Me,My Life & I

Hey All,

So I'm back with another film review.

Not seen it in the cinema,but its outstandingly good stuff so needs to be reviewed anyway.

Dead Man's Shoes - yet another Shane Meadows piece. I really am starting to fall in love with this man's work. Its so horrendously realistic and eye-opening,and I do like honesty. The man has a way of telling exceedingly violent stories that run with just a little humour and just a lot of discussion of problems facing the UK,both in the past and presently.

Dead Man's Shoes is the most violent of his pieces that I've seen. It's exceedingly tense and harrowing, not a film to be watching if you want to come out on a high.Not at ALL.

As I said,its extremely violent. It's a revenge story. It could be argued that it's justice, but I don't feel it is. It's revenge. It doesn't make what they did to Anthony right. But nor does it clear them of the guilt. It is in no way justice,it is a story of vengeance.

Paddy Considine is becoming one of my favourite actors - he has a truly terrifying screen presence - much like Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. He can turn and in an instant go from portraying extreme sadness to extreme anger.It is very frightening.

Toby Kebbell also delivers an outstanding performance.I've never felt more terror looking at a screen than I did when the gang were dragging him along and he was just screaming and screaming.He really made me feel for the character more than I think that,if it were any other actor in the role,I would have. Also, he looks strangely similar to Considine - they really were convincing as a set of brothers.

I'm not gonna go into details of the plot,because everything is vital to the overall outcome,and I don't want to spoil this wonderful piece for anyone.

Just know that it is mindblowingly good and,although not my favourite of Shane Meadow's work,it is most definately going on my to-buy list.If you have seen Meadow's other work,this may fall short slightly in your eyes,as it did in mines when compared to his other stuff.But compare it to a lot of other films and it is on another level completely.Seriously,go watch it

Until Next Time

Hey All,

I've just read that there's planning being a'planned for a 'Pirates of The Caribben:The Fountain of Youth'. Now as you may or may not know,I am a gigantic Johnny Depp fan and along with him,the appeal of the Pirates franchise for me was producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the writing talent of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio,who's witty lines worked wonders for me in the first film.

I was pretty dissapointed with 'At World's End' if I'm honest. I thought the first two films were great and to finish it off with a third was good,but it was beginning to feel a bit overdone - much like Saw is now and has been for the past 3 films[but hey,different post for a different time].

So when I heard wind of a proposed Fourth installment,I felt a mixture of emotions. On one hand there's happiness - Hey Johnny Depp,Gore Verbinski,Jerry Bruckheimer!But mainly - Oh dear. What will they make it - aside from the adventures of Jack Sparrow which hey,although funny and potentially exciting,that's what two was all about. But the possibility of a bad movie is not what put me off this completely,what put me off [at least it will if it's true] is the rumour I'm about to share:

ZAC EFRON HAS SIGNED A CONTRACT WORTH $6MILLION TO STAR ALONGSIDE DEPP IN A PIRATES FOUR!

Now,the latest is that he's denying it,but didn't Shia La Beouf deny for months that he was in the latest Indie flick? And,if the offer has been made,I don't see him rejecting it.

Another thing that you should know about me is that I utterly DETEST the High School Musical franchise! Everything about it repulses me,and it's 'I can't act but I'm pretty' teenage stars are a major player in that Now if Zac Efron has,or has been considered to be,cast alongside Johnny Depp,I think I might just boycott Disney for life. Their ramming of Hannah Montanna and HSM down our throats has already pushed me to breaking point,the one thing that I've liked that's came from them in the past five years or so is Pirates.If they were to mess that up by making a fourth film [which,lets face it,wouldn't be that great otherwise it would most probably have been in the making straight away] and even worse so by casting one of their annoyingly American dream type figures in it,I'm not sure what I'd do - cry or laugh at the insanity of it all.

So yeah,I am appalled at this idea. Pirates should be left where it is. There is no need for a fourth installment,the only motivation behind it would be money,thereby creating a film that is going to drag in as many paying customers as possible and not neccesairly be anything of substance.

Rant Over.

Until Next Time

Megan

Hey All,

Well as promised,I'm going to be updating this blog again with the general interesetingness of my day to day life and chatting to anyone who actually cares about the ever soo wonderful stuff that goes on in my fabulous world.

Now,for those of you who are not familiar with them,the band Delirious? are a Christian rock-band that have been on the go since the early nineties,have released 14 albums and have even been in the UK top 40. I love their music - they have a great mixture between real rock out jump around songs and much more reflective chill songs, all of which can be used to really worship God to suit whichever mood you're in. So yeah,in short,I love their stuff.

