The Thing

I'm going to confuse everyone with this as I'm going to have a personal blog and a review with the same title. It's been a while since I wrote a personal blog though and in writing my review for The Thing (2011) I felt the need to elaborate.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I am a lifelong horror fan. Cheesy ones, scary ones, classic ones, horrors about aliens, ghosts, boogie men, vampires, werewolves. You name it, I've seen it and probably loved it. The Thing (1982) however, was something entirely different. It might not have been the first film to scare me but it's the first film that I remember being genuinely afraid of. 

But before I talk about that I should give you some background so you know how hardcore a horror fan I really was. I grew up watching Hammer Horrors. "Not scary" I hear you cry. Maybe not. But when I say grew up I mean it. I can't have been older than 5 when I saw my first. I used to sneak downstairs at night and watch them with my mum. You might think badly of her for letting me watch such things but I didn't sleep as a child, so what was a single mother with two other kids to do? I would only fall asleep with my head in my mum's lap as she stroked my hair or my back. It was soothing to me. So the chances of me falling asleep alone in my bed were slim to none unless she stayed with me and she didn't have the time. Plus it didn't turn me into a psycho so it was clearly fine. And I loved them. Christopher Lee as Dracula, Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. Great films. And so the child of horror was born.

We swiftly moved on to 'Halloween' and it quickly became our tradition to watch it every year on Halloween when BBC2 used to show it. It was only when I then showed Halloween to my neighbour (who must have been about 8 or 9 at the time) and she screamed at the pumpkin in the opening credits that I realised I was not like other girls my age. I was tougher. Able to laugh in the face of horror.

I then moved on to Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm St. Nothing could phase me. Or so I thought.

I don't remember how old I was when my brother told me 'The Thing' was going to be on TV but I must have been in my early teens. I thought nothing of watching it on his recommendation. He likely told me "You like horrors, you'll probably like this", or words to that effect. It was on late, I was the only one still awake as I'd stayed up to watch it. Lights off for dramatic effect. And it scared the crap out of me. I don't know why it resonated with me so deeply but nothing had ever scared me so much. Maybe it was the idea of being taken over by something which imitates you, you cease to exist but something is pretending to be you? Maybe it was just the grizzly deaths? Maybe the isolation? Maybe all of these factors? Whatever it was, I still find it scary - though not to the extent I did that fateful night - but it remains one of my all time favourite films, not just a favourite horror film, to this day.

My review of the prequel, which is also named The Thing, can be found here. But if you haven't seen the original I would highly recommend it. I recently re-watched it with some friends who'd never seen it before and it was a highly enjoyable if somewhat nerve shredding evening.

Still An Emotional Wreck After 17 Years

I was not intending to write a personal blog tonight. I have a review that I need to write and as I'm doing overtime at work I was just supposed to be relaxing tonight. But I feel so very odd right now that I couldn't not put it down. I received a text from my brother earlier tonight that read:

"They're releasing River Phoenix's last film."

He didn't need to say any more. I immediately knew what he was talking about. But I needed to know where he'd gotten this information from. He informed me it was on BBC Entertainment News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15369725 if anyone else wants to read it.

I have so many emotions from this news that I honestly don't know what I feel. I'm excited to see a film I've known about and wanted to see desperately for 17 years of my life, but I'm also upset because I feel like I'm 13 all over again and my heart is breaking. I'm hopeful that the final film will be a fitting tribute but I'm anxious that it will still feel unfinished. Most of all I'm sad that my best friend is not here to see this day and won't be able to come and watch this with me. 

I've blogged about River before so I'm not going to drone on. Just felt like I needed to share. 

Kitchen Sink Drama

Well it's that time again peeps, short story time! This one has been waiting in my inbox for some time as I don't like to read other people's work when I'm writing. But as I'm not writing anymore (sad face) it meant I could read this and then finally get around to publishing it on the blog.

I hope you enjoy it, it's one of my brother's so we're lucky to have it now that he's got his own blog to populate.

