Home blog!

I shall apologise only briefly for my absence. Until this moment, right now, at 9am on Tuesday, I haven't felt the blogging urge. After years of blogging I am aware that the forced ones are less readable.

I'm back home in Durham, wouldn't you know. Now, you could have guessed this fact (due to it being close to Christmas) or know me enough to have read it on facebook, or most likely, you're Mum and you were in the car when you picked me up.
We were scared the snow would prevent me from travelling but thankfully it stayed clear, just cold instead.

Once I returned to our home I prepared myself for a meal/night out with the Durham friend circle. We went to Nandos, had a wonderful catch-up chat in Lloyd's and headed home about half 10 as we're all tired and/or ill.

Sunday night heralded a comedy adventure to Darlington where 4 comedians performed for us and each of the three main ones were totally awesome. I can't explain how much I laughed.

Saturday, so that's yesterday, I spend the day chilling and watching stuff, most notable Easy A, again, but this time with Haze. Also, we got to go to a church carol service in town where Hazel sang, we all sang, and Hazel (along with others) played handbells! So talented and totally enjoyable.

So now I don't really have a plan for the day, some sort of chill/sort day.



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And now for what I have neglected!
FILMS!

Get Him to the Greek

I wasn't that bothered about this film, it definitely wasn't anywhere as good as people made it out to be! It made me laugh though, Tom Felton and the furry walls. But the jokes were stilted, old fashioned, awkward and a bit racist. Overall, I wouldn't watch it again but it was worth seeing once.

Predators

I quite enjoyed this one, not so much the plot but the world it was set in, the characters and the ideas. It made me think I might like the original film, but not enough for me to actively search it out. Compared to some films I've had to sit through... well.

The Killer Inside Me

Urgh, I didn't like this. For people who like creepy slow-paced realistic violence with drawling accents and Jessica Alba being beaten to death in the face and and STILL saying she loves him as he is doing it. Saying sorry isn't enough you douche. I thought it would be something exciting and mysterious but he just blatantly killed people and happily carried on lying and living.

She's Out of My League

After the last film this seemed pretty awesome, although it is only a mediocre film, the comedy characters (especially Stainer) make it worthwhile and it's a light-hearted laugh.

Easy A

Tumblr made me do it. I watched it and loved it and watched it again! Quote, screencap, quote.

The characters are lovely and realistic, the idea is similar to experience school but blown of proportion as any film must do. Truthfully it represents teenagerdom with the validity and speed of lies and rumours and the emotional distress this can cause. Yet it is tied together with some great filming, editing ideas and most of all comedy. Olive is witty, her family awesome, and her peers relatable. WATCH THIS FILM.

Light snow, it's going UPWARDS.

While I watch a program about Foods that Make Millions I shall inform you of my recent adventures.

Story No. 1. Key Loss

On Tuesday morning, when preparing to leave James' room in town, I patted my coat pockets only to reveal that there were NO KEYS within. I frantically ransacked my rucksack and they were not located. I spent the rest of Tuesday worrying and being annoyed by the lack of original keys. I had been able to borrow a spare from the Porter. On Wednesday morning I rang the bus company, described my keys and went to pick them up. The feeling of relief cannot be described. 

Story No. 2. Layers and Snow

Recently I have been wearing, at the least, 3 layers of tops. Yesterday it was 3 t-shirts 2 hoodies and my coat. It's ruddy cold. Yet there isn't much snow at all. Back home my sister Hazel is living through knee high snow. We still don't have enough to cover the grass properly. I sort of want it to snow properly to make the cold weather worth it.

Story No. 3. Films

Sunday was time for "The Expendables" a film written, directed, and starred in, by Sylvester Stallone.

I didn't much like it. It was in the same genre as "The Losers" and it was about 1/8th as good. James thought it was good but the mindless violence (pretty much for the sake of it) and lack of appealing characters just failed to engage me.

