I’m not ‘boring’. I’m English.
movie
Can’t… Just Can’t
Jul 6th
Yes, I went to see Eclipse at the midnight showing on Saturday. It was awesome. I loved the flashbacks (and am very quickly becoming a Rosalie fan) and the action sequences. The triangle romance was very well done even though I still want to slap Bella. Victoria was extremely well done although it did take me a moment of ‘le sigh’ and missing Rachelle Lefevre.
Quick moment – Jasper on horseback! Finally!
The only thing – the engagement ring. Ugh.
See?
I highly recommend it for all Twilight fans and anyone who is looking for a Romance movie with a spot of action in it… Or anyone who is looking for some serious eye candy. Oh no. This is not a film for those of you who just dabble in the eye candy arena. You better do some light stretching first. It’s that serious. And doesn’t the director know it.
But that’s not really what this post is about.
Yes, this is the earliest I have been out of bed for a while and certainly the first time I have been able to sit in front of a computer screen without feeling sick. This whole typing thing is very odd and I don’t know exactly how I going to continue with the 900 things I have to do today. I love what I do. I do. I really do. I really really do but today… and yesterday and for as long as I can remember. It’s hard. It’s really hard. It’s really really… You get the picture.
I think I am just whinging now. My other half thinks I should just let myself be ill and get on with it. I think I am never going to get better and there are other people in the world with far bigger problems than me and… Shut up Bec? Okay.
But that’s not really what this post is about.
This post is about call centres. We have had 987,086,543 calls from different call centres in the past few months asking us to buy double glazing, have free unlimited calls and get rid of the viruses our computers have. They call one after the other and don’t stop. Yes, we have registered with the TPS – we have been for the past year – and yes we ask every bloody company who calls to take us off their lists – to no avail. I spoke to one guy who told me that he couldn’t give me his companies information as he was not authorised to. When I asked him how he would sell me anything then? he told me that he would give me the company info after I had bought something. Add that to the already heinous crime of answering the call with “Er… hello?”
Those are the ones that really annoy me. The pre -recorded ones that just call your number over and over. One double glazing company called 23 times in one day. 23!
But the call centres that call you are irritating. The ones that you have to call are far far far far worse.
Over the course of my working life I have worked in a number of different call centres and offices where most of the business is conducted on the phone. The first thing you learn is that most people just want to conduct the days business and then get on with their lives. Now, whether they are calling for a quote, or to buy a pair of shoes, or to complain that your company (because you as the call centre monkey own the entire company at that point) has destroyed their carpet when delivering that pair of shoes, you should treat them with the same level of respect and politeness that you would want to be treated.
Sounds simple enough doesn’t it?
Apparently not.
A couple of hours ago I spoke (well croaked) at this woman who works for the Benefits Agency who could barely hide the level of disinterest. She wouldn’t give me any information, told me my enquiry was irrelevant, and dismissed me by telling me someone would call me back. When I asked when someone would call back she said ‘Oh… 3 hours”. I am so so so certain that I am not going to get a call… And I have no faith that if I do get a call they will be able to tell me any information anyway.
No faith at all.
My levels of tolerance are going down by the second and I am not sure how long I am going to be able to maintain my usually friendly phone persona. I am a nice person on the phone. I don’t want to become one of the many who…
Sorry. Am so tired. I think I will have another nap and then do my work later. I woke up quite energised (for me) today. It was the call centre that killed me.
Cookie Master
Jun 29th
So today was the day I decided to risk the world ending and see if I could actually make cookies with the Hershey’s Peanut Butter Kisses that the gorgeous and wonderful Lia sends me from the sunny and beautiful States!
Lookie!!!
They taste really good surprisingly – so good in fact I am going to take a couple for my Mum/Dad/Brother when I see them tomorrow…
I’m having a chuffed moment as the last time two times I tried to make sweet things were the incredible frisbee sponge (too much sugar) and the flapjacks that were black on the inside (too hot an oven). I mean, I suppose you can’t really go wrong with cookies… who am I kidding I can get anything wrong in the kitchen!!! I hope Mum likes them… well the tiny bit she’ll have…
I also found (what I thought was) the impossible today – a doctor that listens! So blood tests ahoy and I may get t the bottom of what the hell is wrong with me!
Yes, I did the Simpson’s avatar thing – here’s me… couldn’t quite get the hair colour right but it’ll do…! Thanks, Dave, for pointing this out.
