Welcome 2 Nerdsville

MOVING

2011-09-19T22:41:00.002+01:00

Hey people who read this.... As good as Blogger has been to me I am starting to find it a bit restrictive so have decided to move my content to a new blog. New blog new name so please come join me over at .....:

https://thegeniusof.wordpress.com/

Photography Tips: Macro & Flowers

2011-08-02T02:44:00.001+01:00

So recently I took a trip down to the Oxford Botanical Gardens. I've lived in Oxford for almost for 2 years now and have always wanted to visit and finally got around to it. The Oxford gardens are a lot smaller than Kew Gardens a similar sort of place I recently visited, but they are none the less still amazing! I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some of the tips I learned whilst out shooting!

1) Get a GOOD Macro Lens. (Step back)

I currently use the Nikon 105mm Micro lens for my macro photography. It is a pricey piece of glass but the price tag is certainly for a reason. It has an impressively solid build as well as Nikon's Vibration Reduction system (VR) which means that a lot of my shots were taken without a tripod which saved a lot of time! Having a lens with a longer focal rage allows you to reproduce the subject at a more life like size but from a further distance. I sell cameras where I work and the majority of times when I see people wanting to test a cameras macro capabilities they always but the lens about 1cm away from the subject, however the benefit of being further away means that there is less chance of you camera or even your body blocking your light.

2) Use the Surrounding Environment (Insects are your friends)

It's really weird but I used to be terrified of bees and wasps but ever since I started photography there literally couldn't be enough of them now (when I have a camera in my hand that is!). I think getting a good shot of one of these small creatures adds a sense of character and sometimes cuteness to a photo.

3) Experiment with Aperture and Flash

By adjusting the aperture you can change the depth of field as well as the brightness of a photo. This can get kind of technical so I'll try and keep it as simple as possible. If you want a narrow depth of field you need a wide aperture however this may throw too much of your photo out of focus, so what you may need to do is use a narrower aperture however this can darken the image and that is where the flash comes in. Using the flash will help to bring the light back to your image and also help to freeze any insects that may be buzzing around! Above you can see that the ladybug shot was taken with a small aperture and no flash hence why it's such a dark picture, compared to the one of the hover fly which was taken with a flash.

4) Isolate Subject

This is a tricky one. I isolated the subject by either blurring the entire background completely, using a wide aperture, making the subject the sole focus of the picture or by making the foreground/background blurry, using a wider aperture, resulting n the subject drawing the majority but not all of the attention. Both provide a great effect so using either is cool.

So yeah I'm no professional so my tips are just a rough guide but I hope they get your creative juices flowing. If you have any questions or criticisms let me know in the comments below. Also if you'd like to see the rest of my pictures for the Oxford Botanical Gardens you can check them out here.

Little Old London #3: Kew Gardens

2011-07-14T20:00:00.002+01:00

So a few ~~weeks~~ days ago I took a trip down to Kew Gardens to test out a new lens I got for my camera. For those not in the know Kew Gardens is a Royal Botanic Garden in south-west London that conserves thousands of different plants, flowers and trees.

Like many other places I write about I had never been to anywhere like Kew before so apart from a plethora of vegetation I had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, as usual, I was pleasantly surprised. Firstly Kew Gardens is MASSIVE. I was there for around six and a half hours and only managed to see the south-west corner. On the plus side though there was a lot to see in that tiny segment of the Garden. My first stop was on of the massive greenhouses (pictured above). I think I spent about 2 hours in here. As you'd expect it has a ton of trees and plants but also has an upper level so you can walk around the tree tops and what I found most surprising was the underground aquarium!!

When you exit this green house you look out into a little lake which is actually quite picturesque with a huge mansion on the other end. I think it was shooting this that made me want to get a wide angle lens!

Moving on from here and getting to one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Kew was to see some of their installations from their around the world exhibit. They have plants and foliage from various different rain forests, deserts and countries. The one in particular I wanted to see was the Japanese garden installation. Having been to the imperial palace and seen an actual Japanese garden I was really looking forward to it, but it actually turned out to be a bit of a let down. It's not 100% horrible but I was expecting a water feature or something... At least they had the zen garden thing down as well as a huge pagoda, although it's positioning did feel a bit awkward.

Actual Japanese Garden In Japan.

Kew Gardens Attempt.

After the Japanese garden I had to pick up speed because it was getting close to closing time, but I still managed to visit another greenhouse. This greenhouse was slightly less impressive but was still a lot of fun with even more cool flowers. My last stop was the treetop walk. By this time my camera battery had died because I was fully abusing the live view mode but I still managed to take a few snaps on my phone... before it's battery died due to me abusing the GPS :-(.

All in all Kew Gardens was a really good day out I highly recommend it for anyone in London. As I said I didn't get to see it all in the time I spent so I will definitely be going back!! If you want to see the rest of my pictures from the day you can check them out on my Flickr or on the cool new Flickr widget I installed on the right --> -->! \^o^/

Film Review - X-Men: First Class

2011-06-04T01:02:00.000+01:00

So another movie review and this time it was the long awaited X-Men: First Class. I think I've mentioned before but I am a massive X-Men fan, have been ever since I was a kid, so as you can expect I couldn't wait for this film to be released, but after the 132 minute feature had ended I just was not blown away the way I wanted to be.

SPOILER ALERT: I'll probably be mentioning some spoilers below so if you plan to but haven't seen the movie yet you can skip down to the summary. But be sure to come back and let me know what you think!

Story

If you've seen the trailer you pretty much get everything that's going to happen in this film. The whole "First Class" series is intended to be a new trilogy of X-Men movies that goes back o the beginning of when Professor X first meets friend/enemy Magneto. The film is based around the nuclear missile crisis that happened way back in the 60's. Although it was interesting to see how a real life event was woven into the story of a comic-book I personally found it a bit confusing, not having known anything about the event beforehand. I mean if your not older, American, Russian or Cuban it kind of goes over your head and seeing as how this is a film that's more story/character driven the makers of the movie may have missed a trick in terms of relating to their target demographic. Or then again maybe it's just me.

Other than that I feel the story flows well, it begins in the 1940's with the majority of it taking place in 1962. We see Professor X and Magneto raising a team of young mutants to battle Sebastian Shaw and his band of evil mutants. The most endearing parts of the film come in the montage scenes where we see the young mutants training and getting a better grip over powers. My favourite being when Banshee is learning to fly and falls out of the window. Safe to say the film ends with the new X-Men saving the day and averting an all out nuclear war. However we also see key X-Men moments like the transformation of Beast, the crippling of Professor X and Magneto become the antagonist we all know him to be.

On the surface the film may just appear to be another superhero film not too dissimilar from the many others we have been bombarded with this summer, but when you look at it closely it is much more than that. Like in the comics the film deals with the idea of acceptance and the fear felt by people who are "different". These moments come through them most in the scenes involving Beast and Mystique the most obviously mutant members of the team.

