Monday, 31 August 2009
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! :)
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 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?
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!
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.
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
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?!"
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.
"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".
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.
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
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