Sunday 30 August 2009

The best scene to appear in a film?

There are many film scenes which are seen as groundbreaking, unique and inspirational, from the plane chasing scene in "North by Northwest", the first cell conversation in "Silence of the Lambs" to the infamous Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fight scene in "Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back". Perhaps one of the best film scenes to appear in 21st Century films so far is the cell / interrogation scene between the Joker and Batman in "The Dark Knight", which is one of, if not the, best action hero films to be made in years.

The entire scene from the surprise appearance of the Batman to the Joker being interrogated just shines with brillance. The acting skills of Heath Ledger as the Joker is outstanding, from the occassional mouth licking to the sheer insanity and loss of fear the character expresses, which shows extremely well in this scene. The dialogue between the Joker and Batman is also an excellent example of batter between the main hero and villain in a film, as the Joker gains the uphand over the Batman by causing him to lose his temparement, despite the fact that is the one trapped in prison with seemingly no means of escape.

Another great contribution to the scene is the music theme in the background during this scene, which appears throughout the film whenever the Joker appears and acts as the Joker's theme. The scene at first starts off in silence and the music gradually builds up in the scene from the moment when Batman appears, with the sound of echoing drums in the background, to when Batman starts getting impatient with the Joker, when a high pitched screeching sound is all that can heard apart from the dialogue, which effectively adds to the tension of the scene, draws the viewer in and gives the scene a claustrophic atmosphere.

This scene also has the most chilling moment in the entire film, when it is made clear to the viewer, and to Batman, that the Joker has absolutely no fear and that Batman can't not threaten him with anything, which makes him one of the most dangerous and mysterious villian to ever appear in a film. Well, that's enough from me, here is the amazing scene in all its glory. Enjoy! :)

Cheeky Lamby
xxxx

Thursday 20 August 2009

The new future of search engines?

I, like millions (if not billions) of web users across the globe, use search engines such as Google and Yahoo everyday to look for websites, images and applications, to gain research for GCSE's, A levels and Degrees etc, and to just generally browse through the billions of webpages and websites that are available to anyone with an internet connection and love for technology.

The search engine I have always used myself is the brillant search engine Google, due to it's quickness in searching and general ease of use. I however, like possibly many other users of search engines, can become frustrated when typing in a question like "How many people live in the UK today?" or any similar queries, produces millions of results and webpages and you receive no (or a very vague) answer to your query, despite the millions of results given by the search engine.
These problems may soon become a thing of the past thanks to the new search engine (if you want to call it that), WolframAlpha, which I came across thanks to the technologic programme, Click, which is produced by the BBC. This search engine is designed to give facts about anything you type into the query box, and when I say facts I mean many many facts. The search engine itself is still under development at the moment as there quite a few queries that produce blank results, which will hopefully be ironed out in the future, but the site despite this has some pretty amazing features.
For example whenever you type a date into the database, it gives almost everything you would want to know about that day, from what time the sun set that day to how many days have occured between that day and the present. When you type in a city it gives it's current population, it's location and nearest major cities, and when you type in a name it gives you it's popularity, popularity by year and how many living people are estimated to have that name at present. If you type in two cities or two names together it also automatically compares them for you, e.g. by giving you the distance between the two cities and a graph showing the difference in popularty of the two names over the course of history.

There are also many other features that the search engine can perform. When you type in Hello, it talks back to you (but don't expect a long conversation), typing in "To be or not to be?" produces the rest of the quote instantly, and when you put in a query stating your age, sex and nationality, it tells you how much you count for the total population in the world. Fancy stuff!

