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slycatThought I'd write an entry to record the great extended weekend I had. My weekend started on Friday as I had taken it off in advance. Things didn't start well as I had a number of calls from work about various things I had been working on that they needed info on, however with all the work stuff out of the way, I jumped on a train to Woking to meet up with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arakinuk. Spent the evening chilling out, made awesome triple cheese pasta bake and watched Lock Stock while quoting half the script :P
Saturday morning, I decided to try making proper hash browns. The kind you get in an American diner, and not McDonald's. I had found a recipe previously which basically says you just need to grate a potato and squeeze it dry of liquid before frying. The recipe suggests using a device called a potato ricer, in the absence of this, we used a rotatory cheese crater thingy which had a clamp for squeezing the liquid out. The end product wasn't bad and was still rather tasty but didn't look much like the photo on the site. This was probably due to not squeezing all the liquid out... but it's still something I'd like to try to make again as hash browns are awesome :)
After breakfast, we hopped on a train to London and made our way to CyberCandy for some imported goods. I picked up some IBC root beer and some other assorted sweets (including a really tasty cookie dough Kit Kat). Next stop was the National History Museum in South Kensington as neither of us had been in around 15-20 years. Was quite interesting to wander around the exhibits but it did involve a lot of walking! We needed to be at the BFI IMAX for 6pm and were running late but needed to grab something to eat. As we didn't have time to go to a restaurant, we settled for Burger King at Waterloo Station before making our way to the cinema. At the IMAX, we saw the presentation of Speed Racer which I was a bit weary of beforehand, but can say I rather enjoyed it. It was cast really well (John Goodman stood out for me) and was impressively directed, as you'd probably expect of the Wachowskis. Some of the reviews can't get over the visual style, but I think it helped the feel of the movie. Both Arakin and I did make the comparison between the race track scenes and ancient MS-DOS CD-ROM game MegaRace :P
After the film, we caught the next train back and have some the rest of the pasta bake made the day previously before falling asleep. Sunday, I had to get myself to my parents place for Sunday lunch before going to see Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film seemed to bring togther families like my own who remember seeing the originals together in the cinema before which made it feel like a special event. However having seen the film, I couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Indy 4 Review: It felt like something fundamental was missing... It didn't feel like an Indy film. Maybe it was because of the absence of the Germans who were in the better two previous instalments of the series. However it did feel like there wasn't so much of a sense of adventure or discovery. In the previous films, Indy would have to find clues and work out what they mean etc, however this time it felt like it was all on rails and Indy didn't really have to work. Also there were far too many absurd elements, the refrigerator scene, the "Tarzan" scene, the duck boat falling onto a tree and then into the water, the waterfall drops and the whole alien element. I think the latter may be because they didn't want to base it on anything religious this time round but in the end it just made it all seem less believable. The great thing about the previous films is that while they were larger than life, they still seemed to be rooted in the realms of feasibility. I think the time period didn't suit Indy. They couldn't get away from the fact that the actors have all aged since the last film and so the character's time line needs to have advanced but with it based in the 50's, it just didn't feel right, with the Communist Russian influences (who never once felt as evil as the Nazi Germans ever did) and Mutt apparently being a mini-Fonz. While both were right for the time period, neither were right for Indy. Also at the end of the film they suggested Mutt taking over the role of Indy probably for another sequel but with Indy only as a supporting role, if at all, but that's all speculation.
In conclusion, if someone had asked me if I had the choice of this fourth film or none at all, I would have probably opted for no film at all. The third film had a great ending and in retrospect, the series should have been left there. It's all a real shame, I knew Indy 4 had a lot to live up to and ultimately it fell very short of the mark. Had it been a film without Indy but everything else the same, I would have probably been less disappointed. With 19 years in the making, I was expecting so much more. I think National Treasure (and it's sequel) had a better sense of adventure than Indy 4 did.
