The Oscars 2011

Hello all,

This is a bit of a non-blog related post.. just wanted to say a HUGE congratulations to Rick Baker and Dave/Lou Elsey who won an Oscar last night for their work on The Wolfman :)

I was part of their team for the film and so happy that they won... they even thanked everyone on their team in their later speech, which I thought was really nice of them.

Click HERE to see the Thank You speech. I'm there about two minutes in...

SO proud, and hopefully they'll win another one in the future, lovely people.

Congratulations also to John Midgley, who won for his sound work on Inception and Chris Corbould who won for VFX on Inception.. I have worked with both of them on different projects and they are very talented men indeed!

xx

The Ladykillers...

So in my time off, I have done plenty of things!

I have created wall art for my room, some nice new curtain ties... rearranged the rest of my room to make it a mini lounge.. and other such things!

I have also been keeping to my list, and looking into what to do next this year...

I have started reading Memoirs of a Geisha (which I will blog about once finished.. ) as part of my list of books to read.

Wow, so all of those sentences started with 'I have..', thought I better break the trend!

The Ladykillers (1955)

The Ladykillers (1955) was my latest viewing treat! I have to say I am always partial to a classic Ealing comedy... and this one does not disappoint! Not only do I love old ladies, but I also love the style of old comedy, which is almost slapstick...

A great film with lots of classic moments (which I won't mention and spoil for you..) that kept me chuckling for the mostpart of the film.

I'm not quite sure why they remade it a few years ago, the original could still stand alone... perhaps they just thought that the 'youth' of today (haha .. not that I'm much older..) wouldn't want to concentrate on something with actors they didn't recognise, which is madness as there are some amazing actors in this version.

Overall, the film gets a 5/5 from me.. definitely worth a watch!

As well as film watching, I've now managed to print all of my online photos and they are currently sitting in a box waiting to be put into albums. This part, however, has been put on hold as I am lacking severely in funds and think it's time to save the pennies for food until I have a job and can splash out on luxuries such as photo albums..!

For now, I shall go and read some more of Memoirs and decide which film from my list to watch next...

Au revoir xx

Hi Honey... I'm Home!x (Number 19!)

I'm finally back in The Big Smoke.... hello!

This time I at least have an excuse for a late entry ... I have been completing another item from my list... take a trip round America :) with a friend of mine, Kelly.

The trip was made up of three parts... New York, a road trip across the desert, and Los Angeles..

Part One - New York, New York!

We left on the 29th December from Heathrow Terminal 4 .. I think someone must have been on our side as we only had a few hours delay, unlike the people before us who had flights cancelled for days thanks to the snowfall.

We landed at JFK in the afternoon and headed to our first hotel, Hotel 99 at the top of New York which had a pretty cool room.. As you can see from the photo, we went exploring in the snow.. which ultimately ended up in the purchase of some wellies thanks to the amount of snow!

Day two meant moving down to the bottom of New York to the East Village, where we were staying in an apartment of a friend of a friend. It was a lovely studio apartment, which I could imagine myself living in if I ever moved to NYC.

Once we'd moved, we headed to Central Park to board our tour bus for every girl's idea of fun ... a Sex and the City tour! Three and a half hours of sex, swearing, men, chocolate and cocktails.. what could be better? Followed by dinner near the flat where we met two local New Yorkers who took us for drinks afterwards, perfect end to the day..

New Year's Eve was good fun... we spent it at the AMC Theatre in Times Square. VIP Red Carpet Access and met some really nice people from across the globe. We also may have slipped our numbers to the hot barmen.. haha. Lots of drinking and dancing, and some rather good chocolate brownie to eat!

New Year's day we moved down to the Meatpacking District to Hotel Jane, which is probably my favourite NYC hotel that we stayed in.. as it's decorated like the inside of a train. Look it up : www.thejanenyc.com .. it's definitely worth a visit. They also have a cafe/bar attached to it which is lovely, and all of the staff dress in french stripes, my favourite!

