New blog

My blog has moved so from now on, I will be posting to this website:

http://emmalangman.wordpress.com/

Kings of Leon

While Beyonce won a record-breaking 6 Grammys (the most ever for a female artist), it was the Kings of Leon who beat many people’s expectations to win Record of the Year with Use Somebody.

Caleb Followill, the band’s singer, said:

“I’m not going to lie, we’re all a little drunk. But we’re happy drunks.”

Avatar schmavatar

After hearing a constant barrage of how amazing Avatar is, I finally succumbed and went to see it so I could at least judge for myself. I entered the cinema with a preconceived idea about James Cameron’s newest record-breaking blockbuster but it was solely positive reviews that I had heard from friends who normally stick to romcom chick flicks!

On route to win most of its nine Oscar nominations, I cannot argue with Avatar’s nomination in the Best Visual Effects section. The 3D effects were amazing and made Avatar a very visually exciting and innovative film. However, the other elements of the film failed to impress. The storyline was a generic boy meets girl who he can’t have but eventually does. While there were some twists, the final ending was obvious. The acting was okay but, with a standard script, the cast didn’t really have much to work with.

So why has this film done so well, becoming the highest-grossing domestic box-office release in U.S. history after Cameron’s Titanic? It cannot be denied that the cinematic effects are brilliant but, as one of few 3D films out in the cinema, Avatar seems to have relied on this one differing factor to attract viewers. I wonder if it had been available in only 2D, if it would be nominated for so many awards? Doubtless, Cameron will scoop up several gongs but I strongly doubt that they are really deserved.

The Road

I have just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and it was one of the best books I’ve ever read, but also the most depressing.

This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is set in post-apocalyptic America, although we are never told the events leading up to this situation, and is based around a father and son who are travelling the road, surviving and looking for other good people. On the way, they see many horrifying incidents, as the lack of food and water has led many to cannibalism. But the father constantly reminds his son that they are the good men who are carrying the fire, a metaphor that is threaded throughout the novel. The Road tells their tale over the course of about a year and in that time, they meet only a handful of others, most of whom want to steal from them and they have to run away from, for fear of being eaten.

One effective method employed by McCarthy is the anonymity of the protagonists – they are simply named Man and Boy. Through this device, the reader feels that this pair could be anyone and this leads to an even greater sense of despair, as we cannot identify with the characters in a more personal way. 

With the film version released last week, I am hoping to see it soon and I am interested to find out how the director has decided to depict some of the more harrowing scenes in the novel.

Even though The Road is a depressing, and at times distressing, novel I would definitely recommend it – it’s a brilliant read that really makes you think and was difficult to put down.

Vinnie Jones = comedian

In the latest (and last) series of Celeb Big Brother, Vinnie Jones has surprised many with his quick quips. In reference to Alex Reid teaching Stephen Baldwin how to box, Vinnie said:

“If bulls*** was music, there would be a brass band out there right now!”

What a saying!

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