I've Been Watching #10

Hey everyone!

While I've been uploading lots of film and tv related videos over on my channel, it's been a while since my last I've Been Watching post! So thought I would update you on what films and TV shows I've been glued to lately!

TV

Pretty Little Liars

For years now, I've been saying that I need to get into Pretty Little Liars. As a life-long teen TV drama addict, I needed something to replace the giant Gossip Girl/Veronica Mars shaped hole in my life. I still have The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, but PLL had been on my "to watch" list since it hit the screens way back in 2010. Finally Netflix added it to their ever expanding catalogue in January, and it's safe to say I'm addicted.

I cannot stop watching this show. It gets to crazy o'clock in the morning and while my head says "go to sleep", Netflix says "continue watching" and somehow my hand manages to click yes. I spend the majority of my time going "RIGHT, go to the police", but somehow that just makes it even better. This might be a teen television show, but honestly, it is much creepier than I had been expecting! I'm currently devouring season 3 (soon to be season 4), and there have been so many unexpected twists and turns along the way so far. If you can avoid reading spoilers, avoid like the plague - it makes it so much better when you have no idea what's coming!!

An added bonus is that I actually love all four of the main characters. If you have no idea what the show is about, season one kicks off a year after sixteen year old Alison DiLaurentis goes missing from her home in Rosewood, Pennsylvania. Twelve months on, her four best friends Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily, start receiving threatening texts and notes from the mysterious A, who knows far too many of their secrets, and is prepared to use them against them. Whether they're at home, at school, or even out of town, A knows exactly where they are, what they're doing, and what to do to hurt them the most. Cue constant fear, torment, and double crossing, with an excellent wardrobe, brilliant soundtrack, and, as always, a very attractive cast. What more could you ask for?!

P.S. I have so much love for Spencer Hastings - she's my kind of character. And, at this point (who knows how I'll feel an episode from now, never mind a season from now), I would quite like to marry Wren. It should be illegal to be that attractive.

Once Upon a Time - Season 4

My beloved OUAT is back!! Season 4b kicked off on Sunday night and I got cosy with a giant cup of tea and a donut to enjoy the new episode on Monday. It did not disappoint. I won't say too much to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I'm loving the Queens of Darkness - particularly Cruella at this point. I'm intrigued to see where they're going with this, and I have a feeling (having seen some promo photos for upcoming episodes) it's going to complicate things for Emma, but we'll see. Still loving the Emma/Killian scenes, very nicely done in this episode, and Robert Carlyle will never cease to amaze me. He is just brilliant.

Films

The Theory of Everything

After all this time, I finally went to see The Theory of Everything at the weekend. Roisin and I accepted that this would be a situation where you leave the cinema having had a good cry, and while I think our makeup actually faired pretty well, it really was an emotional couple of hours.

Eddie Redmayne's performance was absolutely incredible - he thoroughly deserved that Oscar, and all the other recognition he has had for playing Steven Hawking. Felicity Jones was excellent too, and while the film obviously deals closely with what Steven is facing, a huge part of the story is what Jane, his wife, went through, and she handled it beautifully. If you haven't seen it yet, I would definitely recommend seeing it at some point if you have the chance - it's an amazing film, about an amazing couple, and it has made me even more determined than ever to get around to reading A Brief History of Time!

Tiny Furniture

And last for today, we have Tiny Furniture, a Lena Dunham film I found on Netflix a few weeks ago. For any recent graduates, this is a must see. It's a quiet film, and nothing too dramatic happens along the way, but it really does reflect what life can be like when you leave the cosy bubble of the university or college environment and have to try to figure out what to do next. Dunham's character Aura moves back in with her mum and her sister, and struggles with career decisions, friendships, relationships, and mostly just wants to hide under her duvet, which is somewhere I think we've all been (unless you're one of the rare few who managed to get a job straight out of uni!). As I said, this isn't an intense or life changing film, but it is certainly a comforting one if you have found yourself in Aura's shoes. It's one of the things I love most about Film and TV (and books) - you can always find someone to relate to, whatever your situation is, and that in itself can make things just a little bit easier.


That's it for today - I hope you enjoyed this and I would definitely recommend checking out all of the above! Next on my must see list are the live action Cinderella, which comes out at the end of the month, continuing on with my PLL binge, and getting properly started on Parks and Recreation - all the love for Amy Poehler.

What have you been watching recently?

Thanks for reading! :)

Watch. Read. Listen.

