tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276606022024-03-07T22:36:49.946+00:00Vaguely SimianMonsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-26348247422907370372014-03-04T17:25:00.001+00:002014-03-04T17:25:11.963+00:00In chaos and riots"<i>I have great sympathy for the oppressed but I do not expect them to be morally superior to the oppressors. I merely expect them to be oppressed</i>."<br />
Jerome Barkow<br />
<br />
A timely post of something that was stuck as a draft for years, now that the argument is being attempted for the use of water cannons in London. So far the <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Assembly Police and Crime Committee has found there is no case to use them, but with a Tory-led government and Boris as mayor, let's wait and see.</span><br />
<a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/media/assembly-press-releases/2014/02/assembly-says-no-to-case-for-water-cannon">http://www.london.gov.uk/media/assembly-press-releases/2014/02/assembly-says-no-to-case-for-water-cannon</a><br />
<br />
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<br />
So, riots and looting.<br />
Lots of people are eager to offer their tuppence worth, "send in the army", "it's because of the cuts, youth workers are losing funding, the EMA is being taken away", "mindless thugs", "take away their benefits and housing".<br />
<br />
Once again attempts at identifying the problems, usually in an effort to avoid repetition, are often shouted down as attempts to excuse idiots of their idiotic actions. No, how do people get to the point of thinking that acting idiotically is okay? If you aren't interested in the reasons then you are effectively writing off a whole subsection of people and you may as well just arrest any young people in hooded tops who live in estates, and their children and their children's children and so on. Is it more important to perpetually deal with the symptoms or the illness (or sickness to quote Cameron)?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/09-0">Panic on the streets of London</a><br />
<br />
As Laurie Penny says in the above article: "Violence is rarely mindless. The politics of a burning building, a smashed-in shop or a young man shot by police may be obscured even to those who lit the rags or fired the gun, but the politics are there."<br />
<br />
Laurie mentions watching an NBC report where a man is interviewed, asking if the riots achieved anything.<br />
<em>"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"</em><br />
<em>"Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you."</em><br />
<br />
Surely not? When was there a march on Scotland Yard of all places, of over 2000 people, just a couple of months ago and surely when marches are prime time, after the student and union marches we've had in the last year? I haven't heard of it, have you?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/streathamnews/8978803.UPDATE__Smiley_Culture_protest_march_underway/">Smiley Culture march</a><br />
<br />
Smiley Culture was a reggae star. To quote the linked article "The reggae star, real name David Emmanuel, who grew up in Tulse Hill, died of a single stab wound to the heart in the kitchen of his home in Warlingham on March 15. <br />
The 80s star allegedly plunged a carving knife into his chest when he went to make himself a cup of tea during a police drug raid on his home."<br />
<br />
A couple of thousand people, mostly Black, went on a protest march to Scotland Yard to demand justice for another suspicious police-related death.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_deaths_in_custody">Deaths in police custody</a><br />
<br />
So there have been 193 deaths in the custody of the Metropolitan police (link to Wikipedia, main source is a Houses of Parliament report) from 1993 to 2010, more than 10 a year for 17 years. No one is going to claim that anyone was rioting and looting as a direct result of Mark Duggan's death during an arrest, but it's indicative of a general atmosphere that exists in the places that most people do their best not to think about. The kids who took to the streets did so out of greed, out of anger, and stupidity, and there was obviously no desire to 'make a statement' beyond the usual machismo swagger, but these are the kids who live in a world of gangs and petty crime, of real and imminent fear of violence and police being a threat rather than a source of help.<br />
<br />
So many people are speedy to rebuff the explanations involving poverty and deprivation as if the only sign is literally being too poor to eat and that the kids should have been stealing staple foods if it was about poverty. But why has the threat been made to take away the looters' benefits unless it's implicitly accepted that these kids are at the bottom of our society?<br />
When you grow up in a culture of endemic unemployment, surrounded by the relatively easy money of drug crime, in an area like Tottenham (where unemployment in June 2011 runs at 8.3% compared to the London average of 4.2% based on claimants <a href="http://fullfact.org/factchecks/Tottenham_unemployment_jobseekers_allowance-2906">source</a>).<br />
<br />
Is their poverty a literal cause of their looting? No, but it's a reason for fostering a state of mind where such behaviour is seen as desirable, let alone tolerable. Many people have questioned how people can attack their own communities - but what is their sense of community? The insane idea of postcode violence and the idea of the boundaries that creates might help to understand how hostile the world could become, especially if your family is barely that, your substitute family is a gang and the police are hostile rather than helpful. Could the Fairy Jobmother Hayley Taylor help these kids?Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-23255713094701453622014-03-04T16:52:00.000+00:002014-03-04T16:52:35.100+00:00Fallout: New Vegas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here's an old review I found in my emails, thought I'd just get it out there. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">Fallout: New Vegas is often accused of being little more than
a retread of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">the
critically acclaimed first person RPG Fallout 3, and the use of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">subtitle
rather than a sequel number would go towards supporting that </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">claim.
However, despite the bugs in the game build this is a far larger </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">prospect than any DLC could deliver.</span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">
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<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Many
of the game mechanics are lifted wholesale from New Vegas' predecessor,
with the same First Person perspective, the same menu access via
the wrist-mounted pip-boy, the same levelling up system granting incremental
skill increases and related perks, the same inventory system and
the same VATS targeting.</div>
</span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Despite
the many similarities it was the extensive exploration that made Fallout
3 such a special game, the sense of discovery when coming across new
buildings, caves or areas and uncovering the stories of those who lived (or
used to) within is what drove the hundreds of hours of gameplay that many
fans poured into it. Finding a skeleton slumped on an office chair near a note and a pistol on the floor helped to conjure the feel of a
world destroyed, where survivors were struggling to get by.</div>
</span>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: left;">
While
mainly not trying to fix what wasn't broken, New Vegas introduces some
new elements to the mix with the new survival skill helping you to craft
new items from component parts, and disassemble and reassemble numerous
types of ammo for your weapons depending on your related skill levels.
Levelling up is now staggered, with some levels providing only skill
increases without extra perks, though you can earn perks from task repetition
- killing a set number of mutated insects grants a permanent advantage
against them in future.</div>
</span>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Compared
to Fallout 3, New Vegas is quite a lot harder. Even ignoring the crazy
Hardcore difficulty mode (where you need to regularly eat, drink and sleep
regardless of combat damage, and ammo has weight alongside the other items
in your inventory) the game throws up a stiff challenge when just attempting
to get from place to place. In the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3 the
creatures roaming the countryside soon became distractions as your abilities
outmatched them; in New Vegas a number of the creatures you meet (including
new faces such as geckos and wasp-like cazadors) remain fatally vicious
a dozen levels into the game, making companions more of a necessity than
they were the first time around. Elements of the Hardcore mode seep down
into the lower difficulty levels, such as food and health items working
over time rather than delivering instant boosts, which definitely ups
the challenge when facing hardened foes. After 28 hours of play I still found
myself killed in seconds when I was ambushed by a small group of deathclaws.</div>
</span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Another
new element is that of the factions present in the Mojave desert. In
Fallout 3 you made choices that affected your karma, choosing to help slavers
or decent townsfolk changing your standing in various people's eyes,
but in New Vegas you can have different standings with the various groups
depending on your actions. Initially you can mingle and mix with any of the
groups (excluding the raider types who attack any strangers on sight)
but as you decide to align with specific people, you will inevitably clash
with their enemies. Karma is still as obvious as it was (stealing and murdering
innocents is bad), but the factions' allegiances aren't necessarily
clear-cut from the start.</div>
</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">New Vegas is a welcome update of the successful Fallout 3 formula with the emphasis wisely placed on exploration and combat. Any fan of the original will find something to love here, and the new variety of environments and enemies brings a freshness to the game despite the same basic template.</span></span></div>
</div>
Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-60873423153747242692014-02-07T17:15:00.002+00:002014-02-07T17:15:57.106+00:00Vanilla Coke - the return (plus so much pop it's sickening)<div class="ecxHOEnZb" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">
<div class="h5">
So, anyone who has had the misfortune to dip into this on again-off again<br />
blog may know that the frequent soft drink reviews sprang up as a result of<br />
the withdrawal of Diet Vanilla Coca Cola from UK distribution, my favourite<br />
chemically flavoured carbonated water drink of All Time. After I sourced<br />
the last few bottles I could find in London, from the now closed<br />
convenience store that used to be opposite the Trocadero on Shaftesbury<br />
Avenue, I set off on a quest to try new drinks and new flavours.<br />
<br />
Then, in Spring 2013, Coca Cola deigned to reintroduce Vanilla Coke to<br />
Britain. You'd think that this would be a call for celebration, seeing me<br />
throw the parties this year that I didn't for the jubilee or Olympic Games<br />
last year. But no, because those evil capitalist pigs at Coke in their<br />
infinite wisdom have decided not to bring back the Diet version.<br />
<br />
So, after being available for over a month, I finally caved in and<br />
bought myself a bottle of full-fat 6-teaspoons-of-refined-sugar tooth decay<br />
that is Coca Cola Vanilla.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Opening the bottle there is a barely traceable whiff of vanilla, but almost<br />
undetectable. I decided to decant a morsel into a plastic cup to see if a<br />
larger surface area would improve the olfactory impact.<br />
A slight increase but still akin to a whiff of perfume brought to you on<br />
the wind from across an industrial estate's car park.</div>
<div class="h5">
<br />
Taste?</div>
<div class="h5">
<br />
I'm one of those people who insists they can tell the difference between<br />
Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Pepsi etc. and I have to say I prefer the<br />
chemically sweeter taste of Diet Coke to the sugar version.<br />
In this case it's no different - there's a dark acidity in full fat Coke<br />
that disagrees with my palate and the slight hint of vanilla flavour<br />
doesn't skew the flavour into a favourable direction for me. Similar to the<br />
smell, the vanilla taste is so slight as make me suspect some sort of<br />
homeopathy was in action at Coke HQ.<br />
<br />
Whatever, my dreams are dashed, hope is gone, light put out from the world<br />
etc. etc. etc.<br />
<br />
I could stomach the stealing of water sources in developing countries for<br />
their sticky fluid, their implicit acceptance of the murder of trade<br />
unionists and various other global corporation-scale crimes, but bringing<br />
back the Vanilla with no Diet option? Sacrilege.</div>
</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Also - 53g of sugar in a 500ml bottle. 53g! 58% of your RDA! It seems crazy</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">that this can be sold without being labelled as a poison.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">-</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">My ongoing sampling of fizzy pops is starting to wind down as I come across less examples of thus far unsupped beverages, but here's a quick roundup of ones I've tried in the last year:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OGu-obTSa0zvXrIFPrIMdftNvYnB7dAzlhEfDi1KXZZpFJRKLJeEdCjVwuarfp_3LOI8bgwxpJ_lBKyYzuqxADC96UfjpTAFNcFIt7mZGDj0AeUKaK-s81EfsFQyXOl4UJUp/s1600/IMAG0247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OGu-obTSa0zvXrIFPrIMdftNvYnB7dAzlhEfDi1KXZZpFJRKLJeEdCjVwuarfp_3LOI8bgwxpJ_lBKyYzuqxADC96UfjpTAFNcFIt7mZGDj0AeUKaK-s81EfsFQyXOl4UJUp/s1600/IMAG0247.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Fentiman's cherry tree cola</b></span><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">A little hiss once the cap is twisted; the smell is very similar to cola bottle chewy sweets, but with a fruity hint. The taste is pretty much that; very nice, though after half the bottle I had an odd, rubbery after taste.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"><b>Barr Red Kola</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Open it up, and there's a stale boiled sweets smell.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">On pour the fizz dissipates quickly. First taste you get that smell again but more fruity, but the taste is only slight, not overpowering, with a rubbery after taste and a very sugary feel. The fruity taste is garbled, nothing standing out or separately hanging back. I'm not quite sure how this relates to cola, it's a vaguely fruity pop with little distinction.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Free & easy Sarsaparilla</b></span><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Rooty smell, as in root vegetables. Gross taste, a rubbery, beetrooty sweetness.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Somehow bitter without being bitter? Confusing. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Pepsi Max Cherry </b></span><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Faint cherry smell on opening. Has that distinct Pepsi taste beneath a slightly sickly sweet cherry, almost feeling like it leaves a teeth-coating residue despite the lack of sugar. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Heritage diet cola</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">A bit thinner in the colour than most colas, unsurprising for a budget offering. Fairly weak odour, it smells as you'd except. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Slight taste, a little cloying despite the lack of sugar, it's definitely well below the par of the main contenders, but it's a sliver above most own brand store colas I've tried.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Belvoir ginger beer</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Weak flavour but a substantial heat provoked at the back of the throat. The smell is a bit artificial lemon, the flavour doesn't increase later but the heat dies on.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Gusto</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Fruity once the top is off, that remains once decanted into glass, but the taste is altogether somethig else. Bitter sweet, with a taste that seems to come from the roof of the mouth. A sickly sweetness lingers there, but it's hard to place the origins of the bitter flavour, it doesn't have the earthiness found in other kola nut colas.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The blurb is odd. Inspired by a 12th century taoist recipe, but with Amazonian Guarana. As it's 98% apple juice I can see with hindsight that the bitterness comes from the acidity.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Can't see myself ever drinking this again. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Ginger Grouse </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Nice smell, smooth taste with slight ginger bite. Pleasant but maybe slightly too sweet. Citrus is evident but not overwhelming but the advertised whisky is very hard to detect.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Wychwood Brewery Ginger Beard</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Smells like proper beer: bitter and acrid. Tastes like beer too, but milder with a sweet gingery mask over the bitter undertow of the barley malt. This is a beer infused with ginger as opposed to a ginger beer infused with alcohol, but this should be no surprise as it states this on the label. Woe is me and my sweet, sweet tastebuds. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Crabbies Strawberry and Lime</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">So, I like Crabbies ginger beer, but the limited Strawberry & Lime version is absolutely and totally foul, the worst combination of sickly sweet and slimily sour.</span><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Crabbies Orange</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Another limited edition of Crabbies, this time the orange flavour is unwholesome but not as immediately foul as the Strawberry and Lime monstrosity.</span>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-68974527049547276812013-08-09T11:17:00.000+01:002013-08-09T11:30:33.055+01:00Lies, damn lies and statistics<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At 35 I am no longer a young man, and therefore am now just an 'angry man', which is devoid of the political or existential connotations wrapped up with an 'angry young man'.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b>
<b style="background-color: white;">One of the many things that makes me angry these days is the continued ignorance of vast swathes of the UK populace, and the creepy seeding of this by large sections of the media.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b>
<b style="background-color: white;">If you've seen any sort of debate about benefits or unemployment in the long years since the current coalition came to power, you'll know that there's a fairly rigid dichotomy of scrounger hating left and Tory hating right.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b>
<b style="background-color: white;">So far, so predictable, but because so very few of us decide to actually try and find out information for ourselves to inform opinion, I'm finding myself exasperated when every time some right-wing troll insinuates that a Labour/left-wing government loves to keep people on the dole, 'trapped in benefits culture', their left-wing counterpart mainly points out how nasty Tory policy is or somesuch, or maybe points out the lies behind received opinion about the number of people on long term unemployment benefit.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b>
<b style="background-color: white;">After a cursory Google search I found two pretty non-partisan sources of information which you can use to show unemployment rates Before Thatcher in '79, during the long Tory stranglehold through to '97 and the New Labour smarmy takeover:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b>
<b style="background-color: white;">This <a href="http://tinyurl.com/6cs6zkh">Trading Economics website</a> link presents handy drop-down menus that allow you to see the rate of unemployment between 1971 and 2013, and you can choose the time frame you want to see and the presentation of the figures, it's all very snazzy.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b>
