Finally there's snow again!

I think it's just been over a year since snow has hit Britain. The last time it snowed in Britain was in 2010 and I wasn't even in the country at the time. I had a lucky escape. And if memory serves me right, at that time students were protesting against tuition fees around Parliament.

Some people love snow and some people hate it. I actually LOVE snow but I don't like walking in it. It's too slippery, and when it starts melting there's a lot of slush around.

Here's some pictures I took earlier today...

Mimic: Director's Cut

I think it's fairly well known that Guillermo del Toro fought many battles with the studio systems while Mimic was in production and was ultimately unhappy with the theatrically released version of the film but despite that I've always been fond of the movie.

Now years later he has been able to release a Director's cut that was closer to his original vision for the film and I have to admit I'd been looking forward to seeing it but now that I have I've come away from the movie slightly disappointed because it really isn't all that different to the theatrically released version of the film and while the director's commentary was interesting Guillermo del Toro was obviously holding back on some things for legal reasons.

I guess this was an interesting version of the film but hardly essential viewing.

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

I remember discovering a trailer for Starship Troopers 3: Marauder just before the movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray and being completely shocked that it was being made after the massive disappointment that was Starship Troopers 2 but despite the obvious lower budget I though the movie looked good and at the time I enjoyed it, I thought it did a good job of recapturing some of the feel of the first film.

Well I recently picked up the Blu-ray version of the movie dirt cheap on eBay and I must say I enjoyed re watching the movie again yesterday, sure there are a few places where they obviously didn't have the special effects budget of most contemporary sci-fi films but it was still fun.

I wonder if someone is sneakily working on a fourth Starship Troopers film ?

New Young Guns album lyrics

'Bones', Young Guns second album, is due to be released on Monday 6th February 2012.


Although I desperately want to share this amazing album with you all, I don't want to upload the tracks to youtube for two reasons:

1. People will just use their youtube converters to illegally download the songs, resulting in the band losing money and the possibility of placing in the album charts.
2. Youtube will undoubtedly delete the videos due to copyright grounds soon after posting it.

I've written up all of the tracks lyrics however (which are amazing) and have decided to share that with you instead.

Enjoy!

I Was Born, I Have Lived, I Will Surely Die

I was born, I have lived, I will surely die

Facing defeat I'm still holding my head up high

Been decieved into thinking that it's alright

I just needed a reason to reach for the light

Now I've opened, opened, my eyes, now I see it

The light, and I need it

There's no doubt you can get yourself out if you want to

Don't turn away, don't be shy, you've got questions, so do I

Every day is a chance to change the story

Don't run away, take a shot, give it everything you've got

Without pain, tell me what's the point in glory?

Yesterday just a boy, now I stand a man

I'm out on the edge feathers clutched in my hand and I know

That a time will come when all is done

Nothing will remain and so it goes

There's no doubt you can get yourself out if you want to

When you're out on the edge, if the current calls you

Then jump 'cos to fall is beneath you, don't turn away, don't be shy

You've got questions, so do I

Every day is a chance to change the story

Don't run away, take a shot, give it everything you've got

Without pain, tell me what's the point in glory?

