Geeks and Nerds

Last week it became clear to me that I am most definitely a geek, a fully fledged nerd. This realisation arrived in my mind after several events of the last few weeks.

Not last Tuesday but the one before, I was ill and had the day off college. When I finally dragged myself out of bed I wanted to find something good to watch on the TV. After flicking through endless rubbish daytime programmes I resorted to Anytime TV. I found myself getting too overexcited by the programme Star Wars: The Legacy, on the History channel and did in fact watch the whole 3 hour episode - something which I am not hugely proud of. I then spent the rest of the day watching old repeats of Robin Hood and Merlin and finished the day with the extended edition of Lord of the Rings! Overall a very geeky day!

Paris and Julie and Julia

I finally watched Cédric Klapisch’s Paris today after having bought it last Christmas and I realised that it has been almost three years since I visited the beautiful city for the first time.
The film really is incredible; it is beautifully made and it’s just a simple, funny, warm film despite the heavy subject matter. Romain Duris is absolutely brilliant in it and I now want to watch everything he has ever been in. Most of all though this film just made me desperate to return to Paris.

The Social Network

Yesterday, I went to see The Social Network at my local theatre, in the tiny cinema for just £4. It was hardly packed out with just 5 people plus me and my two friends but I think that it is my favourite cinema, especially for watching more ‘indie’ films like The Social Network.

I really wanted to see the film and I thought that perhaps it had the potential to disappoint but it didn’t at all. There were loads more laughs in it than I expected and in parts it was hilarious, most memorable moment was perhaps the forced cannibalism of a chicken! Jesse Eisenberg was as ever great and I also thought that Andrew Garfield who played Eduardo, Eisenberg’s best friend who he ‘screws over’ was fantastic and his American accent was faultless. Justin Timberlake also proved to be good and managed to, for the most part, not just play Justin Timberlake in a film and he transformed from loveable pop star into a character who was easy to hate. Actually all of the acting was good and there wasn’t a moment whilst watching it when I wished for someone else to be playing the role. I also like the overall look of the film as most of the shots seemed quite dark and dreary which in many cases mirrored Mark Zuckerberg’s (Eisenberg) feelings and experiences.

Mange Prie Aime

I took part in a french exchange a couple of weeks ago and went for the first time to see a film in french minus the subtitles. I recently bought Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat Pray Love and intended to read it before watching the new film with Julia Roberts but I didn't really have a huge choice when taken to the cinema by my exchange partner. However, I barley understood anything in the film and it was almost too painful to endure!!

The autobiographical story of self discovery set in Rome, India and Bali follows Elizabeth as she tries to find herself and love after a bitter divorce. What I've read of the book so far is both emotional and funny and already I can see it becoming a firm favourite. The film really was beautifully shot too and the settings were incredible, it was just a shame I couldn't really understand a word of it!! What I did understand of the film though I loved, especially the character of Liz and I am interested to see how Julia Roberts plays her when I finally get round to watching the English version. Also liked very much the idea of travel and discovery which was shown throughout the film and wish I was able to just up and leave to live in Italy for a bit!! Eating pizza, pasta, gelato and drinking lots of wine but also learning to speak Italian sounds like a pretty good way to spend the best part of a year to me. The soundtrack wasn't bad either and did prompt me to download a few songs.

Autumn and the fair!

This week was the fair in my town and I enjoyed two beautiful, lovely nights there! The proper autumn weather has begun and the cold crisp air meant that it was definitely the time of year to hang around the town centre eating rubbish and becoming incredibly dizzy on loads of fairly over priced rides!! It does look very pretty though, the town all lit up with the many different coloured lights of the rides and the crowds of people facing the cold all wrapped up warm in hats and scarves. The waltzers are by far my favourite ride and despite the pain of having your neck pushed back against the edge of the cart at a 90° and the dry ice filling up your lungs they are certainly the most fun, even though now, a day after, when I am regretting my third ride due to the large egg sized lump on the back of my head! With the ever looming UCAS applications and coursework hanging over my head it was quite nice to have two nights of autumn, which seems already to be slipping slowly into winter, to enjoy.

Hay Festival

Last Friday was my last day at the Guardian Hay Festival and I seem to have accumulated a rather large pile of Guardian papers on my bedroom floor. I kicked off the week with my first event, the incredibly brilliant Ed Byrne who was absolutely hilarious. His response to a drunken woman who heckled his jokes about feminism made me cry with laughter, as did his comments on why people treat animals, especially cats, better than other people and his own obsessing about things he should have said in arguments had me (please excuse the cliche) in stitches!