<b style="background-color: white;">This <a href="http://tinyurl.com/n4bcmt3">Office of National statistic link will let you download a pdf outlining unemployment stats from 1881 to the mid 1990s.</a> It goes into a lot more meat than the former link and obviously back much further (though doesn't have the benefit of stats once Labour gained power in '97).</b></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This chart shows what happened, with massive unemployment after the Torys gained power, sustained until the late 80s where it declined, only to jump up again with the early 90s recession, before slowly falling until Labour took over, at which point it carried falling to pre-Tory levels and stayed that way until the global economic crisis burst out in 2008.</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You can argue about Labour being in bed with the financial industry that put us in this current mess (I doubt you'd find evidence to suggest either party wasn't), you can argue about ploys to massage the figures (perpetrated by both parties and so as likely to cancel each other out as anything - the ONS report looks at this), but the facts show that if any party is content to have a huge proportion of working age people on benefits, it's the Tories.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So why do the left, at the very least Labour members and MPs who you'd think have a vested interest, seem unable to ram this home each and every time anyone attempts to pin some ridiculous notion to them?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I'm no Labour supporter and have always mistrusted them since they swept in with Tony, that mistrust cemented by their bloody warmongering, but the Tory alternative is turning out bleaker than I remember from the first time around and my opposition to their stated policies and ideals based on actions has never wavered.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In summary - Labour are about jobs (the clue's in the name) whilst the Torys are about private profit, and as any business owner knows employees are likely to be the biggest expenditure of any enterprise, so lay offs are on the table and while there is still a welfare state, those made jobless are forced to claim for social security (provided from National Insurance and taxes they have paid).</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In the absence of the voter support suicide that is totally dismantling the welfare state, the Tory machine has been demonising benefit claimants, whilst simultaneously cultivating and maintaining the conditions that keep the proportion of claimants higher.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Here are the stats broken down a bit around the times of the changeover elections, just to highlight the stat movements more clearly:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-75403124536008865632012-02-12T10:54:00.000+00:002012-02-12T10:54:13.396+00:00Prueba el arcoiris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3hdi1NQmeAs0ghX53bAduBnm18QaTisCY32VM7CEySSu0M0rAd-cBPdAqqwqzd9BoO_11vFLyeNXpGN4TziEWxroQILbpQu2ugzmY3y1fJ94C-KMF5Kaw2to18qbYOb43uUe/s1600/IMAG0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3hdi1NQmeAs0ghX53bAduBnm18QaTisCY32VM7CEySSu0M0rAd-cBPdAqqwqzd9BoO_11vFLyeNXpGN4TziEWxroQILbpQu2ugzmY3y1fJ94C-KMF5Kaw2to18qbYOb43uUe/s400/IMAG0001.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />
<b><u>Levi Roots Fiery Ginger Beer</u></b><br />
<i>āPut some music in your glassā</i><br />
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Thereās a slight hint of ginger, nothing too strong once the bottleās opened. <br />
Pours smoothly, barely any fizz to be detected. The odour once in the glass is less strong, if anything, with a slight citrus hint.<br />
The ginger is a background flavour on the first taste, with the lime mellowing it out, though the spice of the ginger lasts for a few seconds afterwards in the throat. The honey doesnāt really stand out but probably provides the smoothness.<br />
Itās very pleasant, but Iām not so sure about the music. Itās a little too hardcore to become a regular tipple, though - sugar, caramel sugar syrup and sweeteners? A little too much, even if it doesnāt taste that way.<br />
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<br />
Each half litre bottle has 36g of sugar in it, or 40% of and adultās daily dose. Shazam!<br />
<br />
Go to - http://www.reggae-reggae.co.uk - for more info about Levi Roots, the famous jerk chicken sauce man. Heās got loads of stuff now.<br />
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<b><u>Sainsburyās Iron Brew Zero</u></b><br />
<br />
The tangy, fruity smell of Irn Bru is evident when cracking the can, and a bit stronger once in the glass. Itās smells practically the same, but the taste doesnāt match.<br />
Thereās something a little more ānormalā about it, a bit more fruity, the sweeteners making it seem something more like a liquidated boiled sweet than an approximation of Irn Bru - definitely sweeter than the diet version of the original.<br />
<br />
It seems odd that a supermarket chain would seek to replicate a sugar free rip off version of Irn Bru, when the diet version of the original is so hard to come by, youād think there wouldnāt be much demand but I suppose the supermarkets know that price is going to be a big factor - this stuff works out at 3p per 100ml from a bottle.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcYi7LH5UfG8D3WYnUwK5HPl9Xy4RdBUD_byu46MnilmnnZm3Vk0gvHjBT9NLlRecdUjw5vFjQq_KhNl5n54u2-vjkAn-wnANxks6JXMdRAYfmasA5wOjyE2V75qIN5OrY3R7/s1600/IMAG0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcYi7LH5UfG8D3WYnUwK5HPl9Xy4RdBUD_byu46MnilmnnZm3Vk0gvHjBT9NLlRecdUjw5vFjQq_KhNl5n54u2-vjkAn-wnANxks6JXMdRAYfmasA5wOjyE2V75qIN5OrY3R7/s400/IMAG0005.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />
The reasons for the sweetness may be the sugar-free additive, sucralose.<br />
According to Wikipedia:<br />
"Sucralose is an artificial sweetener. The majority of ingested sucralose is not broken down by the body and therefore it is non-caloric. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number (additive code) E955. Sucralose is approximately 600 times as sweet as sucrose (table sugar), twice as sweet as saccharin, and 3.3 times as sweet as aspartame."<br />
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600 times! so there you go.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiay7IrSKJeUKIr0kRQ1oTbqjc7LdSb04uk-I78j0yU-XVyyCSGBWEHDkrVhM9Shafvpz__ghSMnGK6-_dLF3ox5OT8oMHQLZsAV-9AdWOqOQ8yTyrTxOB-nHuD6PoHmJ0Xbzb4/s1600/IMAG0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiay7IrSKJeUKIr0kRQ1oTbqjc7LdSb04uk-I78j0yU-XVyyCSGBWEHDkrVhM9Shafvpz__ghSMnGK6-_dLF3ox5OT8oMHQLZsAV-9AdWOqOQ8yTyrTxOB-nHuD6PoHmJ0Xbzb4/s400/IMAG0006.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSqdO3NIyJjHTWUr2W1Z6RkBksr7aL1NDpcB4FS01C91oJE2PEBE-B4BFp4fkJ3V_cfF7ZinGsSs0qPG5cqAo7LTaYzPhknpKPvbKZAD5NvNwQYyZDKi0xaG3biBz4WK6WU1b/s1600/IMAG0007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSqdO3NIyJjHTWUr2W1Z6RkBksr7aL1NDpcB4FS01C91oJE2PEBE-B4BFp4fkJ3V_cfF7ZinGsSs0qPG5cqAo7LTaYzPhknpKPvbKZAD5NvNwQYyZDKi0xaG3biBz4WK6WU1b/s400/IMAG0007.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><u><b><br />
Meantime Grand Cru Raspberry Beer</b></u><br />
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Iāve never liked beer. Back in my teens I tried it, of course, but I couldnāt go so far as to ādevelop the tasteā for it that so many grind their way to, basically grinning and bearing it in desperation to be a proper grown up man, like legions of broken-voiced, gangling Pinnocchios. Probably a result of the hops, beer has a mouldy, earthy quality that to me tastes of rot and decay.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauF33XXhgNCgNbjFIjS1_gEOPW9z9tiQSARo2VX1yE66HbxxTNE_m70SmImq82_-0y8uAPQuE0peX4G8o5L1hwIEIsOWG_Ou9s_2npYTP4FwyojzomFGudaPnDTi9GaTOyjvV/s1600/IMAG0012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauF33XXhgNCgNbjFIjS1_gEOPW9z9tiQSARo2VX1yE66HbxxTNE_m70SmImq82_-0y8uAPQuE0peX4G8o5L1hwIEIsOWG_Ou9s_2npYTP4FwyojzomFGudaPnDTi9GaTOyjvV/s400/IMAG0012.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />
Crabbieās ginger beer inspired me to think about trying flavoured beers, itās nice so maybe fruity beers and the like would be okay?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFzFsbX6z8s4MzbOUoXMHkdigK-Q3FJur5NgKsd_EbiHVahNsMvNY5OhaQUyzzJH4k5AAClo7-EOCltyAQy0-KRT_RcGVmrDu48dAlSGuaI_VVqtaMFNr_uu-i9vSv093r44gB/s1600/IMAG0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFzFsbX6z8s4MzbOUoXMHkdigK-Q3FJur5NgKsd_EbiHVahNsMvNY5OhaQUyzzJH4k5AAClo7-EOCltyAQy0-KRT_RcGVmrDu48dAlSGuaI_VVqtaMFNr_uu-i9vSv093r44gB/s400/IMAG0008.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
What does it smell like? Well, it smells like beer. You know, beer, the foul besmircher of once great men, the sweat of many an elderly public house, the spilled effluence of a night on the town. Awesome. And while the slight, rosy tint hints at fruitiness, it mostly looks like beer too, with frothy head and all.<br />
But what does it taste like? Beer. Weak beer, admittedly, but beer all the same with no actual hint of the berryness supposedly interred within. Regardless of the fancy bottle and label, this tastes little different (to me) than the mass of beers that heave and groan on shop shelves and behind pub bars the length and breadth of the country. Pish.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifl877vZEcOcorc3sjeiBY_9O6YlvYYmq4krLfqcC7cHY1D2-p4lxPONUExhXio8bf5J1HcSIzWp3oSvDlqqANkCA7R8fX7aRgHzwItMQMEwrq0M2FblK2aLQK7HaliJhhtV8E/s1600/IMAG0013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifl877vZEcOcorc3sjeiBY_9O6YlvYYmq4krLfqcC7cHY1D2-p4lxPONUExhXio8bf5J1HcSIzWp3oSvDlqqANkCA7R8fX7aRgHzwItMQMEwrq0M2FblK2aLQK7HaliJhhtV8E/s400/IMAG0013.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-89364285249014554932011-12-31T19:26:00.000+00:002011-12-31T19:26:05.500+00:00Another Year at the Pictures<b>Film 2011</b><br />
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The end of the calendar year has always been a time of reflection, looking back at faults of the year past and formulating resolutions to improve the year to come or gathering low-rent celebs to provide sound bites covering any topic that can have a top 100 and involve TV clips. Anal types prefer to catalogue the experiences of the year, and being a shut-in fond of lists I'm providing my very own top films of 2011 to add to the millions of screen inches clogging the Internet.<br />
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This year I have seen 49 films at the cinema. This sounds a lot but based on previous years it's a bit low, less than one a week after all. Despite having a Cineworld pass my cinema visiting is in the decline - these days most cinema tickets in London are Ā£10+ so if you want to see films at least once a week and not spend over Ā£500 a year then Cineworld is your only option at just over Ā£215 a year for a West End pass.<br />
Even taking into account the Trocadero and Haymarket cinemas with about 10 screens between them, there are often a number of decent releases that aren't on in the chain, but that's not the reason I finally cancelled the subscription. In one recent screening a mouse or rat was fighting it's way into and/or out of a plastic bag, and then two films later they forgot to turn the lights down for the first five minutes of the film. Not something mentioned when they wheeled out Ray Winstone to growl on about how he loves going to the cinema for the experience. Still, shoddy cinema going experiences can't stop good films being good. Let's celebrate!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3goZMfuuNI0Swcna95AKZvAUUxmPzrDLld6NWNQNMs2qXqxlYGM0g5o4hm00PjU_vD9tCsr6lUWJJNYh856mUncnXFCJv5dGExi46KZqrxPlGyeZcOJNwY96Am7f67SBD9j6x/s1600/cedar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3goZMfuuNI0Swcna95AKZvAUUxmPzrDLld6NWNQNMs2qXqxlYGM0g5o4hm00PjU_vD9tCsr6lUWJJNYh856mUncnXFCJv5dGExi46KZqrxPlGyeZcOJNwY96Am7f67SBD9j6x/s400/cedar.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><b>Cedar Rapids</b><br />
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Director Miguel Arteta had somewhat of a cult hit with 2000's Chuck and Buck, Jennifer Aniston vehicle The Good Girl is reportedly decent but his last, Youth in Revolt, wasn't an out and out success. Cedar Rapids however is an excellent entry into the comedy ranks, managing to be a warm and funny high school comedy that happens to be about middle aged insurance salesman at a hotel conference. The action is fairly predictable in a good way, recognised character types and situations are turned on their heads in this setting and renewed with the help of a snappy script and some great turns by the extended cast, John C. Reilly unsurprisingly brilliant as an obnoxious lout on the insurance scene, and Anne Heche shining with a great nose for comedy. Cedar Rapids, like Mamet's State and Main, brings about the feeling of a middle America that isn't all small town hicks suspiciously threatening rich yuppie kids but still has bite behind its warmth.<br />
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</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8gNmk-0OnRizDRfN8ztz-ocQ1WXCxYyffjpTskakLZICxAcGvDdG3VPlik-3TCZEoRjv4xPuicRygokthOVf-iFk8T_hqd7KkQ-dcWYTQz3JxmCBHBxHfvdqi-qj17I8RvR3/s1600/fighter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8gNmk-0OnRizDRfN8ztz-ocQ1WXCxYyffjpTskakLZICxAcGvDdG3VPlik-3TCZEoRjv4xPuicRygokthOVf-iFk8T_hqd7KkQ-dcWYTQz3JxmCBHBxHfvdqi-qj17I8RvR3/s400/fighter.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><b>The Fighter</b><br />
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I've liked David O. Russell since his debut Spanking the Monkey, and Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees showed that he had a wider range than skewed family indie dramas, but I didn't expect something as fully formed as the Fighter to emerge. <br />
Whilst a large part of it's success is down to Whalberg and Bale fully inhabiting their characters in this true-life tale of a boxer held back by his junky brother, Russell vividly recreates the world of Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1980s as Dicky Ecklund is followed around by an HBO TV crew while he trains his brother Micky Ward and flakes out on crack. <br />
Boxing films are generally hard to ruin, naturally focusing tightly on a few characters with close knit ties and incorporating cinematic action sequences. The Fighter is no different, instead managing to spend more time on the familial problems of its leads without getting that movie of the week feeling. The whole cast, from Bale and Whalberg in their physically demanding roles, through Amy Adams and the cast playing Micky and Dicky's extended family, feel like real people and make this film more like the documentary within it rather than a dramatisation of the events years later. A career high for all involved.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFDqdIdwY4vjQyy2TnbBT99t21VzdLAiqtELeJS5FbYtYi2ugiLktzi2dS27yFpA5aOj-BCDZ3H_u1bo2cWQa1WmK6VTFGYQZ7eTL02AQaI9L82UcCkhgK1Zse86S5n2edL_e/s1600/black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFDqdIdwY4vjQyy2TnbBT99t21VzdLAiqtELeJS5FbYtYi2ugiLktzi2dS27yFpA5aOj-BCDZ3H_u1bo2cWQa1WmK6VTFGYQZ7eTL02AQaI9L82UcCkhgK1Zse86S5n2edL_e/s400/black.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Black Swan</b><br />
<br />
Aranofsky has always been great, whether financially successful or not, and Black Swan continues an unbroken run of hits that make self destruction compelling viewing. <br />
Natalie Portman plays Nina Sayers in a role that reminded me of Haneke's Piano Teacher - a professional artist still living with and stifled by her mother in adulthood. Nina (ballerina) is terrified at her abilities potentially lacking and her chance at the starring role in Swan Lake being ruined. Star director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) thinks her perfect as the swan princess but not passionate enough to play the Black Swan, and trains her hard to break through. <br />
New York in winter is a large part of the film in much the same way as it was in Pi, the bleak hues in the urban settings emphasising the claustrophobia felt by Nina in a city bursting with so many millions as she starts to lose her grip on reality.<br />
Aranofksy seems to be the master of psychological breakdown and at times Black Swan strays into the body horror of early Cronenberg. Urban alienation at its best.<br />
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I've often written of Takashi Miike as one of my favourite directors, but he's rarely been what you could call mainstream. Miike's (latest) addition to latter day Japanese period action/drama films is still very much a niche but a much wider niche than some of his well over 70 films fall into.<br />
A dodgy lord threatens the future of 1840s Japan itself with his psychotic, dishonourable behaviour, and his subjects conspire against him, building a squad of 13 samurai to work together and assassinate the insane warlord. There are a number of scenes of skewed Miike humour involving death and disfigurement, and po-faced discussions between the stoic samurai, but his assassins are purely heroic, cutting swathes through the sadist's henchmen. <br />
The ending sequence is a massive set-piece involving a booby trapped village that impresses due to its scale, and despite the actors struggling to stand out in such a large primary cast Yusuke Iseya manages to impress as the hunter Kiga who professes immense strength and endurance despite a childish, monkey-ish demeanour, smashing the bad guys with blunt instruments.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1r92P0iyS3PWT2zFeZV0eaHXDb8QLDbr05a6rINnxl4-CxYvQLqs2e1A6aWBtjI5e5brh17mlxY27pWzptCmFSi8upom7r8l4Rocn_4jEx2NcYQCJL406Vag0Fm2NNl8cTI8/s1600/guard.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1r92P0iyS3PWT2zFeZV0eaHXDb8QLDbr05a6rINnxl4-CxYvQLqs2e1A6aWBtjI5e5brh17mlxY27pWzptCmFSi8upom7r8l4Rocn_4jEx2NcYQCJL406Vag0Fm2NNl8cTI8/s400/guard.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><b>The Guard</b><br />
<br />
John Michael McDonagh's (brother of In Bruge's Martin McDonagh) debut is a big surprise, hugely enjoyable and darkly comic with a brilliant script brought to life by Brendan Gleeson.<br />
The plot: A dodgy Irish Garda in the West of Ireland gets involved in an FBI investigation into drug smuggling.<br />
Whilst this setting has endless potential to get bogged down in the swamp of stereotype, the sensibility of biting wit and cheeky knowingness keeps the film fresh at every turn. <br />
The supporting cast is excellent, with Liam Cunningham and Mark Strong providing some memorable scenes, along with Don Cheadle as Gleeson's unlikely buddy in a loose buddy cop scenario. Oh, and there are beautiful, bleak landscapes for the breaks in between actors firing off witticisms at each other. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpmXehTORvdOSCp9SIwo0y0syGaXiE_Wj2q8mgwsbE9_x-qT_8W8sKq_7K9wFhqvpuQ3P9ULRQQsMFZdNXmCrwR8w0SCpDJ81h47V3Kd3JoVut4bmLU3ZKBvET1sp5MdULgYds/s1600/tree.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpmXehTORvdOSCp9SIwo0y0syGaXiE_Wj2q8mgwsbE9_x-qT_8W8sKq_7K9wFhqvpuQ3P9ULRQQsMFZdNXmCrwR8w0SCpDJ81h47V3Kd3JoVut4bmLU3ZKBvET1sp5MdULgYds/s400/tree.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><b>The Tree Of Life</b><br />
<br />
I often find myself thinking that Terrence Malick is an overly ponderous director, feted by those who are afraid of not 'getting' something that's supposedly great and heaping unwarranted praise on overblown fluff. Then I remember watching Badlands for the first time, and being slowly and quietly blown away.<br />
Tree of Life is almost purposely obtuse, a non-linear narrative mainly featuring segments of a 1950s American family's life, including Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt as mother and father of two young boys. There is heavy use of voice-over and numerous shots of the boys in nature, playing in the yard or in woods and streams. There is also a sequence which sees the creation of he universe, of the earth and of dinosaurs on our young planet.<br />
I can't pretend to have fully understood the whole film, its meditations on existence as a choice between grace and nature embodied in the parents, but as dense as it is Tree of Life will reward repeat viewing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DPhnrYKejoUIBIqE394LC_Yh1qLxoEJLNtewqVWfZfje1lF946YNUgwDPZHnPvo-Se7zHJq9vdKyE2wFjmts2WeJaJ8sixy37bZ3VH6QAT2qlcwnh0dXHWgcyMymyuK7aGYT/s1600/kill+list.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DPhnrYKejoUIBIqE394LC_Yh1qLxoEJLNtewqVWfZfje1lF946YNUgwDPZHnPvo-Se7zHJq9vdKyE2wFjmts2WeJaJ8sixy37bZ3VH6QAT2qlcwnh0dXHWgcyMymyuK7aGYT/s400/kill+list.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><b>Kill List</b><br />
<br />
This film was another of 2011's crop that seemingly came out of nowhere. In part a study of a family strained by the livelihoods of the parents - father Jay (Nail Maskell) is an ex-soldier turned hitman and still haunted by a previous job gone wrong, mother Shel (MyAnna Buring) is also ex-forces and the pair now try and live a normal family life with their son in the suburbs. To make some more cash Jay's partner Gal (Michael Smiley) comes calling with a job offer. The film then turns into a dark thriller as Jay finds himself losing control when taking out the men on their list, Gal trying in vain to keep their jobs clean as Jay takes it personally with some sickening violence.<br />
For the third act the film goes haywire, descending into pagan horror and madness. <br />
It's unlikely you'll have seen anything quite like it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLxrMtuFtuHHfrriyalWqEUd8QYSTcNRYuwPaCPicYBv7cWzh-z89nePEZXPnoPzqVyW9vOMCWG4-vaPRGOmzFGZ3hzpSkSKZl9AydgGXcrApxTj68Hu5U7fTPQKnTGXyUaTy/s1600/animal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLxrMtuFtuHHfrriyalWqEUd8QYSTcNRYuwPaCPicYBv7cWzh-z89nePEZXPnoPzqVyW9vOMCWG4-vaPRGOmzFGZ3hzpSkSKZl9AydgGXcrApxTj68Hu5U7fTPQKnTGXyUaTy/s400/animal.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><b>Animal Kingdom</b><br />
<br />
Writer-director Ben Michod's directorial debut is startling in its power and authenticity. <br />
The story of a 17 year old boy having to deal with his criminal family after his mum dies of an overdose and he moves in with his gran and uncles, Animal Kingdom manages to be quiet and poetic in its slow build of tension as the return of one particular sociopathic uncle starts to unravel the family.<br />