Hello you lovely lot. I hope you're well and 2015 has been treating you kindly so far. Other than the crazy weather, I've had a perfectly nice couple of weeks :)

I thought that I'd share with you a few of the things I have been losing myself in at the start of 2015. As we all know, I love my films/tv shows/books and music, and I do enjoy having a good natter about them. I posted a lot of I've Been Watchings in 2014, which I'm planning on getting back in to, but in the meantime, here is a snapshot of my current viewing, listening and reading material!

I've Been Watching

House

I have devoured almost all of season one of House in a week, and my goodness, is it brilliant, or is it brilliant? I've wanted to watch this show for the longest time and just never got around to it/had the opportunity to watch it. Netflix, my beloved, helped me out with that.

House, if you don't already know, follows the work of Dr. Gregory House (played by the amazing Hugh Laurie), and his team of young doctors, Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) and Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer). House himself is a brilliant doctor, but an awkward and often difficult human being, and he just fascinates me. Each episode concentrates on the team solving an unusual medical case, while gradually drip feeding us information about the lives of the main characters in the quiet moments in between. There are some really lovely character dynamics and relationships building up through season one, and already there have been some of those "is my heart sort of expanding, because it feels like it is" moments for me. In a "this is really cute" way, not literally, of course. I won't say any more to avoid spoilers, but I would love for someone to start watching it alongside me so I can rave about it with them. And discuss the likelihood of Jennifer Morrison and I becoming best pals.

The Vampire Diaries

I finally made my way through my season 5 TVD box set over Christmas and New Year (okay, within the space of a couple of days - classic binge watching) and I really, really enjoyed it. Apparently ratings are dropping and the show is losing popularity, but I honestly thought this season was strong. Particularly the Katherine storyline - it was equal parts infuriating and mesmerising, Nina Dobrev is just so fantastic when she's playing Katherine. I also knew that the series had a traumatic finale, and despite preparing myself for something upsetting, I still cried for about twenty minutes. I am a loser.

Also, Ian Somerhalder is just fantastic, isn't he? Damon Salvatore is tv gold - extremely easy on the eye, brilliant one liners, genuinely interesting character.

I've Been Reading

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

I love Amy Poehler, so getting her book for Christmas was a seriously exciting moment. I've been making my way through Yes Please, which is one of those brilliant books you can just dip in and out of (much like Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?) because it doesn't have a firmly structured story to follow. It's more just musings about herself, her life, her career and the world around her, and in typical Amy style. If you are a fan of hers, you'll appreciate this. Her sense of humour comes across really strongly, as always, and she tackles what are some interesting things in amongst the more light hearted moments. There is a section where she talks in depth about the thin line between guilt and anger, and opens up about a time she apologised for something she had done years after the fact, and it was a really interesting chapter.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Alongside Amy, I'm reading Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell, one of the big YA books of 2014! I downloaded it onto my kindle a few months ago, and I've only just got around to starting it, but so far I'm loving it. We all know I'm a huge television geek, and so fandom/fanfaction etc all really interests me. I love to see how completely caught up in a bunch of characters we can get, and what an amazing platform the internet is to form these sort of communities. Anyway, this book is about a girl who has just headed off to college and been separated from her twin sister for the first time. She is extremely shy and hiding from the world in her fanfiction, and so far it has really got me hooked.

I've Been Listening To

Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding

This little number is from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack, and while I doubt any of the content of the actual movie will be as sexy as the version of Beyonce's Crazy in Love they've used on the trailer, I am enjoying this song. It builds up really nicely, and I've always been a fan of Ellie's music. This has been on repeat for days!

Blame it on Me by George Ezra

I've loved this song for ages, but I got George Ezra's album for my mum for Christmas, and it's been living in the car since! I always mean to start listening to it from further on on the album to get to know the other tracks better, but I just love this song so much! There are a couple of lines that in all honesty, I'm not sure I even know the right words, but I belt it out nonetheless!

So that's what I've had on my laptop/tv, ipod and kindle of late - I'd love to know what you've been watching, reading and listening to so far in 2015!

Have a great week :)

Thanks for reading!

I've Been Watching #9

Hello all! I'm back with another I've Been Watching, to fill you all in on what I've been enjoying on my telly-box/Netflix account over the past couple of weeks!

The X-Factor 2014

Top row, L-R: Ben Haenow, Kerrianne Covell, Andrea Faustini
Right: Jake Quickenden, Emily Middlemas

First up we have The X-Factor. Ever single year I tell myself I'm not going to watch it, and every single year I fail. They've said on a few occasions that this will be the last season (although I'm not sure that is actually the case any more!), and so I've decided to just completely embrace it and watch it all from the get go. There's something about The UK X-Factor that just signals summer is over - the weeks fly by and before you know it, Christmas is upon us. Scary stuff.

