Fight Club (1999).

After seeing the cast, I was excited already: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter. I am really going to try get through some of the films on my computer as I am running out of space on my hard drives.. :( Anyways, Fight Club is about the narrator (Norton), who is stuck in a boring, lifeless existence until he meets Tyler Durden (Pitt) on the aeroplane of a business trip. Together, after a random brawl, they form Fight Club, an illegal underground boxing club in the basement of a bar, which begins to attract more and more men of the narrator’s mindset. Marla Singer (Carter), who first knew Norton’s nameless character as they used to go to support groups for kicks, becomes involved with Tyler, though she is kept secret from Fight Club (Rule #1: No one talks about Fight Club. Rule #2: No one talks about Fight Club.). Basically, the whole Fight Club concept spirals out of control, and the club gradually turns into some kind of anarchist army vandalising and destroying buildings. Near the end of the film, it is revealed that Tyler Durden is actually a figment of the narrator’s imagination, controlling the narrator when he is asleep. This part of the film really took me by surprise, as the film suddenly turns from dark action thriller to some psychologically confusing drama. Director David Finchner subtly hints at the turn of events. For example, Tyler turns up in the narrator’s life before he meets him, like he is being built up in his subconscious. In the Fight Club, there are also few shots of Tyler Durden and Norton’s character are together in, suggesting more that they are not separate people. Cinematography is also pretty impressive. There’s a very grimy, dark feel to the film which is done really well with the actions shots during the fights and whatnot. The three leads are also in their prim:. Brad Pitt as the mischief-making club leader which provides slight comic-relief throughout the film, Edward Norton as the tortured, brooding, disturbed office worker, and Helena Bonham Carter as the dishevelled, chain-smoking mess (but pulls it off wonderfully with her dazed-out look she seems to have in all her roles). Yeah, I really liked this film, a great cast and an interesting finale.

I Would Totally Buy This.

Perfect for drunk calling. Why bother thinking about who to call when it’s done for you? Can you say stocking filler? (Yeah, places are selling Christmas stuff already, it’s stupid, Halloween hasn’t been yet!) Late night laughs, yeah.

I have rediscovered the fountain pen today, as I found my old one in my desk. I really miss writing in nice ink as opposed to shitty biro ink. Anything you write looks so intellectual. Like a list of stuff to do when I get to Bath on Saturday :)

Also they have un-cancelled the management unit I wanted to do so now I don’t have to do Public Finance, and can do Economic Analysis of Financial Decisions (Corporate Finance and Stats, basically). Hopefully I can cruise through this unit this term :D

Last Week at Home…

Until I head off to Bath again for second year of Economics. Also featuring placement applications and a shitload of coursework. No matter, I am equipped with a suit for such matters, so that I can SUIT UP Barney Stinson style (which will hopefully get me through the interviews). Yes, I am now up-to-date with How I Met Your Mother, which I started watching last week or so.. 4 seasons and the new one of season 5. Where Barney and Robin kind of get together and it’s sooo cute laa! ah it’s fabulous. Barney being my favourite character, some of his lines are just amazing. (Oh, and I realise this picture is out of date..). I’m going to buy a nice expensive suit after I am debt-free from parents and have enough money for one… :)))) Probably not anytime soon unfortunately.

It feels kind of weird not writing for so long so I felt the need to fill the void. My last week or so has been rather eventful and busy; went to London for the weekend which was “fabulous”. Ahh, I don’t know, I’m kind of restless now just waiting to move down south(er) again. I keep thinking about packing but I guess I’ll just do that on Friday, since packing too far in advance usually means I’ll forget something.. and packing last minute means I won’t.. ofcourse.

So.. my family are planning some fuck-off-amazing trip in China JUST when I head off to Uni, possibly going to the Maldives also.. which is one of my dream holiday places. Ergh. It makes me jealous much.

OH, I bought a cookbook. Gonna be all over that hopefully. (Given time, money, effort.) I got new insights into life ‘n’ such. Chyeah. :)

New Vampire Weekend album!

Literally can’t wait for some more ukelele-NYC-indie-infused happiness. It’s out January 2010.. such a long time, but hopefully it’ll make winter days that bit more lovely when it’s released.

I remember when I first heard them on Marsha’s Xfm show in 2006 or something when she gave Mansard Roof a spin on the airwaves. I thought it was fabulous. Then later in 2008 when they released their album I was glad it was received so well. Seeing them at Reading Festival 2008 NME tent was totally amazing. Mansard Roof was the first song they played – the beginning of the song made the whole crowd erupt, funtimes. Can’t wait to see them again after this album! Kind of scared of overhyping myself but after their contribution to “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist”, I am expecting something just as good, if not better than their debut.

Here is Ottoman, from Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist.

非常完美 Sophie’s Revenge (2009).

