Mareel, Skyfall and a bit of Heavy Metal

Hello

Before I start writing about the main reason I've started writing the post today I just want to share some news. Exciting news.

I've written on here before about the Heavy Metal Buffet, but incase I gave no context as to what it is, or you've never read it, skimmed over it, forgotten it, didn't give a damn, let me shove it right into your face for another helping of some more smorgasbord (thanks wiki).

The Heavy Metal Buffet was established by my brother Dirk and friend Jamie, back, well roughly 21 weeks ago. It is a celebration of all things metal with an emphasis on local (Shetland) bands and musicians as well as advertising local gigs.

On October 20th, this year, Shetland had it's first ever Oxjam Takeover coordinated by Ashlea Tulloch. The day consisted of four gigs around town with dozens of artists, one wristbadn could get you into all four and all money raised goes straight to Oxfam. Dirk, Jamie and myself (as a newly joined member) presented a 7 hour metal gig in Da Wheel Bar. It was as follows:

(INSERT YOUTUBE OXJAM AT DA WHEEL BAR HERE)

That's not even the exciting news.

As the Heavy Metal Buffet we had the honour and privelage to interview none other than the Anthrax bassist Mr Frank Bello. Thank you so much to Frank for giving us the time during your Worship Music tour of Britain to chat to us over Skype, and thank you to Andy for getting us into contact.

Blabbermouth link to the Heavy Metal Buffet

To be honest I was really nervous about interviewing Frank, and none of us wanted to ask any questions he gets thrown at him all the time. So we tried our best to come up with some interesting questions (again thanks to Andy for giving us the heads up about the birthday lap dance for Rob. If you're interested to learn more of this dance listen to our interview with Frank on the Buffet linked below, and why not listen to the buffet before and after)

http://soundcloud.com/heavymetalbuffet/heavy-metal-buffet-episode-20

Frank Bello and myself at Doonlod 2012

Thank you Frank and thank you Andy and also thank you Anthrax for Worship Music.
2011 was an amazing year for Metal, some awesome albums. Thank you 2011.

Enough of that.

Recently Claire, myself, Jamie and Peter started up a band: Beef Cleaver. We played at Oxjam and a gig up in the Mid Brae Inn (this time with Dwayne on drums)
We just recorded our first original song, it's on't Buffet or you can have a listen here:

Black Island - Beef Cleaver

So to the title of this blog.

Was going to write this blog post on Sunday night as soon as I'd come out of Skyfall because I was on a just seen an awesome Bond film high. Then almost a week went past and I realised how time escapes me. #willalwaysbejealousofbernard

I love the Bond films, watched them since I can't remember, but Roger Moore is my favourite.

http://www.thedailytouch.com/

I was a bit nervous about Skyfall, I suppose if there's anything you've invested your time, money and part of your soul (but not a horcrux) into you want it to be good.

It was awesome.

SPOILERS:

I suppose for me I feel the film had two main points to get across:
1) The world of espionage is not over, infact it is more important than ever.

2) Bond, this Bond, is growing from the character in the books into the suave Bond we know from earlier films. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that Daniel Craig took Bond's character to the darker addict Flemming wrote him as, I think it was an interesting take and took Bond closer to reality after that invisible car. What I like is that through Casino Royale, Quantam of Solace and now Skyfall Bond has been broken down emotionally and physically (several times) and lost the person closest to him (I suppose twice) and was forced to evolve into, what I believe is a Bond akin to Connery's and he will be fully emerged as this incarnation in the fourth Craig film (there better be a fourth).

Highlights for me included the nods to previous films; Q's quip about "exploding pens" (Goldeneye, Boris was vincible after all) and the return of the beloved Aston Martin with the features of that from Goldfinger.

Also Moneypenny. What a way to reintroduce her, I don't know about you but I figured it was her as soon as we met her in the new headquarters. However I don't think that matters at all, I just liked that Moneypenny has proven herself as a knowledable member of the team who has worked in the field.

Also, it wasn't just the film that made me enjoy my trip to see Bond so much, niether the advert beforehand featuring every Bond ever in a car chase, or the face that Ashlea, Jamie and myself all went to the cinema in our pyjamas with a massive blankie. It was just being in Mareel itself.

