Thank you to all my Square Fwends for 2011!

So this will be my final blog before 2012 begins and although it is going to be a short one I thought I just thank every one of the new friends I've made this year for taking me to your bosom (metaphorically obviously).

A lot of the lovely people I've been lucky enough to meet this year comes from me spending a lot of 2011 at The Square. I'm not always the most confident person and I can't help but feel I've really come out of myself this year, mainly down to all the new people I've been lucky enough to meet.

So you lucky people! thank you once again for taking the time to talk to the poor mans Jesus look-a-like and discovering I'm not actually as annoying as I might come across the first time you meet me (probably). I've enjoyed drinking with you, talking about why E.T isn't an intergalitic "Gypo" and rocking out to Pearl Jam with you.

Here's to The Square in 2012 and meeting lot's more people.

The Notebook - Gosling's Redemption.

"I am no one special. Just a common man with common thoughts. And I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect, I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived. I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and for me, that has always been enough."

*spoilers ahead*

So a friend of mine lent me a film starring Ryan Gosling called "The Notebook". As you may remember I had a bit of a rant about Ryan Gosling a few months back after seeing the film "Drive" and since then all I've been getting told is I should watch this film as he is amazing in it.
To be honest I couldn't of thought of anything more unappealing than watching another film with Mr Gosling in but seeing as someone was making the effort to lend me it I thought I'd give it a go.

For the people that don't know "The Notebook" is a 2004 romance film directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. It's about a young couple who fall in love during the early 1940s. Their story is narrated from the present day by an elderly man telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident who suffers from dementia.
To be completely honest I thought this was a pretty good film. A simple enough story which really seemed to capture the look of early 1940s America perfectly. This is only the second film I've seen Ryan Gosling in and I think he is far more suited to these soppy roles than the one he was given in Drive. He seems to be the perfect romantic lead as Noah and the chemistry between Rachel McAdams as Allie Hamilton and himself is electric. I believed that these two were really in love. Can't really fault Gosling in this film.

The real stars of this film for me though were James Garner as the older Noah and Gena Rowlands as the older Allie. I think these two made me far more likely to lose control of my tear ducts than the others.
A sad scene for me was when the older couple are having dinner and Allie remembers Noah only to forget who he is suddenly. Very sad that.
The only thing that maybe pulled me out of the movie was at the end when Aliie asks Noah whether they might die together and then the next morning they are discovered lying motionless next to one another in bed. I think it would of been better to end the film with them still having brief moments like we saw during the film.

Overall It didn't make me blub but I enjoyed this. And as I have such a wide variety of tastes when it comes to films (My DVD collection is a giant mix of genres) I'll probably buy this if see it going cheap.

No more Gosling for me though for a while.

It's not celeb stalking on Twitter if it's your birthday.Hopefully.

As some of you that follow me on Twitter and Facebook will know it was my birthday yesterday and having become a bit of a Twitter addict over this last year I wondered if I could get a Happy Birthday tweet from a celeb. Unsurprisingly I just found it an opportunity to take the piss a bit. Much to the annoyance of some of my followers (who's twitter feeds were probably clogged up for ages with my ramblings). Anyway here they are.

Hi @thedappy it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? I love your music. - from NDubz.

Hi @piersmorgan it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? @Lord_Sugar bet me £1000 you wouldn't.

Hi @Lord_Sugar it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? I own all your books and still used my Amstrad.

Hi @THERussellGrant how about sending some of that love I keep showing you my way. it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet?Cheers :D

Hi @patsharp it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? I still watch my old VHS tapes of Fun House on a daily basis.

Hi @domjoly you blocked me recently for fuck all but it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet?I still find your giant phone gag funny

Hi @caroldecker it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? I've got a load of china in my hands and I'm not afraid to smash it if not. - Lead singer of 80's band Tpau.

Hi @TheoPaphitis it's my birthday 2day.Any chance of a retweet?Iu r my favourite Dragon after the man with long black hair and shoulder pads.

Hi @thekeithchegwin you blocked me last year after a comment regarding your jokes but it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet?

Hi @Only1AlexReid it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet?I I voted for you over 100 times when you were in Big Brother. - Ex-husband of Jordan.

Hi @WayneRooney it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? I'm a real #ManUtd fan. I live in London and everything.

Hi @therealgokwan it's my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? I wear all your fashions.