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Hero; Memoirs of A Geisha; The Banquet – all films which I associate strongly with Zhang Ziyi, one of my favourite Chinese actresses. I was really quite surprised to see her do this romantic comedy called Sophie’s Revenge, which she also co-produced. The fierce, strong, sword-slashing, heroic characters often linked with Zhang turns into a clumsy, eccentric comic artist called Sophie who has just been dumped by her financé Jeff, swapping for the diva film star Joanna (Fan Bingbing – from 环珠格格 – yes, I get excited when I see actors from that show because it was the best everrr). Thus Sophie embarks on a series of schemes to break the new couple up and get Jeff back; with the help of Gordon, who she assumes to be Joanna’s ex. The plot is so, so predictive: Gordon falls in love with the adorable Sophie, she is oblivious to his feelings, he is actually Joannas’s brother, he confesses his feelings blahblah. But there are some slightly less cliché rom com plot lines which I shall leave in mystery. This South Korean-Chinese co-production has no doubt some elements of a Korean drama (sigh), particularly with the poor girl chasing rich guy with superstar girlfriend storyline. Admittedly K-dramas are kind of a guilty pleasure in small doses.. One charming thing about this film is the CGI that they use, bringing illustrations to life, as well as portraying Sophie’s emotional distress in a comedic way. The wardrobe in this is absolutely fantastic, Joanna’s character has so many amazing costumes, and Sophie has her own array of adorable outfits, except for the horrible baby blue tracksuit she wears to the gym.. It just makes me miss China and some of the amazing fashions you come across there. Zhang Ziyi really shines in this film, playing a comedy character convincingly, without making her completely over the top or unrealistic – just shows that she is a jack of all trades. The other main characters fit nicely around her, though I feel the ex-fiancé isn’t played out as much as he could be, as I would have like to have felt less sorry for him at the end. An uplifting film, I hope to see Zhang in some more like this, though maybe a character with some more substance inside, not just outside :P

Oh, that other one from 环珠格格 is also in this – Ruby Lin (geez where the fuck are all these English names coming from :/) – who plays some slutty best friend, lols.

There’s something about Chinese films that just makes me feel *yay*. I think it’s got something to understand the speech and the subtitles, and realising that it’s better without subs as you lose some in translation. Makes me miss China a lot. My parents are going again soon, when uni starts. Dad’s work decided to send him to Shanghai for some work for 2 weeks during the time he asked off. Arghh, I wish uni never got in the way of travel opportunities :(

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

In preparation for the release of the film adaptation - directed by Peter Jackson, no doubt! – I read this book in the past month or so. In America, parents actually complained about this book in school libraries as it was more appropriate for an adult audience, not a young one, as the opening describes how Susie Salmon, a 14 year old is raped and killed. The book is narrated by Susie, from heaven, as she watches her friends and family grow up follow the tragic incident of her death. This novel not only tackles the social issues of death and bereavement, but also trust, love, friendship and growing up. Sebold writes in a way that lets you feel the emotions that Susie’s family go through as their lives go on. Reading from Susie’s point of view, you can see each family member’s distresses, but cannot do anything about it. You genuinely feel Susie’s frustration, especially as the police fail to find her killer. The writing style is really interesting, jumping from one thought to another, yet it all interlinks wonderfully. My imagination was rather limited when reading this as I saw the trailer for this film first so I had some faces – primarily that of Susie Salmon (who is that little girl from Atonement!). I found the ending quite surprising, as I didn’t expect anything big to really happen, but it was very uplifting. Despite her age, you can sense Susie growing up as her family does, as she sees them go through obstacles in life that she would otherwise not be able to. All in all, this was an excellent read and I can’t wait to see the film!

Insect Bites

So just before we got on the plane from Italy to England, I got these two bites on my ankle. And today, they have swollen up a bit so I am beginning to think I am having some kind of allergic reaction to them. I didn’t even know there were mosquitoes in Italy?! Which are apparantly rather venomous?! Idk, All I can say is FUCK YOU, ALLERGY PRONE-BODY. They itched like fuck all throughout my work shift so people thought I was a bit special. I hate fat ankles! Other news, I actually got my tips on time this week, :) Met some more interesting peoples, la. I love how it feels like Sunday but it’s not, and then it’s Sunday tomorrow and it’s like yayyyyy.

/crap.

 

Italy – Florence and Pisa, 9th/10th.

