Darkness Consumes

No, this isn't a moody blog! Its more metaphorical. There I sat earlier on in total darkness apart from the slither of light breaking its way into the room from what was left of the light outside. The lights had gone. I strained hard to find the right keys to press in vain. Frustration follows shortly thereafter. I couldn't stay in the darkness no more! I had to find a solution. In vain I scoured the house for one solitary bulb, but alas!.....no. I forked out what farthings I had in my measly wallet and headed yonder for the nearest convenience store.

I asked the store helper, "one of your best illuminating bulbs please kind folk"*. Upon receipt of said buld, I trotted back home with joy. Oh darkness begone back from whence you came! I inserted soon after inserted the bulb into an orimental lamp showing a classic 50s era lady complete with fan and..... turned her on.... LIGHT. Not ridding the darkness completely, but enough to type by, I was indeed satisfied. On with the typing I say!

Enough with that fancy talk.... my alter ego Earnest Pennyworth slipped forth.

Recent events. I was supposed to be going out with friends tonight to Liverpool no less, home of one of my all time favorate bands, The Beatles and to the Cavern no less, the venue the Beatles played at (not the real cavern as us Beatle fans know). Unfortunately, I couldn't go. Being responsible was the reason. I needed to get there somehow and the stress of rushing for trains and whatnots left me feeling queasy before even setting off. Reluctantly, I left it at that. I had promised a different friend, James, as mentioned in previous blogs, that I'd be joining him tomorrow night. Plus, I have my son, Kallam and step son Rhys tomorrow daytime and as all parents know, you have to be at your best to deal with their antics lol

Nothing much else to report on. Had a few beers, so I ain't in a literative kinda mood :P

Will update when something substantial happens.

ciao

PS. heres a gr8 video of the Big Bro housemates trying to recreate Ok Go!'s music vid. check it out

Decisions, Decisons...

So, just came back from trying out Cloverfield on my dad.......no success lol I guessed as much. Its a certainty that films of that nature can be grasped more by the younger generation then the generation previously, namely Mr Malcolm Keenan Snr.

Work went alright today for a change. Flew by. This lead me on an investigative route to find out why on some days time seems to fly by and on others time just seems to drag. I searched Yahoo Answers for some clues.

So maybe time doesn't fly when clock watch through the working day. Intriguing hmmm. It is true though, I didn't hardly look at the time and the day seemed fly by. thanks MissCy for your helpful answer lol

Also thanks to a Firefox add on that allows me to extract video, screenshots, images and songs from any website and post them to blogger straight away. The add on is called Dashblog. Try looking it up if you are looking for something to make posting pictures you find or such like easier.

To recent news again. I have a dilemma! Here is how it goes. A few friends of mine have asked me to join them for a full day of fun at Alton Towers to celebrate someones birthday. The whole day will cost in excess of £100, which includes a limo ride, free beer, queue jumping at Alton Towers and snacks and stuff when we get there. All seems good there.... I could either live spontaneously and go not thinking of whether I can afford the rest of the months food and living money or I could be a responsible 25 year old and not go, stay at home all day probably surfing the net being a hermit.... Its a toughy. Then theres Andy,my dad's girlfriend's son. Hes reminded me that a long time ago, say a couple of months ago, he asked me to go up to Scotland to meet his family and that it would mean a lot. It wouldn't mean spending a lot of money, but it promises to be cold, boring at times and uncomfortable trying to understand a word people say up there. I'll have to make my mind up. I feel that if I let the decision simmer in my brain, the answer will come forth.

Right.... a more direct action is needed. Wheres my magic 8 ball? aaaah, here it is. Now what to ask..... Oh, Magic 8 Ball, Should I follow the entertainment, irresponsible path and go with friends to Alton Towers??

ok. ok. So the magic 8 ball made the decision that was going to decide on anyway. Temptations got the best of me. I should be ok later in the month if my ex pays me the money she owes me, which she promises she will.

