Chapter 126 – the rant

I planned for Honorine’s life to develop in this manner, but I never imagined how much I’d sympathise with her.  The word “shut-in” hit home rather harder than I could have predicted it would.

You know what I really dislike?  When an author starts a story and then abandons it midway, betraying the readers in the process.

I screwed up.  I honestly don’t know what happened.  I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I’d given up on this story, because you have only my word – and you do have my word – that I didn’t.

Lately, I’ve just lost touch with everything, and everyone.  I haven’t been playing guitar, I haven’t been playing piano, haven’t been reading; I’ve lost contact with people, online and even somewhat offline, and not realised how long it’s been until, well, now.  Offline, I have the lame excuse that I have no money and no job, but online I don’t even have that.

There are so many things I should have blogged, but didn’t.  At the moment I find myself very much sympathising with sulz, who I only just learned is stopping blogging indefinitely.  I don’t have her excuses, but like sulz, somehow my heart just hasn’t been in writing lately.

I read a post on Museditions’ blog earlier which I think has made me realise my problem: I’ve been wanting to blog out of necessity – that is, desire to complete the story – but I have had little interest in the blogging itself.

For this reason,I’m not going to insult your intelligence as readers by making more promises.  The fact is, I don’t know if I’ll update regularly.  I am clearly not reliable.  I hate myself so much for this, but I think it’s one of those things I need to face up to.  Of course, I’ll try to update regularly.  But, well, I’m a hypocrite.

And I’m tired, so I need to wrap this post up, but I think I should mention:

Brüno and The Half-Blood Prince

I’ve been to the cinema twice since I last posted.  I went with friends to see Brüno, and I went with my family to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (well, it would hardly have been the other way around!).

That’s right, innocent little Bobby G watched Brüno.  And for the most part, I was entertained by it, although it was extremely crass in places.  It’s a mark of how jaded the Internet has left me that the only thing that really shocked me in the movie was the attitudes of the stage parents.  Oh, and the fact that he was still alive after that comment about Osama bin Laden.  (Oh good grief, I think I lost my innocence to imageboards! :( )

I don’t know why I even joked about that.  It seriously bothers me that I’m not as innocent as I was.  That’s my personality I’m losing.

I had been extremely apprehensive about this new Harry Potter film, and I was especially upset to learn that it left out Luna’s commentary scene, which is the best moment in the entire series, but I was pleasantly surprised by the film.  They didn’t have the commentary scene, but it was nevertheless an excellent adaptation of the novel, and possibly my favourite Harry Potter movie so far.  The acting was a lot better than that of the previous film, which certainly helped.  The characters were very convincing this time around; Malfoy, Luna, Slughorn and Lavender really were Malfoy, Luna, Slughorn and Lavender.  There was something a little odd about hearing Harry say the word “tosser”, but he is supposed to be sixteen by this point (of course, he looks a deal older).  If you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend this movie.

Goodness, I’m tired.  I have no idea how I’ll be up in good time tomorrow at this rate.  It’s 3:20 already.

Goodnight!

Current listening: S Club 7, “Don’t Stop Movin’”

Chapter 125 – the rant

Woah, it’s a while since I’ve posted one of these.  But then, if you’re reading this, you probably noticed.  I can’t apologise enough for that.  Sorry.

Leaver’s Day, Revenge of the Fallen, and a meme from a muse

Lately, I’ve been feeling a little odd.  I’ve isolated myself, both online and offline.  But, this is neither the time nor the place for me to angst, especially when I’ve very little to angst about.  Besides, this is only my third post in a while, so I probably shouldn’t push my luck by trying everyone’s patience.

I meant to post this chapter yesterday, but what with one thing and another, I’m afraid I failed to find the time.  You see, yesterday was leaver’s day at school, which meant we all had to go in, sit around feeling boiling, bored and depressed, eat lunch, listen to a short assembly, and go home again.  They mispelled my name in the yearbook, but that’s OK, because I didn’t order one.  I did order a commemorative hoodie, but apparently I didn’t pay for it, so they’re going to hold onto it until I do so.

After that, I went home, made dinner, and then went off to the cinema.  I’d gotten a text that morning from a few friends who were back from uni, who were going to see the new Transformers movie.  Unfortunately, one guy was late, so we changed times to a later showing.  He didn’t show up, so I volunteered to wait outside with his ticket while the others found seats.  Fifteen minutes into the film, he still hadn’t arrived, so I gave up and went in, and was informed that I’d “missed loads of explosions already”.