Thanks to Ryanair, plane tickets were only £20 return. Of course the outgoing flight was at 6.45am, and the closest National Express coach to Stansted left at 2.20am, getting to the airport at 4.00. *yay* Surprisingly a lot of duty-free shops were open, namely HMV where I kind of impulse bought an iPod classic, at last. I have actually toyed with the idea often, never really giving in but it was about £25 cheaper so what the hell. Unfortunately I didn’t have my laptop so was unable to use it during the trip which kind of made me impatient… At the airport, the earliest flight that day was at 6.05 so everyone there was just waiting for at least 2 hours til their flight. Yay discount airlines. I was kind of horrified to find that Ryanair didn’t give you free food on the flight and everything was so crap but hey, you get what you pay for. After a 2 hour flight, some amazing views of the English countryside, the French alps and the Mediterranean sea, we touched down at Pisa Galileo Galilei International Airport (Retarded name I know). We hitched a bus to Florence for €10 (only later did we find out train was actually cheaper, silly Terravision for ripping us off!). Florence is a small city. We did not really know exactly how small til about an hour or so later, we had already walked (and gotten lost) in most of the labyrinth that is the town centre. The streets are mostly pedestrianised, and all of them look like little back alleys, giving Florence wonderful character. The maze of streets is so abundant that if you took a wrong turning you could probably find your way to your destination anyway just be going in the general direction. Shuttered, window-boxed buildings line all the narrow passages, in a truly traditional Italian style. Most of the shops sell Italian leather goods, gelato or pizza/pasta. What impressed me a lot about Florence as well as Pisa is the lack of commercialisation. No Starbucks. No chain restaurants. Probably saw 3 McDonalds in total on the trip, but that was the most branded thing that we saw. Of course designer shops line the main streets in Florence, United Colors of Benetton featuring a surprising amount. So despite being purely tourist cities, Florence and Pisa have actually maintained a very domestic economy which is encouraging in these times of globalisation. Anyways. In the day that we were in Florence, we managed to go to most (and if not all) the important attractions in the city, such as the Uffizi Gallery, Duomo, Santa Maria Novella, Battistero, many Piazzas, Ponte Vecchio,  Palazzo Pitti and Piazzale Michelangelo. Fortunately, we had booked tickets in advance for the Uffizi Gallery as the queue looked literally hours long, so we managed to skip that. :) I think I would have appreciated more of the stuff in the gallery if I were an art or art history student but nonetheless some of the paintings were really fantastic. Ponte Vecchio is the only other bridge in the world, apart from Pulteney Bridge in Bath(..!) that has shops on both sides, so I am somewhat proud that I have been on both :) All the shops on the bridge were jeweller’s, selling arrays of gold and sparkling jewels. Mopeds are also highly featured in this city, if you’re not going to get run over by a car it’s going to most likely be someone on a moped mowing you down.. There is a high level of diversity too in Florence, in terms of the locals, as of course there are many tourists from all over the world. The weather on the first day was fabulous, couldn’t have asked for better to be honest. The last stop we made was Piazzale Michelangelo, a high point of the city, overlooking the whole of Florence. The view is absolutely breathtaking, postcard perfect. After all the sightseeing, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant… (lols). It is now official. All Chinese restaurants run by Chinese people = bad service, and hate it when you order tap water. The food was pretty tasty but we were there for wayyy too long. The translations on the menu into italian were pretty impressive as it’s kind of hard to describe what things like dumplings are in italian, so they were just on there as ravioli.. Haha. One of my favourite places was Festival del Gelato. The most wonderful ice cream shop I have ever been in. About 20 flavours, if not more, behind a neon shop sign and beautifully presented tubs. Italian ice cream is just so much better than the stuff we have here. Creamier texture and wonderful flavourings, I’d say well worth the price. Whilst we were in Florence I think we went to this place about 4 times.. So amazing. Like all cities, you get the beggars trying to get money off tourists whilst dressed as weird white-faced nuns…? Kind of scary but we were not harassed. Once you are out of the main city centre area, Florence is rather quiet, full of small cafés, bars and shops, all kind of hidden away. Really quite magical.  There is also a lack of big supermarkets in the area, just little ones which are hidden away, much like everything else in this city. Oh, and everyone speaks English to some degree, so no need to be multilingual :)

The next day, we left Florence at around 10.30am for a train back to Pisa. BBC Weather had said today would be “heavy rain”. Yeah, screw that, the sun was as bright as anything. Pisa, much smaller than Florence also has its culture reflected in its old buildings and hidden shops and cafés. Most of the streets are very bare in terms of people, everyone is mostly concentrated around the Piazza del Duomo where the tourist attractions are and the main high street. With no map, we kind of just walked towards the vague direction of the Piazza, and arrived at the west entrance. The area is kind of a new place in the city, the buildings a grander and white, with loads of small touristy stalls lining the road leading up to the tower. The first thing we saw was the Duomo – the baptistery. A single huge domed building. The cathedral is then behind it, then the tower in it’s not-as-tall-as-I-thought-it-would-be glory. Everything was just so white! And with the bright Mediterranean sunshine, everything seemed to kind of glow. Tickets were bought for the tower, duomo and cathedral (museums and cemeteries may be omitted). We had to hang around a bit to climb the tower as earlier slots were already booked up. First we went inside the Duomo. Pretty impressive, especially the acoustics as an assistant demonstrated. The cathedral was even more grand. The interior was decorated with huge paintings, wonderful sculptures and awesome architecture. Definitely spent too long taking pictures in here..! The stained glass windows were also really beautiful. The leaning tower of Pisa has 300 or so steps. At first it’s kind of disorientating as you are climbing slanted stairs upwards and it makes you lean this way and that. From the top of the tower, the view is breathtaking, I tried taking some photos to make a 360 degree panoramic which I have to attempt later.. There are also mountains in north Tuscany which can be seen from the tower, they provided a lovely backdrop to the city view. Dinner today was more traditional, some delicious seafood risotto. Yummy. More random city trips please.

Goodbye England, Salve Italy!

YES, I am packing and leaving. And I shall return on Thursday/Friday. Lol, it will be so short-lived but I hope to return brimming full of cultured-ness. And lots of ice-cream ;D I have strategically chosen items of clothing in order to pack as lightly as possible and to cover almost all weather circumstances, methinks this is rather fab on my part, though those of you that know me better know that I love nothing more than to plan things to the finest detail yet leaving small spaces for some spontanaeity/disaster. Har. I shall now try to get some sleep before the coach to Stansted airport which leaves just past 2am… Though doubt that will happen and I will probably turn into some kind of twitchy psycho on very little sleep. Look forward to it! Arrivederci for now.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

