Andy Serkis Talks Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

There hasn’t been much talk on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes since that poster showed up on the internet a little while ago, but now we have some information from Caesar himself, Andy Serkis. The following information is from IGN:

“Andy Serkis is promoting The Hobbit right now, where he not only reprises his mo-cap role of Gollum but also did a bunch of second-unit directing. But he also, of course, has Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in the works, the sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes which will see him mo-capping his way into our hearts again as the intelligent ape Caesar.

Good old Ed Douglas at Coming Soon spoke to Serkis yesterday about the Apes sequel and what Caesar will be up to now that — spoilers from the first movie! — most of humankind has been infected by a deadly virus.

“The interesting thing now,” says the actor, “will be how Caesar operates in this world — because of the virus that hits at the end of the first movie — and how Caesar brings an accord between the apes and the surviving humans and that’s going to be interesting where we take that.”

That sounds a bit like Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the last movie in the original cycle of films that saw the beginning of Ape civilization forming in the wake of a nuclear war. Which, really, was probably the weakest film in that series, so this could be a great chance to build on and expand that concept. (Just don’t expect any nuclear-bomb worshipping, face-peeling mutants… probably.)

Serkis also tells the site that he’s already met with director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), who replaces Rise’s Rupert Wyatt, and that production should get underway around the end of the first quarter of 2013.

Serkis also said that his motion-capture adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which he’ll direct, is well into pre-production and should start shooting by the end of 2013.

Read the full interview at Coming Soon.”

Well at least we have some information about the film from the key member of the film. So from what I’ve read here, it looks like the filmmakers are again going to borrow some elements from some previous Planet of the Apes film and rework it into this new film with some new and interesting twists. The last film really was an unexpected hit and revitalized the series and the way it ended with the virus spreading across the planet really did set the wheels in motion for some interesting stuff. I just hope this sequel turns out good and advances Caesar’s story in the right way with good drama and cause and effect.

 

One year in Sheffield

So here we are in October 2012 and I’ve been thinking and reflecting for a weeks now about Sheffield and how much my life has changed since I came here last September. I just thought to myself, “I have to blog about this!”

It’s weird to think I’ve been living in this city for a year already.

As I mentioned before I came here last September and it was for uni purposes, I joined Sheffield Hallam University to start my degree in animation and immediately when I got there the winds of new beginnings blew right through me. The atmosphere, environment, even the people seemed so different and more exciting than back at home. I was proper hyped to discover the city, the nightlife and my course too. And what I’ve experienced over this last year has been unforgettable.

Let’s start with the city of Sheffield itself, my god its soooooo big. There’s so many roads, buildings and streets and back alleys too. Then there’s all those trams moving around travelling from place to place and nearly running absentminded people over. There’s also many shops in the city centre area too. I’ve seen every kind of shop imaginable and I swear Sheffield must have the most amount of Gregg’s bakeries I’ve ever seen (I think at last count it was around 8!). And then there’s the shopping centre Meadowhall, damn, it’s like being back at Milton Keynes, except it’s slightly bigger and more hectic! And then there’s the Cineworld cinema with 21 friggin screens with an IMAX screen that’s absurdly massive! There is just so much going on in Sheffield and it’s also a very pretty place too, a lot of beautiful sights from the city to parks and it makes for some awesome photography! I’ve just enjoyed getting to know this city and walk everywhere in the summer just discovering new places to hang out or taking in the sights.

Now let’s talk about the nightlife and man, that is a highlight of this city if I do say so myself. When I arrived here last year and went on my first night out it was like an adrenaline rush! So many people, pubs and clubs and bright lights, I was a bit overwhelmed, though it was freshers week at that point. But anyways there is an abundance of pubs and clubs to go to and while I haven’t tried them all out yet, I have had some of my most memorable nights out ever in Sheffield. The friends I have made have made nights out in some of these clubs just insane. And what I really love about this place is that there is a variety of clubs with different and varied types of music and that is a massive plus for me whereas in my home town there isn’t much variation and everything gets pretty stale after constant nights out there.

This place looks incredible at night and there are loads of places to go when it comes to nightlife and socializing.