Acting / Characters

With a comic series that is known for is vast number of characters selecting the perfect ones to translate from page to screen was always going to be a difficult task. Now I don't know who is in charge of the choosing the characters but why is it in these films I get the impression they got the roster all wrong? Maybe it's because I'm a fan but using characters such as Riptide, Azazel, Darwin and Angel.... REALLY? Did they need to be included? Nevertheless all the actors did their job superbly. The young mutants gave an excellent performance but it was Sebastian Shaw played by Kevin Bacon and his team that claim the acting prize. I think its a real testament to Kevin Bacon's acting skills that he is able to play so many different types of roles, and the casting of January Jones as the diamond, telepathic Emma Frost was genius! The comedy comes on the forms of Oliver Platt who plays a CIA agent charged with the care of Xavier's new team and Banshee played by Caleb Landry Jones, both actors comedic timings are a real asset to the film.

Action

The film doesn't feature anything like the massive big-budget action sequences in X-Men: The Last Stand but it does still bring the spectacle you'd expect to see in in this type of Hollywood production. Magneto and Shaw were the ones who really brought the bang, lifting submarines, blowing up government compounds,sending coins through peoples heads. Still, characters Azazel and Havok both managed to their fair share of destruction. It's not to say this film's action wasn't as impressive as The Last Stand it was just done in a more subtle way.

What I Would Change

There's not much I would change about the majority of the film but I didn't 100% agree with the end. In specific I don't think they should have had Magneto become a baddie just yet. If they intend the series to be a trilogy it means we already have our villain for the next two films, just like in the original series. I think if they had kept him on Xaviers side for the sequel and had an antagonist like the Shadow King, or someone else, to tempt Magneto's dark side it would have set up a story for a more spectacular final film. But the series will hopefully continue to be directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Stardust) who is awesome so I'll trust his judgement and maybe the next film will be a cliffhanger because I could see that working. Also I would include characters that are a bit more well known or maybe more offensive power based characters.

.::. END OF SPOILERS .::.

Summary

Overall the film was an interesting introduction to a new X-franchise. It wasn't a way over the top production but more subtle, smart and dare I say classy than other films of it's genre. Setting it almost 50 years in the past was a brave and bold decision but I think a necessary one to help differentiate it from the first trilogy. I read somewhere that this series has been likened to that of Christopher Nolan's Batman series in which the first film acts as a character introduction allowing the sequel to get right down to business. So with that in mind bring on the next instalment!

Film Review - The Man From Nowhere

2011-05-31T17:51:00.005+01:00

So recently I was loaned the Korean film The Man From Nowhere. The story follows loner Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin) as he goes on a crazy mission to save So-mi (Kim Sae-ron) a local troublemaker. The chase takes him all around his city including nightclubs, meth labs and sweet shops.

I normally tend to stay away from subtitled full-length features because the non-stop panning from left to right to read the text either causes me to enter a weird trance like state in which I end up falling asleep, or I end up not focusing on what's going on and it takes me forever to associate names to faces. However I said I would watch it so after I got up and was full of genki I decided I would watch my second Korean film. I was a bit nervous about what to expect, would it be like Japanese film, which I think sucks because it's all bout the viewers interpretation, or would it be like Chinese film, which I think rules because it has amazing set pieces, costume and above all action. Fortunately for me it was more like Chinese film but still managed to be i guess distinctly "Korean".

SPOILER ALERT: I'll probably be mentioning some spoilers below so if you plan to but haven't seen the movie yet you can skip down to the summary. But be sure to come back and let me know what you think!

Story
The storyline of the film doesn't break any new ground and is definitely not a goldmine of innovation. If you have ever seen any western films such as Taken, Running Scared, Diehard 4.0 or any other film that involves a kidnapping or missing person you pretty much know what's going to happen but one gem of these types of films is they never seem to get boring. Maybe it's due to the sense of adventure or maybe its due to the inevitable action scenes but there is always something that holds my interest. The Man From Nowhere is a true testament to the genre. As mentioned it follows loner Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin) as he tries to save So-mi (Kim Sae-ron) from two Chinese gangsters operating in South Korea all the while trying to avoid being arrested by the police. The "twist" comes in the fact that when the police look into Tae-sik's history they discover that he is an ex black-ops, untouchable, amazing, ninja-like assassin (but seriously when are they not in these types of films) who has had his entire record wiped. Hence the title of the film. As the film goes on we learn that he gave up his previous life to own a pawnshop because as a by product of his old career his pregnant wife was murdered, as well as him, himself almost being killed. The way his wife was killed was horrible. Not only was the car she was in rammed into by a truck, but incase you couldn't tell they zoom in and point out it was a 24ton truck! (But seriously the film should be called The Truck From Nowhere because I was expecting a bullet and BLAM!!)

Although captivating at end the story does fail to drive home the warm fuzzy feeling you would expect from the reunion of the two main characters, even watching Tae-sik cry and smile for the first time in the entire film feel kind of empty. It is however redeemed by its exploration of drug and organ trafficking as well as several other aspects of Koreas underworld activities.

6.5/10

Acting

Okay I know this doesn't have much to do with the acting of the film but I have to hold my hands up and say I was confused. When I was handed the DVD I was expecting to see this guy being the suave action hero type:

However he spends half of the film looking like a homeless person and makes the following transformation:

Before

After

They look completely different! (or... maybe that's just me) But anyway onto the acting. Won Bin does the role justice portraying the cold, calculated, removed man on a mission, whilst Kim Sae-ron gives a respectable performance as the unfortunate, kidnapped girl who needs rescuing. In my opinion though the it's the supporting cast that make the film. Man-sik and Jong-sik, the main antagonist of the film are hillarious and rather sinister at the same time. The policemen who don't actually appear to get anything done are also good for a chuckle or two. The film also features the most unsuspecting, dodgiest muthaf**ka you will ever meet:

DON''T TRUST THIS WOMAN!!

All in all I feel as though the acting was rather good, possibly a little constricted by the script if anything.

7.5/10

Action

There aren't any innovate fight scenes like the hose fight in Transporter/ Romeo Must Die but the films action sequences are all well choreographed and you never get the impression that they last too long like you do in some films. I have to give a massive shout out to the portail of Korean police brutality, fly-kicking a man in a wheelchair in a public area...classy (he was faking and a drug dealer, if it makes a difference) but it still made me laugh. There is not really much to say about the action the one-man-army thing has been done plenty of times before and i'm sure his won't be the last.

7.5/10
.::. END OF SPOILERS .::.

Summary
The film was really good and if nothing else has got me wanting to watch more Korean films. Even though I've only seen two (this and Lady Vengeance) I'm beginning to get a sense of the style and flavour Korean films offer and so far so good! I think this is a really good universal film especially for anyone wanting to get into Korean/foreign film it has a little something that caters to all audiences (except a love story) but Terminator 2 didn't have a love story and that did alright for itself.

7/10

It Suddenly All Becomes So Real!

2011-05-25T00:31:00.002+01:00

Okay unless I'm mistaken it has been almost 4 months since I last posted a blog and even I think that's unacceptable, but I've been busy. And I actually mean it this time. So let me bring you up to speed with what I've been up to.

I'm Moving To America!!

