My First "Shoutout Sunday": The Perfect Peter Machin

Pete (far left) and I (the guy at the bottom right with the ginger hair, obviously!) during our last proper day of year 11 at secondary school, so we were aged about 16. Nobody in this photo will forgive me for putting this on here!

Where do I begin when writing a piece about my best friend, Pete(r) Machin? He's the guy who means the most to me on this whole planet (outside of my family), a guy who - whether he realises it or not - has saved my life on at least one occasion, and a guy who I am proud to call my best friend for life. I've been lucky enough to know this unforgettable, caring, amazing, understanding, life-changing individual since the first year of secondary school - so since we're about 11 - and we have literally never fallen out since (We're 27 and 28 now, although I'm actually also 28 the day after publishing this!); although he's probably secretly [and jokingly] disliked me a lot in that time, as I am not an easy individual to have to put up with! We didn't go to the same primary school, due to living in different areas of Reading, so we didn't know each other prior to secondary school, unfortunately, but if we had, I have no doubt that we'd have been friends sooner.

Over time we got closer and closer, and one of the main things that sticks in my mind from our teenage years is the epic sleepovers we'd occasionally have, with one in particular springing to mind: it was a cold February in 2005, some of our other friends had gone to New York on a school trip, and he had an empty house, so we arranged this unforgettable sleepover. Back then you tended to have one big (LCD or plasma) TV in your house, with other TV's - like the one you'd have in your bedroom - still being one of those ones with the fat backs (CRT's)! This meant that it was always exciting to plug your games consoles in in the living room and play on "the big TV". So we plugged in his PS2 and my GameCube in the living room (he's always been a Sony fan, and I've always been a Nintendo fan, so between us we always have an interesting mixture of awesome games to play!); rearranged the furniture to be as comfortable as possible; put the fire on; ate and drank loads of junk; and played games all night (Conflict: Desert Storm II on the Cube kept us awake, playing the bloomin' hard campaign in co-op mode), which seemed crazily exciting at the time!

Pete making me laugh-out-loud whilst doing the best man's speech at Chris Fox's wedding

One thing you never forget in this world is when you're at your worst, and whether certain people stick around, whether they're there for you, etc., and with Pete I have always been able to say, "yes, he's never let me down!" I remember when I didn't have a job and wasn't in education, but he never judged me; in fact, he still came around to see me after his work - with me in my pyjamas, having done nothing productive with the day - if only to hang out for a few hours. Yes, there have been many other people who have had my back when I've been, in all honesty, suicidal, but he's the main reason why I'm still on this planet right now; that's the honest truth! I've never been so comfortable around any other human being, we share so much in common, and I can chat to him about absolutely anything - or even sit in silence whilst still feeling comfortable and like he's there for me.

He's been there with me for some of my most favourite days and nights ever, including two phenomenal concerts: the first being back on April the 12th 2008 when we saw Elliot Minor headline at the London Astoria, and the other being when Green Day played to 60,000+ people at the Emirates Stadium in London on June the 1st 2013! I'm really glad I shared these moments, and many others, with him.

*Before Green Day had come on* This was one of the best days/nights I've experienced with Pete. Green Day played for two-and-a-half hours - it was dark by the end (see below)!

The finale of Green Day's set - which was "Brutal Love" - with the lights being from everybody's camera flashes, phones, etc.!

I genuinely can't stress enough just how much he means to me: he really is my best mate for life - and a brother figure, to be honest - as well as the most perfect and inspirational human being I've ever met in my life, and I feel like I owe him so much, as he has helped me with everything from rides to and from places, to helping me through dark and depressing times. I love you, bro, and would be lost without you! :D <3

"Future Hearts" by All Time Low album review

It's crazy to think that I wasn't an All Time Low fan a few years back, especially given how big of a fan I am now; not because I didn't like them back then - no, definitely not that, as I knew about the likes of Weightless and Dear Maria, Count Me In, and I loved those songs - but just because I hadn't properly discovered them yet. I could say the same thing about many other pop-rock or pop-punk bands I've since come to love - like Yellowcard, We Are The In Crowd, Forever The Sickest Kids, etc. - and in the time that passed between not truly knowing All Time Low and absolutely loving them to bits, I've come to find out that it was certainly my loss for not knowing this infectious, melodic, amazing band!

