Italia!

I'm going to try and get this blog up to date. If I continue elaborating on past events, I'm going to be endlessly writing in the past. I need to get it to the present. So what I'm going to do is summarize the important events that have basically led to the current time-frame.

On September 2nd, My Mom, Dad, and I left Birmingham for London very early in order to catch the afternoon flight to Rome.

I left an AMAZINGLY creative farewell message to Dora Road:

We made it to London relatively early and boarded the British Airways flight to Rome right on time.

Here are a few caps I grabbed with my iPhone during the flight:

After we landed we took a shuttle from the Leonardo Da Vinci airport to the Roma Termini. From there, we boarded an evening train to our final destination, Florence.

We got into Florence very late that night...

Since my Mom and Dad were returning to England on Monday, we spent the whole weekend doing many eventful things in Florence.

Here are some of the highlights:

I showed my Mom and Dad around the school where I'm going to be studying for semester:

Here's my Mom, as a very excited student:

We took a couple more just outside the school on the ancient streets:

We also explored the Gallerie dell' Accademia, one of the finest galleries in all of Italy. It houses the famous sculpture of David by Michelangelo. Although photos were strictly forbidden in the gallery, I was able to use my handy iPhone to grab this incredible shot:

Who really is the Goliath?

We had a very authentic Italian dinner outside the famed Palazzo Vecchio:

My Dad opted for the shrimp pizzeria:

 

I went with a classic Italian Spaghetti dish:

While my Mom decided on the salad and mozzarella pizzeria:

We also visited the timeless Basilica del' Duomo:

And here are some other outstanding photos, as we took in the Florentine city:

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, but like all good things it came to an end. My parents traveled to Rome for a couple days after leaving Florence and flew back to England on Monday, this past week.

I've officially been living in Florence for a little over a week now and already find it to be life changing experience. It really is a lot to take in.

Very anxious, yet excited to what this semester brings. I hope you'll accompany me.

(Deep breath) Here it goes!

FrightFest 2010 – Day ONE

Sorry for the lack of updates. It’s been a very busy past week for me, but it's now time to play catch-up.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

My Mom, Dad (who had just arrived recently), and myself planned to leave for the much anticipated film festival, FrightFest on Thursday August 27^th.

For those of you unaware, FrightFest is a genre film festival that specializes in showcasing 30+ of the latest horror films from across the world over the course of five days.

Throughout the weekend, the cinema is packed with serious fans, special guests, surprise previews, horror premieres, and buckets of blood. If you’re a fan of the genre, it’s basically pure nirvana.

The festival was set to kick-off at 6:30 on Thursday evening, so we planned that leaving for London at about 10am would give us ample time to both check-in to the hotel and make it to the festival on time.

Well firstly, I awoke at 10:30am to find everyone else still asleep. After seeing how we had totally missed our aim, I jumped out of bed and quickly woke them up. So much for leaving at 10am…but wait, it’s not over yet.

Another event that made its way onto the itinerary was participating in a family ceremony that involved our new-born in the family having her hair cleanly taken off. Don’t ask why, I’m still trying to figure out the reasoning behind it myself. I think it has something to do with cleansing the baby, or at least something along those lines.

Here are some priceless caps taken after the shaving:

So after a very looong, but quite pleasant shaving session and an unnecessary tea break, we jetted out to London at a ridiculously late 4pm.

Due to the madness called the London traffic, we didn’t end up getting to the EMPIRE CINEMA till 7:30.

As I rushed in, the opening film for the festival was well deep into its running time. The
opening film was the world premiere of the slasher picture, HATCHET II.

The hype amongst horror fans prior to the premiere at FrightFest was quite strong. Although I wasn’t able to catch the first hour of the film, the final half was ridiculously gory fun, filled the creative and atmospheric horror setpieces that really got the audience into the slasher vibe.

After the screening, director Adam Green and three of his cast members, including Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, and Danielle Harris took the stage for a Q&A.

During the session, I was able to ask a question to Adam Green, inquiring what his influences as a filmmaker were. He responded that Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg (boo!) were his prime heroes. I was awarded two cool posters for asking a question, and was able to get Adam Green and Kane Hodder to sign them after the screening. I guess asking questions does pay off!

