Films I want to watch in 2013

2013 MOVIES - UPDATED [2/12/13]

In no particular order of importance or release date, these are the films I'm excited about and therefore want to watch: 

The Hobbit 
Jack Reacher 
Star Trek: Into Darkness 
Iron Man 3 
Monsters University 
Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D Not happening apparently!!!
Pacific Rim 
The World's End 
Elysium 
Man of Steel 
The Wolverine 
Despicable Me 2 


Jurassic Park in 3D - did this happen?


Not sure how many I'll see at the cinema, but I can dream, can't I?

England's Cricket Schedule 2012-13/14

• Dec 2012: India Test and T20 series (away)

• Jan 2013: India one-day series (away)

• Feb-March 2013: New Zealand Test and one-day series (away)

• May-June 2013: NZ Test and ODI series (home)

• June 2013: Champions Trophy (50 overs, home)

• July-August 2013: Ashes series (home)

• September 2013: Australia ODI series (home)

• Nov 2013-Feb 2014: Ashes tour (away)

Pacific Rim - Guillermo del Toro

GDT brings the old school premise of giant robots fighting giant monsters (Power Rangers anyone) into modern movie making. I do like Idris Elba!

Wolverine Motion Poster

Empire magazine have shown off the latest Wolverine poster. As they put it, no title on this, Wolverine sells himself. Here's a preview:

Head on over to Empire Online for the full dynamic experience... http://www.empireonline.com/ 

Jack the Giant Slayer

Hmm, not sure about this one... do the giants look real enough?

Man of Steel Trailer!!!

Updated with working video:

 

Star Trek Into Darkness

Like Man of Steel, the video has gone!

Here are some links:

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?nid=35942

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?nid=36041

I've got it! ABSW (Angry Birds Star Wars)

Shameless tie in, but great nonetheless!

LEGO LOTR: looks good!

IRB Autumn International Fixtures

Saturday, 10 November:

England v Fiji, 14:30

Wales v Argentina, 14:30

Italy v Tonga, 15:00

Ireland v South Africa, 17:30

France v Australia, 20:00

Sunday, 11 November:

Scotland v New Zealand, 14:30

Friday, 16 November

Wales v Samoa, 19:30

Saturday, 17 November

Italy v New Zealand, 14:00

England v Australia, 14:30

Scotland v South Africa, 14:30

Ireland A v Fiji, 17:30

France v Argentina, 20:00

Saturday, 24 November

Ireland v Argentina, 14:00

England v South Africa, 14:30

Scotland v Tonga, 15:00

France v Samoa, 17:00

Wales v New Zealand, 17:15

Italy v Australia, 18:00

Saturday, 1 December

England v New Zealand, 14:30

Wales v Australia, 14:30

Angry Birds Star Wars

Star Wars Episode VII

I haven't actually "written" too many blog posts recently, but I felt I had to say something about the recent Star Wars news...

I was raised on Star Wars. I am even old enough to have seen Return of the Jedi at the cinema on its original release! I had the toys, the books and the videos (including the recordings of the TV!). I had the theatrical releases and the special editions on VHS. I went to the cinema to see the special edition releases in 1997. I've played the video games old and new just to keep getting a fix of the adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie and the droids.

So, in 1999, I eagerly awaited the release of Star Wars: Episode I. I watched it and, with a generation of 20 somethings, was completely and utterly disappointed. Episode II improved the experience and Episode III condensed 90% of the trilogy's story into 2 hours. It was pretty good, but the whole thing could have been so much more.

Since then, there have been some animated additions to the franchise, including a feature film (which I own, but have only seen 2 or 3 times). But nothing has replaced the excitement that rose up in me and everyone else when Episode I was announced.

Until now.

Disney have indeed bought Lucasfilm for a sum north of $4billion! George is now an even richer man than before. This has been joined by the announcement of further Star Wars films, including Episodes VII, VIII and IX!

I've always known that Mr Lucas had plans for Eps I, II and III as well as for VII, VIII and IX. It's been written about before we even knew that Jar Jar Binks would be the bane of the fanboy's existence. But now, we will finally know what George has planned for our favourite heros!