Hi @johnprescott its my 33rd birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? U r the reason I became a boxer.

Hi @BearGrylls its my birthday today. Any chance of a retweet? I'm tweeting this to u from a self made shelter of snow in Antarctica.

Hi @RobbieSavage8 its my birthday today any chance of a RT. I've got amazing hair like u but I'm really shit at dancing ... and football.

Hi @JKCorden its my birthday today. Anychance of a RT? I've taken multiple punches 2 the face defending your role in #Doctorwho - Gavin & Stacy star James Corden.

Hi @ajhmurray it's my birthday today. Any chance of a RT? I'm a massive fan. GARLIC BREAD!!! - Comedian Al Murray.

As you can see there was probably a good reason why no one bothered (That is of course if they saw them at all) but I did get a response from Russell Grant, Carol Decker and Nicola Bryant who played companion Peri Brown in Doctor Who back in the 80's.

@THERussellGrant Happy solar return Scorpio LA! x

@thenicolabryant happy birthday. Your mate @ccbaxter suggested you might like a tweet. Have a great day. :)

Oh well. Maybe I'll try again next year.*


*By the way I've no idea why I'm using a picture of Charlie Sheen here. I just thought it would give this blog post some credibility *Cough*.

High Flying Birds - The long awaited album from the man who made Oasis is fantastic.

I've been a fan of Noel Gallagher for more years then I care to remember. Back in the last century when Oasis first hit the scene I was hooked and even then found myself relating more to the songs Noel used to sing. Where Liam pretty much used to growl his way through a song I always felt Noel actually meant and felt what he was singing (does that make sense?).

After much delaying and messing about I finally got round to listening to his solo album High Flying Birds yesterday when I was trying to recover from a hangover. While I wouldn't insult myself by buying his brothers effort I've been really looking forward to listening to this and I'm pleased to report I really enjoyed it.
As there normally is with me I have a BUT to throw into the mix. While there is no doubt Noel is a genius when it comes to song writing I can't shake the feeling that this album comes across a bit like an Oasis B-Sides album. Don't get me wrong as I absolutely love it but at the same time I can't get rid of the feeling that these songs were in the bottom of his pants drawer and he thought he would give them an airing.

Still, I have read his second album (due in late 2012) is going to be a collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous. He has been quoted as saying "It sounds a bit like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The sound is similar to High Flying Birds, but more psychedelic and tripped out. It's not an electronic project. People are jumping to that conclusion because Amorphous Androgynous used to be an electronic outfit."

I'm actually pretty interested by this news as Dark Side of the Moon is in my top ten albums of all time. I have high hopes for this.

For now the Noel's High Flying Birds can carry on soaring.

Sending a sarcastic letter to the local paper? I'd never do such a thing...

I just couldn't help myself.

Through your paper I'd just like to thank the Network Harlow bus service that operates in the town. It's become so terrible and unreliable I rarely get the bus and walk near enough everywhere I need to go these days. As a result of this I've lost well over 3 stone in weight and feel so much better for it.

Thank you Network Harlow. Keep up the good work.

A year later, 3 stone lighter and feeling a lot better.

It's coming up to a year now since the doctor at the hospital told me I was a bit porky and losing a bit of weight would help me with the stomach condition I was suffering from. I'd already been on tablets for about a year before and the doctor at my local surgery decided I should go to the hospital. To this day I still don't know why is took the hospital to tell me I needed to lose weight and not my GP.

When I was told this my first thought was how on earth am I going to lose weight!?! I'd never done anything like that before and to be honest my second thought was am I going to have to give up curry, beer and whiskey?

Anyway after much stressing about it, a bit of planning and a starting weigh in (16 stone 5lbs)I started to reduce my food intake dramatically. I stopped drinking alcohol for a month as a little kick start and suddenly my weight dropped within weeks.
As the weeks went on I got into a routine where I'd just have fruit and cereal for breakfast. My lunch at work which consisted of a sandwich, low fat yogurt, cereal bar and more fruit and then in the evening I'd have a proper dinner.

A long with the healthier eating I started doing a lot more exercise. Cutting out the bus and walking everywhere as well as riding my bike (although to be honest the bike riding didn't last very long). Not that it mattered though as week on week the weight continued to disappear. As the months went on I became more comfortable with my eating and was able to have a few treats without over doing it. When it came to food I was becoming a lot more aware of a balanced diet than I ever had been before.
Another good thing was having to buy smaller waist jeans and no longer having to buy XL t-shirts.

