Recently, I have been watching....

I watch so many films that I won't bore you with all of them, just the ones that I feel are worthy of a decent mention!!

Pan's Labyrinth 9/10

This is an amazing film, which had me gripped from start to finish. It is a fairytale for adults; I am not usually a fan of fantasy style films but this one was so well crafted that i enjoyed every minute. I am not even going to venture into the story or plot, but just leave you with one thought. A.I was supposed to be a fairytale style film, if a modern one at that. But that film was too long and tedious to even score above 5 in my book. By the end I just didn't care if this character could become a real boy, I just wanted him drop-kicked through the nearest window. This is where Pan's Labyrinth serves up a better feast!! You really care about the characters, and the fantasy side to the story is so well crafted. So if you like the sound of a fairtale movie for adults then this is the film for you.... but do be warned this is a very sad film.

The Colours Trilogy (Blue - 8.5/10 White- 9/10 Red- 8.5/10)

This trilogy is a less well known one than that of the rings or the Jedi, but it is a must see set of films for people who like their films with razor sharp plot and dialogue (rather than razor sharp light sabres). Blue is a rather sombre but touching affair about a women coming to grips with grief. White is a more witty but no less brilliant film about a man who becomes obsessed with his ex-wife and exacts revenge in his own unique way. Red is a fine finale, when the main character runs over a dog and finds out some interesting things about its eccentric owner. It is quite exceptional that one director can make such a well rounded trilogy of films, considering that some can't even string 3 films together without having a stinker. Have a colours trilogy weekend, you won't regret it :)

Clerks II 7.5/10

Anyone who knows me well will be aware that I LOVE the film Clerks. This has to be one of my all time classic films that I could watch again and again. The humour is dark but so, so funny. So you can imagine my intrigue when I picked up the sequel a few months back. As I put the DVD in the machine I was praying that this wasn't going to ruin the perfectness of the first film. As the credits rolled I breathed a sigh of relief.... this film wasn't as good as the original and got a bit weak near the end, but it was still so funny in places and seeing the same characters 10 years on was so cool. My favourite scene was when Randall Graves takes the pee out of Lord of the Rings. This scene just sums up the humour in this film and I had to watch it again when the movie was finished. All you Clerks fans, dont worry - go rent this film and laugh your ass off.

Venus 9/10

This film might be Peter o' Toole's swansong, who knows; but it is one very very good film. It is an unconventional story about an old man who has a just more than plutonic relationship with a teenage girl. The first exchanges between the two are just electric, as two worlds and two generations of ideas collide. This girl turns his world upside down, and it is just what he needs at this point in his life, a shot in the arm of a fading existence. The subject matter might make some people wince and leave this film sitting on the shelf at Blockbusters, but I urge you to bypass these first impressions and give this film a try. You won't regret it - it's funny, it's challenging and it's heart warming (in a non Hollywood way).

Stranger than Fiction 9/10

This film has an interesting (if a little offbeat) premise. A writer finds out that she is controlling the destiny of a real life character, a character that she thought only existed in her latest best selling novel (yet to be finished). I loved this film and I felt so engrossed in the story, the dialogue and the sheer quality of the world that I was thrust into. So many films have me checking my watch after an hour, espeically the so called "hot" films that other people finally persuade me to watch. A perfect example being the awful Wedding Crashers!! But this kept me glued, intrugued and wondering what would happen next. It is a part comedy part love story mix of a film. I actually laughed out loud a number of times, more than most Hollywood full blown comedies can usually manage. Anyway, I will stop blabbing about this film. I will just say it was one of the best film's I have seen this year and it left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside :)

Black Snake Moan 8.5/10

This is a real gem of a film. Kinda a blues film that transends colour or creed and shows us that we are all human and we all have our own problems. We all have someone we depend on and create a strong bond that can rise above these problems. Samuel L Jackson is an ex-blues artist who has just been dumped by his wife. While he is coming to terms with that he gets landed with a beaten up young girl who has been used and abused for most of her life. Jackson decides he wants to save her and set her right, against her will to start with. But by the end they are like old friends, and they have helped each other live with the pain they are feeling. I am struggling to describe this film, so all I can really say is go out and watch it. It's a very original film which has some great acting in it. I loved the scene near the beginning where Christina Ricci's character is walking home down a country lane smoking (to the cool vibe of a blue's track). She is suddenly dwarfed by a huge John Deere tractor behind her... but she keeps walking unphased, only to then give the driver the finger :) It was almost a tarantino moment, with the hip sound track and all. Anyway, i am waffling - GO RENT

Hot Fuzz - 8.5/10

I have always loved Simon Pegg and the likes of Spaced and Shawn of the Dead. I would say it is my type of comedy. So you can imagine how much I wanted to watch this film....and I wasn't dissapointed. It's hilarious, and so accurately takes the Mick out of all those big american cop films. I am not gonna say much, because you will know if you will like this film. It's a top notch comedy, and the sort of film that makes me say quietly to myself....British humour really is the best (but I would say that, being British and all).

And worth a quick mention....

21 Grams - 8/10 - V.Good, a complex but brilliant film.

Babel - 8/10 - great storytelling, the Japanese section was so compelling.

Little Miss Sunshine 8/10 - Hilarious, especially for the first part.

