Monsters University; to watch or not to watch?

Monster's University is the prequel to computer-animated, family comedy Monsters, Inc. It has been a long 12 years since the release of the first film in 2001 and in 2005, Pixar and Walt Disney joined together to create this movie in the hope it could live up to the first... seven years later it is here and the verdict is in.

Rating: 7.9/10

Genre: Comedy

Starring: Billy Crystal and John Goodman

Directed by: Dan Scanlon

Trivia: The voice of Mike is done by Billy Crystal, a 65-year-old man.

Plot: Rewind the Monsters, Inc story a few years and the two beloved characters, Mike and Sully, are venturing to Monsters University. However, things aren't how you'd expect them to be and as the guys start to get to know each other for the first time, they don't exactly see 'eye to eye'...

Verdict: A MUST WATCH. A genuinely fantastic, feel-good, family film. It has gone straight in with the Disney classics and in my opinion, was as equally good as the first, if not better. For a film mainly aimed at children and families, I feel as if it can be enjoyed by any audience and is beautifully emotive. You can laugh, cry, feel nervous and get angry whilst watching it. I'm going to be honest, it's also really relatable, despite the characters being monsters in a mythical land. Get yourself to the cinema and watch it as soon as possible!

Three Awesome Things You Could Be Doing Right Now

Bored this Sunday? Nothing to do? 

Why don't you...

LISTEN TO JIMI HENDRIX'S NEW ALBUM

'People, Hell and Angels' is deceased Hendrix's newest album, released on March 5th,  2013. Recorded between 1968 and 1970, it contains 12 previously unreleased and digitally remastered songs. The album really does take the Hendrix experience to the next level, everyone needs to listen to it.

WATCH THIS ENTHRALLING DOCUMENTARY

Who knew African grassland documentaries could be so interesting? I accidentally stumbled across this documentary when looking for something else on YouTube and immediately fell in love with it. Samuel L Jackson narrates the journey of lions and leopards across Africa and along with the incredible soundtrack, this documentary is like an animal reality version of Game of Thrones... kind of.

LISTEN TO DALLAS GREEN'S BEAUTIFUL VOICE

Dallas Green is one of my favourite artists of all time with his solo project City and Colour. He is one of the only artists I have seen that is as good live as he is recorded, if not better. This song is from a recent album and isn't acoustic, but I think he's worked the song to sound perfect in this acoustic performance.

Bands to Watch out for at Boomtown Fair 2013

It's 47 days until 'the UK's maddest city', Boomtown Fair, opens the city gates to thousands of festival goers. Hampshire better be prepared for the intense amounts of tie-dye, dreadlocks and tea shades ready to party to some incredible bands... such as;

Toots and the Maytals

You may be wondering why the first band on the list is crossed out. This is because I started writing this blog post when they were the headlining band on the first day, but they have since dropped out. Disappointment. It must be on the record how much this grinds my gears.

Arrested Development

Best song: People Everyday

This is the kind of band you'd expect the Fresh Prince to be bustin' some moves out to. Arrested Development formed in the late 80s and are the epitome of decent black American nineties music. A big ol' mixture of rap, hip hop, blues and funk combined with political and socially conscious lyrics, AD are a must see band for Boomtown this year.

The Skints

Best song: You Better

The Skints are a through and through London band, you can tell straight away from listening to them. The mix up reggae, ska, dub and punk making a new genre, which they have named 'East London Reggae'. I personally preferred their more chilled songs such as 'You Better' but they also pull it out the bag with more up-tempo songs such as 'Rise Up'.

Gentlemen's Dub Club

Best song: High Grade

These guys must be high at least 98% of the time. At least they do something productive though, like make totally bad ass music. They have extensive festival experience, they've previously played at festivals such as Bestival, Glastonbury and V Festival. GDC are guaranteed to put on a decent performance.

Bigtopp

Best song: No Doubts

This is the band I'm most excited to see, I've seen them a few times before and they have always got the crowd going with their intoxicating rhythms, upbeat songs and catchy lyrics. Bigtopp may not be as well-known as some of the aforementioned bands but they deserve to be, you can not miss them this year!

