Play Time?

I'm approaching the final hurdle of my uni work....(emphasis on approaching, I am not there yet! A lot could still go wrong)

Just a quick post about a play suit I bought the other week. It must be at least 2 years I've been searching for a play suit I liked, always found them to either look like pyjamas or were too short or really cheap material or basically just looked...awful (like a baby's romper...whats that all about!)

I was searching ASOS for any bargains, and came across a butterfly print one from Mango, from £40 down to £18. Now I've ordered things from ASOS before that don't look anything like the picture! (A fair trade t-shirt, then when it arrives looked like a table cloth, and a horrible one at that!) But I do love ASOS for the free delivery and returns anyway so I don't mind the occasionally mess up.

Anyway, the play suit arrived and it's really great, the length isn't stupidly short and the top actually looks like a top rather than a baggy sack like thing....so teamed it with a belt and some boots and voila!

Here you go......

Now back to my work....woo!

The worst film ever???

I just had to mention this!

Last night, as I settled down to a night of design developments (fml) I was looking for a film that could keep me awake through the work load...I discovered the weirdest film...(except for the film Funny Games (2007), which me and some friends stumbled across. That is possibly the strangest film ever....leaves you with a face like..  o.O whhhattt????) anyway...

So in the TV guide, it said Dreamcatcher - 2003 - Morgan Freeman - 2 Stars.

So I'm thinking, well if it's got Freeman in it....it's gotta be good, I usually ignore star ratings, as most of the time I don't agree with them, I don't really understand how a film can be rated when people have different tastes and like different things, therefore Ive learnt to judge for myself.

I didn't have a clue what it was about, or the genre or who else was in it, so it was a pretty random choice, but it started off with 4 guys that can read peoples minds...(think 'What Women Want') I was shocked to see the cast get better and better, names including Thomas Jane (The Punisher & The Mist), Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers & The Escapist), Jason Lee (My Name is Earl & Vanilla Sky) and Timothy Olyphant (Die Hard 4.0 & The Crazies). So once again I'm thinking it MUST be good....

After the first half hour of complete confusion....skipping backwards and forwards past and present without any reason, the film starts randomly, leaving you guessing whats actually going on and what it's all about, the characters just start reading peoples minds like it's normal...it was very messed up, definitely not one to watch while trying to get on with uni work....definitely needs all your attention, well so I thought...

Then the film suddenly takes a humorous route...more 'Cabin Fever' the film goes from being a drama to a comedy horror, with the characters taking a trip to a log cabin out of the blue, without much relevance to the storyline so far...then the 'horror' begins (I use the word horror loosely, it's difficult to take Jason Lee seriously) throw in some 'infected' people and the wonderful 'butt worms' (niiicee) and we get a lot of blood....I must admit it did make me laugh at times, but I don't think it was actually meant to, it was stupidly unreal it was hard not to...so I'm settling into the fact this is a 'dieseas ridden monster film' when whatdayaknow!!! BOOM!! Lets throw in some aliens for good measure...

yep I'm not exaggerating, we have now gone from drama, to horror, to comedy, to sci-fi?? hmmm I found myself getting annoyed and the twist and turns in this film....(imagine the way Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was ruined by aliens, well this went the same way)

The film pretty much carries on this way, it was as if the director Lawrence Kasdan couldn't decide what genre to make this film, although including aliens was probably a sure thing for him (writer of some of the Star Wars films). I will say, I did keep watching until the very end, I was intrigued to see how this could possibly end, and yes the ending was just as disappointing as the rest of the film....after 150 minutes of confusion, I felt like I'd just lost valuable hours of my life...

What a let down Morgan Freeman was! Well not him personally but the part was dreadful...why cast such a big name and have him in hardly any scenes and make his character more or less 'a waste of space'?? I'm shocked that he actually accepted to be in such a film...but each to their own.

All in all, a very interestingly weird film. I honestly don't even know how to sum it up. Maybe it was me, and I just didn't 'get it' but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting. On a positive note, I thought Damian Lewis was very good and an interesting lead part. Worth watching if you want to experience the sheer madness, but don't bother if you have better things to do :)

Overall 2/10  

sorry!

