station. Honest.

Laters.

Zzzzz...

It would happen, wouldn't it? On one of the busiest weeks of this semester for CU - Missions Week - I end up being struck down by my rather troublesome problem of insomnia. I had no sleep last night at all, and I cannot for the life of me think why this was the case! I am going to have to make sure I have copious amounts of coffee so I can stay awake throughout the cafe today and also my afternoon lecture.

Anyone else see a problem here? I'm just looking forward to getting home this evening, where hopefully - and this is a huge hopefully - we will finally have received the equipment needed to set up the wireless Internet at our house. No more having to go into the uni library every time to check my e-mails and hastily write my blog entries before a library official comes over and sneaks a peak to see if what I'm furiously writing is in fact anything to do with the rather complicated theoretical texts that I have grabbed from one of the nearby shelves. I hope, anyway.

Oh, and in case you were wondering if I had forgotten in my state of slight comatose that today was Film Tuesday, I haven't. In fact I watched Pulp Fiction for the first time the other day, and I shall provide a suitable review later on in the week. Again: I hope.

Laters.

Weekend Away!

Just got time to quickly write about this weekend - I'm going to my grandparents who live by the sea! It'll be good to get away from Winchester for a few days, as I've been getting a little stressed out recently with work and stuff. However, when I get back fully refreshed on Monday, we start our Missions Week at CU - yeah we do!

Laters.

Electronic Promenade Concerts

Today is the start of the short but sweet season known as The Electric Proms. These are a relatively new series of concerts set up by the BBC to celebrate the beauty that is popular and electronic music. We have this season a real feast for the ears and eyes - Mark Ronson with the BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Kaiser Chiefs with David Arnold (him off of the last four James Bond movies), Paul McCartney with...erm...Paul McCartney (might be wrong there).

It's going to be fan-diddy-tastic as they say (or as I say anyway) so log on to the BBC website or watch highlights starting from tonight on BBC Two. You want a link? Here you go!

In other news, my sister has joined me here at Winchester for the next couple of days. Her taste in music sadly seems to stem from my mother and, though I am not disagreeable to a few artists in my mum's repertoire, I fear sadly that there is still much to teach her.

I'm not going to be the one to do the teaching, mind. No fear. I've got too much bloody work to do as it is! Presentations, Essays, Textual Research Analysis (No, I haven't got a clue either!) and of course the joy that is the Final Year Project on 9/11 and it's effects on postmodernism. Oh, goody. I'm going to enjoy this year.

Laters.

A Rather Dodgy Train Ride

Last Wednesday, with the television occupied by my housemates wanting to see where Winchester came in The Best Place/Worst Place To Live programme (we came second in the former!) I decided to catch up on my film viewing. The latest DVD I had rented was a British flick called London To Brighton.

This was at times a tough film to watch. It isn't for people who don't like a lot of swearing or gritty realism. It certainly won't be the kind of film I would watch with my grandparents, that's for sure. If you can stand that, though, and the often dark, gloomy plot of a prostitute and a twelve-year old girl running away to Brighton from something they've done in the capital city (hence the title) you're in for a treat.

The cast are excellent, most notably perhaps newcomer Georgia Groome as Joanne the young runaway. Really everyone is very good, but Georgia stands out particularly. Her role is demanding and not what you'd expect a twelve year old to be doing. The whole film is very well shot too, capturing a seedy side of England which we often ignore in the golden lands of cinema, and leave it to either newcomers or seasoned pros like Ken Loach to shoot.

There were a few problems with it, perhaps most importantly for me the length. I appreciate it was a low-budget film, but it was still too short. I was really enjoying it when it finished, so much so that I didn't want it to stop. I wanted to know more about the characters we meet in Brighton too - I don't think they were very well developed.

Apart from these problems, I found London To Brighton very enjoyable, and recommend it to anyone who likes gritty British cinema.

7/10

Laters.

The Book Of Face

Yes, I must admit now that I have finally joined the ranks of countless others and set up a Facebook account. I spent most of this morning trying to figure it out, as technology and me - well, we don't mix.

Still, at some point today I must remove myself from this chair, actually get out of my pyjamas and put some clothes on and clean. Yes, today is the day set aside for cleaning - a task I do not look forward to. It's not that I mind a little cleaning, you understand, but it's the state that the house is in at the moment requires a planned assault with military strategies and tactics.

How did it get to this situation? I'm going to raise a slightly guiltless hand and say that we've all been so busy this year that it really is one of those things we put aside. My social life, I'm happy to say, has improved greatly since I started taking more of an active role in what our CU does, but this now mean that I am out nearly every night of the week, and when I get home I am usually too tired to do anything other than cook, eat and collapse.

And it's the same for all of us. Sure, we could do more that would help us, but that still leaves me the problem of the bathroom and the kitchen to worry about.

Well, this is it - time to stop writing and grab those rubber gloves. If I don't make it, just remember these words from one of the truly great philosophers of our time:

"What's the point of all this cleaning? Are we so vain?" - Homer Simpson.

Laters.

Power Of Prayer

Okay, bear with me on this one.

I'm a little disappointed after yesterday's defeat to South Africa in the Rugby World Cup Final, but the best team won in the end, and I really didn't think it would be us anyway. But I spent a lot of time last night praying whilst watching the match.

Was this selfish of me? It was, after all, only a game, and there are many hundreds of thousands of people who need my prayers more than the fifteen men on a rugby pitch. I could even have prayed for myself last night - prayed for my final year, my FYP, etc - would that have been selfish?

In my opinion, the answer is no. No prayer is selfish or selfless. There would have been plenty of other people doing exactly the same thing last night, both in the stadium and out. The difference however between me and most of them is that I know prayer really works. We just have to be patient; sometimes we have to be really patient, but there is true power in prayer.

The thing is, right, God has just so many prayers entering his head at every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year - you get me? So many needy and un-needy people praying, whose does he put first? Answer: Everyone's!

But we must also remember that God has an incredible plan for each and every one of us - nicknamed "Fate" - and so it is up to those plans as to whether or not our prayers are answered straight away or never at all. Although it's easy to be, we should try not to be disappointed by a no-show in the results of prayers.

Oh, and for those who say that my prayers didn't work last night, who says I was praying for this year's World Cup Final?

Loving Father, thank you so much for the awesome power of prayer. Thank you that we can talk to you anytime we want, because you are still a listening God and you will always listen to us. Thank you that sooner or later our prayers are answered, and help us to remember that you are the ultimate reason for this. Amen.