For more information about bands that are playing or Boomtown Fair 2013 in general, visit the main website, boomtownfair.co.uk

Random and Irrelevant Film Trivia

This blog post is exactly what it says in the title... random trivia about films from the past fifty years that you don't really need to know, but maybe one day it will come up in conversation and it can be your time to shine... probably not though.

Without further ado, here we are.

• In the Godfather, there are approximately 61 scenes in the film that feature people eating, drinking, or just food. 

• The Departed is the movie with the most uses of the word "fuck" and its derivatives (237) to win the Best Picture Oscar.

• The large poster in Harold and Kumar's apartment in Harold and Kumar get the Munchies is for a 1942 anti-marijuana propaganda film known as "Devil's Harvest". 

• The "Scuba Steve" action figure in Big Daddy is a fictional doll made up by Adam Sandler. "Scuba Steve" is based on a doll that Adam Sandler owned when he was a child, called Diver Dan. 

• Oliver Stone wrote Scarface while fighting a cocaine addiction.

• The shot of Vincent plunging the syringe into Mia's chest in Pulp Fiction was filmed by having John Travolta pull the needle out, then running the film backwards. 

• When a Fight Club member sprays the priest with a hose, the camera briefly shakes. This happens because the cameraman couldn't keep himself from laughing. 

• Alan Rickman's feature film debut was the original Die Hard.

• In the final scene of Snatch, the 86-carat diamond is referred to as an 84-carat diamond. 

• Johnny Depp wore contact lenses in the first Pirates of the Caribbean which served as sunglasses so he wouldn't be squinting in the sun all the time. 

Introducing... Go Lazarus

The three strapping gentlemen you see above are tonsillitis sufferer Adam, almost-apple-genius Ant and half Italian, half film nerd Dan. These men are each a third of the alternative rock band Go Lazarus. They spent their twenties looking for the perfect sound, experimenting with different bands such I Am Without Shoes and Red Feather Lake, and have combined all their varying musical tastes and copious experience within the industry together to create something new, catchy and pretty damn epic. This month I caught up with Ant and Dan to get to know the inner workings of Go Lazarus.

When and why did Go Lazarus start?

Ant: Well, GL actually started in 2006 but when Dan and I were at college, we used to play together a load, like Stone Roses covers and stuff, then life kind of got in the way. We went to uni so stopped for a bit, then started, then Ant went travelling for a year, so we stopped, and when he got back we finally decided to do something properly.

Dan: It's like the Blues Brother, we were trying to get the band back together... we basically procrastinated for ten years.

If GL could play with any band, who would it be?

Ant: Mutually, it'd be the Stone Roses. Imagine saying something like "Did you like our support act, the Stones Roses? They're pretty good, ain't they?". It would be cool to play with Alexisonfire but they're a completely different genre so it'd be a weird gig...

Dan: I'd quite like to play with Bloc Party... or early the Cure... or maybe Led Zeppelin.

So if you could be one musician for the day, who would it be?

Dan: Buddy Rich, all jazz on your ass. That is jazz not jizz by the way, that could be awkward.

Ant: I'd have Eddie Hazel [psychedelic guitarist from Funkadelic] but he did have a pretty bad PCP addiction so… maybe not.

Dan: Adam would probably be Daniel Beddingfield, he actually loves him. 

Use one word to describe Go Lazarus.

Ant: Fractured

Dan: What? (A similar reaction to my own).

Ant: Musically, recording, writing, when we're tryna organise who drives to a gig... fractured.

Dan: Tempestuous.

It was at this point Ant and Dan decided to look up old Victorian words that are the best to describe oneself.

Ant: Lunting; walking whilst smoking a pipe... haha, this is a good one; "Spermologer: A picker-up of trivia, of current news, a gossip monger, what we would today call a columnist".

Where is the band going to be in five years time?

Ant: Lunting whilst fractured; then spermologing.

Dan: Hopefully still together.

Ant: Emotionally.

Dan: Spiritually, physically...

Ant: Hopefully we'll still have all our teeth.

Dan: and our hair... we're pretty fucking rock and roll. Yeah.

Who writes the songs in the band?

Ant: That would be me.

