It’s 1am and I’m supposed to get up early to see a screening of Paul tomorrow morning, but I couldn’t resist watching the Superbowl this year. This is the first time I’m watching with friends (and actually have a clue what is happening). Being in the UK though, I can’t actually see all the ads and trailers live, but nowadays they’re pretty quickly available online. So here’s my roundup of the must-watch trailers of the Superbowl:

Super 8

Still very mysterious, but I love the vibe of this trailer (mainly cause of the music, I think). Kyle Chandler will always be Gary Hobson for me though (any other old Early Edition fans here?)

Captain America

I was a little underwhelmed when I saw this the first time. Re-watching it though makes me like it a bit more. Is it weird that I was expecting more action shots? I like the before and after shots of Chris Evens though.

Transformers

As much as I hate the plot of the Transformers movies, I do love the action. Giant robots fighting! What’s not to love? And installment #3 seems to have more action, more robots and more explosions. Fire bad, robot pretty.

Thor

Not much we hadn’t seen before. I still think it looks a little bit cheesy. But you know I love mythology and superheros, so whatever happens I’m going to see this.

Cowboys & Aliens

Ooh! We already had seen a trailer, but this spot shows a little bit more. Did you see that alien ship “unfold”?!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

I still like the idea of this movie. My main problem with 2 and 3 were Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, and they’ been finally cut out of this movie. Instead we get Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane as Blackbeard (AWESOME).

Okay, this just looks awesome:

I love how this doesn’t look like your typical action movie. And we need more kick ass heroines in movies!

You’d think something titled “worst” Super Mario Player ever would actually mean someone who played dreadfully, right? Well, sort of. Someone went and tried to obtain the least amount of points he could in the game… and that requires an awful amount of talent:

Via Duelling Analogs

Maybe it’s just me, but wouldn’t this dress be perfect for a Poison Ivy costume?

It’s a cute design and one I’d wear in a heartbeat if I had something jazzy to go to. It was discounted from £575 to £230 on The Outnet, but it’s sadly all sold out now.

Ooh, a book from Amber Benson! If that name sounds familiar, chances are you’ll remember her from her role on Buffy as Tara.

I’m normally not that excited about books written by actors, but Death’s Daughter looks like it could be fun. Here’s the description from Amazon:

Calliope Reaper-Jones so just wanted a normal life: buying designer shoes on sale, dating guys from Craig’s List, web-surfing for organic dim-sum for her boss…

But when her father—who happens to be Death himself—is kidnapped, and the Devil’s Protege embarks on a hostile takeover of the family business, Death, Inc., Callie returns home to assume the CEO mantle— only to discover she must complete three nearly impossible tasks in the realm of the afterlife first.

Death’s Daughter is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.06 and on Amazon.com for $7.99.

ThinkGeek has an awesome new line of tees with geek heroines! The first one was launched a couple of months ago, but since then they’ve added two more designs. Right now there are 3 in total, and I’m hoping they’ll add more in the future.

My favourite so far is the Marie Curie one; I love the simple drawing and the raspberry colour.

Marie Curie – Pioneer of Nuclear Physics

Ada Lovelace – The First Computer Programmer

Mary Shelley – Writer of Frankenstein

Depending on the size and the design, the tees range from $13.99-$18.99; they’re available in 5 different sizes (S, M, L, XL, XXL).

I got to try out this bag before Christmas, but because of being so sick around that time, I completely forgot to write up this review. And I forgot to take photos of the bag (and me). Anyway here’s finally my review.

The Silvi is a cross body bag with a quilted design, available in black, brown, gold and black pebbled. I thought it would be perfect as a secondary bag for most of my medium gadgets, like my iPad and DSLR. It’s a bit smaller though than I imagined. I tried to put my sleeved iPad in and it just fits. Just. It’s not a bag I’d comfortably use though as “my iPad bag” (maybe it works better with other sleeves, but with my one it was a too tight fit. I do have quite a bulky sleeve though). For my DSLR though it was great! It fit nicely in the Silvi with some spare room for a second lens and whatever other gadgets you have with you.

On the outside the Silvi has two pockets (front and back) which are handy for things you easily need to reach (like your Oyster card and phone). It closes with a small magnet, so you also don’t feel as if it’s completely open and available for everyone to reach into (yes, I am a bit paranoid of pickpockets). Besides that there is a small zipped front pocket, slightly larger than a credit card (it’s a great spot to store your business cards). Inside is one main compartment with a zipped pocket on one side and a mobile phone sized pocket on the other.

The Silvi is a cute little bag and it would work great as a secondary gadget bag. It’s perfect for a DSLR and similar sized gadgets.

The Silvi is available on the Knomo website for £65.

As regular readers here will know, I’m a huge Disney fan. I love the “golden era” Disney movies; I’m not sure whether I should admit this, but I can sing along to a scary amount of Disney songs. I’ve been so excited since Disney returned to doing musicals. For me, it hasn’t really mattered whether it’s CGI vs hand-drawn (or even live action, to be honest), or fairytale vs non-fairytale; what I want are sing-alongable songs and pretty scores.

While I loved Enchanted, I wasn’t that impressed with The Princess and The Frog, mainly because I didn’t like the music. So I had been curious to see how that would turn out with Tangled; which way would it go?

Tangled takes the tale of Rapunzel, but adds a whole new extra back story, new characters and magical hair. As a child Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is kidnapped by an old woman (Donna Murphy) who needs Rapunzel’s magical healing hair to keep her young and immortal. Her “mother” keeps her locked away in a tower, telling her it’s for her own good and that the world is too scary and dangerous a place for someone like her. But when a dashing bandit, Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), discovers Rapunzel and her tower, she demands to be shown the outside world.

