New Year, new job, new blog and yes, I may have showered for the new year also.

Now you know what's been missing from your life! Another one of my blog posts. Feel free to sigh, chill out and grab a beer for this casual read...

Well, a new job for me. Bye bye Asda, hello Cineworld. Over 6 years at the Hamilton Asda and I managed to finally peel myself away and join the ranks of the Cineworld 'Elite', like many more of my fellow DFTV'ers. So far I'm really enjoying it, most seem to have my level of commitment (or lower) and the job itself is much lighter than Asda since I'll be working on the box and bar and won't have to move massive cages everyday. So far, the good days are when I'm within the +/- £2.50 limit and the bad days are the ones when I'm out with it. Far less banter on Box than I hoped though!

Monday was a short return (R1 was bloody freezing) with Andy on Italian neorealism and so obviously, we spoke a lot about Avatar. Good fun and getting away earlier allowed some of us to go see Sherlock Holmes which was preceded by Graeme going all Godzilla on one of the leaflet stands.

Tuesday with Adam was good, in the way that he gave us a hint that we'll be making documentaries this term. His class itself was interesting, since we learned that docs have as much structure as drama and by the sound of it, shooting ratios are much, much higher also. I'm intrigued to know what and when we are making these documentaries and while I've never thought of it before, I'm excited to see where it all goes.

Wednesday was a full day with Zam to which I lost an hour of because of the dentist. Explaining where I was with what must have sounded like a mouth full of marbles, was very uncomfortable, as was the preceeding hour or two until the numb mouth wore off. Good class all in though our action scene may be a bit too overblown to say the least. An(other) assignment was given to us by Zam which may lead to a few interesting things in the future.

Thursday was timetabled as a full day with Ray. We watched one great, and one not so great episode of The Street and frankly, afterwards, the DTU felt like some sort of insane asylum. Far too much social realism for my liking in one day. The production quality was excellent and it was all very well shot and engaging but the subject matter was far too tough for two whole hours. Our discussion with Ray afterward (and then on Moodle) was good and it's great to have everyone throwing their opinions in. Yet another assignment was given out with us each having to study an aspect of Cinematographers as storytellers. Even though these are essays, I don't mind these (this and Andy's) too much since we are choosing our own subjects and if we hate it, it is essentially our own faults.

Friday was a screening of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and since I have no idea when I'll get round to doing a film/tv blog, I'll just say that I was pleasantly surprised by it. The characters seemed so believable and relatable and while the film was clearly set in the time period it was made, it was still very watchable. The story also wasn't as depressing as some films in the genre seem to be though at the end of the film, I did feel concerned for the central character the same way a psychiatrist may feel when a patient tells them they're fine when they leave the room.

This previous Monday was a class on the French New Wave and every time it's brought up, I remember how much I loved The 400 Blows. It's a film that has settled in my head and I may be ready for another viewing some point in the future...after the mountain of other things I still have to do!

Tuesday was another look into documentaries and as hard as we tried, our visions ended up being slated as pretty poor. I think it was maybe the time limit and the fact that in our heads, we couldn't imagine showing alcoholism without being at least a little cliche. It's nice to be put down from time to time however, it keeps your mind grounded when everyone seems too polite to be honest. I'm looking forward to doing docs as something different but I think we might have set the standards expected of us a little too high. Still, I'm looking forward to our briefs (though I'd prefer boxers) this Tuesday (even though I won't be in :()

Wednesday was a day that me and Michael had set aside to go do Cinematography research at the Mitchell. Sadly, no-one in the Mitchell seems to know what cinematography is and they only have a handful of cinematography books. Michael commented that it's no wonder there's no Scottish film industry...true Mikey...true! It turns out American Cinematographer is actually stored at Glasgow Uni. A few of us went there on Thursday after our cancellation of tech classes (and a GREAT class Cinematography discussion between us and Ray). I wanted to stay longer because every article is so fascinating but the Cineworld bell was ringing.

Friday had a screening of This Is England, which, in short, I adored. Afterwards, Abigail assaulted us with yet ANOTHER assignment which at this point in time, I have just about completed. So far, I'm managing what little free time I have very well.

"Gwyneth Paltrow is quite pretty, in a British, horsey sort of way."
Julia Roberts