I can’t honestly say I enjoyed the movie very much.  I’d hesitate to say I enjoyed it less than Twilight, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy that, and I think it was possibly the better movie (please don’t hurt me!).  It probably didn’t help that I haven’t seen the original, so I didn’t know the characters, but I arrived in time to see bland Optimus Prime deliver a boring speech, and see Sam, his parents and his goofy roommate get up to moronic hijinks at college (note to Michael Bay, if by some minute chance you ever read this – people on pot do not act like that).

When we did get an action scene, involving a Decepticon named (spoiler) Alice, it was an enjoyable spectacle, and the later ones were even better.  I particularly liked the fight scene in which Optimus Prime dual-wielded a couple of glowy sword things.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to form any attachment to the characters or take an interest in the plot, because the characters are so ridiculous.  When stuff isn’t blowing up on screen, we’re subjected to rather boring comedy, usually involving some combination of slapstick, innuendo and testicles.  Particularly crass are a couple of Autobots named Skid and Mudflap, two annoying ethnic stereotypes who make Jar-Jar Binks seem positively endearing by comparison.

Still, if you cut out those Autobot twins, with their ghetto slang, their illiteracy and their failure to do anything useful in terms of moving the story forward, and if you cut out the “hilarious” comedy scenes involving tasers and pot brownies, it could have been an enjoyable action flick.  As it was, it was far too long.  I did phone home beforehand to let my parents know it was a long movie, but the phone was engaged and they didn’t check their messages, so when I emerged from the cinema at midnight, it was to discover a concerned text message, which seemed to assume I’d been out drinking.

If I hadn’t forgotten about my email account lately, I’d have discovered that Museditions emailed me a while back with a meme to complete.  So, very belatedly, here it is:

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

“My hair looks terrible!”

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

£1.50.  That’s not all the money I have in the world, but you see why I’m getting slightly desperate on the job hunting thing.

3. Do you label yourself?

Yes, although I’m not sure it’s a good idea, especially since I think I’m neither sufficiently normal to be mainstream, nor suffiently computer literate or aware of anime and video games to be a proper nerd.

4. What does your watch look like?

Small, black, electronic.  It’s very cheap.  I do own a better one, but I’m scared of scratching it, so I don’t wear it!  Plus it’s in analogue time, which always takes me a moment to read, since I’m so used to my digital watch.

5. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Just leaving the cinema having seen Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

6. What’s a word that you say a lot?

“Actually”.  I say it all the time offline.  I correct myself, I correct other people, I use it for emphasis or even just as filler.  I really ought to stop using that word!

7. Who told you he/she loved you last?

A really creepy old guy I met down the pub the other day, disturbingly enough.  He told me that repeatedly.  I made an excuse and ran away at the first opportunity.

8. Last furry thing you touched?

No idea.  Probably the neighbour’s dog.

9. What was the last thing you said to someone?

“Goodnight, dad.”

10. The last song you listened to?

“The Masses against the Classes”, by Manic Street Preachers.

11. Where did you live five years ago?
 

Same place I live now.

12. Are you jealous of anyone?

People who are totally content with who they are, I suppose.

13. Is anyone jealous of you?

Hah!  Not that I know of.

14. Name three things that you have on you at all times?

My watch, and – that’s about it.  I don’t keep anything on my person at all times.  I have a tendancy to go out of the house with nothing but the clothes I’m wearing, forgetting my keys, phone, ID…

15. What’s your favourite town/city?

I don’t know.  I’m not a city person.  Probably Cheltenham, although I wouldn’t want to live there (also, it’s kinda snobby).

16. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

Probably January, sending relatives “thank you” letters.

17. Can you change the oil on a car?

Nope.

18. What is your current desktop picture?

Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist.  It used to be the TARDIS until quite recently when I decided it was time for a change.

19. When did you start your blog?

March 2007, as part of a school project.  Hence the title.

20. What country would you like to live in other than your own?

I’d rather stay here, but since that’s not allowed, somewhere in Europe.  I wouldn’t mind anywhere in the British Isles, or France, Spain, Germany, Italy, or anywhere in Scandinavia.  That last sentence has gone off the page, so I hope I didn’t just break WordPress.

Thank you for that, Muse.  I enjoyed that.   I hope you enjoyed it too.

So… back!