I love Mareel. It's welcoming and comfortable. It's like going to a friends house, a really clean house, but not in that way it makes you feel guilty about the state of your own home. I always look forward to going there, the cinema is so comfy and the cafe is amazing, I could stay there all day everyday, anyone could.

Just ask Rodrigo.

Kom binnen

'Kom binnen' that means 'welcome' in Dutch, or 'come inside' I forget which, maybe even both, I'd really like to learn the Dutch for 'come outside'

Photo courtesy of BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/come-outside

 

Why this amazingly bilingual introduction?

I'll tell you. I've been trying to learn Dutch. My Mam is Dutch, hence the 'Marjolein' name, and I've never been fluent in Dutch. Not remotely - stereotypical Brit. So I'm trying to learn some now, this late in life.. it's not going too badly, thanks to this beauty of a website:

http://www.memrise.com/home/

I've even learnt how to read "There is no fish" in Japanese.
Procrastination.

So far I've just been learning singular words, which is fine, especially with their helpful mnemonics to remember words, these are submitted by other users of the site. A community they call it. I used to ignore these tips till I found they really helped. One of my favourite examples being for the Dutch word for dissapointment 'teleurstellen' the tip being: If you tell your Stella (Artois Beer) a joke, you will be dissapointed by the bottle's reaction) since then I have never forgotten teleurstellen. Magic.

Also I greatly enjoy these mnemonics, as they are contributed by the users, pretty much annonymous beings of the site, it allows for hilarious results. The more hilarious the tip, the easier it is to then memorise the word, taking it up a notch, this also applies to innuendoes, the more double meaning the mnemonic has, the quicker I learn the translation. I've come to notice that almost all  all the tips written by the ever helpful 'edcooke'

 

 















I don't even know who Marquis de Zaad is, I don't know if I want to know, but I always remember now that seed in Dutch is 'het zaad'. Although I have no idea whether these are double entendres in Dutch as well. Drawer.


Asides from learning, I've also been filming, this week for Heavy Metal Buffet. Since I've been taken on as 'video director' I haven't produced anything... until now. Last Wednesday, Emma-Louise let us in her cupcake shop to film and eat cup cakes. Great fun was had by all.

As Emma-Louise described it: "Something a little bit different that happened in the coffee shop!"

Thank you Emma-Louise for your patience, kindness and cupcakes. If you haven't been yet then go! The cupcakes are so good, Orkney Fudge is perhaps my favourite. If you're on Facebook search 'Emma-Louise Cupcakes' and give their page a like, you'll get updates on what is literally cooking.

Here's Heavy Metal Buffet's first scripted film:

 Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqV2mkOmFZ4





If you want some more Buffet goodness, (the podcast kind) click on the following link to listen to the latest episode, it incldes an unreleased version of Ten Tonne Dozer's 'Roo Shooter' check it oot:
http://soundcloud.com/heavymetalbuffet/heavy-metal-buffet-episode-14

 Also, as I've missed a couple of HMB episodes since I last blogged here, so have a gander at 13 as well. (Because I don't think I even feature in 14):

http://soundcloud.com/heavymetalbuffet/heavy-metal-buffet-episode-13


Right, I've got to love you and leave you lovers,

Got an Oxjam meeting, make sure you get your tickets for the 20th! We're playing with Beef Cleaver in the Wheel Bar, at Heavy Metal Buffet presents Oxjam at the Wheel.

And for my last link, if you want to hear our new band Beef Cleaver click the link, this is our cover of System Of A Down's ATWA.

http://soundcloud.com/ronalddrivesatractor/beef-cleaver-atwa

Cheerio. x



LATER NOTE:

Marquis de SADE - got you know.

HAPPY NEW YEAR/BURNS NIGHT

So.
This could be awkward.

Or we could push through the long silence and get back into this like I never forgot about you, blog.

Soz pal.


Yeah, apologies I've been away for ages, and the longer I was away the harder it was to return. There is a song about that somewhere, and I think it may be this one:

(Courtesy of Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha-FS_CHmGw User: Z7TomC7Z)

If not, I'll bet you're still glad you listened.
There is a lie in this blog. Can you read it?

