Couples and Tunnels

I've been AWOL for a little bit recently, mainly due to working more than usual as well as visiting Liverpool and London, which is why the blog's been light on updates.

I've still been watching as many films as I can but I just haven't had the time to put together a decent, thorough review for any of them. I'll try my best to get some finished and published soon.
My main priority right now is working on making a post that ranks every film I've watched from 2013. I've got a list of films that I feel like I need to watch and add to my ranking before I publish it, but I'm excited to put that together.

On top of that I really want to take part in Sati's awesome Spin-Off blogathon, and Ben over at The Movie Man has been kind enough to nominate my blog for the Liebster Award so I need to post my response to that and pass on my nominations.

You can find my Tumblr here and my Pinterest here.

Witches and Kisses

I have to apologize for the lack of content I've been putting up on here recently, life and work have caught up with me and left me with less time than I expected to get quality posts on here. I'm working to finish off my 30 Days of Horror series and get some reviews up here too. I promise that I'll try and get back to posting regularly as soon as I can.

Today's weekly pins post is a little different as I've recently ventured off to the dark side and started using my Tumblr account. This is a collection of images I've blogged throughout my first week on there.

I'll be adding a button for my Tumblr account in the sidebar very soon, but until then you can find my Tumblr here and my Pinterest here.

Leather and Marshamallows

This week has felt extremely productive. Not only have I gotten back into the habit of writing regular reviews, and with a faster turnaround than before, but as I'm sure you'll have noticed I've debuted a new header for the blog. Making the header took up to majority of the week, hence the lack of a Monday Trailer post, but it was all worth it and now that it's finished I can focus on posting regularly throughout the week again. I also have the next two weekends off work so you can look forward to some weekend posts, something very unusual for this place.

Til then,

Evil Fairies and Outlaws

So, after an unplanned two month hiatus from blogging I finally returned this week. My break was due to a series of events and transitions that followed my finishing uni, including Graduation! I now have a very official piece of paper that tells me that I have a BA Hons in Film Studies with Creative Writing, and I'll be sure to post some photos from the day next week.

In the time that's passed since I last posted on here properly I've made a few decisions about how I want to manage this site. I'm planning on mixing up the kinds of posts that publish here to include more than just reviews, something that will hopefully allow me to keep a consistent output of posts as I never want to find myself leaving the kind of gaps between posts as I did during the last few months. I've got lots planned and I intend to keep my word and push myself to make this blog the best that it can be. 

A change that will begin right away, with this post, is that my Pins of the Week posts will now be entirely film-centric, something that I believe I tried in my last Pinterest post. As I'm sure you will have noticed from my Monthly Recap posts I watch an incredibly high number of films, and because of this many films that I have enjoyed go unmentioned on here. While the changes to the content I post will help to amend this I think that these weekly image based posts are the perfect way to draw attention to films that have a particular aesthetic quality that I've enjoyed, or simply show you some of my favourite films and characters.

You can find my Pinterest here.

Bicycle Theives and Scarlet Letters

Todays Pinterest post is a little different. Rather than the general mixed bag of everything I've pinned over the week, this one is entirely themed around film. This is partly due to the fact that this week I found a cinema board that was full of so many great pins that I couldn't narrow it down to just a few, and also to mark something significant that has happened today, I handed in my last Uni assignment, ever.

The assignment in question was looking at Easy A as an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter, a topic that was quite special for me as I fell in love with the book during my A-Level studies and the film during my time at Uni, and so for my last essay to focus on them was great. Collected in the above Pinterest collage are a collection of films that I have either studied, written about or been introduced to during the five years that I have spent studying film.

So, now I am essentially free. I have no more assignments and no more classes. Next Saturday will be my Graduation Ball, but besides that I don't really have much panned for a little while. Because of this I am going to put a great deal more of my energy into keeping this blog filled with new reviews, trailers and other goodies. I look forward to spending a lot more time in this little blogging bubble.

You can find my Pinterest here.

Tufted Sofas and Strawberry Fingers

Today I had my final ever seminar at University. Is that not completely terrifying?

Although I major in film, I've also been studying minor Creative Writing. My first seminar of my first year at Uni was Poetry, and my last today was also Poetry. Although it's not been my favourite subject to study, and I do primarily identify myself as a film student, I really appreciated the sentiment of that observation. It's like coming full circle.

I have four assignments due over the course of next week, so I may once again go off the radar a bit. No doubt my friday post will be rather emotional as I'll have just handed in the last assignment of my degree.

Here go the last seven days of my degree...

My Life This Week.

The last few days have been some of the most surreal that I've experienced in a long time, if ever. Rather than go into anything in too much depth I'll just give you a brief animated tour of the state of my emotions during a period of 62 hours, which contained just under 6 hours of sleep. 