On Monday we saw "The Girl Who Played With Fire" which was the second film in a series I knew nothing about. It was actually pretty good, you could tell it was based on a book because of all the twists and the quantity of characters. It was subtitled in a yellowy white text that sometimes couldn't be read for over a minute due to some scenes being very pale. I'm not really compelled enough by it to read the book series or to watch the other films.

Story No. 4. Art

So I've been painting small again. I'm not fully happy with what I've done but I've uploaded them on facebook for people to see. I think they look better in real life than a photo can show. The scale impact is RUINED on a computer screen. I need to paint a whole load more and buy some coloured wool so I can connect them up in a big web on the wall. Oh and masking tape. I ran out and Bill isn't running the shop today and I have a lecture in the morning. *le sigh* Going to get on with my work this afternoon.

Story No. 5. Showtunes.

My mood has been lifted 100 fold recently by my showtunes playlist that I finally made. 

I feel it is lacking though, it needs Rocky Horror on it and Joseph and Starlight Express (just because) I crave more showtunes. I would also like the entire Beatles back catalogue. 

I think what I'd like is an iTunes gift card so that I feel that all the new music I want would be a present. 

Well, this program about cereal has been rather interesting. I think I might go to the library and see if there are any books about Photorealism as it interests me and I can't do it myself. 

Delay = Length

Thursday 
Greg Davies was hilarious. SO worth £12.50, worth more because Edd (the warm up act) was just as rip-roaringly funny.
Friday
Shrek Forever After
So much better than the 3rd one. I truly enjoyed this film, seeing these amazing characters and animation.
Saturday
Liverpool art galleries and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Really enjoyed this film. They're getting the hang of it now. I had issues with some bits (like Wormtail) but otherwise it was good.
Sunday
Eclipse
AHAHA My thoughts on this haven't changed much since the first time I watched it.
Monday
Salt with Angelina Jolie. I though it was alright but not amazing. Russian/American spy thingy.
Tuesday 
‎Gerry said, "Luvle, has been a bit wanky recently" and we all giggled.
SSAGO three legged bar crawl turned into a 10 legged bar crawl
Wednesday
After a terrible video about European student riots in 1968 I had Tourguide Training for THREE HOURS.
Thursday 
Art day learning about paper and egg tempera and dammar varnish and Gerry making more ridiculous jokes. Scott Pilgrim, 3rd viewing, still awesome. I adore this film to geekery heights.
Friday
The food concoction we had for tea was surprisingly tasty. Egg mayo, pasta, bacon and fresh peppers.
We went for a walk where I got thoroughly disoriented.
Misfits and QI were viewed.
Saturday
We had a "day off" and went shopping and were lazy and watched Scenes of a Sexual Nature on BBCiPlayer.
It was pants, it was so trite and the characters seemed so unrealistic, all except for that nice old couple. Even then they sang of CLICHÉ!

It's Sunday. I've made some more rice krispie slice. I've done most of my Art History.
Hazelizabeth was Hazel's turn this week. I hope you like it!

London trip! (long post but full of detail)

What a bland title for such a complex experience...