And lastly there’s my course, the whole reason I came up here in the first place. To be honest my course started out a bit questionably with us doing unnecessary and tedious coursework that really didn’t have much to do with animation in the practical sense. Eventually the life drawing really got me into my course and once I gave the 3D Studio Max and Adobe Flash stuff a chance I did have some degree of fun. But to be honest the course in the first year really wasn’t what I was expecting and didn’t really meet my expectations. Though I have learnt a great many things and there are things I have learnt in my classes that has prepared me for the world of animation when I choose to pursue it as a career later on in life.

To be honest it took me a while to find my feet in Sheffield, from understanding where certain places were to trying to figure out the tram system as opposed to taking busses everywhere like in London. I’ve also faced a great deal of obstacles in Sheffield; I’ve been financially broken for a great deal of my time up here, trying to get a job has been a very tedious and depressing process and being away from home has meant that I’ve had to miss out on so many events and people back at home. Though Sheffield has been kind to me, I’ve made some absolutely awesome friends, finally gotten work in small doses thanks to agency work and thanks to the nights out I’ve kept myself in a happy place when the world felt like it was falling on me. I even got to see not only Lee Evans, but also the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Motorpoint Arena since coming here and those were insane experiences that I’ve never forgotten.

So yeah I love Sheffield and I hope for another great 2 years! 😀

 

One Year on WordPress. Yay!

As of yesterday I have been on WordPress for year exactly, so I thought why not do a blog post about it. So in this post I will be just talking about my time as a blogger and how it started as something to do for uni to becoming my obsession and favourite pass time.

So as I said before when I started university last year, we were told to create accounts on LinkedIn and WordPress. Both of which I thought were pretty irrelevant to the course subject matter. However when I started looking into the intricacies of WordPress, I started seeing the possibilities for a new form of blogging. After losing interest in Gametrailers, I thought that WordPress would be a better place to house my thoughts and express my thoughts to the world, and so that’s where my journey began…

When I started on here I just started transferring old reviews from Gametrailers and reworked/updated them for this blog. But after a while my life in Sheffield and my uni course started giving me something to write about, sometimes even without me having to plan it and before I knew it blogging became my favourite thing to do. Eventually I blogged my than I did any of my other hobbies like drawing or playing video games. I actually dedicated so much time to blogging and sometimes refused to leave my room at my flat until my post was finished. That was how dedicated I was. I never knew writing about my own life would be so much fun, from talking about my nights out to my rant series I started talking about things that bug me. It was fun.

For the first few months I never really understood my addiction to blogging, it was just something I enjoyed doing. I liked blogging more than I did doing my own coursework from my animation course (and that was surprising). I think it was just like when I’m on YouTube where I have an opinion about something and like to share it with the world. I also really enjoyed the fact that people actually enjoyed what I wrote in their likes and comments on my blog posts. So when 2012 came around and I finally got around to watching films in the cinema again, I think that’s when things on here started to elevate. That’s when I really got into writing and creating work that was comprehensive and interesting to read. But I think the peak point of this blog was when I wrote about Kony back in March 2012, man, that just shot me into the stratosphere! One blog post got me over 1000 views in one day! I was blown away. And while I’ve never been able to recreate that success, it has been the one thing that made sure that I’d never quit blogging, ever.

Without Kony I wouldn’t have gotten all of those absurd amount of views back in March this year. So thanks Kony.

And what I really liked was at one point I got into a nice little groove and was posting every week posting 1-3 posts each week and I felt so hardcore and while I never had too many comments, I did get viewers. And to me the views was all that mattered. After the views I got from Kony 2012, I was addicted to success and was constantly needing views. Unfortunately success seems to be hard to come by. My views after May started to fluctuate and I started to get a little downhearted and for teh first time my blogging became very inconsisant. Eventually I stopped caring about blogging.

Though I thought to myself I couldn’t leave my blog completely, so then I went back in July and tried to make a comeback. And thanks to my newfound love for blogging and my constant time in the cinema, I always had something to write about. And while its been hard to continue when my viewing figures have not been anywhere near where they were back in May and June of this year, I preserve because I have so much more to write, talk and rant about.