The search engine at the moment can only perform simple and certain tasks, like the ones listed alongside the query box which the engine suggests you try out, and I myself may only use it a few times to get quick and reliable facts that more reliable in comparsion to Wikipedia (especially for information on chemical elements and compounds etc in order to help me with my degree). The site however does give an early sign of promise and I can not wait to see what the site is like in the future when it is, if it ever will be, completed and fully functional. This search engine has my fully support. So for anyone out there who experiences the same problems with search engines that I do, keep an eye out for WolframAlpha, and if you want to check it out yourselves go to http://www.wolframalpha.com/ or to keep up with the engine's progress check out it's blog: http://blog.wolframalpha.com/. You can even follow it on it's twitter, facebook or it's RSS Blog pages if you wish or why not try it here for yourself?

Until my next blog, keep on blogger fellow bloggers :)
Stay Happy
Cheeky Lamby
xxx

Tuesday 11 August 2009

Harry Potter and The Half-Attempted Film

Every year films from different companies, directors and genres, along with actors and actoresses from across the globe, compete every year to become the Summer Blockbuster of the year, by capatalizing on the joys, freedom and enjoyments that come with the glowing sun and happy weather of summer. This year many films from the humourous, if not controversial, acts of "Brüno", the Sci-Fi world of "Star Trek", technological crime fighting of "G.I.Joe" to the return of the robots in "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen", competed for the title of the Summer Blockbuser of 2009.






























One of the most high anticipated films of the summer was the eagarly awaited new Harry Potter film: "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". The sixth film in the trilogy would finally enable viewers to see a visual representation of the relationships between the main characters reach their climax, the rise of Voldermort's power over the Wizarding and Human world, and the death of a major character (which I won't spoil just in case there is still someone out there who doesn't know what happens) that would set alight the battle to defeat Voldemort once and for all. Would the magic of Harry Potter and his wizarding chums dazzle the summer viewers of 2009 and win the honour of the best summer film?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood follows on from the last film left off, as Harry Potter and friends once again travel to Hogwarts to face new challenges not just in education (and relationships) but against the ever growing power of Lord Voldemort in the Wizarding World. In the sixth film things have become much darker as the influence of Lord Voldemort grows stronger and stronger as he hatches an evil plan, things have become more complex as feelings between the major film characters begin to fully emerge, and Harry longs to discover the identity of the mysterious Half Blood Prince whoms guides Harry in his potions classes. Would Lord Voldemort prevail in his task or would Harry Potter and his chums once again save the day?


I myself was looking forward to the realease of the sixth Harry Potter film as the sixth book was one of my favourite of the whole serious, mainly as the characters start reaching adulthood and the love between Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny is one of the main plots running through the book (as well as the shocking death of ......... and the development in character of the culprit). I also believed that if the film was done right it had the potential to be the best film in the series yet and the best film of the year, due to the amazing script that could be adapted from the novel.

The film however did not meet my expectations and was not what I had hoped for at all. In my opinion the plot just seemed to stratch the surface of detail and accuracy that was present in the book, and seemed only to focus on the relationships between the characters with only parts of the story being squashed in at certain points of the film. The acting skills of Daniel Radcliffe were about as wooden as his wand, and Rupert Grint was only slighty better (although I believe both of them were not given a part that enabled them to show off more of their acting talents). Emma Watson, who in my opinion has always been the better actor out of the main three actors, however made up for the other two by giving another good and consistent performance.

One character's development who I believe really shone through was Draco Malfoy, as portrayed by Tom Felton, as the gradually decline in Malfoy's sanity was excellently protrayed by Tom and the film's script. The scene where Draco and Harry fight in the toilets was one of the best scenes in the film, as it was eye pleasing, contained good acting and was shot perfectly. (To read more about this scene in another blog I have written go to http://cheekylamby.blogspot.com/2009/09/analysis-of-scene-harry-vs-draco-with.html). It is a pity however that there weren't more scenes like this in the film, and I think this scene is proof that the most developed child actor in the Harry Potter films is Tom Felton by far.



