Rant 19: When People Talk During Films

Howdy people and welcome to another instalment in my blogging rants. I can’t believe that its been almost a year since the last rant, that’s mental. with all the crazy stuff I had to deal with in 2016 I’m surprised I didn’t make a few more posts last year. But nevermind, I’m back to talk about something that’s always irked me for a long time and that is people who talk during films.

Now this may not be a big deal for people who aren’t that into films but for me and many other film lovers it’s an infuriating experience. For most people films are fun to watch alone or with friends whether you’re in the cinema or at home, but when someone starts talking away during a film you have to questions things like:

1. Why watch a film if you’re going to talk though it?
2. If you have questions about what you’re watching, why not let the film answer those questions?

It is mainly terrible when you’re in the cinema because it is the ultimate film-watching experience and you can be in the best mood ever while being fully immersed in a great film… But then you get some selfish asshole, or multiple assholes, whether they’re teenagers, groups of loud girls or guys, annoying couples or old people, sometimes they talk too much. Children are the worst offenders because parents either bring them in because they have no baby sitters or decide to bring them into a screening for a film rated higher than their age… But sometimes it’s not just random people that can bug you, sometimes it can be your own friends and family. On numerous occasions I’ve watched films with people I know only for them to constantly ask me questions or moan about the quality of the film and it got so tedious. My mum is the worst for that, she always asks questions and just doesn’t let things play out, she’s vocal about the notable elements of a film like a bad joke, character death or a double cross, it’s especially annoying when its a film I haven’t seen before and I miss certain details. But then there was my uncle on Christmas Day, good gravy I think he may be as bad as my mum. We watched most of The Avengers and Ant-Man and had to comment on everything from the story, to character motivations to the realism and everything else, and considering that I love those films I hate to be distracted and good god it was almost impossible, and it made me wonder how much worst he’d be like if he was in the cinema. Now I have no issue with watching film with people at all, in fact I welcome it for certain times of films like comedy, horror and superhero films, but with all that bloody jibber jabber, it makes me glad that have the option to watch films alone just to avoid the distraction of people around me. In the end people respect the film watching experience and be silent unless the film wants you to make noise, if you’re talking and not paying attention to the film just get lost.

Well that’s another rant over. Hopefully this has been somewhat insightful and if you’ve had any similar experiences please be sure to comment about it in comments below. Until the next time people, laters. 🙂

 

End of Year Review 2015

Howdy ladies and gents, 2015 is Romeo done, and now its time for my annual END OF YEAR REVIEW! It’s the 5th edition on WordPress and I’m ready to summarise my experience in this post. While time has moved relatively fine, I swear toward the latter side of the summer till Christmas just flew by absurdly quick, and here we are at the dawn of a new year. As with previous entries, I will talk about the year as a whole from my perspective, breaking it down into sections and then conclude with a summary. You ready? Cool, let’s go!

Video Games

In the last two years, I’ve really been getting back into my video games, but this year has been the one for catching that fever and playing several games at the same time. Again I’ve been primarily on my Nintendo stuff playing loads of Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. 4 on my Wii U. But I’ve also been playing a fair amount of Child of Light, Xenoblade Chronicles, Lego Marvel Superheros, Super Mario Maker and Trine 2. And I’ve been bleeding through Project X Zone, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Sonic 2 3D, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and A Link to the Past. However my favourite experience by far has been playing Xenoblade Chronicles X, I’ve only had the game for around a week now, but this game just makes me feel so satisfied when it comes to exploration, combat and sense of community when it comes to the online elements. Now obviously I don’t have a PS4, Xbox One or a fancy PC to play a lot of the awesome games that’s been released like Metal Gear Solid 5, Witcher 3, Batman Arkham Knight or Ori and the Blind Forest to name a few, but hopefully I’ll get around to a PS4 and some of those games next year.