So yeah that’s about it for now. All I want to say is thank you WordPress for giving me something to do in my spare time which made me feel like I was doing something useful. Here’s to another great year! 😀

 

127 Hours Review

Howdy to all who may be reading this blog, today I return with another film review in the form of the Danny Boyle film 127 Hours, an adaptation of the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which documented the true events of a mountain climber, Aron Ralston whose played by James Franco in this film. Now I saw this film just after it came out in cinema back in 2011, but I didn’t watch again until I went to America and caught it on the plane while travelling over. So now that I’ve had time to reassess the film I think its time to review this film again with my better understanding of it, I’ll shall try to make it worth reading 🙂

Ever since I heard about this film I was continuously wondering just how it was going to be done. I mean here you have a film based on a real life situation of a very gruesome nature, plus it’s a film that’s primarily going to be based in one location for the main duration of the film, how long will the film be able to hold up before audiences get bored? Those were the main aspects I kept thinking about before seeing the film. It’s not that I didn’t have faith in Danny Boyle as a director because I know he’s brilliant, at that point in time I had only seen Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire but both films I enjoyed immensely so I wasn’t overly worried. However making a film about a man who goes climbing in the wilderness, gets his arm stuck beneath and boulder and then has to cut his arm off to get free doesn’t sound like a very inviting film. Plus the filmmakers and actors would have to portray it properly, so it wasn’t the easiest task to try and get right. But thankfully due to some clever direction by Danny Boyle, some wonderful cinematography, a great soundtrack by A. R. Rahman, a lovely script and fantastic performance from the leading man James Franco, the film all comes together in a very heartfelt and memorable way.

So let’s start with the story which is the main aspect of the film, now what makes a 127 Hours such a good film is the fact that it’s story is so interesting from start to finish. The introduction is fabulous with the use editing and great music to start the film off and straight from that point you are engaged, you establish the kind of lifestyle that Aron lives and get sucked into his world as he travels from the city into an isolated canyon in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Along the way he meets two girls and goes along with them to point them in the right direction while also hanging out and having fun. After leaving them he travels alone and while climbing grabs onto a loose boulder, he falls and then the boulder lands on his arm. And then the rest of the film is about how he survives through his traumatic situation of the course of time and the events leading up to how he frees himself.

Even though 127 Hours has a very difficult subject matter at the center of it all, the film is full of a range of different things like adventure, joy, pain, suffering, temptation and the concept of cause and effect. This film easily could have just been about one man stuck in a canyon for 90 minutes slowly succumbing to death and then escaping in a heroic and clichéd manner. But the way in which the filmmakers have tackled the problem of 127 Hours being potentially tedious and boring is by using flashbacks, hallucination sequences, having a well written screenplay and having one fantastic and varied performance by James Franco as Aron Ralston. Before saw this film I had only seen James Franco in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy as Harry Osborn in which he was pretty darn good in my opinion. Since then I’ve only seen him in Date Night, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the one episode he was in 30 Rock, but from what I’ve seen so far he doesn’t disappoint and commits to whatever role he gets into and that is especially the case with 127 Hours. I think James Franco gives his best performance to date in this film and it was truly incredible. He portrays the many levels of emotion that one would go through in that situation, he has great range, more so than his previous work in my opinion, but I think the best parts is when he’s on edge, at those emotional breaking points and in a frail state. Those are the moments where he really shines and it all feels authentic and most importantly you connect with him too.

This film isn’t for the casual film watcher as it is a film based mainly in one location for the main duration of the film and while that doesn’t bother me too much, I know some people who wouldn’t watch the film purely based on that fact alone. As I just said I have seen a few films where the main location of the film doesn’t change like Lifeboat, Conspiracy and more recently Buried, all of which I highly recommend. One other thing to note is that this film isn’t for the skirmish either, there is also the point where he actually cuts his arm off which is pretty nasty and not for the faint-hearted, but it is very impressive to look at because of the level authenticity that went into it and how well James Franco deals with it. Gruesome but awesome! And just before I finish I just want to mention the film’s soundtrack, A. R. Rahman is man who knows how to craft a bloody good soundtrack. All of his tracks sound incredible and really add a great layer of emotion and atmosphere in the scenes its applied to. There is literally always the right kind of music for the right situation from A. R. Rahman’s compositions to use of songs in the film too which always seem to be on form especially the song that used in the trailer that’s also used in the film, “Never Hear Surf Music Again” by Free Blood, it’s very addictive.

Overall I think 127 Hours one of the best films I’ve seen for a while, it’s a wonderfully crafted, really raw and well worth a watch. If I were to rate the film I’d give it an 8.5/10.

