Those of you who are regular readers of my blog, or who know me outside of the internet environment, know that I've had a difficult year so far. All the trouble with Jodi, the fact some of my closest friends have effectively done disappearing acts, my doubts over my own sanity and various other issues have made the first half of 2012 generally sucky, but hopefully that's all soon to change, so I wanted to share with you all why I'm hoping that the second half will be a lot better.
Canterbury's new album, "Heavy in the Day"
Canterbury are probably one of my favourite bands and at the time of writing, they are the ONLY band I have seen more than once live (although they're soon to be joined in that category by All American Rejects) and I am a huge advocate of their music.
Canterbury, strangely named after a place that they're not from
I first heard Canterbury in February/March 2010 on Lava TV (when it was a rock based channel) with their song "Gloria"....a song that I had listened to more than 100 times within the first 24 hours after hearing it. I immediately downloaded their free album from their website and I just fell in love with the band. Two years, two live concerts and having met the band on a few occasions, they are finally releasing their second album, "Heavy in the Day".
It's very rare I look forward to a new album, especially as I'm not that heavily into music anyway. I got slightly excited by Blink 182's new "Neighbourhood" album when that came out last year, but I was largely disappointed with that, hopefully "Heavy in the Day" won't be the same.
I've already heard a few of the songs off of this album, including "Gloria", "Ready Yet" and "Heavy in the Day" and loved them all, so hopefully the rest of the album will be worth the wait.
"Ted"
Ted is the first feature film of Seth McFarlane, the guy who created Family Guy. Family Guy is one of my favourite shows on TV and along with Big Bang Theory, is the only show that makes me laugh. I can't quite put into words why I like it so much, maybe it's because it's what The Simpsons wishes it was.....funny and groundbreaking, something the Simpsons never has been.
Anyway, when I first saw a trailer for Ted (not the one below but another one) and it focused on a child with his bear, I sort of switched off but then it did just start looking like a live-action version of Family Guy and I was bursting out laughing in the screen during the trailers. I loved it. I am normally quite reserved and it takes a lot to make me laugh, but this certainly achieved it, that's for sure. The concept of a toy coming to life certainly isn't new, but I've never seen it told like this before
I personally think that Mark Wahlberg is a terrible actor, but he looks funny as hell in this film and giving that "Ted" is obviously animated, to do what he is doing with nothing there is quite remarkable. It's also got the beautiful Mila Kunis in it, although the association she has with Family Guy makes me constantly think of Meg Griffin when she's speaking in the trailer.
To Be Confirmed - Watch This Space
I've been hinting at something big happening for a while, and I'm hoping to finally announce what it is on July 20th.
I have recently signed up to the Blockbusters store in Newark a as part of the deal I got 14 days worth of free rentals, and much like when I worked at the cinema and got to watch movies for nothing, you're more prone to watch stupidly crap stuff if it's free. So I have decided to compile a list of the worst films that I have watched (in no particular order).
The Three Musketeers (2011)
This was the first that set this blog off. I rented this from Blockbuster having had no previous interest in watching it. It looked absolutely terrible but as I say above, you will rent near enough anything when it's free.
I was just sat there watching this film waiting for something to happen, or at least something that was reasonably watchable, but it never came. It was pathetic that characters were portrayed in this way, such as King Louis, played brilliantly in the 1993 version of the story, is reduced to a petulant teenager in this film, concerned more with appearance than the responsibility he has.
The worst part about this film is that not one character is portrayed well, not a single one, and it got me thinking about some of the actors that are in it. Christoph Waltz was brilliant in Inglorious Basterds and fully deserved his Oscar, since then he has done complete bollocks, and whilst she is very beautiful, Milla Jovovich also chooses a LOT of very crap films. She was brilliant in the equally brilliant Fifth Element, and other than the odd one here and there, she has appeared in so many shit films that it's not even funny.
And then, to round it all off, James Corden. I have nothing against James Corden but I'm not even convinced he was playing a character in this. Much like when Ricky Gervais is in a film, you're never convinced he's actually acting, more being himself.
I can't think of one redeeming feature in this entire film. I really can't.
