So imagine my surprise when I saw the sequel- Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer- last week and was quite impressed by it. I decided to see the film to decuce if Tim Story, the director of both films, could make a better film the second time around. In an age of darker, more ‘adult’ comic book flicks such Spider Man and Superman, Story wasn’t afraid to change his formula for the second installment of this franchise. The film is really fun, without compromising the fact that it is, in essence, about the end of the world. Let me explain; (LARGE SPOILERS) the Silver Surfer, or Norrin Radd (as he was known on his homeland Zenn-La) is a herald for a greater being, Galactus (who you do see a bit, but in a weird form). As a servant of Galactus, the surfer scopes out planets that Galactus can suck the energy from (as a “planet-eater”) and prepares them for his arrival.

In film terms, this sets up the basis for the action of the movie; the surfer arrives on Earth during the nuptials of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, causing weird climatic changes (a sea freezes!) and huge holes from which Galactus can suck energy from. The set pieces in this film, in particular the one in London, are excellent, and the CGI is of course flawless. But the thing that holds this film together is the surfer; in the Silver Surfer Tim Story has found someone who can revitalise the franchise- he’s not your token villain… There is a lot beneath his shiny surface, and Jessica Alba in particular tries to appeal to his more sensitive side. The key behind his success though is Doug Jones: Jones is to the Silver Surfer as Andy Serkis is to King Kong, and the way he moves is like nothing on Earth. I’m not going to talk about Dr. Doom; I think he has been wasted, and Julian McMahon’s acting is shocking in this film, just as it was in the first.

I don’t want to spoil the story for you guys too much, but all in all I was fairly shocked by how decent the sequel was. There are a few surprises in store for you: make sure you watch out for Galactus’ cool design…

I’m happy to say that as much as I hated the idea of going to some random place on a Sunday afternoon, the Foundation Course was excellent. It showed me a lot about myself as a person, and the sort of role I could fulfill in a team of working adults. And that role is…. leader. I’ve always had large dreams about running some multinational company, and I thought I had it within me to manage a team of talented people… well, I was one of the two people in my team who emerged as leaders, and I enjoyed the role thoroughly. But what of the course itself? Well, the two day course took place in the new Cotswold Conference Center, somewhere near Oxford. Owned by the famous entrepreneur Jorgen-Philip Sorensen, my school is the only one in the United Kingdom which has the privelege of using this world renowned business training centre (because Sorensen has relatives who go to Dean Close). After an eventful journey in which the bus overheated, we arrived at the conference center. On the way, there had been a incessant beeping which we couldn’t deduce the source of… there I was joking “It’s a bomb” a la Speed, but it turns out that beeping signals the bus is overweight and the engine is overheating.

Well, as soon as the 50 strong group of students arrived at the center, we were split into smaller groups of around 8, and each group was assigned a teacher: it was made clear that they would not be acting as a ‘teacher’ during the course, rather they would be reviewing us. The head of the camp also gave us the keys to our bedrooms, which she mentioned, were one-to-a-room and had en-suite bathrooms. This was a massive surprise to me- I was expecting 10 to a room accommodation with one shower between all those people. However, when I arrived at the room it was completely different to what I had imagined; there were LCD TV’s in each room, and really well outfitted, spacious rooms with new bathrooms.

After dropping my bags off, I returned to the main conference building, where my group would be meeting, in a room named Warwick. To cut things short, over the two days we were set 7 different tasks, after each of which we evaluated our performance as a team and what we would do to improve it. Each of the tasks tested different skills, from maths to presentation, but the overall aim was teamwork. In the end, the team I was a part of went on to win the final presentation task, earning ourselves £10 each and the opportunity to present our creation to the Dean Close Marketing Team. Not bad, eh?

 It obviously didn’t occur to the organisers at my school that we might like a short break to get over the stress of my exams. Or perhaps they thought work experience was a good way to ‘relax’? Well, whatever they decided, I have had enough… I sit here in the Comic Relief offices in Vauxhall, rebelling by writing this very post. Give me a shout if anyone out there working in the professional word is feeling the same way I do right now…

No, not quite… London is a mess. A huge, sprawling, disgusting dump of a city, it doesn’t exactly stand out as a showcase of what is great about Britain. I mean, superficially, it looks just about presentable, with its meager ‘skyscrapers’ and stand out landmarks such as The London Eye and Big Ben. But if you delve a little deeper, say 30 meters beneath the ground, you find what this city is actually about. I am, of course, talking about the infamous London underground.

The chosen method of transport for 3 million Londoners every day, the London system is the oldest Underground in the world, and it shows. I struggled to find on my first journey why so many people use it, and I hope you will empathise with me: I’m going to paint a picture of a normal journey on the London Underground in the summer months. You are waiting on the packed platform for the Victoria Line traveling North to Brixton. A train pulls up, and as it slows down you see bodies literally crammed against the windows- the doors open and people are thrown out onto the platform by the mass of bodies on the carriage. You then attempt to try to find your way onto the train, before the doors slide closed suddenly onto you arm or backpack.

“Please mind the closing doors. Please mind the closing doors” calls the pre-recorded message.

Once on the train, you look around, realising the point that you are crammed into the space normally reserved for someone half your size; don’t forget the fact that your face is stuck in someone’s armpit. As the train begins to move the heat sets in, and you pray for some form of ventilation. The blistering heat only abates when a gust of wind manages to find its way into the carriage, and you pray for your stop to come. Well, I hope you get the idea.

The tube, whilst being a big problem, is only one of the things that is wrong with London. When you look at the city as a whole, one of the main issues I find is the overall cost of living there. The general living standards aren’t higher than anywhere else in the UK, but the cost of a carton of orange juice in Marks and Spencer’s is around £4. What is it about London that means companies can get away with charging ridiculous prices for inadequate goods?

Well, at least I’m only here for a week. However, it seems as if the citizens are unsatisfied with many aspects of their city; at the moment most of the problems at the moment concern the 2012 Olympics. To be fair, who can forgive the committee which allowed a logo which looks like a 3 year old child’s drawing? I just hope the added pressure of the Olympics in 5 years can help to give London the clean up it needs. And as a side note, what does everyone out there in the blogosphere think of this logo?

Considering bird’s diets are made up solely of fish, what has possessed these birds to lash out and literally swallow their worries? You have to feel for the unsuspecting pigeon/bird which became lunch on these days, just because this bird wasn’t feeling happy with its low placing in the food chain. Oh well, hopefully this means we can say goodbye to the infestation of “rats with wings” (pigeons, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term) that England currently faces.