Tuesday 29 May 2012

Monday's London Diary

Hello everyone!

Well that’s me back from my wee holiday and I had a great time, it was really nice to get away from everything for a few days. I’ve decided to just treat my London blogs as a kind of holiday diary for what I did each day instead of splitting it up into different activities because I think that would feel really disjointed and messy so here is the diary entry for Monday May 21st 2012.



I have never been a fan of flying, I’m not scared about it, I just get really sick on planes and always throw up when the plane is landing which can put a bit of a downer on the start and end of the holiday so since London was accessible by train, my friend and I decided to travel first class with East Coast trains instead. This made getting to London a lot easier as the train station is only a 20 minute drive from my house instead of a two hour drive to the nearest airport, the journey time is a lot longer (six hours on the train compared to an hour and a half on the aeroplane). Unfortunately my friend and I were left a bit disappointed with the first class service as you are supposed to receive a complimentary hot meal but the kitchen was broken and so we only got a couple of sandwiches, we also had the same problem on the return journey but this time we didn’t receive hot food or hot drinks. We have both written letters of complaint to East Coast so I’ll keep you posted on whether we receive any compensation for this or not. At the end of the day if a company promises a service then it should provide it, especially if you pay extra money to receive the services. Anyway! The rest of the journey went smoothly except from my friend getting travel sick but all in all it was a pleasant journey.

After arriving in London we transferred to the St. Giles Hotel at Tottenham Court Road. Both of us had stayed here before so we knew what to expect. This is a great hotel if you’re looking for a clean and comfortable nights rest, it’s not the Ritz, it’s not very luxurious and the rooms are small but the staff are friendly, the breakfast is good and it’s in a great location. If you have been to London before you will know the hotels there can be dirty and overpriced or treat you like cattle (The Royal National being one of them) so to find a hotel as good as the St. Giles within a reasonable price range can be quite difficult. If you ever visit London I highly recommend the St. Giles and warn you greatly to stay away from The Royal National but these views are just based on my experiences.

We decided to go to a musical on the Monday we arrived and so we headed into Leicester Square to get discounted tickets. We decided to see We Will Rock You which is a musical based on the music of Queen and we also bought tickets for Rock of Ages for the Thursday night. We had both seen We Will Rock You before but had really enjoyed it so we decided to go again. My friend had seen Rock of Ages as well but there wasn’t really that much else on that was discounted that we wanted to see and since the film is coming out in two weeks we decided to go to that too.

We then headed back to the hotel as it was right next to the Dominion theatre where We Will Rock you is and got a quick bite to eat in the Garfunkels next door.

We Will Rock You Review

This musical is one of my favourites as I am a huge Queen fan so you can guess this is going to be a pretty favourable review. We Will Rock You is set in the future on the iPlanet formerly known as planet Earth where making your own music with instruments has been banned and the only songs allowed have to be made on computers. The planet is heavily ruled by the Killer Queen who makes sure everything runs like clockwork. Life is easy and uncomplicated unless you are one of the few remaining bohemians who rebel against the regime and suffer greatly for this. Enter our heroes of the story, a guy named Galileo Figaro and a girl named Scaramouche (see the Queen references already?), two bohemian outcasts who are shunned by society for not fitting in and being different. They run away from their home where they come across a larger group of bohemians at the Heartbreak Hotel who believe that Galileo is the one person who can bring music back into their lives. They then embark on a voyage to find the last remaining instrument which has been hidden ever since electronic music took over.



Although this musical can seem a bit ridiculous at times, the music and atmosphere are great. They also update this musical regularly by renaming the planet (it was known as Planet Mall until this year when it was changed to the iPlanet to reflect Apples market domination) and by keeping the names of those musicians that have died up to date, this year’s names included Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse. I also really enjoy this musical as it’s very sarcastic which might not be to everyone’s taste but the humour is pretty clean with only a few innuendos used throughout. Overall this musical would probably be suitable for anyone over 12 unlike Rock of Ages which I will come to later in the week. If you’re a Queen fan or into rock music then this musical will definitely be right up your street.

Score: 8/10

So there is my first day’s diary entry, there wasn’t really all that much to say as most og Monday was spent travelling but hopefully you will have at least found the review interesting.

