A nervous first day at the BBC

Today was one of those days when you just know that you’re going to look back on it in ten or twenty years time and either cringe with embarrassment or laugh at with fondness. Today was my first day as a fresh faced employee at BBC Radio Northampton and it was one of the most exciting and nerve racking days of my life, second only to the day of my A-level results. The people were lovely and the job is a great opportunity to get the experience I need to kick start my career, but a feeling that I had while I was there was overwhelmingly powerful, I felt like a very small fish in a very, very big ocean. Whilst I know that all the old sayings are true like ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’, ‘positive thinking can work wonders’ etc, etc, it still feels like even though I have finished my degree in journalism and I should be able to handle anything that’s thrown my way, seeing the professionals on the job and making it look so easy, I knew I still have a hell of a ways to go before I can call myself a real journalist.   

Just gotta say….

 

I just have to say this before I forget (which often happens) and move on to my next cinematic rant. Last weekend I sat down on Saturday night to watch a film and it was one of those films that you say you want to go and see at the cinema, but never do and then you have to wait for it to come out on DVD. Well this was one of those movies and it was a new one called Hannibal Rising. Now, because I am already a huge fan of the amazing Hopkins originals, I had major doubts as to how well this film was going to shape up in comparison.

 

But to my surprise I really, really enjoyed it and I would even go so far to say that the film does the whole blood soaked saga a huge justice. Let me explain what I mean; the plotline (denoted by the title) is based around Lecter’s beginnings and how he became the sadistic, most feared physiatrist we all know and loved and for this they needed a much younger Hopkins, cue, Gaspard Ulliel’s big break. This French born actor was absolutely stunning in this film and is undoubtedly Director Peter Webber’s best kept secret weapon. Ulliel played a much different Lecter than what we are used to and brought an innocent, somewhat naive character to our screen without losing the cunning and terrifying insight that Hopkins so elegantly played in Silence of the Lambs all those years ago. The plotline was to be blunt, okay but not brilliant (nowhere near as gory and disgusting as I’m used to or would expect from a Hannibal film) and sure enough Webber did a good job depicting Lecter’s youth and adolescence in France. But Gaspard is by a mile the shinning dimond in this film; it amazed me how such a fantastic looking bloke could look absolutely gorgeous in one frame and in less than two frames later become the embodiment of pure evil, achieving all this in just one facial expression.

 

He took the intelligence and grace of the older, more popular version of Dr Lecter and added the awkwardness and naiveté of a traumatised teenager, which is not to say that the teenage Hannibal is any less vicious in his debut appearance. But Gaspard  brings an overwhelming sense of sympathy to the character, as novelist and screenplay writer Thomas Harris delves into the gruesome murder of Hannibal’s family and the subsequent events that turned the troubled medical student into the ultimate serial killer. There is no doubt that Gaspard had one hell of a role to play and held weight of three very successful films in his hands, but in contradiction with Empire magazine’s review, I thought he gave a stellar performance. So much so that I think he could well be the next rising star in Hollywood, his obvious sex appeal coupled with his French accent and huge intellectual capacity (speaking more languages than a UN conference) makes him more interesting than Orlando Bloom and more visually pleasing than Oliver Martinez. These money making traits will send him straight to the top, mark my words! 

 

                                                          

Indiana Jones And The kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Review

 

 

Some two decades ago after the success of Star wars and the overwhelming victory of Jaws, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg pulled their awesome creative genius to give birth to a relic hunting, treasure seeking, professor of Archaeology known as Indiana Jones.

 

Harrison Ford’s most beloved character and his thrilling adventures through ancient ruins, whilst rescuing legendary artefacts with supernatural powers; captured the hearts of film lovers across the globe. After triple triumph of the original trilogy, Indiana Jones became a household hero whose quests somehow transcended age and gender, bringing families together in a way no other action hero achieved before his reign. After that, fans of the hat wearing saviour would have to wait nineteen years with berated breath for the final collaboration of Ford and Spielberg.

 

At 65 some might say that Harrison was over his action hero days and during the first twenty minutes I began to doubt how much the mature Indy could handle, but the nostalgic magic of the bygone era kicked in and all was well. Ford held his own as Spielberg recreated the 50’s with a stylistic and sometimes childish enthusiasm, keeping Indy at the top of his game and looking exactly how we remember him.

