Two quick things

Quick thing one - I just wanted to make sure that as many people as possible know about NaNoWriMo. Why? Because it's awesome. It stands for National Novel Writing Month and the aim is for everyone involved to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. It's great in the way it encourages you to just knuckle down and write something and I found it really helped stir my creative juices last year. This year I'm doing it despite going on two holidays and starting a really intensive course on the 18th. Eek!

If you have any interesting in writing, I suggest you give it a go. Even though it's already the 5th, it's not too late. I started on the 10th last year and managed it, and even if you don't reach the word count, it will still have been fun. Check it out at www.nanowrimo.org

Quick thing two - Remember, remember the fifth of November! Hope everyone is going to see some awesome fireworks tonight, even if it's just out the window while you stay snug and warm. What I really want to do is offer a quick safety warning. I'm sure you don't need me to nurdle on about fire safety. No! This is about the danger of toffee apples! You may laugh, but I've got a centimetre long cut on my tongue from the toffee apple I had earlier and it ended up mainly tasting of blood. I'm sure there's a horror film in there somewhere.

Be safe, have fun, eat your toffee apples responsibly!

Frightfest Hallowe'en All-Nighter

Last Saturday, after years of not being able to make it for one reason or another, my dad and I finally went to the Frightfest All-Nighter. We had a fine array of sweets and snacks (I highly recommend Sainsbury's chocolate eyeballs with popping candy), a flask of coffee for thems as can drink it and some sugary, fizzy goodness for me.

At 6.30 pm the lovely Frightfest team came to introduce the films and we were off. I'm not going to go in to too much detail about everything that happened in the next thirteen or so hours. There was break-dancing, tears of laughter and some very drunken hugs, calls for a disco dance competition and a huge amount of confusion about what time anything was happening given that the clocks went back that night. We could be here all day, so please allow me simply to treat you to a quick run down of the films.

First up was Soulmate. It's the story of a woman who moves to a haunted cottage in the beautiful Brecon Beacons after the death of her husband and makes a connection with the spirit of the former owner. This wasn't a great film. It was quite spooky but there was some really clunky dialogue. However, I did find myself enjoying it, even though I thought I probably shouldn't. It was quite cheesy, but the perfect guilty pleasure for a rainy day. It's worth it for the brilliant performance by the director's dog, Anubis, surely a star in the making.

Next came Patrick, introduced by the lovely Sharni Vinson, who I was super excited to see because she was so good in both You're Next and Step Up 3D - yep, already a legend. I loved Patrick! It's all about telekinesis and obsession and is both crazy and brilliant. There are some really gross moments and sections where I seemed to be jumping out of my chair every few seconds. If you're a horror fan, give this a watch, I'm sure you'll love it too.

Mark of the Devil took away two hours of my life that I'll never see again and made me feel a little disappointed in myself for sitting all the way through it. I did learn that Udo Kier was a bit of a hottie in his youth...

 but that didn't really make up for anything.

I also loved Discopath. An ingenious film set in 1980 about a man driven mad by disco. It's funny and thrilling and had an awesome soundtrack that kept me grooving in my chair despite it being some ridiculous time of night. I hope the suggested sequel doesn't take too long to manifest.

The Station was like an Austrian The Thing but with an environmental message. There were some good monsters and horrible happenings that still make me feel a little queasy, all wrapped up in a good story, I just wish they'd stuck with a direct translation of the original title and called it Blood Glacier, because how much cooler does that sounds?!

Finally, at something like 5.30 in the morning (maybe) was Nothing Left to Fear, the tale of a minister moving to a country town with his family only to discover there's more going on than meets the eye. Hmmm, this was okay. There were some good jumps and creepy bits, but I've seen very similar stories done better, and without some of the massive plot holes this had. Still, you can never really dislike something starring Clancy Brown. Clancy Brown is awesome.

If you like horror films about demons, give it a watch, but don't set your expectations too high.

My goodness, this has got a bit long! It was a fun night spent in brilliant company, and I have to credit the Vue West End with having very comfortable seats. If you love horror films and can cope without the sleep, come along next year, you really won't regret it and I might even let you share my sweeties.

My 50th Post and Some Lovely Songs

Pop some party poppers, put on a party hat. This is my 50th post! In celebration, I'm going to tell you all about the Zombie Duck.

I was in the park a little while ago and I saw this creature...

Now, I appreciate that this isn't a great picture. I may well have been eating an ice-cream at the time. Anyway, if you look closely, it has a sort of grey head, and spooky looking white bits around it's eyes. It was standing perfectly still for ages and looked just like a Zombie Duck! So, the other day I wrote this song about it, to the tune of the Spiderman cartoon.

Zombie Duck! Zombie Duck!
If he bites you, you're out of luck.
Won't eat bread. Won't eat grains.
He only wants to eat your brains.
Look out!
This is the Zombie Duck!

Then I looked at the picture again and thought, what with that long neck, it was much more likely to be some kind of Zombie Goose. So I adapted my song.

Zombie Goose! Zombie Goose!
This evil fiend is on the loose.
Beware the patter of webbed feet
'Cause it's your brains he's gonna eat.
Look out!
This is the Zombie Goose!