Borat - 7/10 - seen too much Borat/Ali G piss takes now - the novelty is wearing thin.

Silver City - 7.5/10 - good solid story and reminding us why big business and government don't mix.

Well - thats all the ones that are worth mentioning. Inside man nearly got a mention but ended up with all those other good but forgetable films :)

XBOX 360

Yesterday, I went with a friend Peter Scott (who's also a teacher here) to look at consoles that I could get for my new apartment next year. Now this was supposed to be a recon. mission so that I could gather price info. and come back after the summer. But when I saw the gleaming offerings sat on the counter, with SO MANY games available my will power died and I bought an XBOX 360. I then spent the next few hours rationalising in my head that this was fine :) Anyway, I got an XBOX 360 with 12 games and a few other bits and pieces for 200 Enlgish quids/pounds. So it was a bargain and it re-inforces the notion that ANYTHING can be bought in Guangzhou. I had done some research, so the 12 games I picked out are all "good" games and the few hours I spent on it last night confirms this. Basically, you get graphics comparable to a high end PC for a fraction of the cost. And now i have out-layed for the console I can get as many games as I want for very little money. So I reckon this is gonna be a pretty good form of entertainment for me :)

The Long Lost Postings

Well I haven't put ANYTHING on this site since Christmas and New Year. It has been one of those things at the back of my mind throughout, but I just never get around to doing anything about it. Well the summary of what I have done over the past half year is quite easy really. Jessica came over for 3 months from the Chinese New Year holiday. During the CNY holiday we just hung out in Guangzhou getting re-aquainted and eating in nice restaurants, shopping, etc. It was great, as we hadn't seen each other properly for a long time!! For the past 2 and a half years we always saw each other on holiadys, so it was nice to be in a "real" situation in Guangzhou. During her stay we had two more holidays. One was in Zhuhai, a place just over the way from Macau. We went there by bus and it took about 3 hours. We stayed here http://www.zhuhai-holitel.com/english/index.asp It turned out to be a nice place for what we needed. The weather was not great so we hung out in the hotel quite a lot.... they had go-karts, a bowling alley, snooker table etc. etc. so we had some funny moments doing these things and just hanging out in the grounds. Would go there again for a short, relaxing style holiday. The hotel had a dim-sum restaurant that was actually pretty nice (mmmm. I love dim sum). The funniest part of the whole holiday though was the trip back on the bus. We were sat on the back seats and there were a Chinese family in front of us. Now the mother kept feeding her young toddler food right from the start of the trip to keep him quiet. The grandpa rightly kept reminded her that if this continues the boy would have to relieve himself and this would proove a chore on a bus. But the feeding continued and yes, the grandpa was right!! So I thought OK, they'll take him down to the toilet and sort him out - no problem. How wrong I was... a plastic bag was readied and the grandpa proceeded to hold the boy over this plastic bag for him to do the dirty deed... right in front of where I was sitting. Well lets just say I was pleased that the kid had solids rather than smelly liquids in his bowels, and the experience was quite as bad as I expected (apart from one golden nugget dropping onto the floor when grandpa's aiming skills gave way). So ordeal over, on with the journey. Literally a few seconds later it was time for round two. A family further down the bus decided to relieve their young companion in the same way.... a baby girl no less. The bag of wee was carefully tied and left for some un-suspecting soul to discover. I can tell you, I was relieved to get off that bus :)

Me and Jessica also stayed in Sanya, Hainan Island during the May holiday. We stayed here http://www.rendezvoushotels.com/hainan/ for three nights. We had a great time, which basically consisted of eating way too much at the buffet breakfast, lounging around at the beach and drinking coffee and eating cake. It was a relaxing break and Sanya is the ideal long weekend away beach holiday from Guangzhou.

Me and Jessica went with the Camms (a husband and wife teaching duo at the school, who I hang out with quite a bit) on a weekend away to a place called Foshan. We were warned by some more cynical members of the staff at school that this place is "a dump" and not worth the bus far. We still went though, and had a great time. In fact we want to go again some time and see more. It is a place with a lot of history, and its only a 40 minute bus ride from Guangzhou. The thing about it as well is that it has a different feel from Guangzhou. More like a town feel rather than a city feel (although the traffic there was still pretty crazy). We went to see temples, an old pottery kiln and walked down pottery street ( a place I have ear-marked to go back to and kit out my apartment with cool vases and pottery plates, figures). We also found some really wicked chunky reclaimed woode furniture :)

Anyway, I will try and get some links up for these places on the "My Pictures" link on the right hand side of this page. Then you can see what these places are all about. Although, to be honest I don't think I took too many pictures of Sanya and Zhuhai.

Jessica is back in Taiwan right now, and I am here working down the last 4 weeks of the school year. It's crazy that my first year in Guangzhou is coming to an end!! Jessica will come back to Guangzhou after the summer, after I have negotiated a summer of travelling home and going to Thailand. Next year I will move into a new place. This apartment is way too big and way too annoying (the management company are rubbish here and everything in my apartment is breaking, and they charge crazy money for bills). So I will moving into a nice compact apartment for next year. I am planning what I can buy for my new pad.... a flat screen TV, a srround sound system.... the options are endless :)