As always if you have any questions feel free to ask me in the comment section below and until Tuesdays diary entry TTFN Ta-Ta For Now x

Saturday 19 May 2012

London Calling! (And Paris and Hogwarts)

Hello everyone again!
 
It's been another crazy week, my life seems to be getting in the way of blogging! Hopefully when everything calms down I will find the time to blog more frequently again, I really can’t believe that over a hundred people have looked at my blog, it’s amazing so thank you!
Now for an explanation about my upcoming blogs. I was going to post this earlier in the week but I've had a lot of things going on that almost meant I had to cancel my holiday but as for now I think I am still going (fingers crossed). Yip that's right I am off on my travels and being the student that I am, I'm afraid no New York trip for me this year, instead I am heading off to London (London baby!) and Paris. The good news about this is that I will have plenty to review including The Harry Potter Studios! So unfortunately next week there probably won't be any blogs but the week after you can expect a recap of what I did each day, a couple of West-End Musical reviews (possibly The Rock of Ages but it depends what we can get cheap), a review of The Harry Potter Studios Tour, a haul post and probably a couple of extra things thrown in when I think them up.

I'm also going to try to drag my friends to the cinema a lot more in June so I can review What to Expect When You're Expecting, Snow White and The Huntsman, Rock of Ages (the movie) and hopefully Prometheus but that will definitely be a trip with the lads rather than my girls.
Remember while I’m on holiday you can still follow what I’m doing on Twitter and stay tuned for some very exciting reviews! Now I’m off to continue packing and watch Friends (when they go to London and when Joey speaks French) and Harry Potter to get me in the mood for next week, let’s hope work goes fast tomorrow because I’m too excited!

Until next time, TTFN Ta-Ta For Now x

Sunday 13 May 2012

Vampire Diaries and New Girl Season Finales

Hello everyone!
This week I’m going to have to blog slightly differently, I just started a new job and didn’t finish work until 2am some nights so trying to fit in the time to watch New Girl and The Vampire Diaries has been a bit difficult to say the least!
First off was the season finale of New Girl and thankfully Nick changed his mind and decided to stay in the loft instead of moving in with Caroline, who hopefully we won’t be seeing again anytime soon. For a season finale I have to admit I was slightly disappointed, while it was nice to see the gang take a road trip and then camping in the desert, it wasn’t very exciting. Let’s hope season two is able to get back to the roots of season one that made me fall in love with the program in the first place.

Now for The Vampire Diaries which unlike New Girl was filled with some very unexpected twists and turns that highly lived up to expectations. Unfortunately this episode also left us with a lot of unanswered questions:
·         Is Tyler dead or has his soul just moved aside to let Klaus in?
·         Did Elena know that Meredith had given her some vampire blood?
·         Who did the blood originally belong to, Damon perhaps?
·         How will Elena feel about Damon once she becomes a vampire and remembers everything that he compelled her to forget including when they first met? Will it make her change her decision (I hope so!)
·         Has Elena really become a vampire or will Bonnie be able to stop it? (I really hope not).
·         Where is Katherine and how will the brothers be able to tell her and Elena apart now that Elena is possibly a vampire?
·         Do the brothers realise that Elena is still ‘alive’ or is the poor girl about to wake up alone in a mortuary somewhere? (Going by what she appears to be lying on in the final scene I’d say that she is in a mortuary).
I don’t know about you but even as I was watching Alaric die and Damon realising that Elena was dying too, or as Elena became motionless in the water, or even when Jeremy began talking to ghost Alaric I still didn’t believe that Elena was actually dead! I really didn’t think that the show was taking that direction until at least season four going into season five but I guess I was very wrong!

I remember seeing the poster that hinted at Elena being turned a few weeks ago but I just thought "there's no way they're going to go down that path yet, it will just be to get people excited for no reason!" It was maybe a smart move for the producers to make as I suppose it almost guarantees the show a fifth and sets the storyline for season four, I just really didn’t expect it! Oh well roll on September I can’t wait!
Sorry again for a less than in-depth analysis but with the new job and late hours I have really struggled to fit in the time to watch the shows never mind blog about them. Since New Girl and The Vampire Diaries have now finished for the summer I will do more movie and product reviews, I have a holiday blog coming up that I will explain later this week, I might blog about True Blood once it starts up again in June and I will probably blog more about my day to day life as well once I get the chance and get settled in at work.
Until next time TTFN Ta-Ta for Now x

