[Emmie3303]

(Original post by Phalanges)
I saw Hanna last year, it was one of my favourite films of 2011. I absolutely love Saiorse Ronan's acting, it's only a matter of time before she becomes the one of the biggest actresses in the world I think.

What did you think?

I loved it. I agree wholeheartedly about Saiorse Ronan. She was brilliant in Atonement but she was really impressive as Hanna. The character was quite hard to play in my opinion because you had to believe in her strength and ability in order for the film to work. I don't think I've ever seen a film like Hanna before; it was just so unique and genuinely fun to watch. I loved the sequence near the beginning when she was

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escaping from that place in the desert.

There were some laugh out loud funny moments too .

[Phalanges]

(Original post by Emmie3303)
I loved it. I agree wholeheartedly about Saiorse Ronan. She was brilliant in Atonement but she was really impressive as Hanna. The character was quite hard to play in my opinion because you had to believe in her strength and ability in order for the film to work. I don't think I've ever seen a film like Hanna before; it was just so unique and genuinely fun to watch. I loved the sequence near the beginning when she was

Spoiler:

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escaping from that place in the desert.

There were some laugh out loud funny moments too .

I reviewed the film back when it came out and made the following comments broadly along the same lines as you:

"Saoirse Ronan has been a promising talent for a while now. She was excellent in Atonement and the best thing about The Lovely Bones, but it was The Way Back that really served as her breakthrough. In a film about a perilous journey across thousands of miles for freedom she gave it a sense of humanity, and the film would have felt much more detached without her. Her performance as Hanna is therefore one of the most surprising things about this film, as it shows she has tremendous range. She embodies her character perfectly, a girl bred for battle almost entirely devoid of humanity save for a burning sense of wonder in the world. That she could give such contrasting back-to-back performances at such a young age is nothing short of staggering."

[Muffinz]

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8140850-muffinz

Let's do this.

[Emmie3303]

(Original post by Phalanges)
I reviewed the film back when it came out and made the following comments broadly along the same lines as you:

"Saoirse Ronan has been a promising talent for a while now. She was excellent in Atonement and the best thing about The Lovely Bones, but it was The Way Back that really served as her breakthrough. In a film about a perilous journey across thousands of miles for freedom she gave it a sense of humanity, and the film would have felt much more detached without her. Her performance as Hanna is therefore one of the most surprising things about this film, as it shows she has tremendous range. She embodies her character perfectly, a girl bred for battle almost entirely devoid of humanity save for a burning sense of wonder in the world. That she could give such contrasting back-to-back performances at such a young age is nothing short of staggering."

You say it far better than me . I haven't seen The Way Back or The Lovely Bones so I might check them out. She's definitely one to watch; there's no doubt about that.

[Emmie3303]

(Original post by Muffinz)
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8140850-muffinz

Let's do this.

Reading your 'read' shelf was like looking at one of my bookcases . I've read 22 out of the 59 and I own/need to read about 10 more of them . I see you like Garth Nix . He's one of my favourtie YA authors. Have you read any Marcus Sedgwick novels?

[Muffinz]

(Original post by Emmie3303)
Reading your 'read' shelf was like looking at one of my bookcases . I've read 22 out of the 59 and I own/need to read about 10 more of them . I see you like Garth Nix . He's one of my favourtie YA authors. Have you read any Marcus Sedgwick novels?

Hehe I used to be really into Garth Nix - still need to read Lord Sunday and find out what happens to Arthur I've never heard of Marcus Sedgwick.

Psst: The Lovely Bones is amazing - I cried so much. Read it.

[Emmie3303]

(Original post by Muffinz)
Hehe I used to be really into Garth Nix - still need to read Lord Sunday and find out what happens to Arthur I've never heard of Marcus Sedgwick.

Psst: The Lovely Bones is amazing - I cried so much. Read it.

I don't think I've got past Friday yet . Marcus Sedgwick is great; he writes all sorts but most of his stories have a supernatural/fantasy element. My Swordhand is Singing is brilliant. I mentioned him as he's one of the best YA authors in my opinion .

Ooh, okay, I'll have to check it out . I think my mam has a copy so I'll nick it from her.

[Muffinz]

(Original post by Emmie3303)
I don't think I've got past Friday yet . Marcus Sedgwick is great; he writes all sorts but most of his stories have a supernatural/fantasy element. My Swordhand is Singing is brilliant. I mentioned him as he's one of the best YA authors in my opinion .

Ooh, okay, I'll have to check it out . I think my mam has a copy so I'll nick it from her.