Inspiration

I've been searching the web for ideas to help me with my photography project over Easter. I've managed to persuade my good friend to be my model/guinea pig and let me transform her into a sinner of pride (the project is related to the 7 deadly sins)

Therefore I've been trying to get ideas for really over the top, theatrical fashion make up and hairstyles, however with me being neither a makeup artist or a hairdresser, the task will no doubt turn out to be a lot harder than I think....I also have literally 2 days to get my 10 images, not to mention the time taken to change outfits, change hair, change makeup....its going to be very stressful I can tell already! 

Which means I would like to find some sort of idea that I can add things to as the day goes on, rather than take the make up off each time and redo, which will result in me getting fed up and my models skin taking a beating! 

All my shots are based outside sooo lets not even start on the problem if the weathers bad.....which knowing my luck it will be....think positive think positive think positive....

Anyway here's somethings I've found, kinda liking the idea of big OTT lashes and big back combed hair...

Here I like the harsh black block going straight across the eye, this could be easy to achieve

This looks like a lace effect, which I could try using a piece of lace fabric and attaching it to the face with something...erm any ideas what I could use?? Maybe eyelash glue??

Love these lashes!, Would literally need nothing else as they create all the drama I need, need to try and find where these can be purchased from...

This is perfect but looks a bit too tricky for me plus its very busy and would be difficult to adapt

Love this mockled effect, but again maybe to much for quick changes, but if I have time I would like to try this

This is fun, the colours wouldn't go with the theme of my images but it's interesting anyway!

This is so cute! I do not have a clue how its been achieved! But I really like it, very catwalk!

I could do this! I have a lot of net fabric.....hmnmm possibility

Big hair! Love it! Wish I had hair like this, I'm thinking lots of hairspray, go mental with a brush and tadarr!

Testing testing...1,2,3

Some photos taken so far testing out my new play thing :)

Princess Phoebe <3

The Boy <3

My Favorite!

Hershey

<3

mmmm....

Goodies from the City of Dreams...

Not that I had much time for shopping after all the running around we did :) But here are a few souvenirs I did bring back from my trip...

Macy's $20

Forever 21 $3.80

Forever 21 $2.40

Forever 21 $5.00

I love Forever 21! I first discovered the store 2 years ago in Florida, they have an online store that delivers to the UK and apparently there are a few stores in England but I like it as my holiday shop, it's kinda like New Look, some things are really cheap and everyday, but they also have on trend items for the season, it's very popular in New York....I spotted at least 3 stores within a few streets of each other, huge stores...we shopped in there till 1am in the morning on a Sunday...how cool is that! Guess that's why they call it the city that never sleeps!

Now my main purchase, which I knew I was treating myself to before I went....my new baby.....

Lumix Panasonic Camera $idontevenwannasayhowmuch

 As you know, I'm quite into photography so decided it was time I invested in some 'proper gear' so we visited the worlds largest electronics store (my dads dream) and a very helpful guy helped me choose the right camera for me and accessories....so I've tried it out and I love it! I've never had a camera like it before, except the occasional go on my dads old SLR. I think it will come in very handy for my photography project next week....(post will follow no doubt)

Obviously brought back lots of American sweets and chocolates for the family...suitcase just made it through under the weight limit (but that's no surprise for me :))

Next time...I'm taking an empty case

NYC

I'm back!

New York was Amazing. The best trip of my life. End of.

I won't bore you with all the details, but just a brief day by day run down of events...and trust me, it was VERY eventful...

Day 1

We set of from Leeds about 7am and arrived in London by 1pm (I've learnt the way to survive a coach ride that long is to sleep and hope for the best) When it came to boarding we discovered our Italian teacher had been refused at check-in, it's not clear what happened, but this now left our Irish teacher Paddy, in charge of 40+ students...he seemed nervous :)

The flight was easy, no problems, British Airways is awesome, free drinks constantly, edible food and a film library of about 50 films to choose from....I've never been subject to such luxury in the air :)

I used my time wisely and watched Unstoppable (2010) The Kings Speech (2010) and 127 Hours (2010) a good choice I think :)

We arrived in New York about 8pm and endured a crazy coach ride to the hotel, I felt like I was in a session of Grand Theft Auto.....there was a lot of 'honking' and breaking and squeezing down streets we probably shouldn't have attempted....that was our first taste of The Big Apple....

