Emma Berry's World: June 2018

Saturday 30 June 2018

Get to Know Me

Things You Might Be Surprised to Learn About Me.

I've been posting on this blog for three months now, and aside from an introductory post, you haven't really had the chance to get to know me. Inspired by a question from Too Many Questions over on the REACT Channel on YouTube, I thought I'd vary the question and give my answer.

If you want more posts like these, maybe as a mid week post, then comment below, or on any of my social medias and let me know.

Question: What are any hobbies or interests you have that people might be surprised to know about you?

I am really into Greek mythology. I started getting into it during my second year at college, when I studied Greek theatre. During the two years I've studied at university so far, I have spoken about Greek mythology at least once an academic year. The funniest story I have of my geekiness about Greek mythology is from my first semester of second year. My lecturer did two lectures on Ancient Greece, and mentioned the Trojan War and the Peloponessian War. However, they got the dates wrong. I was speaking to my friend when we went on a class trip to the archives a couple of towns over and really getting frustrated because of it. The next class I had with this lecturer, they asked if we were on the trip. When we said we were, they told us the lecturer on the trip said; "I heard some interesting conversations about Eastenders, and then I heard one on the Peloponessian War." THE CALL OUT! We were amused by it, but I was also embarrassed that we had been ratted out. But I got a 2:1 on that module, and it was one of my highest marks from this year, so I'm not complaining.
I enjoy collecting photo cards. I have two different sized photo books with photo cards from Paperchase, The Shop that Must Not Be Named and the Harry Potter Studio Tour. It is an addiction. One of my favourite cards, and I believe this is the reason I am so obsessed with photo cards, is the behind the scenes shot of the opening establishing shot of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. Not only is it my favourite shot of the entire franchise, it's the only photo card I've deliberately bought two of.
I still enjoy Taekwondo. Around 90% of people I meet are surprised when I say that I've done Martial Arts. Even friends who forget are shocked. I dropped Brownies for Boxing, the Boxing for Taekwondo. I picked up Korean Kickboxing along the way, but sadly stopped after a car accident left me with a permanent neck injury. I achieved my black belt in Taekwondo when I was sixteen, and because of the car accident, I did stop.
An interesting story about my Taekwondo journey was when we started, I remember thinking, after I finish this portion of my membership, I am going to stop. I don't think this is for me. I don't recall when that time changed, but I'm glad it did because I really enjoyed my Martial Arts journey.
I am really into film scores. A score can sometimes make or break a film for me. If I enjoy a score, sometimes I can name it outside of the film it is in. There are two memories I have of being able to name the score, both from Harry Potter films, outside of the films.
The first was October 2016, when I went to Bolsover Castle with my parents, brother, Aunt, and two cousins. We were sat in the cafe after going round the castle and can hear the music from the kitchen. I say, "they're playing Mr Longbottom Flies," much to the surprise of my family. I was correct in which track it was.
The second happened just recently, watching the TV Show Warwick Davis doing with Bear Grylls, and one of the scores they played was Harrys Wondrous World. I then took it a step further and told my family that it is the same score they use in the adverts for the Studio Tour.
So yes, I'm a bit nerdy when it comes down to film scores.

I'll leave you with these four for the time being. If you want to know more, leave questions below or on my social media and I'll do another getting to know me post soon.

See you next week!

-Emmaberry-

Call Me By Your Name Review

I'm finally writing my Call Me By Your Name film review (Luca Guadagnino, 2017). Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name is an independent film, set in Crema during the summer of 1983. James Ivory adapted the film from its original novel, written by Andre Aciman.

The film stars Armie Hammer (The Social Network, The Lone Ranger) as 24 years old graduate student Oliver, and Timothee Chamalet (Lady Bird, Hot Summers Night), the 17 year old son of academic Mr Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg (The Shape of Water, Doctor Strange), in what is, at its base level a coming of age love story.

There was some controversy around the film, surrounding the age difference between Oliver and Elio. As Oliver's age is never explicitly mentioned in the film, I can see why. When I initially watched the film during the Oscars Week at QUAD theatre in Derby, I spent a lot of the film wondering how old Oliver was. Due to Timothee looking younger than his age (22) and Armie being older than Oliver's age, the age difference looks larger than it actually is. In real life, Armie is 31, so you very quickly see why the age difference is more prominent than it actually is. Personally, I don't think a seven year age difference between the characters is anything to drastic, and after reading the book, when Oliver's age is mentioned on page 24, I felt like a lot of things from the film made a lot more sense.

Another bit of controversy with this film was Elio smoking. I think this came from a more Hollywood audience, but taking the social context of when the time is set, Elio smoking is accurate. The laws in Italy in 1983 are different from, a) what they are now and b) laws around the world. Whilst I'm not saying that Elio should be smoking, it's completely legal for the time and place. I think people made a much bigger deal out of it than it needed to be, and I am fine with smoking being part of Elio's character.

