FILM NIGHT - THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

I've just come back from the cinema after watching the latest installment in The Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire. I had high hopes for the sequel, as I was very impressed by its predecessor. Fortunately, I'm pleased to report that the sequel lives up to both the hype and the solidity of the first film.

Catching Fire, being the sequel to The Hunger Games, is set almost immediately after the events of the first film. The plot once again follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as she is trying to cope with the aftermath of the events of the Games. However, subsequent uprisings in the Districts ultimately leads the government to take action by making the previous victors tributes again in the 75th Hunger Games (or the Quarter Quell). In terms of accuracy to the book, the adaptation of Catching Fire does a good job of staying faithful - however, as is the case with almost all adapted films, there are some parts that were left out and others that were more exaggerated.

Of course, acting is worth mentioning when reviewing this film, especially in the wake of Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar win. She puts in yet another outstanding performance in Catching Fire, especially in the moments where the audience gets to see how disturbed Katniss is after the last Games. The rest of the cast, both recurring and new-timers, all perform very well. What really stands out is the developed relationship between Katniss, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), which goes from touching at times to absolutely hilarious at others.

Visually, the film is very impressive. The cinematography is very smooth and there are some beautifully artistic shots mingled in amongst all the action. The special effects in the film are essentially what is now expected from an action/adventure film - they look convincing, but aren't exactly ground-breaking. That being said, I do think that the effects on the costumes during the chariot scene in The Capitol are much better the second time around.

Overall, I'd give Catching Fire an 8 out of 10. Despite the long run-time (approximately two and a half hours), the second installment in The Hunger Games franchise manages to be engaging throughout, with a superb lead performance from Jennifer Lawrence and great visuals to accompany. 

LIEBSTER AWARD 2013

I've seen the Liebster Award floating around a couple of blogs before, but it wasn't until recently that I actually realised what it was. I was nominated for this award by the blogger Euphoria-xoxo, so go and check out her blog if you haven't already (and I would thoroughly recommend that you do so!). In case you are unfamiliar with how the award works, here's what you have to do...

1. Each nominee has to list 11 random facts about themselves

2. Answer the 11 questions provided by the blogger who nominated them (the questions I'm answering can be found here: http://euphoria-xoxo.co.uk/348/)

3. Choose 11 more nominees (who must have 200 followers or less) and ask them 11 questions

Eleven Random Facts:

1. My birthday is on the 28th January and I am seventeen years old

2. I'm in my last year of school and I am studying English Literature, Psychology, and Geography
3. I am 5'6" (or approximately 1.67 m) tall
4. I am a published poet - I've written three poems that have been published in anthologies
5. I am a massive fan of Batman (the films, comics, video games, you name it!)
6. I am also very obsessed with the BBC TV series Sherlock - I think it's absolutely amazing!
7. I like listening to all kinds of music - at the moment, I'm loving film scores by Hans Zimmer, The Black Keys, Foo Fighters, and AC/DC - so a bit of a mixed bag!
8. I have three siblings (two brothers and a sister) and a dog called Kodi
9. Anyone remember the CBBC programme The Slammer? I was in it once - how embarrassing!
10. My favourite authors include F Scott Fitzgerald, Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy, and John le Carre
11. My favourite film directors include Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, David Fincher, and David O. Russell

The Eleven Questions:

1. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

At the risk of sounding hugely cliched, I have always enjoyed writing. When I was younger, I used to write short stories and novellas all the time, but nowadays I don't really have the time or commitment to do it. To compromise, I decided to start a blog because it still enabled me to write, but there is so much more flexibility when blogging - plus you don't have to write anywhere near as much!

2. If you could meet any celebrity in the world for a whole day, who would you meet?

I had to think about this one for a little while - but, as I mentioned earlier, I am a massive fan of Sherlock, so I'm going to say Benedict Cumberbatch. That way, I could also find out how the hell Sherlock survived at the end of The Reichenbach Fall!!

3. You have just won £1 million - what is the first thing you buy?

I could be boring and just say a mansion or a nice house, but I'm going to push the boat out a bit and say either an indoor swimming pool or a home cinema. 