The film seemed to just focus on the tumours and happiness of the growing relationships between the characters in the film, and the story of fighting Lord Voldemort was treated like a second less important storyline. I admit that I did want the film to have a heavy focus on the development between the characters, as it was perhaps my favourite plotline in the book, but on the other hand I think the film emphaised it too much, and as a result made it a film that was more targeted to teenagers than family viewers. The part of Lavendar, don't even get me started. The actress who portrayed her was good don't get me wrong, but she was more like some who had escaped out of a mental institution (or even Askaban for that matter) and freaked me out a little too much.

Humour in the sixth film seemed non-existent in comparison to the other films, and the joke where Harry says "But I am the chosen one!" had been played so often on TV and film trailers that by the time I saw it on screen it had lost its effect and only a few people in the cinema laughed at this point. The magical ability for Harry's Scar to magicially disappear and reappear during shots also perplexed me. There was also a big buildup before the film's release about the kissing scene between Ron and Hermione, which as far as I am aware never happened!


During the course of the film many hints were also given to the upcoming events of the seventh and final film, some of which I think were good to add and others I think should have been left out all together. The scene where Harry touches a Horcrux in Dumbledore's office effectively gives a hint to a major plotline in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (which I will not reveal just in case some people still don't know how the story ends), and in my opinion was nesscary in the film.

I think the hints to Snape's true alliance (which is revealed in book seven) however were unesscary, because due to the book giving no hints to the readers the revelation of whose side Snape has been on since the beginning has a greater impact and shock factor on the reader. The final now will not have this impact. The film also hints to the future clash between Harry and Ron in terms of the relationships in the group, as references to the possibilty of Harry and Hermonine being more than just friends are made in the film (even by Dumbledore which was a bit weird), which plays an important part in the plot of Harry Potter seven.


To conclude Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince was nevertheless a good and enjoyable film to see in the cinema, despite a few flaws here and there and what felt like a half attempted film overall. The film however for me did not live up to its expectations and failed to dazzle me (which I had sincerely hoped it would), and in my opinion Harry Potter 6 was not the film of Summer 2009 (although it turns out it made the most money than any other film out this summer and in the entire year so far - interesting). Better luck next time for Harry Potter Seven guys.

Stay Happy, Cheeky Lamby
xxx

Monday 10 August 2009

Accurate Banter

An extract of some dialogue from one of the opening scenes from "The Street" from series 3 episode 3, which I think perfectly highlights the problem of Racism in today's society. A racist man called Kieran has just found out that his Boss, Maria, is black and is drinking with her at a bar. He has bought them another round of drinks and has quickly gulped some of his drink down.

Kieran: "You didn't said you were black"
Maria: "I knew it"
Kieran: "I would a thought it worth mentioning"
Maria: "Why's he drinking so fast I said to myself, because he's obviously got something to say. Something that he can't say sombre because he lacks the balls to say it sombre"

Kieran: "I don't like black women! No its not it's true it's black men i don't like, and black women,..... and black women have usually been with black men, so therefore avoid black women too. Now I'd know that I'd sooner go with an ugly white bird than a beautiful black one! No that's not true either cause you know I wouldn't see the beauty I don't see the beauty I can't see the beauty I just see the blackness."

Maria pauses for a moment

Maria: "Am I supposed to totter out of here now in high heels clutching a hacky?"
Kieran: "Whatever"
Maria: "Would you say that to a black man?"

Kieran thinks for a second

Kieran: "Possibly not"
Maria: "Certainly not!..... But I don't hate you for being a coward,..... I don't hate you for being a racist either. How can I when it's not your fault? It's born out of poverty and ignorance, it's born with bigative parents, narrow minded parents, parents who themselves have bigative narrow minded parents. How can I blame you for being a racist anymore than I can blame some homeless crippled beggar for having bad teeth?"

Maria chuckles. Kieran stares at her for a while and then quickly stands up and leaves

Maria shouts at him as he leaves: "Going so soon?!"

Tuesday 4 August 2009

The Big Scotland Secret Revealed!!!!

If you always wanted to know what was under a Scotman's Kilt here is your answer!