Directed by Gavin Hood, this film tells the story of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), a mutant bit claws coming out of his knuckles. All in HD once again, I really can’t get enough of it. I think I regret not getting my laptop with a blu-ray disk drive but I guess that would mean I actually have to PAY for films.. x) Anyways, the film begins in the past, where a young James Howlet sees his father murdered by a groundskeeper at their house, causing his mutation to surface. As he avenges his father’s death through his rage and uncontrollable anger, the groudskeeper Thomas Logan reveals that he is actually young Jimmy’s father. Jimmy flees with his brother Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) and end up fighting in the American Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. With the power of regeneration, they are able to live immortally. Victor, the more violent of the two kills a superior officer, and with Jimmy defending him, both are sentenced to execution (though with their powers of regeneration this isn’t really a problem). The brothers are then approached by Major William Stryker (Danny Huston), offering them to work as part of Team X, a group of mutants, played by Ryan Reynolds, Will.i.am and Dominic Monaghan amongst others ^_^ Something about seeing familiar faces always makes me feel *yay*. Anyway, after a while, Jimmy leaves Team X as he starts to question their actions. Skip forward to 6 years later, Jimmy is a lumberjack (lol) now under the name Logan, living with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (a mutant’s name if I ever saw one). Stryker finds Logan and warns him that someone is killing members of Team X. It is revealed that Victor is the one doing the damage, and after Kayla is murdered and losing a fight to Victor, Logan agrees to let Stryker coat his skeleton with adamantium, an almost indestructible metal compound. Scenes here will be very familiar as they appear in much of the other X-men films. As the experiment is proven successful, Stryker orders for Wolverine’s memory to be erased, but he escapes (stark nekkkkiddd) before they can do anything. So now with super sharp claws, Wolverine is on the hunt for Stryker, Victor, and “The Island”, where they seem to be collecting mutants from all over for some kind of Weapon XI. After questioning previous Team X members, he discovers that Remy LeBeau aka Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) escaped from the facility and thus knows the location of Three Mile Island. After a fight with Victor and Gambit, Logan is taken to the island by Gambit, where he discovers that Kayla is actually alive. Not only that, she is also a mutant who can persuade any human she touches. Victor asks Stryker to also be coated in admantium, but Stryker refuses, and says the procedure would kill him. After a final fight between the two brothers, Logan cannot bring himself to kill his brother, and instead helps Kayla free the other captured mutants. Stryker lets  loose his Weapon XI – which is in fact his son Wade (Ryan Reynolds) with many other mutant powers which have been put in his system. More fighting, the brothers unite in the fighting to decapitate Weapon XI, whose laser eyes (from a young Cyclops) cut through the facility’s cooling towers in quite a spectacular way. As the place falls apart, Stryker shoots Logan with adamantium bullets in the head, rendering his memory lost, though he regenerates perfectly well otherwise. Gambit is by his side when he awakes, but doesn’t know who he is or where he is etc. Cue X-men 1.

Wolverine’s story is something that has recurred in all the X-men films, psyching this one up hugely. It’s got quite a different feel to the other films (maybe because of a different director) as there is less mutant powers flying everywhere, and more plot and substance I think, instead of the usual Mutant-war-everyone-overuse-their-powers kinda thing. Despite that I did miss seeing some of the old characters, though Xavier did make an appearance at the end rescuing all the escaped prisoners and taking them to his school :) The vignetting in this film made some parts really grimy and dark, which reflects the character of Wolverine. As a big fan of Marvel and general comic book films, I can’t not like this. Something about superpowers in normal people just make me happy.

The Fast and the Furious (2001).

This series confuses me, the fact that some are related but others aren’t, and it’s in a weird order. The first one I saw was 2 Fast 2 Furious. Then The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift; the second and third in the series respectively. The Fast and the Furious is the first one, where Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) is an undercover cop in the Hollywood racing scene, aiming to find out who is behind truck hijackings. He works his way up and finally earns the respect of elite street racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Falls for Toretto’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster); mistakenly busts some Asian gang for the truck hijackings – only to learn that Toretto is very likely to be the one behind them. On a hijack, one of Toretto’s team gets caught on the truck, with the trucker armed with a shotgun. The other team members fail at helping him get off the truck, Brian comes along, gets him off and calls for an air ambulance – revealing his identity as a cop in the process. Back in the city, Toretto and Brian chase after Johnny Tran and Lance Tran after they do a drive-by shooting. One is forced off the road whereas the other is shot. After a mini street race between Toretto and Brian, Toretto crashes, and sirens are on their way. Knowing that Toretto will be put in jail again, Brian allows him to escape.

Bam bam bam. It’s a street racing film so my expectations are low besides some good stunts and car chases. This is entertaining enough, though Jordana Brewster has really annoyingly DENSE eyebrows and needs to be a gazillion times hotter to play the love interest. The stuff they do with the camera is enough to make the races exciting, though having seen one of the series, you know what to expect really. After reading about it many times, I am now clear on the order of the films in this series. I think my favourite so far is Tokyo Drift, despite the main character’s horribly thick southern American accent which makes him sound like a stupid, fumbling buffoon. Oh, and the actors that play Johnny Tran and Lance Tran were from Die Another Day and Prison Break respectively, I like recognising faces. :)

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (2003-2004).

I watched this duology today in HD on a TV (to do it some more justice than my laptop screen). It was fucking awesome. Well worth my initial frustrations at getting the right wires in the right place. I’d only seen the first chapter or so of the first film before, so this was the first time seeing everything, in high res no doubt, to appreciate the full blood-spraying-sword-flinging-limb-cutting fiasco of a film this is.