Today, I've not done a heck of a lot other than buy some new work shoes and watch a bunch of stuff I downloaded. One piece of good news I got however was that my meeting in Manchester for tomorrow has been cancelled due to the trains being screwed due to the weather. Back to work as normal tomorrow, but it was great to have an extended break in good company and get out and do stuff.
arakinuk. Spent the evening chilling out, made awesome triple cheese pasta bake and watched Lock Stock while quoting half the script :PSaturday morning, I decided to try making proper hash browns. The kind you get in an American diner, and not McDonald's. I had found a recipe previously which basically says you just need to grate a potato and squeeze it dry of liquid before frying. The recipe suggests using a device called a potato ricer, in the absence of this, we used a rotatory cheese crater thingy which had a clamp for squeezing the liquid out. The end product wasn't bad and was still rather tasty but didn't look much like the photo on the site. This was probably due to not squeezing all the liquid out... but it's still something I'd like to try to make again as hash browns are awesome :)
After breakfast, we hopped on a train to London and made our way to CyberCandy for some imported goods. I picked up some IBC root beer and some other assorted sweets (including a really tasty cookie dough Kit Kat). Next stop was the National History Museum in South Kensington as neither of us had been in around 15-20 years. Was quite interesting to wander around the exhibits but it did involve a lot of walking! We needed to be at the BFI IMAX for 6pm and were running late but needed to grab something to eat. As we didn't have time to go to a restaurant, we settled for Burger King at Waterloo Station before making our way to the cinema. At the IMAX, we saw the presentation of Speed Racer which I was a bit weary of beforehand, but can say I rather enjoyed it. It was cast really well (John Goodman stood out for me) and was impressively directed, as you'd probably expect of the Wachowskis. Some of the reviews can't get over the visual style, but I think it helped the feel of the movie. Both Arakin and I did make the comparison between the race track scenes and ancient MS-DOS CD-ROM game MegaRace :P
After the film, we caught the next train back and have some the rest of the pasta bake made the day previously before falling asleep. Sunday, I had to get myself to my parents place for Sunday lunch before going to see Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film seemed to bring togther families like my own who remember seeing the originals together in the cinema before which made it feel like a special event. However having seen the film, I couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Indy 4 Review: It felt like something fundamental was missing... It didn't feel like an Indy film. Maybe it was because of the absence of the Germans who were in the better two previous instalments of the series. However it did feel like there wasn't so much of a sense of adventure or discovery. In the previous films, Indy would have to find clues and work out what they mean etc, however this time it felt like it was all on rails and Indy didn't really have to work. Also there were far too many absurd elements, the refrigerator scene, the "Tarzan" scene, the duck boat falling onto a tree and then into the water, the waterfall drops and the whole alien element. I think the latter may be because they didn't want to base it on anything religious this time round but in the end it just made it all seem less believable. The great thing about the previous films is that while they were larger than life, they still seemed to be rooted in the realms of feasibility. I think the time period didn't suit Indy. They couldn't get away from the fact that the actors have all aged since the last film and so the character's time line needs to have advanced but with it based in the 50's, it just didn't feel right, with the Communist Russian influences (who never once felt as evil as the Nazi Germans ever did) and Mutt apparently being a mini-Fonz. While both were right for the time period, neither were right for Indy. Also at the end of the film they suggested Mutt taking over the role of Indy probably for another sequel but with Indy only as a supporting role, if at all, but that's all speculation.
In conclusion, if someone had asked me if I had the choice of this fourth film or none at all, I would have probably opted for no film at all. The third film had a great ending and in retrospect, the series should have been left there. It's all a real shame, I knew Indy 4 had a lot to live up to and ultimately it fell very short of the mark. Had it been a film without Indy but everything else the same, I would have probably been less disappointed. With 19 years in the making, I was expecting so much more. I think National Treasure (and it's sequel) had a better sense of adventure than Indy 4 did.
Today, I've not done a heck of a lot other than buy some new work shoes and watch a bunch of stuff I downloaded. One piece of good news I got however was that my meeting in Manchester for tomorrow has been cancelled due to the trains being screwed due to the weather. Back to work as normal tomorrow, but it was great to have an extended break in good company and get out and do stuff.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-26 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-26 09:27 pm (UTC)Ended up making apple crumble today, so that's something for me to make next time.
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Date: 2008-05-26 11:16 pm (UTC)We used to have an old meat grinder I used to make hashbrowns with. +butter, salt, pepper = nomnomnom.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-26 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 06:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 06:35 am (UTC)