James Frecheville impresses as 17 year old J, presenting a tall, non-communicative teen, blank faced and further introverted when faced with his family troubles, but it's Ben Mendelsohn who stands out as eldest uncle Pope, quietly scary despite his age and size compared to the other men.<br />
One of the things that stays with me is the lighting, cinematographer Adam Arkapaw doing for Melbourne what Brick did for Los Angeles and providing an underlying mood for the film as J's life crumbles. Guy Pearce and his moustache show up in a key role as the policeman trying to take down the family using J, but the film doesn't need star cameos to shine.<br />
In a word: sublime.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72fPmak9DZB3kXaP0U3FYtO4heM3IlYN3Imgm7yaEGU0Znnz4z9_f1e2dRcVXW7GAuiwpjhXMLAoYSIMc8dtt5zB_HSvnfGRJNyTF9mbpTe91oq3gFHOf59Xa5DQW1pIdh6fo/s1600/insidious.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72fPmak9DZB3kXaP0U3FYtO4heM3IlYN3Imgm7yaEGU0Znnz4z9_f1e2dRcVXW7GAuiwpjhXMLAoYSIMc8dtt5zB_HSvnfGRJNyTF9mbpTe91oq3gFHOf59Xa5DQW1pIdh6fo/s400/insidious.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><b>Insidious</b><br />
<br />
Director James Wan kicked off the Saw quagmire, admittedly with a fairly decent serial killer B movie which probably wasn't aiming to churn out the first production line of gorenography. <br />
Insidious happily takes a different tack, concentrating on fear and chills rather than violence and blood as well as a fair bit of gonzo oddness.<br />
It's a classic haunted house tale with possession, astral projection, ghost hunters and classic empty corners and open doors to heighten tension and is one of the scariest films I've seen in a long time, benefiting from a certain unpredictability aided by one of the children put into a coma early on. <br />
Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne also help to elevate the film from its roots, playing completely straight, distraught at the bumping in the night that follows them from house to house, even the veteran Lin Shaye dials down the gurning that she usually reels out for her many comedy parts. <br />
In terms of recent horror Insidious is up there with Drag Me To Hell, not the classic of the Orphanage but a firm second tier.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWNbg7qYQRwirk2YVo9TCj6UI9xhiKZIcHpsBQ-C8SlxELPqe2uCI11BJbS2Jsbz12PpDrQPNz2uX0HXew74x_gZDMXQ7WgAuYnGTw6VKEstU3MrrWCAIOK4S2WRWc50i-r52T/s1600/tyrannosaur.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWNbg7qYQRwirk2YVo9TCj6UI9xhiKZIcHpsBQ-C8SlxELPqe2uCI11BJbS2Jsbz12PpDrQPNz2uX0HXew74x_gZDMXQ7WgAuYnGTw6VKEstU3MrrWCAIOK4S2WRWc50i-r52T/s400/tyrannosaur.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><b>Tyrannosaur</b><br />
<br />
Paddy Considine's directorial debut is a blistering examination of anger and pain. <br />
Peter Mullan manages to top an already brilliant career with a performance of honed frustration and rage aimed at himself but directed at anyone in the vicinity, often with tragic results. <br />
An unwanted chance at redemption comes when Peter's Joseph meets Olivia Colman's Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker with serious problems of her own. If Eddie Marsan turns up you've got a high chance of bad times.<br />
Joseph's Midlands council estate setting is pretty bleak, but his character isn't as one note as kitchen-sink drama wannabes might portray, aware of his problems and failings and simply accepting that he's not a nice person, a stark way of dealing with issues that few stories tell without using simplistic binary morals.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Special mentions</b><br />
<br />
Films that didn't quite make my top ten but nevertheless stood out include <i>Melancholia, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, Take Shelter, Blue Valentine, Submarine, State Of Emergency</i> and <i>Drive.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Worst film of 2011</b><br />
<br />
David Gordon Green made a startling debut with George Washington in 2000, a visually poetic coming of age tale in run down North Carolina. Whilst his subsequent output hasn't matched that film's grace, his second-to-last, Pineapple Express, was a brilliant homage to 70s stoner comedies and 80s buddy action movies, filtering the present day through the feel of those decades to create something familiar and yet fresh, despite borrowing heavily from the Apatow mould.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrgs7ms4gn3ts2O_CEOYpoW0MoCJQPcC8fN2doS-d52FAFjz29P7utAVznoziEg5AWPGC_SuSpR0d0GsO5JsyGsNc6dizZ3I_RSIFDrR6Lv_-2mQgNVtCbi_dChPzfPcJZm0A/s1600/your+high.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrgs7ms4gn3ts2O_CEOYpoW0MoCJQPcC8fN2doS-d52FAFjz29P7utAVznoziEg5AWPGC_SuSpR0d0GsO5JsyGsNc6dizZ3I_RSIFDrR6Lv_-2mQgNVtCbi_dChPzfPcJZm0A/s400/your+high.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>My first impressions of his latest film, <b>Your Highness</b>, were good, the trailer making the film seem like an irreverent take on sword and sorcery fables with a bit of modern swearing and stoner and dick jokes thrown in, reuniting James Franco and Danny McBride along with other Apatow regulars in order to swash buckles with knowing winks and foul mouths.<br />
And yet after sitting down to the film proper, I find myself wondering when the comedy would begin. Joke after joke was rolled out to no effect, I could see the workings and what they were trying to do, but it just wasn't funny, not once. I waited in vain for things to pick up, hoping maybe it was just a false start, but it just carried on in the same vein. Maybe halfway through, up to the point when Natalie Portman's character appears, I couldn't take it any more and had to walk, the first and only time I have left a cinema before the film has ended.<br />
Maybe it did turn a corner once Portman appeared, but I can't see it happening. A shame.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-76860837821925873262011-12-06T23:21:00.000+00:002011-12-06T23:21:01.586+00:00Revolver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjgwcRRi-XAE8nwBzVRfwthyphenhyphenKMAsfIyAQyatLBdb2dElhI3_JOBYNCbr_tuhxmogJJBPFuobTtrm8JeStNsxisXU5i67Yh8VTklu3R8DqhWa37qxUDgYPcZQLAifTOb9m8lME/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-07-31-11h38m59s152.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjgwcRRi-XAE8nwBzVRfwthyphenhyphenKMAsfIyAQyatLBdb2dElhI3_JOBYNCbr_tuhxmogJJBPFuobTtrm8JeStNsxisXU5i67Yh8VTklu3R8DqhWa37qxUDgYPcZQLAifTOb9m8lME/s400/vlcsnap-2011-07-31-11h38m59s152.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b>Revolver</b><br />
<br />
Now that the dust has settled, as it were, itās strange to see that Revolver is worlds away from the epic disaster that the media world labelled it as on its release back in 2005. With the hit Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels launching not only Guy Ritchieās career but also a swathe of Brit gangster flicks and dovetailing with the rise of ladās mag subculture, Ritchie was prime for a backlash.<br />
<br />
The first glimpse of Statham has me thinking that his wig is impressive, itās odd seeing him with hair and it looks relatively natural. A closer look shortly afterward reveals that his moustache doesnāt give off the same vibe.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdFo89rud9NickcX15a3NMrztTPGU9qDAZZfXRSZZA2UmalqYar9FHD3IecjK9Lr4H-DVc3VuHbmi1AtVDBF8iTH62GbJIx_codWq3IGIOWVXQJW_2n3gLRr29oZBKyn4EBDn5/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-07-31-10h00m42s65.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdFo89rud9NickcX15a3NMrztTPGU9qDAZZfXRSZZA2UmalqYar9FHD3IecjK9Lr4H-DVc3VuHbmi1AtVDBF8iTH62GbJIx_codWq3IGIOWVXQJW_2n3gLRr29oZBKyn4EBDn5/s400/vlcsnap-2011-07-31-10h00m42s65.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
There are strange little moments, Statham asking ācan I go?ā like a child sitting in a hospital gown talking to a nurse; shouting his friendās name after heās been shot, more like a mantra than in grief or surprise; āsmart as a pair of little boyās shoesā; a nice little moment where three groups have their tensions rising, intercutting between each despite different time frames; a lovely little animated sequence of the film as a heist plays out; Statham hit by a car in slo-mo straight through the windshield, only for the sequence to reverse all while he delivers a voice over about fate and motive; the final talking head segments of psychologists explaining how the only real enemy we have is our own ego.<br />
Sometimes in criticism āinterestingā is a dirty word, but that is what Revolver is, and while it might not quite work it is worlds away from the glossy, empty, cockney gangster bollocks that people evidently prefer. The question is, did Guy Ritchieās ego instigate Revolver or not?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM-3HjOhpo543gQfRoPsgphTgmR8QJJXd_mLocDxK-M_mqnqeVj-i9PPV_VJki8cBIZhkHzjY3bqR3BR3nKqD78FtlASZSeD-8ICX5grfOiOsQFTogjBTCR0CAWetfjKBDXqx/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-07-31-10h09m10s26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM-3HjOhpo543gQfRoPsgphTgmR8QJJXd_mLocDxK-M_mqnqeVj-i9PPV_VJki8cBIZhkHzjY3bqR3BR3nKqD78FtlASZSeD-8ICX5grfOiOsQFTogjBTCR0CAWetfjKBDXqx/s400/vlcsnap-2011-07-31-10h09m10s26.png" width="400" /></a></div>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-79344553063119944952011-10-22T13:58:00.001+01:002011-10-22T14:00:34.298+01:00Raindance Festival 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Thoughts on the fest:<br />
<br />
Whilst the Apollo is plush and it's nice to be able to see things there without selling a kidney, the festival seems a lot more heavily centered on the industry than the London film fest a couple of weeks later, and when I say industry I mean an ocean of droning, braying media types studded with the odd actor, director and producer. It's unusual in a film festival that I feel an urge to flee the screen as soon as the films is over, after all, I've heard my fair share of odd Q&A sessions at the LFF; it's pretty much just an objection to the people in general.<br />
<br />
But to the films themselves:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwQUnAEQwDaaAyhvLnJqav3IAbNIhCkXO5kjEOkSbFb4MR2zBHg5LRCo-9Cie2_GNxSl3EQOz4ajs4F10zTZYgnDcxsN0R893EUVIFCRO7yKIUviRXZ15ksslMpkRdnDlhJCa/s1600/thousand_kisses_deep.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwQUnAEQwDaaAyhvLnJqav3IAbNIhCkXO5kjEOkSbFb4MR2zBHg5LRCo-9Cie2_GNxSl3EQOz4ajs4F10zTZYgnDcxsN0R893EUVIFCRO7yKIUviRXZ15ksslMpkRdnDlhJCa/s400/thousand_kisses_deep.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b>A Thousand Kisses Deep:</b><br />
<br />
Starts slowly and seems to stumble, looking like an ill thought-through indie that should have died in a twilight spot of a TV schedule, it quickly picks up as it centres around the unquiet life of Mia played by Venus and Attack the Block's Jodie Whittaker, dealing with the impact of a man on her life and thanks to a time-travelling lift, trying to fix the problem's of the past. <br />
Skirting past the risk of mawkish whimsy, the film ably lays out the idea that the root of problems aren't always what they first seem and it could be a lot harder to change the outcome of things than you think. Her mistakes are embodied in the slack-eyed, reptilian menace of jazz loser Ludwig played well by Dougray Scott who succeeds in conjuring a man simultaneously charming and vile.<br />
The denouement is satisfyingly unexpected without being an overtly twisty/turny thriller, indeed the whole film is largely confined to the one apartment building and jazz bar and a small set of characters.<br />
The film has secured distribution and it would be worth checking out once its released<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqguW4t2nUsZjDMbBo25xAf6WJoESsiaKCJ3vt_HxjgXUtDbpj_ppT2ILJ2WfS94eAR_hWnylsq2V0iG25oTIKvAV4lCgx_Jnn5c0nDZPbFNoFAzERq3hldFWCNxHeOs1o6jF/s1600/acts_of_godfrey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqguW4t2nUsZjDMbBo25xAf6WJoESsiaKCJ3vt_HxjgXUtDbpj_ppT2ILJ2WfS94eAR_hWnylsq2V0iG25oTIKvAV4lCgx_Jnn5c0nDZPbFNoFAzERq3hldFWCNxHeOs1o6jF/s400/acts_of_godfrey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b>An Act of Godfrey</b><br />
<br />
To script a whole film in rhyming couplets is certainly ambitious, and while there's an inevitably twee, 'luvvie' aspect to the proceedings itās given a little more weight with the backdrop of a range of characters staying at a hotel while a conference on selling strategies goes ahead. A varied and decent cast evidently enjoy mugging along, thereās a convoluted back story which comes together quite well and lots of neat, clever little touches to the script (though maybe not as clever as it thinks it is).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAerkJP-X8-hyKvFrByUTnouM7wl1vW2tWrlnTICuUS7soEKTPALevmo3hDMeZLEct80QMGuBsyF2Sr4suM-nWmO7LXkd3IwOxPGpwnDUYdEAdnk0DbOuQN5PTszIvly5aBIXk/s1600/skinning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAerkJP-X8-hyKvFrByUTnouM7wl1vW2tWrlnTICuUS7soEKTPALevmo3hDMeZLEct80QMGuBsyF2Sr4suM-nWmO7LXkd3IwOxPGpwnDUYdEAdnk0DbOuQN5PTszIvly5aBIXk/s400/skinning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b>Skinning</b><br />
<br />
It might be a tad unfair, but after This Is England it's hard to watch a film about a boy getting in too deep with some unsavoury nationalist types with any large degree of optimism of it being as good. In this case our protagonist is a quiet maths genius who has made an unwise friend in a stereotypical bomber jacket and bovver boots skinhead, also seemingly something of a maths whizz. As they spend more time together he gets more and more deeply involved, until things turn violent and he ends up leading the neo nazi gang. Meanwhile we also see things from the police perspective, chiefly involving the corruption and bribery involved in the dealings with skinheads, rival gangsters and gypsy Roma.<br />
Apart from references to the 90s Balkan conflict and the ongoing racial tensions, there's little to set this apart from any other tale set in Europe, until the ending sequence which basically suggests that some people are always going to be evil, there's not much we can do about it and they need to be managed. It's a weird conclusion seeing as there's little that's gone before to distinguish this story from so many others (involvement with the far right stems from an estrangement from family, peer pressure from friends, wanting to impress a girl etc.), but despite this point of difference there's nothing new to add here.<br />
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<b>Monk3ys</b><br />
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Alarm bells rang at the start when it purported to be a film delivered to the Metropolitan police and various media outlets, such claims to reality fall apart quite quickly when your actors act like actors.<br />
The opening sequence is of people viewed from POV cameras entering a derelict building and finding people in a grim and bloody mess in a dark sealed room, and in retrospect this glimpse into the future is necessary as starting the film chronologically would see a large proportion of the audience walking out early on.<br />
So a trio of film makers set about filming three people locked in a room for 48 hours, each of whom represent a manifestation of the Id, Ego or Superego. The majority of the film follows the three subjects in the room - an introvert, extrovert and a drunk, via wall mounted and hand-held cameras in chronological order, interspersed with sequences filmed from their interviews and the film makers discussing them/the set-up, running through intros etc. <br />
In the room, things go bad as they realise they're not getting out after 48 hours, and the three descend into violence, rape and murder, as you would fully expect would happen, apart from the fact you wouldnāt.<br />
The problem is not the weak idea, but that this is all done in such a cack-handed way that it struggles to hold the attention.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AS4YF5nKmKFahtHpyuiX2P05iFP96FXKrnbGMTztRe05Vf2iOV5nmpcnmNEFHRYsfoCCzlEcmuqAzMrbtNtBlV2ZAUgLl52asPXtNJRgv9DwFM5SxVFsCgQUhsiYOFc3Znzz/s1600/State_of_emergency_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AS4YF5nKmKFahtHpyuiX2P05iFP96FXKrnbGMTztRe05Vf2iOV5nmpcnmNEFHRYsfoCCzlEcmuqAzMrbtNtBlV2ZAUgLl52asPXtNJRgv9DwFM5SxVFsCgQUhsiYOFc3Znzz/s400/State_of_emergency_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b><br />
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<b>State of Emergency</b><br />
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This is a lot more like a 'regular' film. Mostly linear, with the well worn story of some sort of man made accident resulting in people becoming infected/undead, getting red eyes and rushing about dispensing violence on the unaffected. A small country town, an every man, a small group of survivors holed up in a defensible building, trying radios and TVs for information, being forced to venture out into danger for supplies - there are a lot of elements that have become genre staples over the years, and yet State of Emergency has a quiet confidence to it that places it apart from dozens of also-ran indie zombie efforts.<br />
Concerning itself more with the relationships and thoughts of the survivors, State of Emergency has numerous moments of quiet and calm as they wait out the crisis, and even the infected are calmer here then elsewhere in the genre, mainly seen quietly standing about or slowly wandering in fields, only succumbing to the usual running and snarling once unaffected humans are spotted.<br />
Beautifully shot, there are a number of moments that make use of the mostly rural setting with vivid colouring even at night, though locations are few the film makes the most of what it does have. My pick of the festival.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-4768099582596103812011-10-06T23:43:00.002+01:002011-10-07T12:14:18.534+01:00Drive<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Drive</b></span><br />
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Like a 70s film set in the 80s, the music on the soundtrack almost made me gag. Despite this, I vastly enjoyed the slick, easy going surface of this beautifully shot thriller.<br />
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Playing something like a slow burn drama for the first two thirds, Gosling, despite his relative youth and slight build, is just about probable as the strong and silent archetype that has been around since the inter-war years of the last century. A man with talent and charm, he is quick to catch the eye of a pretty neighbour whose husband is currently inside. His gentlemanly behaviour gives an innocence to their relationship so that when the husband returns and Gosling's nameless driver steps back and helps in his way to keep the family together, it doesn't seem out of place.<br />
After these moments and the seedy LA underworld asserts itself, we find ourselves more in Refn territory. Whilst hardly close to the visceral grit of the Pusher films or Valhalla Rising, there are moments of ugly violence from which the camera doesn't shy away, and even when guns are involved there is a proximity that brings urgency to these sequences, of the consequences of gunshots, stab wounds and savage beatings.<br />
Like the best of the genre, Drive has an admirable supporting cast who breathe life into the periphery, including Ron Perlman as an arrogant Jewish gangster operating for the mob out of a pizza restaurant, and his business partner and ex-movie producer played by Albert Brooks. Carey Mulligan is as good as ever, and with an inevitably less meaty part she works well at conveying the connection and emotions that pass between her and the driver, a relationship acknowledged with looks rather than words. Brooks has few credits for things I've seen besides his voice roles, but he did play Tom the square in Taxi Driver, a film I was reminded of now and again watching Drive. As a loner character Gosling's hero is too pleasant to be God's Lonely Man, but there is an element of psychosis pushing him forward which gives the film's title a double meaning. The film's opening sequences too, bring to mind the taxi scenes, tightly shot from within the front seat of the vehicle, though in Drive the whole screen seems tight, emphasising the driver's focus and control over the surroundings as he negotiates the central nervous system of Los Angeles' roadways.<br />
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Aside from the violence, Drive marks a swerve away from the likes of Valhalla Rising, which very much brooded on landscape, memory and purpose whilst here the story is all, with nothing else to say besides a man changing his ways to accommodate newfound love, and stumbling because it wasn't part of the plan, and because of his inflexibility. Here, though, there is little of the introspective grief at a different life lost, of plans gone awry. Instead there is acceptance.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-44091186340678868032011-08-07T13:41:00.001+01:002011-08-07T13:42:30.255+01:00All the Statham, all the time<b>Cellular</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMe4nsX5Y6NiZ97n4Am1e3AcvnXI_kr_peGigBUAlsIg9yPt3hHbjDnN232cGMC4p-ME0C9s77T0I9u3qQjGrNrTMvColQG3VU_vyA54mro1cHUev69IHzkQSLVEep6z9-j07R/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-08-06-09h19m08s89.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMe4nsX5Y6NiZ97n4Am1e3AcvnXI_kr_peGigBUAlsIg9yPt3hHbjDnN232cGMC4p-ME0C9s77T0I9u3qQjGrNrTMvColQG3VU_vyA54mro1cHUev69IHzkQSLVEep6z9-j07R/s400/vlcsnap-2011-08-06-09h19m08s89.png" width="400" /></a></div>This is a great bubblegum thriller with Chris Evans well cast as the beachboy himbo Ryan, suddenly thrust into responsibility as he races around LA trying to help Kim Basingerās kidnapped Jessica. Sheās in a room with a bust phone but managed to get it working enough to dial a random number - Ryanās. As he slowly realises that she is genuine and not some crank calling nutso, he goes to increasing extremes to try and save her and her family.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSD5QT3qFVmHYUTwnj7am5nybq8p53bc7wflk2Csl9swJcBFagjZO5om61MXFrr9NXB-E6Ewq5yMMxqETvpTV3pqPd5EDh9UOr4dmJMj3p3fc1ROB_2w8KP_jcIiutZaTcMwE/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-08-06-09h17m24s66.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSD5QT3qFVmHYUTwnj7am5nybq8p53bc7wflk2Csl9swJcBFagjZO5om61MXFrr9NXB-E6Ewq5yMMxqETvpTV3pqPd5EDh9UOr4dmJMj3p3fc1ROB_2w8KP_jcIiutZaTcMwE/s400/vlcsnap-2011-08-06-09h17m24s66.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Statham is the lead kidnapper and does a decent job of being the main bad guy without dialling up the evilness element too much. To be fair itās not a far cry from most of the roles he plays, only this time heās hurting good people instead of bad. He does a much better job than many others placed in a role where heās identified as crooked from the off, not hamming it up or trying to act overly twisted. Shame that he attempts to do an American accent.<br />
