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Posts tagged with "cinema"

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) / Felon (2008)

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The Darjeeling Limited

Last night Vikki and I watched The Darjeeling Limited. I enjoyed it, it was fun - I couldn't quite tell you what it was all about... it was all a bit random, but very watchable. We laughed.

Felon

Tonight Vikki and I watched Felon - where a family man loses everything when he accidentally kills a burglar who broke into his home. I enjoyed it, it was tense - the story was captivating. We cried, nearly.

The Proposition (2005)

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The Proposition (Screenshot)

The other night I watched a film that I'd downloaded a while ago, The Proposition. The thing that attracted me to this film was that the screenplay was written by Nick Cave, and my interest in the film increased even more when I seen that it had a 7.5 rating on IMDb.

I'd hate to write a full movie review on my blog, or even give away any plot (hence why I'm reluctant to even write / copy a synopsis) but the movie is good and I recommend that you either buy it, or download it.

Man on Wire (2008)

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This film looks really interesting - I'm going to go and see it soon. Thanks to Brad Smith for the heads-up.

A word of mouth hit at Sundance, James Marsh’s Man on Wire is a breathtaking documentary presenting French funambulist Philippe Petit and his perilous wire walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

In 1974, standing 1,350 feet above Manhattan, he walked eight times between the world’s tallest buildings, dancing and joking on the wire as he went. Petit’s puckish energy makes him an incredibly engaging subject, and Marsh uses amateur archive footage, interviews, quirky reconstructions and a Michael Nyman score to compose his homage to the spirit of adventure that Petit embodies.

The Dark Knight

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As other people are leaving Opera Community, some are returning. After a long time of not posting anything personal here, and more than a month of not posting anything music-related here, I'm coming back for more Opera Community action. I tried setting up my own eggblog, I moved to Pownce and nothing could replace this blogging service. So, I'm back.

Anyways, on Thursday, Vikki and I went to see previews of The Dark Knight on IMAX and it was absolutely amazing! Seriously - go see it at the cinema, in IMAX - it's worth it.

busy, busy, busy.

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Is this a record of three consecutive posts over three consecutive days? I have a feeling this is as active as you're ever going to see my blog - so make the most of it; comment, comment, comment.

If we rewind a bit to Thursday night, as my original pre-weekend post stated, I was going to Mark Dormand's leaving booze-up. It was good to see people again from my old workplace; have a drink and a laugh with familiar faces - albeit a brief one. I made it to the coach station to get the coach into Leeds, arriving at 8.30pm. I guess in hindsight I could've stayed later at the pub, leaving to go to Leeds sometime on, because Amanda had already gone to work. She got home at 5am, so I let myself in and was stuck alone in her bedroom until then 'catching some zZz'.

There was a terrible moment where I walked blindly through Hyde Park in Leeds; on my own, in the dark. It was so scary, and I got lost. When I found the exit to the park I was relieved that I was still alive - I couldn't see my hand in-front of my face.

Anyway, Amanda and I were meant to go to Flamingo Land on Friday for her birthday. We got out of bed a little late though and by the time we got to the coach station it was way too late to go to Flamingo Land. We lose.

Instead, we jumped on a coach back to Manchester and went to the cinema. We seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (imdb) - which, for the record, was alright. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad; the CGI is superb though.

Already my plans hadn't gone as planned, but as predicted. I was meant to be returning home from Leeds on Saturday morning; come Friday night I was in Manchester, Amanda was out with friends, Vikki was out with friends and I tucked myself up in bed and caught up on some sleep.

To follow suite, Saturday didn't go as planned either - but it was the best Saturday I've had in a long while. With Vikki at work, I made my way into town on my own to meet some people from the photo sharing website Flickr. I had no idea who any of these people were, or what they looked like, but soon found myself amongst a bunch of real nice people.

flickr users group photo

After we'd all congregated, we spent most of the afternoon walking around the city taking photos and chatting amongst ourselves - and there was one point during the day we happened upon the most unique watering hole in Manchester.