Well thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys later!! 😀

 

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, today I have another film review to give ya and this time it comes in shape of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol aka Mission: Impossible 4.

Now before this film came out I was very wary purely because it was the fourth entry in the Mission: Impossible film series. In most normal cases, most film series end in a trilogy or spin-off, so when you hear there’s going to be a fourth film in a film series that really didn’t need it, you can’t help but think it’ll be bad before it’s even going to come out. Though over time when it was announced that Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles was going to be on-board for the project I felt that there may be some hope for the film and then when Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner were also attached to the film, so my fear turned into hope. So I went to watch this film just expecting to like it… But after I watched it I was like “Holy man this film friggin is awesome!!”

This latest instalment in the Mission: Impossible film series is an interesting chapter in the life of Ethan Hunt and is fantastic film in the genre of action movies. Basically in this film the IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization’s name. While the plot sounds simple enough, there a good level intricacy and layering to it, with the multiple characters involved on the good side and the side of the enemy. This film is a great action flick purely because rather than just being a mindless film full of explosions and having action with no substance like the latest instalment of the Transformers film series, MI: GP has a story, it has structure with characters who are interesting and engaging and most importantly things happen for a reason rather than just happening for the sake of a spectacle for the audience. Tom Cruise is still just as cool as ever as Ethan Hunt and he delivers a solid performance whether he’s just talking or jumping out of buildings. Jeremy Renner adds an interesting element to the film with his character William Brandt, while Paula Patton and Simon Pegg do equally well in the film as agents Jane Carter and Benji Dunn.

Now talk about the action sequences in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The action scenes in this film are just ridiculously awesome. So much stuff happens in this film it’s unreal, straight from the beginning of the film it sets you up for a wide ride of significant feats performed by several of the characters involved whether they are the good guys or the bad guys. So many of the scenarios created are just unnatural, so many tension-building situations and heart-racing scenes are thrown in throughout this film that you don’t know what’s going to happen next. Another thing I noticed which Jeremy Jahns mentioned in his YouTube review was that when the action sequences come just when you think that it’s over, it throws a curve ball and continues, it’s mind-boggling. But one thing is for sure that the action sequences are pulled off in a fabulous way, all of it is very entertaining, well-choreographed and incredible to watch, some of it throws away the laws of realism and gets completely ridiculous at times, but I think that’s what I really loved about it, that level of impossibility that wouldn’t take place in the real world.

The amount of crazy action stunts that Tom Cruise gets into in this film is absolutely mad.

I also want to talk about the soundtrack which is wonderfully handled by one of my favourite film composers Michael Giacchino. In most of the soundtracks I have heard Mr Giacchino is nothing short of amazing as he always seems to get the music right in every scenario and it’s always so loud and present that you can’t ignore how great it sounds. As I listened to the soundtrack throughout the film I noticed subtle references to Giacchino’s previous work with Pixar and the more recent sci-fi film Star Trek. Now for me I find it interesting that both Brad Bird and Michael Giacchino found themselves working together again on a film of a similar genre to that of The Incredibles. And just like their last collaboration they work wonderfully together. And since I’ve mentioned Brad Bird now I think I should give him his credit as I feel this film really worked under his direction. Bird’s directing skills are pretty darn good, though it is all in the world of animation his contributions to The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille can’t be ignored. In the end I am glad that he was picked as the director because he did so well with it and it also shows that Brad Bird is also capable of directing live-action films too so hopefully this is the start of bigger things to come in his career.

This picture here is just badass, such a fine team of awesomeness.

So in conclusion Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a fabulous film and probably one of the best films of 2011. The film was handled very well with a good story, a solid cast, ridiculously awesome action sequences and a soundtrack that is just simply wonderful. After seeing this film I know one thing is for sure, Tom Cruise is still awesome! 😀 He can still tackle action films in such a great way and you can see in this film how much he really commits to the film with the amount of crazy stunts he pulls off. And director Brad Bird, he is a man of brilliance and he needs to direct more films because he has talent that shouldn’t be wasted.

