Dark Shadows...oh dear

I've always liked Tim Burton Movies, even before I knew what a director was. I loved and still love Beetlejuice, the first two Batman movies, Nightmare before Christmas, Big Fish and Sleepy Hollow. But the ones I haven't liked, I've really hated, couldn't bear to watch them again.
So when I heard about Dark Shadows I had mixed feelings. I hoped it wouldn't be the load of crap suggested by the trailer, hoped that after his last few disasters, Tim Burton might be back on form. 
I was severely disappointed.
The movie was pure stupidity with a few good jokes thrown in. You couldn't sympathise with the main character because he was just a git with no redeeming qualities. He has strong family loyalty (wow how amazing ¬_¬), but that hardly makes up for how evil he is. 
In fact, all the characters were awful people except the extremely bland heroine (who's barely in it anyway) and Michelle Pfeiffer (and there wasn't enough of her). It could have been so much better. 
After the backstory (which almost bored me out of the cinema), the scene begins with the heroine and seems to be centered around her... but then she disappears God knows where, only appearing for a few seconds in collages and to say a sentence in scenes trying hard to be romantic but failing. 
Johnny Depp has overly dramatic vampyric makeup on and weird fingers and yet, he gets away with pretending to be human. In fact it's a huge shock to everyone when they find out he's a vampire. It would have make more sense if they were more like "oh right, that explains everything." Even so, what's the obsession with over-the-top makeup (Mad Hatter, Willy Wonka) it doesn't do anything for the character, it just makes him look ridiculous.
There's barely a story to speak of, lots of loose ends that are left dangling and an ending that just wasn't good enough. The ending actually made it even worse. 
I am so glad I didn't pay to see it (I have an unlimited cinema pass) . What a waste of time! I would rather have watched Avengers for a 3rd time

Hugo review

First of all I have to say that I liked this movie but it was very flawed and advertised completely wrong. From the trailer I thought it was going to be some fantastic adventure movie along the lines of City of Ember or Tintin. There is no adventure to speak of. There is a mystery which is soon uncovered and isn't what you expect.

The movie starts off very slow with an  insanely pointless intro of Hugo running around the train station where he works tending the clocks. They spend so much time showing this that you think that the intricate labyrinth he goes through and the people whose lives he watches will be important. But they aren't. 


Then you have a long and pointless background which could have easily be summed up in a few minutes but is dragged out, probably in an attempt to replicate the novel (I can't be sure on this never having read the book) but things that work in a novel do not always work in the movie. 


It feels like the whole beginning section of the movie was meant to be about something else and then the story randomly digresses and follows a new story to which is sticks to the end. My sister said very aptly it's like those Simpsons episodes that start off with something random and then turn into a completely different story. Funny in Simpsons, annoying in Hugo. It's like the person who wrote it wasn't sure what it was going to be about until halfway through writing it. But it's been adapted from a novel so I don't understand why it's so confused.


When the story finally starts and you realise it's not a fantasy movie after all but more of a homage to early film makers (or rather one in particular) you can begin to enjoy it. The children acted well in some parts and awfully in others and there were times when the dialogue seemed unnatural.  


The final scene in the movie could have been good but was just anti-climatic. It's a scene of the automaton sitting with pen in hand alone in a room. You expect something to happen, for it to move or write/draw something but all you get is a creepy close up of its face and then nothing. Pointless. 


The script seriously needed some proper editing before it was made into a movie. It just felt badly thought through and disorganised. It could have been much better than it was if they had taken enough time over it.


Nevertheless, like I said, even though it wasn't what I expected, I enjoyed it for what it was in the end.

New children's cakes!

This weekend I got asked to make a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake and an In the Night Garden cake. Busy Busy! Here are the results:

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake

In the Night Garden cake

Oh frabjous day!

I just realised I didn't get around to posting about my Alice in Wonderland party yet :P. It's mostly because all the excitement for it ended right after and after all the planning and hectic setting up etc I didn't want to think about it anymore. Annoyingly, a few days later I found so many things I had bought/made for the party and forgotten about. Oh well.