Where does your inspiration for song writing come from?

Ant: Just life, I guess. I write what I want to listen, I write something I hope the other two will like. 

Lyrically some songs mean a lot, for instance 'Avalanche' was about someone who's parents passed away, but sometimes I write throwaway songs that I just feel like writing at the time.

Tell me about the new EP.

Ant: It was recorded in Cambridge last December with a guy called Mattie Moon.

Dan: We spent the majority of the year writing the tracks and went down there for a couple of weeks to a shitty little industrial estate with no heating. We laid the tracks down and he spent a month producing them.

Ant: At one point, I had four amps at once, it was like an acid trip with an ego.

Some of your songs seem to be different genres, some more rock based, some more indie based. 

What direction do you see GL going for in the future?

Ant: I like stuff to be up tempo 'cause I get bored. I get a lot of my influence from The Rapture and warehouse parties, much to Dan's annoyance. It's all varied though. We'll just continue playing the best music, a combination of all our influences put together.

Since the release of the EP "3 Strikes" in February, Go Lazarus had been played on the radio in America, Australlia, Canada and have been played on numerous occasions on BBC Introducing. It can be bought on iTunes or listened to at www.soundcloud.com/golazarus.

The Fall of Print Based Media as the Power of the Internet Rises; Documentary Script

Below is the first five minutes of as documentary I wrote about a year and a half ago about the fall of print based media as accessibility and usage of the internet increases.

AUDIO 0.0     – 0.20 MAN Facebook WOMAN Twitter MAN YouTube        WOMAN Google WOMAN Hotmail MAN MySpace GIRL Yahoo BOY Wikipedia GIRL Instagram WOMAN BlogSpot WOMAN Tumblr MAN Amazon MAN eBay WOMAN Internet Movie Database MAN ITV Player WOMAN 4OD MAN BBC iPlayer MAN AOL WOMAN Vimeo MAN Facebook GIRL Twitter WOMAN YouTube WOMAN Google MAN Hotmail WOMAN MySpace WOMAN Yahoo GIRL Wikipedia MAN Amazon WOMAN BlogSpot MAN eBay MAN Instagram WOMAN Tumblr MAN Internet Movie Database WOMAN BBC iPlayer MAN ITV Player WOMAN 4OD MAN VIMEO WOMAN AOL WOMAN Facebook MAN Twitter WOMAN YouTube MAN Google WOMAN Hotmail MAN Sky Sports Online BRONTE What about print based media? 0.20 – 0.30       THEME TUNE Alex Clare - Too Close (Instrumental) 0.30 – 1.15 BRONTE       Hello, my name is Bronte Dawson and throughout      this documentary I am going to reveal to you the truth that is right beneath every one of our noses... but no one is realising.       The internet is an incredible source, you can get anything you want from it; shopping, socialising, research, information, music… but is it getting to powerful? And are we forgetting some of the world’s most reliable resources – in print based media? Each of us will have our different opinions when it comes to the Internet and print-based media such as newspapers and magazines. This documentary will explore different views and hypotheses and maybe, just maybe, together we can see the truth, the reality.     It’s internet vs. print based media. Who will win the final battle?       To start it all off, I have taken to the streets to see what the public think. Here is what they said. 1.15 – 1.17 BACKGROUND NOISE OF BUSY CROWD 1.17 – 2.17 DEBBIE HARRIS       To be quite honest, you can’t really believe anything you read in the newspapers these days. No wonder print based media is going bust, what do you expect with such a bad reputation?     