I have neglected my blog recently

As the title says, I've completely neglected this blog recently!

Ever since my girlfriend Ciara got back from her trip to Europe, I haven't really needed this blog.
In a way it was my form of keeping sane and a way of expressing myself while she was away. And now that she's back, well I haven't had a need for it!

But, I shouldn't forget my avid readers.... (listens to the sound of crickets chirping)
So I shall post an entry at least once a week from now on!

So until then, this is me saying goodbye, but also hello once again!


Josh.

Day 24 of my diary for Ciara

Hey babe,

Well today was a pretty good day, except for one thing... The hot water isn't working :|
So I got up this morning, jumped into the shower and squealed like a little girl as the freezing cold water assaulted my body. If I wasn't awake then, I certainly was after that shower!

Mum had gone shopping with Pa, so I was left home alone for the morning. I made myself vegemite toast, and because we didn't have any juice, I had Dr. Pepper soft drink. The breakfast of champions!

I then wandered around the house for a bit, rather bored, so I offered my services as a director to a few people and it looks like I've got a few gigs shooting some music videos for bands coming up!
I then sat down at the computer and wrote more on a new screenplay I've been working on. It's not great... But hey, at least I'm writing something! I will make it good eventually.

Mum got home around lunch time and I had meat pies for lunch whilst watching the movie "Hobo With A Shotgun."
Dear god, sweet mother of Jesus that was a bad film! I can't even begin to explain just how bad it was... I mean sure it was an exploitation film, but Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez made much better exploitation films when they did their Grindhouse double feature!

Anyway I then proceeded to teach myself Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People on ukulele after seeing a mate's cover of it for her audition for the tv show The Voice.
I'm getting pretty good at it too! Not long before I'm a ukulele virtuoso (if there is such a thing...)

After dinner I wrote my review of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol after Chris pestered me to do it. So I posted that to my blog if you want to have a read of that as well!

That's it for today, a pretty relaxing and fulfilling day for me!

How's France babe? That is if you're still there, and not on a plane home...
I called your mum and I'll be at the airport with her to pick you up tomorrow night! I can't wait to see your face Ciara, I've missed you like crazy these past three and a half weeks... I love you more than words can describe my girl.

So until tomorrow, safe journey and bon voyage!

Love always,
from
Your Josh xxx

Review of "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol" - SPOILER WARNING

Synopsis (From IMDB): The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organisation's name.




Review:  


Let's start this off by saying that I'm reviewing "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" with my fanboy goggles firmly on. I went and saw it at the advanced screening on Wednesday the 14th of December 2011 at Hoyts cinemas, Frankston in their EXTREME Screen.
I am a huge fan of the Mission: Impossible franchise, except for MI2... Let's just pretend that John Woo never tainted the series with his over-stylised, horribly geographically incorrect and bordering on racist film.


But MI2 is not the reason why we're here! After the series reclaimed it's original panache with J.J. Abrams' MI3, we're now treated with "Mission: Impossible (4) - Ghost Protocol."
I put the number four in brackets because whilst this is the fourth film in the series, they've decided to go against the numbering in the film titles and give it a flashy new name with "Ghost Protocol."


The latest adventure see's Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in his biggest and nigh-on impossible mission to date. The film kicks off with Agent Hanaway (Josh Holloway from "Lost") murdered by an attractive assassin named Sabine Moreau (Lea Sydoux) for a document containing Russian nuclear missile codes, which she intends to sell to a terrorist known only as "Cobalt" (Michael Nyqvist from "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series). 


Hunt and his team are sent into the Kremlin to retrieve files identifying Cobalt and this ensues in a very cool, but tense scene in which Hunt and Benjy Dunn (Simon Pegg) hide behind a cloaking sheet as they infiltrate the Kremlin archives.
But alas Cobalt was there already and he sets off a bomb in the Kremlin, framing Hunt and his team as the perpetrators. To the Russians, this is an undeclared act of war by the United States and the IMF is shut down and "Ghost Protocol" is initiated, which basically means the entire agency is disavowed.


From here on in, Hunt and his team are tasked with catching Cobalt, stopping his plans of world destruction and clearing their names. All in a day's work for Ethan Hunt!


They travel from Russia, to India, to Dubai where Hunt must perform a death defying climb on the outside of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Tom Cruise actually did this crazy stunt! He does all his own stunts and he's nearly 50 years old!!! Actors of today need to take a lesson or two from Mr. Cruise, no need for CGI just go out there and do it for real! It looks much more authentic and real if you actually do a stunt, rather than jump in front of a green screen. 
Hence why director Brad Bird chose to shoot the film in IMAX, not 3D on Tom Cruise's insistence. Bird says "It truly immerses the audience. It's really bright, it's really sharp. Big, bright images: they are worth a lot. If your star is going to climb up the outside of a building for real, then I kinda feel as a director, you have a duty to show it."


Ghost Protocol is Brad Bird's live action directorial debut, with his previous films being animations (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant & Ratatouille). And I must say, he did a bloody fantastic job!
I love my movies big and stylish, and Bird delivered on both these fronts. The action is big and stylish, but not stupidly over the top like in John Woo's films. Yet still realistic, but not destroyed by shaky camera like in a Paul Greengrass film.
This is a beautiful movie, the cinematography is utterly gorgeous, adding to the slick and stylish nature of the film.


