May to August 2008

May 2008

Went mob handed to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. By mob handed I mean Mark and Gee as well as Emma - and we went for a curry beforehand. Now I really wanted to see Iron man so I was a little bit annoyed - and I was also annoyed because I feel obliged to really hate Russel Brand - this is mainly due to his connection to Big Brother which to my mind is the equivalent of him being in charge of the final solution or something even worse - like ITV's Saturday schedule. You can imagine how annoyed I was when I found that not only was the film not all that bad, but also that Russel Brand put in a brilliant performance (Empire described it as being Spinal Tap in approach) - I so wanted him to die on his arse but I may have to admit now that I rather like the guy. If only we can get him to stop fronting Big Brother. The basic premise of the film is that of the dreaded rom-com. This one is a boy who loses his girl - the Sarah Marshall of the title. This prompts him to take refuge in casual sex before he despairs and goes on holiday where Sarah Marshall is staying - a typical rom-com plot! What makes this one different is the flashbacks and strange sense of humour that the film has - it's not bad at all. I laughed a lot but it was under protest.

With the unusually nice weather that we had in May 2008, I thought it would be nice to give the Roland kit some fresh air in the garden - Emma was well pleased and thought that I was such a thoughtful guy for doing this (I had the headphones on, dear). Well, I was forced into it really, the window in the computer and drum room gets the sun for most of the day and if I cannect up my iPod and start playing along to it on the drum kit then I really have some problems with losing most of the body weight in sweat. It was nice so I thought it would be nice to play the kit in the garden. This had the effect of reducing the horrible clicking of the rubber heads that are amplified by being indoors - thus it was much easier to play outside. Got eaten alive by insects.

Went to the Science & Industry museum in Manchester - took the Camera as you might expect. I always like going here as I am very partial to the Avro Shackleton they have on display here. Many piccys taken and you can go and see them by clicking here.

Took Emma to see Iron Man in Runcorn. Now I have been having serious reservations about the super-Hero/Comic Book film as a genre so I was always prepared for a bit of a let down (Spiderman III and X-Men III being so bad that they basically went a long way to giving the whole genre the kiss of death). However, this is one of the better of the type of recent years and I really liked it (Emma thought it was ludicrous). I must admit that Iron Man is a Marvel Character that I know nothing about - you see I was always a DC Comics man. It is basically a multi-millionaire (Stan Lee based him on Howard Hughes) who is imprisoned by some bad guys and forced to build weapons - so he makes the Iron Man suit to escape. The film updates this nicely by having the same turn of events but having them take place in the Gulf (brave move) and as having Stark as the chairman of an armaments company who has an attack of conscience after seeing his products being used by the bad guys. This is actually the superhero film that it is OK to like. Very good.

Another mob handed trip to the cinema with Mark & Gee + Emma - and this time it was to see something that I wanted to see, the new Indiana Jones Movie, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Now I am a very big fan of the original series, mainly Raiders, not such a big bundle on Temple and Last Crusade is very good too. So, I was really looking forward to seeing this. Sadly, it is the high quality of Raiders of the Lost Ark (now getting on for 30 years old!) that really dooms this one to mid-table mediocrity. Raiders of the lost Ark is a true epic, but is the compact nature of some of the scenes that makes it work and I have always thought that if it had been put into storage on its release before being released now, then it would still look as good. So whilst Raiders had the truck chase scene, perfect in length and editing, Crystal Skull has a similar jeep chase that just goes on far too long that it is just a never ending blitz of CGI (that there was very little of in Raiders). Now just click on the picture of Indy Above to see the scene from Raiders that I mean -perfect isn't it? 

Now whilst this is something of a dissapointment, it's not all that bad. There's a lot of what made the Indy films so good up there on the screen, but perhaps there is just too much on the screen this time - Steven Spielberg, who directed some very personal and small films (Schindler's List being the best example) should know that sometimes less can be more. Using less CGI and making the story just a little smaller might have been a good idea. Well, I can't slag it off all day... the story takes place in 1957, right at the height of the cold war. It revolves around (and I don't want to give too much away) Area 51 and a gang of Russians. The cast is brilliant - Harrison Ford is in the lead role, Kate Blanchett (the uncrowned Queen of Australia if you ask me) looks worryingly at home as the Russian baddie, Karen Allen returns from Raiders and Shia LeBouef plays her son. Ray Winstone, John Hurt and Jim Broadbent (obviously taking over the late Denholm Elliot's role) keep the British end up. It's OK - but it really is a case of close but no fedora.

June 2008

Went with dad to the Commercial Vehicle Museum @ Leyland. Dad was a driver for ICI when I was a kid and of course I grew up with a bit of a thing for the big trucks - Dad comes from and age before power steering, air conditioning, engine management systems - and mega expensive diesel - like most of the trucks in here (that were nearly all British built). I was well impressed with the collection on show and as you might expect, I took a load of photos - that you can find in the holiday gallery - here.

Mum and dad have been raving about the changes to Liverpool City Centre that have taken place in the run-up to Liverpool being awarded City of Culture for 2008. The main change has been the Liverpool 1 devewlopment, changing a fairly scruffy part of the city centre into a nice modern shopping precinct. I must say that it was nice but I did not come away raving about it. I was content to photograph an old war memorial that I much preferred looking at. Once again, see the results in the holiday gallery - here.