Tim Walker and Neal's Yard

The blog has been a little neglected lately, simply because my Dissertation is due in ten days. That terrifying fact has been dominating much of my time. Except for the half hour periods that seem to crop up during my manic writing sessions where Pinterest takes over. I think that I've pinned more this week than any other since I got it, and so this weeks post is a double whammy, with twice the number of pins as usual.

Scissorhands and Tin Men

I realised as I was putting together my Pinterest Collage for this week that my last two posts have been quite overcrowded, with upwards of 16 pictures in each of them. Whether as some form of self enforced restraint or just because I haven't actually been pinning that much this week I've found myself back at the target number of pins I originally set for each week, 12. We'll see how long I manage to keep it at this number over the coming weeks.

I've spent a lot of this week trying to stay calm amongst a flood of panic regarding my dissertation. In just under an hour I will be attending my last seminar before I break up for three weeks and have to actually get my head in the books, and keep it there. On Tuesday a big group of us went, once again, to our local cocktail bar Lime Tyger, for a meal and some amazing drinks. The best part about the bar is that you can essentially name a list of ingredients or flavours you'd like and they'll come up with something for you, which we took particular advantage of. Then on Wednesday myself and Rosie enjoyed a lazy day film marathon where we watched The Devil Wears Prada, The September Issue, Grey Gardens, Vengeance is Mine and [REC]3 Genesis, which was a lot of fun and helped me catch up with my film diary which has been at an all time low this month. 

I'm really hopeful for the next three weeks, and will be desperately slaving away over all of my assignments. It's extremely scary to think how close we are to finishing Uni for good, and as much as I usually try not to think about it, entering the Easter break means that it's really not that long at all. Here's to an eventful and productive holiday!

You can find my Pinterest page here. 

Teddy Lamps and Gnome Bread

I got to meet my cousins baby today! He was absolutely adorable and seeing him has made my week. I also got paid today so I'll definitely be off getting him some goodies next week.

Besides that I've spent most of the week taking some time to relax after handing in my last essay for a little while. Now I can work on my upcoming assignments at a less frantic pace and make the most of my last few weeks of University life. This break also means I've been dedicating more time to watching films and working on film posts for this blog which will hopefully be up very soon.

A Polar Bear and Bubblegum

I've been noticing some recurring trends in my pins this week, so I ask you to excuse the shameless colour coordinated-ness of this Pinterest post. I promise it won't be a regular thing, I just couldn't resist.

I've had quite a bizarre week, which started with finding out that my cousin and her boyfriend had finally had their baby, a little boy called Frankie-Jay who is gorgeous and I will hopefully get to meet very soon. When I got back to my uni house I found out that I'd forgotten my phone charger and being a snobby iPhone 5 owner there was no one that I could borrow a charger from and so had to buy a spare, which luckily didn't set me back too much. Then on Tuesday I went with Rosie and our housemate Megan to see a production of The Phantom of the Opera and the Liverpool Empire for Megan's birthday, which was amazing in spite of a lacklustre chandelier. The rest of the week consisted of lunch with my old housemates, an all-nighter to finish an assignment, the resultant droopy eyed-ness in the following 9am lecture and a 5 hour session on the new Tomb Raider game as a reward for getting it done.

Today I had the realisation that after handing in my next assignment on Monday, I have no more due until after my Easter holiday, so I can pace myself for the next few weeks after the mad panic that has been this week. That also means that I should hopefully have quite a bit more time to dedicate to this blog, and I have lots of good stuff planned.

Marshmallows and Grace

In order to get my February Film Recap out before we were any further into March I pushed my weekly Pinterest post back a day.

Getting a week away from classes for Reading week allowed me a much needed break from my usual surroundings, and I ventured down to London with Rosita for a three day escape. Firstly I did get some reading done, so the point of my week off wasn't completely wasted on me, but I also got to see some good friends, eat great food, view exhibitions and much more (which will all appear in a post this coming week). 

Before the trip we had our Oscars party which was great fun. I actually won our competition to guess the most winners and got myself some money from it. I was extremely surprised, but happy, to win and thoroughly enjoyed watching the event with some great friends. The only bad point of the party was the social media lockdown we all had to endure in order to not have the winners spoiled for us, but it was well worth the mind-numbing torture that apparently comes with not checking Twitter every five minutes. 

This is probably as good a time as any to welcome in March, and hope for an equally eventful third month of 2013. 

French Toast and Godzilla

 I know I haven't been around very much at all this week, and I want to apologise for that. I've spent almost my entire week in Uni either working or in meetings as well as catching up on the last few Best Picture nominees before our Oscars party.

I've got some posts lined up to get up here soon, and will hopefully have them ready to post over the next few days as next week I'm off to London for three days with Rosie. I'm really looking forward to a bit of a break from everything during my reading week, although I will be taking some work down with me so it won't be a completely work-free few days. 

I'm still striving to get the film related content steady and constant on here and have more reviews, Oscar related posts and a February round-up coming very soon! You may have also noticed there have been a few layout changes to the side panel of the blog, and I'm hoping to give the site a full facelift in the near future. Due to my hectic Uni schedule that may not happen overnight, but it will eventually occur and I'm really looking forward to it.