Rating: 8.5/10

 

 

 

 

Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows Review

 

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, in this blog post I’m going to give you my review of the second Sherlock Holmes film from Guy Richie; Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

So the story of the film is an easy one to follow, basically we have Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson having to join forces again to take down their most calculating adversary, Professor Moriarty. The story in this film for me is a lot interesting than the first film because the characters in this sequel the characters are much more interesting and involved in the plot than before. Even some of the secondary cast lend themselves to the story in a great way. There is also a greater sense of danger and urgency in this film then there was in the last film and that is something I always love in sequels; having greater stakes and a deeper story for the audience to get invested in. It has been argued by some that the story is a lot further from the original source material and because of that the film has faults with the story and its characters. Overall I thought this story was pretty impressive, although I wish the writers had dived a little deeper into the darker areas of the film which would have made the characters and plot a lot better. But for the most part Sherlock Holmes 2 has a great story worth telling.

When it comes to the characters Robert Downey, Jr. as always is just incredible as Holmes, he is funny, complicated and a very strange man, but he does have a brilliant mind and the way in which he figures things out is nothing short of astounding. Holmes is also very similar to how he was in the first film, but I think this film takes him into deeper emotional territory than the before. At first I thought Holmes was an invincible smart man who couldn’t be touched but this film shows he can be hurt, physically and mentally and even the great Sherlock Holmes can get things wrong sometimes and I really liked that. When it comes to Watson, Jude Law is simply wonderful, he is the stern, yet fair friend of Holmes who brings his own level of smarts, wit and charm to the film. Even as he gets married and his life changes with his new wife we see that he still is the same man he was in the first film and like Holmes he goes though some emotional episodes that makes Watson all the better for it. Together throughout the journey of this film Holmes and Watson find that they need each other, that their bond extends further than just their journeys together, that for all the dysfunctional aspects of their relationship and all the problems that Holmes usually causes Watson in the end they really do need each other and it’s that bond that is one of the most powerful aspects of the film.

The other powerful character that completes the film is Jared Harris as Moriarty, as the antagonist he gives a much more memorable performance than Mark Strong’s villain in the last film. Unlike Strong’s character, Harris’ actually has a presence. Moriarty is one of those sort of villains that doesn’t act like one out in the open and operates behind the shadows while having a very different persona to the public as a cover. And as charming as he is, when his calculating villainy side comes out and his cruel side becomes apparent you realise he’s a force to be dealt with. He’s definitely not the type of guy you’d want to meet in a back alley at night. And the way in which Moriarty and Holmes interact is just incredible, they’re both incredibly smart and are constantly trying to outwit each other. Also Noomi Rapace is good as Simza, though I believe her character was incredibly underused and wasn’t in the film as much as I thought she’d be which was disappointing, but for what she did contribute to the film it was pretty good. The same can be said for Rachel McAdams and Kelly Reilly who reprise their roles as Irene Adler and Mary Morstan/Watson. And lastly but by no means least a special mention has to be given to Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes, he was just incredible in the film, he was witty, funny and just larger than life, he had much more of a role than I thought he would, but every scene he was in he was very memorable. As usual Stephen Fry delivers.

Now when it comes to the action sequences this film does not disappoint. From the fights, to the chase sequences and everything in-between everything is on a much higher level than before. Everything is on a much bigger and better scale than the last film; Holmes’ fights are even more interestingly choreographed than before, the gun fights are on a better scale and with all of the different locations in the film all of them introduce interesting scenarios and scenes of thrills, tension and adventure. And like the previous film Hans Zimmer returns to compose the soundtrack and it’s just a good as it was in the previous film, possibly better due to the darker nature of this film. Either way Hans Zimmer continues to be invincible and cannot do any wrong.

Conclusion

Overall Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a great follow-up to the first film and in a lot of ways is much better than its predecessor. The pacing is a lot better and with a much deeper plot, good character development, a much better villain and incredible action sequences this is definitely a film worth checking out. Director Guy Ritchie and his filmmaking team have taken what has worked in the first film and re-applied it in this film on a much bigger scale and I feel they should be commended for it. A lot of film critics and audience members have given this film bad reviews stating that it’s not as good as the original or stating that the film doesn’t do enough to differentiate itself from the first film. And while some of that may be true and there were issues and elements that this sequel didn’t fully commit to, overall the film isn’t nearly as bad as many people make it out to be. It is a well-made film with action, story and its fairly intelligent too. It’s not perfect but I still enjoyed it immensely and will probably be seeing again very soon.

