Hamlet the Clown Prince

Went to see this in Hackney Empire the other night. I'm not sure if the area around Hackney Empire's actually THE Hackney, and when we got there it's a bit late and we couldn't see anything interesting in the area. Would have been great if we had been able to visit Hackney Museum before the show! Anyway...

It's a 1.5-hour comedy show, about a group of clowns who want to perform Hamlet, and then of course they have very different interpretations. It's supposed to be funny, I guess, but to be honest I didn't really see anything too entertaining there! The performance begins with one clown talking in some unintelligible language - with a few English words only. We thought it's our problem, but apparently I did a search after the show and it is indeed gibberish with some French and English words. Actually, it's the case in many parts of the show, and one has to be very attentive to follow what the clowns were actually saying. A bit annoying if you know what I mean. I was just constantly reminded of how enjoyable Onassis was - it's a performance that sticks to the mind, and perhaps because we were on the front row!

Anyway...the show's also a bit too long, after about 1 hour I already felt a bit bored. The couple sitting next to me actually kept looking at the time, and then the man couldn't take it anymore and took out his phone to play / text. It's that boring! The second half of the play's really not enjoyable - I couldn't quite follow what the clowns were doing, as it at some point suddenly took a turn and became a bit melancholic... and then S told me the man sitting next to him's fallen asleep. :P

Limitless

Hmmmm. Actually I can't think of anything to say about this film, when there are supposed to be many. Let me think some more.

IF there's really some pill that's exactly like what it is in the film, would you take it???

S actually said yes, provided there are no side-effects, OR, like in the film, you're sure that there will be unlimited supply of this pill which will sustain your perfect health. Which is not exactly true in the film, as there's still uncertainty in this 'unlimited guarantee' which is implied at the end of the film...oh well. I'm prolly the kind of people who will never make it big because I really don't like taking risks. :P

Hall Pass, and Comedy at King's Place

Hall Pass - a totally random comedy. Funny but you really don't need a brain for it. :P



We also went to a comedy show at King's Place, a nice hang out! It's next to the Guardian building (or they're the same building actually?) and hosts art galleries and two theatres. The night we went it's a show presented by a trio called WitTank. They specialise in doing sketch comedy, and it's a lot better than our last experience at Tarbenacle (spelling?) with one-man stand-up comedies which are not funny at all. But then it's really odd that in the audience there were a number of people who laughed unncessarily loudly and WAY TOO FREQUENTLY - they laughed even when no one's cracking a joke. I don't know what was happening, and S and I later discussed and we thought they might be 'friends' who were trying to create a better atmosphere. I understand it but then they're trying wayyyy too hard, to the extent it became annoying. The trio were okay but then I really can't say I enjoyed it thoroughly - some of the jokes were a bit silly, and some of the acts were ones that I wouldn't even choose to watch on telly. Am I being too mean here? Perhaps I just don't get it. :P

Rango!

The name totally has this 'power' when you pronounce it - RRRango! :D It's an interesting cartoon, but I don't think there's any clear 'message' - or perhaps there is? Rango's this lonely lizard who likes drama and impersonating characters. He is originally owned by some young people, but because of an accident he's left on his own in a desert...where he finds another 'home' that he can belong to. Perhaps it's again (like I am Number Four, though the two are really incomparable in so many ways...haha) about 'belonging'?

I would say if that's the message indeed then it's a bit too hard for children to grasp...just like in many contemporary cartoons. But that's alright, I think the kids at the screening all enjoyed the film a lot.

I'm happy that S got 2 cactus balloons for me after the screening! :D

The men who stare at goats

It's a Friday night without electricity in (some parts of) Paddington. We were having dinner in the room when electricity went out. Having nothing to do (it's dark outside as the whole area was affected), we watched this film...and it's quite puzzling but at the same time quite amusing!



The film's about the seemingly ridiculous 'psychic spying' in the US army - it's depicted in a totally farsical way in the film, and at different points during the film we were like 'What...how much more ridiculous can this be', but I just looked it up - this study of psychic spying probably does exist in reality! The film's a comical adaptation of a book that studies this 'department' in the US army that is not officially recognised (probably because it really does sound very ridiculous?). At the beginning of the film it says, 'More of this is [truer] than you would believe'. Isn't it!

The Social Network...finally.

We finally saw The Social Network - lucky we could still see it in a cinema! It's lost big time to The King's Speech in the Oscars, true, but it doesn't make it a less enjoyable film. I like the film - didn't expect it to be like this, with the detailed study of the breakdown of the friendship between the two founders and the soar of the social networking site. S finds the film a bit boring though - he said everything mentioned in the film are kind of familiar to him / people who have gone through having start-ups. Well, perhaps I was focusing more on the disintegration of relationships and how Zuchkerberg's character evolves. Perhaps the film doesn't entirely represent reality, but it doesn't make it a less enjoyable film.