This year sees a mix of old and new on the judging panel. I won't lie, I've always liked Cheryl, so I'm enjoying having her and Simon back, and Louis is just such an integral part of the show that I honestly don't think it would work without him. I didn't think I was going to like Mel B (I haven't been her biggest fan in the past, if I'm honest), but so far I've actually quite liked her. She and Cheryl balance each other out quite nicely. I think we'll all miss the Gary-Nicole-Sharon-Louis panel of 2013 a wee bit, a time when everyone adored each other and they were all pals, but realistically, that's not what the X-Factor is about. It isn't a talent show, it's an entertainment show, however they dress it up. Judges hugging and being BFFs isn't really what they're looking for. Drama is the name of the game.

Speaking of, bootcamp was actually quite unpleasant to watch, but also impossible to look away from. The six seat system is so cruel, offering a place at judges houses to a desperate contestant, only to take it away from them when someone better comes along. It's ridiculous, because I know exactly why they are doing this. It's difficult to watch, and dramatic, so it makes for good reality TV, yet I still get worked up over it. My biggest disappointment was Simon sending Janet home - I thought she was brilliant. Loved her voice, loved her look, and I kept looking forward to her performances. Alas, he ditched her in favour of Lizzy Pattinson, sister of Rob (but all credit to her, the internet is making a much bigger deal of that than she is). I was delighted, but admittedly stunned, when Simon sent Raign home! Much like Cheryl who could barely look at her, Raign's attitude put me off from the start, but I thought because she was that antagonistic sort of figure she was bound to get through.

Next week is judges houses and I'm looking forward to it already. I've included some photos of a few of my favourites at the moment above (I've linked their auditions on their names!), and I'll talk you through them very quickly. First, we've got Ben Haenow, one of Simon's over-25s. I've loved this guy from his first audition. He has a cheeky-chappy sort of attitude and a great, gravelly rock voice. If he doesn't get to the live shows I'll be gutted, but Simon's been a fan of his from his room audition, so I'm crossing my fingers. I also like Jay James, another one of the overs. Everyone talks about what a brilliant singer he is, but I'd maybe disagree slightly with that. I don't think he sings perfectly, but there's so much emotion in his voice every time he sings that it does get to you, and he also seems like such a genuinely lovely guy.

Next there's Kerrianne Covell, one of Cheryl's girls. She's so bubbly and I really love her voice. She sang a Carrie Underwood song in her arena audition and knocked it out of the park, which is a huge ask, so I hope she does well.

Andrea Faustini ♥ I can't describe how much I adore this guy. He brought Cheryl and Mel to tears at bootcamp, and has the most amazing voice. He is also an absolute sweetheart. He's Italian, super cute and sort of goofy, but with such an incredible voice. It'll be absolutely ludicrous if he doesn't make the live shows.

Jake Quickenden, former judges houses contestant who Nicole sent home in favour of Rylan a couple of years ago. Deary me. Suffice to say, I think half of the audience of the show is in love with Jake... I'll refrain from telling you if that includes me. I suspect my twitter will give me away next weekend on that one though.

And lastly, I've included Emily Middlemas, a fifteen (although possibly by now sixteen) year old girl from Glasgow, with an Ellie Goulding-ish style and incredible confidence for someone her age. Honestly, her bootcamp performance was brilliant to watch because she just didn't let nerves get on top of her (something Lola will definitely have to watch), and genuinely seemed to be having a ball on stage.

A final mention has to go to this eight piece boy band they've put together... I honestly don't know if that will work, however, some of the boys in that group have absolutely fantastic voices. Listen out for the boy 39 seconds in (who I think is only 14, bless him - too young for X-Factor if ye ask me, but he sounds like he has amazing potential #justcallmesimoncowell), and particularly the guy at 1.42 - he is a great singer. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I think it's HIGHLY unlikely they won't make it to the lives.

If you've been watching, let me know in the comments who you're supporting at the moment!

The Originals - Season One

image

I planned to talk about the X-Factor and The Originals in this post, but there just isn't enough room - I need sufficient space to talk about this, and I don't want the post to be too long! So I'll simply say that watching this (why, when I'm such a massive fan of The Vampire Diaries, it took me so long to watch this first season I'll never know) was an experience. Realising it was on Netflix was a moment of joy (yeah, I know, how sad!). But it really is so, so, so good, and was actually slightly exhausting, the tension did not let up for a second. I cannot recommend it enough, look out for a post soon explaining why in much more detail!!

