Southampton Hantsfur Meet

Yesterday was the second Southampton Hantsfur meet this year. There had been over 2 months for people to suggest stuff and agree on what to do to prevent it being the disorganised meet that the last one was. There was even a vote where people choose the day they would prefer the meet to happen on so they could attend as the default date of the 11th (it had previously been agreed that Hantsfur meets would occur on the second Saturday of each month) fell on the Easter weekend and clashed with the Londonfur meet. 13 people voted unanimously for the meet to be moved to the 18th. However, despite all this, there was no plan for the meet beyond a meeting time and place and fromt he posts in the forum, it dodn't even seem that anyone would go.

So yesterday morning, I made my way to the train station at 1pm to see if anyone would turn up. I knew arakinuk would be there as we had arranged to meet that weekend anyway but didn't really know who else would be there. However after a bit, Arakin and I noticed some guys with tails and thought they would obviously be the furries. Was only 4 of them (Namugriff, Vaise, Wrathwolf and Jazz), making our meet attendance 6 in total. We did hang around until around 1:25 but no-one else showed up and so we went off in search of food.

Ended up in the food court of West Quay and grabbed some chicken. Stayed there for some time chatting until someone decided what to do next, which was browse Forbidden Planet (kinda default choice for a furmeet) and Ky (the Black Cat) somehow joined the meet at that point. Then went to Shakeaway, and then Sega Park (again more default choices for Southampton meets). Saw tktiger there who was working. Spent £2 on the new Rambo game which despite TK's disliking of the game, was pretty fun. Didn't much care for the FMV bits, but the game was rather entertaining :). Arakin played on the MAME arcade unit and Namugriff and I had a go on the air hockey (where he narrowly won I should add).

There had been plans to go check out what's on at the cinema and so Ky, Arakin and I went by car as Arakin had to move his car while the others walked. Due to my poor navigation, we ended up taking an indirect route and got there after the walkers got there :P. Everyone had pretty much decided that they wanted to see Crank 2. However, there was a problem in that 3 of the furs were under 18 and didn't have ID to say otherwise. The ticket sellers wouldn't sell the tickets without the Ids of the under aged folk and so we ended up buying tickets for Monsters vs Aliens 3D and then sitting in the Quayside pub until the movie was on.

The movie was OK but it didn't seem that great. There were plenty of funny uses of 3D and there was some very good voice talent but it wasn't as entertaining as Bolt or Kung Fu Panda, or as well written as Wall-E. If I were to give it a rating, I'd probably say 6/10, I'd imagine that might be more like 5/10 if it wasn't in 3D. Following the movie, we walked over to Burger King for some food where I almost got welded to the floor due to some unknown sticky substance. After that, we decided to call it a night as it was around 9:30pm by that point. However by the time we got back to the cinema, we were there in time for a showing of Crank 2. So Arakin and I went to see the movie and said goodbye to the others.

Now, I absolutely loved the first Crank. It was a silly adrenaline filled action film which didn't take itself too seriously but it was still an entertaining film. However I didn't find myself enjoying the second film anywhere near as much as the first. I had heard lots of great words about the film from other people I know so I had high hopes but this film was just a mess. Crank was just a simple rollercoaster ride of entertainment where as Crank 2 didn't feel as fluid. There was lots of needless nudity and pointless sub plots which just detracted from the fun and it was also just not as funny as the first. Ultimately I think the main plot device of him needing to electrocute himself to stay alive was flawed as it ended up turning him into an indestructible being. While obviously I knew you're supposed to leave your brain at the entrance to the cinema with this type of film but what worked for Crank didn't work for Crank 2. I'd say 2/10.

However, to summarise the meet, it was good to get to know new people as with larger meets you often don't get to chat with everyone, however it was just as disorganised as the last one and this time there was no excuse. Part of the problem is that no-one wants to take charge with the meets and make plans or organise venues, etc. The meets probably wouldn't even have happened had I not proposed them in the first place but I don't want to have to organise them, I know how much of a chore that can be :P