These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try.

Well as you may or may not have guessed from the title I have seen The Hobbit.
I have seen it twice now both times in the new HFR 3D (Higher Film Rate 3D) and both times I was impressed.
Obv. more so the first time I saw it.
But since seeing it I have to say it does really seem to be a Marmite sort of film. You either love it or hate it.
There are purists who have read the book saying they've changed too much, added too much etc. But I've read the book and I think it's quite accurate. Not the most accurate book to film adaption I might add but yes there are 1 or 2 extra bits. Having never read the Unfinished tales I can't say whether or not any of the extra scenes are written by Tolkien himself. I do know Jackson has made some bits up as the book had characters going off and doing other things in the book and whatever they go off and do is only hinted at. So he has taken some creative license.
There are of course always going to be people who have nothing but complaints about a film. I read one womans blog and she complained mainly about the length of the film!
I'm sorry but when you look at cinema times the length of the film is usually listed right next to film times. So if you don't want to sit through a long film, don't go to the frickin cinema!!
She also complained about the scenes with Radagast in saying she didn't feel they drove the plot forward and were unnecessary. Not every scene in a film is needed to drive the plot forward sometimes a scene is just there to entertain. She argued that the film should have been shorter and Jackson should have done an extended cut for the dvd.
Now for those of you that have seen Jackson in interviews or read interviews you will know he makes his films for a cinema audience. He doesn't want people sat at home watching them on the small screen, that it takes something away from the magic of the movie. And do you know what, you really can tell. The panoramic views in the movie and the detail is fantastic. And come on lets be honest why wouldn't you go to the cinema to see a film like this?! It makes the most of the sound system and the detail on a bigger screen is amazing.
And add to that a brand new (in this country at least) form of 3D. A higher film rate so it is  more true to what the human eye sees. Why wouldn't you jump at the chance to see it?
Again you have people moaning about 3D, and all I can say to them is if you think 3D is rubbish then you clearly haven't seen a good 3D film. What people don't bother finding out before a cinema visit is that some films are filmed in 3D and some are converted. And on the whole it is those that were converted to 3D that have made people anti-3D. Obv. some people hate the glasses (mainly glasses wearers). Then there are those films that were filmed in 3D but nothing is coming out the screen at you so there is no point in bothering seeing it in 3D.
Previously to seeing The Hobbit the best 3D cinema experience i had was seeing Kylie in her Aphrodite tour at the cinema. That was so good you actually thought people were standing up at the front. With The Hobbit this was repeated things came out the screen at you but not in a shock value way trees came out the screen, smoke trickled out the screen.
It was amazing. My boyfriend also saw the film in 3D but he saw it in standard 3D and whilst impressed didn't understand why I was so blown away by it. But he did enjoy the film.

So that's my Hobbit rant over. Now let me tell you about two other films I have seen recently.
The first was Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D.
This is a sequel to the 1974 classic so it followed directly on from the end of that film. Which was good. Now i'm not going to give away plot details, that would be mean. Let me just say
1. It is SO cheesy.
2. It has a clever twist, and
3. It is NOT 3D enough.
But other than that I enjoyed it.

The other film I saw was Les Miserables. I was blown away, again i'm not going to say too much about it as that would be mean. But i loved it very surprised at Russel Crowe's singing ability. He always reminds me of Oliver Reed for some reason. (And for those of you who-ing at that name IMDB him).
Anne Hathaway has a brilliant voice, and i did cry.
Definatly recommend people going to see it.

Well that is all for this post. I've waffled on long enough. More soon.

Am I the good slayer now?!

