M.I.A

Updates have been somewhat lacking lately. It is for a good reason though (I think so anyway)
My paintspace has been cleared to work on a Normandy table for Flames of War. It will be the first permanent  table I have ever built. It is nearing the half way point, and I should be able to post some WIP pics pretty soon.
Painting updates will resume very shortly though. I just think I got a tad burnt out on the Titan!

Catching Up

Over the course of the last 6 - 7 months I've watched a lot of movies, I always did watch a fair amount of films but thanks to the Podcast on Fire 365 movies in 365 Days challenge ( which I completed in around 6 months ) I really concentrated on movie watching, this didn't mean that was all I did but that is how I spent a lot of my spare time.

Now my movie watching has slowed down a lot and I've been concentrating on Television series and a couple of video games, most of what I've been watching in terms of Television series have been fairly old but I've really enjoyed them.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - I'm on to disc three of season one, I remember watching the show as a kid but I don't remember any black and white episodes so I don't know if I just never saw the first season or maybe I just forgot that they were in black and white.

What I've found interesting about this show is that a lot of the early episodes were fairly straight forward cold war stories, it didn't take too long for dinosaurs, aliens and mutant plankton monsters to start appearing in stories.

The Greatest American Hero - I loved this show in high school but I don't think I'd ever seen it since it's original Television broadcast in the early 80s, I saw the entire series on DVD going cheap a while back and grabbed it on a whim, it took me a while to get around to watching it as thinking about it afterwards I though it wouldn't have aged all that well and to an extent that's true but this show is still a lot of fun, the chemistry between the three lead actors is just great, I suspect you could have cast them in pretty much anything and it would've been worth watching.

Captain America - Another of my recent eBay purchases was a German DVD Box set featuring four 60's cartoons based the Marvel characters Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and The Sub-Mariner.

I watched the Captain America disc last night, the animation was extremely primitive and the stories were pretty corny but the show was a lot of fun.

I'm hoping to watch the other three DVDs sometime soon, with any luck they'll be just like this one.

X-Men: The Animated Series - A little while back I picked up a couple of compilation DVDs from this series cheap on ebay, yesterday I watched both The Legend of Wolverine and Wolverine's Story, as you might imagine with titles like that they feature stories that were heavily based around Wolverine.


I don't think I'd seen the show since it's original television broadcast but it was fun seeing it again, I think the entire series has been released on DVD, I think I'd like to pick it up one of these days and watch the entire series.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - Another childhood favorite, this was a show that never took itself too seriously, in fact in the camp stakes it gives the 60s Batman TV series a good run for it's money, I picked up the complete series box set a couple of years ago and I'd watch the occasional episode here and there, at least until this last week when I've gotten through 8 episodes so far with the intention of watching more sometime soon, this is cheesy fun and apparently that's just what I need at the moment.

Reach out

Friends aren't helping friends out when they need them. 

It's just an observation I've made over the past few months. I can't really get my head around it... Why wouldn't you help your friend if their hurting? If they fell over and twisted their ankle, would you leave them on the floor? If they were drowning, would you not try to rescue them? If they were getting beat up, would you not try to intervene?
Why should emotional pain be taken any less seriously than physical pain?

A friend told me and another friend that she attempted to commit suicide last year. Casually, just added it into conversation. And do you want to know what my other friend did? 

He laughed.

And then, you see celebrities like Lily Allen, losing their babies, and people making jokes about it. What sort of evil human being does that? You may not know her personally, but she just lost her baby for god's sake. Show a little a respect.

You see countless tweets on twitter:

"Mega depressed for no reason. feel like everyone on twitter is just ignoring me.."

"I feel so empty right now.."

"Hate my mom. Hate my life! Wish i would just die now. Save me and everyone else the trouble."

No replies. Not one. 


If they tweeted about a film, or music, or even Peanut butter, they would have got a reply. They would have probably got a conversation.


But this is their life, this is their "selfish tweets" where they are just wanting "attention".


Well you know what? They are not selfish for wanting to be happy. They are not wanting attention. They are wanting to get rid of this mood that has been depressing them for god knows how long and, as a friend, or a follower, or a human being, it is your duty to help them out. 


I was really badly depressed for the past two Fridays (the mood broken only by a trip out with Halle and Ross) and I would tweet about it. Or at least, try to. 


