Media Diary

Media Diary

Before doing this exercise I had considered myself, in the sense of my consumption of media, to be varied and fairly open minded. I had not thought I confined myself to a particular genre or program. However my diary appears to be more of a schedule than a collection of things I have watched. I began to notice, whilst recording my media consumptions, that my parts of my day did revolve around certain media. For example, on Monday and Friday I woke up especially to watch Everybody Loves Raymond and I watched American Dad almost every night, usually putting off sleep to do this. Whilst I identify myself as a fan on these particular shows I would not have thought I was an avid follower, though my diary suggests otherwise. I had in fact thought that the only program I followed was actually watching or listening on Five Live to Manchester City football matches and then following up on the game by reading articles posted about the matches. Despite this I do not feel like my media consumption dictates my life. On almost every day I am able to turn off all media devices and focus on practicing guitar or practicing in a band. I did however notice that it made its way into some aspects of my day that I had never considered to be times that I would consume media. Whilst walking my dog, and on one occasion whilst trimming the grass, I listened to my iPod.

I do feel like I consume a reasonably large quantity of media though the content is not varied. As a result of this, I will now make more of an effort to consume a wider variety of media texts.

(Diary Below)

Roger the Alien.

Monday

08:00am-09:00am: Everybody Loves Raymond (2 episodes)

Train to Manchester 09:30am-10:30am: iPod/Angry Birds Star Wars

Cinemas 12:50pm-15:00pm: Grand Budapest Hotel

Train home 16:40pm-18:00pm: iPod

18:30pm-19:00pm: How I met your mother

Guitar Practice 19:05pm-20:05pm (No media)

21:00pm-22:00pm: Top Gear on iPlayer/Check emails

Tuesday

10:am-12pm: Ferris Bueller’s Day off/text messaging

Train to Manchester12:15pm-13:00pm: iPod/Metro Paper

Cinemas 13:45pm-15:30pm: 300: Rise of an Empire

Lunch: Texting

Train home 16:45-18:00: iPod/Manchester City fan app

Guitar Practice (18:30-20:45pm)

21:00pm-22:45pm: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (With Mum)

22:45pm-23:25pm: American Dad (2 Episodes)

Wednesday

11:00am-11:30am: Text messaging/Browsing tickld

12:00pm-12:30pm: Downloading from iTunes

12:45pm-14:00pm: Streaming latest How I met your mother episodes

Lunch: Browsing internet/responding to emails

15:00pm-18:00pm: Played Fable: The Lost Chapters

Drove to airport

19:45pm-22:00pm: Manchester City vs. Barcelona

22:00pm-22:15pm: Read online match report, BBC/the Guardian

22:45pm-23:25pm: Watched American Dad (2 episodes)

23:30pm-00:30am: Listened to Take-off and Landing of Everything-Elbow (New Album)

Thursday

11:00am-11:15am: Responded to emails/Watched This Morning

Walked Dog, listened to iPod

12:30pm-14:00pm: Composed on Garageband

Star Wars: Episode 6
Return of the Jedi

14:05pm-14:25pm: Ate lunch/played Angry Birds

Guitar practice: 14:30pm-17:00pm (No media)

Walked Dog 17:15pm-18:30pm (No media)

19:00pm-20:00pm: Ate/made dinner (Watched Simpsons on repeat, followed by Big Bang Theory)

20:00pm-22:00pm: Watched new E4 Comedy

22:00pm-22:30pm: Watched BBC 3 new comedy

22:45-23:25pm: Responded to audition invitation/Watched American Dad (2 Episodes)

Friday

08:00am-08:20am: Watched Everybody loves Raymond

Train to Manchester 08:30am-09:30am: iPod/Angry Birds Star Wars

13:00pm-14:00pm: Ate lunch/checked messages/Angry Birds Star Wars

Train home 15:45pm-17:00pm: iPod/Metro newspaper

17:30pm-18:00pm: Confirm audition on gmail

Band Practice 18:15pm-22:00pm (No media)