There is a rather large group of chavs standing on the other side of the garden wall playing really bad chart dance on their mobiles. I wouldn’t mind (well, I do) but there are two different songs going at the same time! If I wanted to get my windows smashed I would go out there and wave my fist at them but I like sheets of glass protecting me from the weird ass weather…
But it’s Friday night so I’m going to do the thing I love most in the world at the moment… drop a couple of Ibuprofen and go to bed as a stinking headache has just pounced.
Love to you all…!
[tags]cookies, doctors, Simpson’s avatar, chavs,[/tags]
Rum is Good
Jun 4th
I know I’m a little late but I’ve been in no mood to go outside and watch movies for a while. But now I am in that mood again, so I went with the intention of seeing Spiderman 3 and Pirates 3 in one night. Unfortunately, I slept a little too long and ended up havinn to choose. Now, after the both thumbs down Spidey got from my housemates I decided to go with the lust factor and dribbled all the way to Pirates 3.
I treated myself to a comfortable seat (good lord, is this what my life has come to?) and sat down with my bag of buttered, salted popcorn (the only thing I’d eaten all day) to watch the trailers. Most of them where drivle but Fantastic 4: The Rise of the Silver Surfer looks like it could have potential, and I was almost dribbling at Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – that looks like it’s really come of age.
But the film!
I liked it. Am now taking a defensive pose against those who thought it was twaddle.
I liked it a lot.
I mean I was always predisposed to liking this film as it has Johnny Depp in it… and Orlando Bloom (not a lust thing, just a LOTR hangover… well, maybe a little lust thing)… and it’s special effects ahoy and loudness and has a Hans Zimmer score so I was never not going to like it.
I liked the making everything fit in with everything else and far from finding the plotlines confusing, I reveled in the complexity – the everyone betraying everyone else felt like what pirates would do. It’s much better than everyone getting along all the flipping time, and I really liked the end too – that it wasn’t all hearts and flowers, sail off into the sunset tosh…
But, well, the one thing that annoyed the ever living crap out of me was… Keira Freakin’ Knightley. I mean, there was just so much of her and she just kept getting more and more powerful taking more screen time away from Jack Sparrow… sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow. Sigh, I’m over it. A little bit.
Good film, restored faith and all that.
[tags]Pirates of the Carribean 3, film, Keira Knightley[/tags]
30 Years Ago, In A Galaxy Far Far Away
May 25th
A galaxy called the 70s, where people wore shoes known as platforms, and flares were not things shot into the night sky but rather trousers that never stopped flapping.
Ah, the good old days when I was able to fall asleep on people and drool without being given the evil eye.
Yes, 30 years ago, people queued up around the block to see a new and shiny film called Star Wars came out, a film that wa to change the face of cinema and the money made from it.
I could dribble on about the first time I saw it and how I wanted to be a Jedi and I shall. I would make a kick ass Jedi, I can do the intense stare and could fight with a light sabre at the age of 5 (well, a broom handle that was painted blue). I knew, and still do know, all the words from the film and have, in my adult years, played the Star Wars drinking game on numerous occasions.
I love love love the original trilogy and don’t so much hate the new saga but am disappoined in the pandering to the children. BUT I understand that money has to be made and that the kids are the easiest to brainwash into buying the toys (geeks come a very close second!).
The first time I saw Star Wars would have been on tv at Christmas in the early 80s. I saw Return of the Jedi at the cinema at the age of 5 and loved it from the moment the first pan to the smiling group scene at the end. I think all kids should be able to see the original trilogy at the cinema (so they can see in large Technicolor that Han shot first!)
There are many things that are impressive about the film but at the moment I am most impressed with seeing Star Wars in 30 seconds… performed by bunnies. (This is on auto as soon as you click over) and this – a BBC reporter seeing Star Wars for the first time.
So, may the force be with you, and have a good weekend!
[tags]star wars, 30,[/tags]
Screen Bound
Mar 28th
Let’s get it out of the way. Work, today, loads done (in the first two hours) after that may as well have been asleep.
So, to make sure I accomplished something today I walked all the way home in the muggy sunlight, and sat in the park for a time just watching the world go by. Not a huge achievement, I know, but after just over 4 miles I felt good… shortly before I collapsed in a heap.
I did have a rather interesting sensation as I crossed the bridge over the motorway (well, flyover more than bridge) 
I got really scared and felt like I was going to fall. I steadied myself enought o take a pic on my rrrrrrubbish mobile and then closed my eyes and just kept walking. I may well have looked like a lunatic to all and sundry but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to go plummeting to my death… (Like closing my eyes was going to stop me… Brain? Work? No…..)
