Well, no Empire Records review, but I have done lots of other exciting things…

First of all, I’ve finally made this website dynamic, which means what you’re reading is a page generated on the fly from my database! You may well wonder what the advantage of this is, and that would be a good question – the two that spring to mind is that I can now put in some sort of search facility, should any crazy fool decide to search my blog or reviews. The second is that you can choose to view only the review you’re interested in, rather than having to download the whole lot, which should be faster.

This did entail me moving my webhost away from hostcolor (who I’m afraid to say were most unhelpful when I was trying to sort out my update strategy) to 34sp.com (who I’ve delighted to say have been wonderful). The setup was extremely fast, and the small DNS hiccup was very quickly resolve by support team responded almost instantly! Anyway, 34sp.com can be found over to the left, down at the bottom of the links section. And their basic hosting (which include CGI and MYSQL) is just 15 squids a year. Bargain!

And, I’ve finally seen Pulp Fiction. Yup – it’s taken me 10 years, but that one chalked up. Interesting film – again need to do a review with my thoughts. Anyway, quite enough for one day – better go feed Ben.

Just a note to say that I finally got around to watching Empire Records – what a great film. It definitely deserves a review in it’s own right, so I’ll aim to do that maybe later on today.

Ben status – about 5.10am wake up, which isn’t too bad (and is a lot better than 2am!)

Horrah – Ben slept through the night again. If he does it again tonight then it’s time to crack open the bubbly, me thinks.
Also, watched Bruce Almighty last night, and really enjoyed it actually. Morgan Freeman did a great job as God, even if Jim Carrey’s character was a little unbelievable.

Apparantly no danger of little ‘un sleeping through the night – back to good ‘ol 3am and 4am wake up calls. The only benefit is that he does happily keep going until 7 or 7.15, whereas when he sleeps through the night it’s nearer 6 or 6.15.

Anyway, submitted the final final copy of my thesis yesterday, so now all I have to do is wait to be handed the bit of paper come July. It’s a good feeling.

Well, back from Norfolk, and what a lovely time it was.

Ben’s sleeping didn’t quite last out all 5 nights – for the last two he’s been waking up in the middle, but we’re hoping now he’s home again that he’ll be more amenable again…

Caught a few flicks up there – Reign of Fire, Calendar Girls, and Finding Nemo. I almost saw Underworld but was far too tired, and went to bed instead. Just off to update my “to see” list…

Jackie Chan is a name synonymous with all action comedy and incredible martial arts and stunts. Although there’s nothing wrong with this film, it didn’t really scratch me where I itch. I think one problem is that Jackie is getting a bit too mature for this sort of physical comedy, and it was clear some of the stuff going on was either CGI or wirework – previously Jackie has been above that sort of thing. This and Shanghai Knights have made two in a row that, in my opinion, have lost the edge. If you’re a Jackie Chan fan you’ll see this anyway, if you’re not, or are looking to get into him, I would suggest you try Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon instead.

I really enjoyed this film. Cheesy – without a doubt, but also highly engaging and loveable. The premise of the story is a little thin on the ground, although I found myself swept along, and only thinking “hang on” sometime after the film had finished. It’s lovely watching the two protagonists fall for each other despite themselves, and the comedic aspects are right up there. The chuckles remain long after the credits roll. Cast from the same mould as “Sleepless in Seattle” (which spookily they go to see in this film) – if that’s your thing you’ll love this, if not then this film is probably not for you.

This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, although I found the subject deeply disturbing. Michael Moore wanders around America and Canada interviewing people about gun crime, particularly in the light of tragedies where school kids have got hold of guns and shot other kids (the title refers to Columbine high school). I found it be truly eye opening – for example he goes into a bank, and opens the account that comes with a free gun!! Later on a school kid goes into Wal-Mart, and buys all their ammunition (bags and bags of bullets) – the girl serving him looks like she’s still in high school too. The worst bit for me was the attitude displayed by Americans, and the incredible insensitivity of those who believe the right to carry heavy duty guns is fundamental and should be waved in the face of parents who have just lost a child to gun crime. There are no easy answers – you are left to make up your own mind, but it is an insightful and education glimpse into American and Canadian (I wanted to live in Canada before I saw this – now I do more than ever!) culture.

I’m not a huge Reese Witherspoon fan, but I have to admit this film is actually pretty darn good, and Reese does manage to pull off the “ditzy blond who – shock horror – is sharp as a knife.” There are both genuine “laugh out loud” and quite moving scenes, although this is never in danger of being a deep film. The relationships between the characters is the main appeal, and are handled very well, although, as expected, it corners like it’s on rails (both me and the missus had the entire film pegged within about 5 minutes of the opening credits). A good evening’s entertainment, and well worth renting.

Result – two nights in a row. Last night went down at about 11.15, and then not a peep until just after 7, which makes almost 8 hours in my book.
I reckon that he would have started sooner, if it hadn’t have been for the students at Spring Harvest coming home at 2am, making the maximum amount of noise possible! 🙂
(Something I never did as a student at Spring Harvest, of course…)

Anyway, off to Norfolk this evening, to spend Easter en famille, which will be nice, plus the first time Anna will meet her niece (and the first time Ben will meet his cousin, although I suspect, being 13 and 15 weeks old respectively, neither will appreciate it.)

Did have a bit of a funny moment when I realised that Ben and Maddy have the same relationship that I have with my cousins, and therefore my parents have the same relationship with my aunts/uncles as I have with my sisters. I’d just never thought of them being that close and knowing each other that well before…

Another funny moment when I realised that Ben and Maddy could legally marry (when they’re older, obviously) – bit shudder-worthy, somehow!