Volume 1.
After seeing Inglourious Basterds, the style of simple font and wonderful song during the opening credits was no surprise. “The 4th film by Quentin Tarantino” is drawn open with Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang”. Following on from the black and white scene at the beginning, this song perfectly captures the essence of the film with its lyrics and stylish way of presenting such themes of murder and violence. Once again, QT tells a story with chapters, this time ten in total, out of chronological order, as in many of his films. Kill Bill is about revenge, killing and not a lot else. Four years ago, “The Bride” (Uma Thurman) aka *BEEP* aka Black Mamba aka Beatrix Kiddo was the target of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, and was left for dead and pregnant at her wedding rehearsal in El Paso, Texas. Unknown to the Squad, she clung on to her life, and was comatose for 4 years. In the present, she has awoken, and intent on getting her revenge on each Squad member, all whom are scrawled out on her hit list. The first chapter shows how she kills her second victim, Vernita Green (Vivica Fox) aka Copperhead, in her home. In the middle of their fight, Vernita’s daughter comes home from school, disturbing the mini blood fest. The Bride and Vernita schedule a knife fight later that night, but the Bride kills Vernita before she leaves the house, in view of Vernita’s daughter. Driving off in her Pussy Wagon (taken from a male hospital nurse). This opening chapter, full of saturated colouring is a good attention grabber. The suburban house, in the perfect colourful neighbour hood so suddenly turned into a bloody fight location. There’s slight wariness during the two women's ‘normal’ conversation, as they go from trying to kill each other to making cups of tea etc. You sense some kind of respect between the two, yet they are both in a position to kill the other. Obviously, as one of them ends up dead.

The rest of Vol. 1 is concentrated mostly on the Bride’s hunt for her first victim, O-ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) aka Cottonmouth, a yakuza leader in Tokyo. Her past is told through a short anime section in the film, a style very fitting for the asian character. In a sketchy drawing style, the anime shows how O-ren witnessed her parent’s murder by a yakuza boss. Little do you expect that the spurting of blood from severed limbs is actually brought to life later in the film.. A first taste of the gore to come. This anime sequence paints a vivid image of O-ren, a deadly assassin who has little mercy. The Bride obtains a brand new kick-ass samurai sword from a renowned swordsmith Hattori Hanzo, who breaks his blood oath to never create a sword for killing, and then continues to Tokyo to hunt down O-ren Ishii. O-ren’s entourage of lawyer Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus), bodyguard Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama) and henchmen The Crazy 88 is introduced, and you immediately get a sense of Ishii’s power and superior social status. The confrontation happens at the House of Blue Leaves, where some j-rock girl band called the 5,6,7,8’s are performing – albeit some pop culture songs such as “Woo Hoo”, probably to QT’s delight. The fight scenes here are incredible, especially when the lights are turned out, and you see the silhouettes of the Bride and some henchmen fight it out with a beautiful blue backdrop – one of my favourite scenes. Some of the fight in the courtyard is filmed in black and white, making the transition to colour later on so much more powerful when you see the pools of red blood splattering the place. The best fight in my opinion is between the Bride and Gogo, the bodyguard. Gogo, a 17 year old Japanese school girl, who is dressed as so, is introduced as “What she lacks in age, makes up for in madness”. Her stares, and indifferent style of dialogue just reinforces this statement. Even her giggly schoolgirl mouth-behind-hand laugh is just so genuine, yet straight after she delivers deep, menacing words to challenge her attacker. The way she fights too, is somewhat graceful and effortless – swinging her mace back and forth it’s like she’s dancing. The fight with this anime-inspired character builds up to the final fight, which takes place outside in an oriental garden. It is snowing. Reminds me of House of Flying Daggers. O-ren is elegant and mysterious. She and the Bride clash swords, and in the end the Bridge gets her revenge by scalping her opponent. Not as much action as I’d like in this scene, but you get a sense of the characters’ respect/closeness, as O-ren apologises for humiliating the Bride, the Bride’s sadness for O-ren’s death, as well as the “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for Kids” inside joke between the two women. The first volume ends with Sofie Fatale informing Bill (David Carradine) about the Bride’s plans. Bill asks whether the Bride knows that her daughter is alive… DUNDUNDUN.

It leaves you wanting for more. The action, the gore, the dymanic characters. Bill’s face isn’t even shown in this film, leaving the viewer aching for more plot, less mystery. Tarantino continues using his signature style of continuous filming, wonderful close ups, and great dialogue to keep the tension up. What really impressed me in Volume 1 was the use of high contrast black and white scenes – especially during the fights. The soundtrack once again was very complementary, with Spanish guitar rhythms and pop culture tunes being woven perfectly into this film. Tarantino has been able to draw together the best from several different genres, such as martial art films, spaghetti westerns and Japanese anime. The Bride’s name is bleeped out at first, and her names are slowly revealed as the film wears on. This mirrors the amount of information you know about her, so the viewer really feels like they are getting to know her more as the film(s) deepen. It’s weird. Tarantino lets you know that O-ren is killed right at the beginning of the film, yet it doesn’t stop you from watching. It just shows that it’s not about how it ends, but what happened in between. Anyways, on to…

Volume 2.
Continuing in the same style and structure as Volume 1, the film opens with the Bride on her way to Bill’s, the last on her hit list. Again, Tarantino gives us some of the ending, take it or leave it. Of course I take it, and continue watching. In black and white, we are given a detailed account of what happened at the wedding rehearsal massacre. How the Bride has taken up an alter ego to marry a man, so that her unborn daughter (who is Bill’s) will lead a safe life, away from all this violence and killing. Bill appears at the rehearsal, and this is the first time we see his mug. Old, wrinkly, yet not old enough to be incapable. He has an air of importance. That’s all that’s revealed in this scene, apart from the fact that he and the Bride are very close.

