| Long time - no update |
[Dec. 28th, 2008|02:53 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Sofa | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  satisfied | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dr. Who Confidential on the telly | ] |
When I last posted, my wedding was 6 weeks away. Today I've been married for 6 months exactly. Being married feels pretty much the same as being unmarried, since Mark and I lived together for so long before we actually tied the knot. I have a pretty new gold ring now, though, and many many more household items.
The wedding was great - thanks to everyone who was there, and to those who couldn't make it - let us know if you're going to be in the Oslo area - we have a very comfy sofabed we can put you up on.
In the 6 months since I got married, I've started working at a secondary school on the Eastside of Oslo, we have more than 65% minority background pupils, which presents more than its fair share of challenges, but many of them very rewarding, too.
I've also become an aunt - my brother and his girlfriend had a baby boy on the 7th of December. He's named Erik, he's absolutely adorable, and terribly demanding. He doesn't sleep much during the night, he feeds very little at at time, and therefore wants to eat all the damn time, and he screams loudly and intensely when he doesn't get what he wants.
Christmas with my family was nice. A lot of cuddling the baby and taking care of it so its poor frazzled parents could nap occasionally, lots of good food (on Boxing Day I made turkey with all the trimmings for 7 people all by myself - I love my Mum's kitchen), my younger brother asleep for most of the day and kind of cranky when he actually WAS awake, since he worked night-shifts, as always.
Good haul this year (as is usually the case):
- A lovely black leather handbag
- Stainless steel cutlery
- The prequel to Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (not translated into English yet)
- A souffle bowl (can also be used for trifles)
- Red Egyptian cotton bedlinen (will need to be swapped from two single bed linen sets to one with a double duvet cover)
- 30 Rock season one
- The Godfather Trilogy (needs to be swapped - already owned it)
- The Elephant Man and a Danish film called Brothers
- Venetia and Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
- Caramelised onion dip, mint sauce and black pasta
- A selection of second hand pulp books from the 60s
- Homemade Christmas decorations and apple jelly
Tomorrow I'm going to the cinema to see to see Nicole Kidman's frozen visage and Hugh Jackman's hopefully frequently bared chest in Australia. I like me a big and overblown epic.
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| 6 weeks to go |
[May. 18th, 2008|01:39 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Living room | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Doctor Who Confidential on the telly | ] |
At this time in 6 weeks' time, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) blue_eyed_son and I will be man and wife. How terrifying is that? I really can't quite get my head around it, but time passes very quickly now, and I'm sure it'll sink in sooner or later.
Luckily, preparations are pretty much on track, with minor exceptions.
- Wedding outfit for me - check. Have beautiful dress, bought cheaply on sale in Newcastle in October, which is currently at the seamstress', being taken up one inch, so it'll fit me perfectly on the day. Have pretty underthings, jewelry (including a pearl tiara - truly I will be as a princess) and a veil.
- Mark's wedding outfit - check. He went to Sweden with my Dad and got it. It looks very smart indeed, with the possible exception of the cufflinks - they're fake rhinestone-encrusted little skulls. Dad bought matching ones.
- Church booked and paid for - check
- Hotel for reception booked - check
- Flowers for actual wedding ceremony - check. Have ordered my bridal bouquet, a smaller one for Lydia, and corsages for Mark, Paul and Dad.
- Rings - check. They are already half paid for and ready for pickup at the jewellers'. Mark will hopefully pick them up on Monday.
- Makeup for wedding day - check
- Hairdresser's appointment for wedding day - check. Also have one booked a few days before, so they can experiment and see what will look the best on me, and make sure that the hairdo will stay perfect for the many hours of the actual wedding day.
- Photographer - check. Booked and partially paid for. Still need to have a meeting with them to decide on the details, but that comes later.
- Invites and responses to said invites - check. Nearly everyone has responded to the invites, and many more than we expected can make it.