That's it for this edition of I've Been Watching - what shows have you been enjoying lately?

Thanks for reading!

I've Been Watching... YouTube Edition!

Evening all! In this edition of I've Been Watching, I'm moving the focus from films and television to YouTube! Here are ten videos I've enjoyed over the past couple of weeks!

1. Laci Green - She Asked For It

If you know me, you'll know I love Laci Green, and really respect what she does with her YouTube channel. This video pretty much sums up a conversation I have had on several occasions lately. This video, which centres around the dangers of victim blaming, is well executed, to the point and informative as always. My favourite line - "You were mugged? What were you wearing?" - is something Emma and I talked about in depth a few weeks ago!



2. Shannon Saunders - All I Want (Kodaline Cover)

This is one of my very favourite songs of all time, and I think this is a lovely cover.



3. Meghan Trainor - All About that Bass

This song is number one in America right now, and I cannot get it out of my head. I love that a song like this, which is so body positive is sitting at the number one spot, and I love the video. The "tell them skinny bitches that..." line is, for obvious reasons, a little bit problematic, but if we're looking at the bigger picture I think this is a brilliant song.



4. Cassetteboy vs The Apprentice

This is one of my favourite videos of all time, and I rediscovered it this week. I cried laughing once again.



5. Sarah (Curious Cookie) - But I Don't Want to be a Real Person Yet

I miss Sarah's videos. This is particularly relevant for any recent graduates panicking about life in the real world.



6. Kate (DollyBowBow) - Archie Vlog

It feels like just yesterday Kate announced she was pregnant and now baby Archie is here! I thought this was such a lovely intro to baby vlog, and it was just amazing to see how much they both adore him!



7. Badgely-Mischka - SS15 at NY Fashion Week

I loved loved loved this stunning collection from Badgley-Mishka - I'm no fashion expert, but I know what I like, and the gorgeous pieces here really impressed me :)



8. Ella Henderson - Glow

Another young female singer I'm LOVING at the moment. I love her voice, and think both her singles so far have been amazing, but the feminist in me also loves that this is a different representation of a young woman. She isn't being overtly sexualised in her videos, isn't writhing around half naked or dancing in an attempt to capture the male gaze (can't escape the film and television student in me). We need a more varied range of women represented in terms of body image and sexuality in music, and I think the clear control Ella has over her sound, her image and her career so far, at such a young age, is hugely encouraging.



9. Melissa A. Fabello - How Can You Be a Feminist and Still Like Taylor Swift?

Melissa makes videos about body image, media literacy and gender equality, and I recently discovered her channel thanks to fellow Scottish blogger Morag! I've watched a lot of her videos now, but I particularly liked this one because it explores something that is important to me - that you can be "girly" or interested in what are widely referred to as "feminine" things, and still be a good feminist. It's all about educating yourself, folks.



10. Jimmy0010 feat. Ophelia Dagger - American Candy

I genuinely find any videos Jimmy and Chelsea film together hilarious, but this is still my favourite I think. I watched it again recently and it was still as funny as it was the first time I saw it. They've also started a joint channel (ChelsandJim) which you can check out if they entertain you as much as they entertain me.



That's all for today! Thanks for reading!

I've Been Watching #7

Warning - this post is mainly going to be me, fangirling about Orphan Black. Keeping it good and spoiler free though, nothing you wouldn't know from seeing posters or trailers for the first season.

This week has been a mixed bag. I've fallen behind a little bit with The 100, so I'll need to catch up with that when I have time, and I've watched a couple more episodes of New Girl Season 3. I hate hate hate admitting this, but I'm just not as in love with New Girl as I used to be. The first and second seasons are amazing, and The Landlord (S1E12) is one of my favourite episodes of anything ever. I was so excited about season 3 after the way season 2 ended, but for me, it's just gone a bit too OTT. Having said that, the sixth episode (Keaton) felt like the old New Girl!