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Updated Sensationail Review

Sensationail is a relatively new product on the UK market. It is a gel nail kit that you can do at home instead of having to visit the salon.
I originally heard about this product by chance on Boots’ website but I had been looking into DIY gel nail kits for a while. I had considered other gel brands but I was a little unsure about how the whole process worked and which products I really needed to buy and which were just optional extras.
When I started to read more about Sensationail I was really drawn in by the fact that the kit included everything you need to get you started along with easy to follow instructions and the gel lamp.
Products from left to right: Color Gel Polish in Scarlet Red, Instruction Booklet, Gel Primer, LED Lamp, Nail Buffer, Bamboo Cuticle Stick, Lint-Free Wipes, Gel Cleanser, Quick-Step Guide and Gel Base & Top Coat.
How It Works
Sensationail works roughly the same as Shellac however it allows you to be able apply gel nails in the comfort of your own home rather than visiting the salon.
In the starter kit you get a gel cleanser, a gel primer, a gel base and top coat, a colour gel polish (either Scarlet Red or Raspberry Wine), lint-free wipes, a nail buffer, a bamboo manicure stick and the LED lamp. You also get detailed easy to follow instructions.
Applying the polish is roughly the same as applying regular varnish, first you buff your nails, then you cleanse your nails, then add the primer, then the base coat (30 seconds in the lamp), then a layer of colour (60 seconds in the lamp), then another layer of colour (60 seconds in the lamp), then the top coat (30 seconds in the lamp) and then finally you cleanse your nails again to remove the sticky residue.
The overall process took roughly an hour however this was my first attempt and I spent a lot of time trying to clean up the polish that had gone onto my skin and cuticle.
I am still wearing my Sensationail at the moment and I will update this blog with the removal process once I have been through it myself.
The finished result.

Price
I actually had a friend buy Sensationail for me while she was in Minnesota. I felt the UK price was just too expensive for me as I don’t regularly have gel nails except for on special occasions, so I really couldn’t justify the hefty price tag. However, in the States this starter kit retails at $60+tax which is roughly half the price that is charged in the UK.
Here is a price comparison of Sensationail in the UK and the USA:


United Kingdom
Price (£)
United States of America
Price (£)
United Kingdom Price Without Tax (£)
Price of Sensationail Starter Kit
85
36.87
70.83
Price of Sensationail Essentials Kit (everything except colour polish and lamp)


25


14.75


20.83
Price of Sensationail Colour Polish alone
15
7.37
12.50
Average Price of Gel Nails at a Salon
25
25
20.83

The exchange rate at time of writing this review was £1=$1.63 (www.xe.com)
Please note: no sales tax has been added for the American prices.

As you can see even minus the 20% VAT in the UK, Sensationail costs almost double the price. This is one of the downsides to this product as had I not purchased this kit in the United States I don’t think I ever would have bought it.
Buying Sensationail instead of visiting your salon does save you a lot of money, as ten salon visits would cost roughly £250 as opposed to the small £85 price of Sensationail, so I highly recommend Sensationail if you are a regular salon visitor.
If you live in the United States I think it is a no brainer that you should buy Sensationail, it is only £10 more than the cost of one gel manicure and will give you five months of continuous gel nails for the price. If you live in the UK it is still a great deal but I think that most people will only be able to justify the price if they regularly have gel nails done.
Overall thoughts
I found the process as easy as applying regular polish and with practice I am sure I will improve. One of the only problems I faced with the product was that the instructions didn’t mention that the nails will remain sticky even after placing them in the lamp; it is only when you use the cleanser again at the end of the entire process that the nails become smooth and shiny.
Another problem I faced had nothing to do with the product but more with myself. Since this is a DIY gel kit, no one using it is a professional. Usually when I paint my nails I end up with polish on my skin and cuticle and I had the same problem with Sensationail. However, with gel nails it is vital that you do not get any polish on the skin as the gel will stick your nail and skin together. I had this problem on some of my shorter nails as when I ran the polish along the top edge of my nail, I found that I stuck the top of my finger to the rear of my nail and had to use the cuticle stick to dig the polish out to separate the two again.
On the same lines as the previous complaint I also managed to get some polish on the skin to the sides of my nails and as a result after a few days the nails began to peel ever so slightly at the sides which sometimes got caught on things. This was slightly irritating but the nails stayed on and did not peel off the nail any further.
The Sensationail starting to peel off the nail due to my poor application. The Sensationail started to peel on day three, this photo was taken on day ten, no further peeling had occurred.

