Meet the Spartans

I liked the scary movies... They were original, hopefully this parody comedy will be as funny... I can but hope.

First Sunday

I love comedies and hopefully this will be funny... I had to laugh about the "Pimp my wheelchair" line... Hope it's not the only funny joke in it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I loved all the Indiana Jones films, it's fantastic to see a new one... I only hope it does the franchise justice.

Iron Man

Although I love manga I very rarely read American comics... However I do usually like the film adaptations of them. This is one I'm looking forward too :)

Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snoging

Don't laugh but I read this book... It was left in the bathroom OK... So I read it whilst on the loo. I thought it was funny. I wonder if they're still going to portray her father as a mason?

10'000 BC

This is already out... Not heard a lot about the plot, but i really like the trailer... So this is on my list of films to watch.

Cinema

I've not really had a chance to go to the cinema much lately. Just don't seem to have the time. Gonna have to change that :-) there's a lot of films coming up I want to see... So here's a few trailers... Stay tuned :-)

Not So Big Wheel

Nomi had a go on the child's size big wheel at an arcade for a laugh.

You're never to old to have fun are you :-) I don't think I'll ever grow up :-)

300

Wow 300 posts already... (In case you were wondering I've been dying to use a 300 poster for my 300th post) hardly feels like the other day when I was at 200! Promise I won't celebrate till 500 now... that's the next big milestone.

Beach + Snow

This is the beach at my dads bulgalow in Kessingland. It's so wierd seeing sand and snow together. reminds me of icing sugar on a cake.





Snowball fight on the beach :-)





Lou and Nomi posing amidst the snow



My turn to pose now :-)



Seriously it was so wierd feeling the crunch of snow and the soft feeling of sand beneath your feet.



Nomi does her Jesus impression... actually she's standing on a wooden post. Easy to get there, but not so easy to get down :-)



Lou and Nomi made a snow woman :-)

Snow

This is the first white Easter I can remember. What makes it doubly strange though is that as we're by the sea side it very rarely settles. When I get home I'll upload the photo's of the beach covered in snow.

Easter

I find easter a funny holiday. Like most holiday's it was originally based on a pagan holiday, but it's even more thinly veiled than others. Someone please explain what the connection between the resurection and chocolate eggs is? I mean I know the connection in pagan mythology with easter eggs is to do with fertility, and the name comes from Eostre a pagan (Germanic?) Goddess (The goddess of fertility). So what's the connection in Christianity?

White Easter

It's easter and it's snowing. We've got an especially early easter this year... The earliest since the 1910s. Apparenty we won't see another easter this early for nearly another 200 years!

1 Year On...

...and I'm still blogging... I never thought I'd actually stick at it... But despite the low points in my life I've still carried on... As for the high points I've blogged them with passion. I've picked up a few regular visitors... And seen many one time visits from people just passing through. I've even picked up some regular comment posters too.

So much changes in a year... And looking at this blog there's so much that I just forget about. So what originally started out as a "dumping ground" for my brain has turned into a journal come reviewing blog. I'm thinking of starting a side project blog with a friend and my lovely Nomi. Not sure on what the content will be yet. But the second it starts you'll be sure to hear about it here.

So here's to many more years of my ramblings.

Shocking

We're in Kessingland (Near Gt Yarmouth) with my dad for Easter, so it's off to the seaside for the arcades... Nomi has never seen one of these "shocking" games before. So of course we stuck her on it and filmed it :-)

The Bucket List

A strangely uplifting, yet equally sad and poignant film about 2 men from different walks of life who have only months to live.

Edward Cole (Played by Jack Nicholson) is a playboy millionaire who has isolated all his family. Carter Chambers (Played by Morgan Freeman) is a family man who has given everything of his life to his wife and children, to the detriment of his own lifelong dreams.

The storyline is touching... but it shows that it was written in 2 weeks by Justin Zackham. As some of the key moments in the film feel rushed and "tacked on" to give the movie a purpose.

Don't get me wrong it's a good film, it shows how two different men cope with their own mortality and provides an interesting point of discussion, what would you do if you had 3 months to live?

I can't whole heartily recommend this film as it seams to lack something, but I just can't place it. The acting is superb the SFX are seamless (It's hardly an action film, so the only SFX are backdrops and scenery). The storyline leaves a tear in your eye but it feels lacking of more impetus... I'm rambling, as I can't describe what it's missing, it just feels a little soul-less.

I'll leave you with a quote from the film:

Here's something to remember when you're older Thomas - never pass up a
bathroom, never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart.

Edward Cole

BAPA Reunion

Well here I am sitting in the pub after the BAPA reunion... It wasn't so bad... But there was hardly anyone from nomi's year... Which was a real shame... So we left early and continued the party at the Railway :-)

Choir Festival - Posts and Videos are up

Another load of posts that have been delayed. Here's the full run down of the Choir Festival is date order (Oldest first):

• Sword Dancing at the Fly in the Loaf
• Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
• Surely mixing Sword Dancing and a Unicycle is aski...
• Liverpool Lou
• The Blob Shop
• Derelict church
• Blast from the past
• Inside the Cathedral
• What's with the little fishy song?
• Choir Festival Video
• Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

Minamicon - Posts and video's are all up

Due to the somewhat disjointed nature of my posts for Minami (That and having a pig of a time uploading videos from a DV camera) here's a list of the final posts (earliest to latest) that I made over the con, enjoy:

• The time for MinamiCon commeth...
• Arrived at Minamicon... Straight to McD's
• Opening Party
• Wasabi Rice Ball
• Death Note
• Day 2 at Minamicon
• Okashi UK
• Pre Cosplay Briefing
• Cosplay - XXX Factor
• Cosplay - Video - Part 1
• Cosplay - Video - Part 2
• Under Age Drinking
• Cosplay - Photos
• Easy Like Sunday Morning?
• Sweeny Todd
• xXx Factor
• Cowboy Bebop
• Jenga Anyone?
• Konbu Sweet?
• Cosplay - More Photos

Creme Egg

How do you drive yours?