Proper shocking right! I know. From about mid August I'll be moving from Oxford/ London to spend the next academic year studying in California. I've never been to California before so I actually cannot wait. I booked my plane tickets yesterday (which in itself was an "experience") so I'm now officially broke (-£886) but well worth it for the cause! I know a few posts ago in yet another update I was saying how I planned to go abroad to study in Japan for a year, but after the head of the Japanese department basically said I was too stupid to do a year abroad in Japan because I missed the "required grade" by 5% I decided to go to the USA instead especially seeing as how Film is my major it would be better for me over all... right?? Anyway that 5% does bring me onto the next thing that's been keeping me busy...

The Library

Now I'm one of those people who when someone, especially a teacher or someone in a similar position, tells me I'm rubbish at something I work extra hard/ actually start working to prove them wrong and as a result of this I spent most of this semester in the library trying to up my grade so I can shove it in the head of the Japanese Department's face! However when I say most of my time I do literally mean I didn't leave until like between 10pm-4am. Results aren't out yet but if our weekly tests are anything to go buy I'm actually performing at a 1st class honours level. However when it comes down to all teacher assessed work my grades are about 20% lower which if you ask me is pure sabotage! The head of Japanese legitimately hates me!!

Money Matters

Now I haven't been to the States for a good 10 years but I was always under the impression that things cost around half as much there as they do here in the UK, and looking at the prices that may be true, the difference being that in the states they make you pay for EVERYTHING!! For example the university (or college, lol) that I'll be attending charges $15 for your FIRST student card. Now here in the UK you get your first card for free and only have to pay if you need a replacement, so unless that student card gives me $15 off of something else I think this year abroad is going to end up being rather expensive!! and on top of the ridiculously expensive flights I just purchased I also recently bought 2 new cameras a new lens and a shed load of manga. But writing this shows me I need to definitely curb my spending, but in my defence the camera was a bargin... IF IT EVER ARRIVES!!

So yeah that's pretty much the majority of what I've been up to. If anyone reading this lives/ has studied in the states let me know how you find/found it!

Exams are over now so going to be bogging A LOT more, probably mostly about America and stuff who knows?

T.

Film Review - Black Swan

2011-02-03T00:06:00.002Z

So it has been quite a while since I've been to the cinema to the point that cannot actually remember what the last film I saw was :-(. Now that I think about it for a film student like myself that is actually quite bad. However tonight I went to see Black Swan. The film revolves around Nina (Natalie Portman) who has been given the lead in a new production of Swan Lake and the pressures she faces to give a good performance.

SPOILER ALERT: I'll probably be mentioning some spoilers below so if you plan to but haven't seen the movie yet you can skip down to the summary. But be sure to come back and let me know what you think!

Story

Having known nothing about the film, not even having seen the trailer, I had no idea what the film was about. I had seen posters and pictures and from what i could gather I was about 2 ballerinas competing for the same role (slightly Drop Dead Gorgeous, but without all the comedy!). But boy was I wrong!. The film actually delivers a dark and quite capturing story about someones obsession to be perfect at what they do. It begins seemingly predictable enough: girl (Portman) wants lead role, girl gets lead role, girl is good in said role but fail to perform in one area of it, new girl (Mila Kunis) is introduced and can perform well where the first girl fails, but here is where it gets different. Where as I expected the new girl to come in and want to take things over she didn't and was nothing but supportive... minus the drugs of course, but even they were given in good faith!

The film instead revolves around Nina's growing paranoia that she will be replaced. She experiences some severe hallucinations and gets properly crazy throughout the course of the film and finally ends up performing her final act whilst bleeding out after having another hallucination and stabbing herself.

9/10

Acting

The entirety of this film relies heavily on the acting of Portman who I am glad to say was definitely up for the job. We see her go from the timid, shy, composed ballerina she was to the promiscuous, murderous violent ballerina she becomes. The unique thing about this is that within the film Portman's character Nina is in need of playing two different people same as what Portman needed to do for the actual film. The supporting roles of Nina's mother, show producer and Lilly, the new ballerina played by Kunis, all do their job as supporting actors perfectly by not stealing the spotlight but giving a performance that allows the audience to view Nina in a variety of different lights.

10/10

Action

Although this wasn't an action movie it was quite thrilling, especially with some of the hallucination scenes. ~~One of~~ The most shocking scene for me however had to be the lesbian romp. Like I mentioned I had no idea what the film would entail and I definitely did not expect it to go down like that (literally!). But I think it was all necessary to show Nina's transformation. The dancing is also really superb. I've never been to a ballet before so I'm not really one to judge, but I didn't totally hate it so it gets the thumbs up from me! Also it doesn't focus so much on the dancing that you lose interest or feel confused, which always helps.

10/10

.::. END OF SPOILERS .::.

Summary

I think this was a truly excellent film. Great story, great suspense, great acting. It's nice to be able to sit through a film and not once feel bored or think to yourself "when is this going to end". Black Swan delivers an engaging story that leaves a harrowing message: Don't fuck with lead ballerinas 'cause bitches be loco!! But seriously it is a very good film and I highly recommend it to everyone.

10/10

All Kindle'd Up! - Enter Kin-Diddy

2011-01-26T00:08:00.002Z

So recently I gave into a long time wish of mine and bought the Amazon Kindle. Now, as much as I wish I was, I have to admit that I'm not much of a reader I tend to buy books get about halfway through the first chapter then go back to doing something else. And because of this it means I have a pile of books that as bad as I want to read them, will probably never get read. So I'm sure asking yourself "So then why buy the Kindle?" And the answer plain and simple is so I can read manga... why else?

Now that I no longer live at home it's kind of hard for me to read my manga considering it's all the way back in London and I didn't fancy lugging it all here with me. Having an eReader seemed the most logical solution and the Kindle seemed the most reliable of the lot. Originally I got the 6" Wi-Fi version and believe me it is great if books are what you plan on reading but I wasn't so I upgraded and got the DX version (AKA Kin-Diddy). It is A LOT more expensive but well worth it for someone like me. The amount of times I have bought physical manga then decided to drop the series for whatever reason the purchase of the Kindle was the cheaper option... Believe me I go through a lot of manga check out the collection! (and I don't even think that's all of it!)

Annoying screensavers!

There are a few differences between the two, like I think that the DX has better blacks, but the Kindle 3 leaves less text from the previous page when you turn the page. The DX is only 3G, which I guess is a pro, but because of its size it's harder to use the keyboard as well as the fact that it's expectantly heavier. However the one obvious bonus is it's larger screen!

The larger screen makes it 100 x easier to read the small print that you get on some manga so I'm VERY thankful for that.

Kindle DX

Kindle 3

I know that it probably doesn't seem like that big of a difference in the pictures, but believe me in the hand it's major! Other than that I do also plan to read actual books on it too! I already have two of the Dexter books seeing as how I've been watching the TV show (It's really good!). Plus I also got The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo just so I could see what all the hype is about. only problem is I read really slowly so I'm sure that this time next year when I've finally finished them I'll be all clued in! Plus I can do a lot of the readings I have for lectures on it so it will be used for more than just manga ^_^.

These Headphones OWN!!

