Blogmas day 5, 2014: Abbey Road Studios and Harrods

Halloooo!

So today I went to St John's Wood to go to Abbey Road Studios. I hope you are all familiar with Abbey Road. No doubt that you are :)

But if you are not familiar with the Abbey Road Studios, allow me to enlighten you.

In this building a lot of brilliant composers and musicians have recorded soundtracks and songs. To name a few movies: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey, The Chronicles of Narnia, Nanny McPhee, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Harry Potter, From Hell, 300, the Waterhorse, the King's Speech, Marvel movies, Chocolat, Notting Hill, etc etc etc. And a couple of artists: Adele, the Beatles, Blur, Dido, Enya and many many many more talented musicians have recorded an album in this building.

Even more famous than the studios is probably the zebra crossing in front of the building. It was the scene of the 11th album cover of the Beatles where they cross the street on the zebra crossing. Like the good lads that they are.

I'd heard that Abbey Road was quite popular amongst tourists and Beatle fans, but I didn't expect the amount of people that I saw today :) Not that is was Black Friday busy, but there was a constant stream of people arriving and leaving. When I went back to the tube station, I actually past a group of 20!

After Abbey Road, I went back south to go to Harrods. I was curious to see what they did for Christmas. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I was expecting, so you can imagine the disappointment. But I have to admit that I did only a part of Harrods. That building is way to big and way to expensive for me to feel really comfortable. The children's section was a blast though :)

After Harrods I tried Hamley's, but on a Friday afternoon it was pretty crowded. And again, not as festive as I had in mind... Bummer.

Anyway, a hot chocolat from Costa always sets the Christmas tone :)

That was it for today :) Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Blogmas day 4, 2014: the Imitation Game

Hallooooooo!!

Besides watching the 9 hours (not all 9) of special features of the Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug, I went to Croydon today. Yes, again. And yes again to watch a movie :) The Imitation Game featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong and many many many more talented actors and actresses. That film has been on my to watch list for quite some time now.

Now, I have to admit that beside Atonement and the Other Boleyn Girl (in which I have no idea which character he plays, whoops) I hadn't seen yet a movie where Benedict plays a big role. Ok Smaug taken aside. But I haven't seen an episode of Sherlock nor anything else he features in. So it was a lovely suprise to watch his very touching performance of Alan Turing. And I can finally say I now understand what the Benedict effect entails.

The story was very moving and I have to say sad as well. The fact that homosexuality was illegal not a 100 years ago here in the UK. That is just unbelievable and raises even more questions. Cumberbatch acting performance just makes you feel extra for the guy. He got a pardon from the queen in 2013. It's a nice gesture, but he isn't much with it now is he? But it is a beautiful and incredible important story that needed to be told.

I highly recommend this movie!

Thanks for reading day 4 of blogmas ^^
xo - Sara

Blogmas day 3, 2014: Canary Wharf, Greenwich and Paddington

Hallooooo!!

Day 3 has come and gone! Enjoy today's little video :)

My first stop was in Canary Wharf, just to get this lovely view on Greenwich and Greenwich University.

After enjoying that lovely view for a minute or 10, I walked through the tunnel underneath the Thames to come up at the other side in Greenwich. Pretty awesome :)

I had a lovely walk around town and visited the National Maritime Museum (which is free, if anyone is interested). I even got to see the uniform Nelson was wearing during the battle of Trafalgar. You can actually see the hole where the bullet (or something like it) went through that was the fatal shot! Of course, no pictures allowed. But if anyone is in the neighbourhood and interested...

After the museum I saw the movie Paddington. What a wonderful lovely movie that is. The perfect family movie to go see over the Christmas holiday. Funny and heart warming. You can't ask for more. And Paddington was just the cutiest pedoetiest character. You'd wish he were real :)

By the time I left the cinema it was already getting darker, so everything looks 10 times more christmassy :)

Greenwich market

Voila, that was my little day out to Greenwich :) It was like going home. I love that part of the city so much...

Thanks for reading!!
xo - Sara

Blogmas day 2, 2014: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1

Halloooooo!!