My only two criticisms of Ghost Protocol are;


Whilst the film has a bad guy, he isn't really an arch-enemy for Hunt like Phillip Seymore-Hoffman was in MI3. Michael Nyqvist is a brilliant actor, and the writers could've done so much more with his character, instead of killing him off, he could've returned in another Mission film to make life even more difficult for Tom Cruise. But I guess that wouldn't have worked as each film is directed by a different director who brings their own style to the series, so it could've impeded too much on the next director's choices in how he directs the film (If there is a next one, that is...).


The second is the nuclear missile which Ethan Hunt stops moments before it crashes into San Francisco. 
It would've exploded before it got to where it was when Hunt hit the disarm button. Typically, nuclear missiles are air-burst weapons, which means they actually explode in the air above the target. This is to increase the effectiveness of the explosion and push the nuclear blast further so that it is not obstructed by things such as large, heavy buildings.
And come on, the missile is moments from collision! Talk about last minute much?


To sum up, Ghost Protocol has made me remember why I go to the cinemas to see movies and why I want to be a director. Movies are about entertainment and escapism, and if you can keep an audience captivated for 133 minutes you've done your job. 
And that is exactly what Brad Bird has done with "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol". He transported me for 133 minutes into the world of Ethan Hunt and his team, where the mission is bigger than ever, and the stakes are higher than ever!
I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would go and see it again and again and again!


My rating for "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" is:
9.5/10

Day 23 of my diary for Ciara

Twenty three days! Gosh how time flies!

Well today was a rather mundane day, so I'll keep this blog short.
I woke up at 12pm noon, obviously I needed the sleep huh!
I then had breakfast, helped mum around the house and then did some writing.
Pa came around for a bit, so I had a good chat with him!

Then later in the arvo I headed off to work where I spent the next five hours working and looking after the store.
When I came home, the family weeny here as they were at Lochy's indoor juniours grand final, which unfortunately he lost.
So while they were out, I had dinner and watched a movie called Priest, which was pretty cool!

Now I'm headed to bed where I shall retire for the night. Not long before I see your face now :)
Ciao bella

Love always,
from
Your Josh xxx

Day 22 of my diary for Ciara

Hey babe!
I'll jump straight into today's blog!

Firstly I've gone and hurt my knee, I don't know how, but it's not good... It feels like its out of place and it hurts to bend it. So I'm going to get it checked out if it doesn't fix itself soon!

I awoke early this morning, considering the time I went to bed last night... (3am) Well morning, but anyway! I tried to call you, but alas it was not to be. Seems as if you never turn your phone on or answer my calls... No surprises there though.

Anywho I jumped on a bus from Rosebud and headed into Frankston where I brought mum her Christmas present, hopefully she likes it!
After that I headed to school to fix up my university preferences and then caught the bus home.

I finished season one of Arrested Development, went for a skate and then came home. Lochie was out to dinner for a school thing, so it was only mum and I home for dinner, we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas with dinner. God I forgot how good that movie is, very weird though...

Anyway that's my day, I'm now lying in bed where I've read two screenplays tonight!

That's it for today! I hope you're having an amazing time over there Ciara :) I can't wait to see you on Thursday! I love you girl.

So I better head to bed now, goodnight beautiful.

Love always,
from
Your Josh xxx

Day 21 of my diary for Ciara- The three week mark

Three weeks! Twenty one days!
How time flies when you're having fun hey! Well for you I'm sure it has, for me it feels like an eternity since I saw you last Ciara. I can't wait to hold you in my arms when you get home babe!

Anyway today was a good day. Except for the morning... When I was rudely awoken from my slumber by Dad to help him put the netting over the fruit trees because a bunch of rosellas had got into the trees and eaten the apricots.
So with no food in my belly I worked for the next half an hour to 45 minutes getting that done.

Once that was completed, Lochlan kindly made us all eggs for breakfast and I watched nearly all of season one of 'Arrested Development.'

This is how I spent most of the day; just relaxing, catching up on my rest and so on.
Then we headed to indoor hockey to play our last game for the season, and we won! The end score was 9-3 our way, which is awesome! So we came third overall!

I then drove the return trip, dropping a teammate off in Balnarring and then headed home. So that's a good hour or so to add to my book!

Then this evening I went exploring with Nick, Mark and Jason. It was very fun! I took some great photos and tried to get some of the thunderstorm over the bay, but alas they didn't work...

So now I'm finally rugged up back at Nick's place. Going to get a damn good sleep tonight!

I can't wait to hear from you babe, let me know when it's ok to call again!
I love you so much Ciara and I can't wait to see your face girl!

Love always,
from
Your Josh xxx

Day 20 of my diary for the beautiful miss Ciara Griffiths

Hey gurrl how's it going?

Well I tried to call you today, but low and behold your phone didn't work as usual... So I tried a couple more times, it didn't work. So I went back to sleep, woke back up, tried again, didn't work again, so got up and had some breaky.

Nick and I watched the Guy Ritchie movie 'Snatch' which is one of my favourites!
We then wandered on the beach and went for a paddle.
Nick then drove me to work where I spent the next six hours watching The Muppets Christmas and chatting about wedding dresses with Ali.
After work I met up with a couple of mates for an hour or so, which was nice.
Now I'm sitting at home watching 'Friends With Benefits' which is really good, damn Mila Kunis is a babe! :P

So yeah, that's my day. Had a bit of a breakdown so it'd be nice to hear your voice. But yeah it doesn't matter if you can't!

I better head to bed, get some shut eye. Got a hockey match tomorrow evening so I need my energy!
Let me know when I can call you babe, or you call me, it'd be amazing if I can hear your voice. I love you Ciara.

Love always,
from
Your Josh xxx