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Turns out that I spent most of yesterday grinning like a loon after going to see the mighty boosh live. It was super.
I'm still not used to seeing people from the TV on stage, I get a little starstruck because I am somehow amazed that they look the same in person. It was also unusual to see so many fans of the mighty boosh in one place, I normally find it hard to come across anyone who likes the show. And what fans these people were, some of them had dressed up, some of them were sporting variations of Vince Noir's haircut, and all of them were really excited. There was much screaming and cheering anytime anyone came on stage. Half of the fun was recognising the characters and knowing what they were going to say. I don't really think that people who hadn't seen the TV show would enjoy it that much, but it is much much fun if you know the TV series.
The overall plot of the show seemed to be an amalgam of a number of plots from the TV series, with the best bits, characters and songs from each. The whole thing seemed like a bit of a shambles. Seriously, it would have been more professional if it was performed by a troup of bees. And as such, it was amazing. Whenever someone forgot their lines, or fell over, or in one case, ran into a pole, it was very funny.

Some highlights:

- Vince's spangly jumpsuit
- at one point a wolf-whistle came from a member of the audience, which caused Noel Fielding to remark, "Who are you whistling at? I'm an 80 year old rapist, he's a gorilla, and he's dead."
- Rich Fulcher (dressed as a Spaniard) actually spat at Vince (Noel). He really strikes me as a person who's a little unhinged and would do anything if it got a laugh. He is awesome.
- The cast laughing to themselves very frequently

In conclusion: woo!

I'm so excited!!

I'm going to see the Mighty Boosh live this evening!

Their TV show is one of the funniest things; this is going to be awesome :D

So the animation was a lot better than the TV series by Bee Train. There was actually good timing and action instead of lots of people standing around with exciting music. The character design looked better too.

Um, maybe spoilers in the next bit.

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I suppose I should finally put down my thoughts on the xxxHolic movie. I watched it almost as soon as I downloaded it, but I had to write a seminar over the weekend, so I've been pretty busy until now.

I won't be mentioning any spoilers so feel free to read on.

Firstly: I loved it! I don't think I was hoping for much, perhaps that's thanks to the Tsubasa Chronicle anime. So it was a very nice surprise when it actually turned out to be good. It had all the right elements that xxxHolic should have. It was a bit scary, it was a bit weird, and it was funny. Watanuki is quite funny when he's actually animated, it makes you realise how, for the want of a better word, animated he actually is. As for the other characters; Yuuko is just awesome and supercool, and Doumeki is, well, Doumeki. I actually enjoyed the animation a lot. I was a bit unsure when I saw the promotional pictures. The character designs are really long-limbed, and while this works for CLAMP because they actually keep the rest of the body in proportion, it makes the anime character designs look a bit weird. I really thought I wouldn't like it, but actually I think they pulled it off quite well. It turns out that the gangly-ness of the characters really adds to the weird feeling of the film and doesn't look out of place at all. As for the story, I'm not sure it's possible to get stranger, it reminded me a little of Alice in Wonderland; it was quite interesting.

So in conclusion; I am very happy with the way this film turned out, it seems like the essence of the manga was retained. I am so glad that Production IG will be making the TV series now.

Hmmm, xxxHolic movie, eh what?

More news once I watch it.

I went home at the weekend. There was a family gathering on my Dad's side, everyone was there. As with most family gatherings it was both loud, drunken and a little bit embarassing, but I wouldn't have it any other way <3
First there was curry and then there was bowling.

The next day I took another trip, with my parents, to one of the oldest remaining coaching inns in the country. We took a tour around the building this time. It was so interesting! The whole place looked like it had grown up organically. None of the rooms were the same size and they were all on slightly different levels. Each room you walked into seemed to have another door, which would lead into a tiny staircase to yet another room, this in turn would have tiny staircases leading away from it. It was like a warren! There were places where the sizes of the rooms didn't quite match up, suggesting that there are lots of secret nooks and crannies that you don't know about. Indeed, there was a priest-hole under the floorboards of one room, that you could only enter through a tiny cupboard. I find this kind of place fascinating! There was a room that Oliver Cromwell had stayed in (supposedly) and a room where Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn stayed on their honeymoon!
Don't get me started on the network of tunnels that are supposed to run under the town centre, connecting this inn to the church and all the other pubs in the area...