That evening, we walked along the high-line which is an elevated park in the district that gives you a different view of the city from above. I can imagine it's beautiful in the summer with flowers and grass, but was still pretty impressive in the snow. We ended the evening by drinking cocktails at The Boom Boom room at The Standard Hotel. Expensive, but definitely worth it as the bar offers a 360 degree view of the city at night.. just beautiful.

We spent the next morning moving hotels to The Empire, a four star hotel next to Central Park... which is amazing but with rather pretentious staff. The rest of the day we visited Times Square and the surrounding areas before meeting a friend of Kelly's, Cameron, for drinks. We discovered the joy of Shake Shack burgers, which are officially my favourite American Burger, before sniffing out an Irish pub for beverages before heading back to the hotel to sleep our last sleep in NYC...

Our last day in New York consisted of Tiffany's, Serendipity's signature Frozen Hot Chocolate and a walk around a frozen Central Park. A great ending to a great week in the Big Apple before heading to the airport to catch a plane to Phoenix... or so we thought..

Part One A ... Houston, we have a problem!

So thanks to a joyful drive to the airport full of traffic and hold ups.. we arrived at the airport 55 minutes before our flight to be told that we were 5 minutes too late and couldn't get on it. At first we thought it was an amusing joke, but in fact it was reality. This meant that our night was spent in JFK Terminal 4 as the next flight was a connecting one the next morning...!!

Part Two - Jump in my car!

Once we finally got to Phoenix, we picked up our Chrysler Sebring and headed to the hotel to finally get some sleep! It's amazing how well Kelly managed to drive after only 20 minutes of sleep in the airport, she did a lot better than I would've!

Our route took us from Phoenix, through the desert to Yuma then across to San Diego and up the coast to Los Angeles..

En route to Yuma we visited Goldfields, a little Gold mining town in the middle of the desert next to the Superstitious Mountains. It was a great day involving a visit in the mine, panning for gold, riding on the Goldfields steam train and defying gravity in the Mystery Shack. Our stomach also defied gravity when we ate the most awful food at the Saloon... not something to repeat!

Yuma's excursion was the Territorial Prison, which was also an interesting day out.. nothing like a piece of history to keep the brain cogs turning :) We drove from here so San Diego, ready to check into the Hard Rock Hotel!

Once we'd checked into the hotel, we had a lovely visit to Victoria's Secret for about two hours... oops! Many dollars later, and we left the shopping centre vowing to not spend any more...! Instead we went to drink rather powerful cocktails and eat various chicken related snacks at a bar in the centre, which was gooood!

Our second day in San Diego was great fun. Award winning pancakes in the morning, followed by a trip to Mission Beach and the Marina, followed by tipsiness at a local bar.. Next came a makeover at MAC, before having a true 27 Dresses evening. We started off by drinking locally, before going to see a live band at a little bar not far from our hotel. After the gig, we headed back to the hotel to get our glam on and go dancing in the VIP clubs followed by a late night/early morning burger at Mary Jane's Cafe... yum!

Part Three - Hollywood here we come!

After our bender in San Diego the night before, we made the most of our 12 o clock check out time and left at midday. It was a lovely scenic drive along the coast, with a stop at Crystal Cove (they filmed Beaches there don't you know!) and an amusing attempt to find petrol in the middle of hillbilly land..!!

We got to Los Angeles by dinnertime, by which point we'd eaten nothing really, so went to treat ourselves to dinner at Asia de Cuba at The Mondrian Hotel (which is where we stayed, courtesy of some lovely people on X-Men). A snip at $200 ... for two starters, one main, one dessert and a bottle of vino (and we shared.. ouch!) but definitely worth it.

The next day we wandered along the Sunset strip and had manicures/pedicures before heading to The Comedy Club, which is where many great comics have started their careers. Three hours later our stomachs reminded us that we'd not eaten, so we walked further up the strip to a lovely italian restaurant which served the BEST salad I've had in years... yum!

