Things that caught my attention in Berlin-My personal opinion

I recently went to Berlin for a week. It was good, seeing all the art and the famous tourist attraction. Such as their traffic light, instead of a colour it just a red and a green man walking. Along the holocaust memorial, Reichstag's, Berlin wall, Filmhouse etc.
It was really nice seeing all different kind of art and history. Showing how creative people are and ways art can express something. Even though the place i was, was quite quiet, it was pleasant. Like early in the morning it was cold but the bird still sing, as it gradually got warmer, more bird started to sing more happily.

However my time there I have notice that Alcohol and tobacco is cheap, along they advertise smoking. It  was shocking for me as I have not seen a smoking advertisement in public for years!
As I thought that smoking advertisement was banned, since they want to make people more healthy. Along produce less pollution to the earth and also protecting others people from second hand smoke, as that does more harm.

I brought some cigars for my boyfriend a pack of 25 cigar only costed €18. I also brought 5 packs of flavoured ones, each pack contains 5 cigars and the total price for them was only €5. In total i have brought 50 cigars for €30. That is ridiculous cheap!! It good for me as i spent little on it but at the same time, why is it so cheap over there?? Since tobacco is cheap over there, doesn't that encourage people to smoke more? Plus the advertisement, telling people to don't think if they should by it and just buy it. Clever way to advertise but is it good? telling people to smoke...

The food place i went to, the food was quite expensive but then again, it probably just cause of the place i went to. However...the price of alcohol, that's another story...
 I've brought 6 large beer for under €5, it is good beer over there, I'm happy about that, but for the people who live there permanently. Cheap alcohol and cheap tobacco, surely it is not good for their health? Along would it not encourage young children to drink and smoke at a young age? and the price of it, it would make it easy for them to buy since it does not cost too much. Along the law say that they are allow to drink at the age of 16. In the U.K it is 18 and the price of tobacco and drink is far more expensive here, and that does not stop young children from smoking and drinking already. So it makes me wonder how it works in Berlin and if they have this problem as well....
But then again, Berlin gets alot of tourist. so they probably make alot of money, selling tobacco and alcohol to them. It leaves the buyer and the seller both happy. :)

During my week there, i did not see any children smoking or tons of people smoking. Which i was surprised and quite amazed. Though i saw little kids, junior school age kids, with Blackberry, smart phones, iphones and the adults with less flashy high tech phones. It made me laugh, as it is the same in the U.K.

All in all, it was a good trip, a really nice place. The experience was worth it, i would go there again. I Loved the art and creativity. It is a place i would definitely recommend to those people who is interested in art and history. :)

Fareham Byte

Go on the link and see for yourself!-







http://www.facebook.com/farehambyte?ref=ts


Fareham College Byte event. It is a I.T Event where ANYONE can come in to the college campus and take part in this event. As there would be a variety of events will happen, that are suitable for all ages!! Such as creating your own App, creating your own games, along human data and such. So you would not be staring at a computer all the time! Along other things are happening, such as a cake stall, talks from invited in guesses.
The event STARTS at 10am and ends at 9pm! Anyone can stay as long as they want. People who wish to take part within the event, they will be given a timetable of the day, such as they can note down on what they want to do and what time, and that shall be arranged by one of the member who organised it. However you do not need to stay for the whole event nor do every single one of those activities.
This event also promotes the I.T student, making them a known course as people tend to forget the I.T students. Therefore this event will make them shine and show that doing I.T is simply not what you think it is or expected. Also it works as promotion for people who plan on going to college, they can experience what I.T student do within Fareham College. So killing more than 2 birds with one stone situation here... It will be a day of fun of I.T and how much our generation rely's on it, along learn from it, such as how much it affect us and the future. Learn something new everyday? Why not learn about I.T? A variety of interesting facts and how it also affects YOU!

For example I know a I.T student who plans to go on further education on I.T, in order to create technology's for disable people and other medical reasons. I personally believe this is really sweet and ambitious, as her contribution to it will help more people, and it creates another step for the disable people and other people to live easier and maybe even longer. The world need someone like her! Plus she can be the next creator of something amazing, such as creating a whole new generation of technology's.


I am also part of it as well, from the media department. I will be dealing with people and their time within the campus, such as if people are getting refreshments, being lost, not feeling well etc. This also includes me sending out other media students to film part of the event for the Fareham College news.
This event is simply not a one off, if this event turns out well it shall be continue for the following years. Also part of the college took part, such as the Logo it was designed by a graphic student within the college and the posters was designed by a variety of other graphic students from the college. From the amount of planning (started in November) and the fact that other college student took part PLUS invites to guess. You can tell that this event is a serious event and not a simple quick or thoughtless one.

