What I've been watching recently....

I haven't posted on my DVD watching antics for some time, so lets give you an idea....

Trailer Park Boys (Season 1-6)

This is a Canadian series I found out about through some of the Canadian boys over in Taiwan (Paul & Mike to be precise). It is a mocumentary based around these characters in a Trailer park who take time to build up, but once you get into what there about its pretty funny. My favourite character is Jim Lahey, the trailer park supervisor. He is an ex-cop who is now a drunk and dellusional trailer park supervisor. Some of his lines crack me up; in one episode it is the anniversary of when he left (err...was fired from) the police force. And he gets drunk and puts on his old uniform and goes around the park thinking he's a policeman again. If you only ever watch one episode of this program, watch this one... it's in the third season. Then there's an episode in the second season where Jim Lahey is losing it and it looks like he will loose control of the park to this greasy guy called Sam. They basically spike this guys hot dog with magic mushrooms just before he does his campaign speech. The moment where he loses it and messes up his speech is so funny.

Underworld

This film was a case of style over substance... the film looked good, but the plot and the acting was pretty patchy to say the least. It was also too long, I found myself clock watching half way through. 6/10

The Departed

As a huge fan of the original Hong Kong film that this is based on "Infernal Affairs", I have to say I was pretty surprised to find myself liking this film. I thought that they would mess it up and make me curse Hollywood for even trying. But it turns out to be a very good remake. They have basically upheaved the storyline and dropped into an American setting, with an Irish-American gang storyline. The cast is solid and most of the performances are believable. Although the one exception is Leonardo D'Caprio as the down on his luck under cover policeman. In the HK origianal, this character was so down and dirty, you really felt his desperation. But poor old Leonardo just cant make this type of role his own. Apart from this, this is a film worth seeing... even though I would watch the HK version first :) 8.5/10

V for Vendetta

This film was excellent, and unlike the film above, it had both style and substance. It is based in 2020, and America has decended into civil war. But England is holding up better, but only because of the fascist rule of the current government (almost like the setup in the film Equilibrium). V wants to give some power back to the people and get his own back for events in his past (trying not to give too much away). Basically this was one of those films that captivated me - 9/10 - highly recommended.

The Business

An English gangster story about a blue eyed boy who is forced into a life of crime and drugs in the costas of Spain. I liked this film for probably one reason only... it is set in the 80's and has some wicked 80's nightclub scenes accompanied with an equally wicked 80's soundtrack. The story is passable, if littered with obvious gangster cliques and the like. 7.5/10

Hard Candy

This is a film covering a pretty hardcore subject... paedophilia. But from a different angle to the Kevin Bacon film "The Woodsman". That film tries to make you sympathise with the character of the paedophile and see things from his side. But Hard Candy comes at it from the side of a young girl who could potentially be a victim of such a character. And just when you think that this girl is going to be another victim, things take a turn. The hunted becomes the hunter. This is an intense but highly recommended film. Men, be prepared to wince a few times 8.5/10.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Mindly entertaining, but way too long. This is not an epic, this does not keep you gripped. And it isn't really about the storyline, as the storyline is pretty basic. It is about Douglas Adam's unique style of humour and an adhoc journey through space. Unfortunately these things don't come out enough. 7/10.

Memento

A film I have been meaning to watch for a LONG time. I finally got around to watching it and it was totally worth the wait. It was awesome. The idea of starting at the end of the film and working back is so unique and surprisingly still very tense. Even though you know what will ultimately happen, you are still gripped. You have all probably seen this movie and know all about it so I wont go on... if you haven't seen it then do...right now!! 9/10

A busy term is coming to an end :)

