Archive for Review
Quantum of Indifference
So earlier this week I saw Quantum of Solace, the next instalment in the revamped James Bond series. Unfortunately, after the wonders of Casino Royal, I felt it was a bit of a let down. It was still an alright action film, just not up to the ridiculously high standards set by its predecessor.
There were two main problems, the first of which was the plot. There didn’t really seem to be much meat on it, just the lingering aftertaste that it was simply there to thread one action sequence into another. The film opened immediately with a car chase, and because it wasn’t set up in any way – who were these people, and why were they chasing Bond – I found it a little difficult to get into. All it needed was about 30 seconds before hand to give us some idea of what was going on.
The second problem was the action. In Casino Royale, all the action had been fairly realistic, or at least plausible. This time, the action felt a little more ‘comic book’. Would Bond really have survived falling off a roof, through a large glass window, and landing on metal scaffolding? Well, maybe - he is awesome after all – but wondering about that drew me out of the film.
Although the action may have been more comic, the locations were still all realistic, which I think jarred slightly. If Bond is going to be blown up and thrown around in an over-the-top action style, he needs to do it somewhere appropriate, such as the interior of a hollowed-out volcano lair, or atop a giant radio telescope. Wondering around a desert doesn’t quite cut it I’m afraid.
Nevertheless it wasn’t terrible by any means. If you like Bond films or action films in general, then there’s no good reason not to see it. Just don’t expect another Casino Royale. Final score? 7/10
Rapid Electronics
We interrupt you’re scheduled blogging to bring you a commercial endorsement. I placed an order with Rapid Electronics at 8pm last night, and it arrived just after lunch today. I was so impressed with this I thought I’d recommend Rapid to anyone who reads this and buys electronics, especially as it was free delivery! 
We now return you to your regular blogging.
Swansea Lite
After visiting Swansea (which I did this weekend), I normally like to post reviews of good local places to eat, particularly those that serve a decent cooked breakfast to remedy a heavy night’s drinking. However, this time my host was kind enough to whip me up a lovely home-cooked breakfast, so instead I’m going to talk about the No Sign Bar.
We’ve been to the No Sign bar before, and it’s pretty good. It’s technically a wine bar, although they do serve other drinks too. The prices are about average; reasonable, but not especially cheap. The service that I’ve had there has always been quick and friendly, and there’s always been a really nice atmosphere. From what I’ve seen of the clientele, the tend to be in the twenty to forty-something range, so it’s certainly not a chav nightspot!
Of particular interest is the building itself, apparently one of the oldest pubs in Swansea. It’s not very wide, but goes back a very long way, giving it room for two separate bars and plenty of seating. It normally looks packed when you first go in as a lot of people tend to crowd near the front, but if you walk past them there was normally free tables towards the rear, available in small booths or large enough to fit groups around.
If you’re looking for reasonable prices, a nice atmosphere and somewhere where you can sit and chat with your mates over a glass of wine or a few beers, then you could do a lot worse than the No Sign Bar.
For other reviews of venues in Swansea, search this blog for the tag ‘Swansea’.
Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Terminator – The Sarah Conner Chronicles rocks. A pretty unequivocal start to a mini-review you might think, especially as only one episode has aired so far on Virgin 1 (Thursdays at 10pm, they’ve been plugging it pretty heavily).
The series is set between Terminator 2 and Terminator 3, and focuses around the efforts of Sarah Connor to keep her teenage son – and future leader of mankind – safe from Terminators and other nastiness. She’s ably assisted in this mission by a female Terminator, convincingly played by Summer Glau (River Tam in Firefly/Serenity) , who does the whole “I am a robot” thing very well. I was also pleased with the way they dived straight into the action, but then there was no real need to set-up the characters, as that was done for them in the films.
The Virgin 1 page concerning the series is here, and the official website is here. The former will apparently carry a ‘catch-up’ for each episode as the series progresses, for the benefit of anyone who missed the start. The latter contains a rather odd flash animation that might not be entirely work suitable if you have a prudish boss.
A great start to a potentially awesome series, I urge anyone who likes action, science fiction or robots to tune in.
Cloverfield
I saw Cloverfield at the weekend, and now I’m going to talk about it briefly. While I’m not going to give away any plot details, there’s a risk that some of my comments might reveal certain things, so if you haven’t seen it yet and are planning too, then stop reading now. You’ve been warned!
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Ok, so on the whole I enjoyed this film. I really liked the “point of view” concept. I thought the start and general build-up was very tense and well paced. The middle was gripping and exciting.
