mercredi 24 juin 2015

20 “what-the-hell” things that really annoyed me in Jurassic World

 By now, you lot know how much I love dinosaurs and how excited I was when Jurassic World was released a couple of weeks ago.
The first viewing left me a bit so-so. The second one really pissed me off! I have collected a non-exhaustive list of 20 “What-the-actual-hell” moments, ideas, stuff that, if you just start thinking about it, don’t make any sense.

Beware: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
 
1)    Owen Grady is a velociraptor expert: he’s been in the Navy and all. He sorts of tame those vicious animals. The man has got knowledge about dinosaurs and their behaviours (they need to be socialised, to see something else than their paddocks all the time, etc). Curiously, his skills are only used to the benefit of raptors. It could have helped when Wu and his team created the Indominus-Rex but no, no, it’s much more fun to let that dinosaur get crazy on its own….
2)    A pig gets loose in the raptors’ paddock: well, instead of trying to catch a tiny piglet that is, granted, going to meet its cruel death, and instead of falling into the paddock which should technically lead to your own death, just leave the pig to its fate! I’m sorry for the innocent animal but…it does not make sense to try and save it!
3)    Raptors can get health checks: a couple of times in the film, the velociraptors are held into some sort of muzzles. Why? Apparently, just to get a little cuddle from their carers. If someone knows what those things are and what is their use, please, let me know!

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What is this? What does it do?
4)    Jurassic World can’t accommodate all their staff: Poor Owen is living in a bungalow, next to a lake, on his own. I’m guessing it is to add to his sexy but lonely Indiana Jones looks.
5)    There is no signal where the I-Rex is kept: When Claire can’t find the dinosaur inside its paddock, she heads to the control room so that she can track it with its tracking implant. She’s actually calling the control room from her car, screaming: “We have an asset out of containment!” whilst she is not even sure of that yet. Couldn’t she have called the control room from the I-Rex’s paddock? Before anyone gets in there? There would have been no movie I guess…
6)    Jurassic World’s workers can disappear: When Owen and Claire get to the I-Rex’s paddock, there are at least a dozen workers around them, building a higher fence to prevent the dinosaur from escaping. When it actually does escape, there are all gone! They vanished in a few seconds. 
7)  A Winchester can kill a dinosaur: Owen goes after the I-Rex with a Winchester. Knowing he criticised the intervention team – RIP to all of them – for using non-lethal weapons, it seems like he’s got a lot of confidence here. A lot! 
 8) We shoot injured horses but not dying dinos: There is an excruciating scene where a diplodocus is dying. It’s been attacked by the I-Rex and seems to be in pain. It takes ages, long enough for people to cry and all. Owen has a Winchester; why doesn’t he shoot the agonising dinosaur? Do the right thing! Put it out of its misery instead of lying to its face: “It’s going to be ok, shhhh, shhhh”

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Do the right thing, Owen! Damn it!
 9)    Bits of flesh can teleport themselves: The I-Rex is clever enough to claw out its tracking implant. We discover that when it kills the whole intervention team. That bit of flesh miraculously appears when they want to use the raptors to track down the I-Rex. How? It was left somewhere in the jungle!  
10) Rides are not under control: You know that fun ride with the glass spheres? Even though Jimmy Fallon keeps insisting that it was made for visitors’ safety, it is absolutely not safe! It is not on a rail, not automated and there is no way to bring it back to its start when it is closing down. 
11) You can keep secrets from your boss: Masrani is the boss of Jurassic World and Doctor Wu is an employee. Well, Wu does not have to say how the Indominus-Rex was made to his boss. Just use the words “It is classified”. 
12) You can keep your heels on, as long as you open your shirt: When Claire wants to follow Owen into the jungle to find her nephews, the raptor pro mocks her ridiculous shoes. But, after she rolled up her sleeves and opened her shirt, he seems completely happy for her to accompany him. 
13) Air alert? Check! Shelters? Erm…: When the pterodactyls attack the visitors, there is an air alert resonating loudly in the park. People run and try to take shelter. But there is no shelter; everything seems to be closed. Bon appétit, flying friends! 

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Run, people, Ruuuuun!
 14) Cameras of the future: They want to use the raptors to go after the I-Rex. They fix cameras to the raptors’ heads and we find out that the cameras film what the dinosaurs are looking at. How is that even possible? They’re go pros attached to their heads, nothing else! How can it be connected to their vision? 
15) Eeny, meeny, miny, moe: Owen established himself as the raptors’ alpha. But, later on, the pack finds a new alpha in the I-Rex. Luckily, right at the end and with timing close to perfection, the raptors go back to their first alpha and turn against the old one. 
16) Strange associations: A velociraptor and T-Rex teaming up? Guys, you can’t be serious here! Do I need to remind you of the final scene in Jurassic Park? Those two are not friends! 
17) Visitors can vanish too: We get told a few times that there are 20.000 visitors in Jurassic World. Yet, in the end, there are all gone. You understand that a big fight between a T-Rex and an I-Rex takes some space. Where are they gone, though?!  
18) 4 makes 2 makes 3 makes 1: There are 4 velociraptors. And each of them is killed at least twice. Yet, there is one that keeps coming back. The one that survives and gets away. Maybe he’s just gone to die in the jungle; it’d make sense… 
19) 40 miles per hour: When Claire sets the T-Rex free, she runs in front of it with a flare. She runs in heels, which I think that, by now, we all agree is not great. The T-Rex can outrun a car but it cannot catch up with Claire. She would have been a great snack before the big fight. I guess Rexie, being over 20 years old, does not run as fast as she used to. 