4. Warm or cold?

Probably cold. Since my birthday and Christmas are both in winter, I have a bit of a bias towards the colder months anyway. That aside, I also think that everything looks nicer when its covered in snow or frost, and there's always a nice, cosy atmosphere about winter. I also went away to Iceland earlier on in the year (which was very cold, as you can imagine) and I absolutely loved it there, so cold it is.

5. How would you describe your style?
Smart-casual, I suppose - I love wearing shirts with any kind of collar (I am quite fond of Peter Pan collars at the moment), coloured jeans or trousers, nude ballet pumps, brogues, striped t-shirts... that sort of thing. It's worth a mention that I love printed t-shirts as well - the funnier the better!

6. Do you have a favourite make-up brand?
There are quite a few make-up brands that I really like, but if I had to pick just the one it would probably be Urban Decay. I use their Naked 2 palette on a daily basis, and from what I've tried of their lip products (which isn't much, I'll be honest) I like those as well. In terms of lower-end or drugstore brands, my favourites are Max Factor and Bourjois.

7. Lipstick or lipgloss?
Lipgloss - I find that it's a little more of a pragmatic choice, as I don't like having to have to reapply lip products with great precision, which is often the case with lipsticks. With both products I prefer darker colours, because they tend to stay on for longer and because they are much more noticeable.

8. Jeans or a dress?
Jeans - I do like wearing dresses as well, but jeans are much less hassle when faced with the notorious British weather. I mentioned in one of the previous questions that I love coloured jeans, and I think that a pair of burgundy or dark green jeans are so much more comfy and practical than a nice dress and can look just as smart.

9. What is the one beauty product you couldn't live without?
I'm going to be a bit cheeky and include skincare as a beauty product - the Clinique Clarifying Lotion is one product that I couldn't live without. I have quite dry skin that feels very tight around my face if I don't use skincare products regularly, and this product does the job marvellously. Granted, it is expensive and doesn't smell particularly nice, but it leaves my skin feeling wonderfully smooth and refreshed.

10. Do you have a secret talent?
I wish I could say yes to this question - but sadly, no. I have been told that I'm good at art, but I wouldn't say that that's a secret talent per-say, so I don't think it counts.

11. What is your dream job?
Since I'm feeling ambitious and elaborate right now, I'm going to say a film director. As it may be evident from the conent of my blog, I am a very keen film fan, and any job in the industry would be the coolest thing ever as far as I'm concerned. Failing that, I'd say that film journalism looks quite fun as well - visiting all of those film sets would be incredible!

My Eleven Questions:

1. If you could swap blogs with anyone, who's would it be?
2. What was the last film that you saw in the cinema? Did you enjoy it?
3. If you could switch lives with one person for a day, who would it be and why?
4. What is your biggest guilty pleasure? (if you have one, of course!)
5. You are only allowed to use three beauty products for the rest of your life - what are they?
6. If you could get free tickets to see any artist of your choice, who would you go and see?
7. Would you rather have the ability to fly or heal whenever you get injured?
8. If you could only watch one TV show for the rest of your life what would it be?
9. Describe your sense of style in five words or less
10. What are your top three books? (Both fiction and non-fiction count!)
11. If you found a £50 note (or the equivalent) on the street what would you do with it?

My Eleven Nominees:
- Lili and the Rox - Fearless n Fabulous - Phoebe Victoria - Films & Pies - PeanutJase - Beth-Stocker Blog - BelleJeunesse - Sophie-Ellie - Kirsty - Hanclarky - Small Contemplations -

I hope you've all enjoyed reading this post - it's a little more personal than most of the things I blog about, but I thought it would be nice to mix it up a bit!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT - PEBBLE COOKIES

The past week has been very stressful for me, so what better way to unwind than to enjoy a nice chocolate treat? The title of these cookies may seem a bit odd, but it's because I used Cadbury Pebbles in the biscuits instead of chocolate chips - although M&Ms or Smarties will work fine for this recipe as well. So, if you're in the mood for some double chocolatey cookies, here is the recipe for my Pebble Cookies. (Warning - this recipe makes a lot of biscuits; it made three trayfuls of cookies for me, so you may want to halve the quantities).

