Feeling Restless in London & The Rules of Pedestrian Rage

While walking to the tube station in Hounslow I did not enjoy the countless stares of confusion and disdain. I suppose people were not prepared for my comic art themed tights or they were just weird. These strange stares continued when I got on the tube. I didn't understand, I wasn't wearing anything crazy or acting crazy. Worst part was when a middle aged couple sat opposite me kept staring at my tights. They may not have seen them before but there's no excuse for obviously looking at my legs/tights.

When I got to Piccadilly my pedestrian anger kicked it. I am not too fond of over crowded places especially on a Saturday night in central London. I really hate it when you are walking as fast as you can yet its not quite fast enough for the person behind you so they take over. Then as soon as they're in front they slow down so they walking next to you and so you slow down to get rid of them which makes you late for whatever you were hurrying for. The universal rule is you either take over the person in front and walk much faster or you just frak off! You can tell that these people on Saturday did not know this universal rule. In the end I weaved in and out of groups talking in my normal voice "get out of the way fool!'

Finally got to my destination, Ed's Diner where I had an amazing burger and a milkshake with some awesome friends. We were all going to see Gus Van Sant's new film Restless at the BFI London Film Festival.

The story was tragically beautiful. Centered around Enoch, a funeral crashing dropout with a ghost for a friend and tragic past. At a funeral he meets Annabelle, a Darwin enthusiast who has cancer. From there the two fall in love but as with all stories there is far more to it than that. I really loved the characters, I can't remember the last time I had seen a film with such in depth characters. What I mean by this is that their personalities are given depth and were unusual. When was the last time you saw a film where the main character was a teenage naturalist? I really enjoyed this film and story even though it was depressing but not in the way Melancholia was. I strongly recommend this film when it is released.

After a few delicious cocktails I ventured back on the tube and thankfully, less stares this time.

The God of Thunder, a Singing Whale, a Depressed Bride and Mexican Footballers

While still desperately looking work in the industry (TV or Film) I cheered myself up by watching plenty of films and yes, drinking various coffee, tea and fruit teas. Even thought this weather is unbearable I still like to drink my hot drinks.

First film I watched this week was Thor directed by Kenneth Branagh accompanied by strawberry tea and savoury biscuits. I hadn't seen this film since it came out in April and in the weeks leading up to its DVD and Blu-Ray release date I had had cravings to see it again. I needed my Marvel superhero fix. For those who haven't seen it, it based on the Marvel comics' character The Mighty Thor, the God of Thunder. Thor is banished from his homeworld of Asgard by Odin, his Father, and ends up on Earth where he is found by Scientist, Jane Foster. You may remember her from such ridiculous posters as (see below). I really enjoyed this film and I know there are others who didn't. But you have got to see the fun side and as my friend Amy said, the awesome design of the film.

After Thor, later in the week I watched two classics from my childhood which were accompanied by some Irish Cream flavoured coffee. First, The Water Babies (1978) a half action, half animation based the book of the same name. I remember watching this when I was younger but watching it again I had forgotten all of the friends Tom, the chimney sweep hero makes on his travels under water. There's the Scottish lobster, Jack, the exaggerated french swordfish and of course the extremely camp seahorse, Terrence. And when I say camp, I mean camp. When i was younger I probably didn't realise this but watching it now, its actually really funny. I found it on youtube in 7 parts and I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys British 70s films.

The second film, isn't really a film, its a short made by Disney. My ultimate favourite, The Whale Who Sang at the Met aka Willy the Whale. We had a video of this short with three others but its mysteriously missing from our video collection. So I found it on youtube. I love this story of a whale who sings opera. Its the sort of story I wish I could write but then this idea could only work in animation. Rewatching I also thought how incredibly sad and depressing the end is and this is meant to be a children's animation. Go and watch it, you'll see what I mean!