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Clever girl? No! Über fast woman!
20) Who is going to feed the mosasaur? Once again, humans abandon the park. And I can help but wonder how it is going to work out once the mosasaur is dead, floating on its back and rotting. Surely it is going to bring diseases and stuff. That can’t be good for the dinosaurs left.

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Quick! Before it starts smelling, ya' know...
I feel better now that I’ve got it all off my chest. I appreciate the efforts but, compared to the first film, where the main issue was with the T-Rex paddock, Jurassic World is suffering from a lack of coherence.
I am just really really disappointed. And I have just heard there is another film in the making…


 


 



lundi 22 juin 2015

Four hands and Two Vaginas: a recipe for success?

Last week has seen the release of Grey: another instalment of the Fifty Shades of Grey saga, this time from Christian’s point of view.

By this time, I am guessing you all read this excellent post on Buzzfeed where one journalist took the bullet for all of us and read the damn thing. It is scarily bad, rude and not sexy for a bit.

My best friend – who lives in Australia, happy days! – and I discussed Grey in a conversation that went a bit like this:

Me: “I was at Sainsbury’s today and guess what? That Grey book is selling for £3,99…”
Her: (Laughs explosion) “It shows how crappy it is!”
Me: “Have you read the article on Buzzfeed? That guy is a hero: he read the whole book and reported back to the world!”
Her: “Yeah! It is so bad…. I bet we could write better porn!”
Me: “Oh yas, sure! But we have to write it on our phones, you know, respect some basic rules!”
Her: “Ok, we both write a chapter of a porn fiction and, in a month, we send it to each other!”
Me: “Agreed! Prepare to read some excellent porn, my dear!”

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So, it is on, it is happening. We are all turned on (and off) by different things. I totally respect the fact that some people love sado-masochistic sex. But I believe that porn literature should be taken seriously: writing is an art and it should not be taken lightly. Because I love writing and because this is a fun challenge that might get me rich (I’m joking…or am I?), I am totally on board with this “write your own porn on your phone” experiment.

Results in a month time: we might not share this with the world but I will make sure to tell you all how it went and if two regular girls – a total of four hands and two vaginas – can actually compete with E.L. James and her saga…

dimanche 21 juin 2015

Gym: This Time, It Is Serious!

 We all know how easy it is to get a membership to the gym. We all know how motivated we are when we start and how that motivation drops drastically after a few hours/days/weeks.
We keep paying the membership because actually cancelling it would really mean we are giving up.

This time, I have decided to be a good girl and to stick with my program: going to the gym every two days. Thing is I am a bit overweight. It is not obvious because I’ve got a layer of fat all over my body. So, my arms are a bit fat, my belly is a bit soft, my hips are a bit larger and my butt is a practical and comfortable on-the-go cushion.

I don’t want to get skinny: I like my body and its curves. I just want to be fitter and less floppy. I don’t want to pant like I had run a 10k marathon every time I run after my bus. I don’t want to find it tiring to hold a baby in my arms for more than 5 minutes. And I’d like to say goodbye to the old weird and unexpected cramp…

It has also something to do with my self-confidence: I want to get the body I have been dreaming of since I was a teenager. I never got round to it, never got motivated enough to stick to the gym. 

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To help me, I have taken selfies – well, pictures of my body so nothing glam and no duck face. In a month, I will take new ones. I feel like seeing the changes as they happen will give me the motivation to keep going. So far, after three sessions, I ache a lot. I have had cramps in places I didn’t know could cramp. I have been close to being sick and some movements (like rolling out of bed) are really painful.


But hey, this girl is me and…this girl can, right?!

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mercredi 17 juin 2015

Why I feel “so-so” about Jurassic World.

Last weekend, I grabbed a non-dinosaur-fanatic friend and brought her to the cinema. I wanted to see Jurassic World and she didn’t want to leave me alone.

I am a massive dino geek. Jurassic Park is my favourite movie ever; I know every damn line in French, which makes it impossible now for anyone to watch it with me. I love dinosaurs and that is why Jurassic World got me a bit crossed.
 
I don’t want to see dinosaurs dying; I don’t want to get details about their long agony when the meteor hit the earth 65 billion years ago. I want to see them thrive, I want to hear them roar and I want to see people get eaten.

