500 Days of Summer wasn't what I expected

I have just finished watching 500 Days of Summer and I've got to admit it wasn't at all like I expected.  It stars Joseph Gordon- Levitt (3rd Rock From the Sun) and Zooey Deschanel (Elf), who were both excellent in portraying their characters of Tom and Summer.  It was like nothing I had seen before, it was a breath of fresh air to see some of the distinctive shots and techniques used in the film.  I would talk about the storyline but I don't want to give any spoilers to people that haven't seen it.  I will say, the narrative is unique and different from the norm but not overly complex or hard to follow.  Some people may say it's a chick flick but I liked it anyway.  Everyone should watch this film and it isn't what you think it will be, I was pleasantly surprised.  I'd strongly recommend it!

I still think they're Fun.

As you might of heard, the band Fun. have got a new album called 'Some Nights' and it is getting a lot of criticism.  I first heard of Fun. when they made a song with Panic! at the Disco a little while ago.  I liked the song they collaborated on and started to listen to Fun. and their album 'Aim & Ignite'.  At first I thought it was crap, but I found myself humming the tunes to some of their songs and gave them another go.  Their style was quite different compared to most of the stuff I had heard but it grew on me and I bought the album (and have enjoyed it greatly).

I was very excited to hear that Fun. were bringing out a new album and I was quite surprised with the end result.  This album is definitely different and a lot of people are pretty angry about that.  I can completely understand why some Fun. fans dislike the album because it is a different style from 'Aim & Ignite' but that doesn't mean it is crap music.  I don't understand why they started using auto tune or began giving songs a more electronic sound but I quite like the album.  It has more of a top 40 feel then their other album but they have become more popular so I suspected they might.  My favourite songs are probably; 'It Gets Better', 'All Alright' and 'We Are Young'.  I can't get my head around why 'Out On The Town' is the bonus track when it is one of the better songs on the album, but they must of had some sort of reasoning behind that decision.

It isn't the best album I have ever heard but it is still good.  People shouldn't hate it because it is different to their old stuff.

Have you heard the album?  Did you like it or hate it?  Leave a comment if you like!  

Who needs school when YouTube can teach you?

That's right, YouTube isn't just filled with cat videos and people doing stupid stunts anymore!

I'm pretty sure videos that will help you learn a foreign language or how to build a oak wood chair with an upholstered leather back and seat have been floating around YouTube for a while, but I have recently discovered an entire new range of videos that are designed to entertain and inform.  I was watching TheWillofDC the other day and he challenged his audience to the EDU Pop Quiz!  This is an interactive 5 question quiz and each question is from a individual YouTube channel that was designed to teach you a range of topics.

The people running these channels consist of The vlogbrothers, Steve Spangler and many more! 
I scored a 3/5 on the questionnaire and am currently located at Mediocre Mountain.  Why don't you give the quiz a try and leave a comment with your score!

Take the EDU Pop Quiz here!

Shooting is fun!

Today, for the first time ever, I went clay pigeon shooting! 

To get to the gun club my dad and I had to drive down a narrow muddy path (the satnav didn't recognise it as a road) and it was absolutely tipping it down.   We naively thought we were going to be the only people there (considering how rainy it was) but we were wrong.  Very wrong.  When we arrived the car park was almost full and we only just got a parking space.

As we walked up to the gun club office we passed the stereotypical crowd that you would expect at a gun club.  They were all middle aged farmer blokes with wellies, flat caps and long coats.  We entered the office we were met with more middle aged farmers and were told to sign some consent forms.

The forms had the sort of stuff you would expect such as; don't point your loaded gun at anyone, don't run in front of anyone that is shooting and don't kill anybody!  Once the forms were signed we meet our instructor and he took us to the first shooting range, he also sounded like Boycie from Only Fools and Horses.

For the first challenge we just had clay pigeons flying away from us.  The instructor said we had to follow the bottom of the clay pigeon and then shoot.  I went into this thinking I would be crap but i actually didn't do to badly, I successfully hit 5 out of the 10 clay pigeons!

The second task was slightly different because this time the clay pigeons were just going to go straight up into the air.  We had to use the same technique but shoot when the clay pigeon was at its highest point.  The rain started to get a bit heavier at this point but that didn't effect my shot!  This time I hit 8 out of the 10 clay pigeons, which was a very pleasant surprise.

Finally we had to shoot some clay rabbits, which is a clay pigeon that is sliding across the ground instead of flying in the air.  This proved to be a lot harder because the clay rabbits would bounce along the ground and proved to be very difficult to hit.  I only hit 3 out of these 10 which is what I was expecting to do through out the day.

All in all I hit 16 out of 30 which I thought was quite good.  Clay pigeon shooting was very fun and I would recommend it to anyone.  It has the excitement of shooting and doesn't harm any animals so you will not feel bad for pulling the trigger.

Have you ever been clay pigeon shooting?  Did you like it?  Leave a comment if you want!   

Leap year confusion

As you probably know 2012 is a leap year. So, I decided to write a quick blog entry, mainly so I can see the date 29th February above the blog entry (because it won't be able to say that again for a while) but I also wanted to know if having this extra day threw you like it threw me.  It got completely confused about what date it was today.  It took me until lunch before I even realised it was the 29th of February, I didn't know it was a leap year.  Isn't it on leap year days like today that women are supposed to propose to the men?  I'm not sure if that's true or not but that's all I know about leap year days.

Did you do anything special today?  Leave a comment if you want!

Be Optimistic!