Chapter 94 – the rant

I’m honestly not sure which character I agree with.  I sympathise with both sides of the argument!

***

I saw Underworld: Rise of the Lycans the other day.  That being the first time I’ve gone to the cinema with a group of male, nerdy friends for several months.

I enjoyed it, but in all honesty, it’s no more the type of film I’d normally watch than Twilight was.  The basic concept is essentially vampires versus werewolves, which is, I will admit, genius.  Two of the scariest, most awesome mythical creatures in a dramatic battle.  As a concept, it’s pure win.

The movie is a prequel to a movie I’ve never watched, so it took me a little while to follow it, but there’s just enough exposition that I could work out what was what without much trouble.  It also naturally ended with a cliffhanger, so I should probably watch the original some time.

To be honest, though, I more enjoyed spending time with my friends – my male, nerdy friends – than I enjoyed the movie itself.  It was by far the most violent movie I’ve ever watched, and while fantasy violence and bloodshed doesn’t bother me, neither do I find it as amusing as most of my friends seem to find it.  One of my friends afterwards said that he was dissappointed that it wasn’t gorier(!), but I thought there was quite enough gore, thank you very much.

I did like the way they handled the romance side of the story; the directors clearly know their audience well.  All too often, directors will throw in an unwanted romance subplot under the misguided impression that it adds depth to the story, but here it was entirely relevant to the main plot, while thankfully managing not to dominate the movie (because, let’s face it, nobody goes to see an action movie for the romance).

So anyway, not entirely my cup of tea, but if you’re looking for a decent fantasy action movie to watch with mates, you could do a lot worse.

*Sigh.*  I’m not very good at being “blokey”, am I?

Chapter 81 – the rant

Once again, the story drifts into darker waters.

Clearly, Clouds isn’t feeling too great right now.  Something has happened that has badly upset her.

This is quite a disturbing song, I think, but I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.

***

I can’t believe it’s school again so soon!  I’m not remotely ready for it.

I finally saw the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie yesterday.  My friends kept telling me not to bother and that it was a bad movie, but since these friends included someone who thinks Doctor Who is boring and the people who wanted to see Twilight and High School Musical 3, I decided to give At World’s End a chance.

I could see why people mightn’t like it.  The rate at which characters switch factions is sometimes confusing, and the movie is also more surreal and stylised than its predecessors.  All the same, I enjoyed it and I didn’t find it as hard to follow as some people said it was.  I think I liked the first movie best, but that’s usually the way of things.

Chapter 71 – the rant

Him again.

Comments on this chapter have been disallowed, as is usual for Renard.

***

Today I saw a movie that I certainly never intended to watch: Twilight.  I am opposed to this series on principle, mainly because it teaches young girls that creepy stalkers make perfect boyfriends, but also because I’m sick of American journalists calling it “the next Harry Potter“, when the Twilight novels aren’t so well written as Harry Potter, and Twilight-mania is largely confined to the USA anyway.

In spite of all this, I was determined to watch the movie with an open mind, if only because I had been forbidden from mocking the film since I was surrounded by Robert Pattinson fans (although they kept calling him Cedric Diggory).

It wasn’t an awful film, although I can’t honestly say I enjoyed it.  Bits of it were good.  The soundtrack was excellent, both in the choice of songs and the original score.  Also, the baseball scene was awesome.  The rest I found fairly dull.  It probably doesn’t help that I’ve never seen the appeal of vampires, much less sparkly ones.

Incidentally, Edward seems to have a very strange definition of vegetarianism.  He uses the word to mean that he doesn’t eat humans, only animals.  Last I heard, deer were not plants.  But hey, maybe they’ve been reclassified by science and I didn’t hear about it.

I also saw the Survivors series finale today.  Very epic and intense.  They had to go and end it on a cliffhanger, though, didn’t they?  I’m very much hoping we’ll get another series.

Current listening: Linkin Park, “Leave Out All the Rest”

Chapter 58 – the rant

But what of the guitarist, Clouds?  Won’t he be perfect as well?

“Squee,” for the uninformed, represents the (stereo)typical fangirlish squeal.  In other words, Clouds thinks the lead actor and actress are hot.

You know, if Minutes 2 were a real movie, I bet it would be an instant success.  I mean, if Clouds is to be believed, it’s got action, it’s got a witty script, and it’s got eye candy of both genders.  Something for everyone!

