Overheard Articulation...

Spotted on Facebook:

Me: How has school been so far?

Girl next door: It’s been good, except some girl at school called me ‘Chocolate Face’

Me: Oh no what did you do?

Girl next door: I said at least I'm not a 'Pasty Stacey'

Film Review: Fish Tank

Mia (Katie Jarvis) lives on an estate in Essex. Having just been kicked out of school, she spends her days lounging around and wandering the streets. Mia’s passion for street dance goes unnoticed by her mother (Kierston Wareing), as she is generally unconcerned about what Mia gets up to, because she spends her days in a drunken slumber. Mia’s little sister, Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths) is also an ASBO waiting to develop, but she has the best one-liners. Mia’s household is one incapable of expressing love; Mia’s mother constantly berates Mia, and Tyler probably doesn’t even know what the word is, lost amongst the tide of expletives she spits out daily.

One day Mia’s mother brings home a new man, Connor (Michael Fassbender). Connor is just what Mia has been missing. He pays attention to her, ‘you dance like a black – I meant that as a compliment’ (hahahaha). He fills the father role that Mia so obviously needs. However, this ‘father figure’ is a new experience for Mia, and her confusion is evident as the relationship her and Connor have takes a sinister turn…

Katie Jarvis had never acted before Fish Tank; she got this role through a chance meeting with the casting director who saw her having an argument with her boyfriend in Essex. Jarvis is naturally talented; she manages to pull off a convincing performance as Mia, able to show Mia’s vulnerability beneath her foul language.

Fish Tank is a slow-burner, minutes pass by without any dialogue. However, instead of this being a weakness, it is a strength, as this is done is such a way that the film does not become boring. There are pretty shots of Essex also, which is remarkable as that area is… well it’s no utopia. Director Andrea Arnold manages to show factors that affect young people who come from low earning families without being patronising or being over the top. It’s a fine line, but she walks all over it.

Overheard Articulation...

"Yo mama so hairy she wears a Nike tag on her weave so now everybody calls her Hair Jordan."

Film Review: 500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom, who works in an office where he writes greeting cards. Although he has been working there for four years, he finds his job dull, and yearns to be an architect. One day during a meeting he is introduced to Summer (Zooey Deschanel), his boss’s new assistant. He is taken aback by her beauty and immediately starts trying to find a way to get to know her. However, she isn’t interested in romance, and she doesn’t believe in love…

WARNING: This is not a love story; it’s a story about love.

500 Days doesn’t run in a chronological order. Instead, we zip from one day to the next in a rather haphazard fashion, whilst all the time explaining Tom and Summer’s relationship. After ten minutes I had no idea what day we were on (I’m no good with numbers), but I was immersed into a love story that is, by far, light-years better than most rom-coms. Nerdy Tom and super-slick Summer seem like characters that only appear in films, but as the characters unravel, I found myself thinking of people who are similar to them. In fact, on some level, I can identify with both characters (I’m not sure what this says about me, but anyway...).

I could go on and on about how creative the film is, and how the soundtrack is perfect, and how Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play their parts brilliantly… I could go on and on about everything. But I won’t, because it may spoil it for you. So go and see it.

Is it too early to start talking about Oscar nominations?

Overheard Articulation...

Person One: "That is far too expensive."

Person Two: "No, no my dear. It’s obviously clear to see, you are just broke."

A Music Moment...

Even though this song was released in August, it has only just caught the attention of the masses, due to its use in the promotion of a film and certain TV programmes. ‘Sweet Disposition’ is by Australian band The Temper Trap and it channels memories of my summer (click here, and don’t ask questions), which is nice as the temperature plummets and I dig out my winter coat.

‘Sweet Disposition’ is out now.

P.S: I miss music like this...

I thought I’d never miss school…

The other day I was on the bus around three o’clock. And on my journey I noticed the mix of uniforms decorating the streets. The school term has started again.

And to be honest, I felt left out.

I left secondary school two years ago. I went to a boys school in East London, and while my school certainly wasn’t the best, we made the most of a bad situation. Though we had no facilities, some of the most inept teachers ever (I remember a supply teacher asking me how to control the class… I was fifteen…), and toward the end we all loathed the dump, I’d still pick the five years I spent there over the two years I spent at college (and probably the three years I’ll spend at university).

I remember during my days at secondary school (high school if you’re from across the pond), hanging around on street corners after school or during lunchtime, and anytime anyone else walked past in a different uniform, we would give them a nasty look. Just because they were from a different school. I used to argue with friends of mine whose school was more ‘ghetto’ or ‘gangster’ or simply whose school was the worse. I’d always win (I knew it wasn’t anything to brag over, but I certainly wasn’t going to win the ‘whose school is better’ argument).

I remember on school trips clambering onto public transport and throwing newspapers at each other, being loud and laughing at unfortunate commuters who unwittingly sat on the same carriage as us.

I remember we would only be well behaved if any decent-looking girls were nearby, walking past the local girls school meant putting on the pretence that we were hard, we were interested in them, but at the same time we weren’t bothered.

I remember sitting in classes, constantly being told off for ‘talking while the teacher is talking’… but still carrying on with my conversation. I relied a lot on my natural ability in lessons, and never worked too hard. Once a teacher said to another pupil I was talking to: ‘He can talk in lessons because he’ll pass, but you can’t!’

I remember, I remember… but memories are all I have.

How things change.

Overheard Articulation...

“You’re the only person I know with tight jogging bottoms”

Film Review: District 9

‘District 9’ starts off twenty-eight years in the past, when an UFO breaks down over Johannesburg. The aliens that are on board the UFO settle in the city, specifically in District 9, a slum on the outskirts. Over the twenty-eight year period, the aliens are treated as lesser citizens, dubbed ‘prawns’ due to their physical appearance.

Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) heads up the operation to clear the aliens from the slum in District 9 to a new facility called District 10, which isn’t more than a concentration camp. However, when Wikus spills an alien substance on himself, things start happening…

The parallels with the apartheid regime are clear, with the aliens not given the same rights as the humans. However, the film veers off this and instead focuses on Wikus, which is a bit of a shame. But this film is extremely enjoyable, so I would advise you to go and see it.

A Music Moment…

If you have raved/partied this summer, and they have played Funky House, you would have come across at least one of these tunes. This has been the soundtrack to my summer.

Kyla - Daydreaming

Meleka - Go

Egypt - In The Morning

Perempay & Dee ft. Katie Pearl - In The Air

P.S: And this was my tune from a couple of summers back