Connected

I was in a documentary sort of mood last week, so I searched through every last one on Netflix and developed a sort of shortlist. In the end, I went for Connected - the tag line of which reads 'An autoblogography about love, death and technology'. This is a film from Tiffany Shlain exploring the interconnectedness of just about everything and everyone on the planet - something that genuinely interests me. Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, so I was a bit surprised when I read a lot of negative reviews of it after I watched it. A lot of people felt the film ended up being about nothing, but I disagree. It doesn't solve any of the questions it sets out to ask, but I don't think that was the point. If you go into it with the knowledge that the autobiographical aspect of it is a huge part of the overall documentary, and watch it with an open mind, it's a really touching look at a woman's relationship with her father, and the fact he always encouraged her to be curious, think big, and study and investigate the world around her. Technology is all around us, and it has made the world we live in virtually unrecognisable to the world people lived in even just a few years ago, Tiffany's wish that we could harness that connectivity and use it to fix some of the huge problems the world is facing really resonated with me - I feel like the overwhelming response to Robin Williams's death on twitter really highlighted that to me last week. If you're looking for something that sticks to the technology aspect then you'll be disappointed, because the family side of it wins out in the end, but that suited me just fine. I am now desperate to read a couple of books by Tiffany's father, Leonard Shlain - The Alphabet versus The Goddess sounds fascinating.

Orphan Black - Season 1

*Deep breath...*

Okay. Last week I finally sat down to watch the first episode of Orphan Black. I had heard people raving about it on twitter, but not to an OITNB or Breaking Bad degree, so I actually didn't know a huge amount about it when I put on that pilot episode. A few days later and I have binge watched the first season (in fairness, that's only ten episodes!), and I CANNOT WAIT to find out what happens next.

The premise is something that's either going to hook you, or it isn't. Our main character Sarah, who hasn't had the easiest time of it, is standing on the platform of a train station, and looks on in horror as a woman she doesn't know, but who looks exactly like her (we're talking the most identical of identical twins similar) throws herself in front of a train. This was enough to get me intrigued. Sarah is played by Tatiana Maslany, an actress I recognised from one of my all-time favourite shows, Being Erica. It was only after I'd watched two or three episodes that I noticed that the executive producers of Orphan Black are the EPs of Being Erica - no wonder I'm loving it. I don't want to give too much away here because I hate reading spoilers myself, but it would be ludicrous of me to not praise Maslynav to the max for what she's doing here - she is playing several characters in this show, and she is doing an absolutely incredible job. During the first episode I was a tiny bit put off by her British accent - to her credit, it isn't the generic super-posh English that most people attempt, but it bugged me a little bit during that first episode. By now though, I'm completely used to it, and I just can't get over what an amazing opportunity this must have been for her. This is not a show, or a role, that comes up every day, and from the get go she had me forgetting that it was her playing every character. They all have such distinct mannerisms and body language and voices that it never once occurs to me that it is her every time. The characters are all really interesting and complex, and she deserves so much credit for this.

Moving on from the acting, the storyline is gripping. It's described as sci-fi but to be honest I think that's purely to give it a label, I don't feel like I'm watching a sci-fi show when I'm watching it. It's intense, and definitely a thriller, but mostly it's grounded in just exploring people and how they react to their world being turned upside down. It's totally my cup of tea and I really would urge you to go ahead and watch it, because it's just about the best new thing I've watched in a while.

*...and exhale*

That's it for today! Thanks so much for reading guys, and be sure to let me know if you've watched either of the above - I'd love to know what you thought!

I've Been Watching #6

All films and no tv this week - who am I?! This week I've been reliving my youth and embracing my love for chick flicks - although one film in the above collage certainly didn't fit into that category as much as I had expected it to. So let's revisit my viewing material from the past week...

The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2 - Royal Engagement

I was worryingly excited when I realised that The Princess Diaries (one of my favourite childhood films) and the sequel are both on Netflix, - I had only ever seen the second film once, so I embraced the opportunity for a double bill. My memory did not serve me too well, however, as I seemed to think I hadn't particularly enjoyed the sequel - this time around I loved it.

There's something dangerous about watching your favourite childhood films after going years without seeing them, because while some live up to the fond memories, others let you down. The rose tinted glasses you have on when you remember your favourite kids show or movie can make watching them disappointing, because you're now watching them in a totally different context, and through adult eyes. Much to my relief, this was not one of those occasions! I totally related to Mia as a teen, being the shy, incapable of talking to the opposite sex type, and I think every little girl dreamed of having that princess makeover. When I was watching it, half way through I found myself thinking "is this a really terrible representation of growing up, telling a young girl that if she's a bit awkward and geeky, with tough to tame hair and glasses she's not good enough to be a princess?". But as it progressed, I remembered that the whole point of the film is that through this transitional period Mia learns that the most important thing is to be herself, an important life lesson for anyone. Also, it might just have the most perfect ending to a teen/preteen movie ever; the soundtrack, the dress, the ball, the kiss... perfection. I'm 25 and I can quite honestly say, I'd still kill for a night like that. Escapism at its best.