It has a fairly starry cast - alongside Evans and Statham, Basinger is excellent as the women pushed to desperate acts, Jessica Biel pops up in a couple of scenes as Ryanās ex, William H Macy steals the show as the cop nearing retirement in not quite the usual way, and there is a lovely turn by Rick Hoffman as a prissy lawyer who has his car jacked twice.<br />
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The movie zips along at a breathless pace as Ryan is forced to speed across the city in an effort to help Jessica escape. The tension exceeds on the whole as while a happy ending is a pretty safe bet itās not a certainty that you wonāt lose someone along the way. Evans is charming in the lead and helps the audience to keep up with a guy who spends a lot of time on the phone in a car, but it really is Macyās movie.<br />
As he says towards the end, āItās a day spa you fuck!ā.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioLvaIfwEp4Ite3qY5Wa4JBFtx3R616dmIVcpYXlG-tAN8sUt-nJ3NSwA58WActeY7Ee_cqLWGhWgnsiiwzlo2WnWTOodDSSASymApwZ3hxHql6KpXq6N9XzwjdhOkLtMYIe0k/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-08-06-09h15m55s185.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioLvaIfwEp4Ite3qY5Wa4JBFtx3R616dmIVcpYXlG-tAN8sUt-nJ3NSwA58WActeY7Ee_cqLWGhWgnsiiwzlo2WnWTOodDSSASymApwZ3hxHql6KpXq6N9XzwjdhOkLtMYIe0k/s400/vlcsnap-2011-08-06-09h15m55s185.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<b>In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege tale</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28o69t_HrCjn-VVLVnN_jN97-nLxLTcwAUYDAyWxHSnNpwpuBED3YIJ8glF9ZVXEwvAxOuKEXWGi9ujf9c-OsICNx4T8QBCbHWuOTIL20m7hK33npuy53ohqm2mapFw_BSPIo/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-08-07-00h02m34s148.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28o69t_HrCjn-VVLVnN_jN97-nLxLTcwAUYDAyWxHSnNpwpuBED3YIJ8glF9ZVXEwvAxOuKEXWGi9ujf9c-OsICNx4T8QBCbHWuOTIL20m7hK33npuy53ohqm2mapFw_BSPIo/s400/vlcsnap-2011-08-07-00h02m34s148.png" width="400" /></a></div> So, Uwe Boll. He was universally panned in the eyes of gamers as his career as a film director seemed to hinge on taking a video game property and churning out crappy adaptations to make a quick buck. Starting with House of the Dead in 2003, then Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, Dungeon Siege, Postal and Far Cry followed, with two sequels appearing for BloodRayne (USP: sheās a sexy vampire who kills nazis) and one for the Dungeon Siege adaptation.<br />
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The first Dungeon Siege film kept the video game name as a subtitle, preferring to go by the generic In the Name of the King, a title that could have been a gritty, made-for-TV British thriller set in Georgian England if made in the 80s, instead this 2007 production took a lot from the fantasy genre resurrected by Peter Jacksonās Tolkien adaptations. We may know of the likes of Dungeons and Dragons which popped up to ride the bandwagon, but ITNOTK seems to come late in the day, 6 years after the Fellowship first started their journey to Mordor. <br />
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The film is unsurprisingly poor, cack dialogue that nothing can save despite a pretty starry cast, generic settings that try and evoke the sweep and vision that Jackson created without his visual flair or budget, and an empty plot which basically involves a naughty mage forming an army of Krugs (Orcs) to take over the Kingdom and generally be evil. The motive he gives is that his new reign will redefine madness as power. <br />
Statham plays the lead, called Farmer, who inexplicably is a complete badass without any military background in the usual āex-special forces but now leading a quiet lifeā cop-out. His lack of surprise at his ability to hold his own against a small army of rampaging Krug is odd, and his abilities are later explained by his being the Kingās long-lost son. <br />
So if the story is the pits, youād probably just be hoping for some decent imagery or set-pieces to keep the film rolling, but no. <br />
And yes, you read it correctly, Statham is called Farmer. Because he is a farmer, and the character believes that what you do defines you. If it wasnāt for the inexplicable ninjas that are the kingās personal guard (yes, LOTR with ninjas and itās not good), or the tree women who swing about on vines and evidently decided that having pointy ears was a step too far, calling the hero Farmer would be one of the worst elements of the film, even more so than the cheap, crappy suits and masks that the actors playing the Krug wear.<br />
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So, that cast. Itās really hard to explain what happened here, was everyone blackmailed? Uwe Boll hardly had a glowing track record at this point and game properties were hardly prestige projects - about the only success was Tomb Raider 6 years previously, and ITNOTK was a few too many years late to ride on the association of the LOTR films.<br />
Still, alongside your Statham, Boll managed to acquire Leelee Sobieski (almost successfully acts like sheās in a different, better film), John Rhys-Davies (evidently did not make enough from the Indy and LOTR films to avoid saying yes to the likes of this), Ron Perlman (seems to just like working), Claire Forlani, Burt Reynolds who just seems tired here, Ray Liotta who at the very least is enjoying himself hamming it up big style, but seems oddly out of place, and Matthew Lillard who is way too successful portraying the extremely irritating and treacherous Kingās nephew.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3c-IU0uWu_9-IM9rx6rzeyF9G1anLMXQsmZDhcLUMAhngj26GtR2KRXsMTuicsXiuygLAi7c1GprEMc_aMlvZVZWxaACSk_9bQPk0HiW7HJOQ2q3r7T4qU_bRJKJbArlWgFg/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-08-07-00h03m16s77.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3c-IU0uWu_9-IM9rx6rzeyF9G1anLMXQsmZDhcLUMAhngj26GtR2KRXsMTuicsXiuygLAi7c1GprEMc_aMlvZVZWxaACSk_9bQPk0HiW7HJOQ2q3r7T4qU_bRJKJbArlWgFg/s400/vlcsnap-2011-08-07-00h03m16s77.png" width="400" /></a></div> There are good points. The CGI used by Rhys-Daviesā magus when he disintegrates into mist to move through walls is quite good, and Liotta is almost worth watching in a sub-Nicolas Cage gurning competition way, but the film is ultimately as boring and pointless as Will Sandersonās rubbish Legolas wig.<br />
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Thankfully this might be the worst Iād yet to see on Stathamās list.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-63679580219835831652011-07-28T22:12:00.001+01:002011-08-07T13:23:00.283+01:00In Statham We Trust<b>The Mechanic</b> (spoilers, though if you really care you are a fool)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Q9iZOVbrhP41Zz2rv_v7QN95uAYdeRZIxZbwYpUv-xkOT8evrsXVauYZgmR6iEZ_-1wt7o_BIpdcO2zQUCHxpEDc6JGAk6eD4vhmE6QTaiqJoLysUQihV6wyKmYmwuyMfCMZ/s1600/jason-statham-as-arthur-bishop-in-the-mechanic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Q9iZOVbrhP41Zz2rv_v7QN95uAYdeRZIxZbwYpUv-xkOT8evrsXVauYZgmR6iEZ_-1wt7o_BIpdcO2zQUCHxpEDc6JGAk6eD4vhmE6QTaiqJoLysUQihV6wyKmYmwuyMfCMZ/s400/jason-statham-as-arthur-bishop-in-the-mechanic.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<i> Statham is not happy being near steps. Or decking.</i> <br />
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A bad man is driven home by some goons. His goons are mean to poor people on the way. At home he goes for a swim. His many guards do not see Jason Statham in the pool. Statham kills the bad man, then escapes. Statham gets angry at CLOTHES. Statham pays for sleeping men to look after his boat with LIQOR. <br />
Statham meets a sexy young lady who is happy to see him scowl when he arrives at some 30s style speakeasy bar. Statham has sex with her looking ANGRY. Statham has NEVER told her his name. <br />
Statham meets a friend, his only friend Donald Sutherland, in a cheap diner. Statham looks angry at the very IDEA of diners. Stathamās boss sends him a message that next he needs to kill his friend. Statham looks angry. His friend sends him a private jet so he can tell him to kill his friend in person. Statham looks angry. Statham kills his friend. Statham meets his friendās wayward son at the otherwise deserted funeral. The son looks like a fool compared to the MANLY Statham. <br />
The son is played by Ben Foster. Ben Foster looks like the older brother of Screech from Saved by the Bell. They did not NEED to cast Ben Foster in this role to make Statham look manly. Statham would look manly next to THE ROCK.<br />
Although Statham is a hard man, he does feel SOME guilt for killing his friend. This is because he is COMPLEX.<br />
The son acts stupid because of what he thinks happened to his dad. Statham killed him to make it look like carjackers. Statham stops the son from making a big mistake. The son wants Statham to teach him how to be within SNIFFING distance of his manliness.<br />
Statham makes the son look after an emasculating dog.<br />
Statham KILLS a man because he doesnāt like his slovenly appearance, and makes it look like a porn related ACCIDENT.<br />
Statham sets up the son on his first hit because he looks like queer bait. The son doesnāt follow orders about how to take out his mark. The son DOES NOT know best.<br />
Statham does. The son wins but only after a bad beating. Statham obviously only keeps him around begrudgingly, because he is COMPLEX.<br />
Statham and the son climb a skyscraper to plan a fat manās death. The fat man is a baddie because he doesnāt tell jokes. He may have also killed an innocent girl and greedily built a new age empire whilst being a junky, but mainly heās bad because heās FAT and NOT FUNNY.<br />
After the fat man and MANY of his henchmen are dead, Statham finds out the boss LIED about his friend. <br />
After dispatching a double-crosser on an empty BUS, Statham kills other, lesser hard men who have killed his LIQOR DRINKING BOAT MINDER. The son does a good job of taking out similar bad guys at Stathamās house. The boss means to kill them!<br />
The son realises who killed his dad. Statham tells him āThere is no peaceā.<br />
Statham goes after the boss. The boss says āHeās in the building get me the fuck out of here!ā.<br />
The boss leaves his building in a convoy but is not safe, as Statham and the son have big guns, a bus and a garbage truck. <br />
Statham wins.<br />
BUT. The son enacts revenge. listens to his music. Drives his car. Can Statham have lost. NO.<br />
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On July 28th, 2011, Funny or Die posted a video of a spoof charity appeal for Netflix users featuring a man in tears at the prospect of not being able to watch all of Stathamās films in which he portrays a hitman. This was also the day I happened to choose to watch the Mechanic. <br />
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As action filmās go, itās average. As Stathamās films go, itās average, achieving neither the kinetic thrills of the Transporter series nor the sheer lunacy of the Crank films. Itās an also-ran and itās hard to see how it ascended from itās straight-to-retail/rental feel to a cinema release, but then maybe thatās because Stathamās the MAN.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7L4Q77PfhjYgviHui16w5A8_0IKhwmxA21L2eqrhpjdtOyzQ2SCm9zNeNDQYkoG78LnJwxj0TfPEbf0dPMvqOx6P34Zb7OGBZxyC50MI7ooGT22o7HrtckMuwUs98jfc6BlQq/s1600/jason-statham-as-arthur-bishop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7L4Q77PfhjYgviHui16w5A8_0IKhwmxA21L2eqrhpjdtOyzQ2SCm9zNeNDQYkoG78LnJwxj0TfPEbf0dPMvqOx6P34Zb7OGBZxyC50MI7ooGT22o7HrtckMuwUs98jfc6BlQq/s400/jason-statham-as-arthur-bishop.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-6906216401657722662011-06-14T21:17:00.000+01:002011-06-14T21:17:48.330+01:00Munchies made to make your mouth indifferent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga0F7HhyO5BTnhiurhq1hdPgIaRwnlRyByvtXkkvrgNte-sBrOznzJXa8ZGeXgXfhbepe1wneBHrTEPvZClir06xoB9SXG2l2iZJbPfbfNgx2ITH-K87NYPOgAlU_PM2KgPQs4/s1600/DSC00664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga0F7HhyO5BTnhiurhq1hdPgIaRwnlRyByvtXkkvrgNte-sBrOznzJXa8ZGeXgXfhbepe1wneBHrTEPvZClir06xoB9SXG2l2iZJbPfbfNgx2ITH-K87NYPOgAlU_PM2KgPQs4/s400/DSC00664.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Munchies<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_M3Tn-Wz8OlKhazZCqPoWWf15TG9gVrdNNtSCRuy5cX6xP7VvqbzJdV9C28QPyULkBq9J2ByDlSy6sS2_bWOvTI1ZDTpBAdK3aG1umuY8oD8reTwi0f8R5ScF9ProDVgggxL/s1600/DSC00665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_M3Tn-Wz8OlKhazZCqPoWWf15TG9gVrdNNtSCRuy5cX6xP7VvqbzJdV9C28QPyULkBq9J2ByDlSy6sS2_bWOvTI1ZDTpBAdK3aG1umuY8oD8reTwi0f8R5ScF9ProDVgggxL/s400/DSC00665.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The chocolate isnāt particularly spectacular, a standard milk chocolate that doesnāt have the taste and texture of that used in Cadburyās Wispa, said to be made in Ireland from a different recipe from that produced in the UK. The caramel inside again offers little to stand out from other fillings found in Cadburyās Caramel, for example, or those found in Quality Street. The biscuit ball centre is an insufficient size to have a significant impact on the overall experience, unlike the serious biscuit-based chocolates such as Twix or Penguin.<br />
The individual topless pyramids do have an aesthetically pleasing aspect, but there isnāt enough of a difference here from, say Rolos. <br />
<br />
So why are Munchies consistently one of the most expensive mainstream chocolate confections? With no luxury element, no special ingredients or packaging (just the paper sleeve and inner metallic paper lining) and no excuse of using Fairtrade ingredients (as the Cadburyās Dairy Milk bar now does), it seems a mystery why Nestle seem to seek to position this product ahead of the pack.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8DA9rDpgwrsU6NokbNuMRoS9gf5SqCqwhU3uMwNAz4zyb70cL0zISkCTKZOhM17UR6sfyyXd63RGsJwZ8wpt3sIikrRJ_3ABT1-2TGPxHyNQf4gWvdOz-J22UaBslreExs0D/s1600/DSC00666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8DA9rDpgwrsU6NokbNuMRoS9gf5SqCqwhU3uMwNAz4zyb70cL0zISkCTKZOhM17UR6sfyyXd63RGsJwZ8wpt3sIikrRJ_3ABT1-2TGPxHyNQf4gWvdOz-J22UaBslreExs0D/s400/DSC00666.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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Munchies were originally made in 1957 by the Rowntree Mackintosh company, who were then taken over by Nestle in 1988.<br />
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There is a facebook page dealing with this very topic. I am not one of the 21 (as of 22.05.2011) members.<br />
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I emailed Nestle customer services about the pricing policy, hereās what they said:<br />
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002893671A 23 May 2011<br />
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<br />
Dear Mr Taylor<br />
<br />
Thank you very much for your email.<br />
<br />
In answer to your enquiry, our recommended resale price for Munchies is generally around 67p. We can only recommend a resale price as the retailers are free to charge whatever they think is appropriate for the product.<br />
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Thank you once again for taking the time and trouble to contact us. Your comments have been carefully noted.<br />
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We hope this information will be helpful and thank you for your interest and loyalty to our products.<br />
<br />
Yours sincerely<br />
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<br />
**** *******<br />
Contact Centre Executive<br />
Consumer Services<br />
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Not really a help.<br />
Any key in the ingredients to explain the expense?<br />
Milk chocolate is made from: Sugar, cocoa butter, skimmed milk powder, cocoa mass, lactose and proteins from whey, whey powder, butterfat, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural vanilla flavouring), Caramel from: Glucose-fructose syrup, sweetened condensed skimmed milk, vegetable fat, sugar, salt, Biscuit from: Wheat flour, sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa butter, dried whole milk, cocoa mass, whey powder, barley malt extract, lactose, raising agents (sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate), salt, emulsifier (soya lecithin).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NC0P34Kb9DLxcVO3Ebn5g-VjUK6O0L4NVZ1Eckb8bDA8zGPbLSMAq_XhwCk314TONBOyoiTyBOX7ZocjrieXEhCWzeR3Q08yZoJwWVwEE6YEwBPTDq76TlQfHhNB_hCMUXZ2/s1600/DSC00668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NC0P34Kb9DLxcVO3Ebn5g-VjUK6O0L4NVZ1Eckb8bDA8zGPbLSMAq_XhwCk314TONBOyoiTyBOX7ZocjrieXEhCWzeR3Q08yZoJwWVwEE6YEwBPTDq76TlQfHhNB_hCMUXZ2/s400/DSC00668.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
So no, then. Pretty standard stuff, no gold leaf, no ground blood diamonds.<br />
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I love the nutrition information though, "Per 1/2 tube 133 calories" because you would just eat half the tube and then carefully wrap the rest up for another day. No.<br />
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Oh well, it'll always be a mystery but that last sampling hasn't persuaded me to make the small economic leap for potential confection satisfaction.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwZCSU43qLp3eWlcG-nfpm2RTwrBzyFIcdto9HWvhCdAyXUbHgFbIzXGutXQ0sj60OkqE3K01dAytxKGPUMrF7Pd5ngUoVr9XTUMQb4zQF2BLEPBnGY8hKIFPaMtQv7-UEW1u/s1600/DSC00670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwZCSU43qLp3eWlcG-nfpm2RTwrBzyFIcdto9HWvhCdAyXUbHgFbIzXGutXQ0sj60OkqE3K01dAytxKGPUMrF7Pd5ngUoVr9XTUMQb4zQF2BLEPBnGY8hKIFPaMtQv7-UEW1u/s400/DSC00670.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><hands model's="" own=""> </hands></div>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-91929261686055203272011-05-08T22:34:00.000+01:002011-05-08T22:34:05.524+01:00Hooah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWbflvgnJEN6pJaqPOPWhDCfmais36d2qzwER8fKGRr94eXNBXLji2bmKeIBeKGlyJLJEuW3oA1vT6yxEdcHoz-7J3vkJzs4Pflwvu3q1R5_b_rr19FcQCFjZN7Pn5Ac2t2lV/s1600/codmw2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWbflvgnJEN6pJaqPOPWhDCfmais36d2qzwER8fKGRr94eXNBXLji2bmKeIBeKGlyJLJEuW3oA1vT6yxEdcHoz-7J3vkJzs4Pflwvu3q1R5_b_rr19FcQCFjZN7Pn5Ac2t2lV/s400/codmw2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2<br />
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After the block-busting success of the first Modern Warfare iteration of the Call of Duty franchise, and fourth in the series, a direct sequel was inevitable. The first three games were successful takes on the World War 2 first person shooters that had gained popularity since the Medal of Honour games arrived on the Playstation, but Modern Warfare saw the series leave history behind to plump for a ānear futureā take on conflict. <br />
Rather than attempting to capture the feel of present day warfare, CoD 4 opted for a globe trotting action-fest which split missions between different military forces and perspectives (mixing mainly ground-based first person segments with aircraft fire support via grainy camera footage, for example). In its desire to deliver the big thrills it even included the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, albeit in a mainly scripted form.<br />
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This forced perspective is used fairly liberally in the follow up, with a couple of key sequences seeing your avatar fairly helpless and forced to observe the action with little chance for input, allowing the developers to keep you locked in on the narrative rather than wander off and look at the sky while something important happens.<br />
Despite the mainly linear nature of the game and the use of inter-mission briefings to push along the distinctly 80s plot the message is still a little garbled with little background before youāre suddenly in the shoes of a CIA mole in a Russian terroristās gang, following as they gun down dozens of civilians in a Moscow airport.<br />
The outrage sparks a war between Russia and the US, allowing the game to flit between the efforts of ground troops trying to reclaim heartland USA and special forces trying to hunt down the terrorist behind it all in clearly defined locations - a Rio favela, an oil rig, snow-bound military base, forest compound etc.<br />
<br />
Whilst the plot wouldnāt look out of place in one of the more ambitious actioners fronted by the likes of Seagal or Van Damme in their heyday, the game offers undeniably exhilarating action as you often find yourself scrambling between cover, a near-overwhelming enemy force crawling out of the woodwork and taking out members of your AI controlled team. On the higher difficulty settings the intensity is almost too much, forcing you all too frequently to dive behind walls as the screen goes blurry and blood-smeared in the preferred way of announcing imminent death since games achieved the visual fidelity to do away with health bars.<br />