2011-01-10T01:19:00.001Z

For those of you that don't know I work in retail so as you can imaging over the Christmas period I've been really busy working non stop! But now that it drawn to a close I have a lot more free time which means I can blog again! To be honest work was not that busy especially for the Christmas period. You see here in the UK we had about 5 inches of snow which obviously means everything has to come to a grinding halt! And as a result not that many customers in my suburban store!

The past week however I used my time of to go back home to London and spend the rest of the holidays with my family before they all went back to work. My sister recently moved out so the majority of the time was spent with her sorting out her new place which is really starting to come together (despite a few noticeable hiccups). however we did get a chance to go to town where I found the most awesome headphones ever!!

They are basically X-Men headphones. And I am like a massive X-Men nerd, so they made my day. They were all wrapped in plastic so I didn't even see them at first and was deciding between a pair of wolverine ones and some Star Wars RD-D2 ones but then I saw Cyclops on the side and was like "MINE!" The headphones are made by a company called Coloud and they do different characters too including Hello Kitty and Betty Boop as well as some plainer ones which are all really cool. Check them out and let me know what you think!

Apart from that I've been reading The Walking Dead which is actually amazing! I had heard about it before but never really paid it much attention, but I recently started watching the TV show and its good so I thought might as well read the comic and it OWNS! Seriously I highly recommend it! (PS i'm also a massive zombie fan!)

But yeah apart from that life is pretty normal. I actually have some major news, but I'll mention it later don't want to jinx it. OH YEAH next sunday it's my friend Mayumi's birthday so we are going to see the Circus of Horrors I'm not 100% sure what to expect of it but from what I could see on their Youtube vids it will not be for the squeamish!

Dude Where's My Blog Posts!

2010-11-16T00:46:00.001Z

WOW! So I just checked and it's been over a month since my last blog post so I thought seeing as I have some spare time on my hands I'll give you an update on how life has been for me and how I've been busy (doing nothing) over the last month!

Okay, so the last time I wrote I had just started back at university and so much has happened since then...kinda. The weird thing is they all kind of have a knock on effect on each other, so the question is where to begin...?

Japan

As a lot of you know I study Japanese and Film at university and part of that means that next year I get to abroad in Japan XD! A few weeks ago we got a list of universities we are allowed to go to over there and the one I decided on seems really cool, the only downside is that living there will be expensive due to it being in Tokyo! So being taking the initiative I decided to get a job and save up to offset the cost of living there, so I got a job.....

Work

After about two weeks of searching I finally got an interview with one of the UK's leading electronic retailers. And even though I was an hour late for my interview and turned up in jeans I still somehow managed to get the job! My new job is awesome I basically get to sell gadgets all day, and since the new XBox Kinect came in it's been less like work and more like playing the Kinect when my managers aren't looking! I don;t know why but for some reason my manager made the one and only staff member to work in the camera section of the store, but I'm not complaining because I really like photography! But being surrounded by all those shiny new cameras and thinking that I'll be spending the next year in Japan as well as the fact that I'm now getting paid I decided to buy a new camera...

New Camera

My new camera is amazing! It's a lot bigger than anything I've had before I love it! I got it in a twin lens kit and although it can be a bit frustrating switching lenses the image quality gained more than makes up for it! It was mainly the flashy flip out touch screen and viewfinder that drew me to the camera. Then reality hit me and I realised that I'm not going to be going to Japan until September 2011 which is 11 months away and I don't take that many pictures now. So I decided I would get back into photography and took my G2 with me to the October MCM Expo...

Expo Time

Twice a year me and my cousin go down to the MCM Expo in the London Docklands. The last one seemed like it would have been kind of rubbish so we decided to skip it, but this year they were going to have Marvel Vs Capcom 3 there and being the video game junkie he is my cousin persuaded me to go, but I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try out the new camera. I didn't get to take that many pictures but the few that I did get of the cosplayers really got me wanting to take some more pics. I normally take landscape or urban pictures but now I really want to branch out so some time soon I'm going to have a fashion photography photo shoot with my friend Mayumi from university, check out her new blog! I'm really looking forward to shooting in different styles I think it'll be good practice for the competition...

The Competition

Another driving force in me wanting a new camera was that I wanted to be able to take some decent photos for this competition I want to enter. The Urban Photographer of the Year is a competition for photographers across the whole of the UK, Europe Middle East and Africa. the concept of the competition is as follows:

"The Urban Photographer of the Year will be the person who, in the eyes of the judges, has best captured the brief to portray the life of a town or city at a given time of day."

I think that the whole idea of capturing the atmosphere of an entire area in one photograph is is really interesting and although it'll be quite hard it doesn't hurt to enter! Plus as well as the top three prizes, they also give out prizes for winners of each hour of the day which greatly increases my chances! ^^ The deadline for entries is the 31st od January and I've been meaning to start taking photos, but between work and uni and the rubbish weather lately I've just been spending most of my time inside where it's warm reading manga and watching Friday Night Lights...

Time Wasting

Now as excited aas I am about going to Japan the big thing I always over look is that I actually have to get the grades to be able to go! And I know that when I have free time I should spend it revising or writing essays but I'm just to easily distracted and all do now is play Taiko Drums on the DS, and when I'm not doing that its Friday Night Lights all the way! I mean I still don't anything about American football but I am addicted to this show. (It's NIp/Tuck all over again!!!)

Okay. So thats pretty much it. I know not really enough to keep me away from my blog for a whole month, but my ankle's better now so I can get out more, plus I can be really lazy!

M.O.O. - Summer 2010 Anime

2010-09-29T20:36:00.000+01:00

The season has been the first time that I have actually followed current anime on a weekly basis, and with yesterdays conclusion of Occult Academy my list of summer 2010 anime has come to an end. I know I ended up watching a lot less than I said I would in my What I'll Be Watching post way back in the beginning of July as well as the fact that two of the anime's I watched weren't even on the list! But even though this season had its ups and its downs over all I have to say I am quite pleased with what I watched.

Asobi ni Ikuyo: Now here is another anime that yet again I began to watch because I thought that the figure for it was cool! However the anime itself it is actually pretty cool too. I don't think it will get a sequel straight away but definitely in the next year or 2.

The story basically follows Kio your normal, typical otaku who, of course, lives by himself and, of course, has female/cat aliens enter his life. Got to love anime logic! He has two other girls Aoi and Minabi, who, of course, are also in love with him. The series has several story arcs including Kio and Elis (The cat girl you see in the picture) being kidnapped by human cat worshipers and the rivalry between Catians and Dogisians which continues to the climax of the series.

I know this show may seem stupid to sum but I actually enjoyed it... Bring on season 2!!

Rating - B

Occult Academy: This anime is part of a set of anime, to be honest I don't really know much about it. What I do know is that they have some lovely art, and that is what made me want to check out the show!

The story revoles around the mysterious Nostradamus Key an object that is said to destroy the future. Fumiaki has been sent back from the future to both find and destroy the key to ensure Earths safety. However he could not have come back a a worse time as new school principal, the teenager Maya has decided he hates all things occult. Basically it follows the two of them and some other stragglers, as in each episode they battle monsters as well as investigating and solving mysteries with some arcs spreading over 2 episodes as they try to find the key. This kind of made the show feel a bit Scooby-Doo-ish and to be honest after the strong 1st episode I was expecting more gore and gothic feel to the show.

