Childhood Memories
Sunday, 15 November 2009
I LOVE the new John Lewis ad... check it out. Song by folk band, Taken by Trees.
A Nice Cup of Tea.
Saturday, 14 November 2009
If you drink as many cups of tea per day as my friends and I then you will appreciate that in order to enjoy the full tea experience it helps if you are with lovely people and even more if you are in a lovely place. I have had many good tea experiences in my life. A particularly lovely time was when I was in Uganda over the summer and I lay on the grass in the front garden of the bungalow we stayed in, with a great book and a mischievous little Ugandan boy running around me, trying to engage me in a game of hit the football into the banana plant.
This tea drinking time could only be bettered by the occasion I was in Cape Town, South Africa on the most beautiful beach, as the sun was setting and my friends and I had just played a vigorous game of Frisbee... or possibly when I was in Canada looking over a frozen lake with two of my most favourite people and we had shivery cups of tea out of a flask.
However, I currently live in Preston, and have found that exotic tea drinking locations are few and far between. UNTIL... my friend Hannah introduced me to 'The Mystery Tea House' hidden somewhere in Preston. We walked into the little haven of tea delights and had our senses awakened by the tingling smell of fresh tea leaves, then stomped upstairs to a window seat where we poured over the menu and made our precious selection.
Mine was Rose Desire, Hannah's, Cinnamon Tea. The place was just perfect. There were candles on the tables, a rocky waterfall in the corner of the cafe, African style paintings on the walls, and some kind of dreamy mysterious music pouring from somewhere in the room.
Thank you Hannah for introducing me to tea heaven.
Can we have an encore?
Friday, 30 October 2009
I had forgotten how incredible Faithless were. I heard a live track on the radio this afternoon and went mad on Youtube trying to find it. I wish I'd been at this gig, it looks immense. Enjoy!
Paint.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Sometimes I like painting pictures. Here are some of my favourites.
Quote, Unquote, Fantastic Mr Fox.
I thought my life would take a turn for the better today, as my friend and I decided to break with culturally accepted norms and go to the cinema in the morning. We knew we wanted to take advantage of the delightful gift from Orange, only available on a Wednesday, and so popped on down to our local Odeon for a glance at some filmy goodness. Something struck me, as we kicked back in our moderately priced seats, all set for an eyeful of Universal Pictures' finest work, that living life like a child is extremely refreshing. The trailers were in full swing when we sloped into screen 10, and were just a delight for the senses. It was all aimed at people not much older than seven, with ads for Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, some space cartoon film, and the aforementioned Where the Wild Things Are, and I loved it! There was no bad language, no violence, and no 'scenes of a sexual nature', all things which have just become too commonplace in the usual sort of feature on offer.
Thrilled by this jovial slice of childhood innocence, my excitement was maintained at the prospect of watching a lovely little animation about foxes, but alas, my expectations were thwarted at the terrible eighty-seven minutes which were to proceed.
Fantastic Mr Fox has the potential to be incredible. The story came from the twisted and beautiful mind of children's author Roald Dahl (also responsible for Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and has captivated several generations of youngsters who enjoy his curious method of unraveling tales of wonder.
However, this film just does not work. The characters lack a great deal of sincerity and their likability factor is close to nil; the purposely bad animation could be seen as endearing, but instead is just difficult to watch; the actors' voices do not compliment the characters, apart from the young, unconventional hero Ash (voiced by Jason Schwartzman), who only has about three good lines; and the quote, unquote Fantastic Mr Fox (George Clooney) has the most irritating habit of squeaking and twitching his mouth which is meant to be humorous, but instead is just outrageously grating. I'm shocked that this has received good reviews from certain critics, and hope that you all read this and decide to spend your money on something else! I suggest laser eye surgery. It will be more enjoyable.
Old vs New Media
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
I was having a browse through The Guardian news website today, and came across an interesting article about new media and the power of online social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. In the article, media commentator Emily Bell, highlights the growing trend of news reaching people via web 2.0 sites before they hear about it through traditional platforms and the two versions of access becoming rivals rather than working together.
Bell notes in her piece, the two most recent stories where this has been the case; the Trafigura incident in which The Guardian received an injunction to prevent them from reporting anything about their plans to dump waste oil over the Ivory Coast, and all the Twitterers (or Twits?) under the sun getting hold of it and spreading it like a fine home made jam, all over the hot crumpety-like Internet. (You can tell I haven't had lunch yet.)
Then there was Moir-gate, in which Jan Moir of the Daily Mail made homophobic comments about Stephen Gately, and caused universal outrage on the net at her insensitive comments published shortly after his death. This caused many Internet users to barge their way onto the Mail's website and give them a piece of their mind, some people actually vomited onto their computer screens out of sheer indignation.
I think the statement that old media will be entirely replaced by its shiny, friendly, accessible contemporary is a rash one, but one that may have a fair few ounces of truth. The general public have grasped an extremely useful tool, and are using it as only human beings know how, to cause trouble. I for one, am more likely to learn of breaking news from my peers' Facebook statuses rather than by catching it on the wireless, and I don't know about you, but I sometimes prefer the brutal honesty that my friends tend to use to blurt out their tit bit of information. I heard about Micheal Jackson's death first on Facebook, and Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, and as soon as I knew, I told everyone I could, and assume that the ball just kept on rolling.
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