Home made Halloween Invitations

This year we're hosting a little Halloween film fest for a few friends and I decided to go the old fashioned way and shunned facebook in exchange fir some hand made invitations with a simple ghost embroidered on to black card. The inserts were printed in orange and brown.

Ghost drawn freehand by me (obviously, it's not that hard is it?!).

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, known to me for Nightwatch, Daywatch and Wanted, I thought it had a reasonable chance of being good.

Not being from the states myself I didn't know too much about Lincoln (my American history is not so good but something I really want to get to grips with!) and therefore don't really give a crap if someone's going to initially write about then someone else make a film about him being out of the prowl looking for vampires to destroy. Not altogether sure how the Gettysburg stuff would have gone down with those who are from the States though.....

Benjamin Walker, relatively unknown to me, does a great turn as the man himself, and along with Dominic Cooper has some fantastic action scenes (never before have I wanted to learn how to weapons train with a massive axe) but the real star to me is Mary Elizabeth Winstead (ah Ramona.....) who adds a little credibility to a storyline which is in one word ludicrous.

I didn't really see the need for any of the 3D, yet another film jumping on the bandwagon when there was nothing that it would add.

If you're going to watch this in the hope it will be some sort of cinematic masterpiece you'll be really far off, but if you want to see a load of vampires get killed by an Abe wielding an axe, or you'd like to see the most ridiculous chase of a vampire over horseback then this is your film.

Enjoyable if you're not taking life too seriously, although it looks like the director did. No tongue in cheek which it could have possible done with a massive dose of.

I'd give it a 3 out of 5, watchable, enjoyable to a point. I'd rent it but I wouldn't pay for it (again!)

My Birthday: Harry Potter, Warner Brothers Studio Tour, Watford

It was my birthday a couple of weekends ago and my lovely husband bought me tickets to the Harry Potter studio tour in Watford. To say I was happy would probably be the understatement of the year!

Tim got the tickets last year, so I have been patiently (read: annoying Tim every few days by telling him how excited I am) waiting for the day to arrive, as I was going on my actual birthday. I couldn’t think of anything better than spending the day looking at awesome Potterstuffs.

If you’re not aware of my Potterlust you should read this!

I awoke early and donned my outfit as previously planned, including my new Qwertee Harry Potter t-shirt (of which you can win a new one yourself – please see the end of this post!) 

Win your own brand spanking new HP t-shirt like this, see below!

We arrived around midday and stopped for a coffee (and a quick check to see if my hands were the same size as Radders, which they are!) before joining the queue, although it doesn’t feel much like a queue, they have little bits and bobs for you to look at while you’re waiting including the cupboard under the stairs and a few family portraits waiting on the walls for you to nosey at. They stagger it out quite well so that there aren’t too many people in the queue at any one time.

You are then shown into a small room with screens on the walls displaying posters from across the world for all of the films (which was pretty cool) and they then show you a little film on those screens about the series of films and how they came about to be make. Then the lady asked if it was anyone’s birthday….

So I shot it up straight into the air.

“me, me, it’s my birthday!”

“well happy birthday, and what’s your name?”

“Stacey!”

“and how old are you Stacey?”

“32! I am 32 TODAY”!

“…….oh, and is there anyone else?”

“It’s Amy’s birthday today”

Lady looks in Amy’s direction

“Well, I won’t ask how old you are….”

“I’m only 26!”

Sorry to say, that did brighten my day a little!

We were then shown through to a cinema where Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were shown talking about their experiences of the films, the sets and the studios this ended with the doors of the great hall being shown on screen, and then the screen went up and the doors to the Great Hall were right behind them.

At this point another lady said “I believe it’s two people’s birthdays today”. At which point me and Amy stuck our hands up in the air. The lady then asked us to join her at the front and said as it was our birthdays we got to open to doors of the Great Hall for everyone. So up I strode and took my place, me and Amy exchanged glances, then we gave the doors a push and were confronted with the Great Hall in all of its glory. We both looked at each other and said “WOW”. It’s an awesome memory that I don’t think I’ll ever forget in my life time.

Harry Potter or not, when do you ever get the chance to go and stand in a spot and push the doors that have been made famous on film the world over?! It was tremendously cool.

The Great Hall is beautiful inside and we were treated to a little talk about it, and a wander about. It was really amazing and beautiful and great to see the costumes alongside the setting.

Then it was off into one of the main studio parts where they had hundreds of props, various sets and the chance to get your picture taken on a broom or in the Ford Anglia all via greenscreen, well we queued up for an hour to get our car photo taken (decided against the broom as I was in a rather tight skirt and it wouldn’t have been very ladylike getting on or off and there was no option for side saddle). The queue wasn’t that bad, and only what you’d expect from an attraction such as this, plus we wee entertained by seeing everyone else do their bit on the screens. We made sure we gave it our all when we went up there, face licking, Tim miming being sick in my lap etc etc.

After this we wandered about the bits we hadn’t had a chance to look at and wholly admired the Magic is Might statue that they had in the end section of the room.