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On normal difficulty the campaign can be breezed through within a day of solid gaming, but aside from the challenge of going back to find the in-level collectables (intel), there is also a series of one-off āspecial opsā missions which utilise certain play styles (stealth and sniping, riding a snow-mobile, defusing bombs against the clock) and have more of a score attack feel as they tempt you to go back for short bursts of action and beat you previous performance.<br />
<br />
What has made the series a success, however, is the combination of hardware ownership and broadband access at the time of release that gave enough consumers the option of taking the game online in order to shoot friends and strangers in the face. Iāve no doubt that itās a very polished aspect but not having played online for about three years (partly due to a stint of poor net access and partly due to the many late nights with Halo 3 and the like) I wouldnāt know.<br />
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Without this element CoD: Modern Warfare 2 is a highly polished shooter which offers up enough of a challenge to keep FPS fans happy, fairly decent AI and varied levels which manage to disguise the open corridors with some gorgeous artwork. It stands up well in a crowded market, but as a single player experience itās not special enough to compete with the likes of the innovative Oddworld: Strangerās Wrath or the daddy of single player FPSās, Half Life 2.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-39279752594761373992011-04-25T23:37:00.000+01:002011-04-25T23:37:59.790+01:00Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FFsIUi-6VBuArNB-k5RefgWQxgavIKojEN1TEJa_facrbxdMIDWs2vjEOseDyOeGdr7lDbZfy2A4DcawxANWhYlszUMDGonGaYnCqJ6yBmtGGdjAU7CC5SesfLL-jTPh15jF/s1600/short+circuit+pepper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FFsIUi-6VBuArNB-k5RefgWQxgavIKojEN1TEJa_facrbxdMIDWs2vjEOseDyOeGdr7lDbZfy2A4DcawxANWhYlszUMDGonGaYnCqJ6yBmtGGdjAU7CC5SesfLL-jTPh15jF/s400/short+circuit+pepper.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> I love Short Circuit. <br />
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I'm not sure why I always thought that Dr. Pepper would have a peppery taste, probably the name and the ad campaigns that try and persuade people to give it a try, as if it's the leper of the fizzy drink world. <br />
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Dr Pepper Zero<br />
This smells a lot like cherry cola, but not much of a head compared to diet Coke.<br />
Fruity taste, not a hint of a pepper's heat or sweetness. Less harsh than cherry Coke (not so much of that artificial flavouring) so a nice alternative in the fizzy pop world. From the ad tagline āWhatās the worst that could happen?ā you would expect a taste a little more divisive than vague fruitiness.<br />
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Diet Dr Pepper Cherry <br />
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Barely has more than a hint of a cherry odour beyond the normal Dr Pepper fruitiness, but the one different ingredient from the usual cola additives, āRed 40ā, probably contributes to the reddish tinge to the usual dark caramel brown and a strong, dark pink colour to the bubbles (while they last).<br />
The smell once in a glass is no stronger, the cherry having less of the artificial feel found in cherry Coke.<br />
I can barely detect more of a cherry flavour than the general āfruityā flavour that Dr Pepper has as standard, so what this is giving the Pepper devotee I have no idea. Shiny can?<br />
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Dr Pepper Diet Cherry Vanilla<br />
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The cherry smell is lighter than the non-vanilla version, so barely there. Red 40 is still present so the red tinged bubbles are still in effect in the intial froth build.<br />
Rather than the vanilla adding anything to the mix, instead all tastes - fruit, cherry, vanilla, seem to cancel each other out and the drink seems like sparkling water with a vague, undefinable aftertaste. Very poor.<br />
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Dr. Pepper makes for a nice, fruity alternative to that sweet cola tang I seem to be vaguely addicted to, better than the straighter tastes of your Fantas and Sprites, and with less of an artificial hit than Cherry Coke. Nowhere near a diet vanilla coke beater though, that so called 'vanilla' cherry Dr. Pepper is a massive let down.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-72451952050591148772011-03-20T23:27:00.001+00:002011-03-20T23:30:47.057+00:00Drown your spirits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoLg0Z3n7cLA6a3vEqmuG9bO5TLtmBMVTFVeehLU88fEy-EnFVBgLmxSX0dwNrOk8OrVNuJsEfZeyx_y0DlSPjajFTecSMSPEqpRlvHcYyiTQ9yLTEyRSb5h4cZDmuAdu0e50r/s1600/DSC00369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoLg0Z3n7cLA6a3vEqmuG9bO5TLtmBMVTFVeehLU88fEy-EnFVBgLmxSX0dwNrOk8OrVNuJsEfZeyx_y0DlSPjajFTecSMSPEqpRlvHcYyiTQ9yLTEyRSb5h4cZDmuAdu0e50r/s320/DSC00369.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><b>Crabbie's</b><br />
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Crabbieās alcoholic ginger beer has a stout, impressive looking bottle, trying to emulate the kind of vessel associated with real ale.<br />
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On first crack there is a light, spicy aroma of ginger, the head is very impressive and the amber tint neither too cloudy nor too clear - the substance is there but itās not all sediment. On tasting, however, the beverage is deceptively light. Crisp and benefitting from being chilled, the ginger taste itself is very mild, even if it does linger, and the bubbles arenāt really in evident. The drink is a very easy one, and itās a wonder that there was any need for the invention of alcopops at all if this were an available alternative. With none of the bitingly sweet tones of the chemically enhanced likes of WKD and Smirnoff Ice, this feels like a much more preferable choice for those who prefer their alcohol to be sweet rather than bitter, even though the ingredients do point to the use of sulphites, sugar and sweeteners. Much is made of the elephant trademark dating back to 1801 and the emblazoned statement in āoriginalā ginger beer, but the ingredients are unlikely to set this far from the alcopop crowd. Still, this is ahead in taste and I would recommend for those who are after a refreshing brew with a light kick (4%).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfGDsXwDfy73ocHKU-uzxSCzt1NyldRMbsiyEiGhP62yaOao6fB3cU2jMd6UmsMA1ktnI9997Q1AnBDT5VeO6pGM10m3LnaVL9u4qW9DICmActiwwgtoMvfuVUx8ZDPlJNO6HS/s1600/DSC00594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfGDsXwDfy73ocHKU-uzxSCzt1NyldRMbsiyEiGhP62yaOao6fB3cU2jMd6UmsMA1ktnI9997Q1AnBDT5VeO6pGM10m3LnaVL9u4qW9DICmActiwwgtoMvfuVUx8ZDPlJNO6HS/s320/DSC00594.JPG" width="240" /></a></b></div><b>Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry</b><br />
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On cracking thereās only the faintest hint of cherry, certainly not the sweet tang of cherry drop boiled sweets Iād associate with flavoured cola. The high fizz factor of a diet cola is present and correct, but the large head soon gives way to a tamer brew with that familiar brown-hued darkness to the liquid. With the drink loose in a pint glass the cherry aroma is no stronger than from the can; the first taste isnāt 100% smooth, but there certainly isnāt that acidic hit youād get from a badly made artificial flavour. As with the odour, the taste is light, supplying an edge to the usual diet pepsi taste, doing the job of adding highlights without overwhelming the original. This is something I could get used to, if it were a standard addition to most shopsā pop lockers.<br />
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The ingredients feature the usual suspects with only calcium disodium an unfamiliar addition. Crucially the can states ācontains no juiceā in order to cover themselves against people assuming that the use of āwildā and āwith other natural flavoursā goes hand in hand with organic or the drink being good for you. <br />
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Subtitled O Original Do Brasil, so Iām assuming that this is Portuguese and itās a Brazilian drink with guarana as a chief ingredient. Guarana was marketed in the 90s, before Red Bull achieved fame, as a natural stimulant, appearing in drinks and chewing gum with promises of alertness. I tried the gum but donāt remember it having any particular effect<br />
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That ingredient list is dense as hell.<br />
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On cracking the can thereās a quick citric whiff, but this weakens quickly. The fizz on pouring is moderate, with a small head that subsides almost immediately. The colour isnāt that appealing, piss yellow in keeping with energy drinks but slightly less radioactive looking than red bull.<br />
The odour in a glass is less citrus and more sugary, hinting at syrupy thickness. IT goes down smooth though, the sugar not leaving an unpleasant coating and a taste somewhat like muted lime. This does taste more natural than your average buzz beverage. <br />
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Made by the coca cola company, this beverage smells a bit like diet coke on first cracking the can, it looks like diet coke after you first pour, and it also tastes like diet coke, albeit with an unpleasantly metallic/soily aftertaste. I remember Tab clear being basically a way of having clear cola, but I canāt see the point in Tab at all.<br />
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On the crack you get a strong whiff of liquorice, very reminiscent of dental mouthwash. Whilst the gloop looks like your standard cola in the glass that medicinal taste is overpowering, with only a hint akin to sweet caramel from the āaged vanillaā underneath.<br />
Not something Iād like to sample again, definitely a stronger taste than the naturally brewed root beer Iāve tried before.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-E3StgolBGxnKKPXo-_e92TiRFVFUHvB41u7PvVjhslOa2gnB8c5fEZPgEFP-7VQXJJmDZf6qHxm_aBDNPkEu_c0iEVY5OVIZjgAw3gkUE4qcyJhe9VjwdJ49juhHfaG-vqSm/s1600/DSC00613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-E3StgolBGxnKKPXo-_e92TiRFVFUHvB41u7PvVjhslOa2gnB8c5fEZPgEFP-7VQXJJmDZf6qHxm_aBDNPkEu_c0iEVY5OVIZjgAw3gkUE4qcyJhe9VjwdJ49juhHfaG-vqSm/s320/DSC00613.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiiHurikcmr2CWVhv4wZf6e5a9hjL8CjMdpkXlaVMQkYmOqWslU0nTp9ELeM124N2kWdr1SdMnK6YxVeA3dqTRLh1Vx7iHBFAwUL8ohz6Oyq5XNMx3U_pqUeUEH0DFSz8ie1l4/s1600/DSC00614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiiHurikcmr2CWVhv4wZf6e5a9hjL8CjMdpkXlaVMQkYmOqWslU0nTp9ELeM124N2kWdr1SdMnK6YxVeA3dqTRLh1Vx7iHBFAwUL8ohz6Oyq5XNMx3U_pqUeUEH0DFSz8ie1l4/s320/DSC00614.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-69890422153154846342011-03-20T17:51:00.002+00:002011-03-20T23:29:01.418+00:00Metro 2033 - Xbox 360<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdAijbJS5lkfoWRQxiO5U2UuJbDGV9Tv0fH0hRO201Oc6unzvCBso8IcT4HGeZz83XIW5Fel1CSK46wVdYeFNJ8tXuP32kBfN-IdKTcWxhTlDYruDtlGTg6lYzkn8XRKWod5N7/s1600/metro2033.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdAijbJS5lkfoWRQxiO5U2UuJbDGV9Tv0fH0hRO201Oc6unzvCBso8IcT4HGeZz83XIW5Fel1CSK46wVdYeFNJ8tXuP32kBfN-IdKTcWxhTlDYruDtlGTg6lYzkn8XRKWod5N7/s400/metro2033.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Metro 2033 is heavily based on the novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky. In 2033 a nuclear war has resulted in Moscow becoming an irradiated wasteland populated by mutated creatures, whilst the surviving people live underground in the metro systems tunnels and stations. The player controls a typically mute character Artyom, who finds that his home station is under threat from mutants called Dark Ones, more deadly than the usual tunnel dwellers that attack those who wander beyond the safety of the stations.<br />
As Artyom you venture out looking for help from other stations, coming across outposts of communist and fascist groups who seek to control what remains of the city until ultimately finding an old nuclear weapons facility. There are hints in cut-scenes that the mutant beasts are some sort of radioactive evolution rather than mindless killers, but this idea isnāt really fleshed out at any point. There may be more made of the idea towards the end of the game depending on the moral choices you make at various points (giving money to a beggar etc.) but these decisions donāt seem significant in and of themselves.<br />
The game is ultimately a first person shooter with a few tweaks on the standard genre tropes. Certain areas of the metro, and most of the surface of Moscow, necessitate the use of a gas mask, which needs filters to keep fresh or Artyomās breathing becomes heavier and harsher. Additionally it can becoming damaged in combat meaning you will need to scavenge new ones from your victims. Ammo comes in two different flavours, expensive military grade pre-war ammo, which is understandably rare, or the botch job amateur produced gear knocked out in the metro system. Ammo is used in the stations for trade, though what you can buy is restricted to trading ammo types, guns and upgrades and health kits. <br />
As well as the gas masks another consideration is light - much of the metro system is swathed in darkness so a torch is essential, and although use is limited it can be recharged using a hand pump. <br />
Much of the combat takes place in a state of mild panic as you wheel about in the dark, mutants clambering across ceiling and walls, so itās more relaxing when you come up against the human enemies in their dens. The action is fast and violent, the game allows a certain amount of damage which āregeneratesā - the screen gets increasingly red which fades when you find cover - and much like the charging of the torch and opening your log book, using health kits is done in real time, opening a box of vials and administering a quick dose of something with a syringe.<br />
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Due to its setting within the metro system, the game architecture is often limited to corridors and tunnels, and when the world opens up on the surface you still have the standard apocalyptic ruin seen in everything form WW2 shooters to Gears of War and Fallout 3. Opting for Russian dialogue with subtitles gives the game more atmosphere, but there is essentially little deviation from the survival horror style of the FPS genre as you battle monsters and bandits in the dark. As the genre inhibits much of the storytelling and characterisation that an RPG allows, the combat is pretty much all Metro 2033 has to fall back on, so happily this is as meaty and involving as you could expect. <br />
Nothing truly exceptional but a nice change from the CODs that currently dominate the overcrowded FPS stable.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-28909195959453963492011-03-20T17:01:00.001+00:002011-03-20T23:28:28.724+00:00Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs - Xbox 360<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwELBgo6KBgporUg7qfEthXnNOM4MVB6pFAsn3obQGAA2RaQHek8KRk36UgvWtD6Zv-2y9_HnqZjnR8zkMtT7y1sL2b3mquqzFiU9qPglZVaEMQ21A86EDwPI11KIeEya216B/s1600/cloudymeatballs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwELBgo6KBgporUg7qfEthXnNOM4MVB6pFAsn3obQGAA2RaQHek8KRk36UgvWtD6Zv-2y9_HnqZjnR8zkMtT7y1sL2b3mquqzFiU9qPglZVaEMQ21A86EDwPI11KIeEya216B/s400/cloudymeatballs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is illustrative of a change in the way film tie-in games are now produced. Typically seen as cash cows and chiefly a way of milking the last drops of cash from a franchise, games were often rush produced to meet the film launch deadline, inevitably resulting in sub-standard fare.<br />
These days the film production companies are more savvy, preferring to be associated with a more quality product and therefore involve the development companies at a much earlier stage.<br />
Meatballs certainly seems to capture some of the filmās magic, allowing for the fact that an inevitable lack in characterisation means a heavier emphasis on the art style and fantastical situations.<br />
The gameplay chiefly involves platforming and combat, as is tradition with a tie-in aimed at kids. The mechanics are fairly basic owing to the perceived skill levels of the pre-teen intended audience, but the use of inventor Flint Lockwoodās gadgets to overcome the obstacles in the levels and deal with the sentient food aggressors lends it a little complexity. There are collectables hidden throughout each stage which accumulate in order for you to upgrade the devices, including a vacuum for sucking in and shooting out substances, a slicing blade, extending boxing glove and overpowered hair dryer. <br />
The introductory animation is presented in a charming 8-bit style and this is repeated between each stage, while the levels themselves are bright and chunky, fitting the look of the film perfectly.<br />
As the challenge is so slight the whole game can be wrapped up in a few hours, but they are satisfying hours. It would have been nice to have something a little harder (the NES era games were all aimed at kids but were pretty unforgiving - Ghouls n Ghosts anyone?) but itās a fun diversion.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-42411596380347438172010-01-13T22:06:00.000+00:002010-01-13T22:06:24.003+00:00Word, Riggs<a href="http://celluloidwordslick.blogspot.com/">All the movies, all the time</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFdJQs_1Vsu_EilTtjfD6mGDT6TFCin_bf-5_9r860heJHgPhos869BQ22VxodV9GE8culveau_qNKN-_aSI4uEgg9Iy1A2WDHHmYer0bti8j7IOrT5rYlirZCpBvDrUhgld6/s1600-h/donald.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFdJQs_1Vsu_EilTtjfD6mGDT6TFCin_bf-5_9r860heJHgPhos869BQ22VxodV9GE8culveau_qNKN-_aSI4uEgg9Iy1A2WDHHmYer0bti8j7IOrT5rYlirZCpBvDrUhgld6/s400/donald.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-12246505244240446472010-01-09T20:07:00.000+00:002010-01-09T20:07:47.834+00:00Gummi!<div></div><div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYPrgXLmDEWWiM-BNmsOc6avuf8AZA7pOoU-u2bccfmINNDpd5r2cD1fIF8b-Cs_v8EuctygHsB5UX3FC9dt9b4GZ7aeLNQE_YsxQ02g8yWn6BUnGCPqgoNDEhLZ0pT6nJF2T/s1600-h/cloudywithachanceofmeatballsa12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYPrgXLmDEWWiM-BNmsOc6avuf8AZA7pOoU-u2bccfmINNDpd5r2cD1fIF8b-Cs_v8EuctygHsB5UX3FC9dt9b4GZ7aeLNQE_YsxQ02g8yWn6BUnGCPqgoNDEhLZ0pT6nJF2T/s320/cloudywithachanceofmeatballsa12.jpg" /></a><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Already into the second week of January in this year of 2010, it seems a little late to start adding to the avalanche of 'best of year's and 'best of decade' lists that spread through the world of written media like a particularly infectious rash. Do these lists ever get used as a way to avoid the mistakes of the past? Sure, there's value in revisiting and praising great art, especially if it was passed over the first time around.<br />
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Music is a particularly hard one to put down. Ever since I started using an mp3 player to feed me tunes, I've found myself a fan of the shuffle and therefore have trouble naming a given track, let alone the album it's from. Plus I can't pin somethign down as a 2009 release or one of the last decade without a lot of trawling back through my ipod's listings.<br />