- Wedding wish lists - check. Have registred at a few places. Mark of course has shown NO interest so far, and therefore does not get to complain if I put things on said lists that he doesn't agree with. Now I just need to get the links to the websites sent out to the guests.
Things left to do:
- DJ and sound system for wedding needs to be booked - Mark's in charge of that, so if we have no music for the party, he's to blame.
- Cake - there's a very talented and award-winning patisserie chef working at the school where I'm currently teaching who might be able to bake it. Otherwise my cousin just got a summer job at a bakery here, so we should be able to order one through her.
- Menu for wedding dinner - the hotel has six options for the starter, main course and dessert, and we have yet to decide on which ones we actually want. Need to find a time Mum, Dad, Mark and I can go to the hotel and taste all these delicious things and pick the menu.
- Readings and music for the Church - still haven't quite narrowed down what text readings and what songs or hymns we want for the actual wedding ceremony. I also need to see if I can threaten, emotionally blackmail or bribe someone talented in our acquaintance into singing in the Church. Plus convince friends or family to read the chosen texts.
- Paperwork - Lydia and Paul have both efficiently and awesomely filled out the relevant paperwork they have to as our witnesses to the happy event. Mark and I can't sign the papers and send them to the relevant authorities to get a wedding license until Mark obtains proof from the relevant authorities in the UK that he's not been married before (at least that he's not currently married to someone else). Hopefully he can get this proof quickly, or we won't actually get the license in time for the actual wedding. That would be a bit unfortunate.
- Seating plan for the dinner - we will be either 73 or 74 people at the wedding reception (it depends on whether my cousin can make it or not, he doesn't know if he can get the time off yet). Mum and I need to decide who sits next to whom, and make sure there is someone who speaks both Norwegian and English at each table, and can be relied on for interpretation duties.
- Menus, church programs and place cards for the dinner need to be ordered and printed.
- Transport for guests - need to find out who among the guests need transport from the hotel to the church, from the church to the hotel for the reception, and who needs transport back to Oslo from the hotel after the party. Then need to find out how many guests have cars with free spaces and can be relied on to chauffeur the aforementioned guests without transport, and whether we need to hire a minibus taxi or something for the transportation of those who no one else can drive around.
- Meeting with the priest to discuss the church service
- Flowers to decorate the church and the hotel for the reception - need to decide on a colour scheme for these and get them ordered asap.
- Waltz lessons - need to find an evening when Mark and I can go and be taught how to waltz so we don't look like complete tits when we dance in front of everyone at the wedding.
So we've got some stuff left to do, but things are pretty much proceeding according to plan. In other news, I have a new job for next year. As the job I have at the moment, at the special needs school, is just a temporary contract to replace a teacher on a leave of absence, who will be returning next term, I had to find a new job. Luckily, I have now secured another temporary contract, but it's for a whole year, so at least I won't have to worry for another year, and if everything goes well, and I like the school and they like me, I will hopefully have the contract extended. I will be working at a secondary school in Oslo, teaching 8th graders (12-13 year-olds) English and Norwegian. Because of my experience with special needs, I will also probably help out in the teaching of the special needs kids of that year. |
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| End of year review |
[Dec. 31st, 2007|04:35 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  starving | ] |
My end of year review behind the cut:
Happy 2008 to my entire friend's list. |
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| Way better Christmas than last year |
[Dec. 26th, 2007|07:19 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Airwolf theme | ] |
Back from 2 days celebrating Christmas with the family, followed by an afternoon seeing friends and stuffing ourselves with more snacks, chocolate and Christmas cakes - it's been really good this year. Hardly any nasty family arguments at all, Dad didn't make me cry at all, even a little bit - he was instead charming and personable and everyone had a good time. The only one who caused any friction was Anders, who was a bit of a brat, frankly, showing up an hour late for Christmas lunch (having been told repeatedly when we were going to eat, then getting in a right strop that the other 6 members of the family hadn't waited for him to arrive, even after we'd tried to call him 4 times without getting a reply before we started). Then, in the evening, when the other 6 of us decided to watch the traditional Swedish cartoon we watch every year an hour and a half earlier than normal on Norwegian telly, so we could maybe get to the present opening earlier for a change, he stayed in his room and sulked, and insisted on watching it alone later, while we waited to get to the presents. He also had to be persuaded to change into a suit jacket and tie for Christmas dinner on Christmas Day, the only meal of the year where our family actually get dressed up. It's hard to believe he's actually almost 26, because he was behaving like a spoiled 8-year-old.