We went to the outside section with No. 4 Privet Drive, the Potter house in Godrick’s Hollow, the Knight Bus and chess pieces and we settled down for a glass of butterbeer, which is scrummy. It tastes like cream soda with butterscotch topping, it was extremely sweet and I don’t think I could have managed more than one but it was just what was needed after our wait for the green screen stuff and it was nice to have a little rest before moving onto the second part of the tour. 

We then went to the prosthetics and mechanics part of the tour which shows you all sorts of wonders including a bookcase full of goblin heads, the animatronics behind the big book of monsters,  buckbeak, the dementors, the incredibly lifelike dummies made for the underwater scenes and more.

Then it was round the corner to Diagon Alley which thankfully was quite quiet when we got there meaning we could have a proper look and take a few photos. This was another one of the things I won’t forget in a long time, that first glimpse of the street and seeing it up close, it’s just as detailed as you’d imagine. I even fitted in a little time mooning over Lockheart in the window of Flourish & Blotts.

We then went on to the original art work section which is completely breathtaking, all of the concept design was awe inspiring and had come straight from the pages of the books. We then went through a section with the white card models of which I especially liked the prefects bathroom.

Through the next doors we found the model of Hogwarts. Imagine the best miniature village you’ve ever seen times that by a million and you’d be a little close to how impressive it is. The set up means that it turns from day to night in front of your eyes and the model comes to life with lights in the windows and doors and there are screens where you can zoom in to see the detail in the model. It’s completely outstanding and I spent quite a bit of time in there watching it change through the day.

In the next room were rows upon rows of wand boxes each containing the name of a cast or crew member of the film, which was completely crazy when you added up how many boxes there were.

Then it was to the gift shop where I purchased a time turner necklace and a chocolate frog and some every flavour beans for the following days’ Potter film watching at our gaff.

Full set of pics here on my flickr if you wish to have a nosey

The it was the long drive home, which didn’t actually take us so long. It really was the best birthday I have ever had in my life!

Win your own Qwertee Harry Potter t-shirt 

(Women's size M - please see the Qwertee measurement guides on their website)

I have one brand spanking new Harry Potter t-shirt in a women’s size M matching the one I am wearing above to give away.

To win please:

1. Like my facebook page
2. Follow me on Twitter
3. Follow this blog
4. Then leave a comment below (numbers will be generated from the comments)

The winner will be picked by a random number generator when I get back from my hols on 

10th July, Good luck!

Filmshiz

I love films.

I can think of nothing better to do on a lazy day then make a huge bowl of salty sweet popcorn and have a film marathon.

I think it may be because of my Grandfolk being avid film fans (this is definitely where my taste for musicals comes from) that I have such a filmlust, that and the escapism of films.

I often think about being glued to the screen whenever Star Wars was on TV as a kid, or the smell of popcorn in the cinema, the only time I liked being in the pitch black, the anticipation of seeing something that would melt my heart/scare me silly or that would make me laugh until my sides split/weep with sadness or joy.

I like all sorts of films, from Brief Encounter to Back to the Future and everywhere in between. There’s no genre I won’t have a go at and I’ve never walked out of a film for no good reason (even Party Monster, I stuck with that to the bitter end).

I no longer frequent the cinema unless it’s something pretty special. I haven’t been since the last Harry Potter film because it was completely spoilt for me by some idiot sat behind me, who talked all the way through. That and the guy who wanders about intermittently to check people aren’t filming, and the fact people now don’t seem to be bale to not look at their phones every ten minutes distracting me like crazy and the high price of cinema tickets, it’s just not worth it.

So I pop everything on my list at Lovefilm as soon as it’s available (in most cases just after it’s been released at the cinema and before it comes out on disc) and wait eagerly for it come through the post.

One problem with this is that Tim and I share an account, which means we take it in turns to rent stuff. Tim rents 20 titles, I rent 20 titles.

At the moment we’re on Tim’s and I have such joys to look forward to as Splinter and The Burrowers. Tim’s a big horror buff. I’m learning all sorts of new stuff about horror films.

I subscribe to Empire, which is an utterly fabulous compendium of all things on the big screen and not so big one, they do a brilliant podcast too.

I'll be reviewing the films I watch through love film on here and maybe, just maybe, if I got to the cinema....(Prometheus....not sure I can miss that on the big screen...)

So my favourite films:

Musical

I adore 42nd street, the costumes are amazing and it has a lovely turn from a gorgeous Ginger Rogers in a supporting role, being a great funny gal. 

Sci-Fi

Need I explain? Apart from the obvious awesomeness, see below. Hot stuff. 

a

Romance

A unconsummated affair, the romance of a steam train, the beautiful black and white making the most of lighting and shadows. 

Epic

 

Gone With the Wind is a marvellous film with an immense cast and a great script. If you haven;lt seen it, go and watch it. Something I definitely have my grand folk to thank for. 

Comedy 

I'm a bit of a sucker for stoner films. And Kevin Smith. And Jay and Silent Bob. 

Fucking clown shoes. 

 Favourite Film of all Time:

I have a theory that the film you've seen the most times is by default your favourite. I always watch this if it;s on on TV. I watched them so much when I was a kid, but the first to me will always be the best, maybe this kick-started my love for the fifties (along with Grease). 

I'm going to get a back to the future tattoo. I have a plan. I just need the cash. 

 

Earth Angel, Earth  Angel.....