Now for the films I had never seen before. At the cinema I saw Lars Von Trier's Melancholia. As I was in the cinema, the only drink I could enjoy was water, but afterwards I treated myself to an Ed's Diner milkshake, long overdue. The film was incredibly beautiful, the first 10 minutes were slow motion sequences featuring the two main characters, sisters Justine and Claire, Kirstin Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. They way it was filmed reminded me of Tarsem's The Fall as all the opening shots looked like photographs. In Melancholia, they looked like paintings, works of art. The film was very good but very depressing. The first part of the film, everything slowly unravels throughout Justine's wedding day and it is enjoyable to watch but then suddenly there is point where I realsied, this story is depressing. But don't get me wrong, its still a good film. The second half I found myself getting paranoid and worried as story moves away from the depressed Justine and onto to Clair who is scared of the approaching planet, Melancholia. Afterwards when discussing the film, my friend Chris said he didn't understand why Dunst won best actress at Cannes and I agreed. For me Gainsbourg was by far the standout actress in the film. Go see it and see if you agree.

Last night, while sipping some Damson Plum tea I watched Frost/Nixon. When this first came out I wasn't particularly interested as I felt it was just in a long line of films where Micheal Sheen had played a famous person. But after watching, I was wrong. It was tense film on a subject that I didn't know much about so it was also refreshing. If you missed it, I'm sure its on BBC iplayer.

Finally, this morning, while drinking some ordinary coffee, I watched Rudo & Cursi starring two actors I love, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. It is about two brothers who work on a banana plantation and play football for their village team. Both are noticed by a talent scout and are taken to Mexico City to play for different teams. I have had this film on my shelf for two years, waiting for the right time to watch it. It was worth the wait. Being about football was off putting at first but there is hardly any football scenes in the film and only one of them is actually on the pitch. It is more about the brothers and how they cope with coming from a poor background and then how they cope with fame. The ending was a surprise but satisfying. I found out after watching it that it is the sixth top-grossing Mexican film of all time.

Eating Poetry and Poetic Violence?

So today was the Young Poets Network: Poetry Digest Launch which was help in the cafe of The Poetry Society. There was a competition to write a poem on the theme of 'Limelight' and if it won it would be put on a cake, lime flavoured. I missed the deadline but I thought I'd go along to see whats what and of course to eat some cake. It turned out to be a very pleasant event. Some of the winners read their poems out and then we ate the cakes with the words on them and they were delicious! I quite enjoyed the cafe and its decor, especially the light shades which were inscribed with poetry in old fashioned ink. There were also plenty of magazines and books to read while you drank a coffee or tea. The people were lovely, very welcoming and I will definitely go back there next time I'm in London.


And if there is anyone out there who enjoys writing or poetry or both, go have a look and a wonder:
 http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/cafe/

The other part of my day was saved (and had been for months) for Drive, the awesome festival winning film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling. Without giving much away, the film is about a Driver (Ryan Gosling), also his name as its never mentioned at any point in the film, who is a stunt driver, mechanic and caring neighbour by day and a getaway driver by night.

Apart from the fact I was sitting next to two arseholes who asked me to move seats, at the start of the film, because they said they had other people coming (there was a whole free row in front of me, the idiots) and they talked through it too while eating disgusting nuts, I really was absorbed by the film and soon forgot their presence. 

I can't explain how much I love this film or at least I won't be able to explain it in words, I could do it in actions but words just aren't enough. There is hardly any dialogue throughout the film, things are said through expression and glances. To me, it makes the film all the more heartbreaking. It doesn't matter that its violent, it doesn't matter who Driver is and what hes done, he's still a hero, just like the closing song says. The soundtrack was atmospheric and felt like I was watching a 80's noir film, which made me fall in love with the film even more. Noir? Hell yes, I'm there because that's what it was. It had all the noir elements, but to go into this further I would ruin it for people, so I'll say no more. I actually ran over to Fopp to buy the soundtrack only to find it hasn't been released yet. Nicolas Winding Refn deserved that award at Cannes and the film deserves all the good reviews and press because to me, its a rare film and yes, it pretty damn cool too.

I will definitely be going to see again!

An Un-Birthday Tea Party!