Somewhere in the desert, Bill visits his brother, Budd (Michael Madsen) aka Sidewinder, warning him about the Bride’s plans to kill them all. Budd is now an alcoholic bouncer at a “titty bar” (lol). The Bride ambushes his trailer at night, however he is ready, and shoots her with rock salt and then sedates her. Claiming to have pawned his own Hanzo sword, he takes hers and offers to sell it to the 4th member of the Squad, Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), for $1 million. Budd then proceeds to bury the Bride alive, in a grave for Paula Schultz. Cutting back to her training in China, we see that the Bride studied under Pai Mei, an elderly martial arts master who hates caucasians, americans, and women. The Bride just happens to tick all those boxes. Pai Mei is able to perform the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique (self explanatory) which he teaches no one, not even Bill. Pai Mei is portrayed as the stereotypical martial arts master –white haired, long flowing beard, crazy-ass eyebrows, stupid temper - you name it. It definitely adds some comical value to this part of the film. Anyways, the Bride remembers her training with the master, and recalls it to get out of her coffin. Meanwhile, eye-patched Elle has arrived at Budd’s place with a case of money – and a Black Mamba hiding inside it. Needless to say he dies, leaving Elle to claim that she killed the Bride. The Bride returns, fresh from the ground. Cue girl-on-girl fight! Elle reveals that she lost her eye because Pai Mei plucked it out when she insulted him, in which she responded by poisoning him. So the Bride plucks out her other one, leaving her to flail like an eyeless helpless fish. The fight between these two is highly entertaining, making use of the weak walls you get in trailers etc.. Four down, one to go.

Arriving at Bill aka Snake Charmer’s place, Beatrix finds Bill and her daughter, BB playing together. Surprisingly, BB is expecting her mother’s return, saying that she was waiting for her to “wake up”. It’s evident that Bill has brought up BB to be aware of life, death and killing – as she watches “Shogun Assassin” before bed. The conversation regarding BB stomping on her goldfish Emilio is a bit disturbing, especially as it is told in the calmest of ways, as if nothing is wrong with 4 year old killing her pets. An example of the interesting dialogue in this film. After BB sleeps, Beatrix is shot with truth serum, and reveals that she chose to protect her unborn daughter instead of continuing killing people for Bill. He respond by saying how he thought she was dead, and maybe “overreacted” when he found out that she was alive. Despite all this, Beatrix is intent on finishing him off. They fight and uses a secret move taught to her by Pai Mei (no need for a second try to guess which one). Dying proudly, Bill takes 5 steps and falls. Beatrix sheds a tear. Happy ending.

Volume 2 has a lot more plot and substance compared to the bloody Volume 1, so in that instance it’s actually quite different. In the end, it turned quite into a mother-does-anything-to-protect-daughter kind of sad story, instead of the revenge filled hate-tale that Volume 1 prepared us for, but that doesn’t mean that Tarantino doesn’t deliver. The dialogue in Volume 2 is a lot more significant in making this a QT classic. More high contrast black and white filming and long shots following characters as they move through a scene make this a lot more interactive with the audience. Bill’s mystery is lost in this Volume, yet you still wonder how such a killer is able to bring up a child. The way Tarantino continually challenges his characters is really something I admire. Uma Thurman is really fantastic in this series, along with Chiaki Kuriyama’s Gogo Yubari, they are my favourite characters. Lucy Liu was also a million times better here than in Charlie’s Angels, fersure. The juxtaposition of genres shines through, and the effective structuring of the chapters makes this a very exciting film indeed. Ahh, I really loved these films, definitely glad I got them in HD.

Australia (2008).

I loved Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo+Juliet and Moulin Rouge, thus was quite excited to watch this. The film opens in a comedial mood, I am suddenly wondering if this is really the “epic” that it has set out to be. In 1939, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), an English aristocrat, travels to north Australia to force her husband to sell the cattle station – Faraway Downs. Drover (Hugh Jackman) meets her at the town of Darwin to transport her to the station. Upon arrival, Lady Ashley discovers that her husband has died. The station’s manager Fletcher (David Wenham) claims that he was killed by a magical Aboriginal elder called “King George”. Nullah (Brandon Walters), a mixed race (half aboriginal half white) boy resides at the station with his mother, and is beaten by Fletcher when Nullah reveals that Fletcher has been cheating on Ashley’s business. Upon seeing this act, Lady Ashley proceeds to fire him and decides to take charge of the station by herself. It is later revealed that Fletcher is the father of Nullah, who claims to have magical Aboriginal powers, like his grandfather, King George. Along with the help of Drover and other residents on the cattle station, Lady Ashley manages to get the cattle herd to the Australian troops at Darwin. We see her start to appreciate Australia a lot more, and become accepting and respectful for the men that disgusted her so much at the beginning of the film. The almost-3-hour film then continues to tell the story of how she copes on the cattle station; the romance that blooms between her and Drover, the relationship between her and Nullah; the escalation of WW2 and its effect on Darwin; more of Fletcher’s evil plot to take over the Carney cattle station empire; and overcoming the upper class stereotype amongst a hell of a lot of other things. Needless to say, this film is not short on genres, it goes from a comedy, to a western romance, to a war epic.