Miles Ahead Success and Review

Hi fellow Bloggers :)As many of you bloggers who live in the Stockton will know, the Stockton International Riverside Festival 09 and the Stockton Fringe Festival 09 recently took place this weekend (July 30th - August 2nd 2009), and I had the great pleasure of playing and being one of two drummers in a newly formed Jazz Group, called "Miles Ahead", in the Georgian Theatre during their free Jazz day on August 2nd.

Me along with seven other Jazz beginners / fanatics of different ages, backgrounds, and experiences from the North East of England, had been taking part in Milestones Workshops held by Adrian Tilbrook of jazzaction, Andy Champion and Noel Dennis (all of whom are some of the best jazz musicians in the North East, if not in England) since late May to late July. There were nine workshops in total (I myself attended seven of them) followed by a performace at the Stockton Fringe Festival 09, in order to show our development and progression in Jazz to a wider audience.

During our performance we played six pieces in total: Footprints, Watermelon Man, You Don't Know What Love Is (Saxophone solo ballard piece), So What, Song for My Father, and Now's The Time.

The performance went down extremely well and I believe we all played brillantly. I hope that there are more Miles Ahead workshops sessions in the future and that this is the start of great things to come :). Following the Fringe Festival I recently came across a short review of our performance from a Jazz Blog called Bebop spoken here, a blog which I have been a fan of for some time. Our performance was well received by Bebop and reads as follows:

"It was asking a lot of the Miles Ahead group to follow Alter Ego and Zoe but they did it brilliantly. A mixture of youth and experience they played some tricky scores expertly and the girl saxes all had good solo spots. The lead alto's feature on "You Don't Know What Love Is" being particularly outstanding. As Noel said, "The future of jazz is in safe hands."
If anyone can give me the names I'll carve them here with pride
".
http://lance-bebopspokenhere.blogspot.com/2009/08/stockton-jazz-festival-part-one-12-noon.html

I would just like to says thanks to Bebop for writing a lovely review of our preformance which I think is justly deserved.

Until next time,

Stay Happy :)

Cheeky Lamby
xxxxx

Monday 3 August 2009

MJ Tribute Song: Is it a Thriller?

Following the recent death of pop star icon Michael Jackson, there has been massive media coverage from his last few days to the early Jackson 5 days, with many news stories covering the suspicious death of the star, ghostly appearances, and his memorial. Many people themselves across the internet have also paid their own respect to MJ, with thousands of new Youtube videos popping up and receiving huge viewing numbers, from home made ones to short clips of stage performances, and facebook applications and fan clubs about MJ have started annoying us a little too much.
One media item that has particularly caught my eye is a MJ Tribute song that has been made by an remix artist called Norwegian Recycling. The artist himself is from (you guessed it) Norway and is currently studying a Audio Engineering degree at a University in Austrailia, whom (as his name suggests) mixes old and new songs together to create one whole new song and sometimes creates a mixed video to go with it when it is posted on YouTube. Norwegian Recycling is another example of an artist who has gained attention and fans through the use of YouTube, and is prehaps best known for his "How Six Songs Collide" remix. I myself become a fan of Norwegian Recycling after a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video with the "How Six Songs Collide" remix in the background, and I was blown away by how all the songs included in the mix had been put together so affectively into one song and gave the impression that it was an original song that had not been made up of individual ones. I am now a subscriber to his YouTube Channel and follow him on all sorts of internet socializing websites.

As a result of loving Norwegian Recycling's music, I became intrigued when I found out that he had created a MJ Tribute remix song and had made a video for it on Youtube. The remix itself is called "Wana Be Mixin' Somethin'" (taken from the MJ song "Wana Be Startin' Somethin'") and consits of 13 songs in total, seven of which are MJ songs. The songs included in the mix are:














When I first heard this remix of Michael Jackson I was astounded by how effectively and seemingly easily all the MJ songs had been mixed together, along with all the other non-MJ songs, which I believe gives this remix song a bit more edge than any other remixes of MJ across the internet.

