Superman Returns

I thought I'd already put a review up for this, but clearly not; Proof perhaps that I'm finally starting to lose my marbles.

I wasn't going to see this film as it looked a bit gay, but then I saw the trailer where Superman is shot in the eye and thought I'd give it a chance. The last time I was blown away by an effect in a movie was in T2 years ago.

The film has Superman and Clarke Kent both returning back to Metropolis after a 5 year absence (why no-one noticed the coincidence, I don't know). Lex Luthor (played very well by Kevin Spacey) finds Superman's icey abode and a recording of the late Marlon Brando that reveals Superman's weakness (the sort of thing you would leave lying around of course).

He then devises a plot to build a new continent out of Kryptonite where he can take over the world without red pant man interfering. Of course Superman finds a way around this and saves the day, just as all Superheroes do.

The film is actually alright. Brandon Routh does at times look like Christopher Reeve (without the wheelchair) so I guess he's done OK. Kate Bosworth doesn't really pull off Lois Lane that well, perhaps because I spent the movie trying to decide whether she was nicer as a blonde or a brunette. Its Spacey that steals the camera though, which is hardly a surprise.

I also chose to see this at the IMAX in Waterloo and it as well as having a super large screen, some of the scenes were shown in 3D, which was pretty cool.

Another case of Big Brother?

It could be nothing more than a security measure but its an interesting article. I have a $20 bill left over from my holiday that I'm contemplating zapping, just out of curiousity.

RFID Tags in New US Notes Explode When You Try to Microwave Them

What'll happen to Peter Crouch now?

Looks like there's still plenty of opportunity outside the England football team should he not be picked next time around.

Blue Man Group

I had seen Blue Man Group before in 2002 at Las Vegas. They now have a show in London and I had been umming and ahhing about going again for weeks. With a night off of support on Thursday I thought I'd be spontaneous and go along.

For those that haven't seen them its hard to describe what they do without belittling their act but it is definitely worth seeing just because it is so different. Not much of it had changed since the last time I'd seen them but it didn't matter, as it was all good. There aren't many shows that insist on the front rows wearing ponchos. A taster of how mad this show gets.

They're best described as a percussionist trio who incorporate audio visual tricks into their acts. You've never seen anyone catch marshmallows as well as one of the troop, who doesn't even have time to swallow them before the next one is thrown his way. They make music from plumbing and also have routines with TVs for heads. See I said it wouldn't sound that impressive.

The finale sequence, which I'm not going to spoil here, completely blew me away, exactly as it did the last time I saw it. The music had changed this time however from KLF's "Last Train to Transcentral" to Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" but it didn't matter. Everyone left the venue with the same look of euphoria on their faces as I remember last time.

Its definitely worth seeing, if you are looking for things to do in London. I'm seriously considering going again.

Another stick man animation

This one is really clever involving a fight in the Flash application deviantART

StreetWars

I think this looks like a lot of fun. As a fan of Flashmobs its good to see stuff like this going on. Alas I think I live too far out of the battlezone to take park, but I'm checking just in case.

StreetWars: A 3 week long, 24/7, watergun assassination tournament

Inspired Lyrics

Not safe for work and unlikely to be played on the radio anytime soon.YouTube - Fuck the shit

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest

Another of the big Summer blockbusters and part two in the Disney-Ride-Now-A-Movie trilogy (excluding Haunted Mansion).

Depp, Bloom and Knightly (sounds like a solicitor's firm) are back for more hi-jinx on the high sea. In this lengthy episode all three dupe each other to obtain a key to the legendary Davy Jones Locker, alas not a place to keep his clothes dry whilst he goes swimming but a little chest buried on an island in the middle of the ocean.

Depp camps it up as he did in the first film, Knightly plays the boyish heroine quite well and Orlando Bloom sucks for the majority of the film. In fact he only seems watchable when he has a sword in his hand making the most of his traning from Lord of the Rings. If they want a better performance out him in the third movie they should give him pointy ears and a bow.

The set pieces are ridiculous yet entertaining. Whever dreamt up the fruit kebab pole vault sequence must have been on something at the time. A fight on a rolling wheel is also funny but absurd.

The ending does end on a slight cliffhanger, but we're not talking about the end of Lost or anything as bad as that. It does also nicely introduce a character from the first film to lead us into the third, a nice touch that brings the trilogy together.

Another 2 minutes?

Well today was the 1 year anniversary of the London bombings and being the puppets to the Government and Media that we all are we had to give up two minutes of our time to think about those that died.

Firstly I don't like to be told what to do like this. Secondly the people who died, as unfortunate as it was, were not known to me nor to anyone I know. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and being blown up does not make them heroes or worthy of my time. Why should I think about people I don't know?

