HMV

My beloved has returned. Yes, HMV has re-opened here in the Republic of Ireland. But as with most things it life, it ain't half as good as it used to be!
For 8 months I've been DVD and CD dry. It's been hard, I can tell ya. There was even a time there that I thought I'd never go on another DVD buying binge again. The buzz had been lost.
But like a sip of sherry to Henry Sellers, once that honeyed poison crossed my lips (or to put it in normal words: once I crossed the threshold) I knew I was off the wagon. Big style.
We scanned, we browsed, we insulted Twilight. It was just like the old days.
We exclaimed 'what is this fuckery?' when we noticed the prices. Twenty euro for the new Iron Man 3??? Ouch! Ain't gonna happen, HMV. If I wanted to pay that price I'd purchase it in Golden Discs (at least there I can use my student discount.)
The Friday release of anything new meant you'd get it for thirteen euro, then during the week it went up to at least fifteen. I thought that was the HMV that was returning. Sadly no.
Some box-sets where also very highly priced (Golden Discs high priced) so that was a little surprising too. (Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad. Same price but I saw Mad Men and Game of Thrones cheaper in GD.)
You just know the price increase was because of the hardship HMV went through, but still, I can't help but weep for the lost of the new release buzz. Twenty euro is just too steep for any movie. I'll be waiting on the sales!

Pay Me No Heed

I really don't want to seem ungrateful, my family very kindly did a bunce-in job and paid for me to accompany them on holiday to Portugal next week: but I could really do with not going.
I don't enjoy sun holidays, I'd rather do the whole city-walking thing. But they were so lovely to suggest it in order to cheer me up I didn't like to seem narky by saying 'I'd rather not.' Besides, at the time a short trip away from all my problems seemed like the greatest plan ever.
But now it's upon me and I'm not excited for it at all. It helps not that I'm still the weight I was pre-summer. That I can't afford anything new to wear. Moping around a chilly Dublin suits my mood a little better than a sunny Algarve.
And now I'm just going to stop moaning like an emo and cop-on to the fact that so many more people in the world have actual problems and don't bitch half as much about them as I do. I'll shut my trap now.

Batfleck

OK, I'll admit it, when I first heard the Batfleck news my initial thought was *shudder* it'll be akin to George Clooney in Batman and Robin *shudder*
I was a big fan of Argo, it was one of the best films I've seen this year so I was also disliking the idea of Affleck moving away from the director's chair and into the Batmobile. But I've just got to get something off my chest: I think he'll be good (no, that's not the confession) simply because *takes deep breath* BaleWasn'tMyFavouriteBatman.
For most Bat fans, Affleck is a disappointment simply because they see him having big shoes to fill. I, on the other hand, didn't think Bale was all that fantastic. He was great, of course, but Keaton will always remain my ideal Bruce Wayne. (or he will until someone better comes along. Could that be Ben Affleck? I don't know, but I'm willing to give him a try!)

Bat for Lashes - Garden Heart

This is wonderful. I've had it on repeat all day today and yesterday.

Bat for Lashes is one of my favourite bands, Natasha is amazing. Her voice is chilling, in the best possible way. I was blown away those years ago when I first heard Horse and I, and I still get that awed feeling from her music. Garden Heart, from the soundtrack of the up-coming How I Live Now, is another one of those stunningly soulful songs that Natasha does so wonderfully. She's beautifully unique.

Random Thought

Why is it when celebrity men are nice, they are deemed gentlemen, yet when Anne Hathaway does it she's condemned as being fake?

The Cliffs of Moher

My face feels like it is on fire! I imagine this is what Hell is like, only without the After Sun.
Irish weather be crazy. Like proper ridiculously crazy. My sunburnt face is courtesy of a drizzly, windy day spend off the west coast of Ireland. To say I didn't wear factor because I didn't think I needed it would be truth. I was soaked for the majority of the trip.

The Cliffs Between The Cliff And The Stack

In the battle of who gave the best birthday present, this year my friend won with the Loki T-Shirt. My planned cruise around the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran island of Inisheer that got I her turned into what we now call, 'That time we were stranded on Craggy Island.'
You know that saying, that 'To Hell or to Connacht' saying? I knew it. Hell, I've used it in my Irish Writing essay. But now I understand it. Rocky, hilly place that it is.
We landed on Inisheer and had to await our boat back to the mainland.
Three hours. THREE hours. With nothing much to do. (We didn't realise it was a landing on the actual island, we had thought it was a cruise around it so didn't particularly prepare for it.) We ended up having a long chat on the beach and multiply caffeine-containing mugs of something or other.
It wasn't all bad, of course. We had a laugh. We saw dolphins and the cliffs did look eerily stunning surrounded  by the mist.

Unfortunately I couldn't take all that many photos. I was leaning on the edge and with the wild bobbing of the ocean I didn't take many chances with my phone in case it should be like Goldie Hawn in that film - overboard.

I'm also excited by the fact that the cliffs were used as the exterior shots of The Cave scene in Half Blood Prince. Getting even a little bit of Potter into things makes me just that little bit happier in life.

Alpha Papa and the City of Bones

Out of the two films I managed to catch this week, one was a let down while the other was surprising enjoyable.
I am referring to The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones, and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, respectively.

I was very disappointed in City of Bones. It had a solid cast and some great sets but it still couldn't be saved from Overload Central. While some things weren't explained, even by the end. (The runes thing wasn't. It seemed just a case of, 'yeah, write these things on you and you'll have that power. Ta-dah!' with no information about the pros and cons of such. Or maybe it was mentioned and I missed it? That was the main problem with the movie.) Other things happened too fast. Too many characters introduced. Stunts in fight scenes were cut too short, so we only really glimpse the character doing a cool back-flip or whatnot, which causes a slight bout of disorientation.
Perhaps as a result of introducing too many people at once. The characters didn't inspire any kind of interest in me. We're never given time to really care about them. When one, I don't even recall his name, was injured I really didn't give two swinging cats whether he survived or not.