If you want a good fantasy series to read I defnitely recommend the Age of the Five series by Trudi Canavan - seriously one of the best fantasy series I have ever read! I'll add a note to check out Mr. Sedgwick

This has made me really want to read. I realised when adding everything in that I'm actually in the middle of reading 3 books at the minute... going to read Njal's Saga first though because its on loan from the uni library and it's easter soon...

[SirMasterKey]

Books

Got further into the Hobbit and now also bought Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for 50p from my university's second hand book shop. So will be reading that for pleasure soon.

Films

None

TV
Football and apart from that none really. Did watch an episode of Pointless yesterday and shall be watching a programme on the Great Plague tomorrow so at least there is some.

Music
Since my last update, I've listened to 1332 tunes taking my total up to 3631. Helped now by a scrobbler for Chrome that allows youtube videos to be scrobbled although that has only been the past couple of days.
I've now reached 844 artists.

Most played artists this last 7 days: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Taylor Swift, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Out of the Blue and Murray Gold.

[Phalanges]

(Original post by Emmie3303)
You say it far better than me . I haven't seen The Way Back or The Lovely Bones so I might check them out. She's definitely one to watch; there's no doubt about that.

The Lovely Bones isn't really worth bothering with, but The Way Back is nothing short of excellent. I think that it's one of the most underappreciated films of recent years, nobody went and watched it. And it's not as if it's some obscure indie; it's directed by Peter Weir, and aside from Ronan it stars Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Mark Strong... oh it's just brilliant. I really want to watch it again now.

[Emmie3303]

(Original post by Muffinz)
If you want a good fantasy series to read I defnitely recommend the Age of the Five series by Trudi Canavan - seriously one of the best fantasy series I have ever read! I'll add a note to check out Mr. Sedgwick

This has made me really want to read. I realised when adding everything in that I'm actually in the middle of reading 3 books at the minute... going to read Njal's Saga first though because its on loan from the uni library and it's easter soon...

Thanks for the recommendation; I'll give it a go . I've read the Black Magician trilogy and I loved that so I'd be interested to read more Trudi Canavan books.

Good plan . (I think I'm incurring a fine on one of my uni library books at the moment .) I used to do that too but now I hate reading more than one novel at a time.

(Original post by Phalanges)
The Lovely Bones isn't really worth bothering with, but The Way Back is nothing short of excellent. I think that it's one of the most underappreciated films of recent years, nobody went and watched it. And it's not as if it's some obscure indie; it's directed by Peter Weir, and aside from Ronan it stars Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Mark Strong... oh it's just brilliant. I really want to watch it again now.

Wow, I must have had my head in the sand not to have noticed The Way Back with all those names in it . Mark Strong is in everything at the moment! I'm not complaining though as he's great. I saw One Day a couple of weeks ago and Jim Sturgess was good too so I'd like to see him in something else.

[Emmie3303]

(Original post by SirMasterKey)
Books

Got further into the Hobbit and now also bought Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for 50p from my university's second hand book shop. So will be reading that for pleasure soon.

Films

None

TV
Football and apart from that none really. Did watch an episode of Pointless yesterday and shall be watching a programme on the Great Plague tomorrow so at least there is some.

Music
Since my last update, I've listened to 1332 tunes taking my total up to 3631. Helped now by a scrobbler for Chrome that allows youtube videos to be scrobbled although that has only been the past couple of days.
I've now reached 844 artists.

Most played artists this last 7 days: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Taylor Swift, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Out of the Blue and Murray Gold.

Pointless!

Morte D'Arthur is on my mental to-read list. I got a copy out of the uni library last year that was over 100 years old and never had the time to read more than the first few pages . You'll have to let me know how you get on .

[SirMasterKey]

(Original post by Phalanges)
The Lovely Bones isn't really worth bothering with, but The Way Back is nothing short of excellent. I think that it's one of the most underappreciated films of recent years, nobody went and watched it. And it's not as if it's some obscure indie; it's directed by Peter Weir, and aside from Ronan it stars Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Mark Strong... oh it's just brilliant. I really want to watch it again now.

Didn't that happen with Shawshank Redemption as well?

(Original post by Emmie3303)
Pointless!

Morte D'Arthur is on my mental to-read list. I got a copy out of the uni library last year that was over 100 years old and never had the time to read more than the first few pages . You'll have to let me know how you get on .

I do love a bit of pointless. They've changed the format a bit from the last time I watched it though. More choices for the final, a picture round etc. (picture might have just been the one I watched)

Will do, I kept looking in the second hand bookshop for it, they were loads for £6+ and never bothered buying them, then I saw a copy on the 50p shelf and thought, I'm having that, cover fell off as I was buying it but I don't care about that. I think I'll end up reading it after the Hobbit.

[Phalanges]

(Original post by SirMasterKey)
Didn't that happen with Shawshank Redemption as well?