Films

For me, 2015 has been a pretty good year for films, and while there’s been a fair amount of disappointment, there’s also been a good deal of unexpected gems too. For all of the average/lame films that I had to watch like Terminator Genisys, Chappie and Fan4stic, we also got an Ex Machina or Black Mass. I missed a lot of films in 2015, however, I saw as much as I could and most films delivered, though I wish I could have loved some of them more like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Spectre. So now I give you my top 10 films of the year.

Technically I did a top 10 film post already, but for those who haven’t seen it I will list it below and as usual, I’m only counting films released in 2015, and films originally released in 2014 that got UK a release this year DOESN’T COUNT! But with that out of the way, these are my favourite films of 2015:

Top 10 Films of 2015

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2. Kingsman the Secret Service
3. Ex Machina
4. Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
5. Straight Outta Compton
6. Amy
7. Mad Max Fury Road
8. Black Mass
9. The Martian
10. Ant-Man

Special Mentions

• Cinderella
• Sicario
• Inside Out
• Crimson Peak
• Me and Earl and Dying Girl

Television

This year has been the most crammed one yet for TV where I took on multiple shows, new and old over the course of the year, sometimes overlapping several shows at the same time! One of the most heartbreaking experiences I had this year was seeing the end of Parks and Recreation with season 7. I also got to rewatch Fringe and relive all that awesomeness, and after around 2 years I finally finished the Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oh and I finally finished Hotel Babylon after all this time. With Netflix and Amazon Video I really got into a good few shows like Blue Mountain State and rewatched The IT Crowd, Chappelle Show, Alpha House and Justice League. But the main show I really got into was It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it was a show that was recommended to me by my mate’s sister back in July of 2013 and I decided to binge all 9 seasons over a few weeks and it was hella fun. That show is absurdly silly and funny and is one of my new favourite shows.

On top of that in the Fall/Autumn, we got to see the return to form of with Arrow‘s 4th season, more improvements with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3, more great material from The Flash season 2, some smart and funny material with season 19 of South Park, the continuing awesomeness with of Grimm with season 5 and more great stuff with Star Wars Rebels. I will admit that my love for Game of Thrones this year wasn’t as high due to a disappointing season 5 and while I’ve enjoyed the latest seasons of The Walking Dead and Castle I haven’t been as invested as before, especially when it comes to season 8 of Castle.

But it’s not just about on-going shows. I really enjoyed Blindspot, Agent Carter‘s first season was pretty cool, also after getting past some of the weaker episodes I really got into Moonbeam City and Master of None‘s first season was one of the most unexpected surprises of the year with its realistic take on life issues, relationships and a unique style of humour with a film-like quality. But Marvel’s first two dips into the Netflix realm with Daredevil and Jessica Jones proved to be very successful, with darker, violent and more realistic portrayals of the heroes of the MCU. I really enjoyed the violence, fight choreography and crime drama elements of Daredevil, while with Jessica Jones it was all about the more serious and personal stories that dealt with more mature and realistic issues too.

Top 5 TV Shows

1. Daredevil
2. Master of None
3. Mr. Robot
4. Jessica Jones
5. Moonbeam City

Overall this year has been great for TV and I’m looking forward to the continuation of my current shows, the return of Agent Carter and Daredevil with their second seasons, and the start of Legends of Tomorrow and Luke Cage.

Music

As for music, all I can say is that 2015 has been the most disappointing year for new music I’ve seen in ages. There’s next to no new music I liked, and most of the stuff I heard that was popular just wasn’t of any interest to me at all. The only new songs I liked probably not on anyone’s radar. Firstly there’s Asian Kung-Fu Generation with “Easter” from their Wonder Future album, it’s a great opening track full of style and intensity, and the other song was “Fiesta” from Bomba Estereo featuring Will Smith, while the song definitely fits into the standard EDM style of modern music, at the same time it has a pretty nice sound, and it also helps that my man Will Smith was rapping on the track which was so much fun.

My Experience

2015, to be honest, it is hard to rate this year when comparing it to previous ones. There were highs and lows, and I think I’ve realised that there will be no year at this current point in my life that doesn’t come without some struggle. That being said I’ve had one hell of an adventure.