Kitchen Sink Drama

By Mike Lambert

  The powder in the back rooms floated in the air like unwanted magic as the brushes whisked just as much into the atmosphere as it did onto the actresses faces.  The make-up artists worked their craft with a fury, spreading all manner of potions and concoctions across the faces of the assorted talent so they would look “normal” in front of the cameras and under the fiery halogens that fried as much as it lit.  Their wardrobes had already been selected, both their characters and mood for the scene at hand. They knew their lines well having rehearsed the previous week and needed no prompting for what they had to say.  The only thing left to the actors was the interpretation, how they read the scene, but Letitia, Tradisha and Brett had been here so many times before that they all knew just how the game was played and how to make the cameras do their bidding ...mostly.

  “Hello, Angels.  How are we all today?” asked Antoine, the Director, mincing his way into the room.

  “Fine,” “Hi,” replied the girls as they managed to fake a smile while still keeping their heads completely still.  Brett ignored Antoine and instead chose to work on his glower while the make-up women moved seductively round him.

  “Okay, people.  Now we are doing episode 3, scene 24 today, okay?” asked Antoine, although it wasn’t really a question.  Antoine wiggled off to today’s set and began barking orders, getting marks laid on the floor so the actors knew where to stand and lighting crew knew how to light the scene.  The start time of today’s scene was 10am and so the crew had been on set from 7am to prepare.  The actor’s turned up an hour later and the uncalm nature of the set became even less calm as Antoine started shouting even more fiercely than he had before.  Eventually however, at around 10:20am a hush came upon the set and that seemed to act as a silent acknowledgement that the first shot of the day was about to take place.

  “Okay, places, people,” whispered Antoine as loudly as he could while Letitia and Brett stood patiently on their marks. “And ACTION!”

LETITIA:  SO, BRETT.  THIS BOY’S HOLIDAY YOU’RE GOING ON ...WHO ELSE IS GOING?

BRETT:  (WHILE PACKING HIS CASE) JUST ME AND THE GUYS.  THAT’S ALL, BABE.

LETITIA:  WHO ELSE IS GOING, BABE?

BRETT: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?  (BRETT BEGINS TO LOOK SHIFTY)

LETITIA:  THAT BITCH, TRADISHA IS GOING, ISN’T SHE BRETT?

BRETT:  LETITIA, HONEY, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK.

(DOOR OPENS.  TRADISHA ENTERS)

TRADISHA:  WHO YOU CALLING A SLUT, YOU F****** SLUT?”

LETITIA:  IF YOU THINK YOU’RE GETTING YOUR HANDS ON MY MAN YOU CAN THINK AGAIN YOU F****** B****!

TRADISHA:  HE CAN DO WHATEVER HE LIKE, B****!  YOU’RE NOT MARRIED TO HIM!

LETITIA:  YOU F******, C******, B****!  I’LL F****** KILL YOU!

(THE TWO GIRLS BEGIN TO FIGHT AND SCREAM WHILE YANKING THE HELL OUT OF EACH OTHER’S HAIR)

  “And CUT!” shouted Antoine.

   “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” said Letitia, wincing in pain.  “Your rings are caught in my extensions, babe.”

  “Oh I’m sorry, Hon,” said Tradisha as she carefully removed her fingers from Letitia’s hair.  “You okay, Sweet?”

  “Fine,” said Letitia as she straightened up and fluffed her hair out.  Letitia and Tradisha began to chat while Brett merely looked in the mirror and admired his naked torso.

 “Okay, okay, very good,” Antoine began, whilst not raising his eye’s from today’s script.  “Brett, darling, you were divine ...ladies you fell out of shot during the fight so we’ll need to go again.”

  Both women could not hide their looks of disappointment knowing the most potentially painful part of their scene had to be re-shot.

  “Also ladies remember, Tradisha has to be seen to winning the fight first, and then, Letitia, you come back and win, okay?” asked Antoine with a wink.  The make-up women came back on set to add more blusher and lacquer down the hair again whilst the crew tested the light levels.

  “God, I hate working on TV,” said Letitia as everyone fussed around her, attempting to do 15 minutes work in 30 seconds.

  “At least you don’t have to kiss Brett today,” said Tradisha with a smirk.  They both looked back at the “hunk” as he flexed himself in front of a full length wall mirror.