Dearly Departed

Oh dust and bones

That I have left behind

Are monuments to those I used to know

At least I know where I am on my own

I wanna be the last thing that you see

Be my dearly departed

Back to when you were the only thing

I need

Before I gave up, my dearly departed

Gave up, my dearly departed

Your sticks and stones, are all that I've ever known 

I'm bruised but I'm not broken and I know

At least I know where I am on my own

I wanna be the last thing that you see

Be my dearly departed

Back to when you were the only thing

I need

Before I gave up, my dearly departed

Gave up, my dearly departed

None of the people who tried to could make me feel this way

I'll gladly do my time, I found you, unbound you, and tried to

Explain the only way, that I knew how to say

I wanna be the last thing that you see

Be my dearly departed

Back to when you were the only thing I need

I wanna be the last thing that you see

My dearly departed

I wanna be the last thing that you see

My dearly departed

I wanna be the last thing that you see

My dearly departed

I wanna be the last thing that you see

My dearly departed

Bones

Down under the night sky

I lay in wait

Pray to whoever  would listen to me

I'd fashioned my own cross

Been crushed by its weight

There's no stronger message 

Than dirt in your face

I've seen down the end of the road

Now I deal in a different story

And I will never go back again

I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my bones

I'll do this on my own

They say the spirit's willing, but the flesh is always weak

Well I found everything I needed, underneath my skin

I've seen down the end of the road

Now I deal in a different story

And I will never go back again

I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my bones

I'll do this on my own

We're all architects of our own private hell

No-one can hurt us like we hurt ourselves

I've seen down the end of the road

Now I deal in a different story

And I will never go back again

I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my bones

And I know I'm not alone

Towers (On My Way)

Hello again, my dear old friend

Is it that time again, is this the end?

The beat goes on and on, with such sweet grace

But I'm just out of time, I'm out of place

I found rebellion in self destruction

I need to find a place to lay my head

I walk then I crawl, I'm thankful to be moving at all

Considering all the place, I've been on the way

Some people build towers, I just dig holes

On my way down again, hey

On my back in the gutter and I've seen this place before

How do you make it look so easy when the wolves are at the doors?

Contrition is, a bed fellow of mine, in my defence

I'm wasted, the beat goes on and on and on

I couldn't stop it even if I tried

I found rebellion in self destruction

I need to find a place to lay my head

I walk then I crawl, I'm thankful to be moving at all

Considering all the place, I've been on the way

Some people build towers, I just dig holes

On my way down again, I walk then I crawl

I'm thankful to be moving at all, considering all the places

I've been on the way

A Hymn For All I've Lost

Can't feel my faith held in

Keep my mouth shut anymore

Oh it's impossible

Where do I fit in

When no matter where I stand I still fall?