The following day we had a fabulous tour of LA, courtesy of my friend Suzanne. We visited Rodeo Drive, saw The Ivy, and saw some incredible houses in Beverly Hills / Bel Air. This was followed by a lovely dinner and a game of ice hockey between LA Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs. We also met a group of crazy Canadians who sat behind us and bought us all drinks at the end of the game, result!

After the game we headed Chez Winther for a couple of days, during which we were taken for breakfast and had chance to look around Hollywood.. we saw the stars, toured the Chinese Theater, had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and ended our day watching Black Swan at the ArcLight Cinema. A most worthy choice to say we were in the land of film!

Wednesday marked our move to Santa Monica Pier where we visited Bubba's Shrimp House, walked along the Pier, rode the famous ferris wheel and sat on the beach for a little while... before hitting the famous 3rd Promenade shops..! What fun! This was followed by dinner at a sports bar, and dessert at a seafood restaurant on the seafront ... fabulous!

Thursday we moved to Venice Beach for our final leg of the trip. Two days in one of the most varied places I've been in LA... from street performers, to local stalls, to a whole load of stoned people. Never have I seen so much weed in my life... it's literally offered to you every few steps... there were definitely some characters to see/hear! We also tasted our first In and Out burger, of which Kelly was a convert, but I'm afraid I still prefer Shake Shack.. Sorry Americans everywhere!

The rest of our American trip was spent relaxing on a beach, watching skaters, drinking wine and generally winding down after a lot of walking and driving (for Kel) ... and what a lovely time it was!

So there you have it ... number 19 is complete... sorry for the cut down mini version ... I have a lot more to say, but right now it's staying in my little head and in the photos I will be turning into a rather fabulous album...!

The List goes on ... x

Hello there!

Ok, so don't shoot me... I know it's been a ridiculous amount of time since I even attempted an entry. I blame this entirely on the horrendous world of X-Men. It's all over now though so I've spent the last week or so catching up on some of my list... I have watched another five of my 'Films to watch before you die', and have planned, booked flights and hotels for a rather fabulous three week trip across America...!

So really, I have been sticking to my list... just not documenting it, until now..!

Here's a roundup of the films I've watched this week:

2001: A Space Odyssey = 3/5

This film was pretty amazing for it's time, but I'm afraid I still didn't quite enjoy it to the full. It looks great for a sci-fi and the acting was ok, but it just went on and on... and didn't really keep me glued to the screen. Perhaps the Trekky in me didn't come out as much as she could've when watching A Space Odyssey.. but I will give it 3 stars for its production value and the fact it's a Kubrick film.. (I'll probably be disowned by anyone I work with in the industry for not giving it 5 stars... sorry xx).

Scarface = 3/5

This is one of THE longest films about gangs I've ever seen. I enjoyed the idea of the gang warfare, etc and that he goes from a nobody to Mr Suited and Booted.. but I was a little disturbed by his relationship with his sister.. thank God she gets revenge at the end. The storyline is good, but again it's really long film and I think they could have done it in less screen time.. but Al Pacino knows his stuff, and no wonder it's such a well celebrated film. 3/5 from me :)

Apocalypse Now = 2/5

Not a fan I'm afraid.. perhaps it's because I'm a girl, or maybe I'm just rubbish with films that I'm supposed to like? I just found it a bit mind numbingly boring...

Words can't really describe my lack of enthusiasm for it... so I'm going to have to just give it 2/5.. sorry film buffs!

Cabaret = 5/5

I LOVED this... such a girly film, and I don't think it's lost anything from when it came out to now. It's a brilliant story, and love the costume and makeup design, along with a few musical numbers.. can't go wrong!

It's a 5/5 from me, probably because I'm a girl, but also because I love a good musical. Very impressed with the film, and could probably watch it over again :)

Trainspotting = 1/5

I REALLY wanted to like this.. just because it's so well known and so many people have seen it. Don't get me wrong, the acting is great, and the cinematography is great.. I just didn't enjoy it. Or was I not supposed to? That's what I never quite understand with the dark, dingy films... they are full of horrendous material, but people love them. Maybe I just need to be more open minded? Either way I don't think it's really improved my life having seen it, if anything I now can't look at babies in quite the same way, eurgh!