Chitty

Wonder if this lorry can fly and float on water like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

NavTeq

So this is how they create the Sat Nav maps? That's gotta be one of the most boring jobs in the world, just driving up and down roads collecting data. Seems to have quite an impressive suite of instruments attached to the top of it. I've seen GPS receivers like that used in military applications.

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

Now this is a proper Cathedral... it's surprisingly new as well, it took a considerable time to build, so although it was started long before the new Metropolitan Cathedral, it was in fact finished after it.





This is the Cross of Liverpool, sadly tho original was stolen in the 70s but a new one has recently been donated, interestingly it's been made with quite modern techniques such as laser milling.

Choir Festival Video

Here's the video from the Winchester Choir piece, I've experimented with some photo's during it, as I had to use something to cover up the parts where I've whizzed the camera around to catch the different parts of the choir.

Jumbled posts

Having a little difficulty with posting via phone this weekend so my posts are a little jumbled. I'll hopefully sort it out when I get home.

What's with the little fishy song?

Listening to all the choirs doing their pieces the work ranges from modern to very old, from the solum to the happy, but twice now they've done the "Dance with me Daddy" song (Or as I like to call it "the little fishy song").

I wonder why?

Inside the Cathedral

The architecture on the inside me the cathedral is actually quite stunning... In a modern fashion. However it really looks out of place as a cathedral... Not that i dislike it's design. I'm just i suppose old fashioned in my ideas that churches and cathedrals should be shaped like a cross when viewed from above. The lack of thought also put into the acoustic layout is also very apparent with the reverberation of sound... Even to someone as tone deaf as me. A striking building, but not very functional.

Blast from the past

Totally didn't clock where we were until we walked past this. Me Matt and Kevin stayed in the Adelphi for Animecon several years ago... During the convention we went for a Pizza, not being able to finish it... And being tight we took it back to the hotel. Matt just threw it into the corner of the room and we all went to bed. A few hours later we awoke to the fetid smell of pizza, Matt had thrown it under the radiator. Having to do something with it, and due to sleep deprivation Matt opened the window and threw it out into the night. The following morning we all went down to breakfast go the banquet hall. Looking up I admired the glass domed ceiling... With a Pizza box square in the middle of it!

Derelict church

Saw this lovely church... Sadly it's derelict, presumably from bombing during WW2. Shame it's not been renovated. But at least it's not been converted into flats or something equally tasteless.

The Blob Shop

Name says it all really :-)

Liverpool Lou

Seems my sister has a side business as the mascot for a MANX beer company :-)

Surely mixing Sword Dancing and a Unicycle is asking fro trouble... but it's so cool!

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

This weekend me and Nomi are go Liverpool for the annual choir festival... Now I'm biased but she's got a fantastic singing voice. This is the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral where it's going to be held later tonight.





The Cathedral itself is beautiful from the inside (more pics later), but the outside doesn't really appeal to me... Kinda reminds me of the reactor building in aliens.

Hopefully I'll post a video later as soon as I transfer it to the PC.

Sword Dancing at the Fly in the Loaf

After nomi finished her rehearsals we went to a pub called the Fly in the Loaf. By pure luck several groups of sword dancers were practicing for a lock competition and we managed to get front row seats. It was fantastic to watch. Nomi now wants to try it :-)

Also builders

I wonder if hen parties accidentally book these guys?

So where's the Muhammad car wash

Say this go a petrol garage on the M1... Just weird. Why Christ? So where's the Muhammad car wash? Hmm sure there could be a really catchy slogan to go with that... How about we'"ll wash away the sins of the road"... Anyone got any other ideas?

The mind suck

I used to watch soap operas... Don't really have the spare time too there days. Not that i miss them, they're mostly mindless predictable dribble.

My mum and my sister get really sucked into them tho. If only we could harness the unused brain capacity like the PS3 cell network. It's hardly like anyone's using it to interpret the storyline!

Akira Remake

I was really hopeful... then I read the last line:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7257246.stm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ropey Video

Sorry about the squished video's, appears to be a bit of an error when uploading a WMV file. I'm converting to DivX and seeing if that makes a difference, so please be patient for new improved videos

Disjointed Posts

Please bear with me as I update the photo's on the Minamicon blog entries... they'll disappear and then come up again soon with the new/updated pictures. So please watch this space.

Cosplay - More Photos

Here's the photo's of the other cosplayers at the convention:




Sophie from Howls Moving Castle has a shave from Sweeny



Howl and Sophie










Winner of the most revealing costume prize.

Love the Hellsing take on every Sperm is Sacred song.