Well I can't believe that we are only 4 weeks away from our Christmas and New Year holidays, this half term is the longest of the year, but it has sure flown by :) I have had reports to write, parents evenings to do and planning to hone... so I have been busy at work so this has helped it to go fast. In fact I even took part in a charity event one Sunday where I took a one and a half hour stint in goal for a "beat the teacher" game. We raised a lot of money and it was actually quite fun in the end!! But all these things have been things I have worked up to and now passed; the final big hurdle of the year is the Christmas performance..... I hope I can take to that last hurdle Colin Jackson style and go into the Christmas holidays ready to chill out. I have orgaised a trip to Thailand for Chrimstmas and New Year, with a stopover first in Hong Kong to meet up with Jessica. It's a 3 week holiday in total, and it should be a pretty good one!! I am meeting Paul in Thailand, a good friend from Taiwan. He should show me a rope or two in Thailand, as I am a bit of a Thailand virgin (errrr...meaning I haven't been there!). As long as it involves laying on a beach at some point I don't mind what we do, but 3 weeks of slopping around in flip flops and shorts can never be bad.

Recently I have been testing out some of the nightlife that Guangzhou has to offer, and found some pretty cool places. I really like going out dancing, so night clubs were high on the list of things to discover. I have been to two good clubs here... one is called Velvet, and is a weird concept for a night club, but it works surprisingly well. I think mainly because the music is usually pretty good. None of this pop songs made to sound like dance tracks rubbish :) It is basically a large room with a large bar in the middle of the room. The dance floor is effectively anywhere around the perimeter of the bar, in fact there is probably more space used up for the bar than for the dance floor. Then there are stairs up to a balcony that acts as a more conventional dance floor. It sounds weird, but it actually works really well. Both times i have been there I have had a lot of fun and danced non stop pretty much the whole night..... they also put on these "shows" on the bar, with maybe dancers dressed up as a cop and a "naughty woman who must be punished", or a dancer wearing a crazy wedding dress.... I think this is their attempt to send out the cool vibe, but I usually find these moments a distraction from the music and dancing. But all in all Velvet is pretty good. Then I have been to BabyFace, a far more conventional club with two areas.... a techno dance floor and a r'n'b type deal on another dance floor. The music was good but not as interesting as in Velvet, each track was too similiar and for some reason it just didn't flow as well. But anyway, there were a lot of people and it was still good. I will have to go there again to test the waters a second time. Another place I have been to is called Tang, it is a latin music style dance club, they have a live latin band and all that. The actual building is very spectacular and well designed, but I just can't handle a whole night of off beat latin music and old dudes bumping into you on the dance floor whilst attempting to recreate a latin dance!! It is novel for a few hours at the start of the night but thats about as far as it goes :) Now, I have explained some good experiences in Guangzhou whilst out on the town, now here is one that wasn't soo hot! Before I start I would like to say it was a good job I was with some cool people this night or I would have been so up the creek without a paddle. Well, this place is called the Wave Bar... and as soon as you walked in the place you felt like you were in some scene from the 80's. The walls were mirrored and the music was loud and too commercial. We ordered our drinks and went upstairs, now this really did take me into a world of 80's excess... there was a small circular stage with a scantily clad woman dancing and singing karaoke. Her stage was lined with stools with men perched on enjoying the show. You look around and the other tables dont have single drinks on like they would back home, they all have bottles of Jack D's, Vodka whatever.... the feeling of excess is in the air. OK alot of places in China are similiar but I think the decor just made it feel wrong... and the music was unforgivable. You see bars are easy for me, I can enjoy myself at most bars as long as they aren't too noisy. But for me Nightclubs are all about the music, I just can't enjoy myself in a club that churns out dance tracks that are essentially massacered pop tunes...aarrgghhh!

I have also sampled the delights of KTV here, which turned out to be indenticle to Taiwan, in fact the company that owned the KTV I went to here is Taiwanese! It was an all night affair from 1-6am. It was fun, but basically consisted of me trying to pull off too many cool sounding Robbie Williams songs (English songs are limited as you can imagine). You are in a small room with your friends, with a TV and a Karaoke system. This was a little crazy as it included a buffet... I arrived at 1am, and people were still eating.... this was a real Chin moment :)