New York, New York

Today we watched Martin Scorsese's New York New York. It was absolutely terrible, start to finish. It opens on VJ Day in New York, and usually I can at least be captivated by set design and costumes, but even this movie was bland on imagination as far as these were concerned. I watched Scorsese's opening introduction to the movie, and even knowing what he was trying to achieve, I think he fell short of the mark.

DeNiro and Minnelli give very wooden performances, and the characters are such cliches (and not even in a kind of nostalgic way) that I didn't care about them at all or what happened to them. And what happened to them was also, every cliche in the book. I could literally predict the next thing that was going go happen in the story, and it didn't make me appreciate the movie, it made me want to claw my eyeballs out.

If my film history is correct, it was during this production that Scorsese was heavy into blow and having an affair with Minnelli. So I'll guess that his priorities weren't exactly straight, because when it comes to directors, I am a fan. Scorsese I like because I know he is a fan of movies themselves. You can tell by the way he talks about them and the effort he puts in into creating them. But this I thought was horrible and was a huge disappointment.

Nights in London

The past two evenings we spent at Film Fours outdoor movies at Somerset House. First off, it was incredibly romantic to be out picnic-ing at night watching great movies. The first night we saw Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. It was so amazing to watch such a perfect movie on a big screen. There are so many things you notice, simple things, that you overlook on a smaller screen. Also it was nice to hear the parts I find funny, an audience does as well. There weren't many stars out that night, but enough.

Then last night we watched Spielburg's E.T. I've always said it's not one of my favorites, and that I really just thought this would be a unique circumstances to watch the movie under. I lied though. I really do love E.T and and I bawled like a baby though the ending. It rained and we were all bundled up under blankets. Like I said, it was incredibly special and romantic.

Walking back to the station, we walked over Waterloo bridge and the site of London at night is breathtaking. The lights on Big Ben and (as tacky as it can be) The London Eye are such a sight. It makes me eternally grateful for where my life has lead me.

So yesterday, Saturday, we went shopping in Kingston. As usual we made our Charity shop rounds and I FINALLY found a kitchen table (and it was only £25!!!). As we were walking, this girl was walking by. She was extremely tan, wearing a short denim dress that was strapless, black heels, and a pony tail stuck on the side of her head with huge bug-eyed glasses on. Tacky, but trying to look trendy. And then immediately behind her was her spitting image. Two grown adult women, that were twins, but actually styled themselves exactly the same. I thought it was hilarious, but Griff just thought their hair style was funny.

A few minutes later we're walking down the street and we hear that song that goes, "What is love? Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more". You know the one, it's the one from the SNL skit with Will Ferrell and Chris Cataan in those horrible suits (Night at the Roxbury). I start doing the neck jerk and having a giggle, but decide to turn and see where the music is coming from. I kid you not, those to twin girls were blasting it from their convertible Audi, and if it's not coming across as funny here, I assure you it was funny as hell to watch. And a little surreal.

Otherwise it's been a little quiet. My back is killing me, and I'm not sleeping well. It's the stupid bed, I can't wait till our new one arrives. Movie wise, we went and saw Transformers and it was absolutely amazing. I really thought it was going to be a cheesy special effects spectacular, but they actually had a decent script and it was hilarious. Great cast! And yeah, that's about it. I'm just taking a quick break from reading and wanting to relate my tacky twins story briefly.

O Days...long long Days....

We watched Camelot the other night. The musical one starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave. I'm still kinda out on that one. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'm going to be buying it. As for being a musical....it didn't have a lot of music. I absolutely loved Richard Harris in it though. He was brilliant. It's funny though, because it's the standard Camelot tale, you know: King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. But the whole romance between Lancelot and Guenevere I just don't buy. I don't understand why she would fall in love with Lancelot and I don't feel at all sorry for her when things start to go sour for her. Maybe if Arthur wasn't such a wonderful character and was mean or something, but no, I just felt sorry for Arthur. So I'm not going to be recommending this one to other people. But I'm glad I saw it because I have wanted to watch more movies starring both of these actors.

Otherwise, I finished reading If There Be Thorns by V.C. Andrews. Never in a billion years would I believe that I would be reading a V.C. Andrews series. But they are so wonderfully cheesy, better than any soap opera really. I would suggest it to anyone wanting a somewhat smutty (Not really, but hey---we are talking incest here) but entertaining read that doesn't really involve a lot of thinking. Which is sometimes what you need during the summer. Lord knows I have.

And then I have been trying to clean our flat. REALLY clean. But let me tell you, this floor just insists on staying dirty. I could sweep it every hour and it wouldn't do any good. It's constantly dirty. I'm starting to wish I had a carpet so I could just suck it all up. But whatever. I'm trying to throw a lot of stuff out. We put a down payment on a bed but we won't get it for like....4-6 weeks! Our current bed is the most UNCOMFORTABLE thing ever. There are springs poking you and lumpy all over. It's a terrible bed. But our coming bed is going to be heaven and we're really excited about it. Amazing the things you get excited about as an adult, isn't it? Never would I think I would be excited about getting a new bed....crazy.

I can't believe how boring this blog is. I'm just kinda enjoying watching the words come up as I type them. It's somewhat captivating and I just want to go and go and go and watch more come up but I have no real thoughts at the moment. I need to go work on my CV and clean some more. Maybe I'll have this place tidy before school starts. I still need to find a kitchen table. *FINGERS CROSSED*

Why am I Doing this?

Well....

1. It's apparently something that a lot of people do. I usually don't care about this kinda stuff (lie), but I don't read other people's blogs and maybe if I have my own blog, I'll start caring about other people's. Why does this matter? I suppose it doesn't, but it gives me something to do, doesn't it?

2. I'm kinda bored today. I'm running short of lists to write and I need a break between working my CV and reading and half-watching/listening to the news.

3. I'm just curious how this will go.

Is anything happening at the moment? Well I was just watching the news and apparently some reports been released about astronauts and whether or not it's okay for drunkards to be flying spaceships. Personally, I think that for how much money the whole space project(s) cost, those guys should be stone cold sober as soon as they look at an aircraft....but hey, maybe I'm old fashioned (maybe not....). But the guy on the news that was being interviewed was absolutely hilarious. He was so defensive and just refusing to answer questions. Eventually it looked like the news anchor was just trying not to laugh at how ridiculous this guy was (albeit, the guy was from Texas so that kinda goes without saying....).

Let's see what else????

I got my grades back from my first year, all A's and B's for me. I know some people think film studies isn't really a course, but it's a LOT of writing and interpretation and so I think it's a real course and that's all that matters to me. I worked hard and earned good grades so I'm happy for myself. I haven't had these kind of grades in years....

Tomorrow Griff and I are hitting the streets and going on a job hunt. I PRAY PRAY PRAY I find something in either a) a bookstore or b) a bookstore. I have no interest in working in clothes anymore. Or getting a job through the student's union would be nice.

Did this first blog go ok? Yeah maybe....I have a blog on Myspace, but I don't really like it that much. I mainly just like to post videos and songs lyrics or poetry up (not mine, others). In addition too I'm probably the only 24 (almost 25) year old to still keep a journal also. So in addition to my private writing I'll be doing this "public" writing. Maybe this will be a good space to write about books and movies as I come across them. Lord knows I need to write as much as can to work my arguments into being a little bit clearer. It's so much easier to talk about why I like or dislike something. It's much harder to put those arguments into writing. How does that quote go?

"The role a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say." ~Anais Nin

So yeah...maybe that's how I'll utilize this new little blog. We're going to be watching Camelot tonight, so maybe tomorrow I'll have something to write about.