  “God, look at the state of him,” Letitia whispered.  “He looks like they selotaped some pumpkins, mangoes and satsuma’s into a man shape and then sprayed it with even more orange fake tan!”

  “Ha-ha-ha!” chuckled Tradisha with her hand over her mouth.  “It’s even worse kissing him you know.  He’s so Mister body-beautiful that all he eats is Tuna, and his breath ...stinks!”

  “I know.  I left some tic-tacs in his room one time.  He came on set and said he’d got them for ME as a gift!” replied Letitia.

  “Cheeky shit!” said Tradisha.

  “Do you know he’s gay?” asked Letitia.

  “Brett?  No!” replied Tradisha, before being shushed by Letitia.

  “Uh-Huh!  Apparently that’s why he’s Antoine’s favourite because he and Brett are...” said Letitia raising her eyebrows.

  “You serious?” said Tradisha.

  “Mmmm,” replied Letitia.  “They also like to play Priest and Choirboy together.  But that isn’t the worst of it here.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Tradisha.

  “Well, you know the Producer, Greg?” asked Letitia, but even before Tradisha started to nod she had carried on talking. “Well it’s got out that outside of here the Producer is one of those execs that attends certain special adult baby clubs, shitting in nappies and having his arse wiped and stuff.  Yeah, someone saw footage of this on his phone and so that’s why he doesn’t show his face round here anymore.  He’s gay too!”

  “When were you gonna tell me all this?” whispered Tradisha.

  “Well, to be honest it completely went out of mind,” said Letitia.

  “Jesus, Letitia, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this.  When did you find all this out?” demanded Tradisha.

  “Only before.  I found out from the make-up woman,” said Letitia.

  “Really?” asked Tradisha.

  “Honest,” said Letitia.  “Okay?”

  “Okay,” replied Tradisha, uncertainly, before turning back to look at Antoine fawning over the shirtless, Brett.  “Dirty bastards!”

  “Yeah.  Just glad I like girls really,” said Letitia.

  “Not as glad as I am!” giggled Tradisha, mischievously.  They both smiled secretively at each other as Antoine screamed positions and they went back to their initial marks.

  “And ACTION!” 

  The rest of the day passed with one scene after another, commentaries, bloopers and DVD extras all being filmed for the UNCUT release that would eventually litter shelves of charity shops across the country.  Afterwards all Letitia wanted to do was get the grease off her face, slip into her PJ’s and drink red wine while watching “Casualty” but that lifestyle was no longer her choice, instead she hustled over to E4 to be interviewed by some gormless music journalist.  Yet more make-up was plastered on and she was squeezed into an even more ridiculous, supposedly-glamourous outfit.

  “So, Letitia,” began Froydon Ratchet, with a come-on grin that she wanted to punch off his face.  “You’re in the hit reality TV show “Sex In Man City”.  What do you think is the key to its success?”

  “I think it’s because it’s just so real,” replied Letitia, her fake triangular smile flashing perfectly.

Fin

Lady K's Big Birthday Bonanza

My last personal blog left you all on a bit of a cliffhanger didn't it? For that I apologise but I didn't want to go on all night about my highly exciting social life and make you all jealous! I am of course kidding! I didn't want to bore you more like. But as I had already planned to write these particular personal blogs you'll just have to endure the boredom, or not read them and watch some paint dry instead! ;0P

So, where was I? Ah yes, the beginning of my birthday weekend. Which actually sort of lasted about 10 days. But then it was a big birthday. My 30th to be precise. Which is sort of depressing if I linger on it so let's not. Let's talk instead of my best friend of the north coming down to stay with me and bringing her step daughter and a close friend of ours with her. As the step daughter and friend had not been to Brighton before we had to make the most of our limited time and do as many fun things as possible.

We decided that as the girls would be arriving by train, and would need to swap trains in London, that we should see a show on the day they arrived. We didn't want them to just pass through London without seeing a bit of London and doing something while we were there. I suggested we have something to eat at my favourite London diner, Ed's, and then take in a show. When we'd taken our seats in the diner we realised we were eating in front of PG Tips funny man Johnny Vegas who was sitting at the table behind us. So dinner turned out to be a fun little adventure of it's own.

The show we decided to see was Wicked, literally. 