Went mob-handed (Emma's family - who are all big fans of CS Lewis - I was more a Hobbit man myself - though he used to hang around with JRR at Oxford) to the latest Narnia film - Prince Caspian. I quite liked the first film so was fairly confident that the studio would turn out a bloody terrible sequel - it was nice to see that they have actually done a good job. It is certainly much darker - in fact it is to Lion and Witch what Empire Strikes Back is to Star Wars. This time, our band of school kids get summonsed back to Narnia (in a fairly cool sequence on the London Underground) to find that the Telmarines have gone and invaded Narnia and busted up the hood a little bit (in fact a lot) - and a few thousand years have passed. Now whilst this is not a patch on Lord of the Rings, it is certainly more self confident then the first and I have to say that the next one in the series (Emma will tell me which one as she is the resident CS Lewis expert in this house) does not seem like such a bad idea after all.

July 2008

Above you can see two pictures, both of me, both of me raining destruction and both taken in Great Yarmouth - the one on the left, I think, was taken in the summer of.... possibly 1978 (perhaps mum and dad could help out with this?) and the one on the right was taken in early July 2008. The main things I recall about the holiday in 1978 is the totally ace machine-gun game that I kept begging my dad to give me 10p to play and also the outrageous long journey that we had to embark upon to get there as my dad was not a big fan of motorways - in the old Hillman Hunter (this was long before the A14, A11 and M11). The decision to holiday in Great Yarmouth was driven by the missus who insisted that we needed a holiday and we just went for a nice cheap and cheerful last minute deal at Caister Caravan Park - this time we had the nice M6 Toll (try it if you have not already) and the nice new A11 and A14 so we did not die of old age on route. I think I had a nicer stay back in 1978 as our caravan was near the Seagull Club on site (just think of an east coast Phoenix Club) and this made it a bit hard to chill out. However, this time we went on a little boat on the broads, went to the worst waxwork museum in the world and even found time to have a meal in Cambridge on the way back (nicest curry ever!). Also went to the cinema in Norwich (I challenge you to find a city centre that has changed more in 30 years). If you go to the holiday gallery you can see the pics I have taken - here.

Whilst in Norwich, I took Emma to see the Incredible Hulk and I will cut to the chase and say that I thought it was bloody awful. There are so many superhero films coming out at the moment (in particular Marvel) that I think someone will have to say something along the lines of that we should have a bit more quality and a bit less quantity - they just keep churning out  this complete dross knowing that the massive comics fanbase will get them a hit (the third instalments of X-Men and Spiderman are bad enough on their own to prove this). This is in fact the second attempt at a Hulk film (the last one, back in 2003, is generally accepted to be one of the worst superhero films of all time - and perhaps even one of the worst films of any kind) and I get the feeling that this new film was insisted upon so they could get some sort of link to other films going (such as Iron Man). The reason it is so bad I think is that the CGI just looks rushed - another symptom of Hollywood not making films anymore but making release dates instead. Not even the presence of the rather lovely Liv Tyler (without Elven lugs obviously) could save this one. I must say that the Bill Bixby television series now looks like a flawed classic next to this (if you click on the picture of the hulk above, you can get a minute of pure 1970's nostaligia). Let me just say that until Hollywood learns how to make proper superhero films again (with the quality of say the first two X-Men films or the Christopher Reeves Superman) it should not be allowed to make any. Avoid like a strong dose of Gamma radiation.

Oh dear - I'm staring 40 ever closer in the face. Well, I don't care as I am quite enjoying my life and don't quite feel the need for the mail-order bride or the open topped sports car (the only open topped sports car I could afford would be to convert my own using a junior hacksaw). Talking of gifts, Emma bought me some nice stuff - including a DVD of Family Guy - a programme that I becoming increasingly obesessed with (it's wonderfully offensive and a proper sinful pleasure) - and the DVD of the Genesis tour - in fact I got lots of ace DVD's and other good stuff. I also moved departments at work and got a lovely prezzie from them - a Borders Gift Card. I of course used this for essentials - this is if you consider the entire third season of Family Guy on DVD, The Thick of it on DVD and a new Sandy Denny CD to be essential (I do). Click on the pic of Peter and Lois for the funniest Family Guy clip ever - or if you prefer you can watch a very sweary clip (and the funniest) from The Thick of it (you may want to wait until you are 18 to see the both of these). One day all telly will be this good. Until then we just have to wait for ITV and Sky to stop making telly.

Took Emma to see the latest Batman film - the sequel to the rather spiffing Batman Begins. Now, I feel like the only films I have seen recently have been based on comic books so I was beginning to feel as if I should really get out and see something else for a change. But as I liked the first one so much I could not really resist this one. This one deals with the Joker and Harvey Dent (after having a bit part in the 1989 movie) now becomes Two Face (here Aaron Eckhart plays him). Now before I carry on I will say that I basically liked it - there is a lot to like here: the Heath Ledger performance is so good that even Jack Nicholson looks a bit quaint as the Joker by comparison (talk about ending your career on a high note), the film looks fantastic and the action sequences are very good too. But, and it is an important but, they could have easily lost an hour here or there - or just made two films out of it - one for the Joker and one for Two Face. I liked it - but they could have really made it a bit shorter.

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