Its my 50th post!*

After weeks of preparation it finally arrived! On Saturday was my Un-Birthday Tea Party shindig and my it was fun! I was inspired to have the tea party after looking through 'Everything Alice' a Wonderland book of makes. It has reciepes, hows to make various things for a party and its centered around the theme of Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland.

Started the day off by making biscuits and manically making some Pear and Ginger Cordial. I also quickly put together a Cheshire Cat for a game of 'Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat' just before my first guest arrived. I was also still icing the 'eat me' biscuits when a few more guests arrived.

We all enjoyed plenty of tea, each guest with their own tea cup and saucer, which I had gathered together over the past weeks. Our background music was from Disney's Alice in Wonderland (the awesome animation not the trash Tim Burton one). The Pina Colada fruit tea and the Strawberry tea seemed to be the most popular, Both very delicious. There was also an assortment of savory snacks for everyone to nibble at. After a few cups of tea, we played pass the parcel. And I annoyed everyone with my fancy cellotape because it may have looked nice but very difficult to rip off.

Later into the evening we consumed even more tea and biscuits and played 'Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat'. We ate lots of cake of all kinds, made by me, my sister and my friend. We were all quite full but still managed to try a bit of the 'Drink Me Cordials' I had made. There was Strawberry and Raspberry Refresher that was quite sweet and the Pear & Ginger Cordial which went well with lemonade.

The party was a success and I enjoyed myself immensely! I think I will definitely have another.

*Back in 2011 it was the 50th post

Hand cuffs, Free t-shirts and Live Music

On Tuesday I managed to acquire some tickets to the premiere of British musical festival film You Instead.

Amy and I got to Camden for the premiere at the Odeon thinking it was just a screening until I noticed that the actors were outside (well it was the lead actor's twin brother but I can't tell them apart). We didn't have to wait long before we were allowed to sit in the very hot screen. We squeezed past the photographers taking photos of the actors to get to the room. I managed to tell Amy, 'It's Archie from Monarch of the Glen!' but I think only me and my sister watched it. Anyway, we managed to get seats in the same row as the actors, which was quite cool and then after waiting until the seats filled up, the actors and director came out and introduced the film.

I had heard about the film before but not really delved into my research so it was quite enjoyable to watch. It was set at T in the Park music festival and was about two rock stars who, after an argument, get themselves hand cuffed together. Of course it was predictable and we all knew the ending but it was fun to watch. The lead actors were great, they performed live on stage and in some ways felt like a documentary.

After the film everyone tried as quickly as they could to leave the cinema and make their way to the Camden Barfly. This is because we were all invited to the after party. On our way out  we were given a free t-shirt, some badges and the offer of being hand cuffed while we walked to the Barfly. We declined this offer. When we got there, we were given two free drinks and all crammed into the small venue.

A singer who appeared in the film was first to perform, a very quiet, soulful lady who played a strange instrument, it looked like a mini xylophone. Next were a band, The Great Gatsby, who had won a competition. They were quite fun, I enjoyed their music but some of their songs felt a bit samey. Then Luke Treadaway himself got up on stage a performed acoustic versions of the songs in the film, I particularly liked the song You Instead. Lastly Natalia Tena, the lead actress, performed on stage with her band (not from the film, her actual band) Molotov Jukebox who were awesome. Besides guitars and drums, they had a trumpet, violin and she played the accordion. The music was great, it was a mix of ska, punk, gyps and pop. It got most people who could move, dancing, including me and Amy. But sadly we had to leave to catch our last train home.

It was great night! If you fancy seeing the film, You Instead is out 16th September and here is the website http://www.youinstead.com/

Postcards from the Edge (of Berlin)

As I might have mentioned before in a previous post, I have a habit of picking up free postcards, leaflets, free magazines, even if I haven't visited or seen the things advertised. In my recent trip, for my 22nd Birthday, to Berlin, this was no different. Anywhere where we (me and my sister) went I picked up something, if there was something to pick up. I found myself, firstly looking at the awesome places we visited then secondly eyeing up the leaflet stands. There were also an awful lot of places to buy postcards and not tourist type cards but quirky, cool and arty cards, so I of course had a great time buying many postcards.

A more detailed post about Berlin will follow soon . . .