Whilst I really want to chat on and on about how great that afternoon was, how cool the people I met were and how much I enjoyed it - I really don't image you'd care. It would be nice if you'd look through my photos from the day though and comment where you see fit:

Flickr Meet-Up (Easter 2007)

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Balloons!

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Odeon Demolition

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Oxford Road ODEON BuildingThe other month I heard that a new music venue will be arriving in Manchester. Due to be situated right in the heart of the city, the site for the venue would be focused around the renovation of an old building in Manchester; the ODEON Cinema.

The 1930s building has stood vacant since ODEON decided to shut the picture house in 2004, subsequently taking control of the more modern UCI-owned filmworks venture across town. The new music venue was said to be of a size to rival Manchester's Apollo on the outskirts of town; and no doubt many people would've welcomed this move.

ODEON CinemaHowever, nothing is as it seems. The building is actually not to be renovated and be turned into a music venue; but demolished, and replaced with office blocks. Plans for the demolition have been posted to Manchester City Council, but have not yet been approved. You can view the application online here.

I first came to notice this through a post on photo-sharing website Flickr, where most users who have commented are opposed to the demolition of this building, as are the readers of Manchester Evening News; each of whom admire the Art Deco decor of the building. And even those that don't care for the current building detest that it's set to be replaced by this building.

I know that premium office space is highly desirable and I'm sure that commercial rents in this area will be very nice for the company concerned.

How difficult could it possibly be to design something that has a little form aswell as function? I'm not asking them to spend fortunes, just do something different from the last 100 or so steel and glass constructions that have been thrown up round the city!

by krymorg

I won't miss the old Odeon (went there plenty before it closed, as far as cinemas go it was nothnig special) but I hate the fact another souless identikit office block is being thrown up!

by Hywel Teague
The proposed construction.
Personally, I'd love this building to remain. One of the things that Manchester is known for is it's wonderful architecture; and whilst there's currently a good mix of older and more modern styles - the bias is probably swinging a bit too far to the more modern style than the public care for. And what's more, it all seems a lame attempt to compete with London.

I hope this application to demolish this building doesn't go ahead; and there's probably many other buildings I'd love to see remain in Manchester that are no doubt deemed for destruction in the future; but for this one, historian Eddy Rhead has applied to English Heritage to have the Odeon building listed. This would mean restrictions are placed on any alterations to the structure or its appearance; saving us from the £45m 14-storey office block plans that were unveiled in December.

I've officially objected to the demolition on the City Council planning website, and you can too by clicking here; and if it comes to some sort of demonstration, I could see myself being there to save this site.

Further Reading:
Campaign to save historic cinema - BBC News
Odeon makes way for £45m offices - Manchester Evening News
Demolition of Odeon Cinema, Oxford Street - Flickr Group Discussion
Why demolition of the Odeon is bad news for Manchester - Aidan O'Rourke (Photographer)

Proposed Building Images:
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/3.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/4.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/10.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/7.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/12.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/11.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/8.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/9.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/2.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/1.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/55.jpg

All Talk

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All I hear people talking about at the minute is two things:

Number one is the buyout, by Google, of YouTube. There was big money involved in that one! Personally, I don't like Google that much; I prefer Yahoo! as my search engine of choice. So? I guess I'm not using YouTube anymore, then. Yahoo! Video it is. The only trouble is, is that it doesn't like Opera Web Browser very much. :ko:

The second biggest thing I'm hearing people talk about comes from the world of the movies. For me, there's not really been a film of recent times that has been totally amazing. I guess King Kong was alright; and then V For Vendetta really excited me. But now we look towards The Departed (imdb :: y!movies).

I seen this film last night and loved it.

I'm not going to talk about it in any great detail, because I don't want to spoil it for you. I hadn't even seen any trailers before sitting down to watch the film in the cinema - so didn't know anything about it. All I had seen was the cast listing; and what a cast it is. This is deffinately a film that I'll be buying on DVD release.