Huge amount of presents this year, as we were all 7 celebrating together this year, and we all generally gave each other at least 2 presents each, and then people had presents from friends and so forth as well. Very good haul this year:
Ipod Touch - shiny beautiful technology from the future
Deadwood season 2, Rome season 2 and The Sopranos season 3
A nice red top, a silk hair band, and a calf-length black wool cardigan
A grey and black weekend bag, perfect for going on short trips or to keep hand luggage in on longer trips.
A very nice computer rucksack, complete with waterproof compartments
A gift voucher I plan to buy at least 4 dvds with in the post-Christmas sales - yay
Two copies of Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer, which means one gets exchanged for a shiny other book - yay!
Beautiful, hand-crafted silver earrings
Tiny, hand-embroidered Christmas stockings that can be put on an advent calendar or a Christmas tree.
Candles, soap and money donated in my name for mosquito nets in the 3rd World.
A graphic novel about the four giants of classic Norwegian literature fighting zombies.
A Vision of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich
Harrowing the Dragon and Cygnet by Patricia McKillip (the last 3 are being sent from the US, and haven't arrived yet)
I now have to go and tear Mark away from terrorizing the cats with his new radio-controlled mini-helicopter to the theme of Airwolf, as we have to get to the cinema to watch Clive Owen and Monica Bellucci be very sexy in Shoot 'Em Up. |
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| Books, and lots of them |
[Dec. 23rd, 2007|02:42 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  working | ] |
| [ | music |
| | None | ] |
At the beginning of the year, I set myself the goal to read at least 50 NEW (as in I'd never read them before) books in 2007, and I have now achieved said goal. With books I've reread, and graphic novels (I don't count them as proper books, because I read them way faster) I've read closer to 80. Go me!
I'm going to do the same thing next year, and hope I get even more time to read - depends if I have to get a summer job or not. |
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| Nearly Christmas...time for an update |
[Dec. 22nd, 2007|04:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
The last time I posted, was just before my exam. Now I've survived the ordeal that is my first (and hopefully) only oral exam, (I got a C - which considering I'd read about a 1/3 of the course reading and had slept only about 30 minutes the night before, I was well pleased with) and I've finally also got the results of my exam portfolios (I suspect the results might have been there a while - but the University did not post any sort of date on our schedule or notify us in any way that the results were up, and it takes me a while to get round to checking these things). I got a D on my pedagogy portfolio (suggesting that even though I managed to write 10 pages on motivation, my essay wasn't very good), and a C for each of my English subject didactics portfolios. Again, I wrote 2/3 of all the essays handed in in those portfolios in the 2 weeks before the essays were due, and could have put a LOT more work into them, so I don't think I deserved much more than a C as a total mark.
Besides, it doesn't actually matter what my final results were, as long as I passed, because I've already secured myself a job! I applied for a number of temporary positions at various schools last Friday (the 14th) and on Monday a nice man rang me and asked if I wanted to come for an interview. Wednesday morning I went to the school, and was told by the very nice men who interviewed me that I was the only one they'd even called in for the position, and after answering a few questions from them (it was mainly them telling me about the school and the position and what I can expect) and getting a tour of the school, I was told that they needed to confer for a bit, but I would hear from them. And the same afternoon I was called up and told that I have the job! Which is obviously excellent news. The position is full-time, teaching English and Norwegian to 16-17 year olds, officially starts on the 1st of February, and lasts until the end of the school year in June (two weeks before MY wedding, and a week before Lydia's), but they asked if I would possibly be able to start somewhat earlier.