Perhaps a top ten 'most played' would serve as some indicator, in terms of songs?<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Films are easier to pin down by virtue of the relative density - it's a lot harder and more expensive to make a film, so there are fewer, especially those that gain distributiom. But still, without referring to a list of what I've seen this year it's easy to forget some gems, what with the dozens upon dozens that I've sat through on the big screen in 2009. I can sympathise with, if not forgive, the lazy journalism that sees the lists populated by the more obvious contenders, as those which took the most bank or column inches are more likely to be remembered. Although a little more recent, and having the advantage of me seeing it twice at the cinema, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is genuinely my favourite film of 2009. <br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Not tending to keep up with the developments of family cinema, the film only came across my radar very close to release and not having read the book all I had to go on was the quirky name. I only got round to watching it a few weeks after release, after getting seeing the generally positive swathe of reviews that it earned.<br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Making a special trip out to Chelsea early on a Saturday, as it was only screening in early weekend time slots, I found myself surrounded by a number of families. At this point in my cinemagoing career I have come to tolerate certain behaviours - talkign through adverts is perfectly acceptable, people being a bit noisy is okay if it's not too frequent and the film isn't the kind of thing that necessitates intense concentration (stuff like the Twilight sequel or Paranormal Activity for example), so I wasn't automatically in violated mode at the prospect of infant burblings - ths was a kids film after all, and I felt confident I could follow the plot even with a few interruptions.<br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It turned out I had more to wory about from my own behaviour - Meatballs is a delight, rather than going the more recent kids film route of 'one for the kids, one for the parents' joke rationing to keep everyone happy, it seems that Meatballs just decided to have a fuckton of jokes that everyone would find funny all the way through. One particular scene, my favourite - and you should probably skip this paragraph if you intend to see it - involved a scene where our hero, amateur inventor Flint Lockwood, discovers snow (or rather vast quantities of ice cream having fallen from the sky) for the first time. Having never been in a snowball fight, he relishes the experience and joins the fray with gusto, leading to a scene whih plays out with an over-the-shoulder handheld cam style, following Lockood as he delivers headshots in a strange reading of slasher flick visual stylings that had me in literal danger of bursting into uncontrollable laughter - the prospect of which may no doubt have rather worried the parents in attendance at that screening.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I wrote about the film elsewhere: <br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">"Excellent stuff, packed full of great characters, one-liners, visual gags, play-on-words, slapstick and it has a talking monkey. One scene in particular threatened to start me off on a giggling fit; I was expecting something at least passable and quirky, and came out very impressed. I didn't find out until later that the writer and director team were also responsible for Clone High - I can definitely see a similar scattergun approach to the humour and some of the mannerisms and movement of the characters. For a crazy gag-packed kids animation, this is up there with Emperor's New Groove"<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Clone High was an MTV cartoon show that I caught thanks to the internet and is one of the few greats that it seems that I still don't know anyone who has seen it. The premise is that historical figures have clones made of them using their DNA, and are all sent to high school together. Abraham Lincoln, gangly and awkward, is the focus of the show, and from what I gather the series was cancelled after complaints from India over the portryal of Ghandi, whose clone finds the weight of history so heavy to bear that he shrugs it off and instead launches into a hedonistic part due lifestyle. The show is wonderfully written, packed full of throwaway gags, visual motifs, recurring in jokes and laughs based on character development and interaction, not to mention the occasional interjection of historical personality quirks when appropriate. Quick snippet - the school principal is a would-be evil genius who has a robot butler that refers <br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">to everybody as 'Wesley'.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Although Clone High was very much aimed at a teen audience, the creators seem to have had no trouble redirecting their mirth targets to a group altogether more wholesome, and manage to fit in some sort of Lynchian nightmare into the final climactic act. <br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Once the DVD is released at the end of January, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs could easily become my favourite film of 2010, too.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rCljgQ-0QUDXZQ7-UAEnuOIkGnJO4R81Ww8Pifpy_FrTRlFTgeYAj-urku7_QWzEd7zdEgJrJIWHS8SUvpb6EAxKvzeduWurOKQCvhi5U3u3raaTDaDvAEBRQ0t2024HDrdU/s1600-h/49959_orig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rCljgQ-0QUDXZQ7-UAEnuOIkGnJO4R81Ww8Pifpy_FrTRlFTgeYAj-urku7_QWzEd7zdEgJrJIWHS8SUvpb6EAxKvzeduWurOKQCvhi5U3u3raaTDaDvAEBRQ0t2024HDrdU/s400/49959_orig.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Oh, and Bruce Campbell does one of the voices.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">-<br />
</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My updates on this web space are pretty erratic, and hardly thematically consistent. In an effort to keep myself writing more often I have pledged to write about every single film I see this year, whether it is the Oscar baiting The Road which I will no doubt see shortly, or the Sunday afternoon TV screening of Uncle Buck that I caught last week. There's little point in linking just yet, as I've not finished writing about anything I've seen in 2010 just yet (I think it's six so far, which isn't bad for nine days), but if last year is anything to go by the updates will be thick and fast, or at least thin and often.<br />
</div></div>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-49107322535545173252009-11-28T14:48:00.012+00:002009-11-28T15:33:56.100+00:00Great malenky yarbles<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDdzVf8Ldqkm3HLpNsInub8q3uFtP9YxOjpt8SVQq-xGJ8oD4koj4O_0JkN5vCddV6L149tuFvGo__hakOEXVQ_gAwS9J3ws2GhzslBXRfvwO_cRkd6MYqwu0aQeMVGPNkX_F/s1600/Shopping.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 279px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDdzVf8Ldqkm3HLpNsInub8q3uFtP9YxOjpt8SVQq-xGJ8oD4koj4O_0JkN5vCddV6L149tuFvGo__hakOEXVQ_gAwS9J3ws2GhzslBXRfvwO_cRkd6MYqwu0aQeMVGPNkX_F/s400/Shopping.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409174474769703730" /></a><br />Paul W.S. Anderson has earned some deserved notoriety for being a bit shit. <br />His debut feature, with bright-eyed, chisel-cheeked Jude Law when he was still unfamous, was the grindingly shite Shopping, and a prime vehicle to allow Judeās rubbish side to shine.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlP7i7ST-7gZEPu4sEApOsjM0BHtSdW98oTbcJHsGpCrxK7ZYQdZabW7FlgJLWB4kj4qdr_-UHU_6wc-DRxHHjABrv3YsU2dDOzN-V-U3F5bQMBIoqjYWBKfFtZvPPlaHGpuG/s1600/MK-Lambert.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 215px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlP7i7ST-7gZEPu4sEApOsjM0BHtSdW98oTbcJHsGpCrxK7ZYQdZabW7FlgJLWB4kj4qdr_-UHU_6wc-DRxHHjABrv3YsU2dDOzN-V-U3F5bQMBIoqjYWBKfFtZvPPlaHGpuG/s400/MK-Lambert.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409174572074476034" /></a><br />Mortal Kombat followed as Andersonās first videogame adaptation. Seemingly blind to the steaming afterbirth that was Super Mario Brothers, someone decided that desperately trying to squeeze a film out of a one-on-one beat āem up remarkable for its gore was a good idea. The result was a Western action movie in the pre-Matrix days, meaning the action scenes were pedestrian and the gameās gore had been toned down to gain a bigger audience. Itās rancid excuse for cinema didnāt prevent it from spawning a sequel and a TV series. Wonders never cease.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5evPLLevuVgM9Dbq0tffpt-4EIcbtO2bkS5EPGYjRHqHOY-KNl1-fPyTE5ZFnLlSOyxkHZOxemIbXHJwDImA17AS372lr19lImePc044qwPx9v9H0NsVjVDZI8KLZowCLr38/s1600/Kurt_Russell-Soldier.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5evPLLevuVgM9Dbq0tffpt-4EIcbtO2bkS5EPGYjRHqHOY-KNl1-fPyTE5ZFnLlSOyxkHZOxemIbXHJwDImA17AS372lr19lImePc044qwPx9v9H0NsVjVDZI8KLZowCLr38/s400/Kurt_Russell-Soldier.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409174786516774018" /></a><br />Soldier was Andersonās fourth feature, was universally panned and was at least an important factor in the downfall of Kurt Russell, who if it werenāt for a few unwise projects could have found himself in the position Bruce Willis enjoys today, mixing interesting work along with the clag.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziGY2eHIuyuPqJLd3htcv42GkLEckoRqwbKW8nM7yv2h9R6XrORSXLRDm4AAcvV-NzNczsdl9wnUbGndQYfnJMOhXhIZNnzTHU90OMhDZjAsTB9gmJMt7G5xqWHBkvAjdaKwm/s1600/REvil.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziGY2eHIuyuPqJLd3htcv42GkLEckoRqwbKW8nM7yv2h9R6XrORSXLRDm4AAcvV-NzNczsdl9wnUbGndQYfnJMOhXhIZNnzTHU90OMhDZjAsTB9gmJMt7G5xqWHBkvAjdaKwm/s400/REvil.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409175018182689170" /></a><br />Resident Evil was the second videogame adaptation, somehow coming up with a plot worse than the original game, infamously bad voice acting and all. Essentially an excuse to watch Milla Jovovich kick ass and use a little bit of dodgy CGI, this is exactly the kind of filler horror bilge that somehow manages to appeal despite the correct knowledge that it will inevitably disappoint. So many people have managed to do zombie movies right, itās almost insulting when someone cocks one up. Still, I get the feeling that even though I have avoided them so far, the small part of me that yearns to see the sequels will never die.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FOlVvHWZy3C-QaAi_XCb32EkTKxKVw7qgkpQ9RTBkpWvGhyphenhyphenub8srOA9lg4B449uobqdgeKrmTtX0RGX2v0_ZuvzWqX3EtjsaCdx2AX_mtBNxz5vA-LdoJWmwvI-u9LS4xJzj/s1600/alien-vs-predator.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FOlVvHWZy3C-QaAi_XCb32EkTKxKVw7qgkpQ9RTBkpWvGhyphenhyphenub8srOA9lg4B449uobqdgeKrmTtX0RGX2v0_ZuvzWqX3EtjsaCdx2AX_mtBNxz5vA-LdoJWmwvI-u9LS4xJzj/s400/alien-vs-predator.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409175178399872978" /></a><br />Whilst not quite evoking the reaction I had to Terminator: Salvation in terms of Franchise Necrophilia, Alien Vs. Predator deserves special mention for making Resident Evil seem like it actually didnāt cock up as a zombie move that badly, in retrospect. Two of the most popular alien horror series had already met in the comic world with some excellent results. A number of stories had envisioned a universe in which the species co-existed and inevitably intruded into the lives of humans, with some success both critically and commercially. So youād think that making a half decent movie featuring the two xenomorphs would be a piece of piss, and maybe it is. Maybe Anderson went out of his way to fuck it up, just to see if Fox would still release the thing. It achieved an age rating of 15, which can only be seen as a mistake. If your aim is to re-envision it as a subtle psychological horror where any physical trauma is artfully implied rather than splattered on screen, thatās fine, but to go for a halfway house with not enough of anything for anyone we all just go home miserable. And then set it in pyramids, under the Artic ice. Basically a setting as far removed from the earthly or intergalactic arenas you would ideally use, and basically looking like a leftover Young Indiana Jones backdrop that hadnāt been dismantled because they ran out of ideas and money.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6M00mJQ3gT5hPSJRzU6loEnhrLRYce4aWUd-bhHioKOJcxFC9_eGAnruOea1AgRxw5IzFcnNTNpaIKzv45AtlzoWrR3I66AvOyhyphenhyphen2NEe4YXLnvTL7yu1uh11PIfTrbofH4KxU/s1600/statham-death-race.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6M00mJQ3gT5hPSJRzU6loEnhrLRYce4aWUd-bhHioKOJcxFC9_eGAnruOea1AgRxw5IzFcnNTNpaIKzv45AtlzoWrR3I66AvOyhyphenhyphen2NEe4YXLnvTL7yu1uh11PIfTrbofH4KxU/s400/statham-death-race.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409175349015135842" /></a><br />Four years later Anderson came back with Death Race one of a number of remakes of classic 70s films that almost certainly didnāt take the original title of Death Race 2000 as it was released in 2008. To be fair, I have heard a number of positive reviews of this, in terms of āitās good for a bullshit empty action movieā, and it does feature Mr. Jason Statham as the lead, but the trailer really put me off being packed as it is with clichĆ©s of clichĆ©s in some sort of post-anti-meta-critique of base action films. I did go and see Gamer in the cinema this year, so I think Death Race probably does deserve to get a look in at some point. <br />The latest project is apparently a return to the Resident Evil franchise; this time subtitled Afterlife, although he did write the two existing sequels so it canāt be argued that he is resorting to a return to past successes. Perhaps this will prompt me to finally watch the sequels in some sort of masochistic Resident Evil marathon which climaxes in a visit to the cinema to see the fourth instalment and a subsequent trip to hospital after gouging out my own eyes?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUaqvh7w7ftRPhHs3nyz8QdG0XvlOvWAstUaLuqXNl65qklDKbjUs1QziOJker08N4Gz2AqQon7MC54t6SQlJte4fVHYosUZmixT2aMV41DyWdhT-C22tkHISRqLoQ5_7AJlmi/s1600/vlcsnap-9820471.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUaqvh7w7ftRPhHs3nyz8QdG0XvlOvWAstUaLuqXNl65qklDKbjUs1QziOJker08N4Gz2AqQon7MC54t6SQlJte4fVHYosUZmixT2aMV41DyWdhT-C22tkHISRqLoQ5_7AJlmi/s400/vlcsnap-9820471.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409175687592022978" /></a><br /><br />Speaking of whichā¦<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlqTCV7zx5RcRs83h2QT-LRBrVAAXv-2cvdKqkC8AhCEIjAShZclRaYd38heY6rYzjrq8LsLNZGmWcK2xEMmRfnaX6jFgsAy0V1sdc8U6CGAOT4c4t4TcLkZHbRl9vH-4ex4XM/s1600/vlcsnap-9812305.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlqTCV7zx5RcRs83h2QT-LRBrVAAXv-2cvdKqkC8AhCEIjAShZclRaYd38heY6rYzjrq8LsLNZGmWcK2xEMmRfnaX6jFgsAy0V1sdc8U6CGAOT4c4t4TcLkZHbRl9vH-4ex4XM/s400/vlcsnap-9812305.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409175940084401154" /></a><br /><br />The one Anderson film I havenāt mentioned so far is also unique in that itās quite good. Event Horizon was Andersonās third feature, released in 1997, and featured the sublime Laurence Fishburne as our hero spaceship captain, seemingly existing in a universe with an alternate sci-fi film history where none of the films exist that would dissuade one to ever captain a rescue vessel in outer space.<br /><br />When I say āquite goodā, Iām really using the word āgoodā far more freely than many would be comfortable with, but in terms of Andersons catalogue it is truly a diamond in the rough, Argos diamond or no.<br /><br />Event Horizon could hardly be accused of being original and lifts elements from <br />Alien ā space rescue going wrong<br />Various haunted house movies ā hallucinations of ghosts caught just going off screen, through doorways, up ladders etc.<br />2001 ā cramped, circuit-board lined passageway<br />Jaws ā crash zoom in said tunnel<br />Star Trek - the Event Horizon echoes the design of a Klingon Bird of Prey<br />Hellraiser ā hell as a dimension, Neilās Weir character āgoing nativeā and becoming a demon involves a fair bit of self harm (ultimately the worst hell has to offer is physical pain, with the psychological element used to butter you up, whereas it should be the other way round)<br />The false ending of Scarlet(?) dreaming that they are rescued by Weir is a well worn horror staple, found memorably in Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street.<br />One of the deleted scenes features Neilās Weir climbing headfirst down a ladder after Cooper and Scarlet, in bloody demon mode, and in the commentary for the scene Anderson admits it was inspired by the deleted āSpider Walkā scene from the Exorcist, making it unlikely that the similarities with myriad other films are coincidences. Most films, of course, can rarely avoid being influenced by previous works, but in this case it smacks just a little too much of recycling.<br />Two sequences in its favour are both based around vacuum ā the well worn genre staple of a hull breach causing violent air loss is enhanced by Captain Millerās rag doll buffeting as he struggles to escape, and an excellent sequence of a rescue mission for a crewmember caught in an airlock and about to be exposed to space without a suit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0c2I6qIhPySeBfaGkeTx1_WmwUHUiqT3E0Kn4K1ykUM8km2pPgmfwaKvp1xTye2_gjsMhVLln4hQ2vW5yGArV-3cFwaKiCHxxl1C_RsV_DjoWnlJ_bBFeSdXOE8dGBm-OLN8Q/s1600/vlcsnap-9816151.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0c2I6qIhPySeBfaGkeTx1_WmwUHUiqT3E0Kn4K1ykUM8km2pPgmfwaKvp1xTye2_gjsMhVLln4hQ2vW5yGArV-3cFwaKiCHxxl1C_RsV_DjoWnlJ_bBFeSdXOE8dGBm-OLN8Q/s400/vlcsnap-9816151.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409176272447724610" /></a><br />One of the original elements comes from the set design, which does often try to offer something a little unusual even if it doesnāt always work.<br />The captainās chair design, suspended from the ceiling of their ship, means that Fishburneās Miller looks odd, like a toddler sitting at the grown-upās table with his legs dangling.<br />The random spikes and ornate symbols on the surface of the gravity drive and its chamber seem highly unlikely for a scientific experiment ā ornate decoration doesnāt really go hand in hand with cutting edge technological development.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vvTzV2S_tV9Vn0M6mo1SK9EsqFcsiCLVK4x2hwKPeqT0pPOMEKOfqUMCeg4wQ7I_R5B5RUMved2m7p_DFRDqaSzF8VL_dNSakxePHT6fonCq_Vmk-FtLIYKwtxe8wLwK_7tH/s1600/vlcsnap-9817652.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vvTzV2S_tV9Vn0M6mo1SK9EsqFcsiCLVK4x2hwKPeqT0pPOMEKOfqUMCeg4wQ7I_R5B5RUMved2m7p_DFRDqaSzF8VL_dNSakxePHT6fonCq_Vmk-FtLIYKwtxe8wLwK_7tH/s400/vlcsnap-9817652.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409176548747663442" /></a><br />To expand on nonsensical choices somewhat, the idea that no one on Earth would have attempted to analyse the first message of the newly returned Event Horizon, leaving the crew to have a quick crack at it on the way also seems unlikely. Thereās an argument that the rescue mission would have been assembled with haste, but they undoubtedly would have wanted to try and get an idea of what they were sending the team into.<br /><br />Thankfully the cast are good, with Fishburne standing out in particular as an evident leader who desperately tries to keep control in both himself and his terrified crew as everything goes tits up, and Sam Neil managing to keep close to the line separating camp from menace which probably adds to the atmosphere of unease. Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee also feature and help to avoid the cats becoming characterless victims waiting for their death scene.<br /><br />The CGI tends to stand out, these days itās so ubiquitous that for every shot of a car jumping into a helicopter for which you think āaah, CGIā there are a thousand shots with added buildings, added people and altered skies that you will never notice. All of the CGI shots here just look that bit too shiny and basically computerised, though they tend to only be used when necessary, to depict zero gravity for example. This may seem a cheap shot at a film made in 1997, but when Moon was released eleven years later with such excellent use of model work it is hard to believe that CGI would be the better choice, either aesthetically or economically.<br /><br />For all its faults Event Horizon is perfectly enjoyable and doesnāt compare too badly to more recent examples of the genre such as Sunshine, so itās a shame that based on the rest of Andersonās output it looks like a fluke the likes of which he wonāt produce again.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsN6KIaApZQvyWA8XzJco7ib0tmb7aPG1yGiulP_aC83OCnTZ2CcB7vloDUadBRlyoWT7oHxGit5Ed4uX27lrHkzEXmInp5KUyZwgSSmBWv1jBZrdWO7zxk7HN-qGAqH0wIB_/s1600/vlcsnap-9824704.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsN6KIaApZQvyWA8XzJco7ib0tmb7aPG1yGiulP_aC83OCnTZ2CcB7vloDUadBRlyoWT7oHxGit5Ed4uX27lrHkzEXmInp5KUyZwgSSmBWv1jBZrdWO7zxk7HN-qGAqH0wIB_/s400/vlcsnap-9824704.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409176849105480274" /></a>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-46649361947688615042009-10-02T22:02:00.006+01:002009-10-02T22:25:06.871+01:00Comfortably numb<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVfg76YSJadXKLaWWms5QmHnUbQ1DkgF6AWZyHT4aPObuk2xAy5eHrYdZwA8ZbPQnZdmm5E-Zo3qWqHUy0PWP7MU2hFM6aS0EYYZEYAvjCZPmkjOC7zdcGONMclQK5Fy3nlKS1/s1600-h/open.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVfg76YSJadXKLaWWms5QmHnUbQ1DkgF6AWZyHT4aPObuk2xAy5eHrYdZwA8ZbPQnZdmm5E-Zo3qWqHUy0PWP7MU2hFM6aS0EYYZEYAvjCZPmkjOC7zdcGONMclQK5Fy3nlKS1/s400/open.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388116586589374210" /></a><br /><br />All About Lily Chou Chou is a study on contemporary Japanese youth culture, an attempt at examining the situation that has led to some Japanese teens becoming violent and despondent, an outcome which has bewildered the older generations since the Japanese economic bubble burst back in the early 1990s.<br /><br />Centred around a young teen named Yuichi, the film deals with bullying, shoplifting, prostitution, suicide, rape and murder, and how he and his school mates submerge themselves into their culture to escape their grim realities - in this case an obsession with the titular pop star, Lily Chou Chou.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6n0fo3DorhpbkMyG7RtdAGmB3GiZIbV5URSR9HGej9X7ZE9lg7rLKQzu5pkEEOyBHYRtoD9TjTmuVo1pGcR5FBFCLyaf-ZMB9aMNIEDafoh5DNHckHv93109bjLwnh1Efb7i/s1600-h/ether.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6n0fo3DorhpbkMyG7RtdAGmB3GiZIbV5URSR9HGej9X7ZE9lg7rLKQzu5pkEEOyBHYRtoD9TjTmuVo1pGcR5FBFCLyaf-ZMB9aMNIEDafoh5DNHckHv93109bjLwnh1Efb7i/s400/ether.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388116348627071554" /></a><br />Rather than just being a gritty expose of modern Japanese youth, the film is often lyrical to the point of being willfully abstract, with the long opening scenes consisting of little more than Yuichi standing in a rice field listening to a discman, whilst text from the fansite he runs dedicated to Lily flashes on screen, as different fans discuss Lily's music and the idea that it taps into an alternate state of being, known as the "Ether".<br /><br />The films is shot on handheld DV throughout, most obviously in a long sequence following Yuichi and his school friends on holiday on a southern island in Okinawa, which is shot in POV of the boysā own hand-held cameras.<br />These scenes are a welcome escape from the school and home life of the characters, but as the sequence plays out itās obvious that getting away doesnāt help the boys get away from themselves.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRMU4W9iaMUPt9M0rVJ2N587mlueJARRWWcM54g7H96OEBcV6fdKRKMnDCvHDsEiWib5H0H4m6bUyTIUHDIq3Kgikp4t02hHLDm6G0j9KvdqTsJfzaWObTENvuOxf4q4fUHzr/s1600-h/hair.