Opinion – JMAC- The Blog Experience

My Top 5 favourite film directors

Hello, welcome to my first blog, today I will be analyzing my favourite movie directors as cinematography is a topic that I’m interested in, hope you enjoy this countdown!

Number 5: Tim Burton

on the topic of movie directors, Tim Burton always comes to my mind, his spooky and stylistic way of filming was a very memorable part of my love of films throughout the years, his style feature in all of his films are an iconic and recognizable form of entertainment that will surely live on for a long time.

‘It’s good as an artist to always remember to see things in a new, weird way.’~Tim Burton

Number 4: Henry Selick

if there’s one thing that I’ve always had a special love for, its gotta be the beautifully hand-crafted art of stop motion animation, Henry selick is one of the most notable figures for bringing stop motion animation back to life again, he is most known for the childhood nightmare fuel stop-motion film ‘Coraline’, one of the most iconic part of stop motion media ever made that truly shows the masterful skill and creativity of this type of animation.

‘What stop-motion does best is present real objects magically brought to life in a very imperfect situation; the hand of the artist is there, the electricity of someone touching, massaging and torturing themselves to get life out of an inanimate object.’~Henry Selick

Number 3: Edgar Wright

an inspiring British filmmaker who is most known for his ‘cornetto Trilogy’ films, which contains some of the best written satirical films in British media, his other films carry a very unique comedic tone to them that audiences can recognize as being an Edgar wright-esque film.

‘Whenever I’m writing a script, I’m scoring myself by playing the right kind of music.‘~Edgar Wright

Number 2: Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson is yet another notable figure who had an iconic stop motion animation film, ‘fantastic Mr fox’ and ‘the isle of dogs’ which are two of my top favourite films of all time, he has also made many other films that carry that distinctive and wacky Wes Anderson style of narrative and visual story telling, the way that the films look are stylistically pleasing with the light and limited colour palettes along with the soothing 60’s and 70’s soundtracks that are frequently used in his creations.

Usually when I’m making a movie, what I have in mind first, for the visuals, is how we can stage the scenes to bring them more to life in the most interesting way, and then how we can make a world for the story that the audience hasn’t quite been in before.’~Wes Anderson

Number 1: Hayao Miyazaki

i have a massive soft spot for studio ghibli films so it isn’t too surprising that this amazingly talented film director would be at the number 1 spot, the way that myazaki communicates the film’s stories and visuals in a masterful way has turned his films into cult classics, there is no wonder that studio ghibli could be considered as Japanese Disney with its beautiful animation in its films and unique storytelling that’ll be remember for years and years.

‘Many of my movies have strong female leads – brave, self-sufficient girls that don’t think twice about fighting for what they believe in with all their heart. They’ll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.’~Hayao Miyazaki

Top 5 Movies for the Halloween of 2020

As the spooky day of October draws near, you would probably start thinking;

“How am I supposed to celebrate Halloween this year??”.

Due to the new restrictions and the outbreak of Covid-19 makes celebrating Halloween difficult, No parties, No get togethers. However, there is one thing we’ve always been doing to get into the spooky mood. Watching movies! If its horror, thriller or simply a Halloween movie, it does not matter, in the end it always gets you the mood! Here is My Top 5 Movies to watch on Halloween;

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas

The very well known family movie that’s a mix of Christmas cheer and Halloween excitement. Who doesn’t adore the animated character, Jack Skellington and his accidental adventure into Christmas Town?

2. The Shining.

A well known Thriller classic! The acting will definitely give you Goosebumps and the amazing cinematography will keep you immersed in the movie like no other. It’s a brilliant movie and you should watch it if you haven’t already and if you’ve watched it then… Watch it again! It’s a great movie to watch on Halloween, you won’t regret watching it!

3. Corpse Bride

This movie definitely gave me a few shivers, the eerie atmosphere throughout the whole movie made it extra spooky along with the animation style using stop-motion. The concept of the film is very unique. The story of this film is quite unsettling and grim, something you wouldn’t really expect from an animated film. However, Its a Tim Burton film, so you would definitely know what to expect! (Unless you’ve never watched a Tim Burton film).

4. Coraline

Another famous Tim Burton classic that’s very well known for its unsettling scenes that often gives younger children nightmares, at least it certainly did for me. The lingering creepy atmosphere adds so much to the film, making you constantly anxious that something might jump out!