Anyways, will sleep on it despite what my ball says. It may take more thought then expected. Any comments are appreciated however.

update ya later!

Cloverfield UK DVD Review

Heres the first in many reviews on games, DVDs, movies and music I'll be posting in upcoming months. This time I'm reviewing Cloverfield's UK DVD release.

For starters, I absolutely loved this film. I followed its viral marketing campaign for over half a year before its release, which shows how much I was into this film.

After seeing the film at the cinemas in early February of this year, I was amazed. The film blew me away. Mind-numbing effects, brilliant acting, humour, romance and action. The film had it all. Its main concept was - what if you could watch a monster movie from the perspective of someone down on ground level, someone completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things, someone completely unable to do anything but watch the city crumble around them? The innovating thinking of all those involved made this film a landmark in movie history.

Onto the DVD review. Unlike most movies, Cloverfield, in my view, hasn't lost its impact when taken from the big screen and put onto DVD. This is mainly because Cloverfield's format, being like a personal home video, shaky and seemingly amature, it looks more real when views on household televisions. Saying that though, the film was amazing to watch at the cinema, but with most televisions and surround sound, it is easy to replicate the atmostphere of the cinema at home. Problem solved.

Disc 2 is jammed packed with extra material - an extensive Making Of documentary, a look at how the visual effects for the film were created, and a featurette entitled "I saw it, it's alive, it's huge!", which explains JJ Abrams' interest in Godzilla and covers creature designer Neville Page's conception of the Clover monster itself. 'Clover Fun' is a series of bloopers, in a way - mostly T.J. Miller, who played Hud, improvising silly dialogue, but also other cast members horseing around or accidentally catching members of the crew in their in-character taping, and props behaving like they have minds of their own.

There are four deleted scenes, with optional commentary from Matt Reeves, which are entertaining enough in themselves, but no great loss to the film (except maybe a moment between Lily and Marlena), and two alternate endings, one which doesn't change the outcome of the main storyline, but instead replaces the final footage of Rob and Beth at Coney Island with another scene of blissful, pre-monster ignorance, and one which does sort of change the ending of the movie, implying that perhaps Rob and Beth were rescued, maybe. The version used in the actual film is probably the best, but these are nice too methinks.

There are loads of hidden extras. I won't list them here, as searching for them yourself can make it all the more enjoyable.

Movie:

Extras: (only four because region 1 DVDs have more extras grrrr)

another long blog - apologies :P

yup, i got drunk. very drunk last night... well not that bad, i ain't a zombie. I can still hold conversation and i don't have a headache as such. Light seems to hurt though, so the curtains are closed...

Last night was yet another night out with old best friend, turned new best friend again, James Pritchard. No pictures of the night, he took them all and every time he does, he doesn't upload them (hes not technically minded at all).

It started off well. We went to a Wetherspoons, which is always a good place to start off. Plenty of eye candy there. Couldn't stop myself doing the usual "man's stare", which was noticeable for every woman i was looking at. I should really try and be more discrete. Not sure if the beer there was watered down, but i was knocking them back quite quickly. Even the pro who goes out with us was surprised at the rate i was knocking them back. Normally, i am a slow drinker preferring to soak in the atmosphere and taking occasional sips every now and then, but last night something came over me and i just knocked them back lol.

After there, I persuaded the two i was out with to go to a neighbouring town to sample their clubs. Didn't go to plan really. The place i wanted to take them to had closed down recently. oh well. So i ended up taking them to another Wetherspoons, where yet again i was staring at bums. I have an attraction to booty i realised not so long back, so i tend to take long looks lol. Saw a few friends from when i used to go for nights out in Runcorn when i lived there. It was good to see them again. After a few drinks there, we headed to the local rock club, The Dog House, owned by my cousins boyfriend. Got a free round of drinks from her. There was a rocking band on, can't remember their name, but they rocked. James and Al, who prefer clubs opted that we go and travel back to Widnes and go to the usual clubs. So we jumped in a taxi.