Welcome gentle viewers.
Did we all enjoy the Remember Cindy tweetview.
Have to say although it was brought about by an incredibly sad event I really enjoyed the tweetview.
It helped me to realise just how much Cindy was loved and how much she will be missed.
The fact that so many people took part is amazing, I know that not everybody watched the episodes we chose (Thankyou Not_JohnStamos for letting us know Cindy's fave's). I do know that everybody watched something Whedony or Xenay (yes that's a word now) or just something they know Cindy liked.
There was such an out pouring of love from so many people even Eliza Dushku joined in by re-tweeting some of our tweets and tweeting her own Cindy memory. That alone i'm sure would've made Cindy very happy.
And i think Cindy would've enjoyed our memorial to her, and i'm sure she'd have found it hilarious that i got put in twitter prison for tweeting too much!
On the whole the episodes we watched were awesome, but i'm sorry Narna your choice of Xena episode was SO bad! I know why you liked it but you do know if you'd have been watching that with us we would have mocked you. (In a good way of course).
Again thank you to everyone who joined in with Remember Cindy it meant a lot to me that so many people cared and I know it would've meant a lot to Cindy.

On Saturday night there was mention of doing the Remember Cindy event annually, her birthday has been suggested as a good time. So if anybody would be up for that let me know and I will keep you informed in future posts.

In other news my boyfriend is off to see The Hobbit tonight after I told him he NEEDS to see it. He really wanted to see the HFR 3D version but as it doesn't start till 8 and he has to get up early tomorrow they're just seeing the 2D version.
Will give you his verdict and what I thought tomorrow.
That's all for now, back to courier waiting.

HAPPY NEW YEAR (and then Kiss)!

Happy new year to all my readers.
The post's title if from a film, but what film?!
No prizes for guessing just a sense of achievement!

Right onto business, at the weekend Friday 4th, Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th.
We are going to hold our #RememberCindy viewings.
Now as I am trying to include everybody in the viewings I have been struggling to pick a time to do the viewings.
Obviously being on UK time myself I don't want it to be so late UK tweeps will be in bed, or so early that US tweeps will be at work or busy.
So after much thought I have decided that we will hold one viewing on Friday night at 10pm UK time.
Then the other episodes on Saturday night. As i know a lot of shows are starting back in the US on Sunday after the Xmas break and it's All new Lost Girl for the Canadian tweeps (Head in hands and cries cos I have to wait).
Anyway I thought we'd start at 9pm UK time on Saturday (if that's okay for everyone)?

So the episodes are:

Friday 10pm (UK time):

• Xena; One Against an Army (s3),

Saturday from 9pm (UK time):

• Angel; Five by Five (s1),
• Buffy; Dirty Girls (s7),
• Dollhouse; Epitaph 2, (s2),
• Lost Girl; Original Skin, (s2).

Now i'm well aware that some people will not be able to start at the times i've given. So if you want us to start later tweet me or tweet under the #RememberCindy and I will try to make it so we can all join in with as much of it as possible.
Or if you just want to join in with the shows you like. We will have a 10 minute break between each show so that people can have a fag (cigarette), cup of tea/coffee (other beverages are available), or pop to the loo.
Or of course you can start at whatever time you want, just as long as you watch those episodes in that order and tweet about it.
The idea is for as many of Cindy's followers as humanly possible to watch these episodes at the same time. As an face to face gathering is impossible we are having a virtual gathering.

So happy viewing Gentle Viewers. #RememberCindy xxx

Remembering Cindy (My Narna).

Hi all,
Sorry for the LONG delay, but I am shite at updating my blog.
I am really going to try in 2013 promise.
I felt that I should wrap up 2012 with a final entry.

This entry is dedicated to Cindy Mealer who lost her battle with Cancer on 24th December this year.
The world lost a truly amazing woman.

 

(Photo taken from Cindy's facebook with Eliza Dushku).

 

I am proud to have been able to call her my friend.

I first got to know Cindy in 2008 in a Buffy group on Facebook. We got chatting about our shared love of Faith and it went on from there. We chatted in the group for a week or two and then she sent me a friend request.



I accepted and the chatting continued, pretty much every day, i used to love my daily chats. If I was getting up early and she was still online i'd actually IM her for a little while before work/uni.

We'd tell each other about our days, Cindy used to make me laugh with tales about some of her customers.

I remember when I told her I had named my laptop Faith she thought that was brilliant and ended up naming her computer Echo. (All the cool toys need names).

If i'd been cooking i used to tell Cindy what i'd cooked and always used to make her hungry.

 

One day she said something silly and I called her a Narna.