Laters.

Can't Get It Out Of My Head

One of perhaps the most brilliant and yet most annoying aspects of music is when you hear a piece - be it a song, a movement in a symphony, even a television theme - that, however good it is or you think it is, embeds itself in your brain like a maggot burrowing into an apple.

Okay, that might have been a little extreme, but that's how it feels sometimes, especially when you feel negatively towards the invading tune. Thankfully, I don't often have this problem in negative terms, but maybe that's because I'm really not that picky on what I listen to. This does mean, however, that sometimes a tune that I feel is really good becomes very annoying very quickly because it settles itself into my head.

The latest unfortunate victim of this rather universal condition is a rather funky tune by a new kid on the block, David Jordan. "Place In My Heart" has a good beat, a bass line and rhythm reminiscent of Jamiroquai and a singer who can be compared to Mika, Prince, even an early Michael Jackson. It even has some rather interesting lyrics, not that I can actually find any site with them on at the moment (if anyone has them, please e-mail them to me!)

And yet, this song is so good, so memorable (for me, anyway) that it is very difficult for me to forget it. Even writing this is just asking for trouble, because now it's there even more than it usually would be. Usually it's at the back of your mind, like background music. Now it's right there, banging in my ears, even while I'm listening to Saturday Review, something completely different!

But should I be complaining? Shouldn't I just be glad that I can hear music, that music exists in my life? It would certainly be incredibly boring without it. I'll leave it up to you guys to make your own decisions.

Laters.

Mmmm...smells like delicious!

Okay, apologies for the rather poor grammar in the title. But the reason for the salivating is that when I returned home from church this morning, I opened the door to the stomach pleasing smell of roasting chicken.

You see, I've had my cousin staying with me for a couple of days, to show him what a university life is like (for me anyway). His mum and dad came round yesterday to join us for the Open Day the University was running and, as thanks for me putting him up, they very generously gave me a package of sausages, bacon and a whole chicken.

Unfortunately, due to timing and the unseasonably warm weather we seem to be having in Winchester at the moment, the meat was defrosting in the car throughout yesterday as I had not had a chance to put it in the freezer. So I have had to cook it today.

I was a little apprehensive, I won't lie to you, as this is the first time I have ever roasted a chicken. But with the expert advice from my uncle - this particular specimen took two hours min - it has come out perfectly.

I hope this doesn't offend any vegetarians, so I'll generalise a little here. What better smell is there than that of food cooking - any food cooking? Be it chicken, pizza, roasted vegetables, fish...you name it, I love it. It's one of the great things about our bodies, that our sense of smell contributes so much to our eating pleasure. The whole house is now full of the aroma of chicken, which is buried under a large sheet of foil and will soon be cut up for sandwiches and salads for the coming week. Whatever you eat, wherever and whenever you eat it, bon appetit.

Loving Father, thank you so much for the wonderful gift that is food, and thank you for the joy and pleasure we can take in eating and cooking it. Help us to always remember how lucky we are, how fortunate most of us are, and how needy and unfortunate others are. Let those who will rarely have as much food as we do be always in our thoughts and prayers. Amen.

Laters.

Comfortably Numb

My cousin Jake is coming to visit me today, and is going to stay here in Winchester until Saturday. He's put the university down as one of his choices. It means he has to come to Alpha with me tonight and to Weatherspoons Pub tomorrow at lunch for my cell social, otherwise he ain't gonna get fed. Smoker did suggest that she take him to Blondes, a nightclub here in Winchester. I don't think it would be quite his thing.

Still, its nice that I don't have any lectures tomorrow, so I hope to give him a pretty decent tour of the place before the open day on Saturday which is when his mum and dad are going to come down to check the place out for themselves. It's a pity the same can't be said for later on this month when my sister is coming to spend some time with me - I'm going to be in lectures every day she's here!

By the way, the title of today's blog is inspired by what I'm listening to right now - it rocks!

Laters.

Finally, Some Writing

Conscious of the fact that the title of this blog is Trials Of A Struggling Writer, I thought today I would just update you all on what is going on in the paper-and-pen world of Jack Hardgraves. I know Wednesday's are usually Music Wednesday, and in fact I had planned to download the new Radiohead album and give you my verdict on it. But we still have no Internet at my house here in Winchester, and I don't think the library would be very pleased with me if I downloaded it here.

You may recall me saying that, during France 2007, I began writing what I hope to be a departure from the Green Ash books: a more grown-up, moody piece about real people and real life. This has been both uplifting and very annoying to attempt, and I admit freely that, as yet, I am no where nearer to finishing it. But late last week one of the main problems I was having in writing the book, working title Maria, was solved in perhaps the simplest of ways.

I'll try and explain. Last year I saw a documentary programme on BBC Three over here in Blighty which deeply affected me. It was about a small group of people who suffer from a mental condition where they feel that they are hideous, despite the fact that they actually look pretty normal. It is often mistaken for vanity, attention seeking, even OCD which it stems from. I had never heard about it before and was enthralled by the stories of these people on the programme. Immediately the seeds were sown for this new story. Although it has featured in a couple of fiction books, this illness affects 1% of the population of Britain alone. It would therefore, I thought, be good to use it as a plot device in order to educate people about it.

But a week or so later I had completely forgotten what the name of the illness was. In frustration I spent the last six months, whenever I had a spare moment, trying to find out more about it and what it actually was. I looked in psychological encyclopedias, medical journals, even dictionaries. But, obviously, not knowing what it was actually called really slowed me down.

And then, last week, a breakthrough. In a last-ditch effort to find information, I went to the BBC Three website. And there, after two or three licks, i found it. The condition is known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD. There were lots of handy links on the website, a link of which you will find here.

There is of course an argument that the only reason I'm using BDD is as a simple plot device, to get people interested in the book who might not be otherwise, to make it a piece of, if you'll pardon the expression, "grief porn". I swear to you all reading this now - that is not my intention. About 25% of all BDD sufferers attempt suicide because of this illness, because people just don't understand what they're going through. There needs to be more knowledge of this illness, and this seems to me a good place to start.

By the way, this hasn't stopped the Green Ash series. My plan at the moment is to write two Green Ash books, then a "serious" book, and so on and so on. I left my list of literary agents at home whilst away on holiday and the next time I go back is in November. So until then Where Wild Things Grow must rest in its digital status on my hard drive.