I guess it’s wrong to stereotype all printed publications by the few tacky and badly written ones, but the quality is really gone for most. Most newspapers just contain gossip, scandal and lies. I don’t understand why people would buy it – just the same as most magazines. Hardly any of its true and even the very little that is true is exaggerated.       Local newspapers don’t contain as much nonsense but they don’t contain any real news anymore, they don’t reach the real needs of the audience. People like me wouldn’t go out of our way to read about the local fate at the church or want to pay £3.50 to vote for a local girl in a scam of a modeling competition. Local newspapers used to bring the community together but don’t even get paid attention anymore and it’s not surprising.       As for the internet, I’m not naïve enough to believe everything I read but it’s so much easier to search for something I am actually interested in and find a decent source straight away – it’s cheaper, more reliable and easier to access. 2.17 – 2.19 BACKGROUND NOISE OF CARS AND PEOPLE 2.19 – 3.19 MARTIN HEALY      Who cares about printed publications these days? Like really, what is the point? I don’t understand why anyone would want to go out there way to go to a shop or a newsagent to get a magazine or a newspaper when it is so easy to get it online. I mean I could pull out my phone right now and find what’s going on right now on Twitter or even Facebook; I could watch videos about it on YouTube. I’m pretty sure there is an app for iPhones and iPads that lets you read the news easily, without having to pay much or go out your way to get it.      The same goes for magazines, pretty much all decent magazines have a website which is free or an app which costs much less than having to go out and buy it every week, or fortnight, or month, or whatever. It’s just so much easier to get exactly what you want.      The only reason I could justify someone going to the shop to get printed publications is if they don’t have a smartphone, laptop, PC, computer, iPad, tablet or a Mac. And really, how many people don’t have at least one of them? 3.19 – 3.21 BACKGROUND NOISE OF AN ECHOED PIANO AND CHOIR SINGING INSIDE BUILDING 3.21 – 4.21 PATRICIA BOURNE      I don’t see what the big deal is about the internet. Instead of going out and having a coffee with a friend and being socialable, people are spending all day on their computers and phones and the rest of this technology.      It’s not bringing the community together like it is meant to, it is tearing it apart. People don’t have time to take part in local plays like they used to, the numbers here have dropped from around 100 attendants to about 27. People don’t seem to have any need to come together and entertain eachother when they can find it all online.      As for local newspapers, they have gone from the most important news source to the least. I used to go out my way to get a local newspaper and I really appreciated it, and now people get them dropped through their front door and don’t bother to pick it up.    It is a real shame that today’s society has let this technology rule our lives, but that is just the power of the internet. 4.21 -  4.46 BRONTE There is quite clearly very mixed opinions amongst the public, all of which seemed inconclusive, so I decided to take my search for the truth a bit further and decided to talk to the people involved. Journalists.      I got in touch with one blogger, one local journalist and one national journalist to see what they thought about the matter. Here is what they had to say.