Making it worth Going!! So Go! Have Fun! Enjoy it! Meet New People! It will be all worth it! :D

I and the I.T student shall be looking  forward to seeing youu!!!! 
See you there! Fareham College 29th March 2012 10am-9pm!^-^

The Woman In Black

The woman in black... the story tells how a woman holds a grudge against her sister for letting her son die. As she never forgave, she haunts the village, killing a child one by one. Many people within the village believe it is her doing while there is few people who believe it is a myth.
Daniel Radcliffe (Mr Kipps) a family man, goes to the village to do some paper work for the woman who passed away. People try to help him by telling him to go home and not to go to the house, but he refuse to listen. As he simply did not know what was going on within the village. Until one moment where he stayed within that empty isolated house, during the night. A serious of event happen, following on with a chain of event. One by one, a child dies,  it created mystery for Mr kipps as it leaves suspicions to the woman who once lived in that house. At first Mr Kipps did not think much about it until the fact that he saw the woman in black in a house fire, making a little girl kill herself. When Mr Kipps was told about the story of the woman who lived in that house he was in, it  shocked him and made him remember that his little boy was going to the village to visit him the next day. From the serious of event happening to children's death, it put Mr Kipps child at high risk. Since during his time back in the house Mr Kipps saw the woman in black face to face. It makes him a target and a great danger to people all around him.  To prevent his child from dying he had to help the woman in black to reunite with her child, as the child body was never found. Though a cross was put where the child died, so it gave out a clue on where child is.
With help of the person who took him in, Mr Kipps recovered the child body and put it within the house. Putting the child in the kids room and playing all the toys, to attract the woman. To come and see her child once again and reunite, hoping they would rest in peace and leave the villagers alone.
Mr Kipps succeeded, so when he came to pick up his child from the train station....he thought it all ended. Until... the woman in black appeared once again when he reunited with his little boy.  His little boy went on the train tracks, Mr Kipps runs for his son. The train goes by, the audience does not know Mr Kipps dies as the train went pass, the previous dead children appeared. From the fact that his nanny and his friend was shocked and in tears it is obvious to say that Mr Kipps and his little boy died. However the bright side is that he and his son is with his wife once again, a complete family at the end.

This film is quite good in its own way, however it is not scary like people say. It simply just have few jumpy moments but they were kinda of expected. Such as when Mr Kipps put his hand by the hand print on the window.... it was obvious that something "scary" may happen. Though I personally believe that the director James Watkins, did a very good job in building up the suspense to make the audience fear and jump. As that scene certainly made everyone jump, as it also had a scream that was piercing. Since within the build up, James Watkins has caught the audience full attention and deep within focus as they wonder what will happen next. It makes them unaware of what is going around them in reality, such if someone is stealing their stuff, they would not be paying much attention to it, as they are too into the film. Which made the scream more effected as  it was unexpected, so it made the audience wide awake and surprised.
James Watkins played with the audience mind as he kept the audience wondering on how the next victim is going to die or who. Along why the woman is doing it.
 Good use of theatre of the mind. As it keep the audience guessing during the whole film, since it gave out quite few clues. For example the woman child. Mr Kipps looks through the window and saw the child coming out from the mud and walking towards the house. Then later on the bed was starting to fill up with mud and the child appeared. These two example gave out the clue that, that child is the woman child. Along how it died and where the child body is.
However within the film you could say the children's was the Muguffin, as the whole film was based on them and if they would live or not. However the rocking chair back in the house also played a heavy part within the film. As it was in the child room, it was where the woman killed herself and the chair rocked when the woman appeared. The way the chair rocked was important, such as how fast it was rocking and how loud. As it builded up the suspense, such as when Mr Kipps was in the house at first. He heard a noise coming from the child room (He did not know it was the child room at first), the room was locked and he had no key to open it. Until one night the chair rocking sound got dramatically loud and fast, it made Mr Kipps anxiety. Since he did not know what was in that room and he needed to find out, but when he went back downstairs to get a hammer to break the door,  the room was unlocked and open. Which at that  moment the rocking chair was rocking slowly and quiet. It created a mystery for the audience, but personally to me...i can not look at rocking chair the same way anymore...