I had seen it before, but around 5 years ago, and the other girls had never seen it and all wanted to. I remembered liking it first time around and thought it was just as Wicked this time. It had me singing along to 'Popular' (which is still in my head now) and 'Defying Gravity' for weeks to come. After the train ride back to Brighton, I took the girls on a brief tour around my flat as they'd never seen it before. It was a very brief tour as my flat only has 4 rooms, but they all seemed to like the flat which was a relief as I'd been cleaning it for weeks in anticipation of their arrival! 

The next day we decided the only thing to do was be a tourist. So I took the girls on a walking tour of Brighton. We did some shopping, had lunch at the delicious Foodilic, walked through both the south laines, I showed the girls the Banksy which is currently still on the side of the Prince Albert Pub.

Then we walked through the Pavillion Gardens and on to the Pier where we stopped for a drink, had a play on the games and posed for some silly photos, as you do.

From there we headed home for a quick change and then did something I've wanted to do for the last 6 years of living in Brighton, but never had done. We went on the Ghost Walk of the Lanes http://www.ghostwalkbrighton.co.uk/. 

It was as fabulously kitsch and over acted as I'd thought it would be, with only the slightest hint of fact thrown in for good measure. The only downside to the walk was that it was a typical Brighton summers evening, meaning it was windy as hell and bloody freezing. But lots of fun. As you can see...

At the end of the walk we made a quick dash to Charles Street for a slice of the gay club scene. A great night was had by all, perhaps with the acception of my bff's step daughter who seemed to think there would be plenty of nice men for her in the club. She didn't seem to understand that the men in gay clubs wouldn't be looking for a nice girl to take home! A fun night nonetheless. 

The next day brought much sunshine and the invitation to a BBQ hosted by my cinema buddy. We quickly headed into town for a last minute look around the north lanes as we'd not had time to have a proper look around the day before. I took the girls to Shake-Away for a milkshake and Cyber Candy for some american style sweets, and then we headed to the BBQ. The weather held all day until it was eventually time to take the girls back to Brighton station to board their trains home. It was a sad farewell but I hope they'll be back soon!

My birthday week continued with my actual birthday falling on the Tuesday after my friends had gone home. One friend made me home made bread and a lemon drizzle cake (you know who you are and how fabulous everything you make is!), another friend got me 31 birthday cards (just to throw me off the scent) and one of my work friends made me these bad boys...

And let me tell you, they were as good as they looked! And yes, that is my future husband sitting on top looking up adoringly at me. Err, sorry, lost my train of thought there...Jake cakes have a way of doing that to me! ;0P

Where was I? Ah yes, my birthday, apart from having to go into work on the morning of my birthday (boooooooooo), I went for a birthday cupcake with my best friend of the south, to my favourite cupcake shop in the laines (they put a 30th candle on my cake at the request of my friend!) and then had a birthday movie double bill of Cars 2 and Horrible Bosses (reviews for which are on the other blog). So another jam packed day was had there. 

I barely had time to recover from my busy birthday week when Thursday was fast approaching. The day my brother was arriving for his weekend in Brighton. But yet again I have rambled for too long and must pick up my Big Brother's Brighton Adventure another time.

*Special thanks to Damian Whelan for the use of his funky picture '30' as my headline photo for this blog.*

Lady K's (Seemingly) Nonstop July

I have looked back over my personal blogs and it seems I'm averaging one personal blog per month. I have decided this is not good enough, not nearly good enough (spot the film quote) and I plan to rectify that this month. With a whole host of personal blogs! Woo! Whether my plan actually comes into fruition is a whole other story...


My first personal blog this month actually needs to take me all the way back to the start of July! To try and minimise boredom (on your part) I've decided to try and merge three blogs I had planned to do in July, into one giant post. With me so far? Good!


At the start of July I went home for a few days as my best friend of the north was renewing her wedding vows in celebration of her 10 year wedding anniversary. As I was maid of honour at her wedding 10 years ago I wanted to be there to help them celebrate 10 happy years together. The re-wedding went without a hitch (other than them getting hitched that is!) and a fantastic celebration followed, held at their house for family and friends. I already wished them a happy anniversary but I will take this time to say how blessed I am to have friends like these. Caring and loyal, not only to each other but those they hold dear. I am honoured to be one of the ones you guys hold dear.