22:15pm-23:30pm-Local pub/watched Sky Sports News

Saturday

Guitar practice: 09:30pm-11:00pm (No media)

Walked Dog 11:15pm-12:00pm (No media)

12:05pm-15:00pm: Watched Manchester City vs. Hull (With Dad)

15:30pm-17:00pm: Composed on Garageband (Soccer Saturday on in background)

17:00pm-19:00pm: Cooked/ate dinner with family whilst watching Chelsea vs. Aston Villa

19:15pm-20:00pm: Watched Federer vs Dolgopolov at Indian Wells (With Mum)

20:00pm-21:45pm: Watched Return of the Jedi (Whilst writing film reviews)

21:45pm-22:40pm: Played Fable: The Lost Chapters

22:40pm-00:20: Watched Match of the day whilst texting

Sunday

08:00am-09:00am: Walked dog, listened to iPod

09:00am-10:00am: Mowed lawn, listened to iPod

10:00am-10:30am: Watched How I met your mother

Drove to work/worked 10:30am-16:00pm

16:30pm-18:15pm: Watched North London Derby (With Dad)

18:30pm-22:20pm Drove/Ate with girlfriend and her family (No media)

22:25pm-23:25pm: Watched Match of the Day 2

300: Rise of an Empire-Film Review

300: Rise of an Empire

Whilst many of Frank Miller’s comic book adaptions translate well into cinematic releases, the academy award winning Dark Knight and the neo-noir thriller Sin City to name a couple, 300: Rise of an Empire is an example of when something is best left alone. Whilst the original graphic novel 300 was published the follow up Xeres, which serves as the prequel to 300 is based upon, never was published. After watching 300: Rise of an Empire I am not so sure that this was a bad thing.

Xeres arise from what one can only assume is a vat of hair removal cream.

Before mentioning anything about the content of the film there is one confusion that needs to addressed. Is the film a sequel, a prequel or does it run in parallel with the events of Rise of an Empire? The answer is all three and the execution is poor. The narrative is certainly not confusing, it is overwhelmingly basic in fact; a Greek war hero repels the Persian forces repeatedly after seeking aid from the Spartans who, after the death of King Leonidas, comply. It is the fact the film seemingly needs to write and demonstrate the origin of almost every character that makes the film a chore to watch. We, the audience, are treated to fifteen minutes of Xeres whining about his father and removing every hair from his body before murdering all of his most trusted advisors… why I am not sure. If it is not Xeres’ narrative, which appears and disappears as quickly as the film becomes boring, then it is the turn of the Greeks to discuss Eva Green’s woefully dull Artemisia. Artemisia, a Greek whose entire family was raped and killed by the Greeks, before she herself was presumably raped and the left for dead, is determined to wipe the Greeks out. An understandable motive, no question. However, the protagonist Themistocles is Greek and we spend the narrative encouraged to support the Greeks. Wait, are we supporting rapists and murders? And the Persians rescued her, healed her and raised her? Are they really that bad? Wait why do we want to Greeks to win? Even as I read and re-read the plot summary I cannot find any justification for the Greek’s actions. Like another film I watched this week, The Grand Budapest Hotel, the films had no qualms in altering history. It seems more like this was done, in the case of 300, to look cool. I.E. wouldn’t it be cool Themistocles killed King Darius I? I know they never actually met but Artemisia could pull the arrow that kills him out of his chest in front of Xeres and it could be metaphorical for her manipulation and shit? At least that’s what I imagine the meetings in pre-production of the film were like.

Not really sure what this look is trying to convey...

Anyway, the exchanges between psychotic necrophilia-enthusiast Artemisia and the wonderfully wooden Themistocles is laughable. “You fight like you fuck” says Artemisia as she attacks Themistocles and references the awkward sexual encounter between the pair. He does indeed “fight like he fucks”; with strange levels of aggression in front of Persians. But that brings me on to another point. The film played out like a video game. Themistocles the hero hacks through wave upon wave of faceless Persians before facing the slightly tougher “Boss”. It even felt like it came with a tutorial; charging down the enemy in slow motion and firing the arrow that slays the initial antagonist. It did feel like a quick time event in a game. To be honest, the slow motion was used so often that it lost all effect. Was it effective for conveying drama? No. Was it effective in achieving an emotional effect? No. Did it look cool? For about five minutes yes. After that it became thoroughly tiresome.