If it has our favourite heros involved. There is now a lot of speculation over who will be in these films, who will write them, who will direct them and what on earth the story will be. Will it be based on a set of books? Video games? Who knows? Well, George knows... We are all concerned, but we're all interested. Like Helen O'Hara wrote in her article on Empire "everyone’s going to be interested in a new Star Wars movie." It's that simple! And I'm more interested than ever.

I love Star Wars and everything about the Galaxy that it exists in. Or existed in, a long time ago! In all fairness, I can't wait to see what happens...

This is what George Lucas has to say:

Oz

Disney setting up a new franchise?

Iron Man 3:

Stark! New suit! Pepper! Peril! Mandarin! Teaser trailer...

A few thoughts

Not much to say really. End of Term One and heading into two weeks off work! It's been busy. But it's been great. I feel that the new Head has a real drive to sort things out and that's rubbing off on colleagues. There are tough targets and there's still loads to do! However, I have a team that I think is more than capable of being up to the task. Can't wait to get going again.

On other things. We're in Raybould birthday season. We're celebrating three birthdays in one tomorrow. Cool.

Generally I'm ok. Although thoughts of my dad are still difficult and always cause an emotional reaction. It's hard. But, our last conversation boiled down to two words: Embrace It. I'm going to embrace work and embrace life! Miss you dad.

Out. T x

More Hobbit Delights...

SKYFALL!!! The new Bond trailer...

Bond! The Queen! Danny Boyle! Awesome!

Man of Steel Teasers

These are two teasers for 2013's Man of Steel. That's Superman to everyone else! The two teasers have identical footage, but the first has a Jonathan Kent voiceover and the second has a Jor-El narration... enjoy!

JGL does it again - another sleeper hit?

I've taken the plunge

That's it... I've taken the plunge. I have an iPhone 4S. I've been talking about it for years and, almost 4.5 years after I got the first generation iPod touch I've upgraded. And what an upgrade.

I already have a Mac and am keen to expand the ecosystem. I have a lot of apps (mostly games) and my iPod is on its way out. It's slow and is stuck on iOS 3.1.3! Most apps don't work anymore. So I couldn't wait for the next iteration and took the plunge now.

It's awesome. The display is a joy to look at. iOS is of course very easy to set up and use. The camera has been great so far and the whole experience is familiar yet new.

I've ordered a retro Game Boy style silicon case which I think will be great.

I still have to port my number over from my previous operator and there seem to be a few teething problems with the new one. But, I have an iPhone and that's the main thing.

And I've just typed this on the blogger app on my new phone!

007: Skyfall Teaser Trailer...

Skyfall?... Skyfall?... Done!


I don't know what that means, but I'm excited. I LOVE Bond movies. Especially the Daniel Craig ones.

4 Minutes of Amazing Spiderman!

Samsung Galaxy SIII

It's here - one of the most hyped phones since the iPhone 4S... any good? I don't know - but, for me, it's too big!!!

Not motivated by money...

Illustration by Matt Kenyon (courtesy of
the Guardian website)

Interesting article at the Guardian website by Zoe Williams on how money isn't an incentive for teachers to "perform." My favourite line is something I've been saying for a long time: "The flaw here is that it doesn't follow that good teaching is engendered by specific financial rewards. It's quite possible that teachers entered the field in the first place because they weren't that interested in competing for money."


I believe that teachers teach because they want to teach (intrinsic motivation) - not because they think it's a well paid job that will get them everything money can buy! School holidays are a good reward for everything a teacher does, but not the reason for becoming a teacher. (I'm talking about the vast majority of teachers: there may indeed be some that become teachers because it's a job and the holidays are good.)


The Guardian's article is here

Safe - The Stath at his best?

I saw the trailer in the cinema last week and read Empire's review (here)... this looks pretty good!

The Dark Knight Rises

I appear to have missed this... almost!!! Looking forward to this a lot!

NEW PROMETHEUS TRAILER [UPDATE]

I'm posting it and I haven't even watched it!!! Following The Avenger Assemble (UK Title) on Friday, I'm thirsty for more great action at the cinema this year. Prometheus is the way to go!