With a very enjoyable 1st episode this show really fell from grace for me in the way it waited until the last two episodes to return to the main storyline.

Rating - C

Sengoku Basara 2: This is the second season of the historical anime Sengoku Basara! Yet again another anime I began watching because of its figures. This for me was a let down. Although I continued to tell myself I enjoyed the first season I didn't! and the second just continued to confuse me... and no one likes to feel confused!

Apart from that not really much to say. I think that someone who knows the history well will enjoys this interpretation of it, however for me it felt as though hey just assumed I knew what was going on without actually telling me. On the oher hand it does have some pretty cool art!

Rating - D+

High School of the Dead: Now I think anyone who is anyone both watched and loved this show! Original in the way its the first, at least for me, zombie anime! I also liked its way of paying homage to classic zombie titles like having Shaun as the clerk or the 28 days later music.

On the downside however I did feel as though the series trailed in the middle and towards the end. I focused on the group dynamics and how everyone was in love with Takashi and less on the brain eating Zombies!

Due to its popularity I can see this having a sequel in spring 2011 so fingers crossed!

Rating - B+

So what did you watch any of these? Also any recommendations from this season?

Gundam Speed Build Challenge!

2010-09-25T22:07:00.000+01:00

Now anyone who knows me knows I'm a major Gundam fan, and for those of you who don't you now know it too. However almost a year ago a year ago I received a Master Grade (MG) Wing Gundam Ver. Ka as a Christmas present and have still yet to start putting it together. The shame is unbearable! So I decided to dedicate the two days I'm home from university to putting it together. Then I thought why don't I take it one step further and give myself a time limit!

I always remember how a friend of mine told me someone he used to live with once constructed a Perfect Grade Gundam in just one night (an AMAZING achievement by any standard!) and then there's me who takes a whole week to just complete a Master Grade! So this time I have decided to do one MG in 5 hours. And on top of that I also plan to stream it live on ustream ... or somewhere still haven't decided. This will most likely happen on Sunday or Monday but keep an eye on my Twitter and I'll announce when on there!

Wish me luck!!

I know not everyone is a Gunpla buff so here's a quick glossary:

Gundam: This one is too long to describe but basically giant robots. Info can be found here.
Gunpla: Short for Gundam Plamo.
Plamo: Short for Plastic Model.
Perfect Grade: The most detailed kits.
Master Grade: Second most detailed kits.

Back to University

2010-09-14T23:44:00.000+01:00

I know it's been a while but ever since I started actually putting effort into my blog all I have been writing about is anime, figures and universally nerdy stuff. But another aspect of this blog is, selfishly, just about my general life. And the big thing that's going on with me right now is that I've moved back to university for my second year of study!

I first decided I would move back a week early because I have the most revision to catch up on, but at the moment that doesn't really seem to be happening :-(. I'm mainly focusing on trying to find a job so that I can pay for a trip my film class is having to New York in February (One way or another I will be on that trip!!). So far zip but hopefully I'll find employment before all the Freshers arrive with their youth and newness and snap up all the jobs! Also other things I need to get sorted are:

Going to the doctors to sort out my ankle that I twisted/sprained 3 MONTHS AGO at the beginning of the summer.
Go to student services to sort out my timetable and the modules i want to take.
Hand out CV's in town.

Thats about it, I still cannot believe I've been here for for 4 days and have just about finished unpacking!! Wish me luck I'll be needing it!

Hope my little slice of life didn't bore you too much! SO now you know what I'm doing this year clue me in on yourselves. Any big plans/ moves leave a comment.

Amecon 2010 - The Loot!

2010-09-03T22:41:00.001+01:00

Now I know that this post is WAY overdue but I've been being super lazy and only unpacked my bag from Amecon in the past few days! (Don't worry I'm embarrassed enough for all of us) So as per usual when I go to these things, I got a little too friendly with the dealers and spent a shed load of money because they laugh at my unfunny jokes and offer me discounts if I continue to buy things. As a result I yet again ended up buying things I either have no space for or regretted buying once I got home! So let me break it down for you:

Dragonball Gashapon/Blind-boxes

Now if I remember correctly these were the first things I bought the reason being that the stall on which they were being sold on was right near the entrance (which also happened to be the exit too). Now I'm not one for gambling but when it comes to blind-boxes for some reason I really cannot seem to help myself. In this case it was because there was a specific one I was after. By the time I had gotten to the point where I was buying my 5 box only to discover it was another duplicate of one I already bought but did not want I decided to give up only to have the lady who was selling them turn around and say "come back in half an hour (closing time of the dealers room) and I'll open up the ones we have left and give you the one you want". Obviously I was thinking to myself well why didn't you just say that yesterday, but I was grateful and ended up going home with the one I wanted! :D

The one I wanted.

Gundam Gashapon/Blind-boxes

I know, I know more blind-boxes but typical I got sucked into the trap again, this time however at a different stall. So again on my third box without getting the one I wanted and being given two do overs I call it a day only to see that the Dragonball Gashapon stall has the exact same Gundam ones as the other stall! And as by this time I was a regular they allowed me to buy the one I wanted which was on display! So at the end of the day I walked away happy! XD The annoying thing about these ones though are that they come in both a "night" and day version which basically means ones that have colour (below) and ones that don't (above).

The one I wanted.

Manga

I have a habit of always wanting to start new manga series even though I have plenty that I currently need to finish! The worst part about it is that the only reason I buy most of these manga is because pf the cover. I know the saying "Never judge a book by it's cover" But I just cannot help myself! I picked up Getbackers 1-7 for cheap so i was happy with that and upon reading was glad with my purchase but then came the others! Pandora Hearts and Darker Than Black. In the case of PH the cover of book two was why I bought it but obviously you can't by book two without book one so I got them both. A Darker Than Black, mean this series have a, how do I put it... "history". I've always wanted to but have just never gotten around to reading it, so I thought "there's a manga...I like manga...I'll read the manga!" but then I discovered it was a shoujo... and I hate shoujo manga! Luckily all the other manga I bought were ACE so they made up for it. The star of the bunch being Bakuman!!

Also quite a think manga!

Art books

Now the same dealers were here that's are normally at the London Expo and that list includes the art book people! Now I know they can be quite expensive but they really are another one of my weaknesses! But I believe them to be SO worth it!! I had been eyeing the Valkyria Chronicles one for a few years and as it was my birthday the day before and I was dressed in the cosplay I decided to buy it! ^_^ A kind of from me to me sort of thing! My favourite though has to be the Hitman Reborn one. I was considering buying the manga a while back but the story threw me however the art twisted my arm and after purchasing the art book I had to get the manga as well!

The one that got away!

I had been watching this figure for a while but after buying the Ryomou I already own I was sceptical about if I should or not! But after much deliberation with myself I decided to go for it only to find it had already been sold! It sucked because it was so cheap compared to the one I own plus no shipping or customs!!

And that concludes my Amecon loot!

OH! I also got Taiko Drums on the DS because its just that cool!!