Whether I will be able to or not, depends a lot on my current employers. On the 19th, when I got the job, I had been employed by Get for 3 months and 9 days exactly. And after 3 months, employees at this company apparently have 3 month's notice. I have therefore sent an e-mail to my supervisor, and the head of personell and asked very kindly if I could please only have one month's notice, because there is no way that I will be able to work a 100% teaching position, with a 55% part-time customer service job taking away most of my evenings and weekends. Especially since I have a wedding to plan as well.
Either way, I'm very excited, and pleased that the school is willing to put it's trust in me, a newly trained teacher. It's a "special" school of sorts, for kids with various learning and behavioural difficulties, who aren't able to complete high school at a normal school, because they need extra attention, instruction and assistance. It will be my job to teach 13 kids English and Norwegian for about 5 months. While I'm sure it will be very challenging, I also hope it will be a lot of fun, and I know that it will be extremely useful experience and I will learn tremendous amounts from it. If it turns out to be absolutely horrible, it will only be 5 months of my life, and if it works out, I have a good chance of getting permanent employment there unless someone more qualified comes along when they announce the position for the next academic year. |
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| Can it please be over soon? |
[Dec. 2nd, 2007|06:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Living room | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | stressed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | 80s hits on the telly | ] |
So I'm more or less exactly 41 hours away from my oral exam (Tuesday 4th of December, 11-12), which will count for a third of my final mark for the teacher training course. All the people I studied with survived theirs last year, including the guy who I don't think owned or opened a single one of the assigned text books for the course. If he could do it, I should be able to, right?
I got my assigned topic yesterday (you get your assigned topic 48 hours before the exam, but Sundays don't count - go country that still has a state religion, extra time for me!) and it's learning types and strategies. Something the assigned course reading barely touches upon. I've found a few pages in one of the books, but that's about it. So I obviously had to rush out to the University library (which is only open for a few hours on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays, even during exams - go University of Oslo), in the desperate hopes of finding ANYTHING relevant on the subject. There was one book, hidden away in the stacks that someone had obviously missed, everything else was already taken out. So I had to resort to purchasing the relevant literature. I'm clearly not the only one who's been given the topic, as the lady in the book store said at least 6 people had been in on the Friday and Saturday with the same wild-eyed and slightly panicked look in their eyes. The ironic thing is: I could be so much worse off. The school where I had my recent practical placement is very progressive and does use a lot of "new-fangled" teaching methods, like a number of learning strategies to help the kids improve their knowledge. So I won't have a problem talking about the theme in relation to my practical experience at all, and the strategies that we didn't use, I can probably lie and say that we did try, or I know other teachers used or something.
I have to write a 10-15 min presentation that I'm to perform for the professors who are assessing me. One of them is the head lecturer in English subject didactics, and also the man who assessed my rather disastrous lesson in school last year, and was part of the committee that failed me. But I have been assured by friends who passed last year, and who had him as an examiner, that he's very keen on passing as many as possible, and reigns in his fellow examiner if they get too hung up on the theoretical side of things. Which is very good, because I've not had much time to read even half of the course literature assigned, and while I think I'll be able to do a fairly decent job in relation to the topic they've given me, which will hopefully take up about half of the time assigned for my oral exam, I'm very worried about the second half, where they will test my knowledge about everything else I'm supposed to have learned. I've never had an oral exam before, and while God knows I can talk for myself, I also tend to get VERY panicky in exam situations, and I'm honestly not sure how I'll react under pressure in that situation. I'm badly prepared as it is, if I get a total brain freeze as well when asked about something, it's not going to look good. So I'll have to do my very best to totally ace the part I can prepare in advance.