I have no problem putting aside a couple of minutes when the cause warrants it e.g. those that died for their country during two World Wars but these little media exercises dilute the genuine moments of reflection such as those.

This started to annoy me last year when someone decided that Ken Bigley was entitled to as much time as the World War commemoration. This man ignored Foreign Office advice in pursuit of quick monetary gain and ended up dead, and because of that he deserves a moment of my time? Not a chance. The same is true of the London bombings.

Why celebrate the one day that the terrorists got one over us? We never did this in the 80s when the IRA was launching its terror campaign on the mainland; we just moved on and returned to our lives to show that their actions did not affect us.

The Evening Standard ran a headline today "Commuters defy bombers". How sensationalist is that? I doubt anyone woke up and thought "I'm going to work today to show the bombers that I'm not scared". I think you'll find that most commuters went to work because they had to.

So how did I spend my two minutes today? On the toilet. In Spain they recently gave five minutes to victims of a train crash caused by a driver exceeding the limit. If we start spending that much time here I'm going to have to take a paper into the toilet with me.

Banlieue 13 (District 13)

Time to get back into the routine of seeing movies now that I'm back from the US.
This French flick is set in the future and tells of an area of Paris segregated from the rest of the city by a huge wall. Within that wall crime is rife and a man framed by a corrupt police force is partnered up with an elite cop to find and defuse a bomb that will mean an end to them all.

The plot is tosh to be honest but the action sequences more than make up for it. Mixing martial arts with parkour, or freerunning as its more commonly known the director has managed to put together a film with plenty of pace that can leave you breathless, and that's just from watching it.

If you like your action and can handle subtitles then you'll enjoy this.

I'm back!

Just a quick post because I know I've not put anything up here in a while.
America was a great trip and when I find the time I'm currently going through the pictures for my report.
Expect to have something up here in a couple of weeks.

America, here I come.

I'm now just 24 hours away from making my way over to New York for 4 weeks of travelling and theme parks.

The first half of the trip is with the club and we'll be taking in the following parks.
Astroland Coney Island
Six Flags New England
Lake Compounce
Six Flags Great Adventure
Dorney Park
Knoebels
Hersheypark
Lakemont
Idlewild
Kennywood
Geauga Lake
Cedar Point
Wyandot Lake
Paramount's King's Island
Holiday World
Beech Bend
Dollywood
Six Flags Over Georgia

There are supposed to be at least 3 surprise parks of which I know 2, but I'm not going to post them here in case other participants are reading. That means you Chris!

I then have 2 days in Atlanta where I'm hoping to relax in the company of a good friend, you know who you are! I've been told that Stone Mountain is a good place to unwind.

After that I then meet another friend (HEY KEITH!!) and we're driving up to his home town of New York. Not directly though, along the way we'll hopefully be stopping at.
Paramount Carowinds.
Myrtle Beach
Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Europe, whatever its called this week.
Paramount's King's Dominion
Six Flags America

The last few days will be spent sightseeing around New York.

It's going to be some holiday. Around 16 states and about 170 roller coasters in all.


Woooohooooo!!!!

Special FX-Men 3

Of all the comic book movie adaptations, the X-Men movies have been my favourite (oh except for the original Darkman movie, which rocked!). This chapter tells the story of a company that market a cure to the mutant gene by tapping into a mutant boy called "leech", who should have had green skin if they were staying true to the comic.

With the mutant community divided on whether to take the cure or not (including some of the X-men team) Magneto takes the opportunity to begin an uprising against the "homo-sapiens". Seeing this as a threat the military then decide to fight back. Who will prevail this time?

Along with the main thread you have some side stories too. Jean Grey is back after apparently dying in the 2nd movie, but she's come back as someone, or something else. You can tell this by her moody pout. There is the fire and ice rivalry between Iceman and Pyro. Some jealousy from Rogue towards Shadowcat (who I like in this) and the obligatory "is Wolverine part of the team or not" thread.

There are some surprises in the film, noticeably the writing out of some of the major players; not that I'll mention them here, go and see the film if you want to know. There are plenty of new mutants in this film, they've really crammed them in, its just a shame that some of them are fodder in the final scenes. My favourite character from the comics was Psylocke and she's in this but blink and you'll miss her. Nightcrawler who was introduced in the last movie isn't even in this one at all. Mystique isn't in this too much but we do get Beast to restore the blue character balance. Angel who features prominently in the trailer and posters isn't in this too much either. What you end up with is lots of material spread thinly.

With so many characters, the film does become a bit cluttered but what it lacks in character back stories it makes up in effects. They've gone ridiculously over the top in this film. The final sequence with Magneto moving the Golden Gate Bridge is stunning, but wasn't it the Brooklyn Bridge in the comics? Some of the Jean Grey/Phoenix morphs are cleverly done too.

