Update smupdate

A much needed update:

7th May: Knowing that Elisabeth finished her exams today, I thought I'd make the trip up to Stoke to surprise her (hadn't seen her in a month, and missed her muchly).

At Euston I saw Robert Plant. Now I've seen many "celebrities" around London, and it never phases me, but c'mon: Led Zeppelin! I got his autograph.


We hit Gobble, and it was a good night. Unfortunately, had to come back the next day.




12th May: Last exam done, headed up again for a week this time, which included trips to the park, Iron Man (amazing), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (entertaining, and Russell Brand was actually bearable) and ginormous Tango slushies.

20th May: Back in Chislehurst, and I've lost my keys, crashed on sofa.

21st May: Tried contacting landlord all day about spare key, but to no avail: call locksmith and he drills lock.

22nd May: Meet Alex to find out status of footage from music video shoot: only 2o minutes has been retrieved. Likelihood of it being ready for Rave On Air not looking good at all.

23rd May: After the disappointment of the previous day, I discovered that Runaways is being made into a film, with Brian K. Vaughan writing the script: awesome awesome awesome.


And to add to further geek-outy-ness.

She

(Mary Elisabeth Winstead)

is playing Her

(Ramona Flowers)

alongside

(Michael Cera)

who is playing

(Scott Pilgrim)

in a film directed by him

(Edgar Wright)

oh, and Captain America's shield appears in Iron Man.



Geek-
asm.

Charity Shop Treasure!

Went into Bromley earlier to apply for whatever jobs were going (picked up a Waterstones application). Whilst waiting for bus home, I popped into Oxfam, with no intnetion of buying, just killing time, but I made a few finds.


Kevin Smith graphic novels: 99p each!




Eels single: 25p!

Leafing Through..

I need to read more.

I have about 5 books on my shelf which I've yet to read (and that's not counting comics). I'm going to try and read a book every month, and so far have completed one, started another (which I left in Ireland) and am struggling to find time to continue a third. No wonder my vocabulary is so terrible.

So, one down, eleven to go!

It's All Part of the Plan...

There's a new Batman film out this year. You might have heard....


There's been a HUGE viral marketing campaign, which has involved the Joker and Harvey Dent. The most recent of the Jokers events took place yesterday across the world. The whysoserious site posted the above pictures, each with a different city written beneath it.

Clicking on each gave a countdown clock, and a set of co-ordinates. The London set pinpointed the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace, with this message:

Gather with 300 of your closest friends at this exact spot on April 28th.

You'll need to be in contact with a partner-in-crime who has online access to relay your instructions once you're there. These instructions will give you the TRAIL to follow, but be sure to look both ways when crossing the street; we wouldn't want you to make an unscheduled visit to the ER now, would we?

Put on a smile and plan to spend about an hour or so bonding with your fellow clowns.

Check back here often for updates or changes.

So, going by the countdown, we had to be there for 9. I ran to the train station as soon as I could, stopping briefly to, say through gaps for breath "Batman! London! Now!" over the phone to Given.
We arrived just before 9, and tagged along with a couple of people who had already received the instructions (in my haste, I forgot to get someone to keep an eye on the site!) The instructions were:

Ready to get cracking? Here are the instructions to relay to your clowns on the ground. Don't go losing your mind because you need to remember all the answers - you'll need them in about 30 minutes.

Step 1: By the "ubique-itous" statue with the alien friend, face forward and count every ground floor column to your right. Beware the policeman's black and blue stares.

Step 2: Up the stairs prepare for battle. You'll be greeted with open arms. On the island, discover those who died in war and divide by the women who surround them.

Step 3: Go to the place of the frilly collar and count the number of steps you see in stone and light.

Each gave a number: 35, 90, 48. When the 30 minutes was up, the site showed a safe where the numbers could be entered.

When the safe opened, there was a note inside containing the final clue.

Good work, scavengers! Online clowns, be sure to give your on-the-ground cohorts these final instructions:

Around the bend from the Miserable People is an exotic gate. Your contact will be waiting there. He will give you your final set of instructions.

Stay together. Follow orders. You might have what it takes to pull this off.

J

This lead us to China Town (I can only image what the sight of so many people running from Piccadily, some looking like clowns, must have looked like).



Upon arrival, we were each given a Joker's card and raffle ticket by one of the Jokers goon's. Once everyone had received each, the goon brought a film can out of his bag, and handed it to one of the assembled crowd, with these instructions: "go to the Odeon and give this to Chris, and only Chris".

This bit was pretty straightforward, and we all darted towards Leicester Square. We all poured into the cinema, and sat waiting to see what all our hard(ly) work would reward us with. Someone took the stage, and announced that along with 12 other cities worldwide, we were going to be among the first to see the new trailer. (and were kindly asked to respect the filmmakers by not filming it, or blogging it shot by shot).

Without further ado, we sat back and relaxed as the familiar MPAA certificate appeared. Which was followed by.....................


......................(you'll find out on Sunday :P)

All I can say is, I was blown away. I don't want to overhype it, but it could quite possibly be the best comic book movie ever.

Following the screening, the goon took the stage, with a baseball cap, and asked us all to get out raffle tickets out. He announced the winner, and gave him the film can, with instructions from the "boss" to spread the word.