I'm just so SICK of pedagogy and English subject didactics, and it's complete irrelevance to the actual reality of teaching. Most of the rubbish I'm currently reading is so far removed from what I experienced when actually teaching, yet I still have to read it. I can Also, having reviewed the various lectures that they gave during the year, so much of it contains nothing specific and useful at all. So much of it is just generalised crap and waffle. So much of what they teach is just common sense. That is what makes me hope that I'll be able to bluff my way through with at least a passing mark.
I don't even get time to relax and celebrate that I'm done. I'm working the evening of my exam day, and the next day, I probably have to get up at 5.30 and go sit in outside in the cold and wretched weather we're currently having, for at least 3 hours, in order to secure Bruce Springsteen tickets for the gig he's announced in July. The gig he's playing on the 4th of December sold out in 6 minutes, and put the electronic booking system of the ticket office out of commission for most of the day. The gig he's playing in July is at a much bigger venue, but news reports say he sold out the same venue in less than an hour in 2002, the last time he played there. Norwegians are completely crazy about Springsteen. The plan was for blue_eyed_son to take the day off work, to go camp outside to secure tickets. But he can't get the day off, as it's the same day as the big Christmas dinner at the hospital, which is a massive high stress day where no one gets time off. I just hope we actually get tickets if I go down and sit in the freezing cold (and most likely rain) for 3 hours, or I'm actually going to have to maim someone. They had a certain amount of tickets reserved for people who showed up on line last time, though, and this is for a venue 5 times as large. So with any luck it should take at least half an hour before all the tickets are sold out. And it takes real dedication to camp outside a venue for tickets in December (not that that stopped the myriad of idiots who did it for the Lord of the Rings films), so I'm hoping not that many have queued up. I'm not staying outside all night. blue_eyed_son has to go down the night before (when I'm still at work) and see how many are there. If he wants to secure a better place on line, he'll have to cycle down there in the middle of the night, and I'll go down and relieve him when the first trams start running. I'm only really doing it since everyone else who wants a ticket is working, and I'm too nice for my own good. And I am getting an Ipod Touch for Christmas, so this will help me work off any guilt I might have felt for not being able to give the boy as good a present back. |
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| Essays, essays, essays |
[Nov. 22nd, 2007|03:09 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Sofa | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Some emo crap on VH1 | ] |
I finished my second eight-week practical placement at school on the 9th of November. I worked 8 hours both Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of November. When I finished my placement, for which my advisor there apparently wrote glowing reports about my fellow English student and I, I had left to write: one essay of 4-5 pages on the use of ITC (computers) in the classroom, one 8-10 page essay on a freely chosen subject concerning pedagogy (ended up writing about motivation, it's nice and general and useful in all taught subjects), one 10-12 page essay on a freely chosen subject concerning English subject didactics (I'm writing about good reading comprehension and how to assess it), as well as two reflection documents (in which I am to discuss and reflect over my progress as a teacher since I started the course, once in English, for the English subject didactics portfolio and once in Norwegian for the pedagogy portfolio), one 2-page (the English one) and one 2-4 page (the Norwegian one). So that's 26-33 pages, all to be written before the 26th of November, at 12 noon - when I have to hand in 3 portfolios, each in 3 copies, at the department office.
In the past 10 days (because unsurprisingly I got nothing done that weekend I worked) I have finished the 5-page English essay, the 10-page pedagogy essay (notice that I actually end up writing to the maximum page count as well), written two drafts of about 2 pages each for the English reflection document, and am so far 8 and a half pages into the longer English subject didactics essay. I think I have another page and a half to go, thereabouts. Then I just have to edit together my drafts of the English reflection document, and throw together something for the Norwegian version, waffle about how much more experienced and confident I am now and I'm not at all bitter that they failed me last year and I had to retake this semester, meaning I've amassed more student debt, missed out on a whole year of actual employment as a teacher and had to put my life on hold for a whole extra year - no, it's all been for the best and I don't want to kick in all the faces of the bastards who made the decision to fail me. Everything is bliss.