As I'm writing this, I really there have been a lot of issues with this film. The biggest one for me, which I briefly glossed over in my Love Simon review, was that to praise this film, Love Simon would be bought down, and vice versa. I'll do a separate blog post comparing the two and why this is absolute rubbish. I will say, they are both love stories, and are both queer, but that is where the majority of the similarities end. I really enjoyed both films. Both have their strengths, and both have their weaknesses.

Moving on from issues and controversy, lets cover some of the things I love about this film.

The cinematography is brilliant. I love how the shots are set a certain way, to show how stunning Crema is, from the town itself, to Monets Bern. The shots make an already beautiful, culturally rich town look even more stunning. Furthermore, the different angles of the peach tree every so often give the shots an extra layer, and focus on the minute details that maybe you wouldn't notice if it wasn't given to you in its own individual shot.

Another thing I love is how natural everything feels in this film. The film was shot in sequence, and Armie and Timothee had time to bond prior to shooting. Everything feels very authentic and it makes me feel like I am there, with them in Crema during the summer of 1983. I honestly can't wait to see how the sequel takes the final third of the book. That's the thing with adapting a novel into a film, the way this was done makes the ending feel more natural, despite cutting out a third of the book.

I am really looking forwards to the sequel and can't wait to see how that is done. I highly recommend reading the book prior to watching the film, however it isn't necessary to do so. It's more for understanding minor plot points rather than understanding the narrative as a whole.

For all its issues, my love for it, I give this film a 9 out of 10.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

E3 2018 Highlights

What a week it has been in the world of gaming. We've had game play footage, announcements, and enough hype to keep us going through to September. I've also realised how much my bank account will suffer with the number of games that I want to buy.

I'll admit, I didn't watch a lot of E3, but I have been keeping up with it via social media. It honestly makes me wish I could be there. I watched E3 via streams, so I took part in stream chat and it was such a wonderful experience.

Without futher adieu, and in no particular order, here are some of my E3 Highlights.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy Gameplay Footage

For the weeks leading up to E3, a lot of speculation went round about what Spyro news would be shared. The majority of fans, myself included, expected to see concept art from Spyro: Gateway to Glimmer/Ripto's Rage and Spyro: Year of the Dragon. I believe we were hoping for some game play footage and we were not disappointed. It looks stunning. I never played the original trilogy, but I watch so much game play of it, predominately through speed runs, so there were a few things I picked up on. I still haven't warmed up to Sparx's design, and he looks even more dopey when in these demo levels. But the colours, I love the way gems reflect off the grass, the burnt colour you get from singing the grass and the reflection of the boxes in Sunny Flight.

What I hope we'll see in the coming months is more concept art, especially for Spyro: Gateway to Glimmer/Ripto's Rage and Spyro: Year of the Dragon, as well as game play for the other two games. I can't wait for the release date of September 21st. Hey, at least I have a week before lectures start to play through the game.

Soulcalibur VI

I'm not going to lie, I have been excited for this game since Soulcalibur V. I grew up playing Soulcalibur II, and because of the E3 announcement of the season pass bundle, the character reveals and the character game play, I am revisiting the second game.

The character game play, looks incredible. Some of the characters I liked from previous games look better than ever. I've even heard rumours of one of my favourite characters returning, though until it is announced, I'm only taking that rumour at face value.

Though an official price has not been announced for the game and season pass bundle, this is a game I will most definitely have to buy. I am hoping that the game will follow a similar style to Soulcalibur II, with the Weapons Master mode as a story mode. Whilst it is highly unlikely, I definitely preferred this to the story mode of Soulcalibur IV and Soulcalibur V.

Fallout 76

You would think that because I used Fallout 4 in my coursework, I have actually played Fallout before. Well... I only played an hour and got out of the vault. Bethesda Games announced a massive bundle for Fallout 76 (which I will not be getting), as well as Fallout Shelter now being on the Switch and PlayStation 4.

Still, I am really excited for Fallout 76. The game play we were shown looked like even I could play it. And trust me, I am not good at Fallout. Whilst I like that we will be able to play online, I'd probably annoy everyone, so I think I'll stick to solo play until I learn the ropes.

Graphically though, it looks stunning. The transition from the bright and colourful vault, to the seasonal patterns of outside the vault really make me want to play this game. Though the idea of it being four times bigger than Fallout 4 is a bit daunting, there is emphasis on this game should be played multiplayer. With a November 14th release date, this might just end up on my Black Friday list.

Spider-Man

I'll admit, I wasn't too hyped about this game until I saw game play footage of it from E3. With a September launch, I will struggle to not play this game.