Is this the last of the X-Men movies? I'm not sure. Whilst the film is being marketed as such there is plenty of material to tap into to keep the franchise going and some new characters introduced this time round to develop in the next should there be one. Be sure to watch the film to the end of the trailers though, there's an extra scene which may shed some light as to whether we see another film or not.

80s Videos

Someone has compiled a list of links to 80s videos.

Click Here

Little London Jaunt

Nothing to do today so thought I'd pop into town to take pics whilst the rain fell down.

The Golden Hind was sailed by Francis Drake in the 16th Century. This however is a replica made to fool the tourists.

This is what's left of Winchester Palace built in the 12th Century. At what point does a building become a ruin?

On Clink St. is an old prison, which is where the name "clink" for jails comes from, and there was I thinking it was from the sound the chains made.

The Anchor was where Ethan Hunt celebrated with his mates after successfully recovering stolen NARC files from some double agents on their way to France.

The Globe was where Shakespeare plays were originally performed. This however is a replica made to fool the tourists.

The Tate Modern full of lots of pieces of art that I can't explain.

St. Pauls and the Millennium Bridge leading to it.

The Turbine Hall in the Tate Gallery wasn't being used today.

Millennium Bridge

Inside the Tate, not allowed to take pics inside it though.

On the bridge, not wobbling on this occasion.

Tower Bridge away in the distance, I didn't walk to it on this occasion.
Canary Wharf is beyond that to the left, I never walk to that.

Tate Modern from the Bridge.

Closer to St. Pauls. The drawing effect is a large screen covering the renovation going on behind it. Nice area for skateboarders.

Confusing sign pointing in the wrong direction to the bridge, which can be seen in the background.

St Pauls from the front with a Queen Victoria Statue in front of it.

Recently renovated Paternoster Square not far from St. Pauls.
Nice of the Swedish couple to walk into shot!

Quite cool sundial overlooking the square. Can't tell you if it works, it was too overcast today.

I have no idea what this piece of modern art is trying to say.

Nice little amphitheatre close to St Pauls.

Statue of Icarus made by Michael Ayrton in 1973. It used to look more detailed but it melted when it flew too close to the sun.

Tribute to the Fireman who were to chicken to fight in the wars and stayed behind to put bombed buildings on fire out. The guy on the right has a double jointed elbow.

In the 80s Glen A Larson was sightseeing in London when he had inspiration for a series about a guy and a talking car who fight crime. He was in this pub at the time...Allegedly

You're not going to be grinding these rails, skater punks.

Some police and a couple of shifty looking paparazzi dudes compare notes on protective headwear.

Arty shot of the bridge from underneath. Filthy isn't it!

Under the bridge, some weird piece of art in tribute to scientific measurement, yawn!

More shifty people hanging about, there's something about to go on here that I don't know about..........or do I?

More people turning up and they're wearing Peta shirts.
Guys are getting their cameras out, so it has to be happening soon.

More people turning up and they don't seem to be wearing too much.
They are however wearing the animal masks.
Looks like some sort of protest is about to take place here.

Well, these people are brave. It was freezing and raining.

Once people were in position they'd lose their clothes/towels/robes before the protest started properly.

Here you go, the protest underway. According to the leaflets being handed out, the protest was aimed at the Royal Guards using real bear skins to make their um bearskins.

The 4 placard holders took it turn to shout out slogans advocating not killing bears for the Queen. The others just laid still and caught colds.

If you're interested in the cause Peta advocate you contact the Queen's private secretary, the Prince of Wales or Secretary of State for Defence John Reid. I think the leaflet was out of date as John Reid is no longer in that role.

I wonder what kind of show Glen A Larson would have come up with if he'd been sightseeing today. "London Bums" a show about a cockney cop and his talking bum that fight crime.

Nelson's Column today. A lot of money was spent building a waterproof curtain which is dropped whenever the rain gets bad. They're thinking of rolling this out around all the London landmarks.

In amongst Whitehall where all the Government offices are. I was wondering if this is the Ministry of the Interior, perhaps thats why I'm not allowed to look in.

The London Eye on a typically overcast London day.

The Hungerford Bridge, which runs alongside Waterloo Rail Bridge.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament both restored back to their former glories after that masked terrorist and his bald assistant blew both up.

The South Bank where skateboard kids fumble their kick flips and bmx kids learn to ride up slopes then roll back in reverse.

Those interested in more cerebral pursuits can buy a book. Imagine being the guy who has to pack this lot up!

Gabriel's Wharf where Gabriel (whoever he was) did some Wharfing (whatever that is)

Blackfriars Bridge with St. Pauls Cathedral behind it.

Another Cathedral not too far away. This is the Gothic Southwark Cathedral built in 1212. This is the real deal and isn't a fake to fool the tourists.