It's that time again

So I've been meaning to write this for the past week, so here we go. I've decided that maybe I should try and update this once in a while, that while being "every week", so here goes, the first of hopefully a weekly update on what I've been watching and whether you should bother watching them too. Simple, yes?

First up, Groundhog Day. It's taken me a long time to get round to seeing this, I believe the last time it was on telly I watched about 5 minutes and fell asleep. So I think to myself, now now, lets give it a chance. So I start to watch again the other day and BOOM. Straight to sleep. HOWEVER. Before you start throwing rocks and sharp implements, in my defence, I'm lazy, I can't help it when I start to fall asleep. I can't fight it, I just have to go with the flow and nap.

Now, when I finally awoke, I decided that I didn't even try the first time (that and I'd run out of stuff that I could be bothered to watch). And what did I think after finally making it all the way through? Amazing. Classic Bill Murray, a real treat for my eyeballs. I have no idea what was making me fall asleep, but once I got into it, I was delighted with what I saw. That being said, if I happened to be stuck in the same day for the rest of my life, I'd probably just stay in bed more :)

I also managed to catch Banlieue 13: Ultimatum this past week, which was pretty spectacular. If you've ever seen the first film, probably better known as District 13 here, then you'll know what you're in for. This film is produced by Luc Besson, known not only for his directoral contributions such as Léon and La Femme Nikita (which is on my "to-watch" list), but for his producer role in films such as the Taxi series and The Transporter films, and is rife with parkour and martial arts stunts galore. Almost all of the stunts were performed without wires, as performed by the star of the film, David Belle (known for being the Godfather of parkour). The storyline is much weaker than the first, but that doesn't stop the film being pretty kickass. I mean, what would the film industry be without terrible storylines (*ahem* Crank/Crank 2).

I can't be bothered to write large amounts for the rest, so here's the rundown:

Gigantic: Really weird indie film. I pretty much watched it cus it's got Zooey Descanel in it (you would, don't lie to me). The trailer made it out to be a pretty simple film, but for some reason, every now and then, a random homeless guy keeps attacking the main character. With absolutely NO explanation. That's just TOO weird for me.

Mission Impossible: Re-watched this, forgot how awesome it was (the 2nd film really put me off)

Night at the Museum 2: Now this is a film. An all star cast and a pretty great story, full of fun and whatnot. Dips at parts, and just seems plain stupid at others (forgetting the fact that the whole film is based around statues coming to life). Not as great as the first, but still pretty funny .

Up: Now I had pretty high hopes for this film, and have been told by many people that it's hilarious. Really? It's kinda funny, but most of all it's just plain sad! First off, it starts with a kid meeting a girl, they grow old together and then she dies. Oh. That's FUNNNNY. So then he spends the rest of the film talking to his dead wife, being followed around by a kid who tells the story of how his dad never comes to any of his scout meetings. Wow, please, stop, you're killing me. Sure, it's a nice film, but the abandonment issues run a little too deep for my liking.

I Love You, Man: Actually watched this a while back, but forgot to mention it. I quite liked it. It was a bit slow, and as much as I appreciate Jason Segel in Freaks and Geeks and How I Met Your Mother, I think his on screen antics start to wear a little thin on me.

Terminator Salvation: Again, watched this a while back. It's okay. Nothing spectacular.

Management: Quirky "rom-com" with Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston. I emphasise quirky. He feels her bum and then follows her across the country. Kinda creepy dontchathink?

Manic: Indie film from 2001, about kids locked up in a psych ward. S'got Joseph Gordon-Levittz (yes!) and Zooey Deschanel (yesss! altho she looks pretty young and "puffy") in it, so thats nice. Pretty cool.

And on top of all those, I've also been watching the TV show Spin City from back in the later 90s, which is much more awesome than I remember. And you really can't tell that Michael J Fox has the disease of the Parkinsons. Maybe thats bcus his character is always jumping around like he's on edge. Or maybe thats because he has Parkinsons, it's hard to tell. I'm on the 4th series now, but from what I can remember, at some point MJ Fox disappears and is replaced by Charlie Sheen. At that point I will probably give up (altho the rest of the characters are just as funny if not at times funnier).