Though the ending of the film disappointed me. Mr Kipps and his child died because of the woman in black. But by killing him was she repaying him? To reunite with his wife again? Or simply just killed him? Since before this scene it was a close up shot of the letters she written saying she would never forgive and at that moment the voice over said eleventh child, repeatedly. Even though at the end the audience see the woman n black, with her face perfectly fine now, the audience would of expected her to scream but she did not.
So in my eyes it leaves the audience guessing and the story abit pointless, along that shot abit pointless.
Along this film is abit overrated on how scary it is or how non scary it is, and the debate about how it should or not not be a 12A. At the end, we're all entitle to our own opinion so it does not matter what other says, as long as you enjoy the film.

Overall  im not saying anymore about this film as it would simply give out EVERY THING and ruin the film for you even more. Sooo....go watch it! Its worth it! Alongg...ENJOY!
 
Here the IMDB link, if you want to see who the actors and actress are,or to find out other information about it-
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596365/

The power of Google

We all love Google. We use it all the time when we need to find something out or go to certain websites. As it literally has everything we need on it,like many people say"I don't know what I'll do without Google!". It is a true fact in some ways hahaha....
 Though its funny how there is so many other search engine like Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Bing etc, yet the first one people think of is Google so they say "Google it!".

Google keeps on improving, as they now have their own social place like Facebook. However the thing I like most about Google (part from searching) is that when you go on the main page. As they tend to have different designs on the word Google, relating it with history. Its interesting as it's different and it also teaches people some facts at the same time. That is for sure "you learn something new everyday"! The designs are quite smart, must be hard to think of it though as they have to relate it to the history AND using it to spell out Google. I remember awhile ago they had a robot one where people can actually play with it.


This print screen one (sorry for my many tabs!) is celebrating the 100 birthday of  Charles Addams.

 The creator of The Addams Family *click* *click*. A famous cartoon that everyone watched back in the old days, it is a childhood memory for many people.
Also I love the fact that in this Google Doodle they have all the main characters of The Addams Family and at the same time it can spell out the word Google.
To be quite honest I personally doubt that many people will know this if it wasn't for Google...

Ahhhh...at the end it probably is just me that find these little doodles interesting and amusing along inspiring....
But overall we should be thankful to Google for their efforts and their greatness. Without Google most of us will be lost or we know less stuff. Soo... Thank You Google! =D

The Phantom Of The Opera-Theatre version Review

I went to see The Phantom Of The Opera in west end. It was amazing!!!!
Though sadly from what i heard before, they changed the chandelier, to a smaller one due to health and safety reason. The chandelier still crash down to the stage but done slowly, so it does not hit the audience nor scare them. So the thrill there is abit gone, but hey if you don't know it wouldnt hurt.

Comparing to the film, the film is not as good. As in the theatre you can feel the Phantom love for Christine Daae quite deeply. Especially when he sings "All I Ask Of  You", where the phantom is standing on a gargoyle at the top and then slowly coming down, that scene was filled with so much emotion. It was a complete unexpected scene! As no one would of expect the gargoyle on the top of the stage to come down. Also in the theatre you can feel the fear Christine Daae have towards the Phantom. While in the film, Christine did not show much fear towards the Phantom but seem interest in him like she partly in love with him. But within the whole story, in the beginning Christine believes that the Phantom is the angle of music sent by her father until the moment he starts to control her. That's when it hit her that he is not the angle of music sent by her father, he simply is just another man but not known to life as he is always hidden, away from people.

If  you watch the film first then theatre, you may not like the person who played the character as much. As Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler shall ever be known to you as the Phantom and Christine. It will also be the same if you watched theatre first then film, just different people, as they portray the character in that way.

Though what i notice within the film is that it tells the audience about the Phantom life more, while in theatre it does not, instead it brings out the evil side of the Phantom more. Which is quite interesting and some of the songs are in different order or does not exist in one another. For example when Christine got told to play the main character for the last show, in theatre they sung that part and Christine snapped back to Carlotta. While in the film they didn't and Carlotta did not have much role. Along Christine seemed like she had no back bone, she didn't defend herself at all, it was always people defending her while in theatre Christine seemed more brave.


Well I can be here forever comparing the two together, so I shall stop here and let you decide for yourself.
Though in 2011 it was The Phantom Of the Opera 25 anniversary. The show was performed in The Royal Albert Hall. In my opinion it was filmed badly and made the show not as good, but it seemed like if you were there to watch it, the show would of been spectacular!
The ending of the show was eyes opening, where Andrew Lloyd Webber came out and thanked people. He invited 4 of the previous Phantoms to sing with Sarah Brightman. Amazing scene, seeing all those phantoms and how they all portrayed the Phantom quite differently.