I got to return to the Children’s Media Conference and make some new friends, I also went back for year two at London Film & Comic-Con and after a two-year gap, I went back to the MCM London Expo too. As for other events I finally got to see Asian Kung-Fu Generation live and witnessed a kick ass Pokemon concert too. In addition to that, I obtained my first long-term job that lasted longer than 6 weeks and got back into drawing in a big way for the first time in a while. But the key thing that makes me smile is the fact that I’ve been able to have such great experiences with my family and friends and that’s really helped me deal with some of the regular bullshit. Oh and the blogging, for those who read this blog on the regular you know this has been an inconsistent year when it comes to the pacing and amount of posts that I’ve done, but luckily I’ve had a lot of my regular people to help me through the slow days, and to them I thank you greatly. 🙂

Conclusion

In conclusion, 2015 was a good session, but I’m ready to say goodbye to this year and welcome the next. These days I’m all about the progression and I will look back fondly on some of my adventures individually and with other people, but for all I’m gonna say is “Peace out 2015, and hello to 2016! Come on, this will be my time!”

Well, thanks for reading. So how was your 2015? Please be sure to comment below and finally, have a happy new year and hopefully I’ll see ya in 2016. Laters! 😀

 

End of Year Review 2014

Howdy ladies and gents, it looks like 2014 is well and truly over and so now its time for my annual END OF YEAR REVIEW! And this year is 4th edition on WordPress. 🙂 It seems like 2014 has flown by even though it felt long while it was happening, but today is New Year’s Eve, so let’s look back and talk about it. As with previous entries, I will talk about the year as a whole from my perspective, breaking it down into sections and then concluding with a summary. You ready? Cool, let’s go!

Video Games

When it comes to gaming I can say I’ve had a better year than before, while at university I had the chance to play a lot of games on Steam with my mates and while not many of them were new, I did have a lot of fun playing them. In terms of new games, I’ve played Trials Fusion, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, Goat Simulator and recently Mario Kart 8. As for the other games, I’ve played I Fire Emblem: Awakening, Kid Icarus: Awakening, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword being the main games I’ve messed around with. Something tells me that I’ve played more than what I’ve listed but this is the main stuff and hopefully if I get more money next year I’ll be able to play more new games.

Films

When it comes to films, 2014 I would say was a pretty good year for films, not the best but certainly better than last year for sure. Sure we had to endure films like Transformers 4, Horrible Bosses 2 and A Million Ways To Die In The West, but then we had good stuff like The Raid 2, Get On Up and Interstellar. This year definitely had more hits than misses and I certainly had fun in the cinema especially when it came to some of my IMAX experiences.

So now I give you my top 10 films of the year. Technically I already did a blog about my top 10, but for those who haven’t seen it I will list it below and as usual, I’m only counting films released in 2014, films originally released in 2013 that only got a UK release this year DOESN’T COUNT! Okay here’s my list:

Top 10 Films of 2014

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. Gone Girl
3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
5. Nightcrawler
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past
7. How To Train Your Dragon 2
8. Godzilla
9. Edge of Tomorrow
10. The Imitation Game

Honourable mentions:

• 22 Jump Street
• Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Get On Up
• The Raid 2: Berandal
• The Maze Runner
• Begin Again
• Noah
• The Grand Budapest Hotel

Television

Oh and then there’s the television. My god 2014 has been probably my most hardcore year for watching TV shows. I’ve watched so much stuff on TV and streamed a lot online, I think I had an addiction for sure. I had to say goodbye to one of my all-time favourite shows in the form of Boardwalk Empire (sad times). And I also got to enjoy the continuation of some of my other favourite shows like Game of Thrones, Grimm, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Regular Show, Arrow, The Walking Dead and Castle. I also got into a good few new shows like The 100, The Flash, Gotham and Constantine. And finally, I’ve also been revisiting old TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sonic Satam and Hotel Babylon.

Overall its been a good year for TV and 2015 only looks better with new shows and the return of currently airing shows too.