Much like its predecessor, the film offers up a myriad of screaming men brandishing spears and screaming in slow motion as they cut their way through the ineffective Persian army. It also treads dangerously close to, like the first instalment, being racist. Persia, or Iran, utilise suicide bombers… Hmmm. However, the film simply put looks fantastic. It really does. A highly stylised mise en scene that looks as if it has been perfectly lifted from the pages of a graphic novel, with low contrast in light and some excellent costumes (when characters can be bothered to wear them) certainly prevent this film from slipping into disaster territory. Despite this fact, 300: Rise of an Empire should be avoided by all but the most hard-core of fans or those with morbid curiosity.

Grand Budapest Hotel-Film Review

Grand Budapest Hotel

Gustave "Attends" to Madame D.

Wes Anderson’s latest cinematic release, The Grand Budapest Hotel can be described as stylish, charming, humorous, touching and in general entertaining. Imagine the beautiful pastel produced colours of the mise en scene in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou but remove the somewhat irritating and seemingly intentionally weird quirks that damaged the film. Grand Budapest simply looks beautiful and unlike Anderson’s 2004 instalment Life Aquatic, has a well-executed narrative that both made me laugh and was emotionally compelling. Fronted by an excellent performance by Ralph Fiennes and a wonderful ensemble cast,  with such precise choreographed comedic timing Grand Budapest really is a must see.

The set has clearly been constructed in painstaking detail and brings to mind a beautifully crafted doll’s house with its retrofitted design. With the matte painted backdrops and symmetrical shots the film is overwhelmingly pleasant to look at. You can’t help but imagine Anderson lifting the scenes of the film from a series of detailed sketches. You merely have to observe the production credits of Grand Budapest to realise that Anderson has been relentless in his construction of the film; Director: Wes Anderson, Screen Play: Wes Anderson, Story: Wes Anderson and Producer: Wes Anderson. Anderson’s devotion to the piece shows.

Like almost all Anderson productions the narrative is “distinctive” to say the least. The story begins with a girl visiting the grave of an Author. She reads his memoirs and we then cut to the Author describing his trip the eponymous Hotel. And so we, the spectator, are transported to the fictional Republic of Zubrowka. As the author meets the hotel’s mysterious elderly owner Zero Moustafa we are then Zero’s account of how he came to own the establishment and of his mentor the legendary Gustave H, the Grand Budapest's devoted concierge. When he is not addressing the needs of the hotel's wealthy clientele or managing its staff, Gustave attends to a series of aging, blonde women who enjoy his "exceptional service". All, however, is not well; Zubrowka is on the verge of war. Though the story and characterisation as well as the marvellous visual style was, in my opinion, excellent one of the film’s real strengths was Anderson’s clever use of costume and mise en scene.

Gustave and Zero stand outside the legendary Hotel.

Whilst some directors such as Tarantino, though a marvellous director, sometimes have such a disregard for history that it can be damaging to the film’s point, Wes Anderson thankfully avoids this trap.  Anderson’s use of a fictitious account of history serves not to confuse the narrative but instead allows the director to use iconographies that can tell the audience all that they need to know whilst never explicitly stating anything.  Watch out for the subtle change in costume between the Pickelhaube (Imperialist German helmet) style of helmet, worn by Edward Norton, to the attire that is clearly reminiscent of the uniform worn by the SS during the train carriage scenes. It’ll reminds the you that the film is set against the backdrop of a war torn Europe but is really about the end of an era of decadence and the birth of a world that is, quite literally, muted in colour. The film however does not seem to make a political statement; these backdrops are far more tonal than anything else. The execution of these elements is near flawless.

Overall, this is a film of many strengths and though it inevitably has its weak points, I find I am unable to take of my rose tinted glasses and will certainly be returning to this particular film.