The ToyBox #4 - Momohime (Alter)

2010-08-20T18:49:00.002+01:00

Momohime is one of the two main characters from the Nintendo Wii game Murumasa: The Demon Blade. In the game she is a young princess who's body is accidentally possessed by Izuna Jinkuro, a demon blade wielder, who will not release her until he completes his quest. Although I have yet to complete the game from the moment I saw it I knew I would have to purchase this figure!

As stated in the title the figure comes from Alter and I have to admit they did an amazing job! The level of detail and the colours used are actually mind blowing!!

What surprised me was that this figure actually comes with quite a few interchangeable parts. Included with the figure are two sleeves, sword, sheath, forearm and hand. However these are only included to allow different ways to position the sword and sheath, although it means there are more things to fiddle with I'm still glad they included it as it allows for more display options. Speaking of the display the stand for this figure is also a beautiful addition. So often I see just bog-standard black, clear or white round displays bases but in the case of Momohime Atler decided to go all out and make her base rocks in a flowing stream which I feels makes the figure extra special and adds a sense of authenticity especially if you have played the game.

As I mentioned earlier the figure does come in absolutely stunning detail however there is a downside. Due to the sleeves needing to be swapped to change the way the sword is held, at the joint where the sleeve is disconnected a clear join is visible on the figure. The join is not a big enough deal to ruin the figure or distract form its overall awesomeness but it does slightly bring down the high quality detail given to the rest of the figure.

The figure on a whole is great and I am so glad I purchased it. The paint job and the pose are amazing and the level of detail is superb (even her fingernails are painted). As much as I liked it I did have some slight regrets about the purchase of my Ryomou figure, especially when at Amecon I saw an Alter figure of her that was both amazing and much cheaper that the one I own! But after getting Momohime I think I have developed the very expensive hobby of scale figure collecting. ^^

Figure Fight who do you think wins Ryomou VS Momohime (... as if i have to ask!)

Amecon 2010!!

2010-08-18T01:29:00.008+01:00

So as I stated in my last post the weekend just gone I spent in the world of anime at Amecon 2010!! Amecon is basically a 3 day long convention that consists of masquerades, balls, shopping, screenings, a lot of cosplaying and some other stuff. Although I have been to anime events this was the first time it would be for so long so my expectations were completely non existant, however I am glad to say I loved it!!

The events organisation left a lot to be desired as after I arrived I found myself aiming wondrously trying to find the registration area but with a little help we found it eventually, but them came the task of finding the accommodation and with the rain and the many hills (or "gradients" as the lady who registered me so kindly put it) it wasn't very easy! The whole event was very poorly sign osted in general. Basically there was a sign telling you where you were once you were there and not really any signs pointing you in the direction of places. This caused me to go on a overly unnecessary route through a woods to get to breakfast. As well as that the amount of time spent queueing to get into events such as the opening ceremony was ridiculous! But that's where the bad ends and the good points out weigh them by miles so lets move onto them!

One of my most favourite aspects of the con was its Bring-and-Buy. This basically ment you could bring along all your old or unwanted stuff and sell them or buy them from other people! (clue is in the title). I got to the bring and buy late because of the trouble I had at breakfast but from what I saw there was a large array of stuff from art work to manga to DVD's to games to figures available to buy. And the best thing about them was that they were all CHEAP!! Well almost...

Artwork wall

Some of what was left at the end of the Bring-and-Buy

So moving on, the dealers room wasn't as big as I'm used to but all the regular dealers were there and I still managed to get a really good haul (which I'll blog about later!) The major difference though between a convention and an expo has to be the events. Whereas the expo will have signings and some trailers the con had proper screenings and panels some of which I actually attended and found very interesting!

I don't really know what else to say except that I had an amazing time the con has helped me to rekindle my love of manga and I would highly recommend anyone who has thought about attending one goes and checks out an anime convention!

Although I brought my camera with me I still didn't take that many pictures. But here are some of my favourites from what i did take! Enjoy ^^

Here's something you don't see everyday

This random cat strolled around like he owned the place. I nicknamed him Ameneko!!

Some pictures of the en-suite room. Another feature that made it totally worth it!!

I also wrote a post focusing on the cosplay on my friends site, So check that out and leave a comment ^_^!

On the way to Amecon

2010-08-13T15:55:00.002+01:00

So as I write I am currently on the train speeding towards Stoke-on-Trent which is where the anime convention Amecon will be held!! Ive been to cons before but what makes this one special is that its four days long! I mean I like anime and manga as much as the next guy but Am honestly a bit nervous about whether I'll be able to last that long in such a full on environment!!

Well this was just a quick update expect some more photos and videos in the near future... Wish me luck

The ToyBox #3 - Revoltech Mouri Motonari

2010-08-06T15:33:00.005+01:00

When it comes to figures I have this weird thing where I can't buy them or open them until I have watched the show or played the game etc... that they are in. I think it slightly helps me curb my sporadic buying but in this case it ment that it stayed under my desk but after last weeks episode of Sengoku Basara, where he finally had some lines, It's time for his figure to be reviewed!

The figure comes with a few accessories. As well as the standard Revoltech stand it also comes with four extra hands a green "dash" stand and power circle thing-y. The coolest part in my opinion are the circle swords. These are two separate semi-circle swords which can be joined together to make one whole circle weapon. However whilst fiddling with it I accidentally broke off one of the pegs that holds the swords in a circle form, but it's not so bad because I can still display them as separate swords.

The faces that come with the figure are pretty standard, not really that much emotion. One thing i did notice though is that with the second face it is ment to look as though one eye is closed however to me it just looks as though they forgot to colour it in!

The figure itself is really cool though! The colours on it are actually amazing the greens, browns and blues really stand out. The detail included is also quite deep, especially on the back. It was something that I was definitely not expecting.

So even though I had broken the sword the figure was good overall but when trying to position it into the pose i was going to display it in this happened:

The leg literally better broke off in my hand. This has led me to officially give up on Revoltech figures especially ones of people. My Evangelion and Full Metal Panic mecha figures are great but I find the human ones to be too restricted, especially in the leg/ hip area. Even though this did majorly annoy me I super glued back on the leg and cannot decide between these two poses:

So what are your experiences with Revoltech's? And which pose do you think I should go for?

Little Old London #2 - Crystal Palace Park

2010-08-04T02:04:00.005+01:00

Those of you who follow my twitter may know this but for those of you who don't I recently started working on a puzzle of Crystal Palace Park, so on the Sunday just gone my sister and I took a trip down to the park to inspire me to complete it. I've always wanted to visit the park but for some reason I just never got around to it. The park is quite big and even though it has hedge mazes, lakes and dinosaurs to me the most interesting thing about it has to be its history.

1934

Originally the palace was built in Hyde Park, London to house The Great Exhibition of 1851. This was like a trade show where inventions from all over the world would be showcased, however after the exhibition the question of "what do we do with the building now?" came creeping up. The answer: move it to South London and that's how it ended up in its final location. Once moved the enormous glass building was made even bigger and the surrounding park revamped with fountains and lakes resulting in it becoming a major tourist attraction. However the buildings demise came in November 1936 when the palace caught fire and burned to the ground. Now all that's left are the foundations.