So there we have it, a collection of films from my list that I've now seen.. you might not agree with my opinions, but everyone's different :)

Next blog post will be about the America trip... so watch this space xx

Catch-Up time...

Wow.. so I didn't realise how much of my life had been consumed by Xmen until I realised my last blog entry was almost two months ago.

I'm currently nursing a sore head and hangover after an interesting night out, so bear with me if my grammar is off point.

I've been doing a measly job at completing my list recently... so decided to watch two of my films today, bringing me ever closer to it's completion (Ok.. so I've only watched 7 of 50.. but I'm getting there, slowly!).

A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)

It's nice to delve back into the world of French again, having finished my degree in the language three years ago and hardly used it

since.

Breathless is a film which, at the time it was released, made a new move in French film making, and has since been hailed as one of the most influential films ever made, because of it's technique and style.

It follows a crook who has killed a policeman, and hides in Paris with an American girl and it follows their story..

I love how simple it is... short sentences, to the point, and the theories about love and life.. definitely something to ponder on a Sunday afternoon. It looks beautiful, and I love everything about it. A definite must-see for classic film lovers. An absolute 5/5 from me!

Princess Monoke

Not really my usual pick of films, Princess Monoke is Anime and follows the warrior Ashitaka as he journeys to find a cure for a curse given to him by a rampaging boar-god.

It's quite a cute story, and the animation itself is great. I love Ashitaka's voice (Billy Crudup). It's rather like chocolate, you could just listen to him speak forever.

I can't say it was the easiest story to follow, it's definitely for kids, even though I think a PG rating is a bit low.. too much blood for my liking!

Maybe I just don't mix well with anime? I know as a film person I should like it, but this film doesn't really do it for me.. give me a classic Disney instead please!

Did look great though, so I'll give it 3/5 for that.

So there you have it... two more down, and 43 to go... the challenge continues...

Hopefully I'll be back soon with a slightly more interesting update for you, but for now I'm off to bedfordshire ready for a 3am alarm... eurgh.

Night all x

16) Be a Bridesmaid / 26) See Shakespeare at The Globe

Hello there...

Sorry for such a late update, it seems my life has again become a rollercoaster of both work and social events... today is my first breather, phew!

I can happily announce, however, that I've completed another two items from my list .. number 16 and number 26!

I'll tell you about them in reverse order as that's the way they happened...

Sunday 4th July 2010 - Henry IV Part 2 at The Globe

So a couple of weeks ago, I spotted a post on Facebook (shock horror!) asking if anyone would like some tickets to a performance of 'Henry IV Part 2' at The Globe.. what a great opportunity to tick another item from my 'to do' list!

I jumped at the chance, and a few days later found a pair of tickets waiting on the doorstep, I would be going to visit Mr Shakespeare on the 4th July!

With this in mind, I scoured my phonebook to find the perfect companion to view this cultural goodness with, and who better than the lovely Nick Starr, my AD brother from another mother!

After a lovely walk along Southbank and dough balls galore at Pizza Express, we made our way into the beautiful building that is The Globe theatre. We thought it best to hire cushions for our bench, three hours is pretty long!

The Globe is incredible, such a beautiful place and gave me butterflies (ok, not everyone gets as excited about architecture and literature, but I do).

I'd not read Henry IV, so wasn't sure what

to expect. The performance we saw was Part 2, which follows the first play but can also be viewed as a stand alone story, and it was brilliant! I completely recommend going to see a play here, if only to feel cultural for a few hours.

17th July 2010 - Jenni Hanson and Alex Mutch

Thirteen years ago, I met a lovely young lady called Jennifer. She was small and brunette, and we became rather good friends. Fast forward a decade or so and she's all grown up.. ! I'm not sure where the time has gone, but it seems to be a blink in my minds eye.. Jen has gone from a girl with a dream of the perfect wedding, husband and family.. to a woman with her fiance, Mr Mutch, and her big day.