The second film was so much better than I had remembered! I also forgot that a very youthful Chris Pine starred opposite Anne Hathaway this time around. Mia's ready to take her place as queen of Genovia, but an outdated, sexist law that states a woman can only be crowned queen after she is married gets in the way. Cue the search for a husband and plans for an arranged marriage. As an avid fan of the books, I think the second film bothered me because they split Mia and Michael up, and at the time I was not okay with that. With some distance from the situation, however, I can appreciate that the film was a perfect example of what it is - a daft, romantic sequel to a story about a girl who grows up feeling like a nobody and discovers she's a princess. It's cute, it's funny and it passes a couple of hours quite nicely. Once again I was loving the music over the credits at the end, and horrified myself when I discovered that the track I was dancing around to was by none other than Lindsay Lohan - but I know you guys won't tell anyone...

Beauty and the Briefcase

Ohhh dear. I never thought there would be a romantic comedy that would defeat me - I constantly defend this genre, and I can usually sit through even the cheesiest, most over the top romcoms without wanting to switch them off, but this almost got the better of me! Beauty and the Briefcase (an ABC original movie which is now available on Netflix), stars Hilary Duff as Lane, a wannabe journalist looking for love and her dream job at Cosmo magazine amongst the buzz of New York. You'd think it was just like any other run of the mill romcom, right? Well, it is, except that it is really, really terrible. In terms of other movies, one I'd say it's most akin to is Confessions of a Shopaholic, except that I actually liked Confessions of a Shopaholic; Isla Fisher was likeable, and the story was daft but made sense. I hate saying this because much like The Princess Diaries, I actually only put this on because I liked Hilary Duff when I was a child, but I'd be lying if I say there weren't a myriad of things that bothered me about this film. The acting was poor, the structure was dreadful (more on that in a second) and do not even get me started about the bizarre sexism - a feminist critic would have a field day with this one. I lost count of the number of shots of Lane as the "only girl in an office full of men", who are leaning out of their cubicles with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, getting distracted from their important, businessman work by her tight skirt, while the two or three other women in the office might as well be wearing bin bags. Because, y'know, if you're a woman in the business world you're probably uptight, unfashionable and unfanciable.

In order to avoid spoilers, I won't bother with specifics when it comes to structure, but all I'll say is that for a film that lasts an hour and twenty five minutes, this one wasted a disproportionate amount of time on the wrong storyline. Most films have a beginning, a middle and an end, and this one seemed to have an incredibly long middle, with a rushed end tagged on without much thought having been given to it. But that's just my opinion, I'm sure there are plenty of people who did enjoy it, so if you love a cheesy romcom, it's always worth watching the first ten minutes to see what you think!

Thanks for Sharing

And the surprise of the year goes to... Thanks for Sharing! This film genuinely surprised and impressed me. I went in with an already formed opinion, which is never the way to go! I knew it was a film in which Mark Ruffalo plays a recovering sex addict named Adam - from The Princess Diaries to this, talk about genre hopping - and I knew that Pink was in it. I had decided it would be one of those comedies that uses something controversial (sex addiction, in this case), to make people talk about it, and it would probably end up with a couple of couples falling in love, and a few awkward laughs at the expense of Adam et als' "lack of control". It really wasn't. It kind of reminded me of Friends with Kids - one of those films you go in expecting to spend two hours laughing at, but in fact find that it has a much darker undertone than you were expecting. I doubt it's going to be nominated for an Oscar any time soon, but I actually feel like this did a good job of highlighting the genuine, daily struggle of an addict, whatever they're addicted to. There are some pretty disturbing moments in it - again, I want to leave this spoiler free, but if you've seen it I'm sure you know what scene I'm referring to! I was also pretty impressed with Pink/Alecia Moore. While she doesn't get a huge amount of screen time, her very first scene was acted really, really nicely. I'm giving this one a big thumbs up as something that genuinely surprised me, and it's definitely something to check out. I wasn't really a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow's character, which was a pity because it put a bit of a dampener on that particular storyline for me, but otherwise this is worth a watch.

Now I must go and get on with my dissertation, but I do hope that you enjoyed that, and be sure to let me know if you've seen any of the above! Thanks for reading!

I've Been Watching #5

Welcome back to another I've Been Watching :) I'm still completely addicted to Once Upon a Time, but in the interests of keeping these posts fresh, interesting and not full of "I'm-in-love-with-Captain-Hook-how-can-a-pirate-be-so-attractive" chat, I'll simply say Season 3 is utterly compelling viewing. It really is. Now, on with the update...