I'd seen them two times previously over the past 3 years and then last weekend I went to see them again when two of my friends and I headed up by megabus to Inverness to see Martin Smith and the rest of the band perform at the Ironworks. The journey up there was alright - Gemma and Kelly had packed us lunches and so I munched on that, read a bit of Watchmen [that'll be another blog entry for another time,this book is amazingly great]  and listened to my i-pod. I sat on my own for the journey but I didn't mind,I tend to like having my own space on journeys - you're claustrophobic enough on a bus for hours without having someone else basically sitting on your knee :))

Once we arrived we had NO idea where to head next,either to get to Ironworks to pick up our tickets or to the travel lodge. I noticed that there was a library across the road so we headed over and picked up a map and some directions. We found the Ironworks,picked up our tickets then jumped on a bus to the retail park next to our travel lodge. Before checking in we picked up some teabags, milk and munchies for the room from the Tesco across the road. We then made our way past the '2 miles to Inverness sign' :)) and checked into to our rather spacious and rather lovely room at the Travel Lodge. Seriously,it was so big and so comfortable and so nicely decorated for a Travel Lodge room lol.

We chilled for a bit - tea and donuts were in order - then headed over the road to a nice little resteraunt called The Snow Goose. Kelly and I had the best scampi and chips I've had in ages and Gemma had chips and garlic bread. The Pepsi was pretty good too. After that it was off to the concert.

We waited outside for about 20 minutes because of my bad with the taxi times lol, but when we finally got in, the concert did kick arse.

We got to the front,and therefore were pushed around a fair bit whilst attempting to hold our positions before everyone settled down and Tree63 took to the stage.

Now I felt sorry for the poor guys. They were great - their music was good [I liked their guitar stuff] and they were very entusiastic about being in Scotland. However, nobody knew the words to their songs - nobody that is apart from two people behind us who were very obviously just there for Tree63. They knew every word to every song, and jumped along on top of us to go with it. Not that I'm complaining,they were worshipping,it just seemed [and this will sound awful] out of place.

After around a 45 minute set, Delirious? came on. Martin Smith has turned into a right little performer. The music is still worshippy, and he still obviously gets into the worship, but I couldn't help notice how much more he was playing the  crowd this time round. The whole thing seemed very staged from the outset, which I didn't appreciate. Obviously costume and set is great when used correctly, but I couldn't see the relevence of any of the props aside from the crown that had numerous items that we 'worship' nowadays on it (ipods,money etc).

Anyway,despite that,they played well and it was a very enjoyable show. They sang history maker which I was happy about seen as it's the last time I would've seen it live. They were just truly excellent. One song flowed into the next perfectly,and the use of lighting was great, but not too overdone.

After the concert we headed back to the hotel, got some kip, then headed back to the Snow Goose for brunch the next day [after picking up a bit of toast at Tesco beforehand].

I slept most of the bus journey home,then Gemma's dad came and got us from the bus station.

Overall a fantastic weekend.
I'm pretty sad about delirious? breaking up, although I do feel now is the time [pardon the pun,if you have any knowledge of delirious music you'll see what i mean lol]. Whatever the guys go on to do next, I'm sure it'll be just as exciting and interesting as delirious? has been and I look forward to seeing their next projects.

Until Next Time :wave:

Hey All,

I realised that I've only really been updating this blog with monthly updates and cinema reviews,so I decided that I'm gonna get back to updating it with the general news that I used to do,for the people who actually care

And on that note,the focus of this entry is going to be on me applying for,getting and starting my first job.

I've been in real need of some extra money lately,what with my birthday,the credit crunch and Christmas coming up my parents don't really have any spare cash to throw at me. Which is fair enough. So as I turned 16 in September I can now legally work and earn my own keep. Fun.

I handed in CV's to lots of places,got an interview with Jenners and an interview with the Build A Bear Workshop.

The BABW interview was on the 16th of October and I went along feeling pretty nervous and not really knowing what to expect. I'd done a bit of research the night before and found out the kind of things they might ask, but this being my first interview, I was still pretty nervous. I went in and met the manager Lukas and he sat me and the other girl who was being interviewed - Joanne - down. The interview was kind of easy - it only lasted twenty minutes and was pretty laid back. I think I presented myself better - Joanne went in in jeans and with a scarf half covering her mouth - but I thought she'd answered some of the questions better than me,not to mention she had more experience.

So, I was quite surprised the next day when I got a phonecall saying that I was being offered a job. I accepted and promptly cancelled my Jenners interview [which was for the 20th].

It's Thursday now and I've been training since Monday. So far its quite fun and the team are really nice,everyone gets on and we just have a laugh. I'm trained up on welcoming people, helping them choose their bears, stuffing the bears, helping out at the dressing station and helping with the naming programme on the computer. Only thing I've not done yet is the till, but Lukas says we're gonna do that at a later date.

So yeah,I'm now a Bear Builder.

Part of the job is to be welcoming and approachable. At first I found this constant cheerines quite difficult to master,and wondered how they all managed it day in,day out. Then I found out . Seeing the little kids faces when you're stuffing their animal and they can actually see it take shape, or when they get excited trying all the different clothes on the bears, just feeds your enthusiasm. It makes you actually feel that cheery. And weird as it sounds, this has actually made me feel more happy overall. I go home feeling good about my days work and looking forward to tomorrow. It leaves me in a good mood. So yeah, if you get a chance, working at the Build A Bear Workshop is really fun and rewarding. [the 20% discount also adds to the cheer lol].

You might think I'm overreacting, but I really needed something to lift my mood and change my attitude,and this job has happened to be it.

Hope You're All Well

Until Next Time

Megan x