Thunder in the Jungle....

Hi Folks,

Just another blog from your friendly neighbourhood Brit.

Nothing has happened lately since the last post except my daily routine:

7am - wake up
7 - 8am - watch tv (i call this wake up time)
8 - 8.30am - get prepared for work.

8.30 - 840am - walk to work

8.40 - 5pm - work (with frequent internet breaks)

5pm - 7pm - watch tv and have tea (evening meal)
7pm - 11pm - go on internet / play on games console / watch film or two..

As you can see, my life consists of some riveting stuff there. I hope to break the everlasting circle of doom soon either by taking up a new hobby or maybe getting out more. We'll see what becomes of me very soon.

As for whats been on my mind, many things. For one, why my ex has been so nice to me lately. She has sent me texts saying how great of a father i am and that she is sorry for the way she has treated me in the past. I don't know whether to take this as a sincere apology or just a sneaky way of trying to get something. I would in all honesty take it as being sincere being the kind of person i am, seeing the good in everyone, but theres a side that wants to be safe remembering all the times shes used and been nasty. She is yet again going to a place i am going to at the weekend. Not sure what her game is, but i hope i find out soon.

FILM REVIEW:

TROPIC THUNDER

UK Release date: 13th September 2008

Synopsis: Ben Stiller. Jack Black. Robert Downey Jr. Comedy fans can start drooling immediately at the thought of these three funnymen joining forces in Tropic Thunder. The men star as a trio of actors whose filming experience in southeast Asia gets a little too real as they must become as tough as the... Ben Stiller. Jack Black. Robert Downey Jr. Comedy fans can start drooling immediately at the thought of these three funnymen joining forces in Tropic Thunder. The men star as a trio of actors whose filming experience in southeast Asia gets a little too real as they must become as tough as the characters they play to get out of a crisis.

This film has got to be, in my books, the most funniest comedies this year. For the simple facts, it has three of the best comedians around, Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jnr and it has a funny storyline.

The movie is a well aimed parody at all big budget war movies that have ever been made and also takes a low blow at Hollywood itself. It seems to do a good job at making fun of them all. One of the biggest sucker punches in the film is Stillers character Tugg Speedman and how he as an actor tried to pull of a film about a mentaly disabled farm boy called Simple Jack. This is making fun of actors who court awards in such ham-handed and obvious ways. In the movie, Simple Jack is a failure, and Speedman is a jackass.

Since this parody came to light however, regardless of its funny intentions, at least 22 disability rights groups such as the Special Olympics and the American Association of People with Disabilities are angry about the use of the “r-word” and the character and have called for a boycott of the film and the theaters that show it. They hold, possibly correctly, that the use of the words “retard” and “retarded” are offensive and hurtful and that some people might see Tropic Thunder and think it clever to fling the words round.

But that ain't enough, Tropic Thunder also makes fun of the actors who try to emerse themselves too much into films, as evidenced by Kirk Lazarus an blonde Australian played by Downey Jnr who undergoes a controversial skin pigmentation operation to make him look african-american so that he can play the part of one of the characters of the movie. He goes so far to not change his accent through most of the movie. Downey Jnr really steals the film and his acting and humour is brilliant to watch. And then there is Jack Black who plays a drug addict actor who has starred in many low budget films before Tropic Tropic thunder, but loses his drugs and goes haywire. Very funny to watch.

All in all, the film is definately one to watch. I'll give it a 9/10.

Book Review: Making Money

Title: Making Money

Author: Terry Pratchett

Synopsis (From Amazon.co.uk):

"It's an offer you can't refuse. Who would not to wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork's Royal Mint and the bank next door? It's a job for life.But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long. The Chief Cashier is almost certainly a vampire. There's something nameless in the cellar (and the cellar itself is pretty nameless), it turns out that the Royal Mint runs at a loss. A 300 year old wizard is after his girlfriend, he's about to be exposed as a fraud, but the Assassins Guild might get him first. In fact lot of people want him dead.Oh. And every day he has to take the Chairman for walkies. Everywhere he looks he's making enemies. What he should be doing is ...Making Money!"

Review:

Making Money is the 34th book in the Discworld series, and seems to be in a whole different league then the first books in the Discworld series altogether. The new line of books take on a more serious approach, tackling indirectly current matters that have happened either present or past in our world, i.e. rock n roll, hollywood, but more recently has gone into the realms of the postal service and now money.When I say serious, that in no way means that Making Money is a boring book full of facts about currency and the history of decimalisation, far from it. It still has the juicy funny bits as all Terry Prachett fans will be familiar with, but they admittantly are more subdued. I for one loved the earlier books, namely the ones featuring the City Watch and Death, which had me laughing out loud at least twice during every chapter. Reading Making Money is more like a nostalgia trip back into Discworld and reading Terry fine tuning the world he built and emphasising on the world he created and loves.

There were some confusing bits regarding a magical contraption made for viewing the economy of the city and allowing someone to control it too. Those bits were hard to follow, but mostly the book had a fluid storyline which had you gripped from the word go. The familiar characters helped this, Lord Vetenari, Moist, the watch and wizards from the Unseen University.

The book contained enough action, comedy and fantasy to keep the average book reader entertained and I eagerly await his next book in the series. Like with most things, I’m not a big fan, but enough of a fan to follow the series and maybe re-read the past books again. Its my kind of humour totally and enjoy getting lost in his books.

I’d give Making Money 8/10