The 100

Pronounced "the hundred", just so you know, this is a show from US Network "The CW", where many of my favourite shows of all time have come from; it has now, however, been picked up by E4 and airs on a Monday evening (and is available on 4OD). In terms of genre, this tends to be what you might call the YA channel, only, much like all areas from music to movies to literature, YA has become a bit of a grey area, where the age at which it is initially aimed often has little bearing on the actual audience demographics. I'm a big fan of teen television, and will always defend it to people who dismiss it as nonsense (and trust me, I've heard that plenty times before). Anyway, The 100 is jumping on the Hunger Games/Divergent/youths in a dystopian future bandwagon, and again is based on a book of the same name. It explores a post-apocalyptic world, where planet earth has been rendered uninhabitable following a nuclear war, and the remains of the human race have lived on space stations for the past century. The pilot episode sees 100 "juvenile delinquent" types, (who have been imprisoned on the stations for a variety of crimes), sent down to earth to find out if earth has recovered enough for them to return to, with time and resources running out to keep the space stations going. The lead character, Clarke, is played by Eliza Taylor (anyone remember Janae from Neighbours?!) and I've been really impressed with her so far, while Henry Ian Cusick who plays my beloved Desmond in Lost also stars. The story is gripping and it's really nicely shot - there have been a couple of stunning scenes in the forest so far. We're only three episodes in and it's already incredibly creepy, with life on the 'uninhabited' planet earth proving to be a bit more complicated than anyone had expected. Definitely one to watch!

Not Another Happy Ending

Henry Ian Cusick makes another appearance in this 2013 rom-com set in Glasgow. Starring Cusick, the lovely Karen Gillan and Stanley Weber (amongst others), I desperately wanted to love this film - so much of it is shot in and around Merchant City in Glasgow. But honestly? I just didn't. I'm not actually sure what I thought of it. I found my concentration lapsing at a few points, because it just didn't grip me, and while I love Karen Gillan, I felt like her character wasn't quite developed enough for me to properly care about. When it comes to anything film and tv related, I'm all about character, and I just didn't really connect on this occasion. The premise was interesting - Gillan plays an author named Jane Lockhart, and the film explores her complicated relationship with her editor and publisher Tom (Weber), who believes she is unable to write when she's happy. It's a strange little film, and I think it probably had a lot of potential, but I wonder if the casting is what let it down? I'm not sure. If you've seen it and you liked it, or didn't like it, let me know!

Leesha Vlogs

I never tend to put YouTubers in these posts, and keep it mainly film and TV related, but over the past few months I've found myself totally addicted to Leesha's vlog channel - if you're into beauty on YouTube you might know her more from her main channel X-Sparkage. Last month she gave birth to her gorgeous baby girl Violet, and I've been following her and her partner Paul on this channel throughout the pregnancy. Her vlogs are just so chilled out and relaxed, and kind of what I want to make my vlogs like, if I continue daily vlogging for any length of time! Just now it's mainly about spending time with the baby, and getting used to parenthood, but for whatever reason I just find watching her videos so therapeutic. She just seems like the kind of person you'd want to be friends with, and I love getting a little glimpse into her day to day life - the wonders of YouTube!

So that's it for another edition of "I've Been Watching"! Hope you enjoyed that, and hope you're all having a great weekend!

Just as a sidenote, connected to something I mentioned earlier, I'm daily vlogging over on my YouTube Channel at the moment! If you fancy watching me endure the joys of dissertation work, job hunting, and see the buzz around Glasgow from the Commonwealth Games, pop over and check it out :)

Thanks for reading!

I've Been Watching #4

Starting as I mean to go on with my 'I'm going to talk about film and tv because I like to talk about film and tv' plan, here's another I've Been Watching! I think it's safe to say that when I'm not writing my dissertation or catching up with my friends to bore them with chat about my dissertation, I'm combatting the monotony of job hunting by watching lots and lots of my favourite things.