With that, we left, totally buzzing from the experience. I can't believe that I hesitated for a second about attending this: I'm so glad I did.

oh, and it turns out, the reel that was given away was defaced by the joker himself.

I can't believe there's another 2 month's until this film's out!

Coursework/Music Video

Currently swamped in coursework, so forgive the lack of updates (all none of you reading this). I'm not that consistent with keeping my blog, and I'm even worse at doing so with coursework logs, so, obviously, if I combine the two, it'll work, right?

Last Friday, we went to B&Q to ask if we could use their car park as a location for the video, and were told we'd need to contact Head Office and Bexley Council to get permission. Henna volunteered to do the paperwork.

THURSDAY 17TH

Thursday we met to scout further locations. I'd looked online the last 2 days (With the help of Google Earth) for suitable locations. I had narrowed it down to a Football club in Bromley, and a Health Club towards Mottingham.

Football club

Health Club

First, we headed to the football club, but on the way found the car park to a set of pitches owned by the council, so we made a note of the contact details.

Upon arriving at the football club, we discovered the car park actually belonged to Cannons Health Club. (which Henna then remembered she was a member of!) We went to reception, and enquired about using it, and were told my reception staff that it should be OK, but we'd have to contact the manager. So, we left are card, and were told to expect a call on Friday afternoon.

Springs in our step, we headed to the other club, which, surprise surprise, Henna used to belong to! We decided that the car park wasn't as ideal as we first thought, but kept it in mind.

FRIDAY 18TH

We agreed to meet at my flat as it was close enough to the college should we have to go in to get paperwork signed, and was a bit more relaxed than the hot stuffy "L" rooms of college. At 10.30am Henna and Alex arrived as planned, but with some distressing news: none of the kit would be available!

So, yeah, things looked like they were about to turn to 5H17.

We had two options: see if the band could change the flights, or hire equipment from outside the college.

I rang Ethan straight away and he said to change the name on a ticket cost £50 alone, so that option wasn't feasible. Also, it was too close to A Levels.

So, with the only option left, we started looking at companies online.

After spending all day looking and debating, we decided on a company, and chose to go an HD camera, which meant filming onto a hard drive, as opposed to DV tape.

Good news came in the form of Cannons: we were allowed to use the car park! The only condition was that we donate some money to Cancer Research, which we were more than happy to do.


Craig, you are my new best friend.

Speaking of Craig's, 2nd year BMT student Craig was kind enough to lend us his bass amp for the shoot. Craig, you are second new best friend.

........

So that brings us up to date. I'm currently working on a shot list for the video, so wish me luck!

Whodunnit?

Going through old phone pictures, and came across this


If you can't make it out, its the pageholder for Television X, which I found as soon as I turned on the telly in the living room one morning. So, which of my housemates wants to own up to being a perv?

March Mixtape: Samples

I try to do a Mixtape every so often with a different theme. Its in no way intended to be "cool" (most of my choices are embarrassingly mainstream) but I like to try and get the flow of the tracks seamless.

This month's mix is entitled "Samples". If the title doesn't give it away, it's a collection of songs that contain samples of other song's. Maybe I'll compile a mix of the sampled song's at some point (interestingly, 3 of the tracks sample The Clash).

Enjoy

And if you want a physical copy, let me know.

Walk Along the Canal

After working nearly all week, Elisabeth finally had some free time, and we went for a walk along the Stoke canal.

Everyone thinks they're such sweet little things.
Every duck we saw was with a partner: it was sweet.


One of the reasons I love walking along the canal is to see the old buildings.



Part of the canal path was getting work done, so we had to be diverted, which led us to a part of Stoke that was like a ghost town: streets of houses completly boarded up.


The sign which caused the argument over how far we had walked (I still think I was right!)


We came across this old abandoned railway track, where we sat to eat our sandwiches. Next time, we'll see where it leads!


Isn't she prettyful?


A duck couple, with the mail-order bride.

East Grafton

With a few days off this week, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to visit my Grandad, aunt and cousin.



Always loved what Gale has done with the house.



Lexi, the whippet. Quiet as a mouse, but hyper as a kid who's drank too much coke!


The Village Green (Preservation Society)


The stump which Joe is sitting on used to be the base of a gigantic tree, which for some reason will always remind me of the Roswell Alien Autopsy.

The house of a family friend which burnt down a couple of years ago. We stayed in it one year, and had a great pool in the back garden.

In the centre of this picture, you'll see a bit of dip in the green. I remember water gathering at the bottom when i was young, and it almost looked like a mini pond. I also remember a photo of either me or Ethan face down in the water. At least, I *think* I do. Weird.


We once went to a midnight Christmas service here. Looked beautiful when candle lit.


My Grandad keeps bee's, and makes honey. Roll on next batch!


Where the bee's are kept. Fact: my aunt and cousin are allergic to bee's.


The front of the house which used to be the village post office.

The path to the house has bits of old ceramics sunk into the cement. Alwasy thought that was cool.


The entrance to the "Secret Garden"

Where on a summers night, many years ago, around a fire, I first heard Automatic for the People.