Here, then, are my trials, and, as you can no doubt see, I am indeed struggling. I hope now to be treated like Ronsil: I do exactly what I say on the tin.

Laters.

Phantastic Coincidence

So here I am, sitting in the library, trying to decide what to write about in today's blog, listening to Sunday's Elaine Paige show on Radio 2 which celebrates everything Musical related (how manly am I?) when she starts the show by letting me know that today (Tuesday) is the 21st birthday of The Phantom Of the Opera on the West End stage. Perfect, I thought, I shall wax lyrical about it.

Phantom was just one of the shows that began the re-birth of musical theatre. Without it I doubt there would ever be shows such as Wicked or Spamalot today; the spectacle, the rip roaring music, a pretty decent performance from Michael Crawford which really set the tone for big television/movie stars to try their luck on the West End. And yes, I am also a pretty big fan of Joel Schumacher's movie version - again, how masculine does that make me feel?

But the one thing that seems to be lacking these days is the movie musical - it doesn't seem to exist a lot these days. It was obviously huge in the 40s, 50s and 60s. In the 70s it started to die out as an art form, and, though it has made brief comebacks, we are now lucky if we get one movie musical a year.

But at least when we do get one it's a huge event. Last year's was Dreamgirls, and this year we have the long-awaited movie version of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, directed by Tim Burton, my absolute favourite director of all time, and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The first sneaky peak trailer is out there on the Internet - click on this here link to see it!

Johnny Depp - singing! If that's not a reason to feel excited, I don't know what is - okay, I need to go and drink some beer, look at FHM and lift some weights: manly stuff, grr.

Laters.

Tunes In My Pocket

I thought I'd use today's blog to sing my praise about my generic mp3 player. Why? Because the battery ran out today as I was walking to Uni, and it was a very quiet walk because of this.

If anything my mp3 player is perfect technology for me: it's small and fits easily into my back pocket; although it doesn't have the street snazz of an IPod, it is far less complicated (I feel) to operate; and I can easily change the tracklistings on it any time I want. Being picky I like to put the songs in a certain order, so I'll admit that this takes up more time to do - but that's my fault and not my generic mp3 player's.

What's interesting is that I vividly remember the last song I heard on my little blue music box: it was "Learning To Breathe" by Nerina Pallot, an artist I have often recommended to my friends, who unfortunately does not exactly have the large selling numbers she totally deserves. this song in particular is a jolly, optimistic little number, quite fitting to hear just as you cross the road and enter the property of Winchester University. Unlike "Everybody's Gone To War", her most famous song, sadly 'popped' up by her record company with a heavier drum beat than I feel is needed, it sounds fresher and, let's face it, less commercial. In my opinion this makes it excellent music to listen to for a student - or a stereotypical student at least.

What is even spookier though is that my generic mp3 player seems to read my mind and play songs that befit my mood at the time. For example, the other day I was walking back after a long, tiring day of working in the library on the too-depressing-enough-already FYP project, and I really felt like I needed a slow, quiet song: hey presto, the next song played is "Pyramid Song", a beautiful, haunting number by Radiohead. How we survived without these little beauties I'll never know.

Laters.

FYP Fallout

It was perhaps rather ironic that the film the CU chose to watch for our Movie Night towards the end of last week's Fresher Week was Reign Over Me. This is very much a post-9/11 film, and one I shall no doubt be writing a little about in my Final Year Project on 9/11 and its effects on culture.

Adam Sandler plays Charlie, a guy whose wife and daughters were on one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. Don Cheadle plays a dentist who was Charlie's college roommate - happily married but with obviously something missing in his life. It is a story of how they rescue each other from their misery.

Get it? Got it? Good.

In all fairness it was a pretty good movie; I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, it was a bit depressing in some places, (in fact in some places it was a lot depressing), but some great acting from Sandler, who surprised me, (having not seen Punch Drunk Love yet), and Cheadle, who I've seen enough of to know is a pretty decent actor.

The one sort of niggling feeling I have though is this, and here's where my FYP really begins to infiltrate my everyday life: does 9/11 really have a place in this film? Is it necessary for it to be a plot device? Surely Charlie's family could have been killed in any accident, and it would still work really well, becoming much more of a study about post-traumatic depression. In fact, 9/11 here is arguably treated rather like this kind of accident: a tragic event that unfortunately happens on a daily basis.

9/11 was NOT a car crash. I've already seen and read enough about it to know that it changed our world forever. And although Reign Over Me is a good film, I enjoyed it and I recommend it to you all, the 9/11 element is not necessary.

Laters.

Old Habits Die Hard

As I was walking to the Uni library this morning to use my free day productively in preparation for the Depression-Fest that is my Final Year Project on 9/11 and its effects on culture, the weather was not exactly fantastic. After threatening heavy rain for nearly all of last week, finally this morning I opened my curtain to see the rain pouring down the roof tiles. Perfect, I thought. I know exactly what to complain about in this week's Monday Moan.

Except now, having used up my morning studiously and having a few spare minutes to update Trials..., the sun is beaming through the window so much tehy've had to lower the blinds. Bummer. But I'm still going to moan about the weather. How dare it change for the better when I was geared up for so much pessimistic prose? (Oooh, I like that - must copyright it asap).

The house is full again now: Smoker and Second Year Teacher moved in fully last night. Great to see Smoker again, though she nearly set the kitchen on fire by putting her small pizzas in the oven and then forgetting about them for an hour! Life sure has been quiet without this drama in my life!

Laters.

Shock! Horror! Controversy!

Okay, perhaps not all of the above, but over here in Blighty us footie fans are reeling from the news that the Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has left the club very, very suddenly.

Erm...and that's it. Really, that seems to be the only big news I can find today. Oh no, another football manager has left a club. Oh well, never mind.

Moving on, and again very quickly as I'm running out of time before I'm due to be at the chapel at 10am (don't trust the timings they give me at the bottom of every blog entry by the way, they are NOT correct) , I promise that at the beginning of the next week I will change the Passage Of The Week, which really has been The Passage Of The Last Three Months! And people think I'm ready for Facebook...

Laters.

Back For One Year Only

Yes, I'm back in good ol' Winchester, and all ready I'm shattered beyond belief. We of the CU have been helping the freshers move into their new halls of residence for the last three days, and then in the evenings we've been running an acoustic cafe at the chapel, which has been great fun to go to, but I got in at half eleven last night, and then had very little sleep for some reason.