Here's the trailer for you to have a look at. I've just watched the trailer myself and think that it gives a little too much away of what happens for my liking. It's far more fun when you sit down to watch a movie with no idea of what it's going to be like or about... but it's your choice:



A little closer to home, and brining it back to the Opera Community, new things that are being talk about are the updates to the service and the Opera London Event.

Hopefully you boys and girls will notice a number of improvements around the place. I myself have included a poll of my own onto the site, and also some extra feeds including Gaming News from Gamestyle, My Videos from Yahoo! Video and My Music from my Last.fm profile.

That is all.

Importance of Understanding

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So, as I said in my last post; I was off work Thursday and Friday and took a trip to Leeds to see Amanda. It was good to see her and all the other folk in Leeds. When I got there I decided I should learn to find my own way around Leeds for future visits, so took it upon myself to make my own way to Amanda's house on foot, instead of getting the bus or taxi.

The coach arrived in Leeds at 12.30pm. At around 3.30pm, I'd arrived at Amanda's house. I admit, I got lost a few times; but at least I know my way around now. (you see how that works?) Beside, its not like Amanda was awake anyway - she was still tucked up in bed with her boyfriend, Chris.

Thursday night both Amanda and Chris were working at FAB Cafe. So, I spent the evening propping up the end of the bar. It wasn't so bad, and I didn't really mind. At least I was getting to see Amanda. We got home at around 4.30am and went straight to bed. It was good to have chance to sleep after a long day.

On the Friday, Chris was working again in FAB, so Amanda and I had the day to spend together. We went round the shops and I bought her a really pretty dress that she wanted. I hate having money - and love spending it. I usually spend it on all sorts of crap, but its great when I get to spend it on my friends.

At about 6.30pm, Amanda and I made our way to FAB Cafe to meet her boyfriend who finished work at 7pm. Because it was St Patrick's Day, everywhere was full of people pretending to be Irish and drinking Guinness. The three of us were quite bored of that, so went home and watched movies all night.

Saturday, I woke up about 11.30am and bidded farewell to Amanda and made my way to the coach station to go back to Manchester. I hung around in Manna, a nice cafe in Picadilly Gardens, whilst I waited for Vikki to arrive from Chester. When she got to the station, we went around the shops in Manchester. I bought a cool A-Team bag made from an old original A-Team duvet! How wicked is that?!?

Vikki stayed over Saturday night, and on Sunday we went to the Trafford Centre for a look 'round, and then to the cinema to see V for Vendetta (info | imdb). Personally, I loved V for Vendetta (info | imdb) to the point of wanting to applaud at the end of it (and not because it was over), but without wanting to hype it up in the slightest; go and see it and make of it what you think.

Speaking of movies, I've also joined Amazon's DVD Rental Service. Right now, through the letterbox at home, I should have Sin City (info | imdb) sat awaiting my arrival. I've decided to sign up to the rental service because it seems a great deal - especially when I have the capability to copy the DVDs.

Anywho, I'm back in work now, and the weekend is over. I will end with a quote. Its not something I'd usually do, or something you'll probably understand - but nevertheless;

The phone rings to a barrage of small words, all of which lead to a greater meaning. Coherency is slim, but importance of understanding is sought after for all to be well and the situations returns to the calm of the night. She could've been a poet or she could've been a fool - just sing me to sleep.

Here Comes The Rumour Mill

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Well, this past week I've mostly been in work. To be honest, I can't even remember what I was doing in work, or whether I was busy - nothing. It all been eclipsed by Friday.

Friday I had the day off work and went to see Vikki-Lea Clarkson in Chester. I don't think I've ever been to Chester before, but I have now. I got the train in the morning and got to Chester at about 12.30pm.

When Vikki got to the train station, we spent all day walking round the town centre and going in a few shops and stuff. As well as the shops, we toured around part of 'the wall' around Chester and went into a cathedral (but not all the way, because you had to pay) and then found Chester castle.

Sitting in the castle was good. I like castles anyway, but going in got us out of the cold arctic winds - and the place happened to be empty (aside from two other people that came in) - so it was good to sit in there and chat. And I think we sat in the castle chattin for a good 45 mins.