But I was a bit unsure about the ending. The final, final clip from the original film on the tape of the outing to the fair was just pure cheese, but I can live with that. :p
A more interesting debate is whether there should have been a summing-up. It was presented as a military intelligence video after all, so there could have been a ‘debriefing’ where an analyst tried to make sense of what we saw, and fill in some info. This was kind of what I was expecting, although I’m pretty much 50/50 on whether this would have been a good idea or not. The artistic half of me says “no”, as this would have detracted from the impact and ‘amateur’ feel of the rest of the footage, but the half of me that wants to know what the f*ck was going on begs to differ. 
So minor complaints aside, it was a good film. On a side note, click here to see an apparent concept sketch from the film, when they were still deciding on what the monster should look like. I actually think this concept is better than the final version!
Oh, also I’ve heard a rumour that there’s going to be a Cloverfield 2, about the same event, but from the POV of a different group of people. I think this is actually quite a good idea, but hey’d have to come up with some interesting new twist to keep it fresh. Maybe there were actually two monsters? Who knows…
War of the Worlds – Musical Stage Show
I went to see the stage show of Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds last night. And it was AWESOME! Seriously, it was amazing. I’d have gone to see it again tonight if I’d had a ticket.
So what’s it all about then? Well, H.G Wells wrote the original story ‘The War of the Worlds’, back in 1898. It told the tale of a Martian invasion of Earth using giant walking fighting machines with heat rays, and was remarkably ahead of it’s time. Then there was the 1953 film, and the recent remake with Tom Cruise (boo). But in 1978 a guy called Jeff Wayne set the story to music and released a concept album. My dad had the album on vinyl, and I remember seeing it when I was younger and thinking it was very, very cool.
So when Jeff Wayne gathered most of the original cast and went on tour, I jumped at the chance to go and see it. The entire album was preformed live by a mini orchestra, with Jeff Wayne conducting, and people on stage singing the songs. While this was going on, a massive screen behind the stage showed a computer animation of the story unfolding – narrated by a giant floating holographic head of Richard Burton (the original narrator, now sadly deceased). To cap it all off nicely, there was a massive 30ft replica of one of the Martian tripods on the stage that lit-up, moved it’s body, fired smoke and a red “heat ray” into the audience. It was sooooo cool! 
I managed to snap a couple of pictures; you can just make out the tripod in them. As you can see, it takes up the whole stage. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version of the picture.
1. Intermission, with a good view of the tripod.
2. The second half. There were actually images on the screen, but they didn’t come out.
3. The end. The satisfied crowd begin to leave.
Conclusion: It was a great show and a great night out. If they go on tour next year, then I’d love to see it again. If you’re a fan of the album, you’ll love it too! 9/10
In the meantime, the official website for the show can be found here, and the Wikipedia page for ‘The War of the Worlds’ trivia is here.
CaraLAN 07 & ‘World in Conflict’
I attended CaraLAN 07 in the New Forest this weekend, a LAN gaming event that ran very smoothly (a big thanks to Craig & Wilkie for doing the organising). While we were there I was introduced to World in Conflict. If you like strategy games, you need to go out and buy this now. Seriously, stop what you’re doing and go and get it.
It’s depicts a fictional “cold war turned hot” with global conflict between the forces of capitalism and communism, with real world units and locations. Unlike other strategy games, there are no resources to ‘harvest’, and no bases to build. It took me about15-20 minutes to get my head around it, but once I did, I was hooked. Oh, and it looks gorgeous.
All gamers should take a look at the website and download the demo as soon as possible.
The Anchor Bleu, Bosham
Sarah and I went for lunch at The Anchor Bleu in Bosham yesterday. I’d been there before for a quiet drink, but never at lunchtime, so we were surprised to see that all the tables inside were already filled with diners by the time we arrived. Sitting outside was alright though; there is a cool view over the water.
The pub itself had that quaint, old fashioned feel to it, with wooden beams and stone floors. There was nothing quaint about the food though, which was lovely. A wide selection of home cooked meals were available from a chalkboard menu, but we both went for the minted lamb burgers, which were served with the nicest chips either of us had tasted for ages. Oh, and there was a good variety of real ales on tap too (although we couldn’t sample any of them as we were on our lunch break from work).
