It's that time of year again

I'm going to try and do a blog a day until christmas, though i'm sure i'll fall short at some point, so here goes.

1st of december.

Not long until Christmas, not long until new years, not long until the end of a decade.

Seeing as the snow seems to be dominating everyone's thoughts at the moment, for a mix of reasonable and nuts reasons, i feel like complaining. In Leicester it appears that we skipped right past the 'ooh snow, let's regress by a few years and throw snowballs, go sledging and generally mess around until we get so cold we physically can't continue (i know this seems like i'm slagging it off but i love that stage, i love that snow still makes me happy even though i don't really know why) and just moved into the deadly sheet ice stage where pavements and roads are more ice than anything else and everyone's reduced to cautiously waddling everywhere for fear of decking it and either if they're lucky just damaging their pride, if not then injuring themselves, thus making the next walk on the ice even more perilous.

I think it's a sign i'm getting old that now when i saw the snow start falling for the first time a few nights ago, though the childish excitement was still there, it was tainted by the thought of 'this will be bloody inconvenient when it all ices over'. I never used to think of that, snow used to be a pretty much unqualified good thing, but now the idea of slipping and sliding all over the place just popping across the road really depresses me. The fact that the snow hasn't really settled here at all just makes it worse, i feel like i've been cheated of the 'fun' bit and just have the crap after effect, like waking up with a hangover without having the night out before.

On a lighter note something that brought back a childlike level of joy without any negative sides was the arrival in the post today of Toy Story 3. I got it through love film (a scheme i've made a lot of use of over the past year and one that's definitely been value for money for me) and have made plans to watch it tomorrow evening. I actually can't wait to see it again, because at least on first viewing it was every bit as good as the first two. The animation even sharper, the jokes pitch perfect and often wonderfully complex and subtle, the plot involving and carrying a message without letting that spoil a damn good story.

For me at the moment, if i was to select one genre, director, company or actor i most trust to provide a quality film it's Pixar. Their hit percentage is insanely high, managing to make what are at least on the surface good children's films into simply great films. The Toy Story's are joined by Wall-E, Up, Monsters Inc, A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo. They're the ones i've seen, leaving 3 more (Ratatouille, Cars and the Incredibles) and out of the first list i can honestly say i loved every single one.

Pixar announced that a sequel to Monsters Inc will be released in the December of 2012. Now i'm not a big fan of much delayed sequels, i usually can't shake the suspicion that the decision to revive a concept is more born out of money issues than creative inspiration, much like i have only a limited interest in bands reforming to go on tour after long spells apart, especially when they're now missing integral members who made them great (but that's another rant for another time). However when i heard about this particular sequel i was just genuinely excited. Firstly Pixar are not scratching around for a dollar or two, they are i am sure, even in these economically tough times, filthily rich. Secondly as i said earlier i trust Pixar to do the sequel justice, until proven otherwise i will assume that the animation and writing will be of just as high a standard as usual.

Tomorrow is shaping up to involve a decent amount of journalism work (i might post the magazine article i'm writing for my workshop on here as a blog entry tomorrow if i like what i come up with), more work on my political theory essay, my luck/balance almost certainly failing me at least once on the ice and the promise of an evening watching Toy Story 3 to keep me going.