VISUAL INT: WORK OFFICE MS of 30 year old man wearing a suit, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE TOPSHOP MS of 23 year old woman wearing casual clothes, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE A COLLEGE MS of 19 year old man wearing casual clothes, centre screen. INT: IN LIVING ROOM MS of 42 year old woman in relaxing clothes, centre screen. EXT: IN PARK MS of 32 year old woman in winter clothes, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE MUSIC VENUE MS of 27 year old man in punk clothes, centre screen. INT: BEDROOM COVERED IN BOYBAND POSTERS MS of 15 year old girl in school uniform, centre screen. EXT: ON SWING MS of 16 year old boy casual clothes, centre screen. EXT: IN PLAYGROUND MS of 14 year old girl in posh school uniform, centre screen. INT: IN CAFE MS of 27 year old woman in casual clothes, centre screen. EXT: ON HIGH STREET MS of 18 year old woman in fashionable clothes, centre screen. INT: IN CAR MS of 35 year old man in work clothes, centre screen. INT: SAT BY COMPUTER MS of 21 year old man in geeky clothes, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE LESUIRE CENTRE MS of 28 year old woman in gym clothes, centre screen. EXT: ON TOP OF RAMP AT SKATEPARK MS of 18 year old man in skater clothing, centre screen. INT: IN QUEUE AT CINEMA MS of 24 year old woman in evening clothing, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE NEWSPAPER OFFICES MS of 37 year old man in suit, centre screen. INT: IN NEWSAGENTS BEHIND COUNTER MS of 52 year old man in casual work clothes, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE CLUB MS of 21 year old woman in clubbing clothes, centre screen. INT: IN PUB MS of 45 year old man in typical pub clothes, centre screen. EXT: ON BENCH IN TOWN MS of 17 year old girl in casual clothes, centre screen. INT: ON TRAIN MS of 30 year old woman in summer clothes, centre screen. INT: AT DINNER TABLE MS of 38 year old woman in casual clothes, centre screen. INT: IN LIBRARY MS of 24 year old man in casual clothes, centre screen. INT: IN SWIMMING POOL MS of 25 year old woman in swimming costume, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE BULL RING BY BULL MS of 21 year old woman in warm clothing, centre screen. EXT: STANDING BY SCHOOL GATE MS of 14 year old girl in school uniform, centre screen. INT: IN COLLEGE REFECTORY MS of 18 year old man in casual clothing, centre screen. EXT: ON HORSE IN RIDING SCHOOL MS of 32 year old woman in smart riding clothes, centre screen. EXT: STANDING BY TREE MS of 45 year old man in warm clothing, centre screen. INT: IN RECORDING STUDIO MS of 25 year old man in rock star clothing, centre screen. INT: IN GYM ON ROWING MACHINE MS of 18 year old woman in gym clothing, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE TOWN HALL MS of 55 year old man in a smart suit, centre screen. INT: IN HAIRDRESSERS CHAIR GETTING HAIR DONE MS of 34 year old woman in casual clothing, centre screen. EXT: ON BENCH OUTSIDE PUB MS of 29 year old man in casual smart clothing, centre screen. INT: DOING MAKE-UP IN HOUSE IN MIRROR MS of 22 year old woman in lounge clothing, centre screen. EXT: OUTSIDE JACK WILLS MS of 19 year old man in Jack Wills clothing, centre screen. EXT: SITTING OUTSIDE STARBUCKS MS of 19 year old woman in summer clothing, centre screen. INT: IN NAIL SALON MS of 36 year old woman in glamorous clothing, centre screen. EXT: AT TENNIS COURTS MS of 30 year old man in tennis clothing, centre screen. INT: SAT ON SOFA IN HOUSE WATCHING TELEVISION MS of 25 year old woman in pajamas, centre screen. INT: IN UNIVERSITY LECTURERS OFFICE MS of 42 year old man in a suit, centre screen. INT: AT STUDENT UNION MS of 20 year old woman in casual clothing, centre screen. EXT: IN FOOTBALL FIELD MS of 22 year old man in a football kit, centre screen. EXT: TOWN HIGH STREET MS of Bronte, centre screen. INT: NEWSPAPER PRINTING ROOM WS of printing process.  A Dawson Productions Documentary enters from the bottom left hand side of the screen. INT/EXT: CENTRAL HIGH STREET IN CITY Camera work by Dean Smith enters from top left hand side of the screen. Edited by Julie Andrews enters from mid-left hand side of the screen. Produced by Thomas Scott enters from bottom left hand side of the screen. BACKGROUND: LOGOS AND TITLES OF DIFFERENT PUBLICATIONS Title of the documentary appears in centre screen. EXT: BUSY TOWN HIGH STREET LS of Bronte walking down the middle of a busy high street. Other people in the shot are sped up and blurred out, Bronte to be centre screen and the public to be on either side. EXT: OUTSIDE LARGE DEBENHAMS IN TOWN HIGH STREET MS of Debbie Harris, centre screen. Name Debbie Harris appears in writing on the bottom left hand side of the screen. INT: INSIDE DEBENHAMS CAFÉ ON SOFA MS of Debbie Harris, right hand side of screen looking central towards the camera. EXT: OUTSIDE LARGE CINEMA MS of Martin Healy, centre screen. Name Martin Healy appears in writing on the bottom right hand side of the screen. INT: INSIDE CINEMA, WITH BACKGROUND OF QUEUE WITH MAINLY YOUNG PEOPLE IN IT ON MOBILE PHONES MS of Martin Healy, left hand side of screen looking centre at camera. EXT: OUTSIDE SMALL TOWN HALL WITH SIGNS ADVERTSING LOCAL PANTOMIME Name Patricia Bourne appears in writing on the bottom centre of the screen. INT: SAT AT ENTERANCE OF TOWN HALL ON CHAIR TURNED AROUND FROM AUDIENCE CHAIRS WITH BACKGROUND OF CHOIR AND PIANO MS of Patricia Bourne on right hand side of screen looking central.