The Cinema

I love the magic of going to the cinema. It has never lost it's mystical air, and tonight I enjoyed it more than I have in a while.

I'm just back from seeing The Prestige, starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine, to name but a few. In brief, the movie was awesome. Definately one of the highlights of the year so far. Beautifully and skillfully shot, with an astonishingly well crafted story that dispite a non-linear method of story-telling, numerous moments of misdirection and some neat little twists never looses the viewer. The acting is, as one might expect from such a great cast, second-to-none. Everyone plays their part with finesse and talent, further strengthening the movies impact.

[Note: Please do not read too much about the movie if you are planning on going to see it. While searching for something about it I found a review that kind of ruins one of the key elements in the story. I had not read anything, nor had I sen any trailers beforehand. I went in fresh and enjoyed it more because of it. The Prestige really is a movie that greatly benefits from not knowing what to expect right from the start. Like the illusions it is about, often knowing the trick destroys the magic.]

Tonight was, apart from preview screnenings last night, the opening shows and so we watched it in an almost full theatre. The power and energy in the room was fantastic. The crowd thrilled, laughed and gasped at all the right parts in unison. During the moments of spectacular revelations, or the pinnacle of an illusion the crowd sat in hushed silence. I especially enjoyed the gasp of dismay that met the words "Not tonight".

Recently I seemed to end up at movies that have either been out for a while, or simply did not capture the general publics interest and the numbers were low. It's just not the same. I don't like watching things alone. I enjoy other peoples reactions as much as I enjoy the flickering images on-screen. I love big crowds.

Next week is Casino Royale, Bond turns 21. Now he can legally drink in most American states. I, along with Claire, will be going to what will surely be a packed out preview screening. boy, am I looking forward to it!

[Brief edit: I am waaaaaay to tired to finish this as I really want to, as well as do a proper spell and grammer check. I'll try to get one done as soon as possible. Until then, sorry. I hate seeing them too.]

Woah. Long Break

It's been almost a month since my last post. Sorry about that. The reason has mostly been because I'm crazy busy with my work experience, which I'm still loving. In fact, it seems to get better every morning. The sucky part is the diary writing. Yawn!

Also, my life has been pretty much "wake work, write, sleep", repeat daily for a while now. I'm getting very run down, though I try not to show that in class. Even when I feel good I can tell when my body is begining to give up. I've been getting dry patches of skin, black bags under my eyes, yawning constantly and more. Oh well.

Anyway, I can't promise anything, but I'll try to update a little more often.

A Lesson in History

This is frikkin awesome.



The ending was a hilarious surprise. Though I thought it would be cool to do, I didn't think they'd actually do it!!

The Big 5-0-0!

No. Not 500 posts! That's crazy talk. Though this post is my 76th, so I am 3/4s of the way to my centennial post!

Nope, I now have over 500 photos in my Flickr page! Though a lot of those are of toys rather than friends, I think over half are in fact of real people. So I'm not too embarrassed! That said, however, the actually 500th photo was indeed of an action figure!

Blogger Update

Though I doubt those of you reading will see many changes, Blogger has got into a Beta update, and I, ever the adventurous one, went along for the ride and swapped over. I can now add tags to my posts to make particular topics easier to find.

Er... so far, that's it. Oh well. If other cool stuff comes to light, I'll let my loyal fans know about it!

Back In College

So I apologise for not updating my blog lately, but I've been super busy. I started my third year work experience last week. I'm working in a preschool with children ranging from late two's to four year olds.

And I love it!

Every minute is awesome. Every tiny event is a joy to see. All the developement, all the practical examples of that boring, boring theory. I love working with the kids and the adult staff, of which there are only two others!

But, boy is it tiring. I get home, usually around 4 and go for a two hour nap. Then up and have dinner, cooked for me while I am unconscious, and I'm back in bed and out like a light before 11 most nights!

There's just no time for posting. Which is a pity, because I have to write a daily diary and I thought I could start a blog about it, so it's obvious if I fall behind. Plus, there might be a few people interested in reading it. My diary for college has to be 100% confidential, so no names of children, adults, area, school, anything. So I don't see the problem with posting it on a blog. It would allow people to make constructive observations about the theory and practice, and help me in better understanding events through a fresh pair of eyes.

Yawn... Maybe I'll start that this week... or next...

Oh For Crying Out Loud

I gave you guys the benefit of the doubt when I last complained about the PS3 and Sony, but their new advertising campaign is just ridiculous. Not only does it portray Sony as child abductors using sweet flying "3"s, but come on!! We have all agreed that the PS3 is not a childs console.

$700 people!

Seven Hundred!

And that price, evidently, is because of all those "neato" features no-one that ad is aimed at cares about.

I know the machine can do everything but make you dinner (though if the Nintendo DS cooking game really takes off, who knows!!), but children only see and want a games console. Free from Santa too. With Christmas around the corner, cost is not an issue. It's not like your parents have to pay for the damn thing.

Gaah!!