So I haven't been here, and I've been waiting to have something very hilarious and entertaining to greet you all with, but I decided I shouldn't wait for something to happen, I should type it. Luckily that's when I got an email from a friend who pointed out the good coverage the MET office made for February's forecast. Here, read it yourself:

UK Outlook for Monday 6 Feb 2012 to Monday 20 Feb 2012:

The forecast for early February remains very uncertain. There appear to be two main scenarios, each equally probable, but which are very different. The first scenario consists of a changeable westerly or southwesterly weather type with rain at times (amounts greatest in the west), and with temperatures noticeably above average for early February, with only occasional frosts. The alternative scenario is that much colder weather with winds mainly from an easterly or northeasterly quarter, will prevail well into February, bringing widespread frosts and snow to some areas. In this scenario it would be the east that was most vulnerable to snowfall.

So, was there a point? In case your wondering, I'll put your worries to rest, I have a good idea for March, so I took some liberties, illegally branding myself as the Meteorological office and have come up with a rough assumption for the third months weathering:

UK Outlook for March 1^st 2012 to March 31^st 2013

So in March yea, it will begin most probably dark, because it should be starting after midnight on February 29^th. We can’t promise anything, as sometimes there’s an added day in that month. Then it should get a lot lighter towards seven o’ clock, unless it’s cloudy; then you may need to keep your car head lights on till nearer eight. There is also a chance, although maybe not, depends on the galactic weather, of an eclipse so you may need to keep your headlights on till 8.15.

The rest of the day should be fairly overcast with chance of rain and as a result slippery roads.

The alternative scenario is that it could turn out to be a nice, sunny day, with temperatures reaching a max of 38 degrees. Factor 50 Recommended.

The pollen count will be somewhere on the grey scale.

Chance of high winds.

Once upon a time my forecast was going to be posted  in the format of video. We filmed it, but I have no idea when it will be ready for your eyes. And I am too kind to leaving you waiting for any longer. So I thought you could read it, reading is better for you after all.*

There is one thing I've done that is all ready to show you. Here is a video Mam, Dirk, Claire and I made on Saturday:

Courtesy of me. Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVHCryThEOM

This is Mam's filming debut. Well done Chaz!

So now we've all discussed the weather, and I linked in my new film, there's nought much else to say. I was thinking about what direction I'm going to take this blog in for 2012. Not that is really ever had a direction before. I was going to go with some sort of improvement programme but I didn't make any New Year's resolutions. I summed it up in fewer than 140 characters on Twitter:

Look Blog, I forgot about Twitter for a while too.

However, earlier this week (Monday) at our Maddrim Media meeting Cara got us to make a Skills Wall, where we write our skills on a pink post-it, and then on a yellow post-it write what skills we'd like to have. Here are my post-its:

Skills I have

Skills I'd like

So. In a gripping tale of adventure and huckleberry finn I'll let you know how that develops.
And my Ipod is well and truly dead. I know because I charged it overnight and nothing happened. I'll try opening it up in the shed later. Actually that would be way more interesting then that skills thing. Yeah! Let's open my Ipod!

See you next time for some core slicing fun.


XXXXXX MARJOLEIN

*Yes that was the lie.

You don't know the pain of building a robot with Christopher Walken...

....Is probably the best piece of artwork I have ever seen on the internet. Nay, it is the best.
(There is a secret message in this blog. See if you can find it)

Thank you Brandon Bird for painting this in 2004. Online image source: http://laughingsquid.com/

After working with paint to create my collage in my last blog I was reminded about the days and nights I spent on that programe working on masterpieces. Recently I have been staying in town because of the bad weather. This one is called Bawbags: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Bawbag
I myself would have called it Skunkydoo the Sequel.

So, while at my brothers we thought this would be a good time to write Christmas cards to all our Dutch relations. Instead we played on paint and made gifs.

This blog isn't going to be very long. I just want to you show you all the pretty things we made.

It all began with a story. Oh, I should give you some context:

When I was 11.