My first few listens of their new album, Future Hearts, were on the Hopeless Records YouTube channel, as there was a stream on there a little while before the album was released and I got my physical copy (I may be in the minority, but I still love owning CD's of all my favourite bands, for the improved sound quality, artwork, lyrics, etc.), and the album impressed me on my very first listen. Unfortunately not in the way that Nothing Personal did when my ears first had the pleasure of hearing that groundbreaking album, but, in my opinon, that's one of the best pop-punk albums of the last decade! For me, the first half of the album - especially tracks 2 through 7, Kicking & Screaming to Cinderblock Garden - is better than the latter half of the album, and it starts off with an atmospheric, slow-paced intro track, Satellite, before firing into one of the best tracks on the album, Kicking & Screaming. The song starts with a "1, 2, 3, 4" and ferocious, fast-paced guitars in what is one of the heavier tracks on the album, and a song where you will be singing the pre-chorus and chorus after the very first listen. The song also has one of ATL's best guitar solos to date (I still think A Love Like War may just be the best, though), before amazing drums launch the song into the final chorus. This song is actually my current ringtone, and I feel it would of made for a brilliant comeback single, but I understand why ATL didn't choose it: it sounds like ATL of the past, old-school pop-punk, and not the new sound that they wanted to show off from Future Hearts.

That's where Something's Gotta Give comes in: a mid-tempo pop-rock song that sounds a little bit different to the usual. It's all about doubting yourself, feeling like you're a waste of a life, made some bad decisions in life, but then saying, "Something's got to give! With the help of others, I can make it out of this slump and live my life better." That's how I see this song. It's certainly not my favourite from the album, but it's not the worst, either. The chorus is quite catchy, there's a good underlying guitar riff, the lyrics are great - as they are throughout the album, as this really is their best album lyrically - and credit to Alex Gaskarth for that stunning last note! The next song on the album, Kids In The Dark, is a real anthem, and already a favourite amongst fans, and it's easy to see why. The song starts with a brilliant guitar riff, and the verses have a real swagger about them, before getting to the fantastic, sing-a-long chorus - especially the "heys".

The brilliant Runaways has a beautiful pre-chorus with amazing lyrics - "We're going down this road, with tears in our rear view mirror. Far from home, but in the dark you'll know, with me you've got nothing to fear" - as well as a bridge that builds brilliantly, as the vocals and drums get fiercer, before a gorgeously tranquil section leads back into the chorus via a couple of drum beats. Next comes the absolutely stunning Missing You (link to this song above this paragraph, but if you're viewing this blog on, say, a phone - meaning videos don't appear - here's a direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhbVUTZn7A), a song which hit me hard the very first time I heard it. I believe it is easily All Time Low's most stunning song ever; I'm not saying it's their utmost best, but in terms of lyrics and music, it shows an incredible level of maturity, as well as showing the significant growth that ATL have gone through. It's a song that I feel a lot of fans will relate to, and a song with such a strong melody and powerful lyrics - about depression and suicide, and how you'd miss out if you killed yourself, and how people would miss you - that I feel it has the ability to bring people to tears, especially if seen performed live. Alex's main vocals are stunning, there's brilliant backing vocals ("ooooooh, woooah"), the bridge is tremendous (fans will definitely sing this every time they hear the song!), and it's definitely my favourite track on the whole album (the lyrics to this song are so good that I've posted them at the bottom of this blog); it's music at its most enchanting and best.

Cinderblock Garden - a song about believing you can make a relationship work forever, if you fight through the hard times - starts off with some great chanting and has one of the catchiest choruses on the whole album, as well as an exquisite bridge, but after this the album sadly starts to dip in quality, albeit still with moments of quality, like: the grandiose climax to Tidal Waves; most of Old Scars / Future Hearts, especially the pre-chorus and chorus; and the change of pace for The Edge Of Tonight. But the best song on the rest of the album is Dancing With A Wolf, which again sounds like progression by ATL, and a step in a new direction whilst still managing to sound like them. The song has a real groove about it, making you want to dance along, and it's just insanely catchy! The title is a reference to one of Aesop's fables, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", with the lyrics being about how there is no love for liars. Sadly, Don't You Go and Bail Me Out don't do much for me; neither are bad songs by any stretch of the imagination, but they just fail to grab me in any exciting way.

Future Hearts is a great album from start to finish, with the occasional dip here, and moments of genius elsewhere. It's not as consistently amazing as Nothing Personal, and it can't quite match up to some of ATL's earlier work, but it is the best thing they've put out since Nothing Personal. Nothing I've heard recently can match the perfection and beauty of Missing You, the joyous pop-punk of Kicking & Screaming, and the groove of Dancing With A Wolf. This is the best album I've heard in quite a long time, and if this is the sound of where All Time Low are going, count me in for the journey! :) <3

SCORE (out of 10): 9.1

Download these: Kicking & Screaming, Kids In The Dark, Runaways, Missing You, Cinderblock Garden, Dancing With A Wolf (but, to be honest, just buy the whole album!)