When I read the comments that people had left about this Video, I noticed that many people thought that the song should have had more MJ songs included in the mix. After becoming a fan of this remix and reading the notes that Norwegian Recycling had made about the remix, I however thought differently as I began to realise the importance of the non MJ's songs in the remix.

After reading the notes about the remix on YouTube I realised that the non MJ songs had been added for their lyrics, in order to give the remix a more personal and heartfelt tribute to MJ himself. For example the first non MJ song that is heard in the remix is Justin Timberlake's "Lovestoned", when after the Words "Michael Jackson is" from the song Thriller are heard, the lyrics "Freaky and I like it" can be clearly heard, which I think cleverly reflects many people's opinions of the pop star. The use of the lyrics from the other non MJ songs included in the remix are also cleverly used and makes the song have a more profound and lasting effect on the listener.

The remix itself starts with the beat of "Billie Jean" in the background, which then run throughout the entire song, followed by the lyrics of "Smooth Criminal" and "Bad", which at the beginning of the song swap between each other. These three MJ's songs all fit together perfectly and, in my opinion, catch the attention of the listener effectively. I also think Norwegian Recycling made the right choice by using the backbeat of "Billie Jean" in the background, which is one of the most popular songs MJ ever made. After the first non MJ lyrics appear in the song, as mentioned earlier, and more lyrics from "Smooth Criminal" and "Bad" are played, a remixed version of Timbaland's lyrics from "Give it to me" can be heard which pay tribute to the pop star, by expressing how MJ was one of a kind singer whom was respected around the world, enabled other future singers to rise to fame and was unbeatable in his prime.

The remix then takes off as, after a long gradual build up, the Chorus of "Billie Jean" comes in followed by an accurate reflection of MJ's life, as "Michael Jackson is centre of attention" can be heard followed by a section from the song "D.A.N.C.E", which is the only bit that I don't like of the remix, as the song sounds a bit tinny (although this is what the original sounds like) and is not as good quality as the other songs that used in the remix. This however I believe is the only flaw of the remix and that it is only a minor flaw in itself.

The remix then really takes off even more when a guitar riff followed by a section of the Chrous from "Black or White" and more lyrics from "Give it to me" are played together, giving the song a more lively feel. Lyrics from "Dangerous" followed swiftly by a extended end to the chorus of "Smooth Criminal", and more Timbaland, "D.A.N.C.E" and "Bad" lyrics can then also be heard. An extract from "Say it Right" is then heard in the remix which gives the song a chilling atmosphere and is the most effective non MJ used in the entire song as "Michael Jackson is everything to me" is echoed in the background.

The song carries on with more lyrics from Timbaland, followed by "Smooth Criminal" playing over the top of the end chorus of "Billie Jean". Another non MJ song then also gives the song a chilling feeling as "Micheal Jackson is dead for History" is echoed in the background. The song then ends with the lyrics "I'm sorry Ms. Jackson, I am for real" repeating itself, which, as the artist himself has stated, is a tribute to MJ's daughter, as the song slowly fades out.

"Wanna be Mixin' Something" is the most cleverly, effective and best remixes that I have heard in ages, if not ever, as I believe the combination of MJ and non MJ songs give the remix an unique feel and that the non MJ songs are essential to portraying the legacy and love that people had for this pop star and actually makes it a tribute song. I also think that this remix is perhaps Norwegian Recycling's best remix, and is on a par (and if not better) than his classic "How Six Songs Collide" remix.

If you want to see more of Norwegian Recycling's remixes then check out his YouTube webpage: http://www.youtube.com/user/cappapie?blend=1&ob=4, or look out for his pages on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and other social interacting websites, in order to learn more about the artist and to receive more information about his future and past projects.

