Uni Life - Cheeky Lamby - a year and a half wiser (or dumber?)

Hi Fellow Bloggers

Finally, Cheeky Lamby has come back to Blogger - sorry for The Rock reference there (for how long this time I don't know hahaha). The last time I wrote a blog was just before I came to York Uni to start a four year course in Chemistry and I must say times sure have changed between now and then, and I myself think that I have sure grown during the (nearly) two years I have been at York Uni.

When I left college I was ready to embrace the Uni world and to become, like thousands of other people in the UK, a student (aka alcoholics, test subjects in clinic trials, party goers, disco lovers, sex driven, and occasional workers). I am not going to lie, my first few weeks (and in general my first term) were very hard for me without a doubt. Uni was a work shock, a huge liftstyle change (as it is not easy leaving all your friends and hobbies back at home to start anew with virtually strangers) and a big culture shock, as I had never gone out clubbing properly or even really drunk alcohol and got drunk.

I have now thankfully got over that extremely difficult period, made lots of new friends and am having the time of my life. In revisiting my blog I found this written in an unfinished blog entry (and this blog continues on from that, hence why it is dated at December 2010 and not early 08th April 2011). This is shown below:

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"Helloooooooo Fellowwww Bloggers :)

It has been a while since I have written a blog this year, because for the last 10 weeks or so I have been at the University of York studying for a degree in Chemistry :) Woop Woop

During the 10 weeks that I have stayed at York Uni, I have been to acquire a bigger uderstanding from the way that people act at my age to the reason why many people who go to University drop out within their first term. As a result I decided to write this new blog, in order for me to convey my new understandings and experiences that I have gained in just under 10 weeks.

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I obviously due to revision in the Christmas period and other reasons never got back to this blog (I am currently trying to revise now whilst writing this blog - hugeeeee fail that is hhahaha). I wish I had finished that blog as well as it would have been very interesting to how I first reacted to Uni life.

So what has changed? That's the big question

- I am now a Shodan-Ho in GKR (a provisional black belt in my Karate style)
- I have been drunk a few times (wayyyy :/ haha)
- I am now House Manager of YSC at York Uni (a fantastic student run society at York Uni)
- I am a drummer for York University Concert Band, and
- I have on a few occasions been drunk (oh dear)

Times are looking good though and I hope the rest of my time at Uni will as good (if not better) than my first year and a bit at uni :)

Don't really think I have anything else to say right now so chou for now (and don't revise too hard now)

Stay Happy
Cheeky Lamby
xxxxx

Mumford and Sons: New artists to look out for?

I myself am a massive fan of music and see it as an extremely important part of my life, as being a musician has enabled me to lead an fulfilling and happy life. As a result I am constantly on the look out for new songs, or old songs that I have never heard, on the radio and everywhere on the internet. One new song which has really got my attention and won me over is "Little Lion Man" by "Mumford and Sons", which was recommended to me by a friend. I think "Little Lion Man" is a great song and could the be the start of an amazing career for the new band.

Hope you enjoy this song as much I do :)

WARNING: This song does contain some strong language
If you would prefer to listen to a clean version go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7e6rsJKIag



Stay Happy
Cheeky Lamby
xxx

Best Improvised / Comedy / Cat Litter Tray Song Ever!

Analysis of a scene: Harry vs. Draco (WITH SPOILERS!)

One of my favourite scenes to appear in a film this summer was the fight scene between Draco and Harry in "Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince", as I believe it contained excellent acting, was beautifully shot and was one of the best scenes in the whole film.

Following the accidental posioning and near death of Ron Weasley, Harry spots Draco Malfoy acting mysteriously in Hogwarts and decides to follow him, as Harry believes Draco was responible for nearly killing Ron in yet another one of his failed attempts to kill Dumbledore. Draco, whom has been protrayed as wearing a black attire throughout the entire film at this point to portray his darkness and inner evil, is then seeing running to the toilets in an upset state, and when he reaches the toilet he is shown taking off his black jacket to reveal a white T-shirt underneath.

The removal of Draco's black jacket brillantly illustrates the pain that Draco's conscience and sanity has been taking during the film, excellently portrays his inner innocence and reveals to the audience that Draco is in fact another innocent young boy with a heart like Harry who wants to rid himself of his darkness. It also shows the audience that Draco's conscience can not go through with the task that Lord Voldermort has assigned to him (which is to kill Dumbledore). Tom Felton is brilliant in this scene as his portrayal of Draco's sadness and collapse in character is stunning, as we then see Draco's face in the mirror which perfectly reinforces the pain that Draco is suffering deep inside of him.

Draco's mood then suddenly changes as he realises that he has been followed to the toilet by Harry. As a result Draco fires a wond spell at him in anger and a fight then breaks out between the pair. The fight between both characters is at an even match until Harry suddenly fires a spell at Draco, that he discovered earlier in the Half Blood Prince's book, which sends Draco flying to the ground and out of sight to the audience. The music in the background in the music suddenly stops in order to make the scene more dramatic and to add more tension, as the audience is left in eager bewilderment as to what as happened to Draco.

Draco's chilling child like cry can then be heard alongside Harry's deap and anxious breathing, as the camera follows Harry as he slowly walks forward to where Draco fell. The audience is then shown the shocking image of Draco on the floor quivering in pain with blood glashes across his chest, with blood slowly seeping out onto the floor. The new attire of Draco Malfoy adds more shock to this part of the scene as the red colour of his blood really shines and stands out on his white blood stained T-shirt. The dark background of the scene also adds to this effect as the eyes of the audience are immediately drawn to the blood gashes on Draco's body.

A close up of Harry's face is then shown as he gasps in horror at what the spell has done to Draco. The black and white attire contrast between Harry and Draco effectively, and temporarily, gives both characters a role revearsal, as for the only time in the entire film Harry is shown to be the evil one where as Draco is portrayed as the innocent one. Due to Draco's earlier sign of "weakness" in this scene he is purposely portrayed lying in a pool of blood in agony to show that Draco has been effectively punished for showing what some would see as inner weakness. As a result Draco is never seen wearing a white T-Shirt again and continues to wear his black jacket attire for the rest of the film.

Professor Snape then runs into the toilets and discovers what has happened and the next shot of the scene shows Harry in front of the camera as Snape is seen peering down as Draco in shock, followed by Harry and Snape both looking at each other in the eye is shock and horror. This part of the scene (LOOK AWAY IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE PLOT OF THE BOOK / FILM) cleverly hints at the identity of the Half Blood Prince, as this part of the scene gives the image of Snape looking back at his younger self whom wrote down the evil spell that Harry used and has now mortally wounded Draco. This part of the scene also hints at a later scene and the eventual murder of Dumbledore by Snape, as both Scenes have similar appearances to one another.

Harry then runs off in fright and horror at what he has done leaving Snape to heal Draco in the toilet, as Snape is shown in the final part of the scene to be muttering a spell with his wand over Draco, whilst the blood that was seeping onto the floor seeps back into Draco and his gashes slowly heal up. This reasures the audience that Draco will survive this attack and ends the suspensation and actions of the scene.

To read my full review on the Harry Potter film simply go to http://cheekylamby.blogspot.com/2009/08/harry-potter-and-half-attempted-film.html

Thanks for reading and remember, keep blogging :)
Cheeky Lamby
xxxx

Best magic trick ever!

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

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