Anyway, to begin I made invites that looked like playing cards and then rolled them up into scrolls and sealed with a sticky craft heart:

Next I made some wonderland creatures that I'd seen in the Disney cartoon:

Flowers with Faces

Tulgey Wood creatures

Rocking Horse Fly

And here are some other Wonderland Decorations:

Last but not least, the food! New dishes kept popping up even after the table was set until there was barely any room for the plates :-p

Wonderland Cookies 

Jam Tarts

Mini pizzas, mini doughnuts 

Alice Cupcakes

Drink Me bottle

I put 'Drink Me' labels on all the bottles of drink. Looked better on the glass bottles but didn't get a snap of that, oh well.

For the cupcakes I got Alice toppers from ebay. I set all the mini foods, (mini muffins, mini doughnuts, mini teapot, mini loaves) on a coffee table which was at the end of the dining table for all the little kids to sit at. Unfortunately, didn't get a pic of it in all it's glory. 

During the party I had two games. One was wink murder except instead of an inspector catching a murderer it was the Queen of hearts catching the knave of hearts so instead of killing people by winking, the knave was eating tarts (people) by winking at them. The winner got a Thornton's chocolate bunny.

The other game was pin the eye on the bandysnatch. I printed an online pic of a bandysnatch from the new Alice in Wonderland movie and put bluetack on the 'eye' to stick it. Whoever got it closest to the correct place won a pocket watch necklace as a prize which I bought on ebay.

At the end of the day I gave out "unbirthday presents" which I also bought on ebay. I was going to give sweets or chocolates but I figured we'd have had so many sweet things at the party, no one would want something sweet again so instead I bought some cute little handmade soaps from an ebay shop called soaps&favours. The soaps were perfect, everyone loved them and they smell gorgeous. Some people thought they were sweets :-p and I regret not going through with my idea of putting little tags on the boxes saying "wash with me" or "don't eat me".

 

I'd love to cater a Wonderland party so I could concentrate solely on the food. The cookies got rushed and I never got around to make the chequerboard sandwiches I wanted to make with white and brown bread sandwiches cut into squares and laid out together.

I also made chocolate lollipops shaped like roses which I forgot to take out and serve :-p. 

Other foods I wanted to make and didn't get time are toffee apples, a mad hatter hat cake, fruit kebabs and meringues. 

I made chocolate mousse in cupcake shaped bowls; I was going to make meringues to put on top with hundreds and thousands sprinkled on them. But it would have made a very rich desert and so I think I'll save that idea for individual deserts for a dinner party.

And so ends probably the last fancy dress party I'll ever organise for the family because no one else is interested in them anymore :-(. 

I LOVE theme parties and I am really going to miss them. I hope the family I eventually (I hope) marry into enjoys them too.

Handbag cake number 3 :-D

One of my colleagues saw pictures of my handbag cakes and asked me to make one for her daughter.  She's turning 11 so I chose brighter colours and a prettier design with flowers etc for her cake. It was so much fun to design and make that I already feel like making another one :-p. 

Girl's Handbag Cake

Girl's Handbag Cake

Oh, I don't know why it looks tinted in the photos, the cake is actually bright white. She also ordered cupcakes:

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry & Vanilla Icing

I hope someone asks for a Halloween cake next month because I am itching to make one. Might just make one anyway!

:@ GRRRRRRRRR

I am sooooooooo frikkin exhausted from work today. I better have burned off a tonne of calories! 

Really annoyed with the surplus of inconsiderate gits on my way home who seem to think it's their religion to get in people's way and make things as inconvenient as possible for everyone else. 

