Living near the centre of London I really should have been doing,  well just doing MORE.

I had fallen into the same trap I fell into all those years ago whilst living in Notting Hill.   That trap is complacency, melancholy, and downright laziness.

The first time in London I slipped into this state after the first two years.  This time it happened to me after the first two months. Well no more dammit!

I am now resolved to get out more.  To visit things, to be a tourist, to experience things, to eat in places I have never eaten in before, to drink in places I have never drunk in before, and to live in ways I have never lived before.

The first experience was the new Titanic Exhibition at the O2 Bubble.   It has over 300 genuine pieces of memorabilia rescued from the ocean floor, and tells the story of the Titanic from it’s design through to it’s demise. Over-all a fantastic exhibit and having the opportunity to actually touch a piece of her hull, to connect myself with such an important piece of history was a profound and resonating moment in my life.

When entering the exhibit you are handed a boarding pass in the name of an original Titanic passenger, complete with basic information of that person’s background.  Towards the end of the exhibition I survived, but for the briefest of moments I was actually worried about my fate.  The exhibition did it’s job.

The only downside I found was the inaccurate recreation of the First Class cabin.   Instead of being a snapshot of the past, the room was the wrong shape, the furniture was ‘a rough example of the furniture of the period’ not even close to the originals, the carpet was a modern cheap alternative, the dining table was in the bedroom, and the bedroom was missing a wardrobe (which a previous section of the exhibition had gone into through detail about).  No attention had been paid to detail.  It was disappointing.

Other than this, I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, and felt as if I had achieved something.  I went on to have dinner in cute little Mediterranean bistro that I had never eaten in before, and watch the X-Factor from a bar in Soho instead of from the couch at home.

Yes. This is good.  I’ll be getting out more often.  :)

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/whatson/titanic-exhibition-london-article-10255.html

This is the only reason to pay money to see Twilight Saga: New Moon

The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Michael Sheen

In the second installment of Stephanie Meyer’s phenomenally successful Twilight series, the romance between mortal and vampire soars to a new level as Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) delves deeper into the mysteries of the supernatural world she yearns to become part of – only to find herself in greater peril than ever before.

I am extremely disappointed. The acting was good, especially considering what they had to work with. The screenplay was either badly written, or a reasonable screenplay may have been massacred by the bad director. Either way, the direction definitely was terrible.

I think Chris Weitz spent so much time making sure the imagery (and boys) were pretty, that he completely forgot to make sure the story and editing worked.

An example of what I mean:

The scene where the Cullens are gathered for Bella’s birthday, and things go wrong where she has a papercut. Edward has to step in to save her, and emotions are obviously running high, and the scene is ended by a ‘look’ from Edward that says he is not happy with the situation and something is going to be done about it.

The next day, he sees her at school, they laugh, smile, and tell each other how much they are in love. Great! Situation avoided it seems. End scene.

The next day Edward pops over to Bella’s, meets her in the garden, takes her to the woods (what the hell was wrong with her place?), and proceeds to tell her that the Cullens are leaving and he doesn’t want her with him, obviously having made the decision that being around him isn’t safe, after the incident 2 days previous.

So where did the scene in the middle come from?? Why on earth put it there? Why not the day before the troubles at the Cullen’s place or leave it out altogether?

A second example:

In the scene at the Voltare Palace. Aro had demanded that Bella accompany Edward to meet Aro, initially they refused, but then a short blond vamp turns up, and suddenly they are all petrified of her, as if we are supposed to know who she is. I’m informed I would have known if I had read the book. So I’m guessing the director assumed that we all should have done that first.

Then when they meet Aro, he is surprised that Bella is there also, yet 5 minutes previously, they were told Aro specifically wanted to see her also.

The film is full of sloppy gaps, and errors. Bella is a whiny little tramp who isn’t happy with simply dating an uber-fit Vampire for a few years as a human, or the prospect of settling down with an uberuberuber fit Jacob (OH MY GOD!), and going on the way she treats both of them (and everyone else in her life), she deserves a slap more than eternal happiness….or to be forced to marry somebody ugly.   Whatever happens, Edward doesn’t need to worry about ‘taking’ Bella’s soul if he turns her.  Her character is bereft of a soul already.

Oh and one last thing:  SPOILER ALERT. At the end of the film where Edward proposes to Bella, the last thing we see and hear is a gasp of sheer pleasure and unbridled happiness from Bella. I have just been told she says no to his proposal in the next book. Did the director not read the next book? I’m guessing he didn’t and he has now set the next director up with a little challenge to be starting the next movie with.  Bad show Chris Weitz.