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRMU4W9iaMUPt9M0rVJ2N587mlueJARRWWcM54g7H96OEBcV6fdKRKMnDCvHDsEiWib5H0H4m6bUyTIUHDIq3Kgikp4t02hHLDm6G0j9KvdqTsJfzaWObTENvuOxf4q4fUHzr/s400/hair.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388115863071541138" /></a><br />The cruelty that adolescents are capable of inflicting on each other is always disturbing, and the situations here ring true as similar incidents are a regular occurrence in the news, but the film's attempt at elevating the kitchen-sink subject matter with an arthouse eye doesn't entirely succeed, instead serving to highlight the insular thought processes of the kids and thereby making them less sympathetic. The concentration on the look of the film brings the audience away from the characters and results in you investing less into what happens to them, leaving you to passively absorb the injustices rather than be pricked into anger or sorrow. The essential core to the story is that one of the bullied becomes the bully, and is even worse than those that came before ā itās a situation that should evoke feelings of bitter irony but the isolation of the characters, whilst on the one hand doing a good job of conveying the numbness they impose on themselves to cope, results in the audience feeling a similarly subdued reaction.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwB5OU47Vo3lHdsb2S0p05ff69oV4HbsOsnkHbP6aoTnOMxZaarx0oh2Oc53f9Ear500h4NWHfHVLwRU_QBXGkjCMIIeUeyGnzXyxdfeeSQBLXnamrOE8IRY8ws5TazkSsKzBy/s1600-h/wading.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwB5OU47Vo3lHdsb2S0p05ff69oV4HbsOsnkHbP6aoTnOMxZaarx0oh2Oc53f9Ear500h4NWHfHVLwRU_QBXGkjCMIIeUeyGnzXyxdfeeSQBLXnamrOE8IRY8ws5TazkSsKzBy/s400/wading.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388115573606601186" /></a><br />The performances are all decent but some of the characters are less than well rounded, particularly the bullies, and this lends the atmosphere a more exaggerated cartoony feel that only detract from the more artistic directional aims.<br /><br />Extras are confined to a trailer for the film and trailers for other ICA DVD releases.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWdHIlRizDG0LE7C75edY27sQWv8c0M4nXgOUHlrDLewypcAEy5HF2T5ccHjWUDW4NuHHDxiaT6bl0LN2cxwAsqZfe8T8V9YtbsJF-Jjo2p4F5V8WcO3oVV0cnTqS7WfyvR2n/s1600-h/thief.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWdHIlRizDG0LE7C75edY27sQWv8c0M4nXgOUHlrDLewypcAEy5HF2T5ccHjWUDW4NuHHDxiaT6bl0LN2cxwAsqZfe8T8V9YtbsJF-Jjo2p4F5V8WcO3oVV0cnTqS7WfyvR2n/s400/thief.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388115238711334770" /></a><br /><br />It's not a bad film but the subject matter has been handled often within Japanese cinema and more imaginatively, and although shot two years before Gus Van Sant's Elephant it still manages to feel like a cheap copy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWgQzsewSnMt1uC9_6dEnfGntR8FTyxUhJZyoGVTQtB_jyUdKWaNMSiQ-Dr9CSxT0tMpodl9ingseDzI-UBE3KYkf8XGB-rmgJ7zZXWzS_wqAKBGa7RMDuS9LZeKSWKzTfHCvT/s1600-h/close.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWgQzsewSnMt1uC9_6dEnfGntR8FTyxUhJZyoGVTQtB_jyUdKWaNMSiQ-Dr9CSxT0tMpodl9ingseDzI-UBE3KYkf8XGB-rmgJ7zZXWzS_wqAKBGa7RMDuS9LZeKSWKzTfHCvT/s400/close.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388114768707322066" /></a>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-62284539207366455302009-09-20T18:24:00.008+01:002009-09-20T19:34:26.451+01:00The flavour of the weakItās time for yet another fizzy dip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJJEBKIhD56RROlNiKFoN0zE9etwWzveIeJLmVGea4Nr1xWAsGjhs8qfbbiVrEX0NJv-HUCcMFjpI0JFOMz9M8XdqmlVwiKQoHHdOWBFJQ_Wpt3HDHvUVRkx3Hg7YCiqavRl3/s1600-h/Image053.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJJEBKIhD56RROlNiKFoN0zE9etwWzveIeJLmVGea4Nr1xWAsGjhs8qfbbiVrEX0NJv-HUCcMFjpI0JFOMz9M8XdqmlVwiKQoHHdOWBFJQ_Wpt3HDHvUVRkx3Hg7YCiqavRl3/s400/Image053.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383603893946700546" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVO58B3eNk0OS__AvuD6_Qec7rNYYp8i4DRWEgfF1z8prVPWI4e8wzHHgorG3VFD9X16KgsdF1MEXj_z4o79lriSchCIwC9NgRwWKfJPNvhFGIrB7fuooipGIGA6K31dI5y5yY/s1600-h/Image076.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVO58B3eNk0OS__AvuD6_Qec7rNYYp8i4DRWEgfF1z8prVPWI4e8wzHHgorG3VFD9X16KgsdF1MEXj_z4o79lriSchCIwC9NgRwWKfJPNvhFGIrB7fuooipGIGA6K31dI5y5yY/s400/Image076.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383603919160422674" /></a><br />Spar, the convenience store chain that have apparently been the official sponsor of āEuropean athleticsā since 1996, have their own branded cola range. It seems that their marketing people decided that the nationality of the cola is what entices the consumer, hence their decision to go with āamerican diet colaā ā āreal american style, real american taste.ā<br />Itās confusing enough that the label seems to call it american cola diet, but the instance of lower case for american is nearly as confusing as the idea that a cola is able to taste American. They even have a little logo on the bottle with a smidge of what looks like a New York skyline, proclaiming āAuthentic American Tasteā (this part is all capitals but Iām not going to replicate that here unless absolutely necessary).<br />They might have a point if the recipe wasnāt all chemicals, but the ingredients are the same as most colas. It does say in the blurb that itās produced in the UK form cola flavourings imported from the USA. Because we donāt have taste labs in the UK, obviously.<br />Anyway, their heartās obviously in roughly the right place as they care enough to include the adult GDAs for calories and salt and such, despite the fact that the levels in the drink are all ātraceā.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbNk5hc8DgOWwV9JZp-E7BDE37K9cuyntfoySq2-R1OP8aGxJWn6_TXL3GMZH_q04Gb05UTDFjds3ZAe8VD_4xBBBoxWoqPi_cX9kKlVyjlVf5nkr0IcolzZN7m_cSaOr-x7k/s1600-h/Image074.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbNk5hc8DgOWwV9JZp-E7BDE37K9cuyntfoySq2-R1OP8aGxJWn6_TXL3GMZH_q04Gb05UTDFjds3ZAe8VD_4xBBBoxWoqPi_cX9kKlVyjlVf5nkr0IcolzZN7m_cSaOr-x7k/s400/Image074.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383603902905154194" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmM-z5IzfrrVjon6MY9wqWuSxcgRn4-z_4hElX3FE2WOyGZQYKYzC1M2p0G5ctbG3-5cpT9ya8NHhHqd39bzzNZUTJON7lpAqn-0rMP2DqWYgMQ_ZDV483ej6sfi3PYA-1nxA9/s1600-h/Image075.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmM-z5IzfrrVjon6MY9wqWuSxcgRn4-z_4hElX3FE2WOyGZQYKYzC1M2p0G5ctbG3-5cpT9ya8NHhHqd39bzzNZUTJON7lpAqn-0rMP2DqWYgMQ_ZDV483ej6sfi3PYA-1nxA9/s400/Image075.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383603909457127202" /></a><br />On pouring the drink is fizzy, building a good head that lasts a fair few seconds, and leaving a good numbers of bubbles around the perimeter of the glass for a few minutes after the pour. The smell isnāt strong, giving a faint hint of cola bottle sweets. The taste is also faint, barely registering to the point that you could be forgiven for thinking it was slightly flavoured carbonated water; holding a mouthful before swallowing in an attempt to maximise the flavour makes little difference, if I didnāt already know I was drinking a cola I think itās possible that I wouldnāt be able to identify what it was, besides it being sweet and not fruity.<br />In the grand scheme of things itās hard to decide which is more important ā for the cola to have a strong flavour or for that flavour not to be foul, but ultimately if youāre so very close to drinking water the only difference here is the added caffeine. Stereotypically the USA isnāt renowned for itās subtlety, so attempting to sell this on the back of its american-ness isnāt going to do it any favours.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGnz31fmy0gmwCFL2t_RVz-6C3dBIlKPmp03ap4lvwAzsB9JTON94wTa_ZKEOj2u8H2-KvRT8pzRMlzCSe0S_tChrMdFUdpmfSdhJOwDg6ztvomp7Au5ewQXe8IuCSHAJCuSq/s1600-h/Image077.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGnz31fmy0gmwCFL2t_RVz-6C3dBIlKPmp03ap4lvwAzsB9JTON94wTa_ZKEOj2u8H2-KvRT8pzRMlzCSe0S_tChrMdFUdpmfSdhJOwDg6ztvomp7Au5ewQXe8IuCSHAJCuSq/s400/Image077.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383608685001396002" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsPX3ACixUAQxTWGPhVck0hIWWUrxOSAG75hZoaGDi5s91HGfZNe9FVYdpIj3Hi9GAyIoZxu1hy01Hh-oHQlsWkPe5iniBiB2dE57SDiNaOjKWtvm3uZMqDgDNlkaPse84clt/s1600-h/Image078.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsPX3ACixUAQxTWGPhVck0hIWWUrxOSAG75hZoaGDi5s91HGfZNe9FVYdpIj3Hi9GAyIoZxu1hy01Hh-oHQlsWkPe5iniBiB2dE57SDiNaOjKWtvm3uZMqDgDNlkaPse84clt/s400/Image078.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383608695926881010" /></a><br />Spar do a vanilla flavoured version of their cola, though unfortunately only in the sugared variety.<br />Like the diet, this cola has only a faint whiff once you open the bottle, the vanilla is definitely present but thereās a lot less fizz on the initial pour.<br />First impressions? These are not the droids you are looking for. Taking a good nosefull at the edge of the glass brings in the kind of vanilla smell that you get with a vanilla coke with vodka, except that the mix has been poured in favour of the vodka leaving the acrid, poison smell of the alcohol tainting the bouquet. Hardly a good start. The first gulp fares no better; the vanilla taste is there, but in an oppressive way, coating the roof of your mouth. It is the vanilla of ice cream, but not some rich Devonshire vanilla ice cream, no, instead it has the taste of the cheapest most synthetic vanilla ice cream you could imagine ā the panda cola of vanilla ice cream. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkhY7sJ0MeUvdkppC0Pxx3IS2pHTyX5NWRhN-vMHFvHB7yPJdYgj4_TZzdKQ3IZYg6SytSxqsdyYSvDg_e7utSM6cCfFGYJFKShdl3XqyD9B33D_HxiNcXNYXdT48AXnAaYTg/s1600-h/Image079.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkhY7sJ0MeUvdkppC0Pxx3IS2pHTyX5NWRhN-vMHFvHB7yPJdYgj4_TZzdKQ3IZYg6SytSxqsdyYSvDg_e7utSM6cCfFGYJFKShdl3XqyD9B33D_HxiNcXNYXdT48AXnAaYTg/s400/Image079.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383608698684480210" /></a><br />After the first couple of gulps the smell doesnāt lessen; that bitter warning remains suffused within it ā āstay away, stay awayā. And the taste continues to coat the roof of the mouth, barely lighting upon the tongue as if it works along the lines of a strange, reversed gravity.<br />It seems more and more likely that this cola was brewed using some dark magic.<br />Safe to say Iāve not found my diet vanilla Coke substitute in this offering.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsD_M5Dzz5lFcclzCgwsVyBOWUysw3nNlJkwVULSjHZ4Mn-xfwL6ExaghvtR4Pfz6cKmqkP37vjSoKsC01_bKzwwGCb7zxbZ6eZ4RIOVr5qLTksIPSQ32L8XIJHeYx7t145-m8/s1600-h/Image080.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsD_M5Dzz5lFcclzCgwsVyBOWUysw3nNlJkwVULSjHZ4Mn-xfwL6ExaghvtR4Pfz6cKmqkP37vjSoKsC01_bKzwwGCb7zxbZ6eZ4RIOVr5qLTksIPSQ32L8XIJHeYx7t145-m8/s400/Image080.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383610454564311874" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsZFXoEaSB3RCEPQKSYLtHGjWtDLDJxj272BtFEYCfv9mQaMmjldxVeGjIO3TJcf5LwAsaaPraC_Q73XH3XOyu8IgtiN_egRR_8iTf2ann9-_KYyAdZwe_i4SXlJW1-PJdO3V/s1600-h/Image081.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsZFXoEaSB3RCEPQKSYLtHGjWtDLDJxj272BtFEYCfv9mQaMmjldxVeGjIO3TJcf5LwAsaaPraC_Q73XH3XOyu8IgtiN_egRR_8iTf2ann9-_KYyAdZwe_i4SXlJW1-PJdO3V/s400/Image081.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383610445786002178" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi76phdfOKf-jPVKCMM30oWD3eYYauBWbe9636gbEOC2El9yDrufRUvG6I8dLyxwl58ugThnn2VMdfGmCs-0BEk-g2snrobjxOcIocZAGPrCBVFqLZFVlkbNUjrmF7mjiHUjrQY/s1600-h/Image082.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi76phdfOKf-jPVKCMM30oWD3eYYauBWbe9636gbEOC2El9yDrufRUvG6I8dLyxwl58ugThnn2VMdfGmCs-0BEk-g2snrobjxOcIocZAGPrCBVFqLZFVlkbNUjrmF7mjiHUjrQY/s400/Image082.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383610438490181234" /></a><br />As cola variations dwindle I have to diversify. To this end, bring on Idris drink companyās Fiery ginger beer. āTry me if you dare!!ā The double exclamation marks clearly point to a beverage even more extreme than Pepsi MAX. Imagine!<br />Who Idris are I donāt know as it clearly states on the back that Britvic makes the drink. It uses ginger root extract, but is it fierier than other ginger beers? Not being a ginger beer connoisseur I have no idea, but I can at least see if itās fiery.<br />So, fizzy on pouring but no head, the odour isnāt immediately noticeable on cracking the can, and the colouring is that of cloudy lemonade. A whiff from the glass brings a hint of ginger, but also a lot of lemon as you may expect what with citric acid being a main ingredient. And what does it taste like? Sweet lemon with a very slight ginger kick that mainly takes effect at the back of throat, lingering long after the swallow and threatening to build like hot spices, but never doing so, in a similar manner to the many moments of tension building in the film The Orphanage that see no release. Is it right to use Spanish cinema references in soft drink articles?<br />Yes.<br />If you buy Fiery ginger beer in an attempt to cement your Extreme reputation then youāre likely to be disappointed, I wouldnāt say that Iām particularly resistant to spice and I find this particularly weak.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bN-ptWb0tdPtOfgxpvLtaLjC6aVessIxJvU9XffVvmA0Lym1PMc6t0g-lYUm8CiVmam7vBJyvayeiper4GeOg6I6IfzTrzXOSi9tyfQcFtiruuhfCQdA8kKtmVXhOWOe2ypY/s1600-h/Image083.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bN-ptWb0tdPtOfgxpvLtaLjC6aVessIxJvU9XffVvmA0Lym1PMc6t0g-lYUm8CiVmam7vBJyvayeiper4GeOg6I6IfzTrzXOSi9tyfQcFtiruuhfCQdA8kKtmVXhOWOe2ypY/s400/Image083.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383613599012993938" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNafUvpVYTcZumalMvutLdyKowVX_p7AUvjcJCiqcIeK9q7nUIPI-ZPAz6f3pEHcwdumMYKpD0QKbft4EQjwiyRe3BiUcm5weW8khUvwCC8duh8HSzjpBoyUrnZg1ILHVPNqzX/s1600-h/Image084.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNafUvpVYTcZumalMvutLdyKowVX_p7AUvjcJCiqcIeK9q7nUIPI-ZPAz6f3pEHcwdumMYKpD0QKbft4EQjwiyRe3BiUcm5weW8khUvwCC8duh8HSzjpBoyUrnZg1ILHVPNqzX/s400/Image084.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383613593794737570" /></a><br />So, whatās Cherry Diet Coke like? One of Cokeās more enduring flavour experiments, Cherry Coke has been around since 1982, according to Wiki, with the diet variant around since 1986. Cherry happily seems the perfect fruity fit for Coke as itās sweet enough not to be drowned out and yet retains its particular flavour in the mix. <br />Pouring acts like Coke, unsurprisingly, producing a fair amount of fizz and an average head before settling down. The smell hits straight away, though, even though the can was cracked a foot away ā that unmistakeable, artificial āCherry Dropā twang.<br />At the lip of the glass the smell is there, and for a fan of cherry-flavoured boiled sweets itās tantalising. Nothing is given away in the ingredients to hint at where the origin of this nasal sensation is born, but the catch-all term āflavouringsā no doubt masks the very same parentage as that of Bassetās Cherry Drops (Wiki search, no I donāt mean āBaroness Cherry Drumsā).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGL2kWFsrADj8ps0Usfcc_XXGVrBrY-vdtdXWYnwDuD_QZaC-bgyF9dD8M6JPtLg9s7fuSZ3x7qEpUc06d5PMJq_XTrVGHkPNJUUmw18OGEwzdKPNLaPnREfGP1pqIbhUihFaj/s1600-h/Image085.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGL2kWFsrADj8ps0Usfcc_XXGVrBrY-vdtdXWYnwDuD_QZaC-bgyF9dD8M6JPtLg9s7fuSZ3x7qEpUc06d5PMJq_XTrVGHkPNJUUmw18OGEwzdKPNLaPnREfGP1pqIbhUihFaj/s400/Image085.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383613587741048626" /></a><br />And the taste? More fruity than Cokey, though the punch of the cherry is disappointingly subdued compared to the smell that this brown ooze gives off. Thereās also a bit of that coating feeling that you rarely get with diet fizzy pop, particularly clinging to the tongue like a second skin. Definitely more viscous than standard Diet Coke, which dribbles down a lot more closely to standard tap water, itās probably that mysterious chemical that does it.<br />Not unpleasant then, and a welcome alternative to your common or garden Diet Coke, but definitely not a vanilla beater.<br />Still, even if Coca Cola are unlikely to win any ethical awards any time soon they can at least bask in the pride of producing one of the most belch-worthy beverages on the shelves. Most gaseous.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILQCuUlrbcS05h2tHyKucIQ9f0MCG0lY3SEf2pmrGHs0QEQfypXc6PoXHhzqofLXlQagSyhlKSyx4UfpmcYNrEppEbQgiSfUVP79KiiM87e9-lklQwtJjwpq7GBICEK4qqA_J/s1600-h/cherry+drops.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILQCuUlrbcS05h2tHyKucIQ9f0MCG0lY3SEf2pmrGHs0QEQfypXc6PoXHhzqofLXlQagSyhlKSyx4UfpmcYNrEppEbQgiSfUVP79KiiM87e9-lklQwtJjwpq7GBICEK4qqA_J/s400/cherry+drops.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383617776239956866" /></a><br />Not being a manās man, I hate ale and beer and this dislike extends to anything sharing the moniker, meaning I tar ginger beer and root beer with the same brush. Whereas the Fiery ginger beer tempted me with a promise of a challenge, root beer I have been recently informed, usually contains some amount of vanilla and so is now naturally tempting.<br />The Bundaberg Australian Root Beer bottle has an old school beer theme to it, the style of labelling, font, brown glass and the way the kangaroo image is used with the lightburst behind it all conjure a certain association, perhaps making this the tipple for kids to drink so that they feel like grown ups? The liquid isnāt very bubbly and the odour isnāt strong enough to carry; the colouring is very similar to cola and ultimately belongs to the same family of beverages that at one time would have been branded as tonics rather than alternatives to water. Even at the rim of the glass the odour is weak, and reminds me of the mouthwash that they use at the dentists to give you a rinse. It tastes like that to, and is a little thick, definitely leaving a bit of a sweet coating on the back of the tongue as if the sugar decided to hang back after the liquid had made its way to your epiglottis. Definitely not a taste I could get used to as the medicinal quality is never outdone by the sugar, no matter how natural the ingredients or the brewing process are supposed to be. I can detect the liquorice and the vanilla bean to some extent, but not the ginger and Iāve no idea what sarsaparilla or molasses are meant to taste like. Not something to revisit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KlMVSGvrRexZhRUzUO7n_7svsqlaeWLdNzlgNaUJExyJHii2YDa8FmXlNNCSJvEvIAyblTT6wZxiwjYaw-cYMXyfSVjsRyuJx2h_q4JkheE13kdv1mw9cZpHEUndMGv5Pie2/s1600-h/Image104.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KlMVSGvrRexZhRUzUO7n_7svsqlaeWLdNzlgNaUJExyJHii2YDa8FmXlNNCSJvEvIAyblTT6wZxiwjYaw-cYMXyfSVjsRyuJx2h_q4JkheE13kdv1mw9cZpHEUndMGv5Pie2/s400/Image104.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383617383310218722" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjah78dmdT04PSW35jMdlah_hKvHbKZd-wBR0cJ9KIZ3pHzj2W1TltYpfHqxjuj6sddod8kBV4U7IaR3PlgviJx7AY2TjfHDfjnVBv9nD3rtKF_rSwx0ytu7GJDweuQBEr7qU1e/s1600-h/Image105.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjah78dmdT04PSW35jMdlah_hKvHbKZd-wBR0cJ9KIZ3pHzj2W1TltYpfHqxjuj6sddod8kBV4U7IaR3PlgviJx7AY2TjfHDfjnVBv9nD3rtKF_rSwx0ytu7GJDweuQBEr7qU1e/s400/Image105.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383617373864517426" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3S0-8RHlvq5SR_TH7arstFW5_In5USssBS89YliSIklNFPd01PaUOXVahP3b559XG-HAh3sAFQu0MDrAgD7ojGDU3SeE5bXKiy3XN9D7y4CtAS71oGatObLFHKtF5pQoQTSC7/s1600-h/Image106.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3S0-8RHlvq5SR_TH7arstFW5_In5USssBS89YliSIklNFPd01PaUOXVahP3b559XG-HAh3sAFQu0MDrAgD7ojGDU3SeE5bXKiy3XN9D7y4CtAS71oGatObLFHKtF5pQoQTSC7/s400/Image106.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383617364479728370" /></a><br />My tastes have certainly come a long way in the last decade or so, on from the time when I would refuse vegetables or foods with sauces (which are legion), but this small and unadventurous taste exploration into the world of the pre-prepared Western soft drink proves that I am still quite limited.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-17102435813780020852009-09-14T21:38:00.006+01:002009-09-14T21:47:03.550+01:00Doctor, look out!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOqNZ4vwMD73AnTD8G-CSQ5t507XFzldXy29tg8XccfVgwr_gr1mkNUQe26g5nN82yX5KjvTgGNaydaphnz96LA8ohiaYmJDYkn5HNEF7mMYVwLuASBdOwphFYH54lc9udVF05/s1600-h/amateurpic01.