Conclusion: Good pub, great food, lovely surroundings. Worth a visit if you’re in the area. 8/10
Swansea Revisited
Just had a fun weekend in Swansea with Nat. This was the first time I’d been up there when a) I’ve had the car, and b) we’ve actually had time to drive places. So despite the intermittent showers, we embarked on a spontaneous ‘magical mystery tour’ across the Gower peninsula.
1. The roundhouse, apparently a venue for all sorts of woodland crafts. It was deserted during our visit.
2. Welsh sheep are a lot more colourful up close.
Our tour included Three Cliffs Bay. I’d imagine this secluded beach would be amazing to frequent on a sunny days, although it was incredibly windy when we were there. But this didn’t make it any less picturesque. The majority of beaches in my local area consist mainly of pebbles and stones, so it’s always pleasant to see golden stretches of sand, even on an overcast day.
3. Nat and Liz lead the way across Three Cliffs Bay.
4. “This is where we left the car, right?”
5. Nat helps Liz across a tidal river. As she was the only one of us with wellies, it was my turn next!
There were many other coves and bays around the Gower region, but I’ll come back to them in a little while.
For lunch on Saturday we visited the King Arthur Hotel, which was pretty nice, but what you’d expect from a country pub geared towards tourists (a group of Americans asked us to take their photo in front of the main entrance). What I mean by that is there where swords and coats of arms on the oak-panelled walls above the open fireplace. Still, none of that means it was a bad pub; the food was certainly reasonable, and I thought this kind of atmosphere was quite good fun. I just want to make sure people know what to expect. It may also interest some readers to know that horse riding trails start and end here.
Anyway, now back to our photographic journey along the coast of the Gower peninsula.
6. Hills, grass and surf. All popular in Wales.
7. The Worm’s Head. Reminds me of Cornwall.
8. A mysterious cave looms in the distance.
9. The cave’s enigmatic interior. “It smells like bats and hobos…”
On Sunday we visited the partially ruined Weobley Castle. A lot of the interior was exposed to the elements, but at least one room was cosy and dry. Just as well, since it contained an informative museum gallery concerning several of the castles in the region. I thought this was pretty cool, and would go as far as to describe this venue as a “must see” for those with an interest in history.
10. Castle exterior. You were supposed to pay for admission at the nearby farmhouse, but nobody was about, so we left our £2.50 entry fee in the honesty box.
11. Castle interior. Shut the door, there’s a draft.
12. Nat surveys her domain.
13. “The Marshes”. Dividing the castle from the Atlantic ocean, I’d have liked to take a closer look at this boggy feature of the Gower, but there wasn’t the time.
14. “I think you might have the camera the wrong way around”.
Of course no visit to Swansea would be complete without dropping into an unsuspecting café for a hearty cooked breakfast. This time we descended upon Sam’s Café and Kebab Takeaway.
First off, I enjoyed the food. There was a choice of four breakfasts: The ‘Sam Special’ (the smallest at £2.50), the ‘Breakfast 1′ (my choice at £3.50, including hash brown, fried egg, bacon, sausage, chips, toast, tea and beans or tomato), the ‘Breakfast 2′ (replaces the chips of the Breakfast 1 with mushrooms), and finally the ‘Full Monte’ (£4.50 for a more generous version of the Breakfast 1). Additionally, any one ingredient could be added or swapped for 50p.
While the staff weren’t brimming with friendly enthusiasm, they were certainly polite – which is good enough for me – the place itself was clean and tidy, and the food arrived quickly. So no fault there, but then again nothing to especially exalt about.
As indicated earlier, I liked the food – I soon hoovered it up with hardly a pause – but of all the Swansea eateries I’ve reviewed so far (check the ‘Swansea’ category from the menu on the right), Sam’s café takes third place. Well, I guess technically second place, as I’m informed that Papa Hilz Café has now been transformed into a fish and chip shop. 
Never the less, overall this is intended to be a positive review. If I ever found myself having to walk across Swansea for breakfast, and Sam’s was the closest, I wouldn’t make life difficult for myself. But if you’re not hindered by rain or laziness, then I’d still recommend the Uplands Diner as the superior choice.
Resurgence
I had a great night out last night with Alex, Bex, Sarah and a few of her friends. We went to Resurgence, a goth/metal night club event held at Scandals in Portsmouth. The official website is here, and the ‘Don’t Stay In’ page is here. I thought it was brilliant, although I was pretty tanked on arrival, so my appraisal of the event took place through a slightly fuzzy lens. Anyway, it was held in a dark basement, lots of metal was played, and everyone was wearing black – what more do you want from or need to know about a goth night? I’ll definitely be going again!