Music

When it comes to music I haven’t listened to that much new stuff, that’s what I do every year as I haven’t cared for new music since 2008. This year the radio has irritated the hell out of me with the horrible mainstream music that today’s kids consider ‘cool’. The only song I’ve remotely liked because of its addictive nature is Charli XCX with “Boom Clap” That song’s super happy and charismatic nature won me over.

Otherwise, I’ve just been going back in time for music mainly in the 90’s and early 00’s. I’ve gotten into more Anberlin, listened to a lot of Jack White, Janelle Monáe, The Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lenny Kravitz and A Tribe Called Quest.

Top 3 Song of 2014

1. Lazaretto by Jack White
2. Gust of Wind by Pharrell featuring Daft Punk
3. Next to It by Lupe Fiasco

My Experience

Oh 2014, what a year it’s been. It feels like the year has escaped me once again without me even noticing, I can remember so many points in the year when I was ready for 2014 to be over, but now that it’s here, it feels very surreal. I can’t say that this year has been the best, I’ve had to deal with so much drama, but at the same time, I’ve had so much to be thankful for so I can’t really complain that much.

Let’s start with the bad stuff. 1) I would say that financially I’ve had my fair share of lows due to not enough hours at work. 2) I have had some really shitty work experiences in both the hospitality and warehouse industries to the point where I just wanted to have nothing to do with having a job ever again. 3) Within my close friend circles, I had to deal with so much unnecessary drama and some of my friends drifted from me, possibly forever. And 4) I swear this was the year when a lot of my work colleagues just wanted to piss me off as I have had to deal with very mean, annoying and two-faced people across several of my different jobs this year. And I think that’s the main things.

Now let’s talk the good stuff. Continuing from last year, this was a year being more adventurous and daring. I met Stan Lee, volunteered at the Children’s Media Conference, got to go to two video game concerts for Zelda and Final Fantasy, I went to three music gigs, had some hella fun times in the cinema, finished and graduated from university, got more into my artwork, got to work in an animation studio, I made a lot of new friends and I finally got a Wii U! I would say that counts for a positive year experience.

With all the good stuff that’s happened this year I can only hope that it translates into the next year, 2015 feels like a game-changer for sure.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would say that 2014 was a pretty good year for the most part. For all the suffering and bullshit I had to endure, I have gotten to do so much and accomplish goals that I never would have been able to do before.

If you made it to the end of this post, I have to say thank you all for reading it all. So how was your 2014? Please leave me a comment below and let me know. And finally, whether you are a regular reader or new one, have a happy new year and I hope you’ll join me in again in 2015. Peace out! 😀

 

End of Year Review 2013

Hey hey hey ladies and gents, welcome to my annual END OF YEAR REVIEW!. And this is the 3rd edition on WordPress. 🙂 It’s that time of year again when the we reflect on the last 12 months asking ourselves where the time has gone and see what kind of stuff went down. As with previous versions I will discuss the year as I saw it, breaking it down into sections and then concluding with a summary. You cool with that? Nice, let’s go!

Video Games

With video games it’s started to take more a backseat to my love for film and going to the cinema, that being said I think I did a lot more gaming this year then last year. With my 3DS gaming I played a lot of Ocarina of Time 3D, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mutant Mudds, Steamworld Dig and I totally had the best time ever playing Pokemon X and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds this year. And in addition of playing GTA V, Terraria and all the games I played on emulators that gave me serious rushes of nostalgia and new experiences, I’ve become more of a gamer than I ever was before. However since I haven’t played enough games due to my lack of cash and lack of free time, so don’t expect any top 10 list from me lol.

Films

When it comes to films, I thought this year was a pretty disappointing especially when compared to last year. There was so much promise of awesomeness and unforgettable material, however there was just a lack impact and presence when it came to a lot of the films this year. I even wrote a post about it a while ago. Now that’s not to say that 2013 was a complete waste of time, there were some really fun and impressive films on show that were on show and luckily made those days in the cinema not as painful.

Annoyingly just like last year there are films that came out this year that I’ll have to wait until next year for (12 Years as a Slave and American Hustle come to mind), but I’ve gotten used to the fact that the UK film distribution is totally unfair.