Luhrmann’s eye for breathtaking scenery and Kidman’s fantastic wardrobe made this the most enjoyable for me. Versions of “Over the Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz return throughout the film, as Lady Ashley sings it to Nullah when comforting him following his mother’s death. Being such a universal song, it gives this film a wider appeal as well as linking in with the themes of family and home. The narration by the “creamy” half-cast, Nullah in his distinct accent made this a lot more authentic. The Aborigines have always been seen as a magical race, and the inclusion of their language and culture has made this film into a deeper story. Aside from the aboriginal parts, I think the script is a bit poor, not really contributing a lot to the depth of the film. Though not as good as Moulin Rouge or Romeo+Juliet, this was an entertaining watch. Probably worth it for the amazingly epic camera shots, but other than that, not so much. I still can’t get over how blue Kidman’s eyes are. Or how hairy Hugh Jackman is. (Out of Wolverine role).

American History X (1998).

Directed by Tony Kaye, American History X tells the tale of Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) and Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong). Derek is caught up in the neo-Nazi movement, possibly caused by the murder of his father by a black drug dealer. Danny is his younger brother, who is from a young age influenced by Derek’s ideas and actions. In the present, Derek has just been let out of prison after a 3 year sentence following the murder of two black gang members who tried to steal his truck. His radical views have changed whilst he has served his time, and is trying to stop his brother Danny from coming to the same fate.

Throughout the film, memories of the past are shown in black and white. They reveal how Derek became so strongly opinionated and about how his opinions changed in prison after having to work with a fellow black inmate. One of the most memorable is one where Derek loses control during a family dinner and starts acting violently towards his family when voicing his racist opinions. There were a lot of slow motion shots in this film – the mother breaking down on the pavement, the torturing of a shop worker – I think they give the viewer time to think about the actions they are witnessing, effectively getting the message across in a more dramatic way. I’m not really that sure about this film. Apart from the two brothers, especially Edward Norton, there’s not much to the characters. We have the stereotypical depressed mother, the whatever-you-say girlfriend, the fat guy who just follows everyone else to fit in, yknow, the usual. Though this film is probably more aiming to be politically and socially thought provoking than artistically captured (something I much admire). The ending.. whilst shocking at first, after thinking about it some more, is a bit of a cop out to be honest. There could’ve been a better ending in my opinion, a deeper development of the relationship between the two brothers and the extension of how Danny may change his outlook on life etc. I’m glad I watched this but it hasn’t amazed me. Though I can see why it has built a slight reputation as a cult flick, as it explores the touchy subject of racism in an interesting way (though I have seen better). It has also allowed me to gain an insight to Edward Norton, of whom I have a higher opinion of now. A short review. I am beginning to think the length of my writing reflects my interest in the subject. i.e. Not a lot for this film.

Prison Break (2005-2009).

I just finished watching the whollllllle show. Seasons One to Four. Plus “The Final Break”. The show is split into two halves really. Season 1 and 2 deal with Michael Schofield’s (Wentworth Miller) plan to break his innocent brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) out of a maximum security prison – Fox River State Penitentiary – where he is on death row for murdering the Vice President’s brother. Schofield robs a bank, gets himself into the same prison, with his plan tattooed beautifully artistically on his body, and proceeds to try break his brother out before Lincoln is sent to the electric chair. Of course lots of sub-plots and complications happen, and 8 cons end up being broken out of the prison. Each episode reveals a new part of his plan that has been tattooed cleverly on his body. Schofield’s ability to think around each problem and his genius plan makes this a really entertaining series. After breaking out (Season 1), Season 2 shows how each of the cons deals with running away and keeping low. The brothers continue to try and clear Lincoln’s name, run away to Panama, blahblahblah. This season was a bit of a let down compared to the first.

Season 3 and 4 concentrate more on “The Company”, which has strong control over the US democratic and political system. In Season 3, Michael and a few of his friends finds themselves in another prison in Panama called Sona. Cue another plan to break out, this time because The Company wants Michael there to break out a man called James Whistler (Chris Vance). More mystery surrounding new characters, kidnappings, etc. This season was more enjoyable, as a new plot is introduced and a selection of great new characters. Season 4 is all about Scylla, some kind of hard drive owned by The Company containing information regarding advanced solar energy technology. Basically a lot of powerful people are trying to get their hands on this in order to become the new “Company”. The brothers’ mother is revealed to be alive and a Company agent – more family feuding – who is planning to sell Scylla to the highest bidder. The brothers and their team in the end have to recover Scylla and hand it in to the UN so that all this killing will stop and there will be world peace. (Okay, so not the last bit but the whole thing is kind of blown up into big proportions).

That’s a horribly brief summary. In my opinion, Seasons 1 and 4 are the ones you should watch. Just read up on Season 2 and 3. The main thing that made this show such a pleasure to watch are the characters. I have so many favourites. The makers of this show manipulate your feelings towards certain characters without you really realising.

An example would be Brad Bellick (Wade Williams). Bellick appears in all 4 seasons, initially as the captain of Fox River. The main “bad guy” in season 1, you naturally develop a dislike towards his harsh and despicable ways. However, throughout the seasons, you start to feel sorry for him when he is beaten up badly upon his entry into Sona; glad for him when he gains more respect from his peers; embarrassed for him because he is such a mummy’s boy; and sad when he finally gives his life in order for Michael’s plan to retrieve Scylla successful.