But it is nice to be back with my friends and in my house, though as of yet we are only two - me and a new guy who I shall be referring to from henceforth as Other Boy. It shall be interesting when our other two housemates move back in, particularly Smoker, who is the only other one of last years lot to move back into the house with me. But until they come we cannot sort out the Internet or TV licence in my house, so I have to rely on the University once again. I am now going to go home and sleep, and hopefully will write a fuller blog tomorrow when I'm not so tired!

Laters.

Twenty Years In The Making...

...and, for me, at least ten years of waiting. Yes, today I finally got to watch The Simpsons Movie, along with my sister and one of my best friends. And was it something that was worth waiting for? I think it's a pretty safe bet it was. At times odd, at other times surprisingly moving, but most of the time just bwa-ha-ha funny, this film really knew how to tug on the ol' funny bone. I thoroughly recommend it.

Last night at a group meeting I like to go to when I'm at home called Open 2 Questions, there were only four of us there. During the course of the evening the topic, which usually veers from one extreme to the other, found itself on 9/11. At once my mind and a heavy heart was drawn back to my FYP Essay and my Final Year in general. I can't quite believe it's been two years already! Well, I suppose I have at least a week left of relative freedom.

Laters.

The Monday After The Fortnight Before

Alas, I now suffer from that rare disease known as Post-Course Depression. It currently resides over at least fourteen houses in New Ash Green, as Saturday was the final day of our two week Ash Green Youth Theater course, and the day of the two productions of the show we had created, Alice! It went beautifully and we all had an amazing time. The part afterwards was one that few will forget. (Or remember, depending on how much some of the cast had to drink. One guy drank half a bottle of Teachers all by himself before it was taken away rather quickly...oh dear.)

And so it's back to the daily grind - for most people. Me, I've got at least another week before I have to head back to Winchester. But in that week I'm going to be busy, busy, busy. My final year approaches, looming like a dark rain cloud. Weaker men would wet themselves at the thought of it - not me though. No, I just hide under the Duvet of Comfort or the Sofa of Relaxation, watching the Television of Mind-Melting...you get the idea.

But tomorrow, for a rare occasion, I shall be at Bluewater with my sister and one of my best friends, watching The Simpsons Movie. I think there should be a "finally!" there, either in front of the title or after it - it's your choice! Wow, there's a first - I've written a blog entry which lets you the reader decide what comes next...or before...erm, anyone else a tiny bit confused?

Laters.

So Hungry...

The curse (or one of the curses anyway) of working so damn hard on Alice!, the show we have been creating over the last two weeks in Ash Green Youth theatre's Summer Course 2007, is that I have so many things to do I usually have to put myself second. So I had no lunch today because I was waiting for twenty minutes at a useless bank where it took that long to make a cheque out so I could finally pay somebody! I know that sounds like a bit of a selfish whinge, but when you're working on such a demanding show you need all the energy you can get, and you don't get energy from thin air - you need food! So now I have to wait until later this evening for a chicken curry, but I can't eat a lot now else I'll spoil my appetite. I don't think I can win with this...

Laters.

Television - Friend, Brother, Secret Lover...

...but recently I've begun to doubt the true power of the once glorious idiot box. Apparently over here in Blighty half of us have lost our trust in television due to the fake phone-ins and competition winners who win before the competition is even announced. That kind of stuff.

Me, I don't usually bother myself with that kind of stuff. But it seems less and less likely these days for me to find something worth watching that I want to watch. And I am not going to waste my time watching Big Brother - recently I skipped through it hearing the question being asked, "What was the name of Paddington Bear's aunt?" Oh. Dear.

Last night was a good example of the lack of quality programming. So my mother and I (and eventually my sister) sat down to watch Finding Neverland - first time I've seen it. It was beautifully made, wonderfully acted, and I am not afraid to admit that I cried a little at the end. It reaffirms my claim that any film with Kate Winslet or Johnny Depp in must be worth watching!

Laters.

Back And In Soooo Much Pain!

France 2007 was actually not the bore fest that I had envisioned. Although the weather could have been better - especially in the South, where it was raining at apparently an odd time for that area - it turned out to be two and a bit weeks of chill time. I was able to relax a lot and even wrote quite a bit for my new "grown-up" novel. I didn't even speak that much French, which is kind of lucky because it was while I was listening to our neighbours that I realised just how much I had either forgotten from my school days or didn't know!

But, as all holidays must - except for those taken by the rich and who appear in CSI: Miami, whose lives are all one big holiday - ours had to end last Saturday. And so I was plunged head first back into the planning and preparation of something I've sweated about a lot this year but never really gone into detail about it here: AGYT, or to give it it's full name, Ash Green Youth Theatre.

This is a two week drama course where local teenagers get to work with a professional director, musical director and choreographer to create a piece of musical theatre. We take a text - this year's being Alice In Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass, and basically tear it into little tiny pieces. We create songs from it, sketches, dances, poems - some of them only bear a remote similarity with the text, others are taken straight from the author's pen.

We were founded three years ago by four eighteen year old's - including yours truly - and our oldest committee member now is only twenty-two. This is truly for young people by young people, which we feel adds to the attraction. Also, as it takes part at the end of our summer holidays here in the UK, it gives local kids something to do that's actually useful.

I am very proud of what we have achieved so far with AGYT and have big plans for our future. But, as I am still just young enough to take part in the course itself, I am also fairly shattered. So I shall sign off for now, and go and collapse on a nice comfy sofa.

Laters.

Is This The Moment?

Finally I get a chance to make a quick but long overdue entry in my blog before France 2007 kicks off tomorrow. I've been a fairly busy beaver, what with reading the last Potter book (five and a half hours - hah! The title of today's entry is my favourite line form the book FYI) and helping out in my local Oxfam charity shop. We've also had the grand renovation of our main bathroom which has been a nightmare to contend with, but the finished results look okay I guess. Wasn't my decision to gut out the bathroom but there we go.

When I get back from France it's straight on with AGYT 2007. Hopefully I will have time then to come back and write more about my holidays and the nightmare that will no doubt be France 2007.

Au revoir, mes amis, for now.

Oh, and laters.

I'm Going Potty!

Yes, I too am going Potty about Potter, I'm afraid. With the last book in the series coming out very soon, and the fifth film, Order Of The Phoenix, due out on Friday, I have set myself the task of re-reading all six previous instalments of the Harry Potter saga, and I'm enjoying myself immensely.