When I was 11 I was really into the Harry Potter books, well I still am
(for further information read: http://marjoleinrobertson.blogspot.com/2011/09/11-years-old.html hmmmm, where have I seen this linked before? How about HERE: http://marjoleinrobertson.blogspot.com/2011/12/winter-is-coming.html I push, I push.)
 It was about that time they started working on the films too. I wanted to be Hermione. I spent much time and effort writing a letter to the Studios asking to play her, and every other female character in the books, ever.

The list of characters I could play was something like this:
Hermione Granger
Lavender Brown
Hannah Abbott
Ginny Weasley
Angelina Johnson
Padma Patil
Parvati Patil
Katie Bell
Mrs Weasley (and I'm not even ginger)

So I thought I'd be helpful and include my details in the letter: hair colour (but I'd happily dye that) eye colour (I'm comfortable with contacts) height (for costume) and head circumference (for my witches hat). It was at that last one where my brother couldn't read my letter anymore for laughing. But I'd written it in pen, didn't have Tipex and knew I should send it straight away (because they had already cast Hermione. Wha)

So anyway, the rest of the story isn't as interesting, but someone at work had to measure their head circumference, by now I have been conditioned to believe that is a ridiculous practice. And I had to bite my hand not to laugh. Somewhere between acting out the story and recreating my pose on paint we decided to draw it on paint. I can't remember how. But I'll skip the image. Now one is drawn by me and the other by Dirk.

Which one is more like me?

The idea of the competition was to represent someone, but you're not allowed to delete any mistakes.
(I drew the one with the nosebleed)

Next we drew Drik:

(Secret message: This blog was actually written on Thursday 8th.)

His pose was from a story at work when his boss fell over. As you may have guessed by our choice of tool Dirk's is the thick pen.We swapped them around to keep  you on your toes. SUPRISE.

Then we made gifs. Are they working? Maybe not. If you want to view them, and more, and some still scans of drawings Dirk made (and stole) go here: http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/dirkhead/

I'm sorry for this blog.

Hiyi Blogger

I've made a blog and now I'm blogging.

If you care to look below you'll see a whole heap (5) of blogs. These are ones that sat in my Facebook Notes section for a long time. (They're dated) I wanted to air them a bit, and let other folks than my friends read them. I've not touched them, made any corrections or even added pictures (to be honest the only one that was hard no to do was the last of those, so they are as authentic as they day they were typed.*

A quick introduction to me: I recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh, which you can see in my 'about me' I am still working in my summer time employment that is due to end soon.. so I'm trying to sort out what I want to do with the rest of my life. Hence the blog. There, sorted. And the best thing is I had all those posts just waiting to be ctrl-C'd up here. great. job done. I'll write something when I have some news.

Quick question - does the return key mess up your blogs too? This text box can't handle it when I enter.

But to my news, I have some, the most exciting thing I have done recently is make a film, a mocumentary no less on the workings of a society within an insular community. The society within the film 'The Society' is 'The Adam Hart-Davis Appreciation Society'. You may know who he is, you may not, for now it does not matter, but I urge you to seek him out, he is one of the most informative and delightful presenters I have had the pleasure to watch. As ridiculous or harrowing as 'The Society' gets it is a homage to Mr Hart-Davis, whom I really am a fan of. I'll even go so far as to label myself an oik, again. (see video)

First aired at Screeplay's 'Home Made In Shetland' on Thursday 1st September 2011. "It was very funny" - Mark Kermode. (approached during his second tin of Tennents. Clever)

Clipping from 'Home Made In Shetland' programme. Thanks BB.

Directed - Marjolein Robertson & Willem Cluness
Edited - Willem Cluness & Marjolein Robertson
Filmed - Willem Cluness, Annie Mckee & Marjolein Robertson
Written - Marjolein Robertson, Willem Cluness & John Haswell
Original concept - Dirk Robertson & Marjolein Robertson
Thanks to - Shetland Arts Trust & The Gruting School

 Now watch The Society- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6UiYU_hmmU




*I didn't even add 'Labels' which was probably a stupid idea and I'm going to do that as soon as I finish this post.