Here's a quick picture I took with Adam Green:

The next film in the line-up was a new Australian horror film called PRIMAL.

This one I didn’t enjoy too much. It was filled with over-the-top screams, overuse of slow motion, and trumped by a really weak cast of characters. Although there were some really interesting ideas floating in the film, concerning a battle against nature and such, nothing ever materialized. The climax was surprisingly shocking, though. 6/10.

At 11:30, the final film of the night was the upcoming British vampire film, DEAD CERT.

One of the unique things the film was supposedly showcasing was its mix of the vampire genre with a gangster twist. Unfortunately, the actual result turned out to be quite sloppy. It seemed as if it wanted to master both genres, but just ended up failing in both. The characters came off very clichéd and the plot wandered down the predictable path very early on. FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, it wasn't. 5/10.

After the film, the director and cast participated in a Q&A. Two of the lead actors in the film had actually provided voices for characters in Infinity Ward’s MODERN WARFARE 1 and 2, and showed up for the screening.

But, there was only one problem; I didn’t know how they looked. I could only recognize them by their voices. I mean it was a video game after all.

So using my spidey senses, I just closed my eyes and listened in. Suddenly, I heard the voices that reflected their characters in MODERN WARFARE. Afterward, I reluctantly inched forward to the chosen suspects, and reluctantly presented them with MODERN WARFARE to sign. I was quite relieved to find out I was right when they gladly signed my copy. Getting my copy of MODERN WARFARE 1 and 2 signed by both of them was just plain wicked, considering how amazing those two games are.

We ended up leaving the EMPIRE CINEMA at 2am and crawled out of Leicester Square and returned at the hotel at very late 2:30am.

The next day was going to showcase at least 6 films back-to-back, laced with signings, interviews, and all sorts of things horror, all starting at a very early 10:30am. It seems like sleep was going to be something I would need to stock up on.

A NEW BABY in the FAMILY!

This entry is going to be much shorter and far less detailed than usual. The reason for this is because I'm trying to get this post out ASAP, intact with all the anticipated information. But hey, its filled content wise!

Today, at 9:20 in the morning, my auntie gave birth to baby girl! Weighing in a ridiculously light 7 lbs, she truly was a sight to behold. Although, she was subtly napping when we arrived, she did arise from her slumber and treat us with some live action movement near the end.

Here are some quick shots I took before the nurses jumped me:




I was also able to record some valuable footage along the way. Below the break are the downloadable links:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Wickedly Cool, right?

More details to come on this expansive day...

INCEPTION + IMAX = GOOD DAY

Went and saw INCEPTION at the IMAX with my Mom today. The experience was nothing short of spectacular. I mean the film was already brilliant in 35mm, but watching it in 70mm was just plain INSANE.

The gigantic IMAX itself where we saw the film, is housed inside a huge complex called the Millennium Point. It's filled with all sorts of science museums, space exhibitions, and robotic showcases. Basically, a blueprint of how technology is going to take over the world.

Here's a couple of shots of how the exterior looks:



Inside, they were also advertising the upcoming September re-release of AVATAR to the IMAX:



As if it didn't make enough money the first time around...But wait, there's a WHOLE 8 more minutes added back into the film?

Sign me up!

FIRST DAY IN THE CITY CENTER

I was finally able to get my bus pass today and explore more than just the local area.

Made my first excursion to the popular city center of Birmingham. Like always, it was packed and full madness.

Went down to the always reliable Forbidden Planet and picked up a couple of very irresistible Simon Bisely comics.



Afterwards, we strolled through the center where I got myself reacquainted with the expansive area.

Here are a few snapshots I grabbed as we went through:





The famous British police were also in attendance (with their batons), regulating as much as they could on the busy streets:



We also caught the home stadium of local football club, FC Birmingham, on the way back:



As we got off the bus, we began our walk back home. As we turned the corner, I noticed a very familiar bag in the distance being carried towards us. To say the bag was eye-catching would a huge understatement. Just see for yourself:



The carrier turned out to be my Mom, marching forward. She was on the way to pick up her own bus pass and take in the local sights for herself.



All in all, it was a fun day but nothing to exhausting. Hopefully, I'm going to try and kick it up a notch from here on out and fully take use of the time spent in the second biggest city in England.