Sunday 22 February 2009

Friday the 13th - Spoilers!

I took a break from packing boxes last night and ventured out to the cinema. I wanted to see "Friday the 13th", the boyfriend did not, I won. Now I've seen the original, I wouldn't call myself a fan but I can certainly see it's charm, and it has some great effects. Jason is undoubtedly a horror icon and although he doesn't really appear in the original, deciding to remake the film with him as the actual killer was always going to work (if you think the film should have been remade at all that is).

After the usual asbo's settling down to start their conversation, having a quick chat on their mobiles and security arriving to tell them to shut up or get out we finally managed to start watching the film (luckily it didn't take much concentration or I might have missed a few key points of the story thanks to those little fuck-wits at the back).

Now I haven't seen the original in years so I may have missed a few nice little references here and there but I'm pretty sure there weren't many of them, if any at all. I was really impressed with a few of the deaths, being tied up in a sleeping bag over the camp fire was pretty nasty (although a little un-Jason like if you ask me) but most of the stuff had been seen and done before. Jason did seem to pop up everywhere, very quickly which worked well I thought and made any form of escape seem unlikely...which in most cases it was! There was a load of gratuitous breast flaunting, which I quite enjoy in a slasher pic although it did verge on the ridiculous as this isn't an exploitation b-movie, or even a small studio movie, it's a huge Hollywood production with Michael Bay at the helm, he's no Tarantino so doesn't quite get away with it.

Stuff I didn't like about the film. As with all of these remakes (often Michael Bay related) they try to over analyse the killer and they can't resist unmasking him! Now I know we've seen glimpses of Jason before and I know he does have a back story but they really over played it here. This isn't "Psycho"! Also why would he keep Whitney alive in his lair (which I'll come back to in a bit)? You're kind of made to assume it's because she resembles his mother which again just doesn't work and gives Jason too much of a heart. I don't like it, he's a mental killing machine for God's sake! On to the lair. Oh my God why do all these new horrors have underground lairs, full of rats and maze-like layouts? Do you really think these dudes have the time or the inclination to dig out miles of tunnels under their houses so that they have somewhere to brood and hold women hostage?! Oh course they don't, the whole point is that they're creepy guys who live in the woods, or the middle of nowhere just waiting for their next kill. They inhabit places we'd normally feel safe or at least familiar with, that's what makes them scary and what in turn makes these underground dungeons so unscary! These new films see the victims looking around weird houses covered in items belonging to the killers childhood far too much. This is where remakes like "House of Wax" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" just go too far, I just want my killers to have no motive, pop up anywhere and everywhere and cut up naked girls, I don't need a back story, I don't need a lair and I don't need them to have a heart!

The film was okay, nothing spectacular but a decent Saturday night out. If you've never seen the original (like my boyfriend) you'll probably enjoy it more but people with a bit of classic slasher knowledge will find it a little lacking. Word on the street (okay Empire magazine) is that they're remaking "A Nightmare on Elmstreet". Noooooooo! They're not using Robert Englund and that man is Freddy Krueger. I can tell you now that film will be terrible, Freddy is the greatest horror icon on all, you don't fuck with Freddy! Jason, it's too late for you my friend.

Friday 20 February 2009

Soon To Be A Camdenite!

In less than a week I move to Camden. This has been a dream of mine for about 15 years and it's finally coming true. I can crawl out of bed and walk to work (10 minutes), drink in the Hawley every night if the fancy takes me (which I'm sure it will) and buy pink tutu's from the market to my hearts content. Unfortunately I first have to get through the stress of the move. We've been living in the words smallest flat surrounded by rather large boxes for weeks now. We have no sofa as we were running out of room to hold the boxes so we took it to the dump, this means sitting on rather horrible wooden chairs, not what you want after a long day at work.