Once Upon A Time

I've been binge watching Once Upon a Time this week, and I really am "hooked" (Get it? Being as witty as I am is a curse, I tell you. Obligatory photo above of Captain Hook who I may or may not spend the majority of my viewing time swooning over). I adored season 1 and watched it when it was on Channel 5, but for one reason or another I managed to lose track of it round about episode five of season 2. This has now been rectified as Emma got me the seasons 1 and 2 boxset for my birthday, and I have been devouring it on a daily basis since. It is amazing. For anyone who enjoys fairy tales (take a look at my blog header and you'll see I'm a fan!), this show is an absolute must watch. It's also the creation of two of the brilliant brains behind Lost (Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz), which made me pretty certain I'd be on board from the start. It has a lot of really nice little similarities to Lost, with the dual worlds and the story flashing between one world/timeline and another. It also has a few of the same cast members, with Lana Parilla (minor role in Lost, but major role as the Evil Queen here), Emilie de Ravin, Jorge Garcia and Alan Dale all appearing already. Speaking of the cast, they are amazing. I'm a big Jennifer Morrison fan, and she is amazing as Emma, but every single cast member plays their part to perfection. It also has some fantastic, kick ass female characters which I really love - they've taken the lovely but often passive female characters from the Disney-style takes on fairy tales, and changed them up into really feisty, powerful women. I honestly cannot get enough of this show. Or Colin O'Donoghue/Captain Hook/Killian Jones...

New Girl - Season 3

I've only watched two episodes so far, so haven't got too much to say on it yet, but we all know I love New Girl. Nick and Jess are one of my favourite on-screen pairings, and the chemistry between the cast is electric. HOWEVER. What are they doing to Winston?! Writers, what's going on here?! I can honestly say that in season two, the references to Winston's uselessness when it comes to pranks were some of the funniest moments of the show - there's a scene between him and Schmidt that makes me cry with laughter every time I watch it (the bear in the restaurant plan, New Girl fans?! I'm laughing just thinking about it!). But in the past two episodes he seems to have gone from the sort of sensible one, who would always call Schmidt out on his nonsense, and give Nick a kick when he needs it, to a slapstick idiot, who has lost his grip on reality. I get the feeling the positive reaction they got to those scenes in season two made the writers decide to kick it up a notch, but for me, it just doesn't work, and actually puts me off watching a wee bit *cries*. That being said, I still love the show, and still love Nick and Jess's banter. Must catch up on episodes three and four soon.

24: Live Another Day

I won't say too much on this, since I mentioned it before, but after episode ten I couldn't very well not talk about it. 24: Live Another Day is knocking it completely out of the park - it is fully insane. Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat for the whole episode; it's actually quite exhausting viewing. I don't want to spoil this for anyone, so won't say anything specific, but the level of terror threat in this series is actually mind-blowingly scary. You're watching it, knowing it's a television drama, but it still sends chills down your spine. I think Kiefer Sutherland is playing it beautifully though, as he always does. Poor Jack has had quite a life. I love Jack Bauer, I really do. I simultaneously cannot wait to watch the next episode, and I'm frightened to watch it, because that will mean there's only one left!! I've missed it, and it feels like it's come and gone again too quickly.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Another reason to celebrate having Netflix, I watched this little gem a couple of weeks ago. I've wanted to see it for ages - I haven't actually read the book, but I read and enjoyed "Dash and Lily's Book of Dares" last year, which is a similar YA sort of story from the same authors. If you've got a couple of hours to spare, and you just want to lose yourself in a cute, sort of predictable, but easy going romantic movie, give this a shot. The entire story happens over the course of one night, and we watch the relationship between Nick and Norah (who have just met) take a few twists and turns along the way. It's not going to win multiple awards for life changing movie of the year any time soon, but it brightened up my evening, and I thought Michael Cera and Kat Dennings worked really well together on screen. One downside - I could not STAND Nick's ex-girlfriend, which I know is entirely the point, but still. She drove me well and truly up the wall!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I bought this on DVD for my mum for her birthday or Christmas last year, but neither she and my dad, nor I, had got around to watching it, and I had forgotten we even had it. One of my friends was talking about it recently though, and he urged me to watch it, saying it was amazing. Sitting down to watch it one evening last month, I tweeted that it was my choice of film for the night, and instantly got messages from friends and followers on twitter saying "get your Kleenex ready'', with one of my friends saying she cried so much watching it her boyfriend's mum thought they were breaking up! Suffice to say, I was concerned about how I would react. Did I cry? You bet I did. I cried bucketloads. But it was absolutely worth it. The film follows a young boy named Oskar (Thomas Horn) in the aftermath of his father's death in the 9/11 attacks. He attempts to deal with his grief, and struggles to let go, causing a rift to form between him and his mum (Sandra Bullock), as we follow him on a journey to hold on to the remaining connection he has to his dad (Tom Hanks). I won't say any more than that since that's about as much as you get from the trailer, but it is a beautiful, sad, hopeful story about family, grief and moving on, and I would recommend it in a heartbeat.

Have you seen any of these shows/films? I'd love to know what you thought! Or let me know what you'd recommend I check out next!

Thanks for reading!

All images sourced on my Pinterest board!