The next day I got a message asking what narna meant. I had to explain that it was a term some Brits use when something is silly or daft. (Also short for banana). From then on in we called each other narna all the time.

Cindy was always making me laugh and even though they never spoke she'd always say Hi to my boyfriend Dave and ask how he was.

 

After a while Cindy found her way onto twitter. She soon found her feet (with some help) and was encouraging me to use my twitter account! I was very anti-twitter did not like it at all, but she kept saying how good it was so eventually i relented. (And soon became addicted).

Our chats continued only now other people could join in.

Thanks to Cindy and our tweets I made some good friends on twitter. We all used to chat about shows we were watching, films we'd seen etc.

 

Now I have been asked how I can be friends with people I have never met. Well the answer to that is quite easily!

Anybody remember penfriends? Weren't they people you would write to and sometimes be writing to them for years and never meet?



Well this is the modern equivalent. (Although I have now met some of my tweeps and they were very nice).

Everyone I have spoken to who met or spoke to Cindy liked her. Even her favourite Buffy actress Eliza Dushku fell under Cindy's spell. They met a few times and Eliza even followed Cindy on twitter and tweeted her.
She even called her while she was sick which I know meant a lot to her.
Cindy did seem to cast a spell over everyone with her amazingness (yes it's a word now). Which is why she will be so greatly missed our #TwitterAngel

Since Cindy passed away all of her friends have been saying how we need to do something to pay tribute to her. Several things were decided (that I know of).
The first one is to donate to one of her charities.
Thrive-Gulu which is a charity Eliza Dushku and her Mum set up.
Thrive Gulu
The other is the Carroll Centre a centre for the blind or visually impaired.
http://www.carroll.org/

The second way is organised by AmyWhedonite (follow here).
Where at the stroke of midnight New Years eve in every time zone you can release balloons (colours decided were Red, White and Yellow, but you can choose colours personal to you as well).
With messages for Cindy on them.

The third and (possibly) final way is organised by myself and Drneevil (follow here).
We decided to watch 5 of Cindy's favourite shows. This will take place over the first weekend in January (4th, 5th and 6th) 2013.
Shows and episodes are:

• Xena; One Against an Army (from season 3).
• Angel; Five by Five (from season 1).
• Buffy; Dirty Girls (from season 7).
• Dollhouse; Epitaph 2 (from season 2) and finally
• Lost Girl; Original Skin (from season 2).

Whilst watching these episodes we will also be tweeting under #RememberCindy

If anyone wants more details tweet me, leave a comment or tweet under the above hashtag.

This ones for you Cindy, the best narna in the world. I will love and miss you always xxxx

Argh, Argh, My Brains Exploding!!!!!

Okay I know for our first book we decided upon Much Ado About Nothing. But man it's such a hard read! Maybe not for some people, but i last read Shakespeare in 1994 and I struggled with that. But I thought older, more patience, it'll be fine. Wrong!!!
I have made it to the second page but only because somebody read me the first page, I kept reading it and it was not sinking in.

I NEED to get reading as we are discussing it this Sunday but I think my contribution will be sitting in the corner and dribbling!

Now I said I would find a list of Whedon related books for our book club but I haven't. I have been distracted by my new arrivals. Two little Guinea Pigs who i've named Tegan and Peri (and if you've seen my twitter you'll know I am a bit obsessed with them). But I will try and get some research done this week.
For now people that is all.

Welcome Gentle Viewers.

Okay, so here's what you need to know about this blog. It was created after a long twitter conversation regarding books, and starting a twitter book club.
It was decided we should focus on the genius of Joss Whedon and his shows and films. So all the books will have either been mentioned in his shows and films or will tie in with them.
The name was thought of by LeedsBookClub (find her on twitter).
If you are unfamiliar with Joss Whedon doesn't matter we will teach you about his genius and enrol you into the Whedonites.
We have decided under the hashtag #WFTBC to have general book discussions as well as assign books to read.
The first book we will be reading is Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (see separate entry for more on this book). And we will be discussing it under the above hashtag on May 20th. So if you would like to join in... get reading!