For these reasons alone I would not recommend this product for the absolute beginner as you do need to be quite good at applying nail polish to obtain the exact same result as you would at a salon but remember these are not problems with the product, just the lack of a steady hand that some of you may share.
This product promises “up-to two weeks of dazzling, damage-proof wear” did it live up to this? YES! I was really impressed with this product. It gives a really shiny finish that lasts for the entire time you wear the nails. I have never had any chips while wearing Sensationail and I assembled four dining chairs and a glass table with them! If you are great at applying nail polish then you should achieve roughly the same result as you would at a salon.
So far I have had my nails on for two weeks and they are still looking great, I think I will only remove them when they are growing out (I will update this blog with how I found the removal process once I have done it).
Product Score
Really for me it all comes down to the price therefore I have given two scores for two different countries:
United States of America Score: 9/10
United Kingdom Score: 7/10

Update: The Removal Process
As promised here is my updated review that now contains the removal process. So how did I get on? In the politest way possible it was awful.
I did exactly what the instructions said, I buffed the shine off my nails, then soaked my nails pure acetone for  15 minutes and then went to lift off the Sensationail with the bamboo stick and…nothing happened, the gel nails still stuck to my own nails. I then soaked them in the acetone for a further ten minutes and tried again…still nothing, another ten minutes…nothing. In the end I buffed the nails again in an attempt to get the nails off, which ended up ruining my natural nails.
 I decided against taking the Sensationail off of the other hand in fear of ruining my other nails as well so I am going to have to wait for them to grow out and just paint over them to make them look a bit better.
I am really disappointed by this as up until now I loved Sensationail but after absolutely wrecking my nails I am left having to plaster my nails with thick coats of red varnish to disguise my ruined nails.
What annoys me more is that I had a professional manicure booked in two weeks for going on holiday which I have now had to cancel as I can’t get the nails off of one hand and the other is wrecked.
I am not even going to upload a picture of my nails as I am that ashamed by the state they are in but if you can imagine someone dotting red varnish over your nails and then going over them with an industrial sander and you get the picture.
I will try Sensationail once more using less primer to see if that makes a difference but if I still end up with wrecked nails I can safely say this product will be going to the back of the wardrobe.
Updated Product Score
United States of America Score: 6/10
United Kingdom Score: 5/10

Thank you for reading my Sensationail review, if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment section below and I will get back to you.
Until next time TTFN Ta-Ta For Now x

Click here to view the Sensationail range at Boots
Click here to view the Sensationail range at CVS

All of the images were taken approximately ten days after I applied Sensationail.
All images in this blog were taken by myself, if you would like to use them please remember to list my blog as the source.

Sunday 6 May 2012

The Vampire Diaries: Before Sunset

Another busy day for me! I went shopping and I may have bought the entire mall in the process…ooops. There are great sales on just now in Topshop and New Look especially if you’re looking for trousers or dresses.  River Island also has some great scarfs and Primark (yes Primark) has pretty shoes and some summer hats too.
But now for the real reason you’re all here, the penultimate episode of The Vampire Diaries. Yes it’s that time already, the third season is drawing to a close and this episode was certainly filled with twists and turns and for The Vampire Diaries it was pretty dark (not quite at the True Blood level yet though).
It started with a pretty epic Caroline-Rebekah moment. I’ve never really been a fan of Caroline but Rebekah is slowly becoming one of my favourite characters and seeing these two share an emotional scene remembering those they have lost and then teaming up to attack Alaric was quite special. Rebekah then went back to being the bad girl we know and let Alaric drag Caroline off to be tortured while she looked out for number one and went to tell Klaus that they should leave town.
Girl Power!
*Side note number one: why on earth did Caroline jog to her car and fumble with the keys when she could have easily used her vampire super speed and ran away? (Massive plot hole!)
Klaus was not too happy with Rebekah’s suggestion of running away again and put his chance of building a hybrid army (and maybe trying to start a relationship with Caroline) before his own sister, naturally she was pretty pissed off and decided to leave town by herself.
Off to Elena’s house where she and Jeremy were (badly) repainting Alaric’s room only a few hours after he had died (check out TV.com’s photo recap, they really rip Elena’s painting skills to shred, its true though I don’t think I have ever seen a worse attempt at redecorating!) As usual things didn’t run smoothly for long and Damon turned up with Bonnie who had just revealed the witches had compelled her into feeding Alaric her blood and now super vampire hunter Alaric was out to kill all vampires.
"I screwed up...again."
Alaric decided to set his plan to rid the world of vampires in motion and calmly phoned Elena to ask her to meet him at the school otherwise he would kill Caroline. Elena obviously has no regard for her own safety by now and left for the school without telling anyone where she was going.
Exam conditions have got a lot worse since I left school.
Unfortunately Alaric wasn’t the only one after Elena, Klaus had also decided that now was the right time to drain her of her blood so he would be able to leave town and still create his hybrid army. Knowing that he couldn’t get into Elena’s house without being invited in, he settled for destroying it in a dramatic and hilarious manner. He started off small with a newspaper, then he progressed to a football, then the poor neighbours fence posts and finally…fire!
Klaus puts a whole new meaning to red hot news.