5. Scream

A well known film from the 1990’s. A horror/mystery film about a killer murdering multiple people in the area using similar methods. This Concept is now considered a lot more cliché than it did when it first came out. So many of films follow this concept now to the point it’s not as enjoyable anymore. However you can’t go wrong with one of the originals of this concept!

Since I was really young I always loved watching movies, I spent a lot of my time watching them and exploring different genres. As I gotten older I haven’t had the time to watch as many movies as I did when I was younger, but I still enjoy watching them whenever I have that time. I enjoy looking at the small details in films and the soundtrack of the films!

Experience of S1

The first year pupils of St.Aidan’s High school have arrived after the National lockdown and have been settling in. Due to the pandemic the transition has been a slightly different transition for S1 with small but many differences. A first-year group has been interviewed by sixth year students, the group that was interviewed were Andrew Irving, Olivia Kelly, Caoimhe McCann, Ellie Smith and Anthony Lamarra.

We questioned our S1 group what their opinions were about their teachers, Ellie Smith shared her opinion on her teachers and classes. “They’re really nice and all the stuff we’re doing is really fun!” The group has very positive opinions on the teachers. On the topic of their teachers we were curious what subjects they have enjoyed the most, Ellie told us she really enjoys Drama, Music and Art and Design the most. “I like Drama because we get to do a lot of things and the teacher I have is really funny and nice.” All pupils we interviewed stated they really enjoyed certain subjects as they’re doing fun activities and that the teachers are friendly and open to help if anyone needs help in the class!

As only a small group of S1 was interviewed due to Covid-19 safety guidelines We asked Ellie and Olivia what their opinion is of the other S1 pupils of the school and if they met any new people, Ellie Smith explained she met many new people through her friends she already knew. “They had friends that they introduced to me, then there’s people you’ve heard about from your friends and that’s just you getting to meet them.” Olivia Kelly had a similar experience meeting new people by being introduced to others by her friends, but she also met people through school activities such as Kilbowie. “I’ve actually met a whole group of people, I kind of met a bunch of them in Kilbowie.” Majority of the group has met many new people which is a great memory of their experience of their transition from Primary to Secondary school.

However there are also difficulties when moving into new surroundings, Caoimhe McCann shared her feelings on her difficulties when she first arrived to St.Aidan’s High School. “I was just nervous in general about everything because I never went on a tour around here or anything.” Throughout our interviews majority of 1st year pupils stated that they were nervous when it came to the transition of Primary to Secondary.

Olivia Kelly also commented on her difficulties with navigating around the school. “I was scared to ask people where to go around the school.” Some advice from a 6th year myself, please don’t be scared to ask for directions! Most of us will give you the right directions, most. If you’re still unsure where to go ask a teacher! If it comes to the worst go into a class and ask a teacher for directions there, as awkward as it may be, it will certainly get you to your class! Caoimhe commented as well that the older years were friendly and helped her with navigating around the school “I’m surprised how nice a lot of the people are” Ellie was worried that due to them being new to the school people might not like them as much however it was the opposite, “A lot of the older years are actually really nice and help you find your way around the school.”

Due to the pandemic, school timetables had to be altered to follow the guidelines that were set to prevent a rise in infections, S1 now has double periods while last year only years from S5-6 had double periods Andrew Irving commented on this change “It’s good for classes like art”. Our group had positive comments on the change as it allowed them to focus more on classes that perhaps need more time to work on different things that may take a very long time to do.

The group has really enjoyed their experience in St.Aidan’s High School so far and are enthusiastic about their classes and they’re looking forward to what they will do in their classes in the future!

This Months Top Five Tunes (In Lockdown)

Having been in Lockdown for the past two months I have had plenty of time to discover new artists and songs. Music is a great escape during these tough times locked inside ( I listen to music out a walk, tidying, reading or when I inevitably get bored and spend hours perfecting a full face of makeup for no reason.)

Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus- The Strokes. This is my favourite song on their new album ‘The New Abnormal’ its very upbeat and – dare I say- dance worthy for a strokes song but to be fair there is only about one song on this album that has the OG strokes vibes to it.
NEW MAGIC WAND- Tyler, The Creator. I’ve always been aware of Tyler, The Creator and I know he has a very prolific fan base but I’ve never taken the time to properly listen to any of his albums – despite the massive success they have had. This is my personal fave on his newest album ‘IGOR’ although it was a difficult decision between this song and A BOY IS A GUN – quite different songs considering it’s a bit ‘softer’ than NEW MAGIC WAND.
ARIES- Gorillaz feat. Peter Hook and Georgia. My second favourite song from Gorillaz new series ‘Song Machine’ featuring the bassist from New Order which gives it a very distinctive New Order ‘sound’.
Night Running- Cage The Elephant, Beck. I’ve always loved Beck but not so much Cage The Elephant, so Beck’s feature on this song is what really sold it for me. I feel like this is definitely going to be one of my ‘summer songs’ this year.
Strawberry Fields Forever- The Beatles. Who doesn’t love the Beatles? This is probably one of my favourite Beatles songs and it has a similar sound to my all time favourite band Sunflower Bean. My interest in the Beatles was re-ignited after watching the movie ‘Yesterday’ a few weeks ago. The plot of the movie is very interesting and I thought it was very well executed. If I tried to give you a rundown of the plot I would probably end up not doing it any justice so I will leave it to you to look it up if you wish. 🙂

Did Disney Ruin the Star Wars Franchise??

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars was known as a collection of six constructed movies which delved into the nooks and crannies of the sci-fi universe.

The way our current generation see franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men and Harry Potter is the same way that the generations before us seen the Star Wars franchise.

The return of the franchise marked the beginning of a new era in the Star Wars universe. The seventh movie which started this off was the Force Awakens (2015). This received many mixed signals from the general public. Some fans were ecstatic for the Star Wars legacy to continue, meanwhile others felt uncertain that it could surpass the high expectations of the previous movies.

Despite the doubts, The Force Awakens generated a total of 2.066 billion US Dollars at the box office. This success made doubtful viewers see a different light on the new era.

Until………….The Last Jedi was released.

Surprisingly, there was a divide in opinions regarding the movie, between the critics who seemed to love the film – most likely because the critics are more watchful of different aspects of the movie compared to an ordinary person, they see movies as a work of art-. Whereas the general public had a conflicting response. They value entertainment over art therefore the fans were left disappointed by the messy story lines and plot holes which consequently left the audience at a cliffhanger with many questions unanswered.

The Rise of Skywalker brought back a familiar face. Emperor Palpatine, undoubtedly the manipulator and mastermind behind Order 66 and the Jedi genocide made the appearance in this movie. A major plot twist reveals that Rey is the granddaughter of Palpatine.

As the new Star Wars trilogy comes to a close, we are able to see the positive and negative aspects of the release of these movies. Fans were excited with anticipation to watch new Star Wars content, especially after the ten year anniversary since Revenge of the Sith in 2005.

However, many weren’t impressed with the poor character developments. Rey, one of the main protagonists, was seen by the public as too perfect. The fact that she didn’t have any flaws to her character irritated the audience. The unfortunate development of Finn was seen as a disappointment too. His story line in The Force Awakens was the peak of this character as he faded away in the last two movies. Kylo Ren’s character already had high expectations to follow up after the iconic Darth Vader made the legacy the high status is even to this day. His character was seen as a bad excuse of a villain and was a disappointment compared to Darth Vader.

Disney bought Lucasfilm in October 2012 for 4.05 billion dollars. This decision received mixed reviews in the future from fans. Although this chapter of the Star Wars trilogy is over for now, Disney have no plans in stopping the story of the Star Wars universe. Movies such as Rogue One, Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian – which has had a flood of fans in awe over Baby Yoda – have been created to expand the horizons of fans and broaden the complex world that is Star Wars.

Top Five Songs Of February

Okay, so this is becoming a monthly thing and I have been assigned to create this months edition, hope you enjoy.

Glimmer- Tame Impala. Tame Impala really outdid themselves with this album and it is making me really excited to go see them in May. I get really strong 80’s/90’s vibes from this song in particular.
You’re in love with a psycho- Kasabian. I always forget about how good Kasabian can be, but when I listen to it it’s like a blast from the past (again I discovered this band through Band hero on my Nintendo DS when I was eight). This song is something you can get up and dance and sing to.
Momentary Bliss- Gorillaz feat. Slow Thai and Slaves. They disappear for two years claiming they wont go on tour or make new music for the next five years and then they come out with this absolute banger. there is quite a lot going on but it is so distinctively British and Slow Thai really adds something to the song I never knew I needed.
Cars In Space- Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Again, really excited to finally see these guys in May. This tune has the statement Rolling Blackouts guitar riffs but they decided to spice it up in this new single with a little saxophone feature. Listening to these guys for the past two/three years all of their music is perfect for summertime and long road trips.
Oblivius- The Strokes. One of my top three favourite Strokes songs of all time. Basically I love everything about this song and would highly recommend if you haven’t listened to it before

The Best Episodes of Friends!