Nether the less the park as it is is still a must see. It houses the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre and has a hedge maze, which I think is just awesome! We literally walked for hours in the park and never once got bored because the park provides a nice relaxing environment and some interesting sights not to mention the lake that displays animal models that are over 150 years old.

I took along my new camera and here are some of the pics! ^^

Crazy cat we saw on the way home (thought he deserved a shout out!)

Interesting Facts:
1. The Crystal Palace has held 20 FA Cup Finals.

2. The area did not become known as Crystal Palace until the building was moved.

3. The name Crystal Palace was coined by Punch magazine.
4. The two towers either side of the building were in fact water towers used for all of the fountains and cascades.
5. The Crystal Palace and surrounding area became the worlds first theme park attracting 2 million people a year!

Hopefully one day either a local authority or private investor will decide to rebuild the palace but until then i can only hope. I especially think with the Olympics coming to London it could be a real attraction!

M.O.O. - Predators (My Own Opinion)

2010-07-28T00:01:00.003+01:00

So it was another trip to the cinema for me and this time it was to see the sequel and latest in the series of the predators film franchise. Admittedly I have not seen any of the original predator films so was walking into this one completely openminded, however I was at least expecting some good acting as the film stars Adrien Brody (King Kong, The Pianist). I think this is a good thing being openminded as I don't have anything to compare it to, which can at times end up ruining a film.

SPOILER ALERT: I'll probably be mentioning some spoilers below so if you plan to but haven't seen the movie yet you can skip down to the summary. But be sure to come back and let me know what you think!

Predator Hound

Story: The story begins well with the opening scene dropping you, literally, straight into the action as we see Royce (Brody) free-falling into a jungle. Bullets fly and other people appear but in what feels like the first 15 minutes we are pretty much given our main cast members. As they trek through the jungle they eventually come to realise that they are no longer on Earth and that the bright light they all saw before they awoke plummeting towards the ground was in fact them being abducted by aliens. After being attacked by some predator hounds they realise that they are actually being hunted. As they continue to trek through this jungle they encounter a predator base camp, a new breed of alien and Laurence Fishburne? Yup I was surprised too! He is on this planet for the same reason they are (to be hunted) but has managed to survive for a few years. He takes them back to his hide out but ends up trying to kill them for their weapons (guess that's how he survived so long). TheY escape his craziness but alert the predators to the whereabouts of the hideout in the process. This leads to a big chase and several members of the group die until only three remain: Royce, some sniper woman and this doctor played by Topher Grace (That 70's Show). The doctor becomes hurt and the sniper women wants to stays with him so Royce abandons them to go highjack a spaceship and get back to earth but things back fire when the last of the predators blows up the spaceship, also the doctor turns out to be another evil crazy and paralyses the sniper woman so he can kill her slowly! A big battle ensues, Royce saves the day and the film ends with with Royce and the sniper woman being the only survivors watching as more people are parachuted onto the planet. (Whew!)

5/10

Acting: The acting in the film is what saves it for me. I feel that all the characters were cast convincingly. Although I was quite surprised to see Adam Brody in this type role, he does however, manage to pull it off. (He's an actor, it's his job).

8/10

Action: This is where the film let me down big time. It's called "Predators" but I felt that there was more of a threat coming from the humans! I mean first with them shooting at each other, then with the crazy man trying to smoke them to death and then lastly with the doctor turning out to be a complete psycho! I just feel there needed to be a bit more horror or suspense because thats what I expect from a film in the Predators franchise! There was one gruesome bit however, is involved a death row inmate having his spine ripped out of his back with the skull still attached!!

.::. END OF SPOILERS .::.

Summary: Overall I thought the film was a miss. Even though I know the director chose to purposely ignore them I still entered the cinema expecting the suspense and horror I got with the first Alien vs Predator, but I feel like all I got was a action film with predators in it somewhere. Perhaps I was mistaken and that is in fact what the Predator films are all about. I think that if it had less talking more fighting and the predators had more of a presence it may have resonated with me more. Maybe I have to go and watch the originals so I can actually form a valid and fair opinion. But for me this one is not joining the DVD collection, unfortunately.

5/10

The ToyBox #2 - Clayz Ryomou Shimei

2010-07-25T01:24:00.002+01:00

I only started watching IkkiTousen about a year ago but I immediately took a liking to the blue haired handcuff wielding school badass! The fact that she uses submission techniques and that she wears an eye patch all heighten her sense of cool.

Click to see 360 degree view.

The figure to the left is the Clayz version of Ryomou. I already have the figma version of her (which can be seen here) But after seeing the promo shots of this one I felt as though I needed to add it to the collection! This is actually my first scale figure so i'm happy it got to be Ryomou. (also a lot bigger than i was expecting ^^).

The major difference I'm noticing between the action figures and the scale figures is the attention to detail. To be fair action figures do manage pack in a lot of detail but because they are posable the amount of detail included is nowhere near what you get with a scale figure and Clayz Ryomou is no exception.

The figure includes a stand, a spare head that does not have Ryomou's famous eye-patch (seen to the left), two pairs of handcuffs and a removable chest piece, but we will come onto that later! Also the hands are removable to allow you to get the cuffs around her wrist.

As much as I like this figure I feel that the pose leaves a lot to be desired. Fellow blogger Kairu pointed out to me that it looks like she's throwing gang signs (I literally laughed out loud), and ever since then i've been on the fence about the pose.

Pose aside the detail on this figure is astounding. As I stated this is my first scale figure so I had no idea what to expect, but I'm more that happy with what I received. The fact that that every frill and crease has been highlighted with a slight shade of blue was great and they even parts of the skin such as, the elbow crease and the top of the tights, a little bit of shadow. The thing that really blew my mind however was the white tights. On closer inspection they actually have a slight flesh tone colour to them which suggest they are slightly see through, which is what you would expect in reality!

Okay, so when I was reading the description for this it was described as having a removable chest piece. I assumed that this ment that there would be a piece that gave you to display the figue either as it is above or with the entire body covered. But alas i was wrong and the chest piece removes to show Ryomou's boobs. Due to this the figure has been stashed under my bed for the last 3 week. I'm too nervous to display it... what would the family think!

Overall I'm happy with my 1st scale figure. The fact that it's of Ryomou outweighs the lame-ish pose in my books!

For the traditionalists.

For the prevs! ^^ (Click for uncensored version)

So let me know what you think!^-^
P.S. - Sorry about the false posts before, they were test to see if the .gif image was working. ^^;

M.O.O. - Inception (My Own Opinion)

2010-07-21T21:10:00.002+01:00

Inception is the latest film to come from Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan who is doing an amazing job representing for us Brits over in Hollywood by continually churning out stellar films! I would class Inception as one of those thought provoking action film not too dissimilar to the likes of The Matrix. The main difference being that unlike The Matrix I don't see this being ruined by unnecessary sequels! So with no further adue, on with the review:

SPOILER ALERT: I'll probably be mentioning some spoilers below so if you plan to but haven't seen the movie yet you can skip down to the summary. But be sure to come back and let me know what you think!