The hotel was brilliant, we each had a double bed and actual space to move about, in fact one night I actually demonstrated the use of space as a running track to exercise....some people are probably used to hotels like this and think nothing of it, but compared to my last trip, to Paris, this hotel was Heaven, did not want to leave!!!

The Room

Day 2

We started our morning with a traditional USA breakfast, of PANCAKES!! (covered in syrup yum!) The day consisted of:

• Walk down 5th Av and Broadway
• A trip to Madame Tussuad's
• The M&M and Hershey bar stores
• Visit to the MOMA Museum (Museum of Modern Art)
• Tea at Planet Hollywood
• Times Square at night
• View from the top of the Rockafella (Top of the Rock)
• People watching at Rockafella's ice rink (very amusing....Jonny Depp, Chris Brown and Lucy Lu lookalikes...)

I'll also mention now that we walked EVERYWHERE! We tried the subway once to get us down to Ground Zero, but the rest of the time we didn't wanna miss a thing and I'm so glad we stayed on foot, so many buildings and shops we would have missed otherwise :)

New York at night

Times Square

The Hulk

Pancakes

Day 3

After such a busy day, we decided to chill out at Central Park and visit the 'Musuem Mile', the weather was much better, made the park look even more beautiful...

• Walked through Central Park, experiencing the mother and Bugaboo baby exercise club, the millions of NYC joggers and the Lake House from '27 Dresses'
• Visited the MET museum
• Went to the top of the Guggenheim museum
• Got lost/trapped in the National History Museum (Now we know how Ben Stiller felt)
• Was a little disappointed by Bloomingdale's
• Had tea at America's largest TGIFriday
• Strolled back to the hotel for an early night

Central Park Bridge

The best fruit salad!

Central Park

Day 4

Another busy day, don't think we could have fit much else in that day...

• Visited the Empire State building
• Went on the Sky ride
• Saw a girl get run over and walked away completely unharmed.....the most shocking thing I have ever seen, a complete miracle
• Experienced Macy's (absolute Heaven)
• Bought myself a bad ass camera from the worlds biggest electrical store
• Visited the harbour
• Got the subway down town
• Stood meters away from where the World Trade Center stood, at Ground Zero
• Went to the Bodies Exhibition (REAL dead bodies)
• Walked down Wall St
• Saw City Hall
• Stood in Grand Central Station
• Experienced late night shopping in Times Square
• Tea at Planet Hollywood (again...it was just that good!)
• Bumped into everyone leaving the New York Television Awards with their awards
• Stumbled back to the hotel about 1am

New York in the day

Pizza at Planet Hollywood

Grand Central Station

The 9/11 Memorial Plaza being built

Day 5

Packed and ready to go, a relaxing day to end our trip:

• Visited the Apple Mac store
• Spent the day at Central Park Zoo
• More shopping
• Searched high and low for 'Flips' (chocolate covered pretzels requested by my cousin)
• Tried a NY MacDonald's
• Set off back to the airport :(

Apple Mac store

Red Panda

Polar Bear

Mongoose

MaccyD's

Day 6

After a night flight and a dodgy movie called Monsters....(bad choice) we arrived back in England about 11am and had to endure another coach ride, which went thankfully very quickly due to jet lag and general exhaustion!

Back to uni by 4pm and back to reality....at least I now have a month off, so it's not all bad :)

I can safely say New York is the most amazing place I've ever been and I'm already planning my next trip :) I'm so glad I chose to go, it was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, due to events that happened last year I decided to 'just do it' we only live once and it's my chance to live my life without anyone holding me back....it's funny how things turn out for the better in the end. The best decision I ever made and hopefully many more to come.

I <3 NYC