Upon arriving back in Widnes, the taxi dropped us off at BBs, a small club, normally packed like sardines and hardly no room to move. There are no big clubs locally. For them you'd have to travel to a big city (normally Liverpool, Warrington or St Helens). When exiting the taxi, Al tried to jump down some steps, but ended up on his ass. Then Mr Accident Prone here tried to do the same thing and ended up on the floor as well. lol. We quickly made our way into the club. The fall though made me quite queasy and i quickly made my way out again to be sick. (nice...) met a friend out there, who escorted me back in. Once in though i settled and got a drink down me i was fine. Made my way onto the dance floor and danced quite well, which is shocking. hips swaying and all that. Danced with a few ladies on the dance floor. However, upon trying to dance behind one of them, i got shrugged away and her friend started telling me "don't go there", must have been taken or something. I got disheartened by that, thinking it was all me, but I quickly got over it and got back with all the dancing.

After all that was over, i set off for home. Its about 15 mins to get home walking, which goes by fast when you are pished (pished = scottish slang, meaning totally drunk). Upon arriving at home at around 3am, i collapsed into bed. Good night accomplished.

Before going out however, i was bit concerned for my dad. He hit the whiskey a bit hard over past few days. Mostly due to his girlfriend, Jan taking a trip up north to her hometown in Scotland to visit family. Jan acts as an "emotional anchor" for my dad, meaning that she keeps him in line. To cut a long story short, my dad is still grieving after my mum dying a while back. They were married for 30+ years and he loved her more then words can explain, he never quite got over her death. The picture to the right shows my dad with my mum. A quite poignant picture taken on one of their trips to Ireland. They wanted to buy a cottage or bungalow somewhere in Ireland when they retired. It never happened. Quite saddening really that their dreams never were fulfilled. Jan being the "void-filler", keeps him grounded and stable. He goes into depression whenever she leaves or is away for any length of them.

Anyways, the reason i was concerned for my dad before going out was the fact that he fell over quite hard and cut his face up quite badly. He was bleeding quite hard. After patching up the best that i could, he went sleep again. Seeing my dad like that wasn't an experience i care to see again. I roasted him this morning for getting so bad that he can't even walk. His face was swollen real bad and he looked a mess. He apologised and said he'd stay off the whiskey. fair enough. Will have to keep an eye on him to make sure he is ok.

On a lighter note, a blog by my good friend Emma, got me thinking of kids shows from back in the day when i was a little kid and in doing that, thought more about my own childhood.

Here's a list of some of the cartoons i remember.

Bananaman -Eric Twinge... the boy who lived at 29 Acacia Road... lived an incredible double life. As a nerdy schoolboy, and whenever he ate a Banana, he turned into Bananaman! Awesome cartoon.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold - Series about 3 kids, Esteban, Zia and Tao, searching for the lost City of Gold. The theme tune sticks in my mind. It is eerily cool.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold - full opening theme - Funny video clips are a click away

The Real Ghostbusters - Popular 80s cartoon inspired by the film 'Ghostbusters'. The cartoon featured Ray, Egon, Winston and Peter, fighting against all sorts of ghosts and goblins.

The Real Ghostbusters intro - Awesome video clips here

As you can see, I loved Ghostbusters.

He-Men - A kick-ass cartoon. If you don't know it, you haven't lived. I had all the figures and watched it religiously.

Thundercats - "When their home planet of Thundera blows up, the people on the planet, Thunderians leave in their spaceships. Liono, leader of the Thundercats is a mere child but through time and space grows into a man and can then lead the Thundercats, with of course the trusty Sword of Omens that would obey his every command. The Thundercats crash landed on a planet that they named 3rd Earth where they encountered an enemy from there home world... Ssslithe who had his minions, and the threat of the evil Mummra." One of my all time faves. Even from a young age, I was under the influence of meaty guitar riffs, the theme tune rocked. Check it out below

Thundercats Cartoon Intro - The most amazing videos are a click away

wow this blog was long, but hopefully its been a good read. ciao!