So it’s now time for my top 10, but before that keep in mind this was a frigging hard list to do and I’m only counting films released in 2013, films from 2012 that were released in 2013 for us UK residents DON’T COUNT! Okay here’s my list:

Top 10 Films of 2013

1. Captain Philips
2. Now You See Me
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
4. Iron Man 3
5. Gravity
6. Saving Mr. Banks
7. Rush
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Frozen
10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Honourable mentions:

• Fast 6
• Despicable Me 2
• The Wolverine
• Pacific Rim
• Kick Ass 2
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Filth

When it comes to upcoming films I think that 2014 will be better, I’m praying for it. With epic titles like Godzilla, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, Sabotage, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past and so much more, I’m sure that it has the potential to rectify the mistakes of this year.

Music

Now let’s talk music! As with last year, I don’t care much for modern music because most of the time it sucks. I only make exceptions with established artists who have been going for a while or those odd few musicians who are good. Some of the music I’ve had to endure this year is beyond terrible, last year was the year of dubstep, this year was the year of dirty mainstream dance music bullshit. Everything sounded the same and what the hell was up with all the covers and sampling of old songs and then being raped by new artists? Is there no justice in the world?

Well outside of that, the return of Daft Punk, Justin Timberlake, AFI and Janelle Monáe was brilliant as they provided me with albums I had a lot of fun listening to. In addition to that while going back in time for music I got really into Deadmau5 over the summer, continued my love for A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip, RX Bandits and Alexisonfire, started getting into Alter Bridge, Beastie Boys and Coheed and Cambria, revisited Yellowcard, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.

Top 5 Song of 2013

1. Get Lucky by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell
2. Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z
3. I Hope You Suffer by AFI
4. Dance Apocalyptic by Janelle Monáe
5. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by Issues

My Experience

Ah 2013, good gravy, as with previous years I’ve never had a good or bad year, just a mixed bag and this year was no exception. There were many highs and lows in my world and I can’t even begin to know how to describe it to you, but hell I’m gonna try.

Let’s start with the bad stuff. Well, there’s been an array of shitty situations that have befallen me this year that’s put me in the worst of places like: 1) Being financially messed up and again. 2) Almost getting kicked out of my house by my landlord. 3) Getting stranded in a random town over the summer. 4) Having the most painful dentist experience ever. So yeah it’s not been a good time at points lol.

Then let’s talk about the reverse with the good stuff. Firstly this has been one of my most adventurous years in the sense that I went out of my way to try new things like going to my first music festival, witnessing an amazing Zelda concert, doing volunteer work again, and going to the Peak District for the first time and applying for various types of jobs. Friends have also been a big part of my year, the old ones have been true blue and badass as always and now I have some new peeps in the collection too.

So it has been a crazy year, but I consider it all a learning experience and I have gained much knowledge of which I shall put to good use in the future.

Conclusion

So to summarize 2013 was a good and bad year. I had so much fun and so much tragedy go down and the world of media has given me joy and pain in many ways. Well the year is done and I’m ready to move on, hopefully 2014 will be my year, it looks promising and I’m ready for some new adventures.

Thank you all for reading whether you are my regulars or fresh new face, have a happy new year and I hope you’ll join me in again 2014. Peace out! 😀

 

End of Year Review 2012

Hi hi ladies and gentlemen! So yeah technically 2012 is over and I was meant to have this online but December 31^st but I still feel the need to reflect on the year that was 2012. A lot had happened in the world last year and while I won’t be able to cover it all in this blog post, I will try to cover everything that I saw and did throughout the year. So prepare yourselves for an epic blog post just like 2011!

Video Games

To be honest I haven’t been following video games as much as I have in recent years purely because I’ve become much more of a film kind of guy. But I still played games and gained knowledge so I’m gonna try to summarize what I recalled in 2012.