The hit sitcom friends is a staple show for most families worldwide. Throughout the ten seasons there’s been countless moments that defined how popular the show is in present day.

In my opinion and in no particular order, here are the best episodes of Friends:

The One With Ross’ Sandwich (Season 5, Episode 9)

The main focus of this episode is Ross slowly having a mental breakdown about his annual Thanksgiving leftover sandwich going missing at his work. We eventually find out that his boss ate only half of the sandwich and threw the rest away leaving Ross in a fit of rage. Also in this episode, Monica and Chandler convince Joey to keep their relationship a secret which leads to a series of unfortunate events that result in the friends believing that Monica and Joey were together.

The One With The Football (Season 3, Episode 9)

Being one of the most memorable seasonal Thanksgiving episodes in the entire show, this episode truly shows the deep rooted sibling rivalry between Ross and Monica when challenged to a game of football in which the prize is the ‘Geller Cup’. Throughout the episode it showed the lengths they will go to win (even if that means cheating). There’s also a side-plot which sees some competition between Joey and Chandler trying to win over a Dutch girl which adds to the sense of comedic tension throughout the episode.

The One With Unagi (Season 6, Episode 17)

In this episode we see Phoebe and Rachel take a self-defence class. Upon telling Ross this, he claims that the class is useless if they haven’t mastered the martial arts technique called Unagi which he describes as “a state of total awareness”. Ironically this backfires on Ross as Phoebe and Rachel prove to him brutally that he is lacking in Unagi. Another plot line in the episode involves Monica and Chandler in a rush to make each other their Valentines Day gifts that they forgot about. Chandler’s last minute gift is a mix tape which is revealed that Janice, his ex girlfriend gifted Chandler the mix tape when they used to date.

The One With The Embryos (Season 4, Episode 12)

The title of this episode is fairly misleading as the story line of Phoebe’s embryo implantation is out shined by the friends competing in a quiz to see how well they truly know each other which ultimately leads to Joey and Chandler winning Monica’s apartment. This is also the origin of many iconic quotes such as “Miss Chanandler Bong” and one of the best lines of the episode by Ross “What is Chandler Bing’s job?” which is followed by an awkward silence.

The One With the Thumb (Season 1, Episode 3)

Monica is quite reluctant to introduce her new boyfriend Alan to the friends as they’ve been judgemental of her previous partners. To her surprise the friends all love Alan but Monica breaks the bad news that she wants to stop her relationship with him. The friends reaction to this news brings a comedic aspect to the episode as they seem to be grieving more than Monica herself. The irony of this is that Alan never really liked the friends all along which is revealed at the end of the episode. We also see Phoebe become agitated when she accumulates over one thousand dollars so she gives the money to a homeless woman who buys her a can of soda as a sign of gratitude, however when she opens the can she finds a thumb floating inside of it. She receives compensation of seven thousand dollars whom she ends up giving to Chandler as a bribe to get him to quit smoking.

The One Where Chandler Crosses The Line (Season 4, Episode 7)

This episode places the viewer in a difficult position, part of them is secretly rooting for Chandler and Cathy to get together meanwhile the other part is feeling guilt towards an oblivious Joey. Throughout the episode we see Chandler and Cathy’s relationship blossom from innocent flirting to the betrayal of Joey when they finally kiss. The other story line that lightens the mood from relationship troubles is Ross going back to his past where he expresses his love for music and performs his ‘sound’ for the friends. Phoebe is the only one of the friends to appreciate Ross’ bizarre composition of layered sounds from dog barks to helicopter noises.

Crazy Colour Hair Dye

If you ever even think about dying your hair an unnatural colour you’ve probably came across crazy colour. When they’ve got over 40 shades it’s easy to be over whelmed. However not all the colours are good? Here are three of the best and worst that I have used.

Pinkissimo

So let’s start of good. While crazy colour doesn’t have a lot of pinks it does have pinkissimo. While it is a bright, and I do mean bright, pink it can be diluted with condition. Personally I’ve used it undiluted and bright pink but also used 1:2 dye to conditioner ratio to a pastel pink. Its best isn’t the best but it does fade pink with slight purple undertones.