INGREDIENTS:

125g of butter

200g of light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. of vanilla extract

225g of self-raising flour

1/2 tsp. of salt

Cadbury's Pebbles/M&Ms/Smarties or any small chocolate sweets

200g of dark chocolate (optional)

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to around 180 to 200 degrees celsius. Prepare a flat baking tray by placing a sheet of tin-foil or greaseproof paper onto the tray.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl. If you are making double chocolate cookies, melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie or by using the microwave (if you are using a microwave, be careful that you don't burn the chocolate).

Add in the egg, vanilla extract, salt, and melted chocolate if required. Mix all of the ingredients together to make a mixture with a similar consistency to cake batter.

Sift in the flour and mix it with the other ingredients until a ball of cookie dough is formed. You can add in your sweets  now if you'd prefer - add them in and mix well to make sure that they combine with the dough properly.

Tear off walnut-sized pieces of the dough and place onto the baking tray. Flatten the dough slightly using your fingertips or the back of a spoon. If you haven't done so already, place some of the sweets on top of the cookies, pressing them into the dough so that they don't fall off when cooked. 

Bake them in the oven for approximately 15 minutes - they should be quite soft when they are taken out of the oven, but as they cool down they get a little firmer. 

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post - let me know in the comments if you decide to make your own cookies!

OCTOBER FAVOURITES

I apologise for not having posted anything in over a week - I have been really rather busy, and I confess that I have been lacking in ideas for posts. However, since October has drawn to a close, I've compiled my favourite products and miscellaneous items together for my monthly favourites list. 

MAX FACTOR MASTERPIECE MAX MASCARA

I bought this mascara at the very beginning of the month, so I have had quite some time to road test it. Unlike some, I am definitely the kind of person who gets bored of using the same products and like to shop around for alternatives where possible. The same can be said for my experience with this product - I have used other mascaras by Max Factor before, but never this one. Compared to the other mascaras by Max Factor that I have used, I would say that this is one of my favourites. I apply this mascara by holding a mirror just below my face and looking down into it. By doing this, I find that there are fewer clumps in my eyelashes while remaining voluminous. While I wouldn't say that this is the best mascara that I have ever used, it has definitely been a favourite over the past month at least.

VIDEO GAME - BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS

Technically, this hasn't been a favourite of mine throughout October, since it was released on the 25th. Nevertheless, any new release from the Arkham franchise is worth mentioning on my list of favourites, as the two previous games in the series are both sublime. Although I have yet to finish Arkham Origins, I think that I can safely say that it is as good as the others despite the changes in voice actors and developers. In this installment to the franchise, Batman is in the earlier years of his career as a vigilante. Set during the night of Christmas Eve, Batman must track down the villain Black Mask, who has promised one of eight assassins a fifty million dollar prize - if they can kill Batman. I agree with some other people who have said that the gameplay is very similar to the two previous games, but I feel that this is no bad thing.

L'OREAL PARIS SUPER-LINER PERFECT SLIM

Checking the Boots and Superdrug websites, I'm not sure whether or not this product is actually still available to buy any more. If that is the case, it's a shame - I would say that it is one of the better felt-tip eyeliners that I've used. As the name of the product suggests, you can create very thin lines with this eyeliner pen. I find this preferable to chunkier pens, as I think that thinner pens have more versatility, which works for me because I change the thickness of my eyeliner on a daily basis. On some days, I wear my eyeliner in a very thin and more natural line while on others I like to wear much more thick and dramatic eyeliner. In the photo above, I tried to show the variation in thickness that can be created with this eyeliner - if the picture proves one thing, it's that I can't draw very straight lines.

THEATRE - MACBETH AND FRANKENSTEIN

October has been a month full of theatre - at the very beginning of the month, I went to London to watch a performance of Macbeth at the Globe Theatre and yesterday I watched a recording of the 2011 production of Frankenstein. Both of these performances had to make it into my monthly favourites simply because of how amazing they were. Unfortunately, the performance of Macbeth is no longer running at The Globe - but if you live in the UK and would like to see the recording of Frankenstein, there is a second showing on the 5th November in Showcase Cinemas across the country. To cut a very long story short, both performances were highlights of the month because of the superb acting from all of the casts and creative production design - Frankenstein in particular was outstanding in this area.

I hope you've enjoyed reading my monthly favourites, and if you have any ideas for future posts (I admit, I am lacking in ideas at the moment) please post your suggestions in the comments below!

- Kate Shortt -