I did, however, read something else rather interesting. Waterstones, the biggest chain of book stores in the UK, have organised a petition that they're asking people to sign so that they can persuade J.K.Rowling to at least consider writing some more Harry Potter books in the future. Now, how can they ask such a thing when the boy wizard's survival at the end of the upcoming novel is still under question? I'm afraid that, in my eyes, this is all a huge money-grabbing attempt by a desperate bookstore which has realised that very soon it will lose one of its biggest revenues - The Deathly Hallows is Amazon's most pre-ordered book to date, and never again will we see such queues for a book until another literary craze hits the shelves. Waterstones have realised that they make more money out of Potter than any other book.

But I think they're doing it all wrong with this petition idea. Why not instead try and re-market the previous books? Get the whole country on a back-to-the-beginning fever, introduce new readers to the wonders of Hogwarts School? This petition just sounds sad and desperate.

There is another reason why I'm feeling Potty today, and that is our big bathroom renovation began yesterday. The main bathroom - used mostly by myself and my sister - is being completely gutted and re-built. The noise, as you can imagine, is wonderful.

Laters.

Eight Minutes And Counting...

I haven't got long, so I'll be brief. Thanks to the modern wonder that is Libraries I can access the Internet without faffing around at home, where our connection is being really stupid and annoying.

Anyhoo, it's good to be back home, though I have a number of things to keep me occupied that don't sadly involve lazing in front of the television watching films/playing PlayStation/eating toast in my pants (as recommended by Robbie the Reindeer). And there's always my blog to keep me occupied. Hopefully, as this is only a first-time set up, I'll have more time next week to use the computers and give you a fuller description of how my holidays are going!

Laters.

Au revoir Winchester...for now

Just got time for a quick entry before I have to shut the computer down and pack it all away for the journey home. It's not feeling too weird at the mo, seeing how I'm going to be back here in Winchester early September, and I'm definitely going to keep up with my blog entries over the next two months. Got a lot of things happening, including the holiday for this year, France 2007 - whoop-de-do - and the perhaps the biggest and most important event, AGYT 2007! What am I talking about? All will be revealed soon, I promise.

Laters.

P.S: Still geeking out over last night's thrilling conclusion to the third series of Doctor Who. Great writing, great acting, great plot twists - roll on the Christmas special!

Interesting Lists

Some of you may know that this year is the 80th birthday of the legendary OTT director Ken Russell, who, among other things, is perhaps most famous for making Oliver Reed and Alan Bates wrestle in the nude in Women In Love and filling a studio with baked beans for Tommy. Among the things that Ken is a fan of, one television programme he says that catches his eyes simply so that he can laugh at how pathetic the rest of us have become is Big Brother.

I am pleased to report that so far I have not even ventured further than a vague curiosity on the opening night of this year's series as to who was in the house though I hear that it is no longer all women, boo hiss. I take pride in this fact - I have more interesting things to watch than a group of fame-hungry idiots arguing and sleeping with each other (or vice verca).

For example, thanks to Virgin Media, I have been able to watch the first series of Father Ted. Having only really watched the now classic Christmas special of this most hilarious of shows, I finally see what all the fuss is about. I also rather worryingly see more than ever the resemblance of Father Jack ("DRINK!") to our ex-Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, but let's not worry too much about that.

I have also been a frequent visitor to Film Four where, on Tuesday, I saw an excellent film called The King starring Gael Garcia Bernal and William Hurt. This is a very dark, Gothic film about a young sailor who leaves the navy to find his father, now a born again Christian preacher with a family of his own. When the sailor is rejected by the preacher, he begins a terrible revenge. I recommend this film to anyone who likes a deep thoughtful film.

It is not, however, on the Guardian's list of "1000 Films To See Before You Die". In fact, there are some interesting flicks on this list, some of which I'm really pleased to see on there (My Summer Of Love, Sideways, Lost In Translation, The Big Sleep), some of which I'm not so pleased to see there, (Titanic - what the hell?). There are also some surprises - Babe, for example, and Pink Floyd's The Wall, a film that, to my knowledge has often bee utterly derided. And yes, Tommy is there too. Happy Birthday, Ken.

Laters.

Back For One Week Only!

Yes, I'm back in Winchester after a lengthy absence. Well, a week. I just haven't got round to updating my blog recently is all. The Internet is down at home so there's my excuse.

I'm back in my house in Winchester so that I can make a start on my Final Year Project, or as I will probably refer to it from now, The Depressing 9/11 Project. I'm going to briefly look at the effects of the attacks on September 11th 2001 on culture, specifically on the ideas and theories of the Postmodern Movement. All that within 8000 - 10,000 words. Boy, do I know how to have fun.

But today is a landmark day in history. Children are dancing in the streets singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" and such; street parties are planned...yeah, I wish. It's the end of an era. Tony Blair, once upon a time the golden boy of politics, is now leaving after ten years as Prime Minister and with a lot of British blood on his hands. And I'm not just talking about Iraq, either.

But who do we have in his place? Why it's Gordon Brown The Beast, a gruff, grizzly bear of a man who was unopposed in a pointless leadership election; pointless because we all knew he would win it, pointless because he's not going to last very long. Newspapers on Monday reported that he may even call a General Election as early as next year. And yet who do we have in opposition? A toff and an old fart. No, I'm being too cruel here - I apologise to the old fart for calling him an old fart. As for the toff, well, until he actually says something or does something which gives a meaning to his policies and his party, then he's going to stay a toff.

I have always predicted that Brown The Beast would not last long as PM, but I fear that my predictions will run short if the opposition doesn't get its act together and do some blinking opposing. Otherwise the most interesting election next year will be the American one (my prediction: Hilary, but it will be tight - stop thinking witty responses to last comment) and the British public will lose complete faith in politics all together. We'll have a revolution on our hands and all power will be brought back to the monarchy, just in time for King Charles to ban all houses that don't contain at least one solar panel and one patch of begonias.

Laters.

How Angry Can One Alien Get?

Today I want to just give a huge shout out to a faveourite website of my sisters and mine - the Angry Alien site. Here you can find the home of the Movie Bunnies - a goup of animated critters who renact famous movies in 30 seconds. They have built up a large library of homages over the years, including a wicked James Bond medley. The Jaws one is pretty good too.

This site is creative, inspirational, and damn funny in some places. Good on you, Jennifer (I hope that's her name!) Please visit it and watch them for yoursleves, they're a laugh riot.

Laters.

"Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!"