*Side note number two: I like how while Klaus was hell bent on destroying Elena’s house and throwing fence posts around Stefan decided that he had to answer his phone. He clearly has his priorities in order…
As soon as Damon, Stefan and Klaus realised that their girls were being held captive by Alaric they put their differences aside and went from trying to kill each other to teaming up to be the heroes.
Yet again poor Bonnie didn’t have a choice and helped the vampires attempt to rescue Caroline and Elena by planning to put a desiccation spell on Alaric that would mean he was sort of dead/sort of asleep and Elena wouldn’t have to die.
Unfortunately Bonnie had no idea how to do this spell (as usual) and had to get her vampire mum to show her how. However, this spell needed dark magic to work and Bonnie would have to temporarily stop Jeremy’s heart to desiccate Alaric. Personally I think it would be pretty interesting to see Bonnie turn evil for a while, it would make a change from the vampires and werewolves (possible season four idea perhaps?)
Anyway, while the guys were drinking Bonnie’s blood to bind them together, Elena was being the hero and managed to save Caroline who then ran straight into Klaus’ arms (aww). Klaus told Caroline that he would save Elena while she ran home and naturally Caroline believed him so she left Elena behind, the same Elena who had just risked her mortal life to save Caroline (why wasn’t Elena annoyed by this?!)
"I told you playing Chinese Whispers would be fun!"
Thankfully Stefan and Damon came to the rescue and saved Elena who was in the process of slitting her own throat to try and kill Alaric (that part definitely put me off eating my Easter Egg!)
Elena’s day went from bad to worse as she awoke to find herself being drained of all her blood by Klaus so he could create his hybrid army. This time it was Tyler’s turn to be the hero, unfortunately he had to pretend to still be sired to Klaus so he just left Elena to die…but then he came back! Of course just as he was saving Elena, Klaus returned and was kind of angry to find out he was now unable to compel his only successful hybrid creation to do his dirty work.
Now for an interesting turn of events. After spending the entire episode trying to kill Alaric, the Salvatores and Bonnie then desiccated Klaus instead. Klaus actually didn’t seem all that annoyed by this and instead looked to be pretty heartbroken by what Stefan had done to him.
Poor Klaus...
The last part of the episode was pretty bitty:
Since Klaus was now kind of dead the gang decided to celebrate. Bonnie and Jeremy shared an intimate moment after she managed to bring him back to life and then they went to Elena’s to engage in some underage drinking (I sense a Vampire Diaries-90210 crossover, that would be interesting!)
*Side note number three: since Elena had just lost at least two and a half pints of blood did one of the brothers give her some blood in the car? Let’s hope so because in one scene she was at deaths door and the next she was doing shots…
Alaric still hadn’t caused enough mayhem for one day and so he summoned a council meeting where he revealed to all members that the mayor and sheriffs children were actually vampires/vampwolfs.
"Now who wants to volunteer to bring the cakes for the next meeting?"
Damon and Stefan went on a wee road trip to throw Klaus in the Atlantic and came to the decision that depending on which brother Elena chooses the other brother will leave town. A bit dramatic? Yes. Do I see one of the main characters actually leaving for seventy or so years? No. No matter who Elena chooses it’s obvious the other brother will still hang around or at least make monthly visits until she either dies or becomes a vampire (another season four idea possibly).
Now for the last part of a very disjointed final ten minutes. While casually flinging paint on the wall, Elena got a bit of a headache and collapsed. We were all left wondering what mystical force had caused this, personally I think she just had a bad migraine she has been under a lot of stress lately!
Elena decided she wanted to paint the room pink instead.
And there we go ready to head into the season finale. This wasn’t one of my favourite episodes of the season (where was all the nakedness?!) but I suppose I can’t have my way all the time!  I also thought that even for The Vampire Diaries, this episode seems to have a lot of plot holes and the final ten minutes felt like they had ran out of time and tried to cram everything in. Since this is the penultimate episode that’s probably what happened since they need to tie up all the loose ends before the finale but I think that this episode should have been made into two to avoid the mess that came at the end.
As usual feel free to leave your comments in the section below and check out TV.com’s hilarious photo recap.
Until next week TTFN Ta-Ta for Now x

