'Rory's First Kiss' filming @ My Uni

'Rory's First Kiss', the code name for the new Batman movie 'The Dark Knight' (2008) is filming... RIGHT ON MY DOORSTEP!

Currently I am up in the Radio Studios which are situated right above the Film and Television studios, in which a scene involving the Mayor of Gotham is currently being filmed. Unfortunately, the security is pretty tight, so there is no chance of simply waltzing in and chatting to important people. Me and fellow Radio folk might go try to blag our way in and try and get an interview or some comments later on, but for the time being we can but wonder.

The rumor mill informs us the director Christopher Nolan is on campus too, and naturally he would be. I just hope some of the guys being runners have the sense to nab a few sneaky shots of the set before their work is over.

Petition to bring back the sun.

Whatever happened to all the sunshine? Really - where'd it go? I managed to catch a fleeting glance of it at about 7am this morning when I woke up feeling a little worse for wear. Must've been the Guinness I drank last night at the Undercroft whilst chatting to Phil, Chris Jones and Ricky. Anyway, I didn't drink much and the night was just really random as a whole as we only really went for a quick one - but we bumped into a bunch of folk who'd handed in their dissertations or who were celebrating with them.

But, hopefully the sun will back next week, at least for Monday. It's a Smoke Radio night in the Undercroft that night and the theme is beach party, which won't really work unless it's good weather. Let's just hope this dismal, dank, depreciation of the weather corrects itself over the next three days. Maybe bring the Earths orbit a few hundred thousand kilometers closer to the sun? That aught to do it, meteorological catastropehes aside. Actually, come to think of it, everything has been pretty disappointing since Spiderman three. Monday night had a bit of a shoddy turnout because of the bank holi.......... HANG ON!

That's it! Bank Holidays are to blame! I didn't like them before and now this! *grumble mutter* I hate Bank Holiday weeks.

Ever been a seventh wheel?

So whilst Spiderman 3 was a fun outing despite the fact the movie itself was a bit of a let-down, there was one teeny weeny problem. The fact I was amongst the only people there without a partner that evening. Myself, Hannah and Ashleigh were left to bear witness to the horror that is couples. And there were three of them. Six people in total but it can get difficult to tell at times. I would have told them to get rooms, but Pete and Siobaun (sp?) had other plans and Phil, Hatty, Chris and Aoife were one step ahead of me. That's not to say they're off to have a massive orgy or anything, they went to their separate rooms after all. Or at least, that's what they have led me to believe...

In the mean time, myself, the seventh and the eighth wheel can but nurse the scars of the awkward situation. Damn couples. Damn my awkward social graces. Damn Harry Potter. But yay to his Dark Materials Trilogy, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and Transformers.

You see now why I need to find myself someone yes? I have been reduced to taking comfort in nostalgia!

Stoobie reviews... Spiderman 3

I have just felt what could be the final nail in the coffin for the Spider-man movie franchise. It was painful and I am disappointed.

Let me start with an explanation for my disappointment. When the first Spider-man movie was set to be released way back in 2002, I was excited. Having loved Spider-man since I was a kid I had high expectations as I was still only in my early teens, 14 years old if I recall correctly. An age where I should have been raving about girls and... well that's pretty much all that's going through the head of a typical teenage boy. But I digress. The 12A rating had been used for the first time ever with the film stirring controversy amongst parents, worried about their children playing witness to the fantasy violence within its shots. And to top that all off, the film had already been delayed by several months due to a last minute edit following the events of 9/11, in which a sequence of the film was removed where Spider-man catches a helicopter in a web between, you guessed it, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre. Spider-man 2 came in 2004 bringing to the big screen the classic Spider-man villain, Doctor Octopus. The film was nominated for three Oscars, Best achievement in Sound Editing and Best achievement in Sound Mixing and picked up the Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. It was also nominated for two BAFTAS, but did not win them. The film was met well by critics and fans alike and did very well in the box office. I too, enjoyed them immensely.

Thus the hype I have felt for the past few months of it's production. I have followed eagerly as each trailer came out. I have watched in awe as the images of Venom were leaked onto the Internet, dripping through the censor's fingers like some black fluidic - albeit paranormal - symbiote. I even had doubts that they were trying to cram too many villains into one movie, akin to the Batman Movies of the early 1990's. Rubber nipples? George Clooney playing Batman as gay?! Although he does look good with a moustache as we saw in the Oceans Thirteen trailer, he looks like Freddy Mercury of Queen fame. But today I sat down in the cinema with my mates from Uni and we watched.