Sucker Punch (2011)
I got the ticket to watch this for free at the cinema and it was a waste of a free ticket. I think what they were thinking when thinking about this film was "Get some scantaly clad, attractive young women and make them dance around, and then hopefully no-one will notice that there's not actually a plot"....because that appears to be what is actually going on here.
When I say there isn't much of a plot, it's not an exaggeration, there really isn't. Girl gets sent to a mental asylum and all of a sudden she finds herself as a dancer, she imagines herself fighting all of this monsters that is somehow meant to help her escape with her friends.....they never even actually explain how it is going to help. Then there's not to forget the random inclusion of Leonard Nimoy in the story for seemingly no reason, he serves no purpose.
But do you know what I hate about this film so much? It's that it has a brilliant soundtrack. I'd go as far as saying it has one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard, but that doesn't really distract from a shockingly poor film.
The Ringer (2005)
If there's one film that has gotten me so angry in the last few years, it's this. I have a nephew with autism, and I have worked with autistic children, and this film makes me so incredibly angry that I don't even want to talk about it because it would make me that angry!
Hardwired (2009)
You know a film is not going to be good when one of the two main actors is on the front cover, but one of the two main actors' pictures is from another film. Val Kilmer is in this film and he plays a fat scientist with long hair.....whereas on the cover he is in an action pose with short hair.....what?
In theory Hardwired wasn't actually a bad idea for a film, but it is so poorly executed that it makes it unwatchable. I watched this a year ago and I have precisely no interest in watching it again, and because I haven't I have completly forgotten why I hated it so much, but all I can remember is that it was PROPER shit!!
Now that the football season is effectively over, I've decided to give out my own personal awards....an idea sort of shamelessly stole from one of my favourite blogs.
Lincoln City Awards
Joe Anyon
Player of the Year - Joe Anyon - Easily the best player at the football club during the last season, there's not even a debate. It's a shame that our money troubles have forced us into not offering him a new contract and one club is about to get themselves a very good goalkeeper. Without Joe we would have been relegated.
Other noteable mentions in this category - Richard Hinds, Sam Smith and Danny Lloyd.
Worst Player of the Year - Ali Fuseini - Fuseini came to us in January 2011 with a good reputation having being heavily involved with Millwall in recent years. One year later and his good performances numbered one, he even stormed off at Gainsborough in a pre-season friend after getting tackled one too many times for his liking. Complete waste of time.
Other noteable mentions in this category - Rob Williams, Luke Medley, Niall Rodney, Gavin McCallum and Paul Robson
Most Over-Rated Player - John Nutter - John Nutter was liked by a lot of fans but his distribution was shocking, his marking was worse and he was regularly caught out of position.
Pointless Player of the Year - Adam Smith - Who? I hear you ask. Exactly. We loaned this young goalkeeper in from Leicester and he didn't play one single moment of football for the club. It was no surprise that Leicester recalled him because it was a waste of time him being here.
Other noteable mentions in this category - Louis Almond, Jason Beardsley, Jean Arnaud, Curtis Thompson and Matthew Pearson.
Best Performance - Ebbsfleet 2 Lincoln City 3 - I make no exaggeration by saying we could have scored ten goals that day. We were awesome. The amount of times we forced open Ebbsfleet's defence was ridiculous and we deserved a victory that was far bigger than the one goal that we eventually did win by.
Other noteable mentions in this category - Alfreton 1 Lincoln City 3 and Lincoln City 5 Darlington 0
Worst Performance - Carshalton Athletic 3 Lincoln City 1 - A dark night to be a Lincoln fan, a very dark night. A strong Lincoln side lost comfortably to a side from several divisions below and only a last minute goal gave the Imps minor dignity.
Other noteable mentions in this category - Too many individual ones to mention but the ones that come to mind include Tamworth 4 Lincoln 0, Lincoln 0 Alfreton 1 and Lincoln 0 Hayes and Yeading 1
Worst Moment to be a Lincoln City fan - Lincoln City Banter and Adam Watts - A few hours after Lincoln were eliminated from the FA Cup in the qualifying rounds by Alfreton Town, one fan decided to post a link to Adam Watts' Facebook profile and encouraging people to send him a load of abuse for the mistake (key word) that lead to Alfreton's winner. It just shows how far we've fallen when one of our fans thinks it's appropriate to actually promote abuse towards a player.
