Firetop

Being an avid Star Wars memorabilia collector, last year I had to purchase the Star Wars potato heads for my collection, adding Darth Tater, Artoo-Potatoo ‘with Princess Tater’ and Spud Trooper to my desktop decor. Imagine my surprise and joy when on Saturday whilst clothes shopping for my daughter, I found a new potato head, this time in recognition of the latest Transformers movie - it had to be the ultimate transforming Autobot - Optimash Prime! (more…)

Suzie_Q and I have just got back from an evening’s pram stroll up to the Yicken Chinese take-away on South Street to grab some easy dinner. On the way up we passed Waterstones bookshop where what looked like homeless people had taken up residence in the doorway. As we got closer I could see a sign outside saying ‘Welcome Muggles’ and it became clear that these were not vagrants but parents and children huddled with blankets awaiting the launch of the final Harry Potter book ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. It’s actually quite cold out this evening after the downpours, I’m quite surprised that the children can tolerate it, especially considering that they’re just going to find out that Harry dies and then cry themselves to sleep. (more…)

On Sunday afternoon we took Maria for her second trip around the M25 to the ExCel centre in London, her last visit being to the London Baby Show - but back then she couldn’t see much from inside the womb! Now almost two weeks old and gaining weight & height rapidly, we took her for her first initiation into the fantasy realm of Star Wars for ‘Celebration Europe’ (you can’t wait too long). In honesty this was obviously more for me (and Suzie_Q) - getting out of the house is recommended when faced with the relentless onslaught of feeding, nappy changing and sleep deprivation. Maria was so impressed that she slept her way around the exhibition stands despite the pumping Star Wars tunes and sound effects, luckily for her we managed to get her photo taken with Bounty Hunter ‘Boba Fett’. (more…)

Last night Suzie_Q and I went to see the final installment of Pirates of the Caribbean ’At World’s End’ (surprisingly not filmed at the World’s End Inn in Dorset). Dorking Halls cinema charges only £3 each on a Monday night - a reasonable charge compared with Crawley Cineworld where it’s almost cheaper to buy a brand new latest release DVD than two tickets to a film. One of the problems with turning thirty is that (other than evolving into a grumpy old man) you can barely remember films you watched last year, so I had to re-hire both previous films to watch over the weekend to refresh my memory on the plot. Having now completed the trilogy over a number of days I find myself with more unanswered questions than I started out with at the begining of the second film - the most consistent of which is “Why is the little monkey STILL undead?”. (more…)

These past two days are special celebrations in the film world; today would have been the one hundredth birthday of John Wayne (born May 26, 1907), and yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of the first Star Wars film release. Had I given it more thought I might have arranged a Star Wars weekend, complete with films and Star Wars Trivial Pursuit – the problem is I don’t know any other Star Wars geeks like me so it’d be a lonely weekend. It might have been a better bet to have a John Wayne weekend as I know a few more fans of ‘The Duke’. (more…)

Last week’s Amazon DVD rental supply included Oliver Stone’s ‘World Trade Center’ - a much more believable movie than I had anticipated. I always have some concerns about films depicting tragic real-life events – particularly those which have affected America; their re-enactment on screen is often over-glorified by directors for cinematic and nationalistic effect (e.g. Flight 93). World Trade Center seems, rather pleasingly, to be about as honest a film for such a tragic subject as could be made. Focusing on the story of two Port Authority Police officers buried alive when the Towers collapsed, I was pretty gripped throughout. I even watched it a second time with my wife and a third to hear the additional narration from the real-life police officers (who have bit parts themselves). (more…)

After dinner this evening my wife and I made the short drive up Box Hill for a walk on the National Trust maintained network of public footpaths. I took my camera as I was expecting some nice sunset photographs… and I also took my Australian bullroarer. You’re probably wondering what a bullroarer is… it’s an Aboriginal painted piece of timber on a string - made famous by Mick Dundee in Crocodile Dundee 2 to ‘make a telephone call’. When swung it makes a loud roaring noise, which the Aborigines used as a sign for women and children to keep away from their secret ceremonies. Just for the crack I’d see whether the one I bought in Western Australia would freak anybody out on Box Hill or down in the valley (if the noise would travel far enough). Unfortunately as you can see from the short bullroarer video footage - all did not go to plan (and yes, I AM mad) (more…)

Last Thursday I watched a documentary on Channel Four which I found to be the most enlightening programme I’ve seen in quite some time. Controversial in it’s topic for even suggesting that global warming might NOT be manmade, ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’ covered just why there is no correlation between CO2 increases in the atmosphere and rises in global temperature, apparently quite the opposite is true (albeit with a lag of a few hundred years due to delayed changes in sea temperatures). (more…)

Somehow I managed to reach the ripe old age of 29 without ever having seen Bladerunner before now – a film based on a screen play by Hampton Fancher which asks the fundamental question – when does the life experience of a super computer (or in this case an android) become as valuable as a human’s? In the case of Bladerunner the answer is that it has occurred – emphasised in Rutger Hauer’s final pre-death statement ‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe … and now all those experiences are lost forever like tears’. (more…)

For the first time in a few months, Suzie_Q and I took a trip to Crawley’s Cineworld on Friday night to see ‘The Children of Men’. Set in the year 2027, humans have lost the ability to reproduce despite the best efforts of leading scientists, and the world’s youngest person (aged 18 and a celebrity) has just been stabbed to death. Britain is run by a government making best use of ‘big brother’ Internet technology to control the population, and illegal immigrants are being deported by the coach load in scenes reminiscent of the Jewish gettos in WWII. Clive Owen (think ‘Closer’ with Julia Roberts) plays Theo - a man caught up in an effort to get the world’s only pregant woman to the safety of a fabled ‘human project’ ship (called ‘Tomorrow’ - yes a bit cheesy). (more…)