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!

This Autumn/Winter I'll Be Watching...

Having just uploaded my Top Ten of Dexter video this week, I'm still in the mood to discuss film and television (when am I not!). So today I thought I would put together a little list of some of the shows and films I'll be watching this Autumn/Winter!

TV:

Breaking Bad

I'm FINALLY going to start watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. Yes, that's right, I've waited till right after it has finished to get around to watching it, which means spoilers are everywhere!!! Must avoid reading anything about it if that is at all possible...

The Vampire Diaries Season 5

We all know how much I adore this show - I can't believe season 5 is upon us already, how did this happen?! I also really want to start watching The Originals but I have no idea if there are plans to air this on ITV2 - does anyone know?! I get the feeling Elijah might not be around much in TVD from now on, so got to keep seeing him somehow ;)

Modern Family

I've been working my way through season 1 of Modern Family and loving it - I watched a few episodes when I was in Australia, my aunt, uncle and cousins regularly tune in, and it was the first time I'd seen it. If you haven't seen it and think ''typical, overhyped US sitcom'', you'd be wrong! It's really clever and funny and I'm thoroughly enjoying the first season.

The X-Factor

There is no point whatsoever in me pretending I'm not going to watch the X-Factor. Every year I say ''I will not be sucked into this again'', and every year I spot someone I like and that's it - I'm hooked. Also, there's a contestant from my home town in the live shows this year - IMAGINE he gets to the final three? We'll have the X-Factor parade marching through the town centre!

Films

Not Another Happy Ending

Looooooooook, it's Henry Ian Cusick, a.k.a Desmond Hume from Lost, one of my favourite characters of all time! Also, this film stars Karen Gillan who I really like, and from what I can tell it's a cutesy rom-com with a bit of a twist - this is a no brainer for me. I haven't read any reviews, so it might be dreadful, but I'll go and see it anyway!




Veronica Mars

I know this one doesn't come out till 2014, but I'm just too excited not to include it!! Veronica Mars is one of my favourite tv shows of all time, and Kristen Bell is quite possibly my favourite actress (she, Emma Stone and Sandra Bullock would probably tie!). I am so thrilled they finally got to make a movie out of such an incredible show, and I can't wait to see the cast back together again.



AND FINALLY...

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I can't even tell you how much I am looking forward to this film. I am a huge, huge fan of The Hunger Games series and Catching Fire is an amazing book. I loved the first film, and think the casting was spot on, so I've been looking forward to this since last year!



Hope you enjoyed that little run down of my viewing material for the next couple of months - I'm sure other shows will pop up on tv that I'll love, and there will more than likely be trips to the cinema to see more than just these three movies, but I'll just have to keep you posted on that!

Thanks for reading guys, and thanks so much to everyone who follows my blog - I hit 200 followers here on GFC today and I'm so thrilled. A big, big thank you to each and every one of you ❤