...to quote Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart. Except without the Scottish accent. And the whole knife-twisting-in-the-guts torture thing.

Yes, I had my last exam today and no, it did not go well but who cares? For the next twenty four hours (at least) I shall not even think about what I wrote on my exam paper. After that I will start to panic and so have to find things to distract me from thinking about how badly I did, how this will affect my career choices, yadda yadda yadda.

Speaking of which I have finsihed re-editing Shine On Me and am now back to where I started before re-re-re-re-editing Where Wild Things Grow. Me has other books in mind, but me no want to start on the next in the Green Ash series just yet. I am going to try and attempt to do what has previously often been impossibe: to write a sensible book for grown-ups; the kind of book people might study at an institution just like the University Of Winchester. I kid you not, I already have some ideas bubbling away in my brain. Now if I can just be bothered enough to start writing them down...

Laters.

That Time Of Year

Yes, it's coming up to that time of year when everything here winds up for the end of the academic year. Last night was our last Alpha course meeting, though there will be a new course next term and I've been asked to be a helper - yippee! On Monday we will have our last CU meeting in the evening, though in the morning I'll have had my last exam for the year. It was the last episode of Ugly Betty tonight - I saw it on Wednesday, wow! - and ER is winding down - don't kill Ray off, please!

Summer is truly here - we've had glorious sunshine in Winchester for about a week now, and it looks like it's just gonna keep on being glorious. Well, that's just lovely!

Laters.

We're All Going To Die

First off a retraction on a statement made in yesterday's blog about the new version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I have heard the tracks and most of them are actually quite good - I just don't think they're as good as the originals, but I guess I'm picky.

So on to today's blog, and the reason for the rather ominous title above. It seems that events internationally are spiralling towards a new Cold War between Russia and the US of A. All I say is someone get rid of Bush quick before things get any worse. Same with Putin. There, I've said it; nobody better try and assassinate me with some obscure nuclear liquid, or else there's going to be trouble. Grr.

Oh, and Yay! England are finally playing some football! Never mind winning the sport, they're playing it rather than pathetically mucking about with the ball. Let's keep this change going, boys!

Laters.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

In this month's issue of Q Magazine comes free a CD (ooh, that rhymes) featuring live tracks from Glastonbury. Although there are no absolute stormers, there are still some great songs on it, like Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" and Kaiser Chiefs' "Everyday I Love You Less And Less". But it brings to mind the fact that, yes, the festival season truly is upon us. And once again I have to rely on TV and radio coverage to actually be a part of it. Not that I'm complaining too much - after all, I don't want to take out another loan just to get a ticket to one day of a festival. But I suppose to truly live any festival, especially Glastonbury, you have to actually be there. Ah, well.

In other music news I see that music sacrilege has been committed by the re-recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by various artists. Again, I'm not too sure about why I'm complaining about this, as Kaiser Chiefs (again) are on this one, and the Razorlight version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" sounds all right. I'd like to know who's re-done "A Day In The Life" which is probably my favourite track off that most famous of albums, and if it's any good. All together now: time will tell. That's becoming my catchphrase that - not happy about that either.

Laters.

Fun For All The Family

In the news over the last week the one thing that has really caught my eye has been that of the planned theme park designed around the Harry Potter movies, due to be built in Florida. I'll be frank: this does sound rather excellent. What is it about theme parks that when we hear about them or actually go to them we turn back into little children?

But what a Harry Potter theme park is doing in America somewhat bugs me. Is not Harry a British institution, like James Bond or the Carry On films? Okay, the latter may have been a bad example, but I suppose it shows just how powerful the boy wizard really is internationally.

Not that we need reminding. There's no doubt that there will be riots when the last book in the series is published later this year, whether its about shops selling out or the actual ending. And then we'll know how it all ends - will this affect the film series? It seems to me that there is a somewhat lack of excitement surrounding the fifth film, Order Of The Phoenix, due out this summer. What will it be like once we know if Harry lives or dies, if Ron and Hermione ever get it on, if Hagrid ever actually says something which doesn't reveal a terrible, terrible secret concealed within the walls of Hogwarts? Time, as ever, will tell.

Personally, I think this opportunity is ripe for different directors to leave their marks on the series, maybe be more adventurous in how they're shot. My favourite one is Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuarón; it's just so beautifully filmed, it feels like a proper film and not just a kids movie, like the first two directed by Chris Columbus felt. Let's have more of those, Warner Bros, and leave the theme park to the Americans.

Laters.

The Early Bird Got Up To Catch The Early Worm...

...and then found that actually the Early Worm wasn't due to get up until two o' clock in the afternoon.

I have the first of my two exams today, and I made the mistake of thinking it was at 9am. So I got up nice and early, though was in a kind of a daze thanks to my old pal Morning Amnesia (TM). When I got to the University, however, I went to check which room the exam would be taking place in and saw to my utter delight - note sarcasm - that, actually, I needn't have got up when I did at all.

So I went food shopping instead. I ended up walking through Sainsburys pushing my trolley like a zombie shuffling around in Night Of The Living Dead. When I got back home it was only coming up for a quarter to ten. Nice.

Still, I guess I should make the most of it and use the time I have now to revise. My one nagging problem, however, is that this exam is taking place in the West Downs Centre, which is at the top of a very steep hill. It's at two in the afternoon, so I'll have to leave here at half one at the latest. This is, coincidentally, also the time when the sun will be at its highest. I will arrive at West Downs exhausted, hot, and sweating like a pig. And then I'll have to do a two hour exam. Oho, I know how to have fun, don't I?

Laters.

Two Down, Two To Go

On Friday we finally got our Postmodern Age presentation over and done with; it was a relief that I don't have any more presentations to stress about, and I think that the lecturers seemed to like ours, so here's hoping!

Now all I need to do is survive the two exams I have left intact. Piece of cake really, unlike Third Year, who has three exams to go and has perhaps more importance riding on hers than mine. Memo to self: do not make this face public knowledge when Third Year is in room!

Have I mentioned here that I finally finished re-re-re-re-editing Where Wild Things Grow last week? If not, I mention it now! Have already made a start on re-editing Shine On Me, the next in the series, but this is on hold at the moment, as revision comes first in almost everything.

Went bowling yesterday with the Alpha group; no strikes but I did pick up a few spares. Nice.

Laters.