I've been a fan of the CTFxC for almost 2 years now and I watch what Charles and Alli get up to almost everyday.  I have recently seen the video titled "It's not a tumor (wait it is)..." where Charles informs us that he has a brain tumour.  Upon hearing this devistating news I felt so sorry for Charles because no one deserves a tumour, especially someone as nice and kind as him.  What truely amazed me about this situation was how optimistic and positive Charles has been about it.  It really puts everything in perspective and shows that all those minor problems in life aren't the end of the world.  I have been inspired by Charles and the way he has stayed so positive in such a hard time in his life so I am now going to look at life in a much more positive frame of mind.  We should all enjoy life because we never know when something like this could happen.  I wish Charles and his family all the best in these tough times.  Get well soon Charles!

SSX is back again!

I've always been a fan of the SSX series ever since I first got a PS2. I remember when my brother, dad and I would play the original SSX demo for hours. We loved the game and we actually went out to buy it but were advised to get the newer game in the series, SSX Tricky. We became addicted to this brilliant snow boarding game because of its colourful characters, amazing tricks and awesome tracks. SSX Tricky was definitely one of my favourite PS2 games of all time.

Since then we have played the original SSX and bought SSX3 but neither were as good as Tricky. We stopped buying the games when skiing was introduced and the games started to receive some pretty bad reviews. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard SSX was coming back on the PS3 and it has gone back to its routes.

The game looks good but it doesn't seem to be as crazy as the old ones. I watched an interview with one of the developers and he said they wanted to make the game crazier and more fun. I still don't understand why they want to make the game crazier but still want it to be realistic. The best thing about Tricky was how insane it was, so I don't understand why they insist on making the series more realistic. They don't have a track like Tokyo Megaplex any more!

Eventhough the game doesn't have the same style as Tricky it still looks quite good. It looks visually amazing and online play should be good. I'm still excited and I want to get the game quite soon. I'll tell you about if I play it!

Do you like the look of the new SSX? Have you played it? Do you like it or hate it? Leave a comment if you want!

A change in opinion...

about 3D televisions!

I've never been a big fan of 3D films, TV or anything in 3D to be honest. I always thought it was a gimmick that could drag a few more bums on seats in the cinema and before yesterday I had never seen it actually work. I remember the days when 3D meant you would get a pair of cardboard glasses with red and blue lenses and one or two things in the film may slightly pop out of the screen, but now it is a different thing altogether.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen 3D televisions before in various shops and show rooms. I've even been fortunate enough to attend Gadget Show Live where I sampled a range of 3D televisions, but most of them were'nt anything special. The 3D pictures were poor and some of tech filled futuristicly styled glasses didn't even work!

So, yesterday when I had to help my Grandma pick out a new TV I was a bit stand offish about 3D, but she wanted the top of the range TV with all the bells and whistles. In the end she bought a Samsung D7000 and it is amazing! It has internet access, High Definition and (as you might of guessed) 3D. I thought it looked great and it was impressive enough not to need the 3D. We decided to give the 3D a try and I have to admit it was pleasently surprising. I enjoyed it for two reasons:
1. The 3D actually worked
2. The picture was still high quality
We watched a demo to show off the 3D and it had a baseball game playing. We were both sitting there ducking out of the way of the ball because we generally thought it was going to hit us. It was so realistic and amazingly done. If 3D carries on like this it should definitely be in everyones home!

What do you think about 3D TV? Do you like or hate? Leave a comment if you want!

Are you filled with RAGE?

I recently purchased the game RAGE and I’m not sure where I stand with it.  I was looking forward to this game coming out a few months ago but I never really got around to getting it until recently.  The game is a first-person shooter (with some vehicle combat) and you emerge in a wasteland where humanity is trying to reconstruct itself whilst fighting off mutants and the authority. 

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy RAGE and it had good graphics, great gun fights and a nice range of weapons.  It did have a lack of locations though, and a story like Fallout 3 (but not as good) and finished incredibly abruptly.  This is why I am on the fence about this game; it had good gameplay but a pretty poor story line.  I’ve not played the online co-op mode so I can’t comment on that yet, but I imagine it will be the same thing with more players. 

I think all in all I was a bit disappointed because the game looked pretty awesome but didn’t really live up to my expectation.  What is your opinion about RAGE?  Did you like it or hate it?  Leave a comment if you want!

Mooooooves Like Bauer

I know it came out in 2001 but I have only just got into 24.  My dad got the box set for Christmas and we have seen all of series 1 and are currently halfway through series 2.  After seeing about 36 hours' worth of this show I can say that it is truly amazing!

I can't see a way in which someone couldn't become addicted to this fantastic show.  It has a brilliant story line, unpredictable twists, fast paced gun fights and a great cliff hanger ending at the end of every episode.  If you want to watch a show that you can really sink your teeth into then I cannot suggest anything other than 24. 

I've not seen all the series yet so I can't say if the show continues at the high level it starts at but I can't see any indication of it going below that standard.  I can't give this show enough praise and I can't wait to see how it ends!  What is your opinion of 24?  Leave a comment if you want!

P.S
The title is supposed to be an attempt of using word play to change the line in Maroon 5's song Moves Like Jagger, not some kind of odd cow joke. :)

What I plan to do!

I have decided that this blog will be used to tell people about anything I discover and if I like it or not.  There will be no specific type of discovery so it could be a film, food, TV show, singer, video game, book or website.  What I discover could range from a type of biscuit I have tried to a new piece of cutting edge tech.  This doesn't mean everything I talk about will be a newly released product, I might have found a new band I like that are from the 80's or an old film that I hadn't seen before.  I'm not being sponsored by anyone so everything I say will be my own opinion.  I would also like to know your opinion about anything I mention, so please leave a comment!

Hello

Hello
My name is Matt, I live in the U.K and I have decided to start a blog.  I'm not 100% sure what I will talk about but I hope that it will be entertaining.  I want this blog to be a place for people to come and relax and generally waste time so, if you're at work or have homework to do and you want somewhere to procrastinate, you're probably in the right place!