Rating: 8/10

 

 

 

 

 

Just not feeling the Christmas season

It’s weird, at this time of year I’m normally very happy, besides the Expo and my birthday, Christmas time is when I am at my jolliest and yet in 2011 I feel next to nothing. It’s not like I’m emotionless, but let me put it into this context; I used to love this time of year, it was always about the merry songs, togetherness with family and friends, getting fat over the amounts of food that you would consume and watching specific television shows, oh and getting some presents too 🙂 Though I can’t say I’m an overly materialistic kind of person because I don’t mind what I get for Christmas, heck I don’t mind if I get next to nothing because in the end my general love for this time of year would normally cancel everything else out. As said before I was just in it for the love of the season. But now I’m not bothered, besides seeing family and having time away from uni Christmas this year has been pretty ordinary. I’m sort of happy about it but at the same time I’m not overly fussed.

Christmas should be a jolly time for all, but not for me this year.

Now I can probably see several people coming at me saying “Scrooge! Scrooge!” But you would be wrong on many levels, I have had fun this time around, just like every year but there has been some degree of normality floating around which I haven’t been able to shake. And I think I realise today what the deal is with me. It’s that feeling you get when you realise something is missing. You know that one element that holds everything together which you normally have but don’t at that present moment. And today on Boxing Day I realise what is missing from my world that has made this Christmas so regular and not so special… It’s the magic. That’s right magic, normally at this time of year around early/mid-December there is a feeling in the air that fills your soul with happiness, this is what people interpret as the magic of the Christmas season. While a lot people claim that Christmas has lost its meaning in commercialism and all that jazz. I have never forgotten what Christmas is about. At this time of year we remember the birth of Christ (Jesus Christ for those not aware) and other than that it’s all about being with your family and loved ones and enjoying their company.

But ever since December started I couldn’t get into the groove of things. I mean I knew that Christmas was coming but I never felt anything towards it, it’s like I said to myself “I should be excited but right now I’m not bothered.” So I thought maybe that’s just random feeling. Maybe that’ll pass in time, however the days edged ever closer and my feelings did not change. Though I did get fairly jolly with me flatmates at uni when they busted out some Christmas songs and we would dance around the flat. I thought that would be enough, but even then it wasn’t. So then I thought “If anything will get me in the mood for Christmas it’ll be “Dubstep Santa” by the Daveyboys. That always works.” And so I went on YouTube and watched all 3 Dubstep Santa videos and it was lovely, I was in my element and it was creating this joyful feeling in my soul, so I thought with this maybe the magic will follow. However right up until the week when uni ended back on the 16th I still didn’t feel anything special or magical. Things were still average.

To be honest this is how I felt for the majority of the Christmas season.

So then I figured okay if go back home to familiar territory then in the last week leading up to Christmas everything will be fine, but then the travel back home happened… Ugh. The less said about that the better, I even wrote a blog on it if you wish to see my post about my suffering here: https://hypersonic55.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/my-terrible-episode-with-train-transportation/

So then after I got home I tried to get into that Christmas groove. But the feeling wasn’t coming, the magic wasn’t kicking in. I also didn’t get my normal Christmas stuff done like watching my favourite Christmas films or television specials on TV, DVD or VHS, my schedule was messed up. So over the last week I had been reacquainting myself with my family and meeting up with many friends, some of which I hadn’t seen for months, others I had seen for years. It was beautiful. I even obtained a PS3 after how many years of waiting and I even got back to the cinema for the first time in 3 months! I was having the time of my life. I even went out on Christmas Eve with my friends and even met up with several old mates while I was out, it was a great night and to be honest it was the closest feeling I got to that Christmas magic because I was having fun in the company of friends. 🙂

So then while I was out Christmas Day came and I was in a lovely groove, so with a good feeling in my soul I left my friends in town and headed home around 1am. My sister and I set up the PS3 and played Mortal Kombat 9 for a few hours while opening my presents. So after our little playing session we went to bed. Then we got up a good few hours later, opened the rest of our presents and then headed out London to hang at my Gran’s house which was the main aspect of Christmas that usually rules over everything else. And from there we had loads of food, did a lot of catching up and played card games for ages, none of which I actually won haha. However even after all of the television, food, family fun and games I wasn’t having the time of my life as I usually am, this was just an ordinary time. 😦 I think it also didn’t help that the rest of my cousins, aunts and uncles weren’t there too. In the end this Christmas was fun, I had gotten some fabulous presents and spent some great time with my family. But in the end it was nowhere near as fun or as amazing as the last few years. Unfortunately there was no magic and I wasn’t feeling the season in the way that I should be.

