Twilight Breaking Dawn

So I went to see Twilight Breaking Dawn last night. I'd seen all the other movies and thought they were ok. Nothing to get too excited about but mildly diverting. This is the first half of the last instalment. Its been panned by the critics, but as Mark Kermode said very succintly it wasn't made for them.

I also fall into the category of people the film was not made for. I am guessing as a 40 year old male I'm not exactly the target demographic. But I really loved the film. I'd actually say it was my favourite and to place a cherry on top I'd say I would go and see it again.

What I always forget about these films this how utterly charming the three leads are. Edward has the perect cheekbones for a vampire and a doomed charisma, Jacob is physically perfect for the role (if a 40 year old man can say that without wincing) and is cocky enough without being dislikably arrogant and Bella, well she may be the most perfectly cast actress ever. Together with a storyline that rattled along at a decent pace I was well satisfied. I particularly enjoyed the last shot of the film and I'm eager to see what comes next.

Now I'm off to install a countdown thingy on my facebook page counting down the hours until part two comes out.

I wrote something I did

I have for the past six weeks been busy writing a panto for the theatre company I work with. It has been very hard work. But it has been good to have a deadline otherwise I would have spent an extra six months or possibly eternity finishing the bloody thing. I was reminded of a couple of quotes while completing the writing.

The first one concerned the editing process. I had feared that when the script was subjected to the scrutiny of the small group responsible for helping me make it presentable that I would be excessively sensitive and sulk about their suggestions.

Bill Bryson wrote about this in relation to Thomas Jefferson and The Declaration of Independence. He said that 'Like most writers Jefferson sulked about the editing process and thought what congress presented back to him was inferior, and like all writers he was wrong.' Now before we get to my grandiosity I can accept that perhaps my panto is not quite the same work of literature as the Declaration of Independence (although my jokes are funnier). The point is I need not have worried about the jokes being diluted because in every case where a change was made I can see the script has improved with the advice of my colleagues.

The second quote I saw on a Charlie Brooker special about writers (look it up on Youtube, its fantastic). On the programme Tony Jordan says 'I love having wrote something, I hate fucking writing'.That's about the way I feel about writing. I had really had to drag myself to my computer to finish this piece of work. The last scene was such a phenominal pain in the arse I signed off typing 'Thank Fuck That's finished'. Then on Thursday we had a reading. And hearing a cast reading it and laughing as they did so (both edited and unedited bits) it reminded me that the first part of Tony Jordan's quote always trumps the second part of it.

Eclipse

Saw the third film in the Twilight series. I have to say that it is getting better. I am still team Edward but Jacob grew on me a bit in this instalment. I am not going to enter into any analysis of the film. Just to say that below is possibly the best Onion clip ever which is saying something. The moment where the Al-Quaida spokes man says 'wow!' is simply as perfect as comedy gets, anywhere ever.

Team Edward

I am referring to the Twilight Movies of course. When the films came out I sent a text to the Simon Mayo show saying that they were something I had feared for a time. A phenomena which, to me, seems to spring from nowhere has a huge young following and I don't know the first thing about it.

Two years on I borrowed the DVDs from a friend and sat back to watch them and...they're very good. I can absolutely see why they are so big with teen girls but there was plenty there to amuse and entertain. The humour is particularly good. I laughed out loud several times. Looking forward to Eclipse now.

The Easiest Job In The World


One of the main themes of this world cup, until the weekend, has been the form of South American teams. They were represented in all four of the quarter finals. Yards of column space were devoted to why it is that South American teams were succeeding at the expense of their European counterparts. Was it the greater hunger, the fact that European children play more on their X-boxes than on the streets etc. etc. Two days and four games later the theme has changed. Only one of the South American teams came through and they only got through after some dubious goalkeeping by their centre forward.

All of a sudden the theme has changed. Now the column inches are being devoted to the reason European teams have succeeded. It is like the scene in 1984 where the mob suddenly switches from hating Eurasia to Eastasia. And this happens all the time. And we are not supposed to notice how consistently they get things 100% wrong or do massive u-turns.

This would not be so bad were it not for how hysterical they as journalists get when a player or coach states something with the merest whiff of inconsistency. When Fabio Capello hemmed and hawed a little after we had been thumped about whether he would still be in a job they chased him down like a hunted rabbit. And these were people, many of them I am sure, who were predicting an England win 48 hours earlier.

Sports Journalism ? Easiest job in the world.