From what I can tell, it is a similar format to the older games, but graphically, I love it. I remember when Spider-Man came out on the PlayStation 3 and thinking that it looked stunning. But I was blown out of the water by the attention to detail. I especially love that Spider-Man now runs up the walls, rather than climbs in a very Hunter-esque (Spyro: A Hero's Tail) manner. It's little things like that, that really make me want to play, especially as it shows how fluid the game mechanics are.

Kingdom Hearts 3

This is a game franchise I should have played before. I am saving up for the 1.5 and 2.5 bundle as well as the 2.8 bundle. With a release date of January 29th 2019, I am hoping to have a least played through part of this franchise before then.

It's Disney, so how can I not enjoy it? The Frozen world looks gorgeous, and I absolutely adore the Tangled world. Comparing the character models to their animation, they are so accurate that in a side by side, I struggled to tell the difference.

I will confess, I need to know the history of Kingdom Hearts before I play this game, just so I don't make a complete fool of myself (which I will probably do anyway). I highly recommend Tealgamemaster's videos on the Kingdom Hearts franchise. His are the videos I'll watch to know the game.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Okay, so I've never really show an interest in Assassin's Creed. I know the story, I've seen my brother play hours of it on the PlayStation, and sure Ezio has a decent story line. BUT, Odyssey is set in Ancient Greece! Those that know me, know I am a massive Greek mythology nerd, and have spoken about Ancient Greece in coursework the past few years.

The graphics look fantastic, and in a new addition to the game, you can now play as a Kassandra, a female who shares the same story line as Alexios, the male character. The characters navigate through the tribes in the Peloponessian War with allegiances to the Athenians and the Spartans, as well as various other historical events within Greece. I don't want to spoil it, but doing the last little bit of research for this blog post, I completely fangirled reading it. All the history that I know about, combined with a game franchise that I am familiar with, is making me so happy.

It will be interesting to see how I play the game, considering I've never played it. Still, I am excited for it and this is definitely going on my list.

I'll leave it here, because I could go on for hours. There are other games I am excited for, and games I still need to look into, but you can guarantee I am going to spend a lot of time playing video games over the next twelve months.

10 Songs from my Spotify

10 Spotify Songs

Over social media, I occasionally see tags where you put Spotify on shuffle and write about the first 10 songs that play. I listen to a lot of different genres of music, so I thought that this week I'd share 10 songs from my Spotify.

Dear Maria, Count me in - All Time Low. Oddly enough, this was not the first song I heard from All Time Low, nor is it my favourite. So listening to this song, and even watching the video it's very reminiscent of it's time (I am aware it's only 10 years old!). This song is on my favourite All Time Low songs playlist, and I do enjoy listening to it. I just don't search it out any more.
We Don't have to Dance - Andy Black. Truth be told, I forgot I had this saved. I'm fairly certain it's in a few playlists that I haven't updated in a couple of years. I still enjoy the song, but I definitely don't seek it out. I remember when this came out, and I think I listened to it because a couple of friends liked Andy. This is probably the only solo song I have listened to from him, and I always had the intention of listening to the rest of his stuff.
You and I - One Direction. I'm not surprised a One Direction song showed up. Occasionally, I still listen to their music. I don't think I'll ever stop, I just don't listen to it as frequently as I used to four years ago. Funnily enough, I really didn't like this song when it was released. This was a time I was starting to like pop punk over bubblegum pop, and this song was so slow and bored me. It wasn't until I watched the music video, that I started to enjoy it. I remember all the lyrics to the song, and probably sung it spontaneously, but it isn't in my favourite One Direction songs playlist. Still, it was nice to listen to it whilst writing this.
You are the music in Me - High School Musical 2. The version that I have playing is the Sharpay version, but I actually prefer the original version. Yes, I still listen to High School Musical songs, and I love going back and watching the films. This is one of the songs I forget when I think of High School Musical, probably because I enjoy some of the other songs more. I think the original version is on my favourite High School Musical songs playlist, but not the Sharpay version. I tend not to seek this version out, but I definitely don't hate it. I enjoy listening to the song, just prefer the original to the Sharpay version.
Story of Another Us - 5 Seconds of Summer. I don't know why, but I don't listen to this song as much as I should do. I've probably used it as a character theme at some point, but I don't think it has ever gone into my favourite 5 Seconds of Summer songs playlist. I really enjoy listening to the song, though I don't actively seek it out. It was on the extended edition of Sounds Live Feels Live, so I ended up listening to the song later than I probably should have. I'm definitely going to be listening to this song more.
Life of the Party - Shawn Mendes. This was the first Shawn Mendes song I ever heard, and it was because the video for it played in an ad break between Catfish episodes. Who would have thought Shawn would be the reason I got back into pop music. Listening back to it now, I know it isn't my favourite Shawn song, but it is definitely in the favourite Shawn Mendes song playlist. I think he sung this on the Illuminate Tour, but from what I've heard through videos, it definitely sounds good live. I don't seek this song out, like I do some of the other songs. I'm going to start listening to it more, because I forgot how much I enjoyed it when it came out.
I've got a dream - Tangled. This is not my favourite Tangled song. I don't mind the song, but it's one of those songs I sometimes contemplate skipping. If At Last I See the Light was playing, I'd definitely be praising it. That being said, it's a good song - I just think it works better with the film footage accompanying it. I don't seek it out like I do with When will my Life Begin and At Last I See the Light, but I'm going to make it my goal to not contemplate skipping this song when it comes on.
I'm not the Guy - Lyon Estate. I am so happy that this band made the list, especially since they are so unknown. This is my favourite song on the EP, and definitely a contender for my favourite Lyon Estate song. Listening to the lyrics, I sometimes wonder why I love the song so much, but I really can't explain why. It is a pop punk sound, and I can't resist pop punk at the best of times, but I think everything works with the song. Whilst I missed out on the recent merch release (because I am broke and when I got round to looking, my size had sold out), the new single is out soon! And there are music videos coming out soon! Basically, I'm saying check these guys out because they deserve all the love and support.
Tonight (We Live Forever) - Union J. I haven't listened to this song in years. I haven't really listened to Union J since George left, though that isn't because he left. I actually saw Union J on tour for this album and it was such a good night, and they sound so good live. With this song, I think it was one of my favourites, but I never created a Union J favourite songs playlist. I enjoy the song, and I think if I still sought Union J out, it would be one I'd seek out and listen to. I'm going to start listening to some of my favourite Union J songs more, and see if the list has changed over the past couple of years.
A Million Dreams - The Greatest Showman. I adore this song. When I first heard the Greatest Showman songs, This is Me was my favourite. But, over time, I really came to love A Million Dreams. I think it is because I can use it as character themes, but this as the first major opening song really lifts my spirits. I find myself singing this song more than I should, but I don't care. Any excuse to sing it is fine by me.