Anyway hope that y’all people of the world had a great Christmas and I’ll catch ya later 😀

 

Being back home is weird

It is strange leaving home, moving to another town/city and trying to find your feet again. That’s exactly what I did when I went to university in Sheffield. I had to establish my identity all over again, make new friends and continue my life of learning in a much bigger and more academic environment. And over time I adjusted, I found my feet, got some great friends and discovered over the last 3 months that Sheffield is a pretty awesome place to live. Even after uni ended I could imagine myself hanging around in that city for quite some time. I guess you can say I got attached to the city a lot; it’s a very nice place. But then I left Sheffield last weekend to come back to my home town of Luton and things don’t right.

I’ve been back in Luton for just under a week and it feels strange to be back in a place that I used to call home, I mean sure it is still technically my home as I haven’t completely left the country or established a new life on the other side of the planet. But I feel more at home in Sheffield then I do when I am in Luton, there is just a refreshing feeling when hanging around in Sheffield and back up there it feels like anything is possible and that’s why I love it so. Nothing feels as hard to do or complicated to do up there unlike in Luton where it feels like there a level of complexity that comes with living in this town. I don’t mean to sound like I’m bad-mouthing my own home town, but with the amount of the stuff that I have been able to do in this new wonderful city that I’ve been living in for the last few months it’s weird to fall back into this place where I was before, it feels a tad unnatural. It’s just strange to have all this free time with nothing to do with it; I much prefer the madness of my time schedule in Sheffield where the unpredictable nature of life takes over with my lovely flatmates.

Again don’t get me wrong I don’t hate my home town, far from it in fact. I really do like being back here where things are a great deal simpler and all that jazz. I’ve met and caught up with all of my best friends, hanged out with many people and it seems like people genuinely miss me and actually want to hang with me. It’s made me so stupidly happy 😀 I swear in these last few days I have gotten all that I have ever wanted and then some, I am satisfied. And yet, I miss Sheffield so bad I just want to go back and live it up all over again. I know I’ll be back on the 31st of December for New Year’s fun, however its strange I should miss a city I’ve only lived in for a few months and miss a flat I’ll only live in for just under a year with ridiculously high pricing for rent or miss even people who I have only known for a short time. But hey what can I say, I love the city, I love the people and even though the flat rent is killing me it’s a nice place to chill in haha.

So now with Christmas around the corner I guess I look forward to it, it’s strange that it’s nearly here and yet I haven’t noticed at all, it’s really unnatural to me. Oh well only 2 days to go let’s hope something gets me in the groove! Laters. 🙂

 

My terrible episode with train transportation

It’s funny, in all time that I’ve been travelling on trains whether it be to London, Sheffield or anywhere else I can honestly say that I have never had a bad experience. Sure there have been delays or travel diversions on the London Underground when travelling to the London MCM Expo with my friends, but there has never been anything that has ever gotten under my skin, angered me and depressed me before… That was until yesterday. Yesterday was meant to be a simple trip from Sheffield to Luton, nothing overly complicated, I had planned everything out days before and even though I had pay extra for the train on the day, I had everything in hand. However from the time I left the flat at my accommodation the first time everything went wrong.

This was just meant to be a routine trip back home, but it blatantly didn’t work out the way I wanted…

So after waking up in a very slow fashion after a massive night out, I was up and ready, though I did mess around on YouTube for a bit. I think I may have watched too much stuff as I had forgotten to look at the clock lol. Basically I had to be on the train at 14:27, I wanted to get to the train station at 14:00 and it was 13:45! I started to panic, I through my stuff together and rushed around. I had to reorganize my suitcase twice and then I finally got out and was on my way to the station however I had left the most quintessential item at home, my rail card. So then I had to throw my suitcase in a bush next to a tree and run back to my flat, nab the rail card and then run back to get my suitcase. I eventually got to the station just before the train was gonna leave, but I didn’t get the ticket in time so I had to wait for the next one at 14:47. Weak!