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Dying Diplodocus - Jurassic World (2015)
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Happy Brachiosaur - Jurassic Park (1993)










In Jurassic World, dinosaurs die. There is a scene where Owen and Claire witness the last few breaths of a majestic diplodocus. I cried. I did not like it. And it was only a start!

The storyline is very similar to Jurassic Park. Granted the dinosaurs are on an island (well, two actually) and we needed a way to bring people back there. And it was exciting to see the park open and functioning. But some bits were disturbing: baby triceratops ridden by kids, white shark fed to a mosasaur like it was a sardine thrown to a seal, our dear Rexie living in a small paddock and tamed velociraptors.

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Jurassic World is a proper blockbuster: you will get even more than what you’ve paid for. But, close your eyes on the many hiccups of the story and do not bear Jurassic Park in mind. Also, the characters are more of a parody.
In Jurassic Park, the characters were amazing: Grant and Ellie facing the possible extinction of their job but also facing the question of having kids together; Malcolm is right from the start despite his rock star look; Hammond is a child seeing his dream coming true then going horribly wrong. Even Lex and Tim felt like “real people”.
In Jurassic World, we have one super sex-driven teenager, one bipolar kid, one woman running around in heels, one army-freak and one sort of Indiana Jones. No depth whatsoever!

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In the end, I have enjoyed seeing dinosaurs. But I hope this is the last ever Jurassic something film. They left it open for a new instalment but please, please, please, I’m begging you: DON’T!

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mardi 9 juin 2015

Inside the Capital’s Summertime Ball 2015:

I am writing music and film reviews for a website. When the opportunity to cover the Capital’s Summertime Ball arose, I jumped on the occasion! I also pushed my luck, requesting a media run pass instead of the regular and usual reviewer pass. In all honesty, I was not sure it would work, especially because I sent the request from my personal email.

I am pleased to say: it fu**ing worked! When I got there, I was taken to the media room. And I realised I was absolutely not ready for this! I was with journalists from big publications: Yahoo, Ode, The Sun, Digital Spy, Metro, Daily Mirror, etc. I had been there for 10 minutes, trying to put on my best blasé and professional look, when we got told that One Direction would be coming to meet us in about 10 minutes.

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I was sweating like a hooker in church! I was stressed out because I had a great question and because I was going to see One Direction and because imagine the push it would give to my career…and all the others were freaking out. It was damn hot in that room too. You get the picture!

They arrived and, for a minute, it felt we were actually sitting in hell: bright lights, burning heat, loads of shouting and kicking. Weirdest scene I have ever witnessed!
You know that strange feeling you get about celebrities: they feel unreal, like they only exist on glossy covers, in scandalous articles; like they actually live in your telly or in YouTube?
Well, once you actually see them in the flesh, they go back to being normal people who happen to have an extraordinary job. Those four guys looked absolutely normal, despite the craziness around them. In the end, you know, they eat, sleep and poop just like any of us, peasants! 

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And I have felt the same way with any famous person I have encountered in that media room. Little Mix girls are sweet and funny. They are normal girls. Which makes it odd when they talk about their fans: I thought: “Imagine those words coming out of your mouth”. Because they are just so damn normal, so it just feels very strange!

Same with Nick Jonas or Carly Rae Jepsen or even Ne-Yo. These people, these celebrities, well; they’re just like you and me. For real! They just happen to have a very peculiar job. And it must be weird for them to live those situations on a daily basis.

That trip behind the scenes made me realise that being famous must be somewhere between a curse and a blessing. It was my first time and, like all first times, it was a bizarre experience but I am deffo up for it again!

Miss DiversiT

Welcome Back to Meeeeee!

Hi guys,
Hello potential new colleagues,
Good afternoon future boss,

As you can see, I have not posted any word on my blog since September 2013. What happened? Well, to quote one of my favourite lines in one of my favourite films, “What always happens…life.”

I have been writing for other websites, chasing published copies and opportunities to make my way into the big writing media world. I have also been working full time in Essex (important detail because I have lost many hours of my life stuck on the North Circular). Then, that job ended and I joined a group of girls working in marketing and communication. It started as a support group but they sort of broke me down: they said I could never be a professional writer because I am not a native speaker…

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So, I started thinking it was true and felt quite lost. What was I supposed to do now?
No to worry, guys, I have found my goal: I want to work in digital, social media and content marketing.

And this blog needs to be resuscitated because it is now my window: I am exposing my charming words under the virtual neon lights of my blog. It is my LinkedIn extension but also my life 2.0. Also, what a shame not to take opportunity to express my opinions freely!

I am back and I have tons of stuff to say!
Hold on to your butts!

Miss DiversiT
(This name works for French-speaking readers – they read it “diversité”- and for English-speaking readers – they read it “diversity”. Clever girl!)