Thanks for reading and Stay Happy
Cheeky Lamby
xxxx

Saturday 1 August 2009

London - days 3 and 4

My holiday in London has finally come to an end and I enjoyed every second of it (apart from the noise of traffic, speeding vechiles, and drunks singing outside the hotel every night :( lol). The last two full days in London were as exciting if not better than the first two days of London, despite the fact that me and my mum both got more and more tired as the days went on.

For our 3rd day in London, we decided to go and see the Tower of London, followed by a little visit to the National Science Museum. The Tower of London was really enjoyable, as it offered many amazing and varied exhibitions for adults and children; from the mysterious murder of the Twins in the Tower, to the graffiti of prisoners from as early as the 16th Century, and enabled everyone, no matter what age or nationality, to enjoy themselves (although some parts got extremely crowded and busy). The torture chamber itself was a shocking reminder of the former brutality that ran through our history and give brutal images of how prisoners were tortured in the Tower. We also happened to bump into a Beefeater who had some friends who had just bought a house in my home town! Small world.

The best part of the Tower of London was undoubtedly the Royal Crown Jewels exhibition, as we were able to see Royal Crowns and Jewels from King Henry VII's Reign to the Modern Day within an arm's distance. I myself was totally amazed by how close I was able to see the Royal Crown that the Queen herself had worn for her Coronation. When I first heard how close people were able to get to the Royal Jewels, I had some concern as to whether there was enough security in place to protect these valuable mementoes of British History. My concerns however were quickly removed when I myself entered the Chamber where the Jewels were kept, and was introduced to the huge metallic doors that led to the Chamber. It was clear to see that millions (if not billions) of pounds had been invested in the protection of the Jewels and that I therefore had no reason to worry.

Once we had finished at the Tower of London we then took the Tube to the National Science Museum, which was only around 15 minutes away by tube from the Tower. Once we reached the Museum and had eaten our lunch in the eating lounge provided by the Museum, we only had a short long around as we quite tired, although we had only looked around the Tower of London. We had a short look around the Ground floor, The showcase of old and new Household applications in the Basement and then had a look at the History of Medicine on the highest floor (which I personally believe couldn't have done with little bit more money being invested in it).

Once we had rearranged ourselves for our third theatre show in London after going back to the hotel, we once again had our tea at The Stockpot, where I treated myself to a delicious apple crumble with custard :) Good Times. The third theatre show we went to see was Calendar Girls, as we are big fans of the film and were interested to see how it was done in a London theatre production.




The show itself did not quite meet our expectations, as, although the show was good none the less, it felt too much like a show that we could have seen in Darlington. The show had many funny one-liners throughout, (quite a few which were unfortunately from the film and therefore were not extremely funny for us), humourous interactions between the characters, and the infamous Calendar shooting scene was brillantly done. The play itself also had a good mix of humour as well as sadness, as the particular scene when letters from fans of the calendar, cancer sufferers and cancer survivors were dropped onto the stage was extremely moving. The line when one of the Calendar Girls read out the line "I don't have much to laugh about now, as I am now 16 and have been told that I will not reach 18" was extremely moving as I was reminded that many people of my age are affected by Leukaemia. Despite these nice touches however Calendar Girls would be our least favourite play that we would see in London.

After having another fairly restless sleep in the hotel, (London just wouldn't stop being noisy), our 4th and final full day of London beckoned. For our last day in London we had decided to visit an attraction which I had always wanted to see if we went down to London and had be longing to see ever since we arrived: The famous wax model attraction Madame Tussauds. We aimed to arrive for the opening of the shop at around 9.30 am, the time when Madame Tussauds opened. We arrived there after getting the bus at around 9.40 am and entered the attraction believeing the place to be very quiet, only to find that we had more a hour long queue to join before we could pay for our tickets and then go and see the wax models :( Bad Times.