Monday morning, it hits half 7 and my phone starts buzzing and I know I have to get out of the warm haven that is bed and shower. The shower at James' can be quite unpredictable but thankfully it was warm and woke me up enough to feel confident that the day would go well.
By 8 we were both ready, I'd eaten an apple and James had decided to surface and walk with me to the train station even though he didn't need to be up so early, which was very lovely of him.
My train was delayed so we had to sit on the rather cold station chairs and wait. I got on the train, listened to music and made my way to London.
Met Alex at Leicester Square tube station and we headed off to see an exhibition by Noel Fielding which was in a cafe. Strange one that was but still worth a look. 
It's wonderful spending time with Alex, he has so many ideas that he just wants to share, knows so many things an has had and has still some amazing opportunities. 
We headed over to Green Park where there are a load of smaller galleries that have work for sale. Some of these are works by prolific people like Richard Hamilton that are going for about £65,000, others about £500 by the less well known but often (in my opinion) more aesthetically pleasing, artists.
I saw some genuinely inspiring work, and some totally pants stuff too; it's good to see the range though, and that terrible stuff can sell for £16,000. 
We headed to Subway for lunch, just because it was near and we were very hungry. Laughing at the fact they bother to sell side dishes. Who would want them? We chatted about music, as you do.
After visiting some more galleries I'd covered all those on my list for the day by about half 4 so we just headed back to his flat.
Due to it being "Email Monday" I just chilled out and listened to the snippets of information and ideas he was sharing. Charlie turned up after a meeting he'd had and we all just hung out as I learnt various things. These included the Chromaroma thing that Alex had signed up to. It's an online multiplayer game played through Oyster Cards. Also found out that Sugar wanted a photo of Charlie for a poster which he refused. Listened to some sneak previews of songs. (New Chameleon Circuit demos!) Also, a load of other things I cannot share because even though no-one really reads this, I don't want to spread all over the internet because they're things that you tell friends and not everyone.
Anyway, we were all starving and there was no food in the flat so we headed off to the Tesco nearby.
A very odd shopping experience as I've never shopped with anyone who doesn't go for the bargains and only buys one carton of juice even when they're on offer. (Not BOGOF just 2 for £3 and one costs £1.80 sort-of-thing!)
While Charlie cooked us tea, Alex and I played Buzz. I failed miserably as I'm just not quick enough and make silly mistakes. Pasta, red pesto, and peas was a delicious tea as we watched a documentary I think was called 'Evangelical Right'. It was a mix of extremely interesting, disturbing, educational and funny. In some aspects downright scary and in others exasperating.
Followed up with some Wii time where I failed at Wii sports and gradually got better at Super Smash Bros Brawl until I even reached the point where it was just me against Charlie (Alex and the CPU were out) and it was 1:1 lives. Unfortunately, as I fail at computer games, and Charlie actually knew what he was doing, I lost.
The inflatable mattress I slept on was way comfortable.

I forgot to film properly in the NeriCoolikeLocation... which is a fail on my part.
I read Pick Me Up in the morning and we set out to see some more Art about 11.
We hit up the bigger galleries on Tuesday by starting at the TATE Modern. I got to see some Francis Bacon, the Sunflower Seeds and some other great things. We headed to a competition gallery that we'd been flyer'd for and on the Millennium Bridge we saw Ben Wilson (the guy who paints on chewing gum) working. I managed to film him chatting to another guy about his work and that'll probably show up in a video of mine and perhaps Alex's as I sent him the footage too. We headed to the Oxford Street area and found this genuinely lovely cafe in which I had a fantastic chicken, bacon, avocado and cranberry "french burger" and was asked by the waiter why I don't like cheese.
We went to the V&A to see the 'Shadow Catchers' exhibition which is photography by 5 artists, done without a camera, just a range of different treated papers and exposure techniques. What you see is the original and only photo. Just awe inspiring.
Saatchi rounded off out gallery visits and because we had about 2 hours spare we headed to Harrods.
A genuinely wonderful London experience that shop is. Alex spent ages looking at shoes (because he's been wearing slippers recently) and ended up (after lots of thought and advice) buying some Ugg shoe/slippers that are black and some GUCCI velcro shoes which were just because he doesn't have anything remotely waterproof otherwise! On the way out we met some American students who, headed by a girl called Crystal, had been looking for Alex and/or Charlie for 3 months. We chatted to them for ages and they were so lovely!
To the station, food and another delayed train home got me to Preston just after the time my 'Last-Train-to-Lancaster' should have left. It was late and Rach from SSAGO was there and then I was in Lancaster and James was there and I was so tired and we walked home and he had a sausage sandwich and we fell asleep.