The next train did eventually come on time and I was en-route… However, there was an announcement on the train saying that the train was faulty, something to do with the doors not functioning properly so then we had to get off at Derby and switch trains. Holy man was I pissed off. So then I had to take my heavy-ass bag and suitcase from one train to the next and then I was finally one my way to Leicester like I was supposed to be. I then got off and tried to look at the nearest indicator to find out when the next train would be heading to Luton, but it wasn’t working. So then I had to run to another platform and check the indicator there which said the next train for London St. Pancras was at 15:25, but when I looked on that platform it said that the trains was calling at London St. Pancras only and I was thinking “That is so unfair!” So then I ran up to a guy at the ticket office and he said that the next train heading for Luton was the one I just looked at, so me thinking that the ticket man was right I went back to the platform and waited around 20 minutes for the train to show up. So then it eventually showed up and I hopped on, sat down and hoped for the best. However when the ticket inspector told me that my ticket was not only invalid but that the train was going to London St. Pancras only, my heart soon sank into a sea of disappear.

So then she told me that she’d write something down on my ticket that would allow me to get over the barriers at London and should still allow me to get back home too. So I thought I should trust her, but I was still gutted that I had to travel all the way to London to get back to Luton. So then I arrive in London St. Pancras around 17:30 and approach the barrier with my ticket. I check the train times and I see the next train home was heading off at 18:00. So when I tried to get over the barriers to the train when it started boarding I couldn’t get on because the woman at the barriers told me that my ticket was invalid. But then I told her my situation, that I was given false information by the ticket man at Leicester and the other stuff, but she wasn’t having it and told me to get another ticket. So there I was in the most frustrated mood in the history life, I swear I was ready to blow up. I’m so glad I had my music to keep me going through all that, it kept me clam, kept me focused and provided me with some good tunes. So I went down, got me ticket, came back up and then finally got through the barriers and onto the train. I just sat down and sighed in sadness that it had taken so long to get to a position where I was getting home after running around for 3 hours. After a quick call with my mum, I just put my headphones back in my ears and just let the train take me away.

And then out of nowhere some guy I was sitting next to asked me if I wanted a beer, I thought he was joking but he said he had one too many, so I accepted. It was the highlight of my day, and best thing that happened to me all day. So there I was chilling with a beer on the train, I was tired, frustrated, but at least I had beer haha. 🙂 So then after 15 minutes I finally got back into Luton. Finally back to my home town after 4 hours travelling around on trains with heavy luggage. Holy man it was lengthy.

So with the end of that story I came to this conclusion, that trains aren’t always consistent and websites aren’t always reliable and neither are people. I know a lot of the problems with Saturday began with me, with my reliance on the National Rail website and their inconsistent information on train times and then the forgetting of my rail card. But then there were problems that came from having to change trains because of faulty electrics, ticket men giving out false information and horrible people at the barriers not understanding the problems that everyday people like me go through. Oh good gravy I suffer so. 😦 Why is it that every once in a while I have to go through such horrible episodes in my life. It has made me very wary for the future in terms travelling and other things of that nature.

 

 

 

 

The snow has fallen, at least it’s not falling.

This morning I woke up and saw the remains of what looked like snow, it looked like thick frost at first but then I saw a lot of it around so I had made an assumption that there had been snow. I just prayed that when I went outside it wouldn’t do a surprise attack on me and start falling on my way to uni because I wasn’t in the mood for that. So after I got myself decent and was getting ready to head out, my flatmate had returned from the outside and we had a small chat and he told me that it was snowing a few hours before I had awoken, as he was up when it was falling and he said that people from the floors above our flat came out and started throwing snowballs at his window. I can’t imagine how I missed all that, but then I am a very heavy sleeper.

Oh snow just go away!

In a way I should be glad the snow fell already, but the problem is that now that the snow has made itself apparent, the days are gonna get a lot colder, travelling may become a lot worse and it may just be a sign of the horror to come. I know I was talk about snow as a bad thing, but its only because nothing good has happened yet, no snow-related thing in the last few years has ever been good in any way. Oh well, whatever, we’ll see what happens, I just hope it doesn’t disturb me when I plan to go to the cinema over the next two weeks. 🙂