The photos that came with my copy of Future Hearts

My physical copy of Future Hearts

Lyrics to Missing You:

I heard that you've been
Self-medicating in the quiet of your room,
Your sweet, suburban tomb.
And if you need a friend,
I'll help you stitch up your wounds.

I heard that you've been
Having some trouble finding your place in the world.
I know how much that hurts,
But if you need a friend
Then please just say the word...

You've come this far,
You're all cleaned up,
You've made a mess again,
There's no more trying,
Time to sort yourself out...

Hold on tight,
This ride is a wild one,
Make no mistake,
The day will come when you can't cover up what you've done,
Now don't lose your fight, kid,
It only takes a little push to pull on through,
With so much left to do;
You'll be missing out, and we'll be missing you.

I heard that you've been
Having some trouble finding your place in the world.
I know how much that hurts,
And if you need a friend
Then please just say the word...

Pre-chorus and chorus

Grit your teeth, pull your hair,
Paint the walls black and scream,
"F**k the world 'cause it's my life,
I'm gonna take it back,"
And never for a second blame yourself.

Hold on tight,
This ride is a wild one,
Make no mistake,
The day will come when you can't cover up what you've done,
(no, you can't cover up)
(one, two, three, four!)

Chorus

Movie Reviews, including the stunning Good Will Hunting

GOOD WILL HUNTING

Honestly, It's taken too long - I've had it on record since just after Robin Williams' incredibly sad passing, and it was released over 17 years ago - but I finally watched Good Will Hunting for the first time, and, wow, it moved me! Whilst I was always expecting a movie-stealing performance from Robin Williams as the one-of-a-kind therapist, Sean Maguire - and he truly was sensational, certainly deserving of the Oscar for "Best Supporting Actor" that was to follow - I had no idea that Matt Damon would be as amazing as he was (I blame the movie "Team America: World Police" for me thinking bad of him!), playing the titular character, Will Hunting, a messed up genius from Boston who can avoid doing time for numerous assaults if he can help out a professor (the fantastic Stellan Skarsgard) with advanced mathematics whilst also seeing a therapist (Williams) once a week.

It's full of unforgettable scenes along the way, many featuring Sean Maguire, but one that really sticks in my mind is when Will Hunting is arguing with his girlfriend - Skylar, played by Minnie Driver - claiming he doesn't love her, when really he's just scared of letting people in because of some of the horrific things he went through as an orphaned kid. There are brilliant performances throughout, and I feel Ben Affleck deserves a mention, even if he is upstaged by Williams and Damon! Good Will Hunting is full of loads of meaningful and passionate lines that people still quote to this day, in what is a fantastic script written by Damon and Affleck, even if the story arc is a little predictive; but you know the movie's doing something right when that's the only bad thing I can honestly say about it.

It's worth noting that this movie was made with just $10 million - before Damon and Affleck had made it big - so don't go in expecting crazy, over-the-top scenes full of explosions or something, like you'd see in a spectacular but vapid Michael Bay movie, but what you get here is actually much better than that: a movie where the dialogue, characters, and actors get a chance to shine, in a movie that is full of more heart and soul than any summer blockbuster will ever be!

There's also a great music score done by Danny Elfman, who's most famous for The Simpsons theme, no doubt; and not once did I think the movie overrun at its length of roughly two hours. It will go down as one of my most favourite movies ever, and, if you don't mind me, I'm off to Amazon to make sure I own a copy that I can watch many more times in the future! :D <3

Robin Williams as Sean Maguire: "You'll have bad times, but they'll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren't paying attention to."

SCORE (out of 10): 9.7

*Movie contains strong language throughout*

Mini reviews of Django Unchained, Wreck-It Ralph, Despicable Me (1 & 2), Get Him To The Greek, and Airplane! follow.

DJANGO UNCHAINED

I absolutely loved Django Unchained - more than I expected to, to be honest, because, truth be told, I haven't loved everything from Quentin Tarantino - and the performances of Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx, and Leonardo DiCaprio are simply magnificent, with Waltz definitely deserving of his Oscar for "Best Supporting Actor" that was to come. The story follows Django (Foxx), a slave that is freed by Dr. King Schultz (Waltz) because he knows Django can help him locate the Brittle brothers, with Schultz offering Django his freedom in return. The two form an unlikely friendship, with Django becoming Schultz's apprentice and helping him do more bounty hunting, with the promise that they will go and try to free his wife, Broomhilda Von Shaft (Kerry Washington), who's being kept as a slave by the nasty Calvin Candie (DiCaprio). It's beautifully filmed in some stunning locations; deals with a serious issue from the past; has brilliant music; and is a very memorable movie. The only fault, for me, is that at 2 hours and 45 minutes long, it's just a bit too lengthy!