I even wrote a review on it, on the Amazon.co.uk. Amazon even listed my review as most critical review, which was interesting and quite pleasing. =D

Moral within a film-Sex And The City 2

 

Directed by-Michael Patrick King

Staring- Sarah Jessica Parker
- Kim Cattrall
-Kristin Davis
-Cynthia Nixon



I was dragged to watch this with my sister, I never watched any of the series. However I did not find it that bad, it was quite interesting to be honest. How these 4 woman cope with their marriage life (part from one).
It kinda is based on reality as these girl are girls with a good job or simply wealthy, all can afford designer clothings. I haven't seen Sex And The City 1 but from the way it is you don't need to know the story for the first one to know the story for this one.
The story started off where everyone is in a glamorous gay wedding, where the characters are introduced. Showing what their lives are like and how dedicated they are to their relationship. From this it shows the audience that everyone marriage and committment is different, therefore they should not worried as long as both partner are happy.
Samantha Jones, the one that remain unmarried and keeps flirting, her job manage to land her and her friends to a trip to Abu Dhabi, free off charge. They stayed in a luxury hotel where they simply had the best out of the best. However due to Abu Dhabi is not a open country, Samantha had problems trying to cover herself up and keeping young AND still try to flirt with guys(which caused problems).
While the others had time off from their marriage life or try to cope. Within the film it shows how these females cope with their marriage life and times with their friends, how they had their ups and downs. The girls express themselves more and communicate/understand their other half more thanks to the trip. Such as Charlotte, she a house wife, she found it hard in Abu Dhabi as she feared her nanny would have an affair with her husband. So it made her seem like she glue on to her family, while on the other hand Carrie and her husband decided to have time off from each other to keep the sparks. But at the end Charlotte found out her nanny is lesbian and she needed time alone as she was too stressed out, as for Carrie her husband understood her more and their relationship deepen. As he saw how honest and committed she was towards him, Carrie saw her ex in Abu Dhabi and went out for dinner with him but end up kissing him. She had the choice of not telling him but she choose too as she does not want to hide anything from her husband.
As for Miranda she quitted her job as a lawyer as she found out the company she works for does not care for her and she barely had time to spend with her family. In the trip to Abu Dhabi she found herself, how she can be a fun person and have fun at work with a new career.
It was interesting to see how Samantha lust for men's caused so much trouble. How in Abu Dhabi she met this guy and nearly had sex with him on the beach but end up being caught. Causing her to lose business with the hotel manager and how she and her friends had to leave Abu Dhabi as soon as possible as her fling caused her to loose their stay in the hotel, which they could not afford. But at the end she met the guy again in a different place and they had sex, hopefully he is the one for her.
Along how they found out that not everyone in Abu Dhabi are the same, as when Samantha dropped her condoms in public the crowd was furious. Thanks to a bunch of girls who lead them to a different place to keep safe, they show them that even though they are cover up they still love New York fashion and is up to date with it.
Also this film shows great friendship, such as how Samantha would not ditch her friends in a girls night for a man, how Carrie knew what shoes Charlotte was wearing when they where cover up and got lost or simply how Miranda knew everyone size and style in clothing when they went out for riding.
Overall loving what you wear is a not a crime and in this film it shows you that communication and marriage is not something simple, it is a big deal so people should not take it lightly...

The Phantom Of The Opera Review

The Phantom Of The Opera

Gerard Butler (Actor), Emmy Rossum (Actor), Joel Schumacher (Director) 

The Phantom Of The Opera the famous musical that is still showing today. Yay!! The fame came because of the dramatic and tragic love story and the phantom mask. The well-known mask, even for those people who haven't seen it will know it, it's almost like their logo. Most people believe Andrew Lloyd Webber was the one who wrote it when the truth is that it was written by a French novelist called Gaston Leroux, who believes the phantom is real.

