Arthur is celebrating as genuine Opal Fruits are once more gracing the shelves his local shops. OK actually that isn`t 100% true; Genuine Opal Fruits are indded back but, like the return of the Texan bar before them, it is only for a limited time (12 weeks or so point after that when the supplies run out). Plus, as if that wasn`t restrictive enough, they are only available in Asda (which actually isn`t too much of a problem for Arthur as he works only a 5 minute walk from a large branch).
Opening his first packet today they certainly seemed just like the Opal Fruits he remebered from 10 years or so ago when they were replaced by the evil Starburst.Of course, like all politically correct modern confectionary, they now contain "no artifical colours or flavours". In reality this made little difference to the taste witht eh orange one (which was Arthur`s favourite) now tasting a bit more like pink grapefruit which is actually not too bad as pink grapefruit sweets are quite nice.
The colours are also a bit more muted with the lime one now looking more like pond sludge than radioactive waste and the orange one looking like a a lemon flaviured one that has been left out in the sun for too long. Still they are certainyl very tasy and a welcome addition to the sweetie cupboard, even if it is only for the next 12 weeks.
Now Arthur is just pinning his hopes on the return of the Marathon after news that Mars (the current owners of Snickers) have recently re-registered the Marathon brand as a trademark...
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This weekend Arthur went into London (for about the 4th time in the last 3 weeks!) this time to visit Expo which he had totally forgotten about.
Expo, or MCM Expo to give it its full name is all about movies, comics and alike (MCM stands for Movies, Comics and Media) although given the sheer amount of Manga related material there, you`d be forgivven for thinking at was all about Japan! There were many, many Cosplayers all dressed up in (mostly) low to average quality outfits to resemble their favourite Manga character. Arthur`s favourite was a bright pink Gloomy Bear plus 3 people dressed up as charcaters from Princess Monokoke: Ashitakae, Mononoke herslef and one poor chap who drew the short straw of being Mononoke`s riding wolf! It was a full body, white fur costume and must have been exceedingly hot. Also of note were a sizable nunber of Stormtroopers and a really cool original cylon warrior, complete with scanning red eye that even made the right sound.
As for the show itslef it mostly consisted of trade stalls selling stuff (action figures, toys, loads of Manga stuff, tradinf cards, film stills, comics, books etc.) plus companies promoting their own stuff whether that be new computer games, new films, new comics etc. There was also an arena for talks by various guests. Arthur didn`t go to any of these but he certainly heard all the cheering during the presentation by what seemed like half the cast of new Battlesatr Galactica who had flown over for the event.
The only downside on the day out was that Arthur didn`t scan his Oyster card when he got off the Docklands light railway as there were no barriers like on the tube and no obvious places to scan your card. Thus he was charged far more for his journey than he should have paid. He has now learnt his lesson and will not be distracted by people dressed in flowing white gowns carrying unfeasibly oversized wooden swords...
Arthur went to see the new Indiana Jones film tonight and his one word verdict is "meh".
It wasn`t a bad film. It`s just that it wasn`t anything amazing either. It all felt a bit forced and somewhat unnecessary. Arthur thought that just as it seemed to get going it dropped back down a gear. It was actually quite old school in its approach and Arthur didn`t think it looked too CGI enhanced at all. The ending was the exception to this as it was obvious CGI but at least it looked good. There were only a few duff shots that looked rather fake. In fact the worst shots were porbably Harrison Ford`s stunt double in the motorcycle chase; the film cost millions of dollars yet still they couldn`t find even a vaguely convincing wig for the guy to wear...
It was somewhat humourless as the jokes didn`t seem to work that well; with he exception of the cunt that Arthur sat next to who seemed to find everything Indy did absolutely hilarious (why does Arthur always attract these people? Is he cursed?) thre wasn`t that much laughter in the cinema and it was pretty much full.
On the positive side Arthur actually quite liked the main [SPOLIER ALERT]... Alien ... [END SPOLIER] plotline and even though the action scenes seemed a bit restarined this may actually have been a good thing as it was something different from modren, fast cut action films and more inkeeping with the originals. Shia LaBeouf as Indy`s son Mutt (Arthur would "spolier" this but it is one of the worst kept secrets in film plotline history) was actually really good and the chemistry between him and Indy was one of the best parts of the film. Marion on the other hand was all rather pointless - she seemed to only be back as part of a fan`s "must-see" ticklist.
Arthur thinks it willd efinitely require several repeat viewings to see how it stacks up with the ohter films in the series. it definitely isn`t a patch on Raiders and Arthur doubts it stands up to Temple of Doom either (ToD used to Arthur`s least favourite but having rewathced them all again recently has grown to prefer it to Last Crusade). It`s just Last Crusade and Crystal Skull fighting out for last palce and Arthur`s current feeling is Crystal Skull will get the wooden spoon. A perfect example of the rule of diminishing quality.
And why is that you ask? Depression? Been arrested for murder? Nope, World of Warcraft is why. He has got back into playing some 3 years after his first character. And, as before, it is consuming every waking hour that isn`t work or having a poo.
Thus Arthur must cut this post short he has some levelling to do! (Actually that`s a lie - he is about to shoot off to the cinema to see Doomsday before getting back and putting in a couple of hours grinding mobs in Ashenvale)
Arthur spent the weekend at the Sci-Fi London film festival. For the first time in several years he didn`t go to one of the all-nioghter sessions as there was nothing that particularly inspired him, mainly because the anime one was all films he already had on DVD and had thus seen. Saying that, when leaving on Saturday night he felt rather sad seeing everyone waiting to go in, especically as there were plenty of faces he recognised (even if Arthur didn`t actually know who they were!)
Instead Arthur went to see 6 films during the day this yeas and even went into London on the Friday as well. The long weekend actually started off with a non-festival film, Iron Man, which was a great start to the summer film season. All in all, a really good film with Robert Downey Jr. being a particular highlight.
The films Arthur saw at the festival itself were Dragon Hunters, Wolfhound, 11 Minutes Ago, Netherbeast Inc, Chrysalis and Wasting Away.
Dragin Huntgers was proably the best but, like several of the otehr films, was spolit by poor video projection rather than using a decent 35mm print. It`s OK for lower budget films but for high budget spectacles where the visuals are so nice, it just isn`t good enough. Arthur suspects he will give video projected films a wide berth next year (taht is assuming the get their listings right - Chrysalis was advertised as 35mm but was shown on video.. Grrrr...)