 

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull relentlessly stuck to the successful formula of an Indy flick, the adventure as always starts in the middle of a lecture in a quaint university, Indy is rockin the cool lecturer role, when suddenly an old friend (or in this case an unexpected family member) turns up to enlist his expertise in a hunt for a powerful and mystic relic. Except this time, Indiana Jones goes sci-fi and begins chasing aliens from an ancient civilisation much to the expense of the film. It felt as though Steven tried to modernise Indy 4 leaning more towards the sci-fi route, forsaking the original supernatural elements which is what I thought gave the trilogy its uniqueness in amongst the other films of its decade.

 

As for the rest of the cast there was no fault to be found, Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett played their parts brilliantly and didn’t over step the screenplay boundaries, allowing Ford to prove he’s still got what it takes. The return of one specific character was quite an ingenious move on Spielberg’s behalf, bringing back the old love/ hate relationship between two estranged lovers made for some hilarious one liners. LaBeouf was also a welcome breath of fresh air playing the street wise, artful dodger type runaway which clearly fills the criteria for another young Indiana Jones. As the film draws to an end, Indy reflects on his own youth and the strained relationship with his grail obsessed father giving a sense of finality to Indy’s adventures.  

 

Overall the film did what it was suppose to do, it allowed fans to say goodbye to the action hero and it didn’t stray from what made the trilogy great in the first place. However die hard Indy followers may not be impressed with the parts of the plotline that include a few unforgivable appearances by ‘Inter dimensional beings’, which made for a load of uninteresting antics in a bid for a sci-fi theme. But the characters are still reminiscent of the old films, forgiving any plotline shortcomings and the gags throughout always amounted to a resounding giggle from the audience. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did all anyone could ever ask of the final crusade, Indy can now rest his hat for the last time knowing he has done all he can do in his farewell movie.  

 

 

Where to go from here?

 

First of all I’d like to apologise for the utter lack of blogging on my behalf as I’m sure my fellow students can appreciate, this time of year is seldom restful leaving little or no time for anything other than revision, revision and even more revision.

 

It’s so strange to think that in less than two weeks time I would have finished my degree and effectively reached the end of my education (at least for the foreseeable future). At the age of sixteen I knew that I wanted to go on to sixth form and eventually University. It was not because I didn’t want to get a job or because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, it was because I knew that if I wanted a career as a Journalist, I would need to be taught the ways of Journalism by professionals and learn all that I could from them.

 

Three years on I feel that I am ready to face the world and start my career on the bottom step of the ladder, although I must confess a certain level of nervousness and anxiety at leaving university and the educational system all together, as it is really the only thing I have known since leaving school. The most nerve racking aspect of graduating is thinking of all the money spent sending me to university, now I feel that I have to prove that the thousands of pounds paid by the government and my father was not spent in vain by one day becoming editor and chief of a popular magazine or newspaper (a bit of a tall order in my eyes, but a girl can hope for the best).

 

The pressure of having to achieve after graduating is immense, there are so many options and different routes to travel down, I can basically do anything I want and  that is what is troubling me the most. Where do I go from here is the question I am constantly asking myself; do I stay in Lincoln or move back home?, do I get a job at Sainsbury’s, earn some money and then go travelling? Or do I dive straight in and apply for every job as a journalist and hope for the best?

 

The big question after university is the question that could potentially shape my career for the future and that is not a decision to be taken lightly. I can only hope I make the right choices.  

 

 

 

 

A newcommer to the Blogsphere

To say that I am a novice at blogging is a huge and regretable understatement, until recently I was oblivious to the never ending perks made available to the dedicated blogger and the unbelievable networks that can be created through mutual interests and hobbies as a reporter.

My fellow blogger Gareth Duffield is the man responsible for opening my eyes to this wonderful opportunity as a journalist. I hope to at least bring some interesting opinions to the table and reach out to people who would have ordinarily remained unknown to me in my little corner of the world.

There are more blogs to follow in the next few days so please:

‘Watch this space’