Anyway 3 and a half miles later the heap I had become, turned towards a screen and I pressed play on whatever was in the DVD player. Turned out to be one of my (increasingly) favourite film (I mean, it’s not top ten but it’s definitely in the top twenty), The Lake House – with Keaniu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. I know it’s sentimental and romantic but I like it. A lot. It’s kind of a ‘hope’ mobile for me. Films like that and You’ve Got Mail (which I also like… I just pretend Tom Hanks is someone else) all about writing letters to each other – sigh, an ex and I wrote letters to each other all the time. I totally regret burning them when we broke up…
So after weeping all through the credits in a snotty very unttractive way I decided to play it safe and do somr work. About 5 minutes later I got bored and went and chatted to the neighbours for a bit.
Then I saw the coolest thing online. Yes, that’s right. Better (for me) than Lego Batman… It looks like The X-Files 2 is definitely/probably going to happen I know I have reported on this before… and before that… but, one day I’ll be able to write a review on it (It had better be good!)
I followed this up with my favourite reality show, Grand Designs. For those who don’t know it – the greatest TV Presenter ever, Kevin McCloud, follows the people who are attempting building their own home. He holds no punches, tells them when their being stupid and really gets involved… but in a non sickening way. He makes me genuinely interested in the subject of architecture; and I think I understand most of what he is saying. I would love him to come round and say anything about nice clean lines, and warm atmosphere’s and wide open spaces… oh, just anything… So, if someone could just lend me 1/2million pounds I’ll be on series 8.
Ooo, men’s swimming on the tv…
[tags]The X Files Movie 2, Desperate Housewives, Grand Designs, The Lake House,[/tags]
Not Much of Anything
Oct 7th
So I finally did it. i went to see World Trade Center. And? Well, I didn’t throw up this time! It was a good film, I suppose. It did what it set out to do – made us aware of another of the countless 9/11 stories- one of hope and survival and grim determination. I was a little jumpy there. Biggest jump for me was when Dominick Pezzulo shot himself (?) and then when the fireballs rained down.
The bit when I almost lost it was Will Jimeno being pulled out and saying, “Where have the buildings gone?” But I think that was the problem – it almost was a fantastic film but ended up being something you could take or leave.
All in all it is well made… a little cold… but I suppose it’s a very thin line between portraying the events and honouring the victims/survivors and over sentamentalising (I am making this a word) the story.
The one thing I hoped after seeing United 93 was that Nick Cage wouldn’t allow his ego to take over… and mostly he kept it in check, there were a few moments of over-acting when I could have (if I had been on my own) thrown a shoe at the screen… but, seriously, what did we expect?
Now onto the gripe. WHy is it when I go to the cinema every jackass in the town decides they want to see the film I want to see. No, that’s wrong. Why did they want to go and sit in the cinema with me and natter to their friends while simultaneously rattling papers, coughing loudly, eating with vigour and jiggling around? I can only assume that 90% of the people in the cinema tonight has some combination of a nervous twitch, itchy bum, non sweary torretts and a mild ADHD… or a severe case of the spreading arsehole syndrome that I see more and more in my daily life.
All I could think everytime one particular moron stood up to smooth down her barely-there skirt/belt (she did it about 12 times throughout the film) was ‘Why haven’t you read the rules?‘ and ‘Why aren’t my eyes actually burning a hole straight through your ‘Up’ Pony tail and ridiculous cube shaped fringe?’ Oh well, I suppose we can’t have it all…
[tags]World Trade Center movie, not the way to behave in the cinema, Secondhand Trytophan’s movie going rules should be mandatory, Nick Cage’s ego[/tags]
Somebody please just ask him to dance!
Jul 5th
Rob Bowman, the guy who directed many fabulous episodes of the X-Files and, of course, the first movie, has not yet been asked to direct the new one which is still on the starting blocks.
He’s announced that he is open to doing it but that no one has asked him. In mmy mind he is standing on the side of the school hall, wearing a badly fitted tux, hands behing his back, staring at the floor.
Come on people, let him show his moves under the mirrorball again… The last one was fantastic (and 8 years ago) – get on with it!
[tags]Rob Bowman, The X-Files Movie 2, [/tags]
Reaction
Jun 17th
I have just got back from seeing United 93. I have been putting it off and putting it off until I was in an energised ‘up’ mood, so I wouldn’t fall into the pit of despair that 9/11 related things send me to.
I threw up.
Other films have made me feel sick before and other films have made me cry before but never before have I actually thrown up. I had tears in my eyes nearly all the way through. I suppose knowing what was coming didn’t help, but even if you had lived in a box for the past 5 years and the first thing you were seeing was this film you would have known it wasn’t going to end with the passengers walking off the plane into a sea of sirens.