I'm on the outside looking in

Can't keep my mouth held shut

Keep my tired eyes open anymore

Stuck on the outside looking in

I sing the same old song

A hymn for all I've lost

You Are Not

Lonely, lonely, undefined

You say you take your time, I say you hide away

Lonely, lonely, hard to shine when they don't notice you at all

Sink further every day

You're only, so lonely

And I never had a doubt, you don't even know me

Still you pass your judgement out, when you belong

You're just a face in the crowd, You're only

Lonely, so lonely, like everybody else

Lonely lonely, little fly, you say they pay no mind

I say there's no better way, you hang yourself in your web

Drawn and quartered out, there more you hurt

The more you heal, the more you'll figure out 

You're only, so lonely

And I never had a doubt, you don't even know me

Still you pass your judgement out, when you belong

You're just a face in the crowd, You're only

Lonely, so lonely, like everybody else

You are not a diamond, you are not a shining star

Doesn't mean that you're not perfect, exactly as you are

You're only so lonely, and I never had a doubt

You don't even know me, still you pass your judgement out

When you belong, you're just a face in the crowd

You're only, lonely, so lonely

Like everybody else

Brother In Arms

Got my head out of the window

I can taste the summer air

Hangs heavy with the promise of nights beyond compare

We start ,we stop, we break and then we mend

What's a little bit of blood loss between friends

You say you don't need love, I say you ain't so tough

Come on and let me in

Brother in arms

Together we, spill our blood, on foreign streets

Worlds apart, and in too deep, my brother in arms

I wouldn't change a thing 

We celebrate our sickness as it starts to spread

Cut my heart out it's not over until you take my head

You say you don't need love, I say you ain't so tough

Come on and let me in

Brother in arms

Together we, spill our blood, on foreign streets

Worlds apart, and in too deep, my brother in arms

I wouldn't change a thing 

All hands on deck we live or die, together, no matter

How far we fall apart, we bleed together

Brother in arms

Together we, spill our blood, on foreign streets

Worlds apart, and in too deep

My brother in arms

I wouldn't change a thing 

Learn My Lesson

I

Am a wavering candle light

I remain but I'm ever slight

Through all my years

I sit in my room in the fading light

Righting back all my wrongs tonight

Cos I'm still here

Boarded up all the doors

And I swallowed all the keys

I'm still haunted by

All the things I'll never be

To live

Is to learn

Oh the heart's a heavy burden

So I take

I don't wait

Nothing ever is for certain

And I hold my hands up high

On my knees tonight

I'll take

Won't wait

I will live and learn my lesson here tonight

I 

Never knew it could be so cold

But I burnt all the things I used to hold so dear

Still I fight

With my pen in my hand held tight

Writing protest songs tonight cos I'm still here

Boarded up all the doors

And I swallowed all the keys

I'm still haunted by

All the things I'll never be

To live

Is to learn

Oh the heart's a heavy burden

So I take

I don't wait

Nothing ever is for certain

And I hold my hands up high

On my knees tonight

I'll take

Won't wait

I will live and learn my lesson here tonight

I'll get off my knees and fight

Kick down the doors let in the light tonight

Tonight

Everything Ends

I had a conversation with a dying man

He said "Son, make sure you live while you still can

Though I could write down the rules of war and

I could swim the seas" he said "Boy

Oh you know not what you have"

Now I lay on my bed waiting

Those words resound in my head

Well I remember he told me

"You'll see when everything ends"

I had a conversation with a dying man

Said "Life passes by in the blink of an eye

The gold will rust, and empires will follow

Swallowed by the sea, do you sleep sound?

Well, enjoy it while you can"

Now I lay on my bed waiting

Those words resound in my head

Well I remember he told me

"You'll see when everything ends"

Here I lie, falling asleep on my death bed

And I don't think they're worthless anymore

Now I lay on my bed waiting,

Now I remember he told me

"You'll see when everything ends"

I had a conversation with a dying man

He said "Son, make sure you live while you still can"

Interlude

*instrumental*

Headlights

Yeah I need meaning

As much as I need air to fill these old lungs of mine

I didn't notice but I've been holding my breath as long as I've been alive

The shots behind my eyes they glitter in the dark

As they get closer they illuminate their mark

Everybody stares into the headlights bearing down

But we don't care, standing in the glare

We didn't see them coming, headlights closing in

Everybody stares

Through my fingers everything was monotone and weak

Now all the colour brings me to my knees

I was so afraid of repeating myself

That I never said anything at all

The shots behind my eyes they glitter in the dark

As they get closer they illuminate their mark

Everybody stares into the headlights bearing down

But we don't care, standing in the glare

We didn't see them coming, headlights closing in

I found you, you give me meaning

In everything you do, I found you, now I've discovered

What I have got to do, I'm broken and I'm bruised

I'm beaten black and blue, split at the seams but so are you

If you take me as I am, better and bland

I'd face the headlights, side by side with you

Broadfields

I used to hear the melody, the voice of the unknown

The rhythm in the rain beating down my window

Now it's clear to me, and I can see

Through each and every pane, that I grew up

And I forgot to feel that way again

I've been lost by the city, drowned by the sea

I've been up on the rooftops, still I'm caving in

You can scream bloody murder, loud as you want

I'm not listening now

Sing me something, to bring me down

'Cos I can't find anything like that sound

I don't need it any more

I left my heart back in the broad fields

Used to look between the fences, my hands out to the breeze

I swore that I would understand the whispers in the trees

But the older I got, the more I found I lost

Now I'm run through with rot, covered in frost

I have wondered so long, and now that I'm here

I just want to go home

Sing me something, to bring me down

'Cos I can't find anything like that sound

I don't need it any more

I left my heart back in the broad fields

Rain, rain, rain, carry me home

Wash away the pain, blame, shame, that I've come to know

I think that it's time

Yes I think that it's time

That I went home

Cupcake Decoration and Chocolate Making Class - Part 1

One of the reasons why I wanted to blog is to write some reviews about the places I go to and the things I do around London. 