When it comes to Nintendo they’ve had a rocky year, while there have been plenty of moments of success and new gaming experiences this company has also fallen on hard times and are clearly not as powerful as they used to be. So let’s talk about the Wii, honestly I thought the console was dead, especially with Skyward Sword being the last great game on the system last year. But of course there were still a few games to be released like The Last Story, Pandora’s Tower and several of the horrible third-party games. It was only after the release of the Wii U that the Wii finally got put to rest, although there’s still that Wii Mini coming out in Canada… Why?

Anyways let’s talk about the Wii U; man was there a lot of hype for this console before it came out. Every gaming publication wanted to know the specs of the console and know what games were gonna come out and so on, eventually in November the questions were answered and to be honest the Wii U’s reception to the public has been pretty mixed. Some think it’s innovate and awesome, others think it’s an alright console and some say that it won’t stand the test of time after Sony and Microsoft release their next big consoles. In any case the Wii U has had mild success with Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U, Zombie U, Scribblenauts Unlimited and several of its ported HD games from the PS3 and Xbox 360. Most critics say it’s hard to rate the console until we see how far it can go so hopefully 2013 will be year when Nintendo sort out their new console. Then there’s the 3DS that faired a lot better than its home console counterpart. While it still sells ridiculously well in Japan over on Western shores it’s still not shifting nearly as many units and even after the 3DS XL was released with its higher battery life and bigger screens it hasn’t been big major thing Nintendo thought it was gonna be. But anyway let’s talk games, the 3DS had a lot going on this year with Kid Icarus: Uprising, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Paper Mario: Sticker Star and while not a 3DS game Pokémon Black and White 2 received a lot of praise and sold pretty well too.

I honestly didn’t pay much attention to the movements of Microsoft or Sony (even though I have a PS3 now), I guess it’s because I have never really been attached to them unlike Nintendo who I have been following for a long time now. So now I’m just going to talk about some of the biggest games of the year and how they fared in the public eye.

Here’s a list  of some of the big games of 2012: Dishonoured, Dragon’s Dogma, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Far Cry 3, Max Payne 3, Street Fighter X Tekken and Borderlands 2 are some of the biggest games that dropped in 2012 to high praise from fans and critics. Oh and then there’s Guild Wars 2, damn. I lost so many of my friends to that game in 2012, that MMORPG captivated the hearts of all who played it and I swear at one point everyone was on the hype. And then of course there was the highly-anticipated Halo 4 which literally exploded once it was released, it basically took the original formula from the former games and made it better. And of course there was the beastly Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, one of the biggest games of the year that was highly praised by fans and critics and sold ridiculously well. It’s a CoD game so it was to be expected, but this game really did try to change the formula a bit and it succeeded.

Then of course there were some big games that didn’t quite meet expectations. And of course Assassin’s Creed 3 was one of the biggest and most anticipated games of the year, and while it definitely built upon the mechanics of the previous games, there were a number of elements taken out that fans didn’t appreciate, along with glitches and an ending that split fan opinions, AC3 was a great game, but just didn’t live up to the hype for some. Mass Effect 3 was one of the most talked about games this year due to its disappointing ending and the outcry from the fan base to change what they got. Final Fantasy XIII-2, while notably better than the FFXIII still didn’t quite give certain fans what they were looking for which made some fans drift even further from Square Enix. Sonic 4: Episode 2 was also in the disappointing department, while Sega corrected several of the issues in the previous game, there were a number which weren’t sorted or were new to this game. And there’s Resident Evil 6 which tried to cover different play styles while also trying to re-insert that horror element into the game, while noted as being a better games than RE5 most fans wanted more for RE6 and didn’t get it.

As for my personal experience with 2012 games I didn’t play too many because I couldn’t really afford them haha. But I did get the chance to play some games this year. Kid Icarus: Uprising, Sonic 4: Episode 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 HD were the only games from this year I got around to playing and owning.

Films

2012 has been a pretty beastly year for films and there had been a fair share of good and bad films. So when it comes to the good films in the year there are plenty to talk about including Chronicle, Marley, The Cabin In The Woods, The Avengers, The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight Rises, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Looper, Skyfall, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Frankenweenie, Rise of the Guardians, Life of Pi and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to name a few.

