Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Published July 5, 2011
Published July 5, 2011
Published July 5, 2011
This month in Ambridge seems to have been another where the storylines tick along nicely, but there were no major outbursts to dominate. There were a few talking points, though, so let's see what's been happening. Just tripping Adam and Brian agreed to take over Farm Sunday to take some of the weight off David. It was a nice gesture from them, although clearly they were all quite competitive about …
Published July 5, 2011
I ran this final run of the 10K class before finally admitting defeat. Week 5. Day 29. The long run of the week, and I felt good going out there. I'd lost my TuneBelt armband and was all ready to use that as an excuse not to go. But then I changed my mind and went anyway, and I'm glad I did. I thought I might be able to get …
Published July 5, 2011
I've read this before, a long while ago, and I wasn't that bothered about reading it again. Except, it was on my Book List to read and then Amazon gave it away for free for a short while. With all those circumstances, who was I to say no? What intrigues me about this book is the style of writing. When I am trying my hand at fiction, I always worry that I am skipping ahead, missing important bits, trying to cover too much time in too short a word count.
Published July 2, 2011
Published July 2, 2011
I have a lot of favourite songs. Picking one should be hard, but I kept coming back to this, and really... there can be only one. It reminds me of lots of things. The many times I've seen We Will Rock You. The first time I saw and loved Highlander. (Not so much now.) My brothers. The awesomeness of Queen. The awesomeness of life, however fleeting it may be.
Published July 2, 2011
I went back to good old Abduzeedo for this one, the tutorial for Abstract Wallpaper. I tweaked the colours a little and made it my own, following the tutorial exactly made it too dark for my tastes. As ever, I have used Anivers for the font, as it matches the text on the blog. You'll notice that there is no month in the header this time out. I've been quite …
Published June 30, 2011
I'm aware that content on this here blog has been a bit thin on the ground recently. Thank goodness for the music challenge for being something of a stopgap. I'm burrowed under calendar dates and F1 facts, getting towards the end of the second part of 365 F1 Stories. The finish line is close now and it's hard to think of anything else. I'm pushing myself too hard, but it's …
Published June 26, 2011
Just two more to go, and the challenge is at an end. It's been an interesting run through the highs and lows of my musical taste. I've discovered songs I thought I'd forgotten and I've managed to expand my knowledge at the same time. Good stuff. My least favourite song could be one of a few, but there's only one that springs to mind at the moment. I had this …
Published June 24, 2011
Totally not what I was expecting at all, but perhaps even better for it. I wasn't expecting it to be so funny, although the humour took a while to get going really. I don't want to moan about another slow-starting film, because this one also needed all the pre-amble to setup the later stuff. It was worth waiting for, but it did take a while to get to the good stuff.
Published June 24, 2011
Unlike the last subject, where there are few songs that really make me sad, there are plenty of songs that make me happy. Narrowing it down to one is kinda hard, but I'll go with this one for now. They're specifically generating the music to make you feel better. I hadn't seen the video before today. Not so keen on the clown thing.
Published June 23, 2011
There aren't a lot of songs that make me sad, although I did already mention that if I'm in a particularly melancholy mood, the song that reminds me of a certain event might do it. The only songs that are particularly emotional for me are all of those on the first Coldplay album. Those teenage years were tricky, and unfortunately for Coldplay, they were the ones who helped me wallow …
Published June 22, 2011
So, after my mini breakdown at the end of Week 3, I wasn't really sure what to do. I knew I wasn't about to give up, and I sort of knew that Gavin was right when he said that I shouldn't force myself to stick to this Runkeeper schedule when I clearly can't do it. Remember we are all different shapes and sizes and you will get to 10k – …
Published June 22, 2011
This song reminds me of my mum, because we used to have this exact concert on, well, VHS probably, and we'd watch it over and over. The mullets, the high pitched voices, and the guy's weird eye movements. What's not to like? I don't know if it's just me, but the video goes out of sync halfway through which is a shame, but you get the general idea. Every part …
Published June 22, 2011
I love sandwiches. They are one of my favourite foods. I love perusing the new and exciting fillings that shops and bakeries come out with. I'm not all that adventurous though. I tend to stick to chicken, tuna or cheese, with the odd extra ingredient here or there to make a change. As it is Wimbledon week, Tesco came out with a celebratory Strawberries and Cream sandwich. Amy pointed it …
Published June 21, 2011
This song reminds me so much of my ill-fated attempts to go to the gym. I stuck at it for a while, but the gym was never a particularly comfortable place for me. Just hearing the beginning of this, and particularly seeing the video - which was often played on those weirdly silent TV screens - puts me right back to that place. I can even smell the odd gym …
Published June 20, 2011
This movie had a lot of potential. The story, the concept of his breaking her out, the way he did it, all good. Some of the dialogue, genius. Some of the action, most excellent. The trouble is, there was a lot that was disappointing. The start was pretty slow, there were a lot of people who were never really introduced, you had to infer who they were. I still don't really understand who the drug chaps were, or why he felt he could steal their money.