Now the essay work was proceeding a lot more smoothly before blue_eyed_son bought himself The Orange Box for the X-box. He has been playing Portal and Half-Life 2 for the last 2 days, and I'm finding it far more interesting to watch him play video games, than writing my essays. If he's just been playing Burnout, I wouldn't be bothered. But both games he's currently occupied with are very engaging, although it's probably good that I'm going out with work tomorrow, as the section he's currently at, with creepy zombies and spider-crab beasties is freaking me out more than just a little bit.
Tomorrow, I get the evening off. My team at work are doing a pre-Christmas social bonding thing, and going out to dinner, followed by a stand-up comedy show. I'm hoping it'll be good, and either way, it won't be sitting in front of the computer writing about ways to assess second language pupils and their reading abilities. Most things are more fun than that.
On the 26th, I'm yet again taking the evening off, blue_eyed_son and I are celebrating our 7-year (!) anniversary by going out to dinner. Hopefully that will be nice and romantic. Then it's nose to the grindstone again, as I have my oral exam on the 4th, and have to revise (or in the case of half of the syllabus - read for the first time) about 2000 pages that I should have been smart enough to read in the year since I was last preparing for this exam - but of course I haven't so much as looked at a pedagogy or didactics text book since last November. Because why in the world would anyone voluntarily read such things?
And by the afternoon of the 4th - I am free! I still have my job, but it's only 55%, and leaves me lots of time to read whatever the heck I want, watch movies, play Overlord on the X-Box, Neverwinter Nights 2 on the PC, watch the many, many tv-shows I've downloaded and hardly watched these past months, go to the cinema, do Christmas shopping and get the flat in a clean and tidy state before the holidays. Which is a massive undertaking, I might add. But it really needs doing, and I will feel extremely worthy once I've actually done all of it. We might even get 'round to sorting through all the tat we don't need, and throwing it out.
Now - I go to bed. Smug that I've nearly completed 10 pages of that damn essay, I think all I will do tomorrow is vegetate in front of the telly, shower and go out. I can finish it off tomorrow evening, or Friday. |
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| Damn Oslo waterworks |
[Oct. 17th, 2007|09:06 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | worried | ] |
So it turns out that the water supply for more than two thirds of Oslo, possibly as many as three quarters, has been contaminated with a parasite called Giardia, which stems from human or animal excrement, and which can cause stomach and intestinal infections, IBS, and if you're among the extra special 10% of the population, cronic fatigue or even ME. In 2004, an epidemic broke out in Bergen, where over 6000 people were infected with the parasite, and about 150 of them are still severely and chronically ill to the point where they can't work and barely function in their normal lives. It takes between 7-25 days for symptoms to manifest, but most get really ill within 7-10 days.
We've been told to boil all the water used for cooking, drinking and even brushing our teeth for at least 3 minutes (although some reports suggest that just boiling it in a kettle will suffice). To add to the fun, if you don't have a dishwasher (which Mark and I are the ONLY ones we know in Oslo who do not own one), they recommend that you do your dishes in boiled water. I estimate that we would have to boil our kettle at LEAST 10 times to fill our sink 2/3 of the way up, so not really convenient for day to day washing up.
You apparently have to drink a lot of infected water before you get ill, and they've only found small traces of the parasite, but the various news reports claim that they first found traces a week ago, but felt that they had to send out the health warning today, when more parasites have been found. Considering it takes at least 7 days before people notice if they're even infected, and everyone has been merrily drinking the (possibly dangerously infected) tap water for the past week, and only this morning found out that everything has to be boiled, to the point where hand washed dishes may spread contagion, I'm a little bit worried.