Here is an interesting experience I had a few weeks ago in a cupcake decoration and chocolate making class at The Peacock Bar in Clapham Junction, London.
Not knowing what I was letting myself in for, I accepted an unused Groupon voucher that was paid for by someone else (original price = £79; Groupon voucher = a lot less!).
So. I booked my place via email for a weekend slot and received some friendly emails back. I had to search on their website to find out how to get there (which I think they could've emailed me those instructions).
Anyway, during that weekend, I left early to get a train to Clapham Junction. When I'm usually at Clapham Junction, I usually take the main entrance exit, but this time I had to take the other way (website instructions were clear enough) and it was only a 5 minute walk away from the station. From the outside, the bar looked grey, it wasn't totally obvious that this was the place to be for the class! Too bad I didn't take a picture of the outside, but I did take one from the inside.

Inside The Peacock Bar

When I went in I was offered champagne (which is part of the Groupon offer), but nah, I don't like champagne, so I was given the option of a non-alcoholic drink (which I was very grateful for). I got there early so I got talking with one of the ladies who arrived a bit later.

Now onto the class.  It was a 1.45PM start, but I think we started a little late. There were more than eight people all together and we were asked to wear unclean aprons (so bring your own if you plan to go to take this class) - apparently there was a class the night before, and so they didn't have time to get them cleaned. 

Making chocolate using moulds

The instructor we had is from Portugal and he's only been at the bar for a month or so. The first thing we did was eat fruit and chocolate. Yummy! I almost took the whole plate of fruit (but it was my mistake), the instructor was telling me to take one piece of fruit to dip into the chocolate. And the next thing we did was to make "chocolates" - this was simply putting melted chocolate into moulds, creating designs, mixing the different chocolates, using what was available on the table and adding raisins n' nuts. These were then taken away to freeze and settle (the final product was delicious by the way ^_^).

This was my chocolate before it got frozen and eaten by m 

After that, the instructor showed us how to mix alcohol n' chocolate and flavourings n' chocolate. We also got shown how to make a simple truffle. At the end of this part the people in the class felt there could've been more interaction and more hands on experience for all of us. I agree. Then two people left before the start of the cake decoration!
For the chocolate making class I give it a rating of 3/5.
Ok now. I don't want to bore you readers to death. So details of the cake decorating class and my overall rating will be continued in the next post.
If you want to find out more about this place and their other classes here's The Peacock Bar's website: http://www.the-peacock-bar.co.uk/ - Stay tuned for part 2!!

Mini marshmallows with chocolate drizzed on top

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Scrumptious Cadbury's Bubbly Chocolate

Mmmmm. Scrumptiously yummy. There's nothing like a new Cadbury's chocolate bar floating around in the supermarkets. Well, there's Wispa but I think this chocolate bar is a bigger version of it. 

Cadbury's Bubbly

It has bubbles like Aero and Wispa, and instead of it being split into squares, Cadbury's have given this chocolate a totally different style - a bubbly top. 

The Bubbly Top

The Bubbly Middle

This happens to be my second bar in a week! But I didn't buy this one, and I haven't finished it yet. (^_^)V

Origami as an interest

For many years I have been interested in origami, which is a Japanese art form of paper-folding. The first time I was interested was when I was in primary school and my cousin (who came all the way from South East Asia) gave me a Hello Kitty stationary set. That became the start of my interest in Hello Kitty, and in that stationary set it included some really colourful Hello Kitty squared paper with some really difficult folding instructions...!

Many years later (during my uni years), origami became an interest, and I fold every now and again.

Recently a friend gave me an origami calendar from 2008. Yes 2008! It has many designs, so I will post some of these soon, but here's just a few...

Paper Crown

Talking Fox

"Nathan's Penguin" on top of an Inside Out Boat