I promise my music taste is more varied than pop, pop punk and musicals. I just pressed shuffle ten times on my Spotify, and now have a bit of fixing up on my recently played.

I hope you enjoyed reading some of the songs on my Spotify playlist, and who knows, maybe I'll do more of these in the future, I really enjoyed this.

See you next week!

-Emmaberry-

My First Con: A Year On

My First Con: A Year On.

During this past week, Facebook memories informed me it had been a year since I attended my first con. Attending a con was something I wanted to do, it was just a decision of which one. At the time of booking the tickets for Heroes and Villains FanFest 2017, there were a lot of actors I wanted to see. Whilst the ones I saw on the day were fantastic, some of the ones I originally wanted to see had to cancel because of filming commitments.

I plan meticulously for events, I like knowing my transport, the plan for the day, and the level in which I have to "parent" the person I'm with. But the friend (who I am leaving nameless, and I forgot to ask if they were okay with being named) I went with didn't need that much help navigating London, although travelling from London Waterloo station after a weekend of being at the con meant my patience wore a little thin with the question, "are you sure we're not the right train?" I digress though, for the rest of the weekend was fun.

I enjoyed the con, though there are a few things I wished I'd known beforehand. I'd done my research into the venue, and transport links. Even so, doing your con research, and attending it in real life are two different things.

What I leaned being there? I learned that you should always know where your nearest cash points outside the venue are. You should always allow twenty minutes before and after a meet and greet/photo op/talk etc, to allow for longer wait times for these things. If you want to attend a talk, make sure you get into the queue fairly early. Always take cash, especially if you are taking part in the meet and greets - most of them didn't accept card payments. And never be afraid to talk to the people cosplaying.

Would I have changed anything? The only think I'd change is not getting a picture with the Kylo Ren cosplayer. The story is great, but I was just in awe, overwhelmed and tired at that point, that I just got all shy - cosplayers don't bite! The rest of it, I wouldn't. I got to explore more of the high streets, and it was a nice enough weekend that I didn't mind the extra walking. I adored the meet and greets and though I spent way more than I should have, it's the memories that count and make it more special.

There are cons I wish to attend in the future, however, I haven't bought tickets for them. I'm sure I will definitely attend some more in the near future.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post! Below are a selection of pictures from the con. A lot of them are merch items I bought.

I have permission from the friend I was with to post the Stephen Amell photo of us. I have more than these, but those are of my friend and I thought I'd only post the one with the two of us in it.

Any vendors I remember buying from, I'll list them with the photos.

Newt Scamander Pop Vinyl. The Flash Pop Vinyl Key Ring Vendor: A Place in Space

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ScriptSupernatural Season 1 Episode 1 Pilot ScriptAll autographs are reproductions of the originals.Vendor: Cowazinga