Got my results today and I got 65.2! That's a commendation (or 2.1. in undergrad speak)

I am very happy with this! Yes indeedy!

Phew! Its been a while, here's a quick roundup.

I've finished my nightmare exam period, it went well overall and I feel good about it in general. I have no idea how I've done though as predicting the marks is impossible. I'm keeping everything crossed for a commendation (2.1) as I think I am borderline. They don't have a 2.2 classification so anything below 60 just counts as a pass, therefore its really a big difference to get a commendation. I'll just have to wait and see.

I've been applying for summer work all over town. I've given out about 12 CVs last wednesday and thursday and had an interview today. Hopefully something will come up soon as the cash is running low!

I've also started applying for training contracts. A lot of places have closed their doors to trainees this year which makes it very hard to clinch a deal with a firm. I'll just have to get plenty of research done and try my best.

Unemployment time means hobby time! So out some the 40k again. I'm having fun painting and learning the new 5th edition rules at Warhammer World. I'm also managing to play some PC games as my newly purchased floor fan appears to have halted the crashes. When money happens I will invest in some better interior cooling system. But now I shall have lunch, play Spore and later on watch some Heroes. Good times!

If you aren't fussed about Star Trek don't bother with this.

Spoiler warning! I'll try to avoid detail on any spoiler points but will touch on the outline of the plot.

Terri paid for us to go see the new film last night as a welcome break from constant revision. I'd heard from a lot of people how much they'd enjoyed it and this included both people whose movie tastes I respect and people who are much more avid trekies than me so expectations were quite high.

The thing that stood out the most were the performances. Zachary Quinto was exemplary as Spock balancing the cold logic and classic Vulcan rage excellently. The bulk of the cast obviously knew their classic counterparts well, Kirk's facial expressions and idiosyncrasies, Bones' temper and bitter disposition, and Checkov's playful spirit (and accent) all allowed the original series characters to shine through. Sulu seemed different in character but they wrote him in as the helmsman/swordsman of the original series. The main change was from Uhura, in the modern world of cinema she was no longer resigned to 'answering the telephone' and made valuable contributions both to plot and character relationships. There was some hollywood sexpoloitation in her undressing scene but less than the original series put her in, and her character came across as a much stronger woman than the times of the original would allow Nichelle Nichols to be. Scotty was hit and miss for me, Simon Pegg's take on a younger more enthusiastic Scott were refreshing but, to be critical, at times came across a little to heavily as comic relief and his accent probably made every Scottish viewer cringe as it came and went. I hope they give the man a chance for more serious scenes in the next one.

The plot stuck to well travelled Star Trek territory. Time travel has been used extensively in all series and they are not affraid to play with it. Cleverly this explains the rehashing of the series and allows the writers some freedom in deviating from the set story and character arcs. The bad guys were simple and not laboured as the focus was on the developing crew relationships leaving little room for advanced enmity with Nero. The plot suited this, focusing on his genocidal actions rather than his performance and development as a nemesis. The menacing act itself was again familiar territory, X is heading to Earth to destroy it, we have to stop X by utilising new technology in a teamwork essential plan. There were many tips of the hat to the staples and classic moments of the original series. The 'red shirt' phenomenon, the siren-like danger music, Kirk's bar-brawl fighting style, Sulu's sword fighting, Bones' racial insults, the list goes on. All went just far enough towards making it 'classic' enough without feeling too forced or over done.

A rehashing needs originality though, as a straight remaking would be redundant, predictable and uninteresting. The film delivers a few surprises, 'the kiss' being the main one, which leaves room for explanation in later outings. The plight of the Vulcans is another as is the role of the time traveller in setting things back on track. All look to be set for further development. Hopefully next time they will push the envelope a little further and move away from the safe Star Trek staple stories and into more challenging areas.

Overall the film seemed to me to be done very delicately and with great care and respect for the ground it was treading on. It managed to mesh Star Trek: TOS with the style and effects of the later Next Generation movies and has set up what could be a very successful run of films. Stepping back from treky analysis for one moment, I really enjoyed it as a film. It was paced well, with some powerful scenes and very enjoyable and impressive performances. I agree with the sentiments I have heard from others, trekies will love the 'Star Trekiness' of it and non-fans will enjoy it as a well performed and presented sci-fi movie.

Just a quick update.

Got a 65 on my last ICA (in course assessment) so it keeps my average ok. Project handed in so revision has commenced for the mammoth examathon at the end of the month.

Got voted in as Vice President of the Rocksoc on wednesday so that was cool.

Big weekend ahead with assault and redeemer for tom's birthday, should be fun but knackering. Lunch now, then more work.

Just handed in my project! woo! So glad to get it done and handed in. It was really interesting to study and write (the topic was freedom of expression vs the ban on advocacy advertising on tv and radio) but it did take up a lot of time. I feel pretty good about it but there was a lot to cram into just 5000 words.

Off to the speasy later for the elections and a well deserved pint to celebrate handing in my work. Hopefully those of you who can will come down and vote for me!

I'm getting far too hooked on mini-games on facebook and although most apps are rubbish some of the mini-rpg style ones are ok, the 'slayers' 'vampires' etc one is non-time-consumy enough to be cool and 'viking clan' is by far the best and least intrusive one I use. Geo challenge is ace, mostly because I'm pretty good at geography and its fun to play.