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOqNZ4vwMD73AnTD8G-CSQ5t507XFzldXy29tg8XccfVgwr_gr1mkNUQe26g5nN82yX5KjvTgGNaydaphnz96LA8ohiaYmJDYkn5HNEF7mMYVwLuASBdOwphFYH54lc9udVF05/s400/amateurpic01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381426075076396850" /></a><br />Iāve never been much of a radio listener, so when I hear adverts on the commercial stations the form of the audio-only advert always strikes me ā the techniques involved; the different methods used in the absence of visual aids. One advert that I noticed while staying with family recently (one of the few situations where I actually listen to radio, as opposed to podcasts) was on Kiss FM, and was a government sponsored anti-drug ad targeted at the mostly young Kiss audience. An actor played out a situation where they smoke a spliff, become paranoid and then get violent. I was reading a paper at the time and the radio was little more than background noise to me at that point, but once I focused on the ad I couldnāt help but release an audible exclamation. Iām sure that situations where cannabis users get paranoid exist, and a proportion of these may lead to extreme or even violent behaviour, but the idea that they were trying to promote this as likelihood rather than outside possibility incensed me. <br />I never enjoyed smoking cannabis back when I was a teen, though did sometimes enjoy the sensations that resulted, and I havenāt smoked or otherwise taken any in likely twelve years, but I canāt stand the hypocrisy that is flopped out time and time again when dealing with cannabis as opposed to the treatment given to alcohol. True, the government never condones binge drinking and the like, but you donāt need to binge to get a much higher proportion of people having reactions to alcohol that are far worse than those to smoking gear. <br />This is the TV version of the advert:<br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IbJIhkxLSYo&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IbJIhkxLSYo&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />Despite the recent surfeit of blokey comedies in recent years, many of which are connected to the Apatow stable (who surprisingly has only directed three films to date but seems connected to dozens), itās the Hangover that seems to be the enduring hit in the UK and is still screening in 21 screens as of September 12th despite having been released on June 12th, Iād be surprised if Mamma Mia had lasted much longer.<br />For a ābad tasteā comedy which not long ago would have invited comparisons with the films of the Farrelly brothers, the Hangover is pretty so-so with only a handful of belly laughs to be found in the overly familiar situation of people going to Vegas, over indulging and then engaging in a spot of OMG!!11! as they try to piece together the previous night. Perhaps the Great British public find the situations involving binge drinking comfortably familiar.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W9JnZTf5Qyimki80pq6ipSKt3U-AYpky3OPawJrGue5gQPGyypvQho6-swvicJa_IDxSa5PPMATJc7P0RUHcx-ZSTOpHbhKWfd_D_PDJqY12a5KhyphenhyphenCa5bXC1tB0o0liTlMp-/s1600-h/fear+and+loathing.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W9JnZTf5Qyimki80pq6ipSKt3U-AYpky3OPawJrGue5gQPGyypvQho6-swvicJa_IDxSa5PPMATJc7P0RUHcx-ZSTOpHbhKWfd_D_PDJqY12a5KhyphenhyphenCa5bXC1tB0o0liTlMp-/s400/fear+and+loathing.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381426349336746098" /></a><br />Unfortunately Iām no stranger to the concept of the lost night. A number of times Iāve found myself regaining consciousness the morning after and having no memory of what happened after a certain point. Regaining consciousness is not the most accurate way of putting it, as this implies passing out rather than blacking out, which is the phenomenon that I experience ā a complete lack of knowledge of what I did or said, and then suddenly Iām back. A lot of the time it has to be said that it involved situations where a free bar led to me not keeping track of how much Iād had, or drinking at home or at parties meant that self-poured drinks contained undefined measures, but many is the time that I have eaten three meals, slept relatively well and only had 5 or so drinks before suddenly finding myself somewhere else at a later time. One study (GOODWIN, D.W; CRANE, J.B.; AND GUZE, S.B. Alcoholic "blackouts": A review and clinical study of 100 alcoholics. American Journal of Psychiatry 126:191-198, 1969) suggests that it is the concentration of alcohol in the blood that leads to blackouts, which is supported by the self-mixed and free-drink instances, although it would be interesting (and useful) to discover what variables resulted in blackouts in the cases where I consumed far less quantities and in seemingly āsaferā circumstances.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pHBsJpzG1Il1L1nigzDNDiSp4LKj-JyCQVTa4Qa8wqqD_JpdiV4o8fQhQ6MIJTcWEw8cJo6mogPP0Mgqgo0ViJ4-qgAUmCqjj-tFp7r8BAjTGKHZn8Cvfz3Qo4L3ATfJj_ov/s1600-h/memento_stills_20.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 262px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pHBsJpzG1Il1L1nigzDNDiSp4LKj-JyCQVTa4Qa8wqqD_JpdiV4o8fQhQ6MIJTcWEw8cJo6mogPP0Mgqgo0ViJ4-qgAUmCqjj-tFp7r8BAjTGKHZn8Cvfz3Qo4L3ATfJj_ov/s400/memento_stills_20.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381427138661055650" /></a><br /><br />Some sort of homing instinct seems to get me back every time, though most recently I vaguely recall not being able to get into my flat and taking apart my wallet chain in order to try and pick the lock. I sat in my front doorway until half three in the morning when I remembered that my keys were in my back pocket.<br />I had been to a gig that night but do not remember a second of it; two CDs and a t-shirt testify to my presence there, and perhaps that I enjoyed it?<br />Itās not a happy time, as though I rarely get up to anything that I would be ashamed or embarrassed of in the cold light of day, it is uncomfortable to think of myself not in control of my actions. Am I really getting on with it, but much more drunkenly than usual, while the alcohol destroys the brain cells that record the memory of events? Or does another part of my consciousness take over while I am out of action ā if so who is this version of me and where is he when Iām sober? More likely, but no more comforting, is the idea that excessive drinking leads to a form of anterograde amnesia ā a state whereby you are unable to retain information so that you can still utilise skills you have learnt and can remember things before the amnesia took hold (usually due to brain injury), but anything that you experience afterwards is lost to your long term memory (most famously the basis for Christopher Nolanās Memento).<br />Obviously in the case of binge drinking the effects are only temporary, with the ability to retain experience returning after the alcoholic influence subsides, but the idea that you can lose memory so utterly is disquieting.<br />Memory is ultimately the backbone of your very personality, formed as you are from the experiences and interpersonal exchanges that you build up over time ā without these the āyouā that you take for granted when performing even the most cursory self reference as you look in the mirror in the morning would simply cease to be. You can lose snatches of it and still retain your essential self; but lose the lot and you are dead in mind if not in body. I find the physical connection between brain tissue and memory, and therefore the physical body and consciousness, to be the strongest argument against the popular idea of the immortal soul or reincarnation. Should the soul exist, it very well may āliveā on after your body dies, but once your brain is gone your consciousness goes with it ā the āyouā that is reading and processing these words right now will cease to exist, which kind of makes the idea that you will meet your loved ones in heaven impossible ā if brain damage can potentially destroy any memory you had of a husband or wife and a decades-long marriage, thereās no hope of retaining that information beyond the flesh and into the ethereal.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHTndF3sBBCilY9aa2clf-GrBBbv2omOfkMZ5NelUH2lM8qkWezeW9URpMjE7cb0YKpq3IkIeO350YPPYHLI_XmFkwDMXJ5-w6he71yzKuDv06krQPpWXGwRw-sgqA1rnKsoc/s1600-h/scaled.lost-weekend.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHTndF3sBBCilY9aa2clf-GrBBbv2omOfkMZ5NelUH2lM8qkWezeW9URpMjE7cb0YKpq3IkIeO350YPPYHLI_XmFkwDMXJ5-w6he71yzKuDv06krQPpWXGwRw-sgqA1rnKsoc/s400/scaled.lost-weekend.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381426752600208354" /></a>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-33308897286905512009-09-07T21:16:00.011+01:002009-09-07T22:18:00.932+01:00Arm me with harmonyMy hunt for soft drinks continues. <br />Resigning myself to the fact that there is no adequate vanilla cola substitute out there, I still find myself as a night person with a normal nine to five job. This means a certain amount of sleep deprivation that can only be controlled by liberal ingestion of caffeine. As Iām not a proper grown up I donāt drink tea or coffee and so have to rely on fizzy pop alternatives. Red Bull is the obvious choice, its 250ml cans packing the punch of two filter coffees, but this concentration is sometimes a bit much so the next best thing is the 330ml cans of coke and the like, which carry about the same as a cup of tea. <br />There arenāt that many soft drinks besides cola that actually contain caffeine, and being a drippy ethical sort Iām not comfortable with blissfully quaffing away at the products of the Coke and Pepsico mega corps who arenāt exactly squeaky clean.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjARZORHSQF9IbQNVFwuZ9uvnXkwzp3pyFWc8NRlTQ8QQSf1w1GJT66LYtrTUKIGfdu15mOKXgYxVcjaAjQ_fDBj3jl2kI-WdJDp7Tnqb6RHK_DGbPnkQQH_iwd4QH6sj0LC6yp/s1600-h/Image296.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjARZORHSQF9IbQNVFwuZ9uvnXkwzp3pyFWc8NRlTQ8QQSf1w1GJT66LYtrTUKIGfdu15mOKXgYxVcjaAjQ_fDBj3jl2kI-WdJDp7Tnqb6RHK_DGbPnkQQH_iwd4QH6sj0LC6yp/s400/Image296.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378827384983845554" /></a><br />The A.G. Barr soft drink company has apparently been around since 1875, is based in Scotland and is arguably most famous for Irn Bru. Irn Bru and Coke regularly fight over the top spot as Scotland's soft drink of choice, but as far as I can tell Barr donāt indulge in any overtly unethical business practises, you know, like condoning the murder of trade unionists.<br />Thus I was simultaneously pleased to find that I had a taste for that bright orange brew made from girders, and dismayed that the diet variety is pretty hard to come by round these parts. Two litre bottles are found in the odd supermarket but arenāt ideal for a desk-based drink at work, and so far Iāve only found cans in my local shop over the road. For a medium sized cornershop their selection is pretty comprehensive, and not only do they have the cheapest vanilla Stolichnya Iāve seen but also a fairly wide variety of Barrās other products.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AklwA_hyphenhyphennQXDOjoR460BLfjsWbTFv9OAeoQ9HULD7C5RqPfhqjH8olUEgGm8ajn2uoOlRProTS_Nhy6FeRWrcIgcYlN3_BCeHu7JPBrU5_xcY8rro7ypRvThrvEZ0EwVoWSS/s1600-h/Image297.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AklwA_hyphenhyphennQXDOjoR460BLfjsWbTFv9OAeoQ9HULD7C5RqPfhqjH8olUEgGm8ajn2uoOlRProTS_Nhy6FeRWrcIgcYlN3_BCeHu7JPBrU5_xcY8rro7ypRvThrvEZ0EwVoWSS/s400/Image297.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378828100246751202" /></a><br />Barr Cola seemed an obvious choice; where would it sit in the cola pantheon?<br />The smell hits you as soon as the brew pours into the glass ā the cola qualities are all there and not dissimilar from Coke itself. A sniff taken from the rim of the glass gives more of a hint of that cola bottle, chewy sweet scent, though. The froth builds quickly and rides high once the liquid hits the glass, but itās very short lived and soon settles down to a mostly calm, slightly bubbling state.<br />Itās a very odd taste sensation. Despite being a full-sugar version, itās not especially cloying, but somehow there is no taste in the meat of the gulp. It is almost as if you are drinking water with a cola lining, the taste seems to be contained in only the outermost edges of the liquid mass that you decant into your maw. The lack of that cloying feel is echoed in the viscosity; Barrās Cola slips down very easily (probably due to the aforementioned lack of density in carbonation). <br />Whilst not particularly tasty, this could become a regular alternative to Coke, but unfortunately it doesnāt seem to be available in a sugar-free variety so is no good to me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjc98CCwAIifZOcPCDp9ehWXZqVvt80oJzR6Djnjp7Mu9kgIPKDiCzZotXrH-YRebdCMdua_yuzdfhf1SXbr8KFEporIIWi23Nn3ENKQ4R2Z9CQRKVWQt7cY8ll9O7kg80hjWj/s1600-h/Image299.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjc98CCwAIifZOcPCDp9ehWXZqVvt80oJzR6Djnjp7Mu9kgIPKDiCzZotXrH-YRebdCMdua_yuzdfhf1SXbr8KFEporIIWi23Nn3ENKQ4R2Z9CQRKVWQt7cY8ll9O7kg80hjWj/s400/Image299.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378830398582893730" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-BLg-soVBUr-h7mPmD1prThfI-ZHxeY_9_Qz5nU481KqVoG5XvdeM2vAQ0uwOoQijU_6tQRDnFy8ekWryU6FN3DXHUTgGHBQccG-i0MU_9AZmYRamOSiRmGNuJH5oTEE8iqO/s1600-h/Image300.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-BLg-soVBUr-h7mPmD1prThfI-ZHxeY_9_Qz5nU481KqVoG5XvdeM2vAQ0uwOoQijU_6tQRDnFy8ekWryU6FN3DXHUTgGHBQccG-i0MU_9AZmYRamOSiRmGNuJH5oTEE8iqO/s400/Image300.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378831109244419826" /></a><br />Then thereās Ka, the āsparkling Karibbean Kola flavoured drinkā. That label design doesnāt exactly inspire me with confidence.<br />A lot less fizz than Barrās simply titled Cola on the initial pour, but it settles in the same way moments later. The smell isnāt as obvious on twisting open the bottle, but at the rim of the glass its bouquet betrays a definite citrus element. Thereās fruit in there somewhere.<br />It just tastes weird. Not very cola-like at all, the fruit seems like some hybrid mix of berry and melon. Is this really āA Taste of the Caribbeanā? As with the Barr Cola it only seems to be available in a sugared variety, but like Barr Cola it also is not cloying and slips down smoothly. Again itās quite a pleasant little concoction but my tooth rot fear precludes me from making it my drink of choice. Besides that, caffeine is not even listed as ingredient, so it becomes even more redundant for me. Still, itās not the hideous Panda cola-esque abomination that the packaging design might have you believe.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_nZxS4yGVnXH86EPyKN2OCUHVRGHHJcg6eFr1d7-ISFtf8papEVUewt5qctcjNXMUgHwmqx1CjubYxCIXnyz8oiSGFvWveUbRE5lGlHUiD-KnCf3eBy4g1TOX3bKqBiP4kL8/s1600-h/Image301.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_nZxS4yGVnXH86EPyKN2OCUHVRGHHJcg6eFr1d7-ISFtf8papEVUewt5qctcjNXMUgHwmqx1CjubYxCIXnyz8oiSGFvWveUbRE5lGlHUiD-KnCf3eBy4g1TOX3bKqBiP4kL8/s400/Image301.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378832489105848594" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU5TSQOkuTIA2u_puCJselSm53HuuR7zDrui0cqkJFxURQIyUHCJtDia-9RvBiSgW_ZEXbVQRB4jPsfuD-LOFQXTrzG9ax0i8WQHIsq723hwmmF73V7el9Ptd6P7CudAYoP9c/s1600-h/Image302.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU5TSQOkuTIA2u_puCJselSm53HuuR7zDrui0cqkJFxURQIyUHCJtDia-9RvBiSgW_ZEXbVQRB4jPsfuD-LOFQXTrzG9ax0i8WQHIsq723hwmmF73V7el9Ptd6P7CudAYoP9c/s400/Image302.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378832934284312690" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZnv3uHzeAOfsJmcr5y-1Ep4JgsOYZ8YJUvHNIX2bC8-Y71RbatjLK1vEnoEfwP4QZ-LAfQ_JRVMzO7og9VyP_sxpIPim-i2doKrC4a80NS7oTozqqIKLKUV3WBZVbyLqgay7/s1600-h/Image303.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZnv3uHzeAOfsJmcr5y-1Ep4JgsOYZ8YJUvHNIX2bC8-Y71RbatjLK1vEnoEfwP4QZ-LAfQ_JRVMzO7og9VyP_sxpIPim-i2doKrC4a80NS7oTozqqIKLKUV3WBZVbyLqgay7/s400/Image303.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378826601631465410" /></a><br />As for Irn Bru itself? Just like the other Barr drinks, the fizz settles down early on, leaving a few bubbles to make for the surface, but on taking a sip you find that there is still a fair amount of fizz present. Whilst it still goes down as smooth as Ka and Barrās Cola, a lot of gulping in quick succession is going to leave you in danger of rather plosive belching.<br />The odour has a pleasant fruitiness to it, echoed in the taste that has a definite citrus tang, leaning heavily toward oranges. It makes for a much lighter and refreshing alternative to Red Bull, which seems deeply entrenched within its artificial nature. At least Irn Bru has the good grace to disguise this.<br />Whilst neither of the Barr colas had ingredients out of the ordinary, Irn Bru does have one thing as a point of difference ā ammonium ferric citrate (0,002%), which is presumably where the Irn comes from. Essentially the compound serves as an acidity regulator, so it would be interesting to know if this is an industry standard or serves to add to Irn Bruās uniqueness. Presumably the standard āacidity regulatorā description would be used if the actual type was unimportant?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_CB_pmyNzehY1zFkF_v2g4Hmdu-Lcx6itRDJFDGcY-Oy6j0gfvB170bT6g0toADzMvfJOkBsbNjbtwv_AUqOhmoF2It_ybNJEDyD4WW2NrBRAlqAjpxvJnS_KX9LCIowvjy3/s1600-h/Image304.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_CB_pmyNzehY1zFkF_v2g4Hmdu-Lcx6itRDJFDGcY-Oy6j0gfvB170bT6g0toADzMvfJOkBsbNjbtwv_AUqOhmoF2It_ybNJEDyD4WW2NrBRAlqAjpxvJnS_KX9LCIowvjy3/s400/Image304.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378826590471983842" /></a><br /><br /><br />Itās interesting how certain urban myths are perpetrated and why. Was the MMR jab scare of a couple of years ago down to a slow news week or was there another agenda at stake? The vilification of sweeteners used in some soft drinks is another unsubstantiated rumour that is now taken as read in the same way that most people believe that the Godzilla remake is rubbish even if theyāve not seen it (and I am one of that number).<br />The article linked below aims to look at how you can dig deeper into the background of a website to try and ascertain its worth as a source, and it just so happens to cover one of the stories that spread about the artificial sweetener Aspartame. It has been cited as the cause for any number of conditions, but as yet none of these have been backed by any sort of scientific research or evidence, and yet it remains one of those common misconceptions ā that diet soft drinks are bad for you; the sweeteners cause brain tumours; they can cause cancer; carbonated drinks rot tooth enamel. <br />Caffeine is about the only exception that has documented effects on health, and yet those who cry foul on diet sodas are likely to be coffee or tea drinkers themselves. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/teaching_backgrounders/internet/decon_web_pages.cfm">Are soft drinks evil?</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoK8QvUNcbUGlwY9-476tN-ora4rmLGJWUVePYzDf_nrafZnLeRLX_b2GfakGB-3L7AclUVGHPY483_dGrE0y3S7nqmwh0x_DEIuWvrAiRVUxKYjWeIxTiPw7zeo_uUYjwf2zj/s1600-h/Image306.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoK8QvUNcbUGlwY9-476tN-ora4rmLGJWUVePYzDf_nrafZnLeRLX_b2GfakGB-3L7AclUVGHPY483_dGrE0y3S7nqmwh0x_DEIuWvrAiRVUxKYjWeIxTiPw7zeo_uUYjwf2zj/s400/Image306.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378826586114684898" /></a>Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27660602.post-33740354636570352272009-08-22T13:09:00.004+01:002009-09-07T22:23:29.549+01:00I am fail<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemlz5YRq4ihG71s6E9VvS8iYp_wsuU5y5-cNkU97wM6ZukIQwToj1LOXIL6Rp19jREn4ffk7rwGO26LnEu48tst0GI86KXZoj3nosjZRJ1ktkFr0WSnMpbtlwZ3DxejGX7389/s1600-h/evergreen-terrace-writers-block.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemlz5YRq4ihG71s6E9VvS8iYp_wsuU5y5-cNkU97wM6ZukIQwToj1LOXIL6Rp19jREn4ffk7rwGO26LnEu48tst0GI86KXZoj3nosjZRJ1ktkFr0WSnMpbtlwZ3DxejGX7389/s400/evergreen-terrace-writers-block.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372763078456864866" /></a><br /><br />I've always wanted to be a writer (after muppeteer), but since my late teens I've felt that my imagination had dried up and died, and I had no stories to tell. This lack of ability for fiction didn't stop me wanting to get into criticism, particularly of film, but with a lack of effort on my part and a very limited opportunity to make a living it will take a massive amount of will power to take that road.<br />In the meantime, as I ambled along with a bit of criticism thrown out here and there on various websites and my own blog, I was introduced to the idea of the 'drabble' by friends. Essentially an exercise in focus and restraint, it is a short story contained within exactly one hundred words and it seems like an ideal format to try and come up with and use ideas without being daunted by the idea of a novel or even a short story. Unfortunately it's a lot harder to fit ideas into one hundred words coherently, and the below is an example of overspill.<br /><br />-<br /><br />Of course it was ironic. She couldn't envisage actually telling people<br />about this, assuming that she even survived.<br />After years of panic and worry due to her phobia of air travel, Sally had given in to her desire to see new cultures and more of the world. Trains and coaches across Europe and Western Russia, and the brief visits to Northern Africa via ferries across the Med had only exacerbated her desire for adventure, rather than extinguishing it.<br />Three weeks ago she boarded a frieght vessel at Southampton, thanks to months of wrangling and a sympathetic captain who had a pteromechanophobic wife. They set off along the West coast of Africa, rounded Cape Agulhas and made their way across the Indian Ocean en route to Bangladesh. Sea travel agreed with her, the rythmic lurching of the vessel and the salty whip of the air raised her spirits; she looked forward to seeing India, the Far East and on into the Pacific.<br />It wasn't pirates that did for them in the end. The ship had been old and rickety,<br />and whilst this had added to the charm of the voyage in her eyes, the tornadoes that hit were the worst in three decades, and the ship broke up before the night was out.<br />She didn't remember how she came to leave the ship, whether she made one of the life boats or hit the water, when she fell unconscious. All she knew was the here and now - the bright, cloudless sky, the small island of rock and sand, so tiny she could see the entire perimeter from where she sat.<br />The boxes washed up from the ship, damp not just from the sea but from the slow melt of their contents. Part of the cargo had been a large number of pudding items from one of the UK's premium luxury food producers, kept frozen on board and destined for the tables of India's burgeoning upper middle class.<br />A dessert island.Monsieur Le Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07927917854738455114noreply@blogger.com1