By this point, I was getting quite in to composing these songs, and started writing one about a Zombie Swan, but being that I was actually sitting back in the park and what I could mainly see was seagulls, I came up with this final verse instead...

Zombie Gull! Zombie Gull!
The human race he's about to cull.
You hear him squawking in the hair.
He'll eat your brains, spit out your hair.
Look out!
This is the Zombie Gull!

And with that I was done.

An Intrepid Search!

Things I found while searching for my hole-punch:

20 pens that no longer work.
A sticky lollipop (at least two and a half years old)
Half a Refresher bar (at least two and a half years old)
2 calculators
A ruler
A device to punch heart shaped holes out of card (close, but no cigar)
5 pencil sharpeners
2 pairs of safety scissors
A role of Refreshers (at least two and a half years old, but not opened, so presumed edible)
A snow shaker with a penguin inside, but no water.
15 pencils
10 Icelandic Krona
6 stickers of the Icelandic flag
5 Stickers of shiny skulls.

Things I did not find while searching for my hole-punch:

A partridge in a pear tree
The Holy Grail
The meaning of life
My hole-punch.

On the one hand, I failed. On the other hand, I've got sweets that probably won't kill me.

Horror for Kids #2: Monsters Univerity

I could've sworn I'd written another Horror for Kids blog. I think what happened is that I've watched lots of creepy kids movies, but when I've come to actually writing a post, something else has popped into my mind. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and all that. Ho hum. I guess all those other reviews can stay up my sleeve as something for a rainy day when all other blog-related ideas have failed me.

I don't usually go and see kids films at the cinema. I don't have any kids to use as an excuse and most of my cinema-buddies are more likely to pick an 18 than a U, so it was quite nice when a friend suggested going to see Monsters University. You can't go wrong with Pixar, and this was no exception to that rule. Monsters Inc was really fun in inventing a world powered by the screams of children. They got us all rooting for the monsters that frightened us when we were little; the creature under the bed, the thing in the closet. Seeing monsters running away from a little child was hilarious, and oddly comforting.

Monsters University takes us back to that world, giving us more detail on the lives of Mike and Sully. It's the typical story of the underdog trying to prove he can fulfill his dreams; a tale of unlikely friendships forged in adversity. There are all the characters you might find in a highschool comedy, (jocks, cheerleaders, nerds) only with added tentacles. The whole thing is really well done, the animation is ludicrously brilliant, to the point where I really couldn't tell whether some of it was real or not. I found myself genuinely caring about what happened to the characters. They even managed to surprise me at the end. The message they're leaving the kids (and us adults) with wasn't the one I thought they'd go for.

So, if you loved the original you will also love this. In fact, I kind of wished I'd watched it first because there were quite a few references to it, and I'm sure I didn't spot them all. It's not scary, but it is really fun, and Mike as a little kids is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

The Yummiest Dalek Ever

The only thing better than coming down to breakfast and finding this in the kitchen...

... is coming down to breakfast and finding this in the kitchen...

Yep, a Dalek cake with my name on it. Yum! The cake has been exterminated.

Thank you to the people collecting money for young actors in Chiswick for making this lovely cake, and thanks to my parents for buying one for me.

Riddick: A Review

First, to set the scene...

We arrived twenty minutes early at the Cineworld Hammersmith. This often happens. The nearest tube station is Ravenscourt Park, which is only a few stops away on the District Line. Unfortunately the District Line is a bit ponderous and sometimes likes to have fifteen minute breaks in the middle of the day, so we normally leave plenty of time only to get lucky and get on a tube straight away. So, we were twenty minutes early, and the film started twenty minutes late, and then only because Dad went out and told them that nothing was happening. So, by the time the film started I was feeling pretty annoyed and cold. Why are cinemas so cold? It's ridiculous.

Anyway, the review...

There are, in my opinion, two things you need to enjoy this film. The first is a love of Vin Diesel and the second is a forgiving nature. Thankfully, I possess both of these and so really enjoyed it.
I mean, yes, there are some appalling moments of dialogue and Katee Sackhoff doesn't seem to be bothering to act, even though I know she can. There's also some awkward moments of what I think is meant to be sexual tension.

But fuck it! It's really fun. The opening section is a bit like Tarzan in space, then it turns into a Western, before finally unleashing the monsters. The monsters are awesome! They're slimy with big teeth, and come in a variety of sizes. What more could you need? A nice dog-like sidekick? Done.

As much as some of the dialogue is terrible, there's also some wonderful one-liners, which I would quote for you, if I were the kind of person who could remember quotes really easily. You'll just have to trust me on that one and go and see it.

The best thing about the film is how it looks. It's beautiful. The desolate planet, the dramatic sky, Vin Diesel clambering around on rocks in the nude*.

Yes, it's silly, and I don't think it's going to win over people who didn't like Chronicles of Riddick, but if you can forgive the little things, it's a really fun film, an enjoyable cinema experience, and it managed to cheer me out of the impatient grump I was in when the film started. I was cheered to see that it was number one in the US box office in its first week. Long live Vin Diesel!

*Naked ladies are also available, if that's more your thing.