****

We took a trip to a little Cinema in Nottingham to see, ‘Mongol’.

[Spoilers] Click Read More to see the Review…

This movie was worlds away from Indiana Jones new (and hopefully final) installment. The whole concept was thought through, each shot was carefully planned so as to give the most cinematic enjoyment possible.

Generally the Ghengis Khan Empire interests me and I have waited for a foreign film adaption of it for a long time. Yes I said foreign, because movie made by the Chinese are generally better, as they concentrate less on what the Western World want and give their art in a manner that is stunningly beautiful to behold, yet at the same time, it can be violent. But this was not a Chinese Movie, it was a international project from most of the eastern world, mainly Russian though, with performances given by Mongolian, Chinese, Japanese and other Eastern Country Actors.

I was a little apprehensive going into the movie as I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I knew I had to watch this at all costs.

From the very first shot in the movie to credits it had a “WOW!” factor that I hadn’t seen in any other movie since the likes of  ‘HERO’ and ‘CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER’ (a review of these movies can be expected). The Mongolian countryside was beautiful and with each shot of a character, there seemed alway to be a large amount of landscape in the background, and in most cases with as great contrasting colour. This film had to have every type of weather and landscape you could put into a non-nature film. It had snow storms, thunderstorms, rain storms, dry deserts, snowy hills, mountains, bleak plains, grassy slopes, etc. These were each brought in were they helped the dramatic effects, for instance bleak plains for huge battles, grassy slopes for peaceful relaxing, lightning to show the fear it inflicted on the mongols, snowy hills when a young Temudgin is escaping, and so forth.

It wasn’t so much of an action film as a film about Temudgin and Borte’s love. However it had battle shots worthy of films such as Gladiator and Lord of the Rings yet not as bloodthirsty.

It seemed to have everything from Comedy to Romance, Drama to Action, and more. It seemed to have achieved what Hollywood strives to but rarely do. And that is provide a truly amazing movie that make the audience just watch in awe as the story unfolds.

The acting was amazing, the stunts awesome, the script perfect, and the directing was top notch. The only reason this isn’t a 5 star movie is that the action scenes did not last long enough. They would cut the battles off just as they started and then shows the finishing moments, which was, to be honest, a little disappointing as that is not was the trailer suggested.

All in all though an amazing watch and I throughly recommend this to anyone.

Aston Martin DBS – Wow, what a car. I know it’s not modded but who needs to mod a Aston?

Today was a weekend and this meant that is was a lot busier. No engine warming was required as it had been flown beforehand, a quick check of the essentials and we were off. As stated above we needed to get a good take off run, which we did and after a normal take off leg we had to execute a tight circuit to give way to the Cessna that had taken off on Runway 28 (which is, straight down the nose Runway 05, which we were landing on). After a good landing my instructor got out and allowed me to go solo. This time I was more prepared and up to the task.

I performed 5 takeoff and 5 landings, a couple were a bit low and a couple a bit slow, however I recovered from them and did some good landings. After the experiance I felt like I had finally got the whole circuit palava.

This lesson was flown in G – ODAC.

Terry Fletcher Photo Gallery Here.

]]> http://samuel.scotton.info/?feed=rss2&p=11 0 http://samuel.scotton.info/?p=9 http://samuel.scotton.info/?p=9#comments Fri, 30 May 2008 17:00:37 +0000 Sam http://samuel.scotton.info/?p=9 Today I had my first lesson in nearly two months, and needless to say I was expected the usual rigmarol of getting the landings back up to scratch. Even worse, I hadn’t had a Coffee yet!! This was going to be a long flight.

I was to fly circuits in G – DACF (Golf – Delta Alpha Charlie Foxtrot) or Charlie Fox for short. It hadn’t been run yet and required some warming up, there was a slight headwind coming from the left meaning aerilons into wind and hard right rudder on take-off.

First take-off was slightly wonky due to lack of pressure on the right peddle however as the circuit progressed it started to come back to me and I felt more at ease. The first landing was perfect, and the next and the next! Needless to say, I was pleased. I was even more pleased when my instructor decided that I was okay to go solo and hopped out. WOW! First lesson in almost 2 months and I’m going solo?!

The solo circuits went flying by [no pun intended] and I felt on top of the world when I parked Charlie Fox by the bowser.

As soon as my instructor mentioned that I should try to keep the lessons coming regulary , and I  knew my next one was in about a months time, I was determined to get any slot going. Thankfully Mum managed to book one for tomorrow.

Picture from Terry Fletcher, see here for more from his shoot of EGBD and other Airports.

2 / 10

Spoilers after the jump

I went to the cinema to see this last night and was suitably unimpressed by the whole plot, traps, twists etc. The first 10 minutes were agreeable with classic comments such as “I Like Ike”. However as soon as they enter the formidable ‘Area 51′ (which is were ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ left off) the whole film embarks on a dark and fast slope into the film graveyard, where flops and infamous films are kept.

Below are just a few of the absolutey gigantic mistakes, flaws and unbelievable points in the movie:

• The physics involved in the whole magnetic force and the like are the most impossible I have encountered in ANY film. It is never explained how the skull can attract gold, gunpowder and other metallic items (even if they aren’t magnetic), but can not crush a factory made out of steel!
• Steven Speilburg & George Lucas, okay…gonna have aliens in, but so involved in the plot? Not a good idea. It makes the whole plot cheesy beyond belief.
• The Aliens are all powerful, creating such a vast empire….wait a minute, make that almost all powerful, because some REALLY clever mortal human nicked their skull, and they can’t get it back?! At this point I was LMAO!!
• The Fight in the Jungle on the trucks? Funny, Entertaining – Hell Yeah, Believable? Absolutely not! At the point where Shia LaBeouf is standing on both cars, it is true that it makes good watching but for a ruthless critic like myself I can’t help wondering why Cate Blanchett didn’t move her car outwards?! Goodbye Shia!
• The portal at the end – Right at this point I was absolutely confounded at the plot. Did the writers strike continue for this film and Steven and George decide to write it themselves? Cause thats what it looks like…There’s blocks of stone whizzing round 5 inches from Indy and he’s safe? No lets go through what a whirlwind is, a twister so to speak shall we? [/sarcasm]
• To top it off oldies kissing at the end! Poor Shia, he’s tried to stop THAT happening from the moment Indy and Mary see each other!

Just to say why its a 2/10 instead of a 1/10:

• Some of it is entertaining, even if its not meant to be.
• Good Acting All Round
• Good directing and special effects from Spielburg

Only go to watch this if you want to watch another E.T cause thats the basic plot, you know Aliens wanting to go home and all that, but they can’t cause they’ve lost one of their 13 heads!! LMAO!!

Looking through some Car Modification Websites and found this:

A Subaru Impreza WRX STi with a Full WRC Racing STi body kit, Orciari max hood and tinted windows

Goto modifiedcars.com for more

Watch this space, as soon there will be pictures from paintball, Boating, Kayaking and other Activities. Also to come:

• Blog of Interesting Websites Found
• Blog of my Flying Training
• Blog of My Driving Lessons
• Cool Cars Mods I’ve Found
• The Best Modded Car I’ve found every week
• Movie Reviews…

So Keep watching and enjoy!