Marshmallow

Please, and I mean please, do not buy pastel crazy colour dye. They fade, they don’t stick, and there patchy. I’m yet to find one that works like it is supposed to. Please just buy a brighter colour and dilute it. It’s not worth it.

Hot purple

Pretty much everyone who died there hair without bleaching it went ‘purple’ which was basically red. Hot purple is an actual purple. It’s basically the same colour as the braiding. It’s a more violet purple however it does fade blue. And I do mean fade. It goes blue, though a nice blue, within 3 or 4 washes.

Bubble-gum blue

Another pastel, see a trend? While bubble-gum blue is better than marshmallow it still isn’t great. It’s not the poppy blue on the bottle. It looks faded out of the tube. Please just buy sky blue and dilute it. Please.

Orange

Is orange a weird colour to dye your hair? Yes. Will people judge you? Yes. Will you be asked if you are having a mental breakdown? Probably. Is it worth it? Yes, for me at least. Call me crazy (colour! Get it?) But orange was one of my favourite colours. The orange however stuck. Anything with red in it will stick. While it started to fade eventually it wasn’t till I went into the sea that the colour got striped. And yes, it went yellowy but it was worth it.

Peacock blue

PEACOCK BLUE IS A LIE. It is green. The biggest critic of crazy colour is a lot of the colours aren’t exact matches to the bottle. I get it though. They probably did it on bright white hair and I’m dying over a pastel-y faded colour. However when I stripped my hair to the point it was almost white and used peacock blue it was green. It wouldn’t of been that big a deal if wasn’t for the fact the name has BLUE in the title.

If this article has taught you nothing listen to this: do a test strand.

Review : Everyman Cinema

I’m not a fan of drastic change. I would much rather go with the safe, well known option, like the Vue cinemas. I would take the Vue cinema over the Showcase or Cineworld any day but recently I came across a hip, modern, luxury take on your average cinema trip, the Everyman Cinema. Prices are relatively high for the income of your average 17 year old but if you’re feeling fancy you do get a great service for your money (especially if you are a pensioner). The cinema consists of three small screens with around 60 sofas replacing the standard cinema seats. your snacks or food – as its attached to a small cafe- are brought to your seat by a member of staff – on slate trays and the likes, totally instagrammable if that’s your cup of tea. Once everyone is fed and watered a member of staff comes in and gives a brief overview of the movie and you are left to enjoy only the highest rated movies in comfort and style.

Overall, due to the price of food and the ticket itself I wouldn’t go out of my way to make it my go- to cinema destination but as a treat or for a special occasion it definitely works.

Greggs : The Vegan Adventure

As an employee and consumer of one of Britain’s biggest fast food/ bakery chain. I feel it is only right to discuss Gregg’s latest move to include more vegan options within their menu. Last year they made headlines with their introduction of the vegan sausage roll. It claims to be composed of 96 layers of puff pastry – just like the traditional sausage rolls – and Gregg’s own bespoke Quorn recipe.

Gregg’s has shown commitment to a high standard of baking and selling procedure of all products, especially vegan products. It has been said that the vegan sausage roll tastes better cold but in my ‘professional’ opinion it tastes decent either way. If you are questioning the accuracy of the sausage roll taste let me also inform you that it tastes not dissimilar to stuffing.

The success of this vegan delicacy has been put down by many – including the BBC- to the uptake of ‘veganuary’ – the roll was released on the 3rd of January 2019. The vegan sausage roll resulted in a 13.5% increase in sales and a £7 million bonus to be distributed amongst 25,000 staff.

Hoping to continue this streak of success Gregg’s has again expanded their vegan range by adding a vegan glazed doughnut, vegan soup and the vegan steak bake.

However, The bake labelled as a ‘steak bake’ has caused some controversy. Many think it should be labelled something more general like the ‘vegan bake’ as the word steak is essentially too ‘ meaty’ and doesn’t convey the true vegan properties of the bake – but sausage roll is OK? The bake has been so successful Gregg’s designed an exclusive ‘PR’ style box and even had to take the bake off of smaller shops to meet the demands within busy city centres.

The Vegan steak bake – taste wise – is the same as a ‘healthier?’ crispy pancake. If that’s you cup of tea a vegan steak bake will be a clear choice for your next Gregg’s order.