Today will be a very very short blog post :)

The main event for me today was no doubt watching the Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1. Quite a few of my friends had already seen the movie and they were kind of surprised that I hadn't seen it yet. Well, today I finally catched up :)

I have heard a lot of different opinions about the movies. Some loved it, others thought is was boring, anti climactic. A lot of talking, planning, crying, not a lot of action. But it didn't lessen my excitement :)

I've read the books, but that is already two years ago. And I am surprised about how much I've forgotten already! In fact, watching that movie felt like I've never even read the book. Amazing! Because the fact is that I l o v e d the books, so now I couldn't let the books spoil my view on the movies :) But I am going to read them again once I finished my book series I am currently reading :)

Maybe you'd like to know what I think of the movie? Well, I can honestly say I loved it. Ok, there might not be as much action as in the previous two. And the ritme of the movie might be a bit slow (that is what you get if you split a 400page book into two 2hour movies), but man, I loved it. At times I had difficulties keeping my eyes dry. My jaw dropped. I laughed out loud. The acting abilities of every single actor/actress in that movie is just sublime.

Besides my overwhelming excitement, I was also a bit scared. Scared about the fact they split the last one into two parts. I mean, it's not like you have a Silmarillion and a few appendices where you kind find more source material for extra screen time. I am of the opinion that splitting Mockingjay into two part wasn't a necessity. It could have worked in one movie. But I can't help but admire how they made part 1 work as part 1. If part 1 had failed to deliver, than part 2 might have struggeld. But seeing the success, no doubt all the fans will pay the way too much money to go to the cinema to see the second part. And yes, that includes me.
 
The best part of going to the cinemas on an afternoon on a week day, is that the chances are very slim on a crowded cinema. Yesterday I had only 3 people join me to watch Love, Rosie. Today I shared the theather with only two. I love it :)

So, that was the main activity of the day :) After the movie I did some shopping in an attempt to make my room a bit more christmassy... I ended up buying more fairy lights and I have to say, I love the end result. Although it is still not really christmassy... Oh well, I'll be moving house in 3weeks, best to keep it as simple as possible :)

For old time sake, here is the trailer for the Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1 :)

I hope you had a lovely day!

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Blogmas day 1, 2014: the Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies World Premiere #OneLastTime

Hallooooo!!!

I wrote my week 17 update as well !!!! Regency Era and Gender Equality. Or just scroll down :)

This is something new: a blog post every day until Christmas!! Well, I'll try :)

So, what have I been up to on Monday 1 December 2014? Let me see... I think it is save to say that the world premiere of the Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies was the main "event" of the day. The last movie in Middle Earth. Let's start blogmas with an amazing event so that the other days look like sh*t... -.-

Still building up

the stage

One side of the "red" carpet

Gettin' ready

I asked one of the security guys where you had to stand if you just wanted to watch the event. He was kind enough to let me know that the premiere was a ticketed event and that only people with a wristband could stay. Everything else would be closed off for the public. And I believe they did a tremendous job. If they kept the square open for public, they wouldn't be able to control it and therefor it would have been too dangerous (+ the square was occupied with a Christmas market)

Premiere closed off

Sneak peek

Because my original plan was to stay on the square and watch everything from the big screens, I now had no plan what so ever. Inner dilemma: go home, do something else in the city, hang around Leicester sq and hope for the best,...? So obviously I did none of the above and I went to the cinema. Odeon Studios no less. Off peak is always cheaper and the guy at the box office gave me a Odeon Premiere Club which gave me 25% off just because it was Monday :)

As promised, it was a romantic movie based on the book writen by the same author of P.S I love you. Sam Claflin and Lily Collins were divine.

Lucky me, in front of the the Odeon Studios was the green carpet for the premiere and when I left the theater the event was full on. So I was able to have a sneak peek before I (and many others) was sent away :)

This was just one side. There is more around the corner...

Screenshot of an interview with Luke Evans

I only saw the first 20min or so, but luckily they sent out a live stream :) So in case you missed it: here is the link. It's a 2hour event, you'll see interviews with Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Sir Ian McKellen and soooo many more!

So after I was send away, I went home to watch the Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug and write this blog post :)

Here is the song of the last movie of Middle Earth, written and sung by Billy Boyd.

 

So, I hope you enjoyed the first blog post out of 24 :) Keep posted!!

Thanks for reading!

xo - Sara