Published June 20, 2011
Published June 20, 2011
Does an entire year count as an event? When I saw this was one of the criteria for the thirty days, I immediately thought of Welcome to the Black Parade. F1 fans will know that it was used in the ITV video montage they played on their final race before coverage moved to the Beeb. It was the last race of 2008 and it was brilliant. The months leading up …
Published June 18, 2011
Published June 17, 2011
I'm not that interested in Glastonbury, really, except for the bits and pieces I get to see on TV, and the excellent Big Picture features that appear afterwards. Live music is not really my thing, and when you throw in massive crowds, mud and camping, you can count me out. However, it's hard to ignore the headlines when they scream that the Wombles are going to appear on stage at …
Published June 17, 2011
Published June 17, 2011
I've just finished watching this video (via Kottke) of a photographer who collects the best moments of sporting events and collates them all into one image. That's oversimplifying it somewhat, why not take a look? I love the concept. A picture captures a snapshot in time, but why not extend that idea to bring in lots of singular moments into the one image. It also reminds me very much of …
Published June 16, 2011
Recently, I have talked a lot about writing. I talked about the process of doing it: I’m quite lucky in that what I’m doing has specific sections so I know how far I am through it. Seeing the percentage creep up each day is really motivating, although the days when it stays the same is less so. It’s also good to say, when I get to this percentage then I …
Published June 16, 2011
If I'd actually given this any thought, I would have planned it better so that I could have posted the Backstreet Boys video today, my birthday. But I didn't, so never mind, we shall move straight on to the land of nod. I can't really listen to music to fall asleep, although I know I used to when I was much younger. These days it's all about the podcasts. Nevertheless, …
Published June 16, 2011
This week, I got my update from the WWF about their work with pandas. When I first sponsored a panda, they sent over information about Zhu Xiong, suggesting this was the specific panda that my money was going towards. I doubted that very much, but either way, that has come to an end anyway. From the newsletter: ...it's been a while since our team in China have spotted her. We …
Published June 15, 2011
The Backstreet Boys, obviously. I can't help it, those years as an obsessed teenager are pretty hard to break. This is an album track, pretty popular in live shows, but not yet a single. Silly boys. I even chose this one for my blog version of Desert Island Discs a while back. And hey, if you don't like the song, there are bonus subtitles to learn a foreign language with. …
Published June 14, 2011
This evening, I finished watching the second part of a two-part Queen documentary called: Queen - Days of Our Lives. I'm slightly late to this, as I missed it first time round. I captured it to watch, as something of a Queen fan, but Mr C and I started to view it and realised it would require a lot more of our attention than we had to give it. It …
Published June 14, 2011
There's no one I really hate, but there are people that make me roll my eyes when I hear them on the radio or see them on TV. This category seems odd, because if I hate them, why would I want to embed a video of theirs in my site? Oh well. This isn't a band, just one person. I can just about put up with this video because it …
Published June 14, 2011
A recent post on Kottke linked to the first part of a four-part video series on Vimeo called Everything's a Remix. It is amazing. There are only two parts so far, one covering music and one covering films. Mr C and I watched them together and it's fair to say that both of the videos blew our minds just a little bit. I've never actually seen Star Wars, but nevertheless, …
Published June 13, 2011
A while back, I seem to recall telling off someone, it may have been Alex, for watching A Christmas Carol when it was nowhere near Christmas. I'm going to have to take that back, I think. Just recently, it suddenly occurred to me that I should start looking at soundtracks. I'm watching more films these days, and they have good music in them too. Who knew? Anyway, all of this …
Published June 12, 2011
Published June 11, 2011
Published June 10, 2011
I've struggled with this one, probably because I took it a bit too seriously. I spent a good couple of hours agonising over lyrics and thinking, well, I do like this song and it is sort of me but that doesn't really fit. I don't want people to get the wrong impression... Then I got over myself, and decided this would do because a lot of the time I am …
Published June 10, 2011
Just in case there's any confusion, the subtitles here are obviously the week of the schedule and then the day of the schedule as well. There's no day 15 in a seven day week. But it's day 15 overall. Week 3. Day 15. Argh! And indeed, I repeat ARGH! Today's workout was a daunting one - taking on 8km when my best so far has been not quite 6.5km. It …
Published June 9, 2011
I only had a vague idea of a potential place to visit for this letter. I knew what K was, and I knew what M would be, so I needed to find something in between. My one idea seemed less appealing by the time I was ready to go, so I did a quick bit of googling and found this option instead - Landguard Fort in Felixstowe. I was curious …
Published June 7, 2011
Oh, so much better than the first one. All the action - perhaps even slightly too much action - but no drawn out gaps with little story. My worries about the standalone story didn't seem to matter too much - I suspect you could get the gist of what was happening without having seen the previous film. They also left the door open for the story to run and run, although I think the studio troubles may have put pay to that.