Hmmmm

Not sure what to write for today's blog. I don't really want to focus on Big Brother, or as it should now be called Big Sister. I am going to do my best to avoid this programme as much as possible. This will be difficult, though - after all, E4, the channel my house is addicted to, is basically the home of this most hated house. So no more Scrubs, Friends is earlier - I guess I'll just have to get back into Hollyoaks.

I did watch the first part of the British Soap Awards last night, then wished I hadn't. What a camp fest! All it needed was Graham Norton presenting and you would have mistaken ITV1 for The Luvvies Channel! Switched over to Ugly Betty - ah, that's better. Or is it? After that, Desperate Housewives, last in present series. Oh dear, it seems a lot of my choices for television watching are rather camp. I don't care, though: each programme is crammed with good writing, plus Marcia Cross (Bree) was back last night in Housewives - oh yeah!

But what really gets me is that all these shows - Housewives, Betty, ER - have just finished or will finish in the coming fortnight. I am not happy about this. I don't get LIVING back home, so I can't indulge in my guilty pleasure, Grey's Anatomy. There are apparently a new crop of programmes coming over, but they'll have to be REALLY good (and, it seems, a little camp - damn) to pass the critical test of Jack Hardgraves.

Laters.

Princess Keira

I am not the world's biggest fan of Keira Knightly, though that may be because I haven't seen enough of her "work" to be overtly critical about her. The problem with the films I have seen in which she has acted in is that she is often overshadowed by other actors - in The Hole it was Thora Birch, in Pirates Of The Caribbean it's Johnny Depp, and in Love Actually, it's the rest of the cast.

Ahem.

But this morning as I was glancing at the news headlines on the IMDb, I noticed something that troubled me greatly - Keira Knightly's next role might be Princess Diana. It seems a book about Diana's fight with the media, which, in case you've been in a cave on Mars for the last ten years and don't have a faintest idea what I'm going on about, resulted in her death in 1997, is to be turned into a movie, probably after the success of Helen Mirren's performance in The Queen.

I don't know what upsets me more: the idea of making a Diana film (though I guess it was inevitable) or Keira Knightly playing her. Mind you, I suppose it could be worse: they could have gone overseas and grabbed someone like Lindsey Lohan or Kirsten Dunst or even Paris Hilton - shudder!

As I said, I don't have enough viewing experience of Keira to be able to guess whether or not she would be good for the part of Diana, Princess Of Wales. But judging on her performances in the aforementioned movies...well, the odds aren't looking good!

Laters.

Eyes Of A Critic

This morning I caught up with the reviews of my favourite film critic, Mark Kermode. He was speaking his mind quite vividly on the third Pirates Of The Caribbean movie - basically, he hated it more than Homer Simpson hates a meal that doesn't contain any trace of meat. Now I as an amateur film critic, occasionally here but mostly on the glory of glories that is the IMDb website, know as well as the next man that a critic's view is his/hers and his/hers alone. Just because Kermode hates (and when I say hates, I mean he really, really hates) this trilogy of films, doesn't mean everyone else will. So for fun, and just because I can't really think of anything else to moan about today other than the weather down here in Winchester- erm, it's rubbish - here are a selection of reviews from the IMDb reviews page of the third POTC film, At World's End:

"I must say I was not convinced by this one" - Paul Gunnerman, Netherlands

"What an absolute relief it is to say that At World's End is not only a great successor to the past two Pirates movie, but also a movie that I might eventually be able to consider the best in the series!" - Simon Parker, UK

"I really like it very much - although someone may think it's too long, I say - you won't need to check the time because what's going on on the screen will keep you interested until the end." - sanuka, Russian Federation

"If not for Depp, and his always entertaining and fascinating character, and the lovely Keira Knightley this movie would be wholely miss-able. " - sportsguru19, USA

There you have it, ladies and gents. That old adage once again comes right to the forefront - everyone's a critic. Ignore everything people say to you and go and see it yourselves , make up your own minds whether its any good or not. Myself? I cannot wait to see it - I love the Pirates movies. Sorry, Dr Kermode.

Laters.

A Revelation

Bored out of my tiny little mind yesterday I did what all people seem to do these days and went on a long browse of YouTube. The things I discovered! I have finally realised why God created YouTube: to show old episodes of 80's kids tv shows. Superted, Postman Pat, Thomas The Tank Engine, even the legend that is Charlie Chalk! All of these - and many more - can be found on the miracle that is YouTube.

Of course there's more to it than that, but I think it's a pretty decent start!

Laters.

Tired...zzz...

Yesterday was such a manic day - Prayer meeting at 8:15am followed by group presentaion work until at least 6pm! I was exhausted at the end of it, which is one of the reasons why I didn't write anything on my blog.

But it was all worth it, because this morning we did our 19th Century Dramatic Texts presentation to a grand total of 5 people - 2 of them examiners. Still, we all felt it went really well, and I'm glad its over. I've not got anything else to worry about today until the Alpha Course tonight, so I can relax and just sleep...zzz...

...laterzzzz...

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Film Year

Yes, it's Cannes season - once a prestigious film festival now reduced to being a high-profile opener for Ocean's 13. I shouldn't be too harsh, though, for this year sees fewer summer blockbusters opening there, and it seems that Cannes is beginning to return to its tradition of showing serious films.

There are two of these which I am most looking forward to watching (eventually). The first of these is Michael Moore's new documentary on the American Health Service, Sicko. I am a big fan of Moore's Bowling For Columbine, as this review will show. I wasn't' too keen on Fahrenheit 9/11 however; for me it was too American, not really relevant for an international audience. I know Columbine is not really either, but it seemed more appropriate for an international audience. On first looks, Sicko looks like it's gone the way of Fahrenheit 9/11. There is also the undeniable problem of Moore himself as a loud, obnoxious character - I can't quite shake the image of his puppet, hot dog in hand, blowing up in Team America: World Police. But on the whole I'm looking forward to this film.

As I am Control, the biopic of the tragic lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis. Now, I'm not a particular fan of Joy Division's music; I only really know one song of theirs, "Love Will Tear Us Apart". But this film intrigues me in a morbid, postmodern voyeuristic kind of way. Based on the book by Deborah Curtis, Ian's widow, the film doesn't rely on big stars like so many American music biopics (Walk The Line had Joaquin Phoenix, Ray had Jamie Foxx, etc). In fact, the only name international audiences would know would be Samantha Morton, who plays Deborah. This is a film that knows it can survive without a big star in the title role. The story of Ian Curtis, and the story and music of Joy Division, is the key to its success. I think this will be a surprise winner of a few of the gongs on offer this year, and I'm interested on hearing how critics rate it.