I got to see Tangled two months ago, and ever since seeing it I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack! You’ve got all the usual suspects: the cheerful opening song (When Will My Life Begin), the evil villain song (Mother Knows Best), the side character song (I’ve Got A Dream) and the love song (I See The Light). I was initially a bit underwhelmed by When Will My Life Begin and Mother Knows Best, but after listening to them more, I actually really like them. The other two (I’ve Got A Dream and I See The Light) I loved the moment I heard/saw them in the cinema. Although the scene for I See The Light with its lanterns makes it difficult not to love that song; it’s just so fitting and romantic.

And that brings us to the CGI and the 3D. The lantern scene is gorgeous, and the prettiest use of 3D I’ve seen so far. I was expecting to miss the hand drawn animation, but the CGI in Tangled is great. It somehow was very reminiscent of hand drawn animation, with the characters having the same vibe as hand drawn ones (read Bleeding Cool’s interview with Glen Keane, he’s had a lot to do with that).

I also love the relationship between the two main characters. In most Disney movies you’ll find a strong lead character and a weaker less-prominent love interest. With Tangled, both Rapunzel and Flynn get time to grow and they’re both equally strong characters. Rapunzel is sweet, yet one of the feistiest Disney princesses. I think she’s my second favourite princess so far (with bookworm Belle being still #1). Flynn is great as the swashbuckling rogue, although I can’t really say much more about this character without spoiling the story.

Mother Gothel isn’t the scariest villain, but definitely the most manipulative one (although Jafar comes close behind). Pretending to be Rapunzel’s mother and basically guilt-tripping her into staying in a locked tower, Gothel is a twisted portayal of the over-protective mother. Finally I’ve got to mention the horse Maximus. Maximus has some of the funniest moments in the movie, even though he acts more like a dog than a horse.

Tangled was everything I was hoping it would be. It’s got a sweet story, two strong main characters, adorable and funny sidekicks, catchy songs and gorgeous visuals. I really want Disney to do more musicals, cause they’re just so much fun!

Last Tuesday I got to go to my first Qype event. Now I’ve been a member of Qype for some time now, but have mainly used it to see other people’s reviews. I never took the time to write anything up myself, so this will finally be my first Qype review!

The event was at the Bayswater branch of All Star Lanes, a 50s style diner and bowling alley. I had passed this place so many times when I used to still live in Notting Hill (it was on the route of my 24 hour bus), but from the outside it just seems like any other bowling alley. It was such a nice surprise to discover it was so much more! Inside everything has a 50s theme; the waiters and bar staff have 50s inspired outfits, the diner has nice low comfy booths and a black and white checkered tile floor, and the whole place is decorated with paintings of pinups.

We started out with drinks in the main bar area, where there were several round red booths (each fitting about 8-10 people). Once everyone had arrived, the 20 or so of us settled down in the diner where All Star lanes had provided us with our own menu:

There were a couple of yummy sounding starters to choose from, but I couldn’t resist the Spiced BBQ Wings, Celery and Blue Cheese Dip:

This turned out to be so messy, but so very tasty. The wings could have been a bit spicier for my taste (but then I’m a sucker for extremely spicy food). The celery and the blue cheese dip were a nice addition to the wings. I could have easily survived the night on only this; it’s a larger starter than I was expecting.

For my main I chose the “2009 UK Chilli Championship winning Chili Con Carne”:

It was a good chili, nice and spicy with bits of mushrooms and peppers. I wasn’t much a fan of having the chili and rice served in two sperate bowls though.

After the lovely dinner, we all headed to the private function room for bowling and karaoke. It’s a nice room for parties; on one end you’ve got two bowling lanes, on the other a nicely lit bar area with your own private cocktail bar and karaoke machine. I liked the idea of combining bowling and karaoke; instead of just waiting for your turn to bowl, you can enjoy singing along to the usual karaoke. I attempted a couple of songs; singing Build Me Up Buttercup with LJ, and trying to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face with Dan.

During the bowling and karaoke, we got served some delightful treats. First everyone got a Mint Julep cocktail. The we got deserts in the form of canapes! I had already aten so much, but the canapes were just way too cute not to try. My favourites were the chocolate mousse with a layer of caramel on top, and the mini waffle with something on top of it (don’t remember what though). Next to that we got a chocolate fudge brownie bite, and this (but again I’m not sure what is was… cheesecake, I think?):

It was a great evening, and All Star Lanes is definitely a place I’ll visit in the future. The food on it’s own wasn’t amazing, but as part of an easily arranged night out, it’s perfect. Dinner, cocktails, bowling, what more do you need? The private function can hold 40-50 people (according to the web site it can hold 80, but I’d say comfortably it would be around 40-50), and I’m thinking I could organize one of the Geeks of London meetups there. Also I really need to come back to try out the Bailey’s milkshake…

Thanks to Qype and All Star Lanes for organizing such a lovely evening!

All Star Lanes Bayswater: official website, Qype page

Interesting links of this week:

• A Mobile History of The World in 100 Objects: Cristiano’s awesome hack from last weekend at History Hack Day.
• An Initiation Into Museum Design (1996): great article about designing for the Science museum (specifically the Secret Life of the Home gallery).
• The Mathematics of Beauty: not really about the mathematics of beauty, more like the mathematics about the reactions of men in regards to relative attractiveness of woman.
• Designer Capsule Hotel: cool review about one of the capsule hotels in Japan.
• So You Found Something Cool On The Internet…: Awesome flowchart.
• An Email To Our Parents: not exactly what I would write, but there are a couple of things in there that are spot on.