Now my work is handed in I can finally start revision for my exams next month and get back to messing with my computer.

Grr...has been a frustrating few days as I try to finish my project so I can begin revision for exams whilst dealing with the bitter fruit of my own idle stipidity. Having downloaded a game demo from piratebay I neglected to scan before opening and as a result have been laden with a very nasty virus that has so far proved harder to kill than Necron Lord who keeps rolling 6's.

The perpetrator is a Win32/virut virus that has managed to bury itself into everything. I broke my operating system trying to deal with it so after rob salvaged my harddrive data and put it on my external, I reinstalled windows and all that jazz. Despite AVG and Avast giving the all clear on the external it seems to have infected my PC again (stop resurecting you bastard!) and it seemed to be hidden in the Windows restore files of my PC. Rob turned off restore and ran more anti-virus scans this evening and so far so good. I am not going to touch my extrenal until I've finished my project but if anyone has any advice or a plan to save the data on my external I'm all ears.

For now though back to work. Head down so I can go in to Assault in a good mood.

Middle of another fairly busy week. Hasn't been too bad as I've managed to take the evenings off so far. Gonna have a busy day tomorrow, project meeting with my tutor after an epic revision seminar on the dreadedly complex topic of land law. Then the evening will be entirely spent revising for my mock on friday morning. The good thing is that I've got two weeks off to work on my project after that so I'll be taking some time to relax and visit folks back home. I'll let you all know when I'll be visitng as soon as I've worked it out myself. Gonna try and get back for a few pints at the York with Ad on a fri and also to see sally, bev and danwise maybe a week on sat? not sure yet tho.

Bedtime now as I'm up far too late on a school night.

Busy busy busy. Looking forward to Wednesday when my week ends, have worked all weekend so I'm taking Thursday off (hopefully to play my new game if it has arrived) and then will crack on with my project.

I'm oddly obsessed with Marvel at the mo. Watched the third X-men film again the other week and it still wasn't great but it reminded me I had been given the old cartoon series by Ste for my birthday. I'm halfway through series 3 and the Phoenix has gone all evil. I've got that crazy learning obsession I get when I discover something new where I want to know all the characters and storylines and powers etc. so have found myself wasting time on wikipedia and on Waterstones.com looking at graphic novels. If I had the money my first stop would be 'the Marvel encyclopedia' followed by 'Marvel Zombies' and 'Civil War' but I've got Watchmen to read and can re-read 'the Boys' if need be. Also heard good things about 'the preacher'

For now though, back to work.

Went to see Watchmen at the Savoy last night. I haven't read the graphic novel so this is just judging the film on its own merit.

I enjoyed the film greatly and don't think I've liked anything this much at the cinema since Sin City. The action sequences were smooth and especially gory in places but always felt like they had a purpose rather than just being thrown in because they look cool. The special effects never once left me thinking 'that looks rubbish and jarringly CG' and there was some beautiful cinematography. The characters were likeable, hateable, intriguingly original (Dr. Manhattan), and given enough depth to feel human. I can see how the soundtrack may seem jarring to some people but I thought it was a stroke of genius, the highlight being the fantastically shot introductory montage set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'". One of the most important elements of a screen adaptation is the soundtrack as it is one of the main ways to add a powerful element that books lack. The pulp crime fiction monologue's of Rorschach were a particular favourite of mine as I love this staple of the genre and there isn't much else that can make someone come across as being so cool.

As for the story, I was intrigued by the dual running crises of the cold war escalation and the killer on the loose. On top of this were the threads of Dr. Manhattan's relationship with humanity, the supe's struggle with modern life away from their profession, Rorschach's determination and faith, and overall themes such as the value of life, the perception of humanity by non-humans (both mortal and immortal) and the negative effects of grand acts of of apparent good (vietnam). It's hard talking about any more without giving away the story so I'll shut up now.

My one main criticism is that the sex scene should just be cut out, rubbish music and it just seemed tacky. Should have just had them jump on each other and quickly moved on to the next scene, it would have served its purpose.

I now intend to read the graphic novel as I usually find reading books after seeing the film gives you more second time round whereas reading the book first leads to being disappointed by the film. Overall a great film, I doubt I'll see too much better in the cinema this year and it was well worth the £3.50. I advise people to go and see it.

A few things to report then its back to revision for yet another exam tomorrow morning.

- I got an 82 on my second piece of work that counts, that was top of my class so I'm very pleased with myself.

- Went to see my friend Drew in a production of 'The Producers' at the Nottingham playhouse which was great fun and they did a great job!

- Terri had her 21st last weekend so there was lots of fun stuff to be done, went to Assault on the Friday, Redeemer in Leicester on the Saturday and Sunday went for the BEST Sunday lunch in town at the Sir John followed by bowling and the Speasy pub quiz.

Redeemer was great fun after the hassle of getting there. Didn't get to bed til 6am tho. Sunday lunch was amazing. Bowling was fun as always but I got owned by Ali who was in fantastic form. Speasy quiz was close, we lost on the tie break but got the whole of the second half of the quiz right!

As a result of all this fun tho I have spent all the rest of my time working. Still have an exam tomorrow, an assessment which counts to do this weekend and a mock trial to prepare for for next week. Back to work.