Indeed. Unfortunately that kind of resurgence doesn't happen too much any more, because people don't go to video stores and take recommendations about films they've never heard of now. Also, Shawshank has incredibly broad appeal due to its pretty upbeat nature, whereas The Way Back doesn't really share that.

[Emmie3303]

(Original post by SirMasterKey)
I do love a bit of pointless. They've changed the format a bit from the last time I watched it though. More choices for the final, a picture round etc. (picture might have just been the one I watched)

Will do, I kept looking in the second hand bookshop for it, they were loads for £6+ and never bothered buying them, then I saw a copy on the 50p shelf and thought, I'm having that, cover fell off as I was buying it but I don't care about that. I think I'll end up reading it after the Hobbit.

Those are pretty recent changes; I like the pictures but I'm not so sure about the finalists getting more choice of topic. It's good though .

It's just a sign that the book is well read . I must admit I like my books to be neat but when it's an older book I don't really care. I've got an old copy of Alice in Wonderland from the 20s that's on the verge of falling apart but it's got character .

[Phalanges]

I've been at home this week for the start of my Easter holidays, which means big changes in my habits that are reflected in this update.

Films
Up until yesterday I'd only watched two films; Office Space, which I really didn't like and found it very unfunny, and then Kill Bill: Vol 2, which I loved. It had far more dialogue than I remembered, and the ending is sublime. Then yesterday I doubled that amount with Best in Show and Space Jam. I watched Best in Show for Mother's Day because my mum is a big doglover, and it was very funny. I love the writing style of Guest and Levy, even if occasionally it dares to veer into intelligent sitcom territory. I've never seen one of their films in the cinema, and I'm not sure what it would actually add to the viewing experience. I hadn't watched Space Jam in over a decade, and I was terrified it wasn't going to live up to my nostalgia. I needn't have worried; it is still excellent. How can you not love a film where Bugs Bunny says: "What kind of a Mickey Mouse organisation would name their sports team The Ducks?"

TV
I discovered Alcatraz last week, and instantly fell in love. It's exactly like Lost, with flashbacks intermingled with current action and interminable mysteries that when answered only leave you with ten more questions. It's definitely not for everyone, but it's the perfect type of TV show for me. I'm a little worried that they have no idea what the answers are to some of their questions and that it ultimately will all fall apart when they attempt to explain how 300 people jumped through time, but I watched ten episodes in five days and still want more. I've also begun to rewatch Game of Thrones in anticipation for the next series, but have only got through one episode so far. And I watched a couple of episodes of Poirot, my ultimate guilty pleasure.

Books
I've finally got around to reading again. I finished off War Horse, which definitely picked up towards the end again and made up for the meandering middle that got me bored. I then read My Korean Deli: Risking it all for a Convenience Store by Ben Howe in a week, which was brilliant. The writer used to be an editor of The Paris Review and consequently is a great writer with only occasional tendencies to veer into pompous language. With the family he married into they opened a New York deli and the book recounts all manner of calamities they got into, as well as detailing his time at the Review. Really enjoyable read. I need a new book to start now; I'm very tempted by Stephen King's 11.22.63, but the size of it is daunting me a little.

Music
As I'm writing this I just hit 1800 plays. I've been listening to Sia, Lana Del Rey and Nero quite a bit recently.

Games
I've started playing Fallout: New Vegas, Fifa 11 and Darksiders. Darksiders seems like a lot of fun; it's basically God of War combined with Legend of Zelda, and while it's not as good at the individual elements as either of those the mashup of the two is certainly amusing. Fifa 11 seems massively improved since the last incarnation I played, and seems quite a bit harder too. I usually only play on it for about 15 minutes at a time, and getting beat by AI is a depressing experience. New Vegas too seems a lot more expanded than Fallout 3, although at the minute I'm not sure if thats for the best. There's certainly a lot more depth to the weapons and armour and everything, but it's not very well explained and I don't really care enough about a lot of it to work out all the nuances. A good example is the game of caravan, which is explained on a single note. Games take a long time, and halfway through the first one you forget all the rules and get bored. Still, the dialogue seems much improved.

[SirMasterKey]

Should get around to doing this again.

TV

Apart from my football games I do have a programme this week. In fact quite a lot. Ok one was Football on 4 (on ITV ) the top European Nights for Manchester United. Some pretty good times on there.

A couple of episodes from Scrubs series 2.

Then an awful lot of the 10th Kingdom. I have birthday money and was going to buy it, but have been watching it on youtube. Love that programme.

Films
Nil

Books
Far far far behind where I aimed to be. Although have read more of the Hobbit.

Music

Now on 3857 plays.