Friday 4 May 2012

New Girl: Backslide

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the late upload of the New Girl recap this week, I had a lot of university things to sort out for next year. I also had to see friends from home for the first time in months, hunt down a biscuit barrel for my mum (don't ask!), vote in the local elections and it was my birthday! It’s safe to say I have been majorly stressed out! But now my uni stuff is sorted out and I’m finished with birthday celebrations I am back to good old blogging (yay!)

This week saw the return of Paul, Jess' slightly dorky but loveable ex, but was he as loveable this time round? No he certainly was not!
Doing the walk of shame...
After spending the night with Jess (maybe even taking advantage of her in her depressed post-Russell state) we found out that Paul was actually in a very serious relationship with the Asian version of Jess! Naturally Caucasian Jess was pretty annoyed when she found out she had been used which certainly didn’t help her to move on from her break-up from Russell.
Caucasian and Asian Jess
Jess was torn over what she should do. Should she tell Jen (Asian Jess) that she had slept with Paul or leave them to sort things out by themselves? In the end Jess decided that it was best to come clean leaving Jen devastated.
After mutual ‘smile-cry’ by Jen and Paul, Jess came to realise that those two were perfect for each other. She helped to patch up their relationship which ended up with Paul proposing to Jen (a rather strange thing to do in front of your ex-girlfriend).
The slightly awkward proposal.
Caroline, unfortunately, is still hanging around, annoying the flat family and dating Nick. What makes her presence worse is that while she was apartment hunting, she suggested to Nick that they should move in together, which Nick agreed to.
It was a pretty big fire place...
The guys stepped in to show Nick a DVD he made the last time that he broke up with Caroline attempting to convince his future self to never get back with her, but even this didn't seem to work and Nick appeared to be even more determined to leave the loft (let's hope the gang can convince him not to in next week’s season finale).
There was no escape for Nick.
Poor Schmidt, or should we say poor little Schmidt. He is still in a lot of pain from his little adventure with Cece’s flatmate and was desperately trying not to let little Schmidt, shall we say, ‘get happy’. Cece being the brilliant girlfriend that she is switched her designer clothes for baggy jumpers and knitted hats in an attempt to make herself look less attractive.
Needless to say this didn’t work and instead of being turned on by Cece’s good looks, Schmidt was instead turned on by the emotional intimacy of discussing their future together, so much so that he actually passed out while visiting her grandmother in a care home (not a brilliant way to make a first impression).
I'll just have a little nap here...
The accompanying story of this episode was Winston’s decision to get his ear pierced. He then went through the entire episode changing his earrings much to the delight of his friends who called him every name under the sun. My personal favourite definitely had to be Captain Black Sparrow, provided to us by Schmidt.
Captain Black Sparrow himself.
As the episode drew to a close, Jess rushed to tell Nick the news of Paul’s engagement and give him advice on his situation with Caroline. This was one of my favourite scenes, possibly of the entire season, as you could see how much Jess cared for Nick which was really sweet.
Now I don’t usually quote episodes but Jess’ inspirational line from the final couple of minutes is sure to be repeated for years to come:
“If you really love someone, it’s simple.”
Some advice for you kids to think about there, now where was I? Oh yeah. Unfortunately after Jess’ advice Nick went and ruined the moment by revealing that he had signed the lease on an apartment with Caroline and he will be leaving the flat forever.
Next week’s season finale is hopefully going to see Nick change his mind and stay in the loft where he and Jess will get married, have kids and grow old together. Too much to hope for? Well maybe a little. I suppose I could settle for Nick breaking-up with Caroline and carrying on living with the gang but we’ll have to wait until next week to see what’s in store.
Well I’m off to have a cup of tea and watch some Alan Carr.
Until next week TTFN Ta-Ta for Now x

