sheriffmitchell

2012

Things have been quiet on this site of late. The real party is happening over on OhBeery.Me my new beer blogging site. If you’ve somehow managed to trawl through the shit I have posted here in recent years you will find the occasional, and somewhat out of place, beer piece. Well, after putting off the inevitable and a chat with one of my more entrepreneurial friends, I bit the bullet and jumped aboard the beer blogging bandwagon.

My twitter feed is beer heavy, as are my after school activities so really it was about time. In fact OhBeery.Me is a bit of challenge for myself. For a long time, I considered myself a writer. I wrote for newspapers and magazines, comics and scripts. I studied scriptwriting at university and found great pleasure in hammering out thousands of words each week. Then something happened. I can’t place what it was but the love for writing faded away.

Last year I decided to do something about it. I realised I missed it but there had to be change. I needed to be passionate about what I wrote about. I had long had a dream of producing a magazine, not just for my work, but for others as well.

In 2011 I was instrumental in not one but two such magazines. First came The Bleed, a contemporary arts publication for writers, artists, poets & photographers. I was a member of the core group who pulled this together. Last year we released two issues, both with cover contributions from established artists, short fiction from exciting new creatives & fascinating articles highlighting the talent on show in the north east. The Bleed is printed on heavy stock paper. It’s weighty, dense with content and design. Having secured funding we don’t rely on advertising. It’s unlike any other magazine in the north east.

Our second issue was built around the concept of the end of the world. A terrifying dystopia where a lone editor assembled burned and scorched pieces of past publications and pulled them together into an analogy both of the past, present and future. It is a bold and ambitious piece of work and the next two issues we have planned are even more so. Fulfilling this dream was a huge step for me.

After the Bleed came Hopaganda, a craft beer fanzine created by fellow drinking buddies. It was  released, in all its cut and paste glory, at a monumental meet up of the great and good in beer. The fanzine illustrated the positive effect the on and off trade can have on the community and the passion for craft beer in the north east. More issues are planned in 2012.

Pushing myself to complete these was the biggest gift I could give mysel. So to keep up my writing momentum and to ensure I learn as much as I can, I have started OhBeery.Me.

I took time with the layout, keeping it uncluttered and minimalist. Ensuring the eye would be drawn to the content, and not endless links and other bullshit. To push myself even further I set the focus of the site as a daily bottled beer review.  300-400 words every day about the brewery, style and occasionally peppered with, hopefully, witty analogies.

It’s day five and there is a huge journey ahead but I’ve never been more excited or enthusiastic to see something through to the end.

Wishing you all a happy, prosperous and creative New Year.

Mission Impossible

Fresh faced Tom Cruise gets all smoke, mirrors and masks in De Palmas fantastic re-imagining of the 60s spy show. 8/10

Contagion

Outbreak for 2011 from Steven Soderbergh. All star “what could happen” which will have you never touching your face or anyone else again. Documentary style shooting adds to the drama. 7/10

In Time

Time is Money in this perfect of example of great trailer, poor movie. A convoluted sci-fi yarn which runs out of steam about 25 minutes in. Timberlake continues to prove that The Social Network was a one-off performance. 4/10

Hugo

I have never, in all my life, been as mesmerised by a film as I was by Hugo. The story, cast, set design, direction are perfect. I don’t have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe quite how fantastic this motion picture really is. Most importantly Hugo is a love letter to the magic and wonder of the silver screen. 

3D is a medium I am completely indifferent about. It’s a gimmick designed by Hollywood to draw people back to the cinema. So often 3D films have been post converted, adding awful forced depth to films that do not require it. 

However, for Scorsese for is a story telling device, a tool to draw you deeper into the world of Hugo Cabret. From the opening scene, flying through the cityscape of Paris, into the station and down a bustling train concourse and into a clock face I was bewitched. The director has taken the medium of 3D and worked the same magic that Georges Méliès did creating his silent epics.

Scorsese is arguably the greatest American film maker and this is his masterpiece. Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and the majority of his back catalogue are amazing. Hugo is flawless. 10/10

Kung Fu Panda 2

Dreamworks up their game and shit all over Cars 2. Sumptuous design, combining masterful CGI and gorgeous hand drawn Miyazakiesque animation. Family fun with Van Damme and Jackie Chan to boot. 7/10