Making the most of my brief time up north I also dropped in on my brother and sister in law who very kindly took me to visit my sister. My sister suffers from learning difficulties and now lives in a shared house with other girls who have similar disabilities. I don't get to see her as often as I do my friends and family up north, as unlike them she is not able to visit me in Brighton. This is unless she was accompanied by a carer. So it was nice to spend some time catching up with her. I got to hear all about the cruise she had recently been on with my dad and all of the lovely places they'd visited around the med. As you can see from my holiday snap, I also got to see my cheeky little nephew, which is always a treat for me.

On my way back to Brighton I decided to stop off in London as my favourite cinema there - The Prince Charles Cinema http://www.
princecharlescinema.com - was screening one of my all time favourite films since I was little, Labyrinth. Anyone who's previously read my personal blogs will know that this is the second time I'd tried to see Labyrinth at The PCC, but last time I failed as it was sold out. If you would like to read that particular entry go to: http://willow23s-firsteverblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-day.html. Anyway, this time I wasn't leaving anything to chance so I booked Labyrinth tickets for me and my best friend of the south for the showing on the day I got back from Preston. In my excitement I probably didn't factor in much thought about the fact that I would have a massive case with me! But luckily for me the staff at The PCC are as lovely as the place itself and they allowed me to leave my case safely locked away in their store cupboard! Hooray for the lovely people at The PCC! Ditto, if you missed it and want to read my Labyrinth review, go to: http://willow23s-filmreviews2011.blogspot.com/2011/07/labyrinth.html. 

 The rest of July was pretty quiet, unless you count the Harry Potter Premiere that I attended on the 7th July. I won't go into detail about that as I wrote a whole separate blog about my Harry Potter Experience (http://willow23s-firsteverblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/lady-ks-harry-potter-experience.html) which goes into a LOT of detail! 

I will just say that I spoke to Evanna Lynch (the actress who plays Luna Lovegood), and I got hers and Ralph Fiennes signatures, and it made my day! ;0) 

From the 8th July to the 15th July every waking moment (the ones where I wasn't keeping my eyes open with matchsticks whilst at work) was consumed with Mr Potter as I set myself The Potter Challenge.

I went to see every Harry Potter film, from The Philosophers Stone to The Deathly Hallows Part 2, one film per day at the cinema and had to review every film before I saw the next one. I thought at one point (around the time I was reviewing Half Blood Prince) that I might die of a Potter overdose! But now it's all over I find I miss the bespectacled boy wizard. And so I'm now reading the books. I had already read books 1 and 2 before I started my Potterthon but have now read book 3 and am in the midst of book 4 as we speak.

The day after I'd finally finished watching all of the Harry Potter movies, one of my close friends held her hen party. A fun night of drinking, singing, more drinking and dancing. I discovered a new haunt called The Haunt, which plays cheesy 80s tunes every Saturday night, and just generally had a fabulous time. 


This then left me with barely a week to recover and sort my flat out before my best friend from the north, her step daughter and another friend, descended upon my tiny one bedroom flat for my Birthday weekend...

...but as it's late and this post is already very long, that will have to wait for another day! ;0)


*Thanks to A-ha for the use of their song title (Seemingly) Nonstop July.

Lady K's Harry Potter Experience

What an incredible week that was. Starting at 3am on Thursday 7th July...

I awoke after 2 hours sleep and got myself ready for the longest day of my life. A taxi was waiting outside by 3.30 which took me and my cinema buddy to Brighton train station. We were catching the 3.50am train to London. We slept most of the 1hr 30min journey and arrived at Victoria train station around 5.20am. I've never seen a London train station so quiet and deserted. It was really quite eerie. We made the most of the facilities knowing that toilets and places to freshen up would be hard to come by later in the day, and grabbed a much needed coffee. We arrived in Trafalgar Square just before 6am. There was already a queue of people stretching past The National Gallery so we joined the end of the queue and began 'the wait'.

