Movie Releases - This week i recommend..

What a mad couple of weeks I have had!!

In pure 'me' fashion, I will let you all know what has diverted my attention from you happy readers! But in the meantime...my pickings movie-wise for this week. To be totally honest, there was only one movie that I thought was highly recommended..and that is..



The Squid and the Whale - starring Laura Linney, Jeff Daniels, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Halley Feiffer, William Baldwin, Alexandra Daddario, Eli Gelb, Henry Glovinsky, Anna Paquin, Adam Rose and Benjamin Smolen.

Set in the mid-1980s in Brooklyn, New York..Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) claims to have been a famous novelist, although is now reduced to teaching. Wife to Bernard, Joan Berkman (Laura Linney), discovers she too has a literary talent..which ends up breaking up the family. This leaves teenage sons Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and Frank (Owen Kline) to choose which parent to side with. And if all of this wasn't enough, to add to the complication...Joan starts an affair with Frank's tennis coach, whilst Bernard starts sleeping with a student, who Walt is courting at the moment.

Jeff Daniels gives his best performance yet in this film! Prepare to have your heart broken and mended in the space of a couple of hours!

A very brief personal update!!

Hello happy readers!

Hope all is well in your lives? I am unfortunately going through a few challenging times in my life at the mo (of course i will fill you all in on the details soon). So really this is just a brief message to say 'Hi' and that I haven't forgotten about the articles that I am meant to be writing on here.

Bear with me...shouldn't be too long.

Movie Releases - This week I recommend..

Wahey...it's Friday again and yes...it's time for my latest pickings of movies out this week.

First up...my main recommendation of the week..



TransAmerica - Starring 'Desperate Housewife' Felicity Huffman & Kevin Zegers, TransAmerica tells the story of Bree...a perfectly adjusted conservative transsexual woman. Although named Stanley when she was born, Bree starts to take the step towards woman-hood..when she finds out that she is the parent of a long-lost 17 year-old son (Zegers). Travelling cross-country to New York to bail him out of jail, they both make the long journey back to Los Angeles, with Bree struggling to keep all her secrets hidden. A journey that will challenge and change both their lives and bring them closer to the truth of their connection. TransAmerica gives a whole new spin on the modern American family..and the performance that 'Emmy award winning' Felicity Huffman gave in this movie earnt her an Oscar nomination. It's a must for movie-buffs out there, and worth watching at least for the award-worthy performance!

And my other recommendations are..



Inside Man - Starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, the delectable Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

For those who like heist plots, director Spike Lee and writer Russell Gewirtz bring you Inside Man. This movie tells the story of a tough cop, Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington), who matches wits with a clever bank robber, Dalton (Clive Owen), in a tense hostage drama. As the dangerous cat-and-mouse game unfolds, a wild card emerges: Madaline (Jodie Foster), a power broker with a hidden agenda, who injects even more instability into an already volatile situation. One for a Saturday night, and not to be missed if you're a Clive Owen or Jodie Foster fan. Denzel Washington gives a good performance as the dedicated cop!

And finally...

Hostel - Starring Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson, Barbara Nedeljakova, Jana Kaderabkova, Jan Vlasák, Rick Hoffman and Jennifer Lim.

Quentin Tarantino presents Eli Roth's Hostel, the follow-up to the writer-director's hit debut, 2002's Cabin Fever. This movie is essentially a mixture of many of the most terrifying things about human nature and the world at large, taken from many impossible-but-true stories of human trafficking, international organized crime, and sex tourism. This movie is sure to shock even the most hardcore genre fans! Hostel tells the story of two adventurous American college buddies Paxton and Josh who backpack through Europe eager to make quintessentially hazy travel memories with new friend Oli, an Icelander they've met along the way. Both Paxton and Josh are lured by a fellow traveller, who describes a Hostel filled Eastern European women as desperate as they are gorgeous in an out-of-the-way Slovakian town. Eager as most virile men would be, they arrive at this hostel and soon pair off with exotic beauties Natalya and Svetlana....but may be all too easily! Distracted by the good time they're having, the two Americans quickly discover that they've both become trapped in an increasingly sinister situation. A great 'cover your eyes' type of movie, with gruesome scenes!

And there you hae my recommendations for this week. Stay tuned for more updates :)

Trinity's Article: Attending a Self-Defence course.

Right...as some of you may be aware I attended a Self-Defence course that spanned over the last two Saturdays. Safe to say that I do feel a lot more confident having done it...and learned new skills (should I need them). So here's what happened..

The 1st Day

After pretty much getting up at the crack of dawn to be at the venue for 9:45am..I was one of a few to get there for the start time. You begin to wonder what on earth are the people going to be like who attend these courses. I expected to find a load of male shrinking-violets, but to my disappointment...they were all..well..pretty normal - as far as the use of the word 'normal' goes. People from different walks of life...even those who you wouldn't dare try to attack. I then began to feel like the odd one out, when the facilitator went around the room to ask each of us why we were there. I almost felt like saying "Hi, i'm Edward...and i am a victim!"..but it wasn't like that at all. Practically 90% of the people there had been attacked/mugged at some point in their lives, all it would seem except me. I couldn't even begin to understand what those people went through when they were attacked...but thank heavens i haven't been...yet *touches wood*. So after our introductions...it was on with the tutoring..

This first day they were really drumming home the fact that avoidance is the best key...and even if you're a black belt at some form of martial arts..you must NOT under any circumstances advertise that to a bunch of attackers. The aim of this course was not to kill your attacker...but to imobilise them in some way, which would leave you with the option to escape. So the basic points they taught us were..

1. AVOID
2. Distraction

During the rest of the day, we would were taught a series of moves to gain control of an 'attack' type of situation. Most of the moves I'll be totally honest..I never thought i had it in me! They would tell us that no matter what size we are...you don't need beefy muscles to defend yourself. To be fair, the tutor was right when he said 'I haven't taught you anything that you don't already have the potential to do. I've just made you realise it'. He would ask us what should we be aware of when walking down a street....and it was amazing as to how many answers people came out with..all very sensible.

The 2nd Day

Now that we were aware of our surroundings...and conscious of the fact as to how to avoid certain situations...next would come the most important part! We were then give a series of senarios to do with weapons and being attacked in confined spaces. I was in awe of the tutor when he would demonstrate moves on how to knock out the knife from an attacker's hands...but he did cover his own back by saying that it was only move to use if all else fails. Aside from that, the tutor showed a range of moves from avoiding/deflecting a punch to how to fall 'safely' when pushed to the ground.

The Verdict?:

I started that course knowing what to do if I was ever mugged/attacked...however now I feel comfortable that I wouldn't play the victim. However I do think this course would benefit the victims of such instances, as I'm sure it would help them to become more assertive and confident. However if you get a spare moment in your life, I would highly recommend going to a Self-Defence class.. What have you got to lose? The pros out weigh the cons!