English Football in General
Player of the Year - Vincent Kompany (Manchester City) - Kompany was arguably the key player in Manchester City's title win. A rock at the back and a presence going forward, few could match Kompany's ability on the pitch and Manchester City were not the same side when he was not in the squad. In my opinion no-one else comes close to him this season.
Other mentions in this category - Papiss Cisse (Newcastle United), Emmanual Adebayor (Tottenham Hotspur), Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) and Joe Hart (Manchester City)
Young Player of the Year - Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea) - A player who I think will become really big in the next few years. He could score, he set up others and had Chelsea played him throughout the entire season then I highly doubt that they would have struggled.
Manager of the Year - Paul Lambert (Norwich City) - Lambert has done a fantastic job at Norwich. They are my third team after Lincoln and Manchester United, and I am delighted with what he has done with them. Although they got a few spankings throughout the season, Norwich provided stiff opposition for many teams and Lambert got them playing some great football.
Best Game - Manchester United 8 Arsenal 2 - This was far closer than the scoreline would suggest but as a Manchester United fan, this game had to be the game of the season. It was entertaining, full of goals, every attack from both sides looked like it would result in a goal. It was a brilliant game.
Other mentions in this category - Chelsea 3 Arsenal 5 and Manchester City 3 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Turning Point of the Season - Manchester United 4 Everton 4 - 4-2 up with five minutes to play, United were home and dry. They were going to maintain their gap of five points over Manchester City with just a handful of games to play. All of a sudden Everton score two quickfire goals and it's 4-4 and suddenly United are only 3 points clear. Three games later and Manchester City were champions.
Other mentions in this category - Harry Redknapp getting linked to the England job.
Steve Kean
Worst Fans - Blackburn Rovers - Not a doubt in my mind about this one. The way they treated Steve Kean was nothing short of disgusting and they got exactly what they deserved, relegation.
Other mentions in this category - Aston Villa
Biggest Mistake of the Season - Wolverhampton Wanderers hiring Terry Connor - The last thing you need in a relegation battle is a manager with no experience, and that's exactly what Wolverhampton Wanderers did when they appointed Terry Connor as replacement for Mick McCarthy. Would they have gone down otherwise? Maybe, but their record after he was appointed tells it's own story.
Other mentions in this category - Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to play 4-5-1 in a vital game at Manchester ity.
Best Individual Team Performance - Chelsea at Barcelona in the Champions League Semi Final - I hate Barcelona. I think they are egotistical beyond believe and their fans just seemed to think that getting through to the Champions League Final was a given, so when Chelsea defended brilliantly over the two legs and won, it was a brilliant moment for me. It felt wrong wanting Chelsea to win and cheering when Torres scored in the final moments, but it also felt so right as well.
Other mentions in this category - Manchester City's 6-1 win at Manchester United and Manchester United's 8-2 win over Arsenal
Goal of the Season - Papiss Cisse vs Chelsea - I can't get enough of this goal. Simply stunning and the reason I've chosen this over Peter Crouch's goal against Chelsea is because I feel that Crouch's is more easily replicatable than Cisse's. I've seen plenty of Crouch's but none like Cisse's.
My Premiership XI 2011/12 Season
GK - Joe Hart (Manchester City)
DEF - Leighton Baines (Everton)
DEF - Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
DEF - Vincent Kompany (Manchester City)
DEF - Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Tottenham Hotspur)
MID - Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur)
MID - Rafael Van Der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur)
MID - Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle United)
MID - Ashley Young (Manchester United)
FW - Papiss Cisse (Newcastle United)
FW - Robin Van Persie (Arsenal)
Recently Gainsborough Trinity made the Playoffs in the Blue Square North and victory would have meant that would face Lincoln next season. Because of this I decided I would go and follow them throughout the Playoffs as I would love to face them in a competitive game....so here is the 50odd minute video of me following Gainsborough around.
You can view the video HERE as it won't let me link to it here.
Right, I've now settled into my new flat in Newark and I must say that the last week has been absolutely brilliant. Those who I have on a specific list on Facebook know precisely why this has been a fantastic week and life and one of the main reasons is because I have finally got back around to getting my life back on track.