One film I am not going to want to see that's premiering at Cannes is Quentin Tarantino's new film, Death Proof, because in my opinion it should be shown together with Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez's film, as it was originally intended in a double-bill homage to B-Movies called Grindhouse. This was to feature spoof trailers in the middle of it by directors such as Rob Zombie and Shaun Of The Dead's Edgar Wright. But the American studio behind the film has decided that audiences won't understand the Grindhouse method and have opted for splitting the two films, adding scenes and dialogue. I don't think this is the way to go, and I really hope a DVD version comes out the way it was truly intended. Because, unless the two films can survive on their own, I know I'm going to have nothing good to say about them.

Laters.

Mobily

So I go into my local O2 shop to buy a new mobile phone.
"Hello," I say to the man in there, "I'd like to buy a new mobile phone please."
He looks at me as if I'm talking a foreign language. "Ok," he says hesitantly, "what sort are you looking for?"
"A cheap one, " I say, "pay as you go."
"Uh huh," he replies slowly, "and a Sim card?"
"No, no," I say. "Just a new handset." I don't want a new Sim card: I've only just managed to memorise my mobile phone number!
He breathes in through his teeth. "Well, have you got your old phone?"
"No," I tell him. My old phone is lying on top of my printer at home.
"You see, I need to check the Sim card before I can let you have a new phone."
I'm slightly confused by this. "It's O2," I say, thinking he's got the wrong end of the stick.
He nods slowly. "Sure," he says. "But is it compatible?"
What?
"Erm, should be," I say.
"See, I can't let you buy a new phone until I'm sure your old Sim card is compatible. I can let you have a new phone and a new card; then you could have 300 free texts!" He grins at me; I half-expect his teeth to go ding and flash.
"I just want to buy a new phone," I say, feeling very muddled now.
"With a new card?" he asks, still grinning.
"No, just a new handset," I say.
His smile drops. "Can't do that until I've checked the old Sim card."
I take a deep breath and count to three. "Okay," I say, "I'll come back later with my old phone."
"Good, I'll be here all day," he tells me.
"Wonderful," I say, a huge fake smile on my chops. "Thank you for your help, good bye."
I'm out of there quicker than a rabbit on steroids.

Why is it so difficult to buy a new phone these days? I appreciate that technology may have moved on, bu my Sim card is only (just about) three years old! I shall try again later on in the week.

Laters.

Group Woes

I'm writing this siting on my own in a library study room. The reason? We were supposed to be having a group presentation meeting for the Postmodern Age presentation we need to do. I'm the only one who turned up - early, I might add.

Sod's law - a law that seems to follow me around a lot these days - means that the other members of my group have probably all tried to call me on my phone and left messages. Of course, I can't exactly get to my messages at the moment, after my phone blew up on Monday.

This is just the typical end to this week. This week has been fraught with group work anxieties - this person doesn't turn upon time, that person doesn't do any work, etc, etc. I'm just waiting for the weekend to arrive - or even an earlier time in fact. Because at 5pm this afternoon I need to be at Winchester Station to get a train to Guildford where the CU are having its annual Time Out weekend. It can not come sooner, I tell you...

Laters.

Kaiser Charles

A couple of months ago I promised I would let you know how I felt the new Kaiser Chiefs album went. Well, having listened to it a couple of times my initial reaction has been of "interesting" mode. It's a very good album, but apart from two songs (ironically the ones which have already been released as singles: "Ruby" and "Everything Is Average Nowadays"), I can't really see any other songs as being made into potential singles. Don't get me wrong, all the songs on this album are great. But it's hard to imagine them being played on Radio 1. I guess time will tell as to which are released.

In other music news I watched Ray last night for the first time, and found it to be a really entertaining film with a fantastic performance from Jamie Foxx which totally deserved the Oscar he won for it. When I watched Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash biopic, I immediately went out and bought em a greatest hits of Cash. Now I've got the Charles music in my blood: first chance I get I'm buying me his greatest hits!

Have finally finished re-editing Where Wild Things Grow. Have a long list of agents and contact details, plus knowledge on one right here in Winchester! Fingers crossed!

Laters.

Kiss Kiss Ha Ha

On Thursday last in The Times there was an article berating the sad fact that these days whenever you think of romantic comedies you immediately think "crap". I'm afraid that I have to agree with their view, especially after watching The Philadelphia Story on Saturday. This is a classic rom-com, back in the day when they were fairly new on the scene. But before anyone has a go at it being a boring black and white film with little action let me list for you the golden rules of romantic comedies which The Philadelphia Story follows superbly.

1) A good script: Now this is pretty obvious for any film, but for a rom-com it is essential that we understand and care about these characters and their lives. Most rom-coms today throw this out of the window.

2) Good acting: Ditto for this. Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart et al are superb. Grant shows true heartbreak, whilst Hepburn is a mixture of unlikeable and likable, and changes from one to the other so many times you get lost in it all, which is a good thing. Unfortunately there are very few good actors around these days.

3) Be romantic: There's plenty of love in this film - James Stewart has a lovely scene when he falls for Hepburn's character and has some wonderful lines as he tries to seduce her. Most modern rom-coms stick to the romance but make it unbelievable and slushy. You want some believability in it. Take When Harry Met Sally, for example - another great film. It takes the two leads years to get together, something which happens in real life!

4) Be funny - it's a rom-com after all: Most of these today have very few laughs or just add joke after joke of gross-out humor. The Philadelphia Story is fast-paced and witty. You have to really pay attention to catch every line sparred between Grant and Hepburn before been rewarded by a wonderfully funny scene between Stewart and Grant when Stewart is drunk.

Unfortunately many modern day rom-coms are lazy and boring. They don't follow these simple rules which seem pretty obvious when you're making a romantic comedy. Thankfully there is hope, in the shape of Conversations With Other Women, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhardt, which is about two married people meeting at a party. Apparently, it's funny, sophisticated and, at times, very dark. (http://www.worstpreviews.com/review.php?id=424) That's the direction rom-coms need to go today - we need to get some black comedy in there. Light and fluffy worked in the 90s but it rarely works today.

By the way, those in the know will remember that The Philadelphia Story was later turned into a musical, High Society, with Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. I urge you to either see this film or The Philadelphia Story. Just don't confuse the latter for the Tom Hanks Oscar winner - not so many laughs in that one.

Laters.