        The film created by Joel Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Webber, it guarantees you to be a good production, as these are both talented people. Like how the story is run, the start of the film was a drawing then it starts to move, making it develop into a black and white film. The black and white parts of the film shows you in reality while the colours scene's represent the past. The change of colours of the scene works like the narrator. The way it smoothly runs between the colours, I personally think you cannot do it any better than they did, as it was done magnificently well. Along the camera angles, it was mainly long shots and extreme long shots that were used. Showing the glamour’s surrounding of the theatre and out of the theatre. Example the phantom home, showing the details of the environment (very luxury and a massive supply of candles). From time to time you get close up scenes or worms eye view and bird’s eye view, to create an effect giving you a slight feel of actually being in the theatre. As your eyes does not focus in one way and one place. The scene that shows the costumes looking amazing makes the actors and actress emotions protrude. Like where Christine Daae sings “Think Of Me” the scene starts in rehearsal and then white light leading to the screen and spins to actually show different view. On what she sees and what the audience see, so you get a feel of what it will be like if your actually there. Mise-en-scene plays a smart important role in this film, likewise the scene where Madam Giry smiles at Christine when she sings; it shows that she knows something. She is the only one who knows the most about the phantom and his doing on what's goes on in the theatre. Also about Christine, as he is the one who trained her, Madame Giry is happy that the phantom would be pleased. Nevertheless an object that is important would be like the chandelier, it brings the past back to life and changes the scene colours as it goes up in the beginning and when the chandelier smashes. That's when the story ended. The chandelier plays a virtual role as it’s the controller of the film. While the colouring changing works just like the narrator.

    How the characters played their role and the movement they make it is the key point for a musical, as a musical relies on the actor and actress facial expression and their movements. Since musical theatre are seen in a theatre people at the back tend to find it hard to see, so exaggerating their emotion and gesture allows the people at the back to see clearly on what is going on.   Additionally if they suit their characters for example, Minnie Driver, she plays the role of La Carlotta. Bad temper diva, her movements and the facial expression she gives, gives a strong feel that you don't really like her as she very stuck up and self-centred. Which makes her characters strong, my personal opinion is that the way she looks suits the role as I cannot see Emmy Rossum play La Carlotta. The costume design in the film is rather pretty and represents the characters personality well, like Christine in the beginning she wears what every other chorus girls wear, plain and simple. This makes her look innocent, when she becomes famous her clothes gradually have more design and much more glamorous. Moreover the colours she wears, the bright and nice colour she wears shows she becoming wealthy and famous while dark dull colours shows she poor. Though within the film the colour used was very dark and Gothic, even the dance gave a dark feel, thanks to the good choreography (watch dance in “Past The Point Of No Return”). The clothing’s bring back history when the time where there was no middle class people, people was either opulent or stuck in poverty. Managing to get out of poverty required an extreme amount of hard work or a miracle, while landing into poverty was easy.

     Regardless of it being a musical, the songs are strong even the ones that creates the atmosphere and the way they enter and exit blends finely, the non-diegetic sound. Two that was truly memorable was “Overture/Hannibal” the one played when the chandelier went up in the beginning that was strong and loud. Though I did dislike the fact that I had to keep turning the volume up and down the since they were not very balance. The diegetic sounds was strong enough to show the emotions and the point across. Though the most powerful one in my opinion was “Down once More” the three main all singed different song but it combined into one, giving a thrill. As it was a life and death situation for Christine and it was the end of the story.

          As for the language they used, in visual wise it makes the audience focus carefully about the surrounding in the film, it manipulate the audience feelings and thoughts (the sound helps as it creates more atmosphere and tension).Like the monkey on the box, the role of the monkey is that it brings back memory for Raoul and the phantom so the scene can change colour to black and white. As for verbal language, the way the spoke was easy for nowadays people to understand compare to Shakespearean, even nowadays the remake of the film is still hard for some people to understand because of the words (Shakespeare was in the 15^th and 16^th century, different century but just an example). Also the way they spoke in the film tells you that they generally speak French due to the fact that they give out an accent and used the word ‘’monsieur’’, in French it means sir. Though the downfall was where Raoul says “bravo” he said it in the English way.

     Over all the film is targeting people from the age of 12 and above. Aiming at teenagers as well is that the film is like Sweeney Todd and Sleepy Hallow but no gory parts and it’s not exactly horror. For 12 and above means that the film is not childish and is mature enough for the older to enjoy. Therefore it’s suitable for them however it all depends if the person enjoy musical, if they don't then obviously they won’t like it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about it but I do not believe some should judge about the theatre version compare to the film if they have not watched both!

 My own opinion is that I really enjoyed it especially the closing scene in which the black and white scene, in front of Christine grave was the phantom rose. Showing that after all these years he still loved her. Ending the film in black and white with the rose petal in colour made me feel happy and sad at the same time for the phantom. Though watching it in theatre gave a different experience, making you really into it and after for more. Though thank god Andrew Lloyd Webber have created “Love Never Dies”, the sequel!