I mentioned in a recent blog that I have realised how I have wasted the last year or so. I had developed a desire to move to either Canada or America for all of the wrong reasons and during that time I alienated people, began to disrespect things that I love and people that I care about, but over the last two months or so I have been feeling great and re-assessing my life. Infact, ever since the incident with Jodi, my life has been pretty great. I only realise now that she wasn't good for me, and I know now that I am not suited to being in any North American country, I belong in England. This is my home and I am now mentally back home and happy to be here. The belong song sums it all up really.
So yeah, as I also mentioned in another blog my life has all of a sudden seemingly gone into fast forward mode and stuff that has always felt so distant is all of a sudden seemingly on the verge of happening, and it's brilliant. I've taken major steps to doing what I've always wanted to do and I'm finally ready for it. For those who know what I'm refering to and have stayed as my friend up until now, thank you, and to those who will soon find out what I'm refering to, I hope we remain friends afterwards but if not, good life to you.
As I mention, I've now been in the flat for just under a week and it's quite bizarre because it's the first time I've ever lived properly on my own. I've lived in various house shares but never been able to live on my own and this is probably why I have never really been able to progress with my life's plans. It's good living on my own because I have things EXACTLY how I want them.
I was getting extremely livid on the day of moving in though because it was taking forever, but as soon as I got the DVDs and clothes sorted out, I realised how little I actually owned that wasn't in either of the aforementioned categories.
My flat in Nottingham......I really need to download a better app for taking panoramic images.
Another thing that fucks me off is the TV aerial provides a shocking signal somethings. It's making football pretty much unwatchable and with the Playoffs being on (and I love the Playoffs), it is frustrating. I watched Birmingham vs Blackpool last night and didn't see any of the four goals properly because the signal was crap.....even with a signal boost it's not been great.....some night's it's alright though....I think it's very weather dependant.
Other than that though it's all great. I'm literally a twenty second walk from the town centre and this is brilliant because I can figure out I need something, go out and get it and be back within 10 minutes, it's great. If I was still in Lincoln it would take me 10 minutes just to get into the city centre....and that's assuming traffic is good....which is rarely is.
For the second time in my life I am moving away from Lincoln and tonight (Thursday 3rd May 2012) is the last night before I move away. My new home will be Newark in Nottinghamshire, just a short mile and a half from where I work.
Moving to be closer to work is pretty much the sole reason I am moving to Newark to be honest. Those who know me even slightly know I hate driving when there are other drivers around.....meaning that when I am on my 8-4 shift I am waking up at 5:30am to catch the roads before there's traffic, and it's bloody exhausting. I hate being tired most of the time and for those who think I'm an arsehole, imagine how much worse I am when I'm tired!
As I say, it's my second time I have moved from Lincoln and I sincerely hope it goes better than the first. For those who didn't read about my year in Nottingham....here you go....http://www.nathanjackson1984.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/for-better-or-for-worse-my-year-in.html
I am going to miss Lincoln though, it has been my home for 26 of my 27 years but this time does feel different because it's literally just up the road (the A46 to be more precise), if I wanted I could get in a car and be back in Lincoln within 10/15 minutes, whereas in Nottingham I was a good 45 minute drive away at absolute minimum, it felt so out of the way that it wasn't even funny.
Moving for Newark does also give chance for growth as well. For the first time ever I will be living on my own. I've had flats and house shares before (including what I'm currently in) but all have been with others. This is the first chance I will have to have a place EXACTLY how I like it. It also present an opportunity to fulfil a life's goal, which I have never been able/willing to achieve whilst living with other people.
Newark's Market Square
My new flat is also located near enough in the centre of Newark, which is awesome. I'm at the top of a building of flats and it offers a great view of the park that's next to it, and the flat is only a 30 second walk from being in the Market Square.
Probably the most important thing about Newark is though that I have a great support network there. I'm about to go through something that is literally life changing, and I have a good network of friends in Newark who know about this life changing even and are fully behind what I'm about to do, wheeras the majority of people I know in Lincoln have no idea. about this. Again, I will tell everyone exactly what this is in a few months, but I just have to prepare for it properly first.
Well I'm going to leave it there but please note that I won't have the internet for a while at my new flat, so this will be the last blog I'm probably going to write for a while, so until next time keep well everyone
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