After queuing for ages and walking past fairly amusing attractions that were designed to stop you becoming bored whilst you were waiting, (my favourite one being the clay shape of David Beckham's foot in it's kicking pose), we finally entered the attraction at a quote decent / fair unquote price of £25 per adult, although we luckily got one ticket free due to a deal we got from getting train tickets down to London. The first part of the attraction included going up a lift to be met by what we were told was a paparazzi / red carpet entrance to the first set of wax models. It was however more like walking along a small corridor with a redish crapet, with drunk people shouting at you from across the street to gain your attention flashing white lights at you! This however would be luckily one of only a few bad parts of the attraction.

In the first part of the attraction we entered the film premiere / red carpet / party room, where we where met by film stars and actors, from the likes of David and Victoria Beckham to George Clooney. I must say that I was astounded by the style of the models, although a few odd ones like John Travolta and Leonardo DiCaprio looked a little bit off, and before you knew I was all over the place dying to get photos with the wax models of my choice. Within a few minutes both me and my mum discovered a new meaning to the word "Busy" and "Overcrowded" as you literally had to get yourself as close to the wax model as possible without ruining anyone's photos, and then throw yourself in front of the model before any else beat you to it, quickly smile for the camera and then get the hell out of there! It was so busy in Madame Tussauds that it was beyond ridiculous. It was so easy to miss a model due to the crowds of people covering them from your view by queuing up to see another model, and it was quite amusing to see people swarm around madly to get to one model, whilst some where left standing to one side with virtually no one next to them.

After getting through the first room of models we then came across a small room dedicated to Teen Idols, which only featured two wax models: Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus / Hannah Montana, and I jumped at the opportunity to get a picture with the so called heart throb Zac Efron, whom every other girl apart from me seems to druel over. After getting my pic snapped next to Zac Efron, along with a person with a massive camera taking my picture and heading me a piece of paper with a number on, we entered the movie / film characters / actors room, where I was surprised to see the likes of Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk standing in the room. This room was packed with amazing models, Jim Carrey being my personal favourite in this room, although it was a bit disappointing that you couldn't really go up and get a picture with the Wax Model of Indiana Jones being chased by a boulder.

After then walking past a special staircase that was solely dedicated to Alfred Hitchcook and his famous films, we entered the Sport room section, which lead on to British icons, music stars, and then onto famous world leaders and icons. The Sport section was perhaps my favourite section in Madame Tussauds as it contained a wide range of stunning and excellent models from all sorts of sports past and present, although why they had a was model of a gymnast in the ceiling which you could only see by accident was beyond me. In this room I was able to line up a shot with Tiger Woods, sit next to Pele, meet The Greatest, and battle with an all mighty All Blacks rugby player. Brillant :)
In the Royal / British Section I only stopped to get a picture with Princess Diana, as I was interested in visiting the royal family, Shakespeare (?) or Stephen Hawkings in wheelchair and everything. When we reached the music section we walked in to see some real people standing on the main stage showing some dance moves to youngsters, most noticeably the Moon Walk, and saw a massive crowd to our left. It was soon afterwards that we realised everyone was queuing to get a picture with the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and that the dancers had been hired in order to cash in on the death of the pop star. After getting pictures with the likes of the Beatles, Robbie Williams, and a crap Gary Barlow, I decided to not queue for a picture with Michael Jackson and headed onto the next section.

In the world leader section, world leaders (surprisingly) and world icons from the past and present were there in their wax model states, along with a random corner containing quote slighty nasty unqoute models with the likes of Hitler and Saddam Hussein :S. I was also surprised to see Boris Johnson there, along with randomly the Vice President of Australia. Hummm. After getting a picture with the one and only Barack Obama, and getting another piece of paper with a number on it, we then headed to the Scream section which was a section that contained a scary ride along with real live actors. I however not wanting to go on the ride skipped this part with my mum and headed onto the next section.