To all those people who block up shop aisles by putting their buggy/trolley on one side and standing on the other side to stare into the abyss, those who stand in front of bus (and train) doors when they're not getting off/on even though there are plenty of seats available, those large crowds who stop and stare into space in the middle of the street or just as you get on the platform, and those shitty people who stand on the bus stairs so you have to squeeze past them to go up or down instead of just sitting on their arses - I hate you all with every fibre of my being and I hope someone punches you in the face very soon. Do you like getting shoved passed???

And also the shit delivery/post people who flick the letterbox about in semblance of knocking instead of using the damn doorbell. 

We have a doorbell, we DON'T have a knocker. What does that suggest you bloody morons! I am incredibly tempted to print the former sentence out and stick it on the door. But I have a horrible feeling they'd retaliate in some way. So am just gonna hope my local postman reads my blog :P

Catch up - cakes and Super 8

Lately I've been busy with so many things I haven't had a chance (or inclination tbh :P) to write in my blog. I am now taking a few minutes out of internet-shopoholicism (is that a word? it is now) and making decorations to catch you up on what's been happening lately. And by you, I mean you, the one person who reads my blog :-p.


Anywho, first there was my sister's wedding reception at the end of July which kept me busy mostly because I was in charge of making the wedding cake. Plus, I made 50 cupcakes too. I decided to make the cake as bollywood glam as possible so it looks a bit over the top :-p but that's what asian weddings are like. I like to think of it as my Pakistani bride cake because it has everything a bride does: roses, gold, henna and a veil draped for modesty :-p

Pakistani Wedding Cake

Everything on it was edible. My sister wanted red roses, gold leaves, a drapey thing and henna design. She initially wanted a red cake with gold henna design but I couldn't find gold writing icing anywhere! Where do people buy it from?? Anyway, bottom cake was victoria sponge and surprisingly and thankfully it held out well. Middle cake was red velvet cake which vanished in a flash as soon as the cake was cut so I think it turned out well ;-). Top cake was chocolate, my favourite.

Here are some of the cupcakes I made, also in various flavours:

Wedding cupcakes

I made these in 3 flavours; chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. They also magically disappeared. Strawberry was especially popular so I made a whole bunch of them at our next party.

 Funny thing is, I used the all-in-one method (bung it all in a food processor)  to make them because I was in a hurry and they still came out pretty perfect. Just goes to show :-p.

 Only thing is, with the all in one method they get a bit of a peak on top, which I don't mind on cupcakes because it gives the icing a nice shape, but I once used it to make a Victoria sandwich and the peak was huge, had to cut the cake to make it level which is an awful waste of cake.

Oh yes, before all of this I made a barbie cake for my cousin's birthday with strawberry sponge and vanilla butter icing. The frills took ages but it was worth it :-). The writing icing sucked though. Almost as soon as I wrote with it the icing spread and looked awful. I will just make my own from now on instead of being lazy and buying it from Morrisons.

Apart from making mountains of cake lately, also saw some movies. Most recently, finally saw Super 8. Had been dying to see it ever since the first teaser trailer but when I saw how far down it was in the US charts I was afraid it had been too hyped up. Well...I absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed it! All the kids were amazingly natural. Haven't seen kids act so well since Goonies. In fact, it was a lot like Goonies if the Goonies had been in District 9. Yes, there were a few cheesy moments but it all fit in well the mysterious creature was suitably mysterious and made us jump in our seats many a time. All in all good fun. The children in the movie are making a zombie movie throughout the film and I was really glad that at the end, they show us it all. Was so funny.

 Wish I had invited my cousins along to watch it too because it reminded me of a mystery/horror script I wrote for us. We shot a few scenes (awesome ones) but never got around to finishing it that summer and by the next summer the boys were all taller and different looking. We kind of lost interest by then too. It's the only story I've ever written that had an awesome title (which I won't reveal here in case I want to use it later on). And it wasn't even me who named it, it was my cousin Hana :-p should get her to name all my stories...

Oh yeah one more thing. The decorations I'm making are for my Alice in Wonderland Tea Party yay! But more about that in later posts as I'm having it in 2 weeks. Just hope it doesn't rain that day :-S