Top plays this week were Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Mis), Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), Frank Sinatra, The Corrs and Taylor Swift.

Also currently have 861 different artists. My quest for 1000 should be easy by the end of the year right?

[Phalanges]

Oh yeah, I forgot about televised sports. I also spent 5 hours watching F1 at the weekend and during the week watched Chelsea play Napoli, PSV play NAC, Spurs play Everton and some college basketball.

[SirMasterKey]

I never forget sport. In general it's the only thing I watch

[Emmie3303]

Time for an update

Music

I'm up to 1014 plays so far + all the other music I've been listening to on my MP3 and in the car. My top artists are: Immediate Music, Kasabian, Zack Hemsey, Snow Patrol and the Kooks.

Books

Novels I've read since last time: Chronicler of the Winds, The Final Act of Mr Shakespeare, Pigeon English, A Dance With Dragons.

Chronicler of the Winds was enjoyable but I felt there was something missing. I didn't feel emotionally attached to any of the characters. The Final Act of Mr Shakespeare was hugely disappointing. I loved the first few chapters and felt the book had real promise but it just went downhill from there. Here is my review if anyone is interested: Goodreads Review. Pigeon English was quite delightful. I finished A Dance With Dragons this afternoon (sitting in the garden in the lovely sun!). It's not my favourite Song of Ice and Fire book but I certainly enjoyed it and I can't wait to find out how it will all end. I can finally read GoT threads without fear of spoilers!

I also read a small fact book about the monarchs of Britain and Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway .

Films

Since the last update I've watched 9 films (Tomorrow, When the War Began; The Eagle; One Day; Evolution; Pregnancy Pact; Hanna; L'illusionniste; Love and Other Drugs; A Warrior's Heart). I'll spoiler my thoughts to keep the post brief; there aren't any spoilers for the films in here .

Spoiler:

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Pregnancy Pact and A Warrior's Heart were both a pile of tripe. I watched the first one out of curiosity as it was based on fact and covered the issue of many American schools refusing to offer contraception to teens despite very high pregnancy rates. Let's just say the film entirely missed the point and was pretty terrible in general. A Warrior's Heart was formulaic and if it wasn't for me being willing to see pretty much anything through to the end I would have turned it off about 20 minutes in.

Tomorrow, When the War Began was not too bad. I believe it's based on a series of books and there will be a sequel, which explains why the film felt more like an introduction to a bigger story. The Eagle was enjoyable enough and I liked the relationship between Marcus Flavius Aquila and Esca. I wasn't so sure about the American accents as they are incongruous with earlier periods and hearing them pulls you out of the world of the film a little. Once I got used to it I didn't really mind. One Day was brilliant. I enjoyed the book and I was worried that the film wouldn't live up to it. Evolution was one of my favourite films at school so I've seen it dozens of times. I've already mentioned Hanna in an earlier post. L'illusionniste was strangely compelling. It's an animation with very little dialogue. All of the feelings and emotions are put across solely with music and animation. It had at its heart a nice, simple story. Finally, Love and Other Drugs was interesting. It managed not to follow all the formulaic story points normally present in a Hollywood-type RomCom. It felt more like a romantic drama than comedy.

TV

I've finished the later series of ER and I'm onto series 1 now. I've reached series 4 in my rewatch of Primeval. I'm still watching Grimm. I like it so far but I'll be disappointed if they don't start developing the overall story arcs a little more. It's settling into a pattern that will get old very quickly if they don't add something extra in there. I watched the first episode of Touch. I enjoyed Heroes so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this show. The cross culture/country setting that was successful in Heroes is at play in this drama too. I've a couple of episodes of Alcatraz recorded and ready to watch. I've also started watching The Apprentice and I'm glad that (I'm about to name the fired person)

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Bilyana was fired. I think if she'd just kept her mouth shut in the boardroom at the end she would not have been fired but she dug herself into a pit by demonstrating how hard it would actually be to work with her.

The TV website we've been using is down for maintenance so I'll finish this later when it's back up .

This week I've also been to the theatre (my first time ever apart from open-air Shakespeare plays and children's plays). I went to see Travelling Light at Leeds Grand Theatre. I'll be honest here, pretty much the only reason I was willing to travel that far was to see Damien Molony on stage. I've developed a talent-crush (someone on another forum coined this phrase ) on him after seeing his performance in Being Human (obviously he's easy on the eyes too but he really is a great actor). The play was fantastic and I was pleasantly surprised to find Karl Theobald on the cast (You might have seen him as Leek on Primeval or in Twenty Twelve). It was energetic, funny, poignant and very enjoyable. The critics hated it but I don't really care what they think anyway. I just thought I'd add this on here since it's culture too .