And they could subtitle it “Midnight”, and then it would be called Minutes 2: Midnight.  No?  Never mind.

Have you noticed the tags under the story posts?  Normally I only use categories, but under each chapter, you will find tags relating to that chapter.  These exist within the story, and were added by the characters themselves.

***

Saturday’s Merlin was an unusually violent (though nonsensically bloodless) episode.  The storyline was pretty good, but I’m getting impatient regarding the overall plot, which seems to be going nowhere.

Saturday’s LG15: the resistance was much more promising in terms of plot movement.  Chapter 10 was fun and had some surprising twists, although some of the main characters are getting just a little annoying.

Today’s episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures was interesting, but Sarah Jane herself displayed some rather obvious stupidity.  It’s the first part of a time-paradoxy story, which seldom bodes well.

I’ve done some really stupid things myself lately – it’s probably best not to go into all the details, but alcohol has usually been involved - and it’s occurred to me that I am doing very little with my life.  I’m lazy.  I really need to sort myself out.  I’ve also realised that I’m the sort of person people take advantage of.  I’m sick of being funny, I’m sick of being “cute”, and I’m sick of being pushed around.  I’m told I give off “victim vibes”.  I don’t know why that might be, but it’s time I did something about it.

Chapter 49 – the rant

Lucky Johnny.  Driving lessons are the least of anyone else’s worries in this story.  Since Johnny has just started driving, he’s only practicing starting the engine and braking at this point.

***

I’ve finally seen Cloverfield this week, so that can be ticked off my very long mental list of movies I really want to see when I get around to it.  It’s pretty awesome.  I love the realism.

Wednesday’s Heroes was brilliant.  I think it was one of the best episodes this series.  So much happened, and there were so many great character moments.  I was glad to note that they are actually prepared to kill off recurring villains, because there are so many running around at the moment, but the baddie in question was one of my favourites, so I was slightly sad to see him go.  But Hiro, Claire, Daphne, Usutu, Matt and even Tracy were all wonderful.  I even found myself sympathising with Sylar at one point.

Chapter 45 – the rant

It would be horrible to go through what Bradley’s friends must be going through right now.

Webcams have essentially replaced phones in this future.  Hence “phonecams”.  Phones and cameras are already coming together, so it really wasn’t a stretch of the imagination.

***

Yesterday’s Heroes – what can I say, except “yikes”?  Yikes.  Why did the episode continue?  Why are we supposed to care about the dude on the bed after what just happened??  What’s going on?

Vortex man was cool.  At last, an original superpower!  Well, there’s probably some obscure Marvel or DC comic or whatever that had someone with vortex powers, but I don’t care.  It seemed original to me.  At least it wasn’t yet another series one power being reassigned to a new character.

I also went to the cinema the other day, for the first time in I-can’t-remember-how-long.  We saw High School Musical 3.  Believe me, that wasn’t my choice.  For the first half of the movie I was just too appalled for words, apart from the occasional sarcastic comment.  Then we got to the scrapyard scene, and I couldn’t stop laughing.  By the end of it, I was wearing an expression one of my friends described as “open-mouthed glee”.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t glee, but I will concede that I was probably better off watching that than Saw V.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Yesterday, I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

This is the fourth movie in the main Indiana Jones series, but, believe it or not, this was the first Indiana Jones movie that I have watched, which means I’ve got no nostalgia to cloud my judgement, but it also means I don’t really have anything to compare it to.

So what did I make of it?  Well, long story short, I liked it very much.  It’s fun, it’s exciting, and at times it’s also quite intelligent.

The story takes place in the 1950s, about 20 years after the original trilogy.  It opens with a scene in which Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), a prisoner of some Russians led by the sinister Irena Spalko (Cate Blanchett), is taken into a secret government warehouse to retrieve a large and mysterious magnetic box.  A dramatic fight ensues.  Featuring fast moving vehicles, lots of running around on rafters, and a rocket sled, this opening sequence pretty much sets the tone of the movie – fast, exciting and extremely action packed.

The main plot of the movie revolves around Harold Oxley (John Hurt), a former colleague of Jones, who vanished in South America after discovering a crystal skull.  So Indy makes his way down to Peru, accompanied by Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a young and oft-overconfident individual who serves as the perfect foil to the older, more experienced Indy.  There are some twists and revelations in store, both in terms of the crystal skulls and in terms of the characters themselves.