I had no hopes for this film, (the way I had hopes for X3, or the way I have hopes for Superman Returns), and I found it respectful to the people involved while still maintaining an air of realism. I have read the 9/11 Commision Report, and pay attention to the press, so already knew what confusion was in the air that day; how the FAA and the Military had no clear plan or idea what to do but it wasn’t until I saw it on the screen that I understood just how bad it was..
“Only the President can make that call” and they couldn’t get hold of him? The most powerful man in the world and no one had a mobile phone near him? I don’t subsribe to any of the conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11, finding them deeply insulting to those who died, their families and anyone else who had their lives affected by the events (oh, wait, that’s everyone) but this is one in a thousand questions that need to be and have been asked by far better people than I.
Deep breath.
I have never seen people leave a cinema as quietly as that before… the closest I can remember is Schindler’s List. Everything from the camera work to the realistic, almost improvised acting and the haunting minimalist soundtrack grabbed me and pulled me in. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.
I can only hope that Oliver Stone has taken notes from this and that Nick Cage doesn’t allow his ego to take over World Trade Center when it’s released later this summer.
[tags] united 93, 9/11, september 11 movie, [/tags]
Oh For X Sake
May 31st
After M:I3 I honestly didn’t think I would be disappointed by any other ’3′ movies this year. I was wrong.
Now, I know next to nothing about the comic book so was watching X3: The Last Stand from a purely ‘I want to see a good movie’ perspective. And from that place most of the new characters wseemed unformed and, well, uninteresting. Now the people I went to the cinema with are all hardened geeks who discussed afterwards (at some length) how Phoenix was lame and how some of the other characters were overlooked. All loved the Stan Lee cameo and all hated the ‘romance novel cover’ Wolverine scene (I liked that – mmmmmmmmmuscles!).
Mostly, the girl part of me was annoyed that the pretty one was not in the film much but again Wolverine’s mmmmmmuscles helped the loss. The geek part of me enjoyed the special effects and I loved the Golden Gate Bridge bit. But, yeah, all felt a bit rushed (take another hour on – get into the characters and, oh I don’t know, some thought out plot) and too politicised (threats from Magneto on tape on TV… oh good lord).
This weekend I will be going to the cinema again to torture myself with United 93. I’ll probably chicken out though and see Poseidon. Oh, the trailers this time included The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift… Mmmm… must put that one in my diary.
Out
May 28th
I decided to get out of the flat, clear my head, and have a little mindless fun before the day job insanity starts next week. So, I went to my parents. Things there never change which is great if I want to touch base and forget my everyday nonsense. As I got on the bus I realised I had forgotten the various things I was supposed to take for my brother but knew I’d be seeing him soon enough for it not to be a huge problem.
A cinema trip had been promised and planned and as I was being the kind sister I was letting my brother chose the movie, while we left Mum and Dad to a peaceful evening of, what turned out to be, ironing and watching the TV. My darling sweet baby brother ignored my hints of “X3! X3! X3! Oh, look, a new X-Men Movie!” and chose another movie with a 3 in the title.
The trailers at the start of M:I 3 were filling up my calendar again… and not in good way. Over The Hedge… when it gets released because of ‘It’s gotta be better than Shrek, right?’-ness… Superman Returns for reasons to do with F1 drivers and a cape; Poseidon has appeared in my list now because I want to see how many things they have ripped out of Titanic; and United 93 for the way the trailer made my heart stop when the WTC appeared in the middle of the screen, and because I’m praying it’s a good respectful film, and because I want to see a movie thant’s going to engage my heart and brain (not sure how I’m gonna react seeing the film but… that’s next weekend).
Anyway, after two and a bit hours of Tom Cruise my reaction was ‘huh… yeah, it was ok… I liked the JJ Abram’s-isms… and, that’s that guy out of Alias, but I preferred Cruises
‘s hair in M:I 2′. We went for a meal at Chiquito (which was a Deep Pan Pizza Co.) after cries of disbelief from brother about the lack of buttery based pizza goodness and all was good.
A walk round the docks and a conversation about future plans rounded off the evening, and I got to see my brother relax and be himself for the first time in ages. It’s funny how much good an okay movie and a pint at the pub can do.
[tags] films to see, M:I 3 is okay but Tom’s hair in M:I 2 is better, beer and a movie will solve all your problems… well-ish, trailers will screw up your plans to save money, [/tags]