So there we have it. Tune in next week for another episode of "Sam's Amazing Adventures (that don't involve leaving his bed)"

~ Lazy

*insert witty title here*

So this week saw the passing of a true legend, the late John Hughes. He was a true master of the screenplay, bringing us such greats as Curly Sue, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and of course, one of my favourite films of all time, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. His films, both directoral (haha, direct oral) and littoral (is that even a word? IT IS NOW) were of great significance to the 80s, and have become legendary in their own right. I'm not sure my life would really be the same without FBDO (I certainly would have one less poster hanging on my wall). RIP

In other news, the trailer for Fantastic Mr. Fox is up, and it looks goooood! (linksy). Now the only qualm I have with it is the teeny weeny incy wincy little bit that says "Based on the book by the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". This to me is pretty much a fucking disgrace. The fact that kids these days wouldn't get "Based on the book by Roald Dahl", so they feel the need to compare it to another film?! and frankly not even a great one, I would have preferred "Based on the book by the author of Matilda". Now THATS a fucking classic.

So here's whats been going on:

Ice Age 3 - Wow. Way to kill it guys, really, you've outdone yourself. Literally. Kill it. Preferably with fire, but you may choose to utilise any of the following methods: Spork, Stapler, Angry Cat, Cheese or Lawnmower. It's just not funny. And frankly, there are a disturbingly large amount of "adult" jokes in there. Shrek could pull it off, but then again they never had a scene where a prehistoric animal goes up to a cow to milk ot and and ends up having to run away screaming "I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GIRL". For one, that's rape. And for two, it's the bad kind of rape.

The Proposal - I've seen worse chickflicks, and you can't beat a bit of Ryan Reynolds or Sandra Bullcock.

Twilight - I was forced to watch this one. I've never read the books, and quite frankly, I'm glad. Now I know vampires aren't real, so technically NONE of it matters, but well done, way to butcher the classic tale of the vampire. There's some serious plotholes in mythology here, most notably, the fact that they can come out during the daytime. Yeah, apparently in the twilight-iverse, vampires don't die when hit by good old fashioned UV rays. Apparently they, and it hurts me a little to say this..."sparkle". No word of a lie. They sparkle. Like diamonds. Big gay magical unicorn diamonds. *vomit*. Oh and the only real way to kill them is to rip them limb from limb and burn the body. So no stake through the heart. No silver. No sunlight. Can you get any more retarded?

Beside from that, I also re-watched Liar Liar, cus it's awesome, and have just finished watching a new show called Castle, which is about a novelist who tags along with the NYPD to gain ideas for his next book. In a way it's pretty similar to every other standard crime show, except it's not stupid. It's actually kinda funny. S'got Nathan Fillion in it. He's a funny one!

And on the music front, I can't stop listening to Florence and the Machine. She has an absolutely amazing voice, plus she's ginger, so that's a bonus right there

~ Lazy

The Voice

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

If you've never heard of Bobby McFerrin before, now is the time to check him out. I remember hearing his 'Flight of the Bumblebees' years ago and pretty much jizzed myself. He is a wonderfully skilled jazzman, and that's fun and great. Go listen to him on Spotify immediately! He does a pretty good 'Sunshine of your Love' cover which is always good news.

Moving on: I went to Latitude Festival fairly recently (as Lazy pointed out in his last post) with Richard Hayward (there you go, love; there's your mention) and I should really blog about that. Maybe I will! But I might not. Isn't the tension killing you? Oh how thrilling.
Following this escapade, I finally bought a Bat for Lashes album (because she was amazing) so my next recommedation for you today is 'Trophy'. Spotify that wonderful treat and eat it up like pancakes and bacon. Mmmm... I'm hungry.

- Tubs