The first half of the film seemed to go without a hitch. Spidey introduces himself to the audience with a bit of self-narration. New York loves him, Mary-Jane Watson loves him, and there is a chance for a wedding. But what's this? An old friend with a grudge and a new villain of sand with circumstance clouding his moral boundaries? This stuff is noticeably cliched, but works and can be forgiven - as it was in Spider-man 2. Spider-man acquires his new suit and with it comes great power and whoops, responsibility goes to the wind. Spider-man turns into a total twat. Sam Raimi needs a slap for what comes next. Cheese, cheese, cheese. Nothing but freakin' cheese. I won't reveal what occurs but suffice to say, it is totally freakin' hilarious. Funny, but not in a way that compliments the context at all. It spoils what could be a very good mood. In the comics (WARNING: GEEK OVERLOAD) Spiderman turns psycho. Not Emo! He even has a freakin' swept fringe. I could totally relate to Harry and Sandman at this point, even I wanted to hit Spider-man.

But, for all it's stories flaws, the film was visually stunning. The fight sequences were awesome to watch and their rendering of Venom was brilliant. From the look of the pictures leaked on the internet I was afraid they weren't going to pull Venom off, but they do and Topher Grace (see That 70's show) pulls off the character of Eddie Brock well and that of Venom better. If I were to have my way with this movie, I would remove the Sandman element, which in my opinion was totally unnecessary, and the film could have been just as good without a pointless enemy. The character of Venom/Eddie Brock needed far more expansion on and whilst the angle of focussing on the hero has genuinely been an improvement in the super-hero genre, such as the Spiderman movies before this and Batman Begins focussing on Batman, Spider-man 3 fails to tell us enough about the torments of Eddie Brock that would lead him to give up himself so totally to the Symbiote. That said, I am a huge fan of Spider-man and my views on the canon could conflict with those of someone who has merely enjoyed the movies without prior knowledge.

If you enjoyed the action of the last movies, this movie may test your patience. If you enjoyed the emotion of the last movies, you may find yourself cheated as they give the emotional chips a fine layer of melted cheese. But if you are a big enough Spider-man fan or haven't been so tightly gripped by the hype as myself, by all means go see this movie and make up your own mind and please, please tell me if I am wrong. I might just get where you're coming from.

Excelsior Spider-Fans!

Basement Jaxx @ Fabric

Jesus Christ, am I knackered or what? I was in central London last night until about 3am before getting a cab and arriving back on Campus by 4am, having gone to the club 'Fabric' to see Basement Jaxx (or at least two of them). It was most certainly an interesting experience seeing how I had never been clubbing before but it was an experience none the less.

The night started pretty much in Flat 68 at about 9pm, where I joined Phil, Charlotte and Danielle as they were getting ready - me and Phil being on hand to give our opinions on outfits etc. We had some vodka in various other fruity drinks to get the mentality set for the evening before heading down to Flat 72 to join Tallie, Mel, Bernie, Spud and the rest of the party animals - the majority of whom I had never really met before. We set off a little bit later than anticipated, but I wasn't terribly bothered because either way we would still get there well on time.

At the tube station we managed to bump into a load of other people also bound for Fabric, including Chris Mercer and Co. who were going out to celebrate Libby's birthday, so Happy Birthday again to her! I bumped into her later on in the club and we exchanged a few brief words through the pounding baselines. The tube journey was relatively uneventful except for one of our party urinating in the next carriage, and then arriving at Farringdon tube station with the majority of the females in our party busting for the loo. Suffice to say their wasn't a ladies' available as it was out of order, so we all ended up cramming into the men's loo. Nothing reduces the flow like a crowd of women laughing behind you, I had to wait until I was in the bar before I could go properly! Ah, the memories. I shall hold onto them dearly, lol. We also bumped into Will Hewson in the station, who had arranged (presumably) to meet Bernie there. He wasn't enjoying standing in the cold, but then again - none of us were.

We were greeted by drug dealers outside the station, who by the sounds of it could offer every drug under the sun. Pills, tonics, ointments and new Nellllllson Mandela's, Ecstacy Tablets. 'Let us get Munted'. God I love Harry Enfield. Suffice to say me and Phil declined, but Phil used his Bristol charm to befriend the dealer and once more we were returned to an equilibrium in which the possibility of being stabbed was both null and void. We got some cash from a cashpoint, grabbed a few drinks at a bar before realising we were running late to Fabric. Fortunately there were no queues, so we were in pretty quickly thanks to the efficient door staff.

So, initial impressions. Having never been to a club before, I was fairly intrigued, and it's hard to describe if you've never been to a club before. There are lots of little dark corners for dark deeds, but naturally the real fun was to be had amongst the lights, crowds and music. I we can safely call it 'mental'. After getting a traditionally over-priced drink from the Club's bar for Danielle (a legend I might add), whom I owed money for paying for our ticket that night, we headed for the dance floor. We danced quite a fair bit. It was mental and its at this point the memory gets a little hazy around the edges as the alcohol kicked in.

At about 2am Danielle wasn't feeling too good, bless her, so we got ourselves together to look after her and grabbed a Taxi back to halls at about 3am. We stumbled back into Halls at about 4am and wound down for the evening. All in all, a good night. Clubbing might not be the first thing I would choose to do of an evening, but last night was certainly a fun experience I won't soon forget. After all, I got free stuff!