I think the reality of it really hit me at the rehearsal. Watching Jen and Alex say their vows to each other stood up at the altar really hit home. To find such a perfect match doesn't happen often.. but Jen has definitely found him in Alex, and I felt so lucky to be one of her bridesmaids.

The day itself was beautiful. I arrived at Jen's parents' house in the morning, to get ready with Abi and help Jen with anything she might need.. I think we were just as nervous as she was, but incredibly excited at the same time. I have so many memories of that house, and it was nice to think we were spending our last few hours with Jenni as a Hanson in the house we grew up in (I say we as I spent half of my childhood in the Hanson residence!).

With hair in place, make up set with hairspray and dresses intact, we stood in the kitchen as Jen made her way down the stairs.. my heart was pounding, and I knew she looked amazing before she stepped through the door, I was right. The dress was perfect, and we all had tissues at the ready (although her dad needed them the most it seemed!) .. before heading to the garden for some pre-wedding photos.

Champagne finished, and some pre-match food eaten.. we travelled to the church in style, two by two, and waited in the porch for Jen's arrival. She arrived fashionably late, looking stunning yet nervous.. as she walked up the stairs and towards the aisle.

As soon as the organ kicked in, so did the fact that this was it, she was about to become Mrs Mutch..

An hour later, it was all over.. it felt like it was over in minutes, but it was such a lovely ceremony. Poor Alex looked so nervous as he was saying his vows, and I was sure there we had a cryer.. but he held it together and stayed dry! The only slip up was Matt mis-spelling his name on the wedding certificate, oops! A missed 's' later, and Mr and Mrs Mutch were officially a married couple!

The wedding reception was great fun, with some fabulous speeches courtesy of Jen's dad, the best man (Matt) and of course Alex. The food was also amazing, as was the best wedding cake I've ever seen!

Lots of beef and yorkshires later.. the night continued with muchos partying and debauchery. A splendid day and night all in all.

So there you go, five things down.. twenty five to go.. I'll sign this off with a picture of the happy couple ... until next time!x

Book Update...

Number 17 on my list is currently read the top 100 novels according to The Times.

I have had a slight problem with this challenge, as at least ten of the books are now out of print and there's no chance I can afford to get them from a collector...!

So... last weekend I discovered that WH smith have a lovely bookmark entitled '50 Books to read before you die' .. which is in keeping with the '50 Films to see before you die' which is also on my blog list.

I've therefore decided to swap my Times list for the WH Smith list (not quite as fancy, I know) in the bid that I'll actually be able to complete this challenge! It also helps that I've read a few of them already, but will probably re-read a few to refresh my memory..

The new list is as follows:

1) The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien

2) 1984 - George Orwell

3) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

4) The Shapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

5) To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6) Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

7) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8) A Passage to India - E.M Forster

9) The Lord of the Flies - William Goulding

10) Hamlet - William Shakespeare

11) A Bend in the River - V.S Naipaul

12) The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

13) The Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger

14) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

15) Brave New World - Alodus Huxley

16) The Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank

17) Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

18) The Bible

19) The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

20) Ulysses - James Joyce

21) The Quiet American - Graham Greene

22) Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

23) Money - Martin Amis

24) Harry Potter Series - J. K Rowling

25) Moby Dick - Herman Melville

26) The Wind in The Willows - Kenneth Grahame

27) His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman

28) Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

29) Alices Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Caroll

30) Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

31) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - Mark Haddon

32) On the Road - Jack Kerouac

33) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

34) The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope

35) The Outsider - Albert Camus

36) The Colour Purple - Alice Walker

37) Life of Pi - Yann Martel

38) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

39) The War of the Worlds - H.G Wells

40) Men Without Women - Ernest Hemingway

41) Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

42) A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

43) Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

44) Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

45) One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey

46) Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

47) The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

48) Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

49) The Divine Comedy - Alighieri Dante

50) The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

This doesn't mean that I won't read more of the Times list, I fully intend to read them too.. but for my own pleasure rather than for this blog.

xx