Diamonds and Clipboards

Busy week to the extreme!

On my journey back to Uni this week I got caught up against a wall of heavy snow that decided to fall ten minutes before I left. Fortunately the weather was being a lot kinder up north and halfway through my journey I found myself in the safety of clear skies.

As well as my usual week full of lectures, seminars and required readings and screenings I've been to see two live productions this week. On Wednesday evening I saw a production of Jane Eyre by the Hull Truck Theatre Company that was held at my Uni. Then on Thursday a huge group of us went to see the 40th Anniversary Tour of The Rocky Horror Show at the Empire in Liverpool for a friends Birthday. Both were really enjoyable, particularly Rocky Horror as we all got dressed up (pictures will be up soon) and made this week great!

Pancakes

Happy Belated Pancake Day!

To celebrate, yesterday at our house we had a Pancake feast. We spent the entire evening over the hob making masses of the things, thick and thin, followed by a buffet while we watched a film. There were only a small amount of kitchen disasters, with a few pancakes suffering unplanned deformities as a result. They were all yummy and we had a great laugh making them all.

Here are the four variations I had, Bacon, Red Velvet, Chocolate Oreo, and Berry Compote.
Did you have a good Pancake Day?

Chevrons and Webslingers

This week I did the unthinkable and acknowledged the date that my Dissertation is due. Ten weeks and three days are all that stand between me and that dreaded day. Fortunately this recognition did spark some sort of fire and pushed me to work on it more than I had planned to this week. Hopefully this will be the motivation I need to try and dispel my numerous procrastination habits.

Food and Short Films

Yesterday evening was spent with four friends having a meal at our local cocktail bar and then moving on to a screening of highlights from the Ann Arbor 50th Film Festival. The meal was delicious as it always is. I had a Sirloin Steak Sandwich Bloomer, with mushrooms, caramelised onions and seasoned chips, with multiple Fruit Salad Cocktails (Melon, Raspberry and Strawberry!) and a mint ice cream and brownie plant pot for dessert.

The seven films lasted only an hour and fifteen minutes, and were a mix of animated and live action shorts crossing genres. Some weren't particularly to my taste which was disappointing as I'm a huge fan of short films and have seen some truly great ones, but they were all interesting to watch. My favourite was the last, a 13 minute long animation called Birdboy, which was funny, sad and beautifully animated, and can be seen here.

Overall it was a fun way to spend a Wednesday evening watching short films and enjoying some great grub!

Highway 1 and a Stuffed Fox

Welcome to February!

I've managed to get two film posts on here this week and I'm feeling a lot more confident and comfortable with keeping this little online space of mine going.

This weeks been full of planning. I've booked a trip to London during my course's reading week with Rosita, in which we will visit galleries, shop, visit friends and generally enjoy the city. We've booked a performance of The Phantom of the Opera at the Liverpool Empire in March for our friend Megan's birthday. On top of that we're also planning an Oscars party at our house on the 25th in which a few friends will come over, we'll dress up as characters from the nominated films, drink cocktails and see who guessed the most winners.

I'm looking forward to all of these upcoming events, Uni already feels like it's been back in my life for months so I'm greatly enjoying the chance to arrange these little treats to break up my studies. I'm also not working this weekend and so I'm really excited to not endure the long drives to and from my Uni house and the 17 and a half hours I usually spend behind a till.

Have you got any big February plans ahead?

A Golden Zebra and Blondie

While I'm writing this post the roads I have to drive tonight on my way back to Shropshire for the weekend are receiving a coating of snow. Although this was forecast I can't help but feel that my post  yesterday inflicted a jinx. Hopefully the roads manage to stay kind for my journey.

As is now (thankfully) a official weekly tradition, I bring you my Pinterest finds from the past few days. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, fingers crossed the snow has no negative effects them.
I have a lot of film related posts coming up next week for anyone wondering where that aspect of my blog had got too.

Til then,

Snow and a Show

So all the snow that I wanted to cover Christmas finally arrived.

It scares me that I've now reached the age where as soon as snow begins to fall my first thought is that it's going to be a buggar to drive anywhere, I miss the days when me and my cousins would be sat with the radio on listening to see if our school was on the list of ones closing for the day. It very rarely was.

Fortunately this bout of snow only came with one arse-under-heels pratfall and a limited loss of control when driving over ice. By the time it came to drive back to uni on Monday the majority had melted away.

I officially started my second semester of year 3 and got some of last semesters work back with really pleasing results. I braved the icy streets of Ormskirk in my comfies for a pyjama and onsie party, complete with a pillow which also contained three bottles of alcohol. Then last night myself and Leigh-Anne of Violence & Fashion had ourselves a joint birthday party-of-two event watching the incredible Paloma Faith in Manchester.

Have you been enjoying the snow // got any ice related horror stories?