The movie is visually absolutely spectacular, and the script is very enjoyable too.  I was pleased to note that the writers have indeed done their research: for example, when Indy mentions skull binding, a real practice among certain Native American peoples.  The soundtrack is of course excellent; I’ve always been a fan of anything by John Williams, and this is no exception.  At times, the action does perhaps stretch credibility a little too much (fridge.  Waterfalls.  Vine swinging…), and somehow I found the ending a little unsatisfactory, although maybe it would appeal more to someone who’s seen the original trilogy.

And now, for old times’ sake, the media studies genre bit.  This movie has all the defining characteristics of an action adventure movie, including fight scenes, chase scenes, fast pans and frequent use of CGI.  However, it also borrows characteristics from other genres, most obviously fantasy and science fiction.  The mise en scène varies from scene to scene; much of it is very firmly rooted in the 1950s, but there are some more exotic settings such as the Amazon Rainforest and, naturally, ruined temple complexes.  The set design, incidentally, is very impressive, with a lot of attention paid to detail.

I definitely enjoyed this movie, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind having to suspend disbelief a little.

Back to Year 12 (for real this time)

Today was my first history lesson I’ve had since my exams finished.  Mrs. History Teacher was supposed to be sorting me into a class, but unfortunately wasn’t in today.  Instead, Mr. History Teacher told me to attend his class.  I’m pretty sure the class in question isn’t the one Mrs. History Teacher wants me to be in, and since I don’t even know what the timetable is, it’s probably best not to get too used to being in that class in case it clashes with music tech.

My classmates were all Year 12 girls.  I recall that Mrs. History Teacher didn’t think it was a good idea for me to join in the set containing only girls; maybe she thought I would find them intimidating or something.  Or else she thinks I’m some kind of pervert who would be a liability in a class of girls.  It’ll be one of the two.  There were only four of them, so maybe there are other boys in the set and they just didn’t bother to turn up.

Us Year 13s have never really gotten along particularly well with Year 12s.  That might be something to do with the fact that they kept throwing stuff across the study area at us (such as mints, rubbers, pens, and contraceptives), or it might just be because they had the nerve to invade our territory study area, the little gits.

In any case, it was a relief to find that this particular class were friendly, seemingly well adjusted and reasonably normal.  There was a cheerful girl who struggled to operate a pair of headphones, accidentally fused the words “deacon” and “vicar” together so that it came out sounding like ”dickar”, and got called a “freak” a lot.  There was a tall, slightly scary girl, who talked a lot about obscure historical events and figures that nobody else had heard of, and expressed a fondness for “chavvy music” and gory horror movies.  Then there was a girl with a grey hoodie who listened to loud, extremely heavy rock through a pair of headphones, described various violent scenes from movies as “hilarious”, and offered everyone chocolate.  The other girl was fairly quiet and said she might be dropping history the following year (oddly enough, there was a girl just like that in my old Year 12 class).  They all seemed like very nice people.

Unfortunately, hopeless case that I am, I can’t remember their names.

In class, we will be selecting and researching a historical period of our choice.  Last time I wanted to do something to do with the Mughal Empire in India, but struggled to find any relevant books, so this year I’ve decided to restrict myself to Western history, preferably no further back than the 1500s.  I’ve narrowed my selection down to three possibilities: The Golden Age of Piracy, street gangs and organised crime in 18th century London, and nobles and duelling in France between the late 16th and mid 17th centuries.  I need to choose one of those by next lesson, so I’m going to have to research them and see which is the most interesting and which I can find books on.

After the lesson, I went to the cinema with some friends and we watched the new Indiana Jones movie.  I’m thinking of doing a post about that; I know a lot of other people have already done posts on that subject, but I saw it from the perspective of someone who knows very little about the Indiana Jones series and has never seen an Indiana Jones movie before (I had meant to see Raiders of the Lost Ark first, but somehow I never got around to it).  Maybe I should write a media studies type analysis, to “make up for the lack of drama in my life”.

In any case, it was a good movie, and we had a great time mocking all the implausible scenes.  We had the theatre pretty much all to ourselves - there were about 2 other people in there – which meant that we got the comfy seats at the back.  I guess everyone else must have seen it by now.  We did go in the middle of the day though, so maybe it’s more crowded outside of work and school hours.

Anyway, I realise this post has been one long ramble, so I’m going to finish it now.  I’ve got to, anyway; Heroes is on in a few minutes.