The water works that supply our side of Oslo with water, does not have the neccessary filtration and screening in place to kill the parasites, and the earliest this can be properly installed will be in January or February of next year. Whether or not we have to boil all our water for the next few months (or buy all our water) will only be determined on Friday, when the test results are analysed. I have a very bad feeling about this. |
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| Spider-man 3 - oh there are some spoilers if you haven't seen it yet |
[May. 14th, 2007|12:55 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Sofa | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | disappointed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mark's listening to a podcast with Alan Moore | ] |
That started out as a really quite entertaining and promising movie, and turned absolutely rubbish little over half-way through.
The good bits:
- Bryce Dallas Howard was lovely, if somewhat washed out because they forced her to have bleached-blonde hair, when her complexion is far too pale for that. As so many others have said, she would have made a MUCH better MJ.
- Nearly every scene with James Franco was awesome, he was a total scene-stealer. And really hot too. The bit with the butler towards the end was a bit lame (Harry's been ranting about his need for revenge on Peter for nearly two movies, and only NOW did you see fit to tell him that oh yeah, Norman Osborn's death was clearly not Peter's fault at all), but apart from that, he was generally one of the best things in the film.
- Aunt May talking to Peter about Uncle Ben's proposal, and marriage in general, and handing Peter the ring and all was lovely. That made me all moved even in the advance preview bits.
- The first action sequence with Harry was good, and kind of tense.
- J.Jonah Jameson was pretty good, although that scene with the small child towards the end was horrible. Jameson should have just ripped the camera from the little brat.
- Peter actually using his brain and knowledge of science to stop Venom in the end. It was clearly not made very obvious, as Mark (who usually spots these things and explans them to me after a film, not the other way around) didn't spot it, but they do actually set up Peter's knowledge of sound waves, accoustics etc. early on in the film with Peter geeking at MJ about the whole thing, and then using similar things towards the end. There was a similar scene in the 45-minute episode of Doctor Who last Saturday, where the writers DID have time to explain it, but clearly there was just too much else to cram into a two and a half hour film to explain exactly how the end of the movie tied into the start.
- Thomas Hayden Church's performance. If he'd been allowed to, he could have turned the Sandman into a nuanced, complex and interesting villain, but instead they wanted a whole bunch of CGI effects.
- Oh yeah, the action scene where Spider-man rescues Gwen Stacy was also quite good.
The bad bits, or should I say the bits that were so bad I feel the need to especially highlight them:
- Venom. It was so obvious that Sam Raimi didn't want to use this character. Eddie Brock got barely any character development, and when he finally does turn into Venom, he's barely on screen for more than 15 minutes total. And he's pretty lame when he is on screen.
- The use of the Sandman. While the setup and initial origin for the character was well-done, they clearly just forget about him because of all the other stuff that goes on in the film. How does he suddenly get the power not just to turn into sand or back to solid form, but to absorb and take control over WAY more sand. First all the sand in the lorry, then enough to become the size of a several-stories-high building, only to become person-sized again after Harry lobs a couple of missiles at him?
- Kirsten Dunst's performance as Mary Jane. I never want to hear her sing ever again. I felt sympathy for her in the proposal scene at the restaurant, where Peter is just so VERY clueless, but for most of the film she's self-centred, whiny, not to mention very haggard-looking, and both Peter and Harry are clearly far better off without her.
- Killing off Harry. If Peter hadn't been standing around gawping at the Sandman for ages, he would have had time to swoop Harry to a hospital, or you know, one of the ambulances that were probably standing around the highly-publicised hostage site. But no, continue being a total dick and let you so-called best friend die.
General questions I asked myself at various parts of the film:
- How did Peter get back from the Church, clearly buck naked after peeling off the Venom-infested Spidey-suit?
- Why did Peter's hair turn black in the scenes where he was emo, I mean bad, only to turn brown again in the periods in between when he was feeling good again?
- Just how good were the surgeons who took care of Harry after the explosion in his big lair of Goblindom, since the clearly hideous burns on his face (or they wouldn't have left such scarring) healed so quickly?
That's it. I'm done. |
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