Ip Man

Ip Man
The blurb: A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the successful martial arts master who taught the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun to the world.
My rating: 4/5
Tagged: action, biography, drama
Date I watched this movie 03/04/2016

What did I think?I really wasn’t sure what I was going to think about this. Martial Arts movies, although I do karate, have never really appealed to me, but I agreed to let Faisal pick a movie and this is what he chose!

I will still say that this is definitely a slow starter, you have to wait a bit before you really get into it and you have to overlook the bad acting at the beginning. Once the movie kicks in, literally, then you really begin to appreciate it.

I think it tells a decent story of the life of Ip Man and the occupation of China by the Japanese at that time. Obviously I’m not sure how true to real life the movie is because I’m not familiar with the time period but it does add background to the character of Ip Man, so the movie wasn’t just about kicking ass and taking names.

As far as the fighting scenes are concerned, Donnie Yen does do his art justice. I just loved the way the story make him seem invincible and you root for him when he fights the baddie who beats all the other masters.

Surprisingly good and I’m actually looking forward to seeing the rest of the series

My Month in Music – February 2016

Cassie wrote a post the other day about the music she’d listened to in February and how eclectic it was.

I thought it would be quite cool to look at what I listened to last month. I know my music taste isn’t particularly varied – I like pop music – and my top artists I listened to in February 2016 are:

5 Seconds Of Summer
Justin Bieber
One Direction
Meghan Trainor
Shawn Mendes
Mideau
Shannon Saunders
The Vamps
Rita Ora
Ariana Grande

See, like I said – I like pop music. It’s fun to listen to and easy to find. 5SOS, Justin and 1D are definitely my favourites at the moment, although I’m surprised that Miley Cyrus isn’t on the list because I love her!

My most played track was Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass

If you’re on last.fm, you should totally add me as a friend too! http://www.last.fm/user/reganleanne/ is me 🙂

What have you been listening to recently?

While you and I are running out of time

Sometimes I really wish I had a time-turner so I could get more stuff done. More hours in the day would be great. Of course, I bet that if I did have more hours I still wouldn’t get the chance to do the things I want to do in them.

I miss doing all the extra-curricular stuff I could do before. I miss having the time to ride, to swim, to do gymnastics, to practice karate, to see Chelsea play. Even just the time to play with Caden Bryce or read with him.

I get up. I get on the tube to college (and read). I go to college. I get on the tube home (and read). I do homework. I do extra reading. Sometimes I get time to come online – although often it gets done on a few minutes between classes, or on a free period. And then it feels like it’s time for bed before it all starts again.

It’s not even a lack of time management. It’s just the time of year. I’m only a couple of months away from my A-Level exams. Coursework is all due. All of my teachers want all of my time, all of my effort and I have a couple of really heavy workload courses.

I always make time on a Friday night though to go to the cinema. Sometimes with friends, sometimes with Jade Rachel and Erin and Dad and Jimmy (and sometimes Caden Bryce) It all depends on what’s coming out. Tomorrow my BFF Georgia & I are going to see either Deadpool or Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.

Weekends seem to be filled with sleep and coursework. And then I have to be very particular about what I do because there’s only so many hours in the day. Usually I go swimming because that’s a lot easier to fit into a spare moment than having to schedule around the gymnastics or karate classes. I always try and have Sunday afternoons free so I can just chill, watch a DVD, do some colouring… just properly relax before everything starts again on Monday morning.

I possibly didn’t schedule the start of the 101 Things In 1001 Days at the best time, because there’s also fitting in the things I want to do there.

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or like a whiney little bitch, I really don’t. I love everything that I’m doing, I love being in college, having the opportunity to study etc etc. I guess I might be a little stressed and I know I’m tired. I just miss doing some of the things I love, some of the things that I feel define part of who I am.

Most Gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess

I cannot play chess. It makes no sense to me. It doesn’t matter how many times I try and learn how to play the game, it just escapes me. It makes no sense. This piece can only do this and that piece can only do that. There’s all these strategies and a ridiculous amount of forward planning.

And how seriously people take it! Isn’t it supposed to be a game, supposed to be fun?

I can’t do it. I can’t play chess. Or, well, I can’t play chess well. Or remember the rules. I’m not destined to be some grandmaster. I’m probably never even going to ever win a game. All my pieces fell to the dark side. You’d think by now I’d have learned my lesson by how many times I’ve failed and given up trying.

I bet I won’t. I bet next time Devin challenges me to a game I’ll accept.
And lose.
And sulk.
And rail chess.

Which makes me wonder. Which is worse: doing something and sucking at it or never trying it in the first place?

Old soul

Sometimes I feel a lot older than 17.
Sometimes I feel a lot younger than 17.
I get people tell me I should act my age, to stop liking stuff I’m too old for, to stop doing things I’m too young to do
I’ve never been 17 before so how am I supposed to know how to act and how feel?

Erin tells me I’m an old soul, that I’m much more mature than most of my friends. I’ve asked her what she means and she says it’s because I’m not afraid to be on my own, because I love to learn, because I think before I do things and have everything all planned out.

I guess that’s true. I mean, a lot of my friends still don’t really know what they want to do when they finish college and I’ve got this big plan for everything. I like having tangible goals that I can work towards, it all makes sense to me.

And no, a lot of my friends laugh at some of the stuff I love to do. They don’t read for fun like I do. They think it’s weird that I enjoy baking – they eat what I make though! I get told knitting or doing wordsearches is for old people.

But… I don’t feel like I’m old. Sure, I feel like I know who I am and what I like. I do get distracted by new shiny things too though. I feel like my mood swings and ‘teenage angst’ are more controlled, and I’m calmer than I was, even a year or so ago.

In other ways though, I’m a pretty typical teenager. I worry about getting good grades in school and fashion and make-up and boys (and girls) and if I’ve got any zits and if I look fat. I love pop music and going to the cinema with my friends. I love sleeping.

Who makes the rules though? Who says that I can’t like certain things because I’m too young for them. Or too old for them. Why do ‘they’ say that I can’t have goals for the future and enjoy knitting and love Disney and Miley Cyrus and vampires and dinosaurs and pirates and dolphins and superheroes and baking and supporting my football team and doing wordsearches and like spending time with my friends and being alone?

National Hugging Day

Today is National Hugging Day which, according to nationalhuggingday.com is

National Hugging Day, occasionally shortened to National Hug Day, was first widely celebrated in 1986 after being published in Chase’s Calender of Annual Events. Since that time, National Hugging Day has continued to grow internationally leading some to suggest the observance be renamed International Hug Day or International Hugging Day.

National Hugging Day was initially created for family and friends to hug often and freely with one another. Celebrate National Hugging Day Every Day

Definitely an annual event I can get behind. I’m a very tactile person and I’m always hugging my family and my friends. So a whole day for celebrating hugs is definitely something I’m a big fan of!

I was even able to tick off two of the items on my 101 Things In 1001 Days:
Hug 10 people in one day
Hug someone on National Hug Day

I was back in college today, feeling much better so took the day as a good excuse to hug everyone. I was almost tempted to do ‘Give a stranger a hug’ but figured since I’ve had such a bad cold this week it wasn’t a good idea. I couldn’t quite bring myself to wear a free hugs sign either. Those two are both on my list as well but they’ll wait for another time. Maybe National Hugging Day 2017 – my 1001 days continues on til October 2017