I've watched it and it's nothing like the previous trailers! Definitely and "Alien" movie in tone and context. Love it!

 

Iron Man vs Thor

It would seem that these two don't like each other when they first meet...

Tony Stark vs Loki [Update]

The Avengers Assemble movie can't come quick enough! (April 26th btw).What a great little snippet of a scene between two of the main characters. My main question - what's Tony Stark putting on his wrists??? Enjoy... [UPDATE: The wrist thing??? Awesome! Watch the movie and you'll know what I mean!]

Into April we go...

Just a few notes... I didn't post anything in March! It went very quickly! 9 days away in Lanzarote helped! We stayed in a villa in Playa Blanca with a heated outdoor pool and a very lovely beach nearby. Very relaxing and very much needed!

Back on the bike this last few weeks. I have some road tyres at last. Didn't know I'd get into being a roadie quite so much! Still love the fact I have a cyclocross - a friend has also bought one so, when we visit the Lakes (where he lives), we'll be able to get on the trails together!

One of the biggest things this last few weeks has involved house moving! Most stuff is going very well, but we've hit a snag due to the surveyor's report... watch this space!

Red Dwarf X is on the horizon this year, so I've been watching my way through the existing series. It's great. Thanks to iTunes, I lie in bed at night and watch a couple of episodes. I've just had an idea - I'm going to review every episode and post here on the blog - might make it a sub page of some kind... hmm.

Anyway, as I said, just a few notes. Ah, one final point - I've said it before and not followed through, but this time I'm serious. My next phone will be an iPhone. I'm not even going to wait for the next version! I really like the 4S and so, in May, I'm going to take the plunge. One step closer to creating my Apple ecosystem. After the iPhone, it's going to be AppleTV. Then, next year, the iPad. One day, I'll get a MacBook - but we'll see how the iPad works out.

Over and out...

T Ray x

Prometheus Promotion... Say hello to Weyland...

Marvel Avengers Assemble!!! [UPDATE]

I've now seen this movie and haven't stopped thinking about it! Best superhero movie ever and that's saying something (I love superhero movies and grew up on Christopher Reeve's Superman; I've seen the X-Men, Iron Man and Spiderman movies a lot). Wow, it has everything and more! Get your head around the baddies from another planet thing and it's a totally immersive experience that gives all characters the screen time they're worthy of. I loved it.

MWC 2012: HTC One X

Hmm, could this phone actually keep me away from iPhone? I'll hold out for iPhone 5 and see what Cupertino brew up next. The One X beats iPhone 4S very easily...



More information at Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/26/htc-one-x-announced-at-mwc-2012/

Education Matters

A little snippet from Dan Pink at The Pink Blog that I think is relevant to the UK as well as the US:

"The trouble is that much of [government's] education....seems designed more for the convenience of adults than for the education of children. If we reckon with that unpleasant truth and have an honest conversation that places our kids at the center of our efforts, we can make a lot of progress."

I particularly like the last point. Let's put learners at the centre of Education.

1 Hour of Hits...

I'm not referring to the Musings of Timo radio show (there isn't one!) but actually to something that happened between 19:00 and 20:00 on the 15th Feb 2012.

Bear Grylls (@BearGrylls) retweeted one of my tweets on twitter.

That in itself was a pretty awesome feeling! But, what happened next was even better. In the hour that followed, over 1000 people clicked on the link and viewed my blog! This is the post: http://themusingsoftimo.blogspot.com/2011/12/bear-grylls-motto.html

Bourne Legacy Trailer Blasts Online

The AMAZING Spiderman

Hmm, I might actually be excited about this now... I couldn't believe there was going to be a reboot and wasn't sure how Raimi's films could be bettered. This looks pretty, well, amazing!

Prometheus - our beginning?

The Avengers - Superbowl trailer

Ingleborough 2012

And so, with my brother and my dad, we went up Ingleborough on the 5th January. A great way to start the year. The weather was windy, yet glorious! It was like greeting an old friend as we reached the summit, headed for the trig point and then for the familiar shelter. Loved it!

View from the shelter (just visible at the left of the pic)

Read on for more pics...