SCORE: 9.3

*Movie contains strong language throughout, including numerous uses of the "N" word; and loads of graphic violence (like you'd expect from Tarantino!)*

WRECK-IT RALPH

If you've already taken a glance down at the review score, you'll have seen that I have given Wreck-It Ralph a very generous 9.4, and, I'll be honest, that score comes from a guy who is a massive fan of computer generated movies, as well as a huge fan of video games, and so this score is, arguably, incredibly biased; but it is a superb movie that's suitable for everybody! I actually prefer this movie to all of the Toy Story movies, all the Shreks, Up, and I'd even say it's my joint favourite CG movie ever (the other being the absolutely amazing WALL-E, with How To Train Your Dragon in third place)! All the video game references and cameos are a joy to behold for a geek like me (everything from Mario and Sonic, to Street Fighter and Metal Gear Solid); the voice acting - from the likes of John C. Reilly (Ralph), Jack McBrayer (Fix-It Felix), Sarah Silverman (Vanellope von Schweetz), Jane Lynch (Sergeant Calhoun), etc. - is perfect for each character; the gaming worlds are beautifully realised with perfect looks and sounds; and the story of a bad guy wanting to be good is decent.

SCORE: 9.4

DESPICABLE ME

I found Despicable Me to be pretty great throughout - especially the hilarious Minions with their funny speech and animation - whilst unfortunately never managing to quite blow me away. The cast, as is often the case with computer generated movies, is truly amazing, with each actor - Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Julie Andrews, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, etc. - really bringing their respective characters to life. Despite this stellar cast, though, most of the laughs actually come from the Minions (who everybody seems to love, and rightly so - where can I buy one?!) and the little girl, Agnes (played by Elsie Fisher), but, to be honest, there's barely any bad characters to be found here. A good range of characters; consistently funny; a good story; but just never truly mind-blowing. Now I should go and watch number 2, if only for the Minions! EDIT: I have since seen Despicable Me 2, and here's my opinion: just like the first, but ever-so-slightly better! XD

DESPICABLE ME - SCORE: 8.0

DESPICABLE ME 2 - SCORE: 8.2

GET HIM TO THE GREEK

I watched Get Him To The Greek after seeing it was going to be on TV one night, whilst also being recommended it by my older brother, and I found it to be hugely enjoyable, with some very funny moments. The story follows Aaron Green (Hill), a record company employee who is sent to London by his boss, Sergio Roma (Combs), in order to get Aldous Snow (Brand) all the way to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles for a 10 year anniversary performance for a legendary show he did there in 1999. The thing that surprised me the most was that Sean Combs was so damn funny; I mean, I expected Russell Brand and Jonah Hill to be brilliant, but I didn't expect Sean Combs to have so many of the funniest bits of the movie! Some great licensed music, as well as some funny original music ("Bangers, Beans, And Mash"!); some great, funny performances, as well as some fantastic cameos (Pharrell Williams, Lars Ulrich, Pink, etc.); and just an all-round decent "journey movie".

SCORE: 8.5

*Contains raunchy humour and strong language throughout*

AIRPLANE!

My dad and little brother had been trying to get me to watch Airplane! for a ridiculously long time because of how they believe it is a classic (and they're not the only ones, as Airplane! is often voted amongst the greatest comedies ever made); now, I don't believe it's as amazing as they think it is, but it's still incredibly funny throughout. What's most impressive is that the movie barely goes a minute without throwing a joke of some sort in your direction, be it a verbal pun, a sight-based gag, something satirical, or just something downright cringeworthy! There are some great performances, from actors who actually weren't seen as comedy actors before this movie (even the late, great Leslie Nielsen wasn't seen as a comedy actor until this point); some very funny scenes/jokes (Family Guy often uses Airplane! jokes); and it's just a great - and very, very silly - movie that has stood the test of time, and it will continue to do so because everybody can benefit from a massive laugh and a bit of silly every now and again. WARNING: watching this movie may result in you retelling some of the stupid jokes to your family and friends for years to come, as that's certainly the way it has been with my dad! XD

SCORE: 8.4

I really hope you enjoyed those movie reviews, guys! Be sure to give me feedback on them, as well as telling me your opinions on the movies reviewed, or whether I've made you want to go and watch any of them. If this blog gets a good response, I will do more movie reviews in the near future, possibly including the likes of Gravity, How To Train Your Dragon (1 & 2), The Fault In Our Stars, American Pie: Reunion, Dallas Buyers Club, Frozen, etc. Thanks very much! ^-^ <3