I'm really glad how much I've lost and how well I've done an of course I feel so much better now for it as well.
I'll continue to eat sensible for the foreseable future and only have a bit of a food and drink binge at the weekends. I don't want to going back to how I was and I feel like a new man. I'd like to lose another stone maybe but then there is a line to draw on if you will start to look too thin so to speak.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this last year. You are all great although not as wonderful as me... clearly.

Cheers.

Drive: Probably not going to get any Oscars

**This review contains spoilers**

"If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive."

You know how sometimes you see something and you are that miffed with it you need to get your thoughts down quickly despite it being pretty late in the evening? Well I'm having an episode like that now.
Orange Wednesday is a pretty good day to go and see a movie with a friend. Not only is it cheap it's also pretty cool to have the chance to see a film Empire magazine rated 4 out of 5 stars. Empire, I used to base my how film viewing around your reviews. I used to trust them with my movie going life. Seems that was a bad idea as tonight I went to see Drive. Empire magazine owes me nearly two hours of my life back.
Cineworlds write up of the film Drive on it's website is as follows (with me adding my two cents) -

A getaway man drives for his life in this relentless, rubber-burning action flick.

About 4 times. Only once do I remember rubber burning.

By day, the silent, nameless Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a stuntman who spins wheels and flips cars for Hollywood films. By night, he's a much in-demand getaway man who navigates the labyrinthine streets of LA with speed and ice-cool precision.

He also has the worst acting skills I've ever seen. It was probably for the best he stayed silent.

The Driver's reserve melts a little for his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan), but he exposes a well-hidden vulnerability when he agrees to help her jailbird ex-husband out of a tight spot with the mob.

I spent the whole of this film trying to remember where I knew Carey Mulligan from and the I realized she played Sally Sparrow in the Doctor Who fan favourite episode "Blink". She just looks sad a lot in this. Probably annoyed she is acting and Ryan Gosling is just pretending to be a plank of wood.

A double-cross then leaves him with only one option - put the pedal to the metal and drive for his life!

See above for how many times we actually see him drive. And not very fast either I might add.

Cult Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn ('Bronson', 'Valhalla Rising') announces his Hollywood arrival in style with this tough thriller inspired by the 1968 Steve McQueen classic 'Bullitt'.

You what? Tough thriller inspired by the 1968 Steve McQueen classic 'Bullitt'!?! Is Nicolas Winding Refn taking the piss or something? Fair play to him for 'Bronson' as that is a fantastic film but to compare Drive with a classic Steve McQueen film is a bit mental. Both Hossein Amini and James Sallis (the films writers) seem to of got inspiration from the PS2 game Grand theft Auto: Vice City for this film.

It's also Brit-actress Carey Mulligan's first full-on action film

And probably her last.

while Albert Brooks and 'Hellboy' star Ron Perlman get the bad-guy roles.

And both fail to pull this film out of the dismal hole that is sinks in to. In fact this is the worse film I've ever seen Ron Pearlman in and I've seen him in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow. As for Albert Brooks I enjoyed him much more in Finding Nemo.While I thought the trailer for this film actually looked pretty cool as it suggested it to be a film comprised of many action scenes it goes to show how smart cutting and incorrect marketing can work in trailers. Having raised this subject with a friend of mine he pointed out to me that an American woman has sued FilmDistrict (the films distributor) due to suffering "damages", feeling that the previews were misleading. She stated its distributor marketed Drive as similar to the Fast and the Furious film series, and, in a bait and switch act, gave her a motion picture with little racing.
One thing that was unexpected and really enjoyed was the sudden amount of gore as Ryan Gosling goes on a revenge fuelled rampage. Broken skulls, throats cut, blood everywhere and a cracking head shot that would make Quentin Tarantino wince. Don't let on to anyone but I enjoyed the 80's style soundtrack.

Anyway as you can see I wasn't really taken with this as I just couldn't get my head round a film that was called Drive that had hardly any driving in it. The friend I was with though really enjoyed it so maybe it's just me being a boring git. The general consensus having looked online is that this is a great film.
On the plus side though it's now my turn to pick a film next Orange Wednesday I go to (in fact it's two if I remember correctly) and after seeing the reaction of my friend during some of the gory bits of this film I reckon it might have to be "The Thing".

until next time.