Published June 7, 2011
It definitely wasn't as mushy as I thought it was going to be, but my expectations were quite low. It was better than anticipated, but I did think the beginning was very slow. Whilst it was fun to see Wall-e interacting with his environment, it's thirty minutes on the dust and depression of Earth before the fun stuff out in space begins. Overall, I mostly liked it, but I wouldn't watch it again.
Published June 7, 2011
Published June 7, 2011
Lukeh alerted me to the breaking news that Michael J Fox will be making a cameo voiceover appearance in the final part of this five-part game series, and that made me realise that I hadn't checked for new episodes on the iPad for a while. Imagine my surprise, then, to find out that both 3 and 4 had arrived without me noticing. I got right on and started playing - …
Published June 7, 2011
I wouldn't go so far as to say I loved this song, but it is an example of the Glee effect. I've talked about Glee before, and I'm still impressed with how it has opened up music of all kinds to a wider audience. But, and it's a pretty big but, it can also ruin songs for you. Now, I cannot hear Gives You Hell, without hearing Rachel Berry saying: …
Published June 6, 2011
With this writing lark, I'm sort of at a stage where proofreading comes into play. I'm pretty good at proofreading. I've spent the past several years sub-editing posts on Sidepodcast to check for spelling and grammar and that kind of thing. I've spent plenty of time reading and re-reading posts on here to make sure they at least flow, if not make some kind of sense. I even spent a …
Published June 4, 2011
I was seriously dreading this episode. Supposedly a big cliffhanger, a game-changer some have said. I don't know. So far I have not gelled with this series as I would have liked, so the normal trust I put in Moffat over big moments like this has been shaken. It started out well enough. I was glad we didn't have to see Amy in labour. She put her baby, Melody Pond, …
Published June 4, 2011
The big news this month is the fallout of David's confession to Elizabeth that it was his idea to take Nigel up on the roof. It was a great idea to make this happen on some random sunny afternoon, rather than at a high-pressure moment such as the inquest or the funeral. Rather, the tension bubbled up inside David, he couldn't take the praise anymore and he just burst. It …
Published June 4, 2011
I really, really loved this. For a start, I was expecting more of a romantic comedy, but it's not. It's really just a comedy. The relationship between her and him is only part of the story. Secondly, the big gesture at the end - although it was pretty obvious - was done brilliantly. It was more special because it was an emotional moment that wasn't slushy and that wins my approval almost instantly.
Published June 4, 2011
Published June 3, 2011
Published June 3, 2011
There's a new trailer out for the next Tomb Raider game and I have to say, at first glance, I thought it was real. Even if this is not gameplay, it's not live action and I was somewhat flabbergasted! Of course, all the comments I've seen everywhere focus on the most important thing - whether this Lara is more attractive than any of her predecessors. I'm gonna have to say …
Published June 3, 2011
It is a good story, although by the end it seems to drag on a bit. You've already got the point but they still have more lessons for you to learn. Don't be scared of change is the point, but to highlight it with mice and cheese is great. Although I did get distracted occasionally, thinking of the moon being made of cheese and things like that.
Published June 2, 2011
If I was doing this the right way round, this category would come immediately after "song you keep hearing on the radio" which has a nice symmetry to it. I have ruined it, of course, by being both contrary and backwards, but still. A song I wish I heard on the radio can only be something live that would never be played, or only in exceptional circumstances. Instantly, that means …