Not long after that, we wondered to get something to eat and then to the ODEON cinema. The cinema was class!! We seen Chicken Little, but what was even more impressive was the size of the cinema. Screen 4 in Chester's ODEON is great. Its sooo tiny and seats like 50 people. It was sooo cosy and and had a good vibe about it.

Anywho, top and tail of it is that I had a wonderful day with Vikki. She's a beautiful girl and great to be around.

When I got home to Manchester, I popped into the Bierkeller where The Young Knives were playing later that night. I knew they were playing there, and was thinking about going along when the doors opened, but when I got there all the bands were doing their sound-checks.

Amid getting previews of the bands performances, I got speaking to the promoter who said I could put my name down on the guest list - so I did - and stuck around in Manchester for the gig. I stayed at the venue the whole night and got the bus back at about 1.30am. There were a few bands who played but support band, The Holloways, and the headliners, The Young Knives, were particularly impressive.

Pictures: The Holloways
Pictures: The Young Knives

Right, well, I'm off into the night now.

My bed is calling.

Friendship Update

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Hurrah! Its Saturday night and the weekend is well underway and unforunately, as I type, we enter the landslide that is Sunday to draw the week to a close. This weekend has been a hive of activity - and of course the term 'weekend' encompasses Friday night's antics... so that particular evening would be a good place to start.

Friday was a good day in work. We got moderate amounts of work done and accomplished a number of things. On Fridays 'Drinks and Nibbles' is declared at 4pm. This sees the reception area filled with booze and food, amid a swarm of staff. The idea is that we socialise for the next hour and have a few drinks and nibbles until we all head our separate ways - whether that be off on a night out, or back to our humble abodes. I stayed until 6pm, and had a good old natter in that time.

Friday night I was set to be going out to see upcoming indie rockers, Little Man Tate, play Manchester's Bierkeller - and so at 6.30pm I headed out from work and into Night & Day Café where I sat on my lonesome and had a drink and a few games of pinball. I managed to break the pinball machine... but nevermind. After texting Steve (aka Queueman / Two Sips), asking about his whereabouts, I headed off to the venue for tonight's show in the hope to meet Steve on the way there.

When I arrived the front enterance to the venue was closed, but I managed to get in round the back and waited around with the band until Steve got there. A few members of the band recognised me from their previous Manchester outing, so it was cool that I wasn't on my own.

Anyway, less of the finer details, the night went like this: The support bands were quite crap, and I didn't much listen - I'd better company in the way of all the new people I met (Sarah and Ricky to name but two). Someone called Joe knocked my expensive camera off the table and onto the floor. It chipped a load of paint off, and busted the lens. I think I managed to sort the lens out, but the paintwork's damaged - ah well, its what's expected when you take things to a gig. Little Man Tate put on a great show, and it was a great night all round - they are going to be famous soon. New found friend, Sarah, gave me a lift home from Manchester - what a star.

Since I went to sleep last night at like 4am, I spent most of the day in bed. I woke and got up at around 1pm (i think) and lounged about all day sorting out my photos from the gig. It was dark in the venue, so it was a hard gig to shoot, but hopefully I've got some good shots - and you should look out for them in Artrocker magazine over the coming weeks.

Tonight, I went to The Trafford Centre with my friends Hassan and Hocine. As always, we went to the ODEON cinema to watch a film - this time it was Big Mamma's House 2. The film was good - very funny - but doesn't beat Just Friends on a comedy level. I think I overfaced on popcorn, because now I have stomach ache. All together now; Awww.

Tomorrow (by which I mean Sunday), I'm planning on meeting Gema and going to Manchester's Cornerhouse to see an original 1985 showreel of The Breakfast Club - followed by a bit of shopping and a trip to Fab Cafe. If it happens, it will be good. If it doesn't, I'll be sat on the net all day, or in bed watching The A-Team. Hooray!

Oh, and if you want to check out my photos of Little Man Tate, click here.

Good day to you.