I kept deleting words, letters, sentences... none of it made sense. Why was I feeling so bad? I don't know. Why don't you get help? I don't know. Why don't you just send that damn tweet and stop being such a wimp? That I do know.


I didn't want to be labelled as an emo.


I know the stigma... I'm not blind to society's evil nature. Their cruel, mistimed jokes. Their praying on the weak. Their praising the strong. I know of them. I don't want to feed their horrific obsession with gossip.


This blog is like my diary. You know that I will hide parts of my life from you, but I would never lie to you. I will try to tell you as much secrets as I can handle typing and you can handle knowing. But It's hard sometimes. Especially when it feels like no-one is listening.


307 followers. I think I got one reply.


And that's why, we all hide our emotions behind a smile. No-one cares.


Or at least, It feels that way.


So please. Please. If you see someone that seems to be in a bad mood, ask them what's wrong. Who knows, You might be able to make them feel better.


Restore my faith in humanity.

Puerto Rico

It's official guys. I'm moving to Puerto Rico.

Hello sun!! Good morning sand. Whaaat up palm trees?

Here's looking at you clouds!

Naaaaah. I lie.


I'll get onto why this post is called Puerto Rico in a second.


Went to the cinema with my bud Michelle today, don't get to see her that often now she left school, but I always have a good time when I do see her.


So we went to town, started talking about foreign languages.


How do you say I love you in different languages?

MICHELLE: *singing* Te amo, Te amo... What does that even mean?

ME: I love you in Spanish.

MICHELLE: Oooh. What do you say for I love you in Japanese? Mi ching wah?

ME: *shakes head* Uhh... No.

MICHELLE: What about Italian? Isn't it Puerto Rico. 

ME: That's a country hun.

Went into Cineworld though, only ten people in our screening of "The Fighter". It was insane!


There's an advert on, before the film...


Well! It was hardly going to be in the film, was it?

Oh... Right.

Anyways...

I can't remember what it was for... I think it was just for the cinema-going experience. It was just people over-reacting to a movie.

In slow motion.

Because everything is better in slow motion.

Cause the thing you REALLY want when you're drowning is a slow running, sexy lifeguard.

It was ridiculous though, the faces were like:

Whatever dude. NO-ONE REACTS LIKE THAT!!

Reviewed "The Fighter". Good movie.

Went to Frankie and Benny's afterwards, attempting to cut through that pizza was insane! It was like 2nd year woodwork all over again...

And THAT was a whale of a fail.

I was meant to make a spatula, but instead, I made a fish slice spatula spoon.  I called it the Fish spatoon.

Which I then changed because It sounded like a spitoon for fish.

Ewww.

Wait...

Do fish even spit?!

Lauren xxx

The Fighter review

I went to see David O. Russel's film, "The Fighter" today.

Comparing it to previous boxing movies, I'd rank it as a heavyweight.

The film (based on a true story) revolves around Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) , a boxer attempting to be as successful as his older Brother Dicky (Christian Bale), who was once a great Fighter, but has now became addicted to crack. I'd describe the film as a character study of Micky, showing his straining relationship with his family and the conflict between them and his new girlfriend, Charlene (Amy Adams).

It's a fairly slow-moving plot. It takes a while to get into it, but believe me, once you're in, it doesn't let you go. The characters were written beautifully, you felt for each of the characters, you wanted to see them succeed, and love eachother, to just get on. You cheered for Micky in his fights and winced when he was getting used as a human punching bag by a 165 pound man that was built like a bulldozer. It takes a good writer to make characters like that consistently. Dicky was by far the most intriguing character, he's a well known guy, in fact, you could even call him a local hero for his epic win against Sugar Ray Leonard fourteen years ago. He is well loved by his family, girlfriend and son but you see him throwing it away time and time again, flaking off on his responsibilities and getting himself into all sorts of trouble.

And yet, you feel for him. He's only trying to make everyone happy. 

I agree entirely with the Oscar nominations for this film. Bale is fantastic as the crack-addicted Dicky, he plays the lovable stoner, rather than the crack addict, he's the comic relief in an otherwise serious film, and yet, the character deals with trial and tribulations constantly during the course of the movie. Amy Adam's is great in it as well, a whole other world away from some of her past performances. She played a confident, young woman who finally convinced Micky to break away from his families constant command and get a manager. She also throws a mean punch...