Normality resumed on Wednesday when we had a lie in, went shopping, lazed around and ate and watched a film. We watched Drop Dead Gorgeous on iPlayer and it was cheesy and hilarious and pretty good actually even though some of the characters were a bit obnoxious.


Today, I'm back on the internet for the first time since Sunday. I've watched GLEE and adored the Singing in the Rain bit with Mike and Mr Shue.

Going to catch up with youtube for a bit, after lunch work hard, check my post and work some more, maybe watch SJA. Afterwards it'll be tea time and then GREG DAVIES doing comedy in town.

Looking forward to it.

Hope you liked hearing my adventure... stay tuned for more random Liz.

Spontaneity

On Friday, James and I went out for tea at Bella Itallia. Mmmm. Good job we have TESCO vouchers though!

On Thursday we saw the film "The Losers". It was one based on a DC cartoon and it was really very good.

On Saturday we saw "Prince of Persia" which was so Disney it hurt. Jake Gyllenhaal was good but the accents for everyone were just bizarre!

Tomorrow I'm going to London very early in the morning.

Today I'm writing my essay.

That's all.

:)

These strange things they call Wednesday

I'm well aware that this isn't posted on Wednesday. I ended up not having time to complete it.

Some Wednesdays I have the full day off, yesterday was one of these days.

We awoke at James', for once without an alarm so we procrastinated on getting the day started until 12.
We went shopping for little things like peanut butter and biscuits before I headed back to campus to get on with my essay.
Here I shall go into how amazing this laptop is. Without wireless on the battery lasts for 7.5 hours. Anyway, I worked from 1:40pm to 5:15 and I've nearly reached the lower word limit of 3000 words. I think it starts fairly well but it gets all difty and a bit terrible after the third topic. I really need to read through what I have and that will get me over 3000. Then I have referencing to sort too. So far everything that is a reference, or needs sorting, is highlighted in red.
Anyway, when I was yawning more often than typing I called it a day so I could return to my room and watch GLEE. OHGOODNESSITISAMAZING.
For tea we had beef and rice and peas. For pudding we had caramel and butterscotch Frappe which had been gifted to us by James' parents.
We started to watch Blade Runner, which I will review when we've seen the end.

Now it's Thursday and I have to read some Art History for tomorrow and then go print some stuff in the library before lunch then Art tutorials this afternoon.

:)

The clouds are really beautiful today

Sorry, I've been pretty lax with my blogging.
What is there to know?
I really need to do my washing soon, I'm almost out of knickers.
I should be reading for my art history right now because at 5 I'm heading over to James'.
Tonight we're going to see Isy Sutti do stand-up.
Mr Kipling Fiendish Fancies are delicious. They're all natural colours and flavourings but one TINY cake is 5% of my daily callories and 18% of my sugar. If I eat half the box (and a box is only 50p in Spar) that's 72%. Good job I've only done that twice this week. (Once watching Amilie and the other at the Fireworks).
OH YEAH, last night we went to see the fireworks. They're free in Lancaster and there were 4 viewing areas because they weren't letting people up by the castle where they were being done from. It was a wonderful show and they were so HUGE! Even from a distance it was spectacular. We missed seeing the A Team for them and I think it was worth it.
My essay is 1/3 done with 2 full weeks and 2 days to go. -2 days when I go to London at the beginning of week 6. I'm positive I'll get it done.

Film reviews!


Amelie.
I really enjoyed this film, it was immensely interesting and well thought out, quirky and emotional and fabulous.
Reading the text was difficult at times because some aspects of it go so quickly that if you want to look at facial expressions too then you miss a sentence or two.
I'd watch this again.

Robin Hood.
As a prequel, that I didn't know was going to be a prequel until I watched it, and didn't massively enjoy it. I mean, it was well made but it wasn't my cup of tea. As James said, he didn't really use his bow and arrow enough. I'll not watch this again unless it is the only thing on tv at the time, and even then I think I'd put a dvd on instead.

Thanks, now I'm going to do my AH reading.
:)