After skipping the ride we came to what I thought was the end of Madame Tussauds, where as it exactly turned out to be a British TV section, as we were greeted by Graham Norton who would randomly say things like "Are you trying to poke me?", and then went on to meet the likes of Ant and Dec, Lou and Andy and Barbara Windsor. We then walked out onto a Andy Warhol section, where the likes of Marylin Monroe standing in her famous pose over a wind vent could be seen, and then in final part of the walk came to the shop part, where I purchased my Zac Efron keychain and fridge magnet (my Barack Obama picture vanished into thin air :S). We therefore finished our adventure in Madame Tussauds by looking through the shop, which sold lots of crap, and took some pics with a few random other wax models whose residence was now in shop, Mr. T being the most noticeable one.

Once we had seen the wonderful and some what wacky wax models in Madame Tussauds, we once again travelled to the National Science Museum in order to see a bit more of the items on show and to gain a better picture of the museum in general. Although we were once again quite tired by the time we had got to the Science Museum (even after eating our emergency supplies of chocolate flapjack), I was amazed by the museum items I would see that day in the Modern World Gallery. I was able to see an older model of mum's very first car, part of a spaceship that was actually used in the Apollo 11 Space mission, and saw the actual model that James D. Watson and Francis Crick had used in 1953 to illustrate the structure of DNA to the world. I was speechless. I was only disappointed by the fact that the very camera that taken the infamous picture of the young girl in Vietnam, Phan Thị Kim Phúc, running towards the photographer Nick Út after a naplam attack in Vietnam, had been removed to be seen in a Museum in America.

After seeing a few more parts of the Museum we then decided to catch the bus back to the hotel in order to see our final musical in London: The Lion King. One of, if not, my most favourite films from my childhood years, which I believe became one of the early signs and stepping stones for my love and future in music and drums. Me and mum had been wanting to see this musical ever since it had come out and could not wait to see what the play was like.




The start of the play was amazing as animals in the scene where Simba is shown to all the animals at Pride Rock appeared from everywhere, including two antelopes, an elephant and a rhino who, to the great shock of the audience, appeared in the Circle Stands and through the audience themselves. I myself was totally amazed by the costumes that were worn by the actors in the play, from Scar's stretchable neck, the puppetry of Zazu, the leopard, the wildebeest in the stampede scene, to Timon who, although he was controlled by a man in a green costume, was in my opinion the best costume / puppet in the entire show, as you soon didn't see the man in green costume and actually believed that he was there in the flesh.
As I was not sure whether the show was literally going to be just a musical or a musical with the original story of the film, I was pleasantly surprised when the play was a stage version of the film (with a few new songs and some even from the second film being thrown in), as I knew the play would be a lot harder to pull off in this format. The play however pulled it off brillantly as the scene changes, costumes and imagery in the play were outstanding, from the amazing reenactment of the stampede scene, the scene when Mufasa's face appears in the water, to the costumes of all the animals in the animal kingdom (with the leopard being one of my personal favourites). A few of the new songs included in the play may not have done the play any justice (although the song "He Lives in You" from the second film was used brillantly), but the original songs thankfully made up this. The part when Ballet was included was also a little bit confusing and in my opinion a wee bit too close to being nudity, but thankfully this part only happened briefly. The play may not have been the best we saw in London, due to the fact I have now unfortunately grown up and am no longer as fanatic about the Lion King as I originally was, it was definitely worth see and will be a musical that I will never forget.

After having our fourth, and yet another restless, night in London, we simply just had our Breakfast and went for a short walk in London, before eventually catching our train back home from London's King Cross. We also before returning back home searched for the infamous Platform 9 and three quarters that had been placed in the station, only to find that it had been moved from it's original location and had unfortunately been left to one corner of the station and out of sight. Me and my Mum also thought that they could have made it look nicer and more presentable to the public, but I nonetheless enjoyed taking a photo next to it to make it look as if I was flying into the platform :). Good Times

Our London adventure had come to an end, but it would certainly be one that we would never forget or ever wish to erase from our minds :)

Stay Happy London
Cheeky Lamby
xxxx