You'll see what I mean.

Mark Wahlberg was nothing amazing to be quite honest. He didn't have enough important scenes for him to be amazing though. Micky looked up to Dicky as if he was his hero. The relationship between Bale and Wahlberg reflected this perfectly. In fact, the whole cast had amazing chemistry with eachother. 

Not much to mention in the form of direction. I adored the use of 90's-esque sport TV recordings that blended perfectly with the audiences usual view of the characters and action. O. Russell directed it very simply, simple yet effective. But to re-iterate, there's not a lot of scenes where you can point out meaningful shots.

But the movie is not propelled by it's use of direction, or editing. Much like "The King's Speech", it's greatness lies with it's characters and with it's script. The characterization for all the characters were fantastic, even if the character development was lacking. It touches upon subjects such as police brutality and drug addiction without being "in your face". 

Recommend this movie, go to see it if you're wanting to watch great performance. One of the better Oscar nominated movies.

8/10

Tweet, update, post, snap, scream, shout, whisper, SAY SOMETHING.

I hate the internet.


Okay. That's a huge lie, I love the vastness of it, the immense load of information, the power of connectivity... I love it.


But, That being said, the internet can make a lot of people nervous, just as I am now.


I'm worried about her. 


I've wrote about her before. Mia. I think her name is Mia...


One of the 6 billion strangers on the planet that I have never met before in my life, and am highly likely to never meet in my life, but I feel responsible in some way for the girl's safety...


Aren't we all? If you are connected to someone online, isn't that, in some respects, like being connected in "real life"? Mia is going through heavy problems right now... Eating disorders, self harm, suicidal tendencies, and (I'm sure some people will care to disagree but if that's the case, keep your opinions to yourself) bravely blogs about them for the world to see.


That takes courage. I wish I could talk that openly about my problems to my friends... let alone the world.


She hasn't updated her blog since the 14th of December last year... 

"I try to run and escape it but my feet are trapped in the quicksand. The quicksand that is dragging me down deeper and deeper untill there is no oxygen left in my lungs and no spark left in my mind."

She's tried to kill herself before... It's upsetting to see someone that seems so sweet and talented suffer in such a terrible way. I wish she'd get help.


Well... she got help actually. She has a psychiatrist, she's been in a mental institution, she's tried self control... None of it seems to work.


So I don't wish that she'd get help. I wish that she'd get better.


And I wish she would update that blog before I get sick with worry....


Reminds me a lot of Andrew's play for Advanced Higher art. A girl who blogged about her struggles with Anorexia. And the anorexic, male reader who used her as his inspiration, constantly waiting for a reply... constantly getting no response.


I hope that this girl hasn't met the same fate as the one in the play....


Is it our responsibility to help this girl? We read others blogs, tweets, status updates, tumblr updates, formspring questions, emails, texts and speak to eachother on MSN. But if you see someone who is clearly suffering, what do you do to help? Do you do ANYTHING to help?

Because it appears that most people choose to ignore them. Even if all they are needing is the knowledge that one person, one person out of six billion gives a damn.


Who knew, that in this age of constant interaction, one person could be so alone?

Cons of Fame.

If me and Kristina ever make a band (watch this space), that's gonna be our name.


Cons of fame. Sounds AWESOME!


Ahhh man. So tired. Was up till 2am again, I swear I'm turning nocturnal.

Sup my homie?

Had to get up at 6am again too, went into school willingly.

Holy green screen Batman!

Was attempting to finish design today...

*starts laughing hysterically*

Yeah. That didn't happen.

But had a LOVELY chat with Kristina.

Until Mr Shaw came in and ruined the mood.

MR SHAW: Kristina, what happened in the exam?!

KRISTINA: I don't want to know!

MR SHAW: You don't, It might put you off your weekend. 

Geography people were eating radioactive waste.


Radioactive waste on a sponge actually/


 Edible sponge. And Edible Radioactive waste in the form of icing.


Still. Icing is not meant to be that colour of yellow.


Whap oot the Sunglasses boys.


Oh, and watching TV on mute is hilarious. Dramatic slow mo looks so cheesy when there's no dramatic music.


Want to go on a photography session soon! Let me know if you have any ideas for what would be a good thing to photograph ;)


Lauren xxx