STORY: As I've said before I'm a big fan of non-linier story lines and although the one in Inception didn't play a major role it still made me smile. So the story, it basically follows Cobb (DiCaprio) and his ensemble team as they try to successfully plant an idea into the mind of a power company heir through a dream, this action is known as "inception". I like the fact that the film uses it's own terminology and code names such as: kicks, The Architect, The Forger and The Extractor etc.. I feel it adds a sense of depth to the story. I found however that the whole concept of "being in dreams" could at times get a bit confusing. They tried to explain it all but I think that after an explanation there was always an action scene that didn't allow the information to be properly digested.

9/10

Acting: The acting in this film is superb. It was nice to see a few British faces in a summer blockbuster, I also felt the casting allowed for a believable story to be told. The only thing that distracted me from the film, in regards to the acting, was the accent of Cobb's wife. Assuming she was playing an American she just sounded kind of weird! After looking it up I discovered she is French which kind of explains it but does not redeem her accent. (But to be fair she does act the role well)

9/10

Action: For such a though provoking films its surprising to see this amount of action packed in! However with the setting of the film its also key to remember that anything is possible. I found that the mixture of CGI and real physical sets works really well and makes the film look simply amazing. So wether its a speeding train, or a fight in a revolving hotel the action, no matter how outlandish is portrayed in a way that just makes you think it fits.

10/10

The End: This section had to be included because after I left the cinema all my friends and I discussed was the films ending. I personally feel that he did manage to escape the dreamscape and was reunited with his children in the real world, I mean we all saw the spinner wobble and that only happens before it falls. I think the reason it suddenly cuts to black was because when you think about it thats always the way a good dream ends right at the tensest part.

.::. END OF SPOILERS .::.

Summary: I found this film to be very deserving of the title "Summer Blockbuster". It packs in everything you could want from a film, action, suspense, drama, romance and on top of that it makes you think. So I would highly recommend this film for everyone! It can get a bit confusing at times but I'm sure that after watching it more than once the whole feeling of "OHHH, nooooow I get it" will settle in and you'll notice all the little things you missed before (I love it when that happens).

9/10

PS: No Lego trailer this time the only one i could find wasn't up to par. :-(

Little Old London #1 - London Aquarium

2010-07-16T21:41:00.001+01:00

Grey skies, London never disappoints!

After reading a post on So-Bored-Of-The-Internet I realised just how much of London I am missing. I mean I'm a Londoner to the core (even though I study in Oxford) I've lived here all my life but I have hardly seen any of it. So I've made it my goal this summer to become a proper tourist and have a "staycation" in the city I love so much! I had planned to begin this adventure in June when my summer holidays began, but due to me twisting my ankle I was unfortunately delayed by a month and a half. :-(

1st stop on the tour was the London Aquarium. According to everyone I know this place was meant to be a bit underwhelming but i thought it was incredible! To begin with after you enter you get into a lift and "dive" two floors into the the exhibits. At first the entire place is set up to look like your inside a cave, it's all quite dark with ominous water music on constant repeat, which works really well! After a while you move onto the more "rainforest-y" fish, this are takes on a more plant life feel with bark and mud on the floor (not real) and tree's and vines hanging from the ceiling (also not real). They have a special area for sharks as well which is really awesome because it has a massive glass floor you can walk on! Also there is an entire corridor dedicated to the fish found in the Thames.

The entrance fee, like the majority of things in London, was quite pricey at £18 but luckily for me some lady was scalping tickets outside so I got in for only £10. ^^ I would however still paid the full amount as the experience was well worth it! The only downside is that there are a lot of viewing windows focused around one large tank which sort of makes you feel like you've seen it all before (which technically you have).

London Aquarium: 7/10

Whilst there I seized the opportunity to take some pictures and use my new camcorder. Please watch as it took me forever to edit in iMovie!! ^^,

I'm sure that fish about halfway though is walking across the floor. 0_0

The ToyBox #1

2010-07-10T18:02:00.001+01:00

Ok, so today I thought I'd take the time and write about the figures and Gundam that I've collected over the past year or so.

The picture at the top is all the Sgt. Frog figures I own. I used to watch the anime a little while ago and liked its crazy style. The one in the middle definitely has to be my favourite purely because its a frog.... with an afro! The afro also opens up to reval boxing gloves that he can wear which I always thought was a bit strange, but i guess thats just because I never got that far in the anime, but can you blame me 320 eps and counting!!!.

For the longest while I had this massive obsession with everything Gundam (I still kinda have it but it's slowly going away with there being no new series of it to watch and all) anyways it led me to build up the collection of gunpla you see on the shelf above. The embarrassing thing being that I have more, some couldn't fit on the shelf and some are yet to be completed. One of the ones that could not fit on the shelf (and possibly my favourite) is the Unicorn Gundam (See below). Not only has the series been given it's own OVA series but it is just bad-ass. It came with a whole heap of weapons plus it can switch into destroy mode which causes all the shield panels to open up and reveal all of this red stuff!! Truly the fact it is able to do that makes it a mechanical/ technical masterpiece.

After this I saw a lot of pictures on the net for a Revoltech Arbalest from Full Metal Panic. I didn't really know much about the series but the seeing the figure made me interested so I checked it out and actually kind of enjoyed it! At the time I bought the figure Revoltech released two figures from the series assuming that the second figure would appear later in the show I ordered that too, not realising it was only in the novels. :(

Arbalest (Left) Laevatein (Right)

After watching FMP I moved onto re-watching the Evangelion series (still cannot sit through the last two episodes!) so that i could compare them to the new Rebuild of Evangelion movies. I became addicted and thought some figures we needed and below are the ones i decided on. They're all pretty cool because they came with a ton oc accessories!

Moving on from the giant robots but still sticking with the Revoltechs again my attention was captured by another figure that led me to watch its anime series. This figure was Sanada from the anime Sengoku Basara, which by the was is an awesome show.

After this I started watching anime with more human characters in them, and of course the types of figures followed suit. Writing this I realised they're all female character... bizarre. They're Saber (Fate/Stay Night), Ryomou Shimei (Ikki Tousen) and Nanoha (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha).

And that's it I've got some more figures on order at the moment and they should be here soon, so maybe when they arrive I'll review them. ^^

RALPH MACCHIO RULES!!!

2010-07-06T14:40:00.000+01:00

The majority of people probably don't recognise the name remember Ralph Macchio until they are reminded or someone points him out in a picture from his classic 1984 film The Karate Kid! and for that I wouldn't blame you. But it has recently come to my attention he has starred in something almost as great that will cause you never to forget him.

On my daily web surfing I came across a video that had me laughing so hard. It's basically a short film titled 'Wax On, F*ck Off with Ralph Macchio' (which I think is genius in itself) It follows Ralph as he tries to ditch his "nice guy" persona for a more rebellious, unorthodox one more commonly associated with the actos of today. This quest leads him to club brawls, run ins with the "paparazzi" and trying to make a sex tape with his wife! The funniest part by far for me though had to be the scenes at the end where he tries to copy the poster of the new Karate Kid... you'll see what I mean. I'm a fan of when celebrities are able to make fun of themselves and I think Mr. Macchio does it excellently! So with no further adue i present to you:

Wax On, F*ck Off with Ralph Macchio

Cocaine smiley faces FTW