There have also been a number of just decent or disappointing films including Prometheus, The Amazing Spider-Man, Snow White and the Huntsman, Brave, Ted, The Bourne Legacy, The Expendables 2, Dredd, Ruby Sparks, The Cold Light of Day and Hotel Transylvania. And then there were the films that were just downright awful including Wrath of the Titans, John Carter, Battleship, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Rock of Ages and Total Recall.

Top 10 Films of 2012

1. The Avengers
2. The Perks of Being A Wallflower
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. The Dark Knight Rises
5. Skyfall
6. Looper
7. Silver Linings Playbook
8. Rise of the Guardians
9. Marley
10. Chronicle

Annoyingly there were many films in 2012 that I didn’t get to see because of horrible UK release dates, so films like Wreck-It Ralph, The Impossible, Django Unchained, Flight and Lincoln I won’t see until this year which is really annoying, but hey what can you do? But other than waiting for 2012 films, 2013 has got so much to look forward to including The Great Gatsby, Iron Man 3, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Man of Steel, Oblivion, After Earth, Sin City: A Dame to a Kill, Evil Dead, Kick-Ass 2, Pacific Rim and Despicable Me 2 just to name a few.

Music

In the area of music this year has been an interesting year for me. In terms of recent music I’ve been trying to avoid it at all turns because in truth I hate the majority of it, everything sounds the same and several bands and music artists are starting to cross genres of music together so then there is no variation whatsoever. I thought 2011 was an endurance test for music but it just got worse this year. Everything was bloody dubstep! And while I don’t mind dubstep from time to time, it was just taken way too far this year. I couldn’t stand the sound of Skrillex this year, especially when the song “Bangarang” in the clubs this year and it also didn’t help that I saw it every second of the day when I saw the trailers for The Watch in the cinema. But anyway little rant over.

As for the new music I did follow we shall start with Chris Brown, he released “Turn Up The Music” I was hyped and while the song was okay, it was the music video that really made me love the song. His follow-up singles were alright for the clubs, but just a little too mainstream for my liking. This was also the year when Jack White released his first solo album, Blunderbuss and I literally fell in love with and played several of the tracks over and over. I was also enjoying the sounds of Calvin Harris is year, while most of his singles were alright for the clubs for me it was all about “We’ll Be Coming Back“, at first I was indifferent to this collaboration between Harris and Example, but then I became addicted and it was my song for the summer! No Doubt finally returned to the world of music with their album Push and Shove. And overall No Doubt definitely returned with a new yet familiar sound with their latest album with “Settle Down” and “Push and Shove” becoming some of my favourite songs in the summer. Then there was the epicness of Jaden Smith with his mixtape The Cool Cafe: Cool Tape Vol. 1 which was totally badass. Jaden has a style of his own that separates him from his father, also reminded me of Lupe Fiasco and was very impressive for a kid his age. And lastly the Red Hot Chili Peppers were making me all crazy when they started releasing the unreleased tracks from their last album with A and B side tracks which were really different but also very awesome.

As for other music that hasn’t necessarily been new there’s been a lot. I’ve become a lot more accustomed to The Maccabees, Soundgarden, The Kooks, David Bowie, The Strokes, Kid Cudi, Radiohead and Deadmau5 to name a few. Some of my friends’ musical tastes were definitely starting to rub off on me as I was listening to a lot my house, dance and rock music. On top of the artists labelled above I became an Arctic Monkeys fan this year as I went through their entire discography and fell in love with their sound especially with their first two albums; why I never became a fan sooner I’ll never know. One of my friends introduced me to the Rx Bandits and their fusion of rock and ska-based music became my obsession since March of this year, their sound is so good! Another obsession was Alexisonfire, while I only started listening to their music at the start of December it has become one of my favourite sounds to listen to and I am so thankful I got to see them live when they came to London, to say that they were amazing doesn’t even begin to describe how good they were! I also decided to revisit my past with Blur and found out that I really loved their sound too and I have definitely become a fan of their material too.