As we weren't able to take time off work to camp out (and to be honest, I don't do camping so I wouldn't have done this even if I'd been able, but massive respect goes out to those who did) we were just grateful to have a chance at getting in the square. 

Five hours later, and around 30 people away from the front of the queue, we were turned away from Trafalgar Square as it was full. Less than five minutes later the heavens opened in a way never before experienced. We got drenched and took shelter under a nearby doorway and waited for the rain to stop. When the rain eventually did stop we decided the only thing for it would be to go to Leicester Square, where the stars would be coming to watch the movie after the main Trafalgar Square event had taken place.

So we headed to Leicester Square where it poured down again. We were turned away from the small Odeon at Leicester Square and told in no uncertain terms that it "was not a waiting area!" We then took shelter again under the hood of the Empire cinema and again waited for the rain to subside. When it eventually did we decided to head to MacDonalds and attempt to dry off. 

Eventually, around 2pm, we found an available spot outside the big Odeon in Leicester Square and stood our ground. We were pushed and pulled in all directions as the barriers were put in place but somehow found ourselves on the barrier. 

And then began the wait. The enclosed area that contained us filled up. Ladders were put up to fix bulbs, vans were moved, people walking through Leicester Square were diverted and the red carpet was rolled out before our very eyes.

Some 5 hours later, an hour after I'd read on Twitter that the stars had started to arrive at Trafalgar Square, the D list celebrities started to filter their way through. We saw Alexandra Burke, Lorraine Kelly and Peaches Geldof. Oh and the boys from McFly and Graham Norton, who were lovely and signed for everyone.

  

And then finally another hour after that we got the Potter people and the A listers!

Clemence Poesy ~ Fleur Delacour

David Bradley ~ Argus Filch

Ciaran Hinds ~ Aberforth Dumbledore

Helen McCrory ~ Narcissa Malfoy (and real life hubby Damian Lewis) 

X-Men First Class actor Nicholas Hoult

Devon Murray ~ Seamus Finnigan

Timothy Spall ~ Peter Petigrew & David Thewlis ~ Remus Lupin

Robbie Coltrane ~ Rubeus Hagrid & Warwick Davis ~ Professor Flitwick

The gorgeous, sweet and ever so kind Evanna Lynch ~ Luna Lovegood

I must just take a moment to say that I am a little bit in love with Miss Lynch. Not only did she sign for EVERYONE, and I really mean EVERYONE, she was so sweet too! She signed my picture and the picture I was holding for my friend and when I said thank you for doing that she replied "Oh it's no problem" in that cheerful Irish accent of hers. I always loved Luna but now I know how sweet Evanna is I love her a little bit more.

Helena Bonham Carter ~ Bellatrix Lestrange & Ralph Fiennes ~ Lord Voldemort

I was lucky enough to get Mr Fiennes signature as he walked past, he must have taken a liking to the photo I was holding out as he didn't sign for anyone else near me. Helena managed to sneak in and we only saw her when she made a brief appearance on the balcony.

And last but by no means least was...

Rupert Grint ~ Ron Weasley

Rupert was the last to arrive and unfortunately for us, was so late he had to go straight in to the film. So all we got was this semi burry photo of him dashing off.

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) and Emma Watson (Hermione) went to the small Odeon and the Empire respectively, so we didn't see them at all.

But all in all it was a good day, we saw lots of famous people, got two of the best signatures we could have and were part of the final Harry Potter premiere!!!

Below are some videos that were taken in Trafalgar Square so you can see what we missed and a nice look behind the scenes of the last day of shooting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. 

Premiere Highlights

Emma, Daniel, Rupert and JK's Speech

Last Day of Shooting

And finally, here is a link to Empire Magazines 25 best Harry Potter characters:
http://www.empireonline.com/features/greatest-harry-potter-characters/?WT.dcsvid=SilverpopMailing&WT.mc_id=071511%20newsletter%20(1)

I hope you enjoyed the insight into our Harry Potter premiere day! Head over to my film review blog for a review of every Harry Potter film, starting with Philosophers Stone and ending with Deathly Hallows Part 2...


*Special thanks to Blair Holmes for the use of some of his spectacular photo's, listening to my constant moaning about being cold and wet and for the always amazing egg mayo rolls!*