Man, I feel bad for not updating Clematis in a while. I've had a half-drawn page sitting on my desk for ages! I just don't have the time at the moment. When I'm not in the lab, I'm writing my seminar for next Monday. Please bear with me, I will update sometime.

Oh, and Mariya: I got your card! Good luck for Saturday!

I read Tsubasa chapter 107.

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Any guesses at what came through the post yesterday? Anyone?
You betcha, it was my new DVD player! After trying a large selection of my DVDs, I came to the conclusion that it a) works and b) is multiregion. Woooooooooooooooo! Now all I need is some time to watch some DVDs or something.

But good crikey I've been so tired recently. I keep going into the lab early to work on my final year project. I haven't worked in months, I'm not used to early mornings yet. I spend most of my days growing up little E. colis. I'm getting more used to it, so it's getting better, I even managed to save some files on, possibly, the oldest computer in the world without it crashing on me today. Score!

I've just been knocked for six by Tsubasa chapter 106. Read more for spoilers ahoy!

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I bought a new DVD player, la la la! Only 27 pounds for multi-region, why yes please.

My current DVD player doesn't work anymore and no one else in my house can play region 1 DVDs, so I can't watch my Tokyo Babylon OVA D:

I'm feeling better now! Not completely better, I've still got a cough, but mostly better.

It's annoying though, in a way. Because now I have no excuse to ignore all the coursework I have to do. Only 2 weeks into the semester and I already have too much work! *woe*

I'm so ill @_@

I've got some kind of bad cold complete with aches and fever. I've had it since Tuesday, and I'm starting to wonder if I will ever get better...

*shrugs* oh well

So I went on holiday to the city of Luxembourg for two nights. To tell the truth, I had no idea what to expect. And what I got was a nice surprise. The city of Luxembourg is really pretty. When we first arrived I was astounded. You see, Luxembourg does look like your normal European city, yes. But Luxembourg was built at the top of a steep winding valley. The bottom of the valley is mostly dry because the river is so small, and that means that some of Luxembourg is also built in the bottom of the valley. The resulting city is beautiful. It's like there are two cities sitting on top of each other, with huge elegant bridges joining the parts of the city at the top of the valley together. Luxembourg also used to be heavily fortified because it came under seige a few times. Many of the fortifications have gone now, but there are still plenty of old bits of crumbly castle to add character to the whole place.

We stayed at the youth hostel, which is at the bottom of the valley, next to a very impressive railway bridge. The youth hostel was really nice. I've never stayed in a youth hostel before, but I've been told that we were quite spoiled with the one in Luxembourg. It was really new and we got a 4 person room all to ourselves, complete with our own toilet and shower, as well as breakfast in the mornings.

However, the thing with Luxembourg is that there are hardly any people. The streets and restaurants were all mostly empty! We went into one museum and I'm pretty sure we were the only people in there! Where everyone in Luxmbourg actually is, I have no idea.

So in conclusion; Luxembourg is a very pretty place, but it is rather small, and astonishingly empty. Now, photos!

Clematis update!

Right, I'll talk about my trip to Luxembourg later. I have to go straight to bed now because my lectures start again tomorrow.

Whew, I've been a bit busy over the past few days. I had my last exam on Friday, I'm quite relieved that they're all over now. We all went for a terrible night out to celebrate (that's the way to do it).

I have this week off and it's fantastic. I went home for the weekend and just got back today, and tomorrow I'm flying off to Luxembourg! Linda has an interview for a job there and Nick, Steve and I are all tagging along for the fun of it (who doesn't want to visit a place with a bridge named Adolf?). Hmmm...I should be packing.

So at home yesterday, besides starting a five-day course of antibiotics for an infected finger, I went to visit one of the oldest coaching inns in the country, or something like that.