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Top Five Movies to Look Forward to in May

With summer on its way we begin to head towards some of the most anticipated movie releases of the year. This month could be one where the guys are at the cinema more than the girls as Men in Black III, Battleship, and The Dictator are all set to hit the big screen within the next few weeks.


May 4th 2012
Avengers Assemble
Director: Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel).
The first big movie release of the month will have lovers of Marvel Comics queuing out the doors. The latest superhero movie sees some of the most popular characters team up to defend the planet from the evil Loki and his army. With an all-star cast including Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson, it is sure to be one of the higher grossing films of the year.
View on IMDb.



May 11th 2012
Dark Shadows
Director: Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands).
It’s another film for Team Burton, Depp, Bonham-Carter and Elfman and on this adventure we meet Barnabus Collins (Depp) a 200-year-old vampire who finds himself in the disco days of the 70’s, after being imprisoned underground by an evil witch. He returns to his former home where his descendants are now living and struggles to come to terms with the technological advances of the 70’s as well as the re-appearance of the very witch who cursed him in the first place. Hopefully this film will live up to the expectations that come with such a well-known team and provide us with another Tim Burton film to add to our list of favourites.
View on IMDb.


May 18th 2012
Battleship
Director: Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Hancock).
Another one for the guys here and its Rihanna’s first big screen appearance. Judging by the trailer, Rihanna spends most of her time standing about looking pretty but it’s easy to be sceptical about her acting skills and with Liam Neeson (Taken) and Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) as co-stars she will have a lot to live up to. Battleship follows the story of an alien army that is found under the sea by naval officers during a training exercise. In the usual sci-fi action film format the aliens then commence war against the humans for unknown reasons. Although the plot seems to be nothing new, from the looks of the trailer the special effects are quite amazing and teaming these with an interesting cast choice could make Battleship a rather enjoyable watch.
View on IMDb.

May 23rd 2012 (UK) May 18th 2012 (USA)
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Director: Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee, Everybody’s Fine)
Now onto the comedy of the month with a cast that includes many household names and some of my favourite actors. This film’s cast alone is enough to attract the audiences with Cameron Diaz (In Her Shoes), Jennifer Lopez (Monster in Law), Dennis Quaid (The Parent Trap), Chris Rock (Madagascar), Anna Kendrick (Twilight), Matthew Morrison (Glee), Joe Manganiello (True Blood), and Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl) all making an appearance. Inspired by the book of the same name, What to Expect When You’re Expecting follows the lives of five couples that are all connected to each other in different ways, think Love Actually but with pregnant hormonal women. By the looks of the trailer even the guys will be able to enjoy this film as comedy is provided for them by a Hangover-style group of newbie Dads known as ‘The Dudes’. A perfect film for couples.
View on IMDb.



May 25th 2012
Men in Black III
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld (The Addams Family, Men in Black)
Last but not least is the highly anticipated Men in Black III which features another singer turned actor crossover this time starring Lady Gaga and Nicole Scherzinger, (Justin Bieber is also rumoured to make an appearance but he has not been mentioned as part of cast on IMDb).  In this instalment of the popular franchise we find Agent J (Will Smith) being sent back in time to prevent Agent K (Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones) from being assassinated by an evil alien in 1969, an event which changed history and put Planet Earth at risk. It has been ten years since the last Men in Black movie and while that’s quite a long wait for a sequel, having a number of celebrity appearances may even attract a whole new generation of fans to the popular series.
View on IMDb.



Those are my top five films to look out for in May. Check back here next month for my pick of the films in June and with such a number of films that I’m already excited for I’m going to have a tough time narrowing it down to five.
Until then TTFN Ta-Ta For Now x