Another one is Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell (Robert Knepper). I could never take someone named T-Bag seriously. Also appearing in all 4 seasons, he is a violent and manipulative psycho. Very ambitious character, destroying all that stand in his way to get what he wants. Some really gorey scenes regarding his severed hand that kind of made me a bit squeamish. Yet the part in season 2 when he is trying to rekindle romantic emotions from the woman he was with before his arrest makes you feel sorry for him, as he resorts to violence and threats to make this happen – something you learn that is just in his nature, due to his bad childhood. In season 3, you see an inkling of good in him as he lets a man he kidnapped go without any harm – unfortunately the man just happened to be a Company agent – mixed feelings there..

Some of my favourite characters:

Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) provides great comic relief to an otherwise serious show. He makes me wish I was Hispanic, so that I could pull of the word “papi” without sounding like a douche. His dedication and loyalty to his girlfriend and friends is truly heart-warming.

Alex Mahone (William Fichtner), initially a Company agent pursuing the brothers, he is an incredibly sharp and intellectual, matching Michael Schofield as someone who surprises with their thoughts and ideas, as he starts to work out the meaning of Michael’s tattoos in Season 2. He becomes an ally in the final series. His background with his ex-wife and son unfold throughout Season 2, and you realise that he forced to work for the Company in order to keep his family safe. A drug junkie because of the skeletons in his closet, he is “humanised” slowly so that you grow to like him. Even in the end, when he is offered his job back as a federal agent, he is still loyal to Schofield and Burrows, and it made me feel all *yay*.

Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein) is one of the agents in season 1 employed by the Vice President to ensure the execution of Lincoln Burrows. When he gets screwed over by the Company, he decides to help the brothers in trying to bring the Company down. His act of giving his testimony to bring the VP to justice and his aid in bringing the Company down made him one of my favourite bad-guys-turned-good.

I think it’s good that they finalised this show where they did, instead of dragging it on further – a prison break, running, another prison break, running – it all gets repetitive and boring. The film that they made: “The Final Break” is an explanation of how Michael Schofield dies – tying up loose ends between the end of season 4 and the “4 years later” section in the last episode. It’s so sad. I hate sad endings, but I thought it was quite fitting and made this show more realistic. It just makes me wonder – if they can break Sara out of that prison in like 1.5 hours of the show.. was there really a need for a wholeee season of breaking out Lincoln?! Pah, nevermind. More tattoo eye candy :3. Oh, and Holly Valance’s role in season 1 as a czech pole dancing immigrant made me lol. And in “The Final Break”, was the little boy getting a tattoo on the side of the street…? I think he was, as he was being comforted for being brave (which isn’t really needed if it was just a transfer). Like wtf.. he’s like 4.

Some conversations I had at work today.

 

With some men from some company having a conference at Shendish Manor. So boring as I don’t have a huge lot to do as they had a private bar and drank mostly pints and posh whisky.

Though the French ones made me laugh:

“Do you have a coaster?”
“For what, sir, your wine glass?”
“Yes please".”
“Sorry monsieur, we do not have any coasters for your wine glass..”

The American ones:

“We were having a gamble regarding your age; tell me, is it below or above 20?”
He thinks I look around 20?! “Below.”
“Ahh, I see. How much below?”
“Just one year, I’m nineteen.”
“Okay, thank you.”
He blatantly doesn’t believe me. Runs away.

The Embarrassing ones:

“Can I have a pint of Fosters please?”
“Sorry, we’re out of Fosters.”
“Oh, in that case I’ll have a Guinness.”
“Sorry, we don’t have that either.” Sheepish smile.
“Guinness Extra Cold, then.”
“Um, they’re from the same tap…”
“Right, so what do you have on tap?”
“Heineken, Bulmers and John Smith’s.”
Later on, John Smith’s ran out. Later later on, Heineken ran out. We stole a Foster’s keg from the Golf bar. Cue awkward explanation of why suddenly we have Fosters when we said it was out.
“We’re expecting a delivery tomorrow.”

The Annoying ones:

“Can I have a bottle of still water?”
“Sorry sir, we have ran out, we only have sparkling but I can go check in the restaurant if they have any there.”
A few minutes later, returning empty handed I see his face gloom over as I come into the bar empty handed.
“Sorry sir we really don’t have any left. Can I get you a glass of tap water?”
“No. I drink from bottled.”
“We really have nothing left, there’s nothing I can do, sorry. We’re low on stock right now.” GET THE FUCK OVER IT YOU STUPID FRENCH MAN.
“So what am I supposed to drink if I do not have a pint or a soft drink?”
“A glass of tap water?”
“Non! I drink from the bottle!”
“There’s literally nothing I can do, sorry.”
“So what will happen tomorrow morning when you need water?”
“We take it from the tap, sir…”
“So is there no bottled water for the conference tomorrow?”
“Sorry, I have no idea… Like I said, we are expecting a delivery tomorrow..”
French man walks away after waving me away, in a mood. Fagfagfag.

I have nothing against the French, but when you are THAT picky about something as silly as water, that really pisses me off. Fun times, la! I just hope the Italian aren’t as bad :) Can’t wait can’t wait til Wednesday.

Contact Lenses – Level 14.

I wish I were level 14. That is all for today.

Gotta love a bit of Natalie Dee. This comic just reminds me of when I first got contact lenses and it took ages trying to put them in. But now I have gotten used to shoving my finger in my eye, it’s almost fun.

Latest Obsession

HD HD HD. Everything looks a gazillion times better. Haven’t quite got the screen for it yet as I’m just watching it on my 15.4” laptop screen, but hopefully when I get a TV for uni it will be a lot better :D

Otherwise I can just plug my laptop into the TV at home as a last resort ;-; They should have Film4 HD, that would be epic.