I also had a rather strange girl knock on my door yesterday asking if this was the flat up for rent, when I said it was she asked to look around and promptly grabbed her mum and her nan, who had been hiding around the corner, and came in. Since, as previously mentioned, I live in the smallest flat in the world and it's full of boxes there was a moment of panic as I tried to fit them all in to my tiny bathroom. Suddenly I realised they weren't here with the landlord (my brother-in-law) and I'd usually be at work at this time of the day (I happened to have a hospital appointment so was working from home), so why the hell were they here? I had visions of being tied up as they pinched all my MCR merchandise, the nan stuffing my Gerard Way doll in her handbag, or the dim daughter stealing my prized "New Kids on the Block" vinyl and chillin' to "I'll be loving you forever" whilst I'm still bound to the radiator. I hurriedly got them out, they weren't impressed with the flat anyway, surprise surprise, and I called my brother-in-law. Turns out they were legit and were simply meant to be looking at the outside, they'd knocked on the off chance someone was in. Phew!

So now all I have to do is ditch my car (anyone want one for scrap?), call the utility companies and get through what may turn out to be the most stressful week of my life. Then the gigs start!!! "The Bronx", "General Fiasco" (with my mates band "Acacia Snow" as support - woo!, "Scarlet Harlots", "Gallows", more "Acacia Snow" and then Camden Crawl. I can't wait. If you see a tattooed, drunkard walking the streets of Camden over the next few months or slouched in the Snug at the Hawley it's not Ms Winehouse, it's moi!

Wednesday 18 February 2009

Comic Relief Pin-Ups

I love pin-up girls and unsurprisingly so does my boyfriend. He took great pleasure in telling me that "The Saturdays" are dressed up as pin-ups for their new video which is also the new comic relief video. "The Saturday's" are really quite bad, a poor man's "Girls Aloud", the video is okay but the sexy vibe is lost every time one of them turns to the camera wearing a giant red nose....which is probably the point actually.

Seeing as it's for a good cause and because elements of the video are quite cool I've decided to embed it.



By the way, the last comment left when I viewed this video was simply "cumed". Nice.

Friday 13 February 2009

Desolation Row

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this cover and how much I adore this video. "Watchmen" is going to be too good. Frank looks like he did in the "Revenge" era and Gerard is looking full of enthusiasm again.
My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row

Spaceman

I just love the new song and video by "The Killers". I love that Brandon is happy to just walk around in a red leotard, giant shoulder pads and a cod piece. He comes across as so serious most of the time but totally dresses to impress with no shame. That's Vegas for you I guess.

The song is one of my favourite songs they've ever done. It's about fame and celebrity....or anal probing. You decide ;)
Spaceman

Monday 2 February 2009

Snow Day!

I don't know if you've noticed but it's been snowing outside....snowing a lot! I, like so many others, am snowed in and I'm having to work from home. This is actually a real pain in the arse and I don't recommend it. I lost access to our server, had to try to communicate over MSN and my mobile has terrible reception because it's an iphone and O2 is pants. Plus my beloved is also sat next to me trying to work, hogging all my internet and slowing me down even more. The bulk of the day seems to be consumed with arguing over who's going to make the next cup of tea (him, trust me) and me stretching and groaning as our sofa is ancient and I have the back of a 90 year old. This is all made worse by the fact that in 3 weeks I'll be moving to Camden and will be living just 10 minutes from the office, the snow came just a little to soon.





I shouldn't grumble, at least I can work from home. Although if I couldn't I still couldn't travel in so could at least enjoy the snow. We walked to my mum's for lunch yesterday as our cupboards are bare and I needed to stretch my legs. It was lovely out. Everyone was walking their dogs and sinking in the piles of snow. We even managed a very small snowball fight, I've not done that in about 20 years! You can bet your life it will all just be a slushy mess by the weekend and there'll be nothing left to enjoy.



On the plus side, and totally off topic, I saw this yesterday. I now want a wedding cake (when the day finally comes) made up of these and these alone! To cute....and a little worrying.