Top 5 Song of 2012

1. No Doubt – Settle Down
2. Calvin Harris – We’ll Be Coming Back
3. Soundgarden – Live To Rise
4. Jack White – Love Interruption
5. Jaden Smith – The Coolest

My Experience

2012 for me has just been a mixed bag of good times and bad times and chaos. I swear if there is a god out there then he must have been testing me because I have gone through hell this year. From failing at uni to failing at job interviews, from being completely broke and unable to eat to having the worst of days at work, I have felt the ugly side of life slap me in the face several times to the point where I was ready to cave in and call it a day. But luckily I survived, and lived to fight another day. Last year I did a lot interesting stuff like travelling around Sheffield and getting lost in the process, then I also got to do some networking with some animation companies, I also ended my time in halls and moved into house over the summer and I finally completed one of my long-term goals to get a job too.

But in truth this year has been all about me and my friends of which I have forged many new alliances this year while improving on the old ones too. Those beautiful people who were there for me when I was at my lowest and the people who I shared some unforgettable times with. From having the most epic nights out like my mates’ 20^th birthday to my own 22^nd birthday flat party to all of those nights at Corp, good gravy this year has all been about going out and partying it up. But besides clubbing it up, I have also spent time just hanging at my friends’ houses or in the pub or going out to lunch or just having coffee, you the simple things. I have enjoyed these small moments of happiness. I’ve also had a lot of support from my family members last year when I really needed them and I appreciate them even more than ever! 2012 was also the first year since 2009 where I had gone to the London MCM London Expo for one day only, but I still had a cracking time with my main man Chris and my other friend Craig.

Also it’s been a lovely year of blogging; I think I’ve finally found my passion for writing again through blogging in addition to my scriptwriting class in uni too. I have found myself on WordPress more times than I care to remember just writing about anything and everything, but I have definitely taken this whole blogging thing a lot more seriously and proper gotten into it when doing my film reviews too. I am just glad I have found a productive thing to do in my spare time and I’m also glad that I have people who enjoy reading what I write about too.

Conclusion

So to summarize 2012 was a mixed bag, there have been many great moments, but I also went through a lot of horrible shit that made a lot of days unbearable. It seems like ever since 2007 or 2008 all of my years since have been a mixed experience with there never being a solid good or bad year, what gives? Oh well, that’s the way life works I guess. Well I’ve got a lot of stuff planned and I’ve got hope for the future so let’s rock it! YEAH BRING ON 2013 YO!

Thanks for reading people, have a happy new year and I hope you’ll join me in 2013. Peace out! 😀

 

Where’s the reviews?

Hello to all my subscribers and the many people of the internet reading this blog post. Now as some of you may be aware on this blog in addition to post personal things, I review a lot of films too along with video games and TV shows. However recently there has been a decline in the amount of reviews that I have done recently. So some of you may be asking, “Where the reviews at?” Well allow me to explain.

Basically it’s down to life. Recently university has thrown a lot of work and deadlines at me and obviously that does take some priority over my blog, but also in addition to my uni work increasing, there’s also my job and money situations to take care of too. In truth my money situation though it’s not as bad as it was last month, but it’s still not completely sorted so I’ve missed out on going to the cinema because of that. And also with my jobs at the agency I work for, that’s taken some of my time away too. I’ve also been working on my YouTube channel and Facebook page for my video reviews too, so there’s that.

The last time I was at the cinema was around two weeks ago when I saw Skyfall again and finally got around to watching Frankenweenie too. I have been meaning to get back and watch a hell of a lot of films, but uni, work and other outside occurrences have kept me away from my place of leisure. However I am here to say worry no more, new reviews are on the horizon. Below are a just a few films I plan to see over the next few days:

I will attempt to watch all of these films in the next week or so.

In addition to my film reviews I plan to finally get back to my TV reviews and finally get around to watching and reviewing Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Along with that I also plan on finally reviewing two video games from this year that I’ve had for a while and they are Sonic 4: Episode 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 HD.

After December 21st I’ll be free to come and go from the cinema as I please so that’ll increase my review output by quite a bit. So look forward to my madness as it emerges. 😀