The Places of Bristol: Watershed

The Watershed is a hot spot for the creative types in Bristol. Located in a beautiful Grade II listed building in Harbourside, this cinema is an endearing place to visit on a rainy Bristolian evening. “But you’re not the arty type!” I hear you scream, well the Watershed is also the perfect place for a languages student. I had my first introduction to this inspired place while on a Hispanic Society trip to see the Chilean masterpiece, ‘No’. Although I enjoyed the film, I walked away thinking about the venue. 

The atmosphere couldn’t be more different to Cabot’s Cinema De Luxe with their overpriced popcorn and teenagers on dates. The Watershed radiates intelligence and creative thought as you come out of your film to hear people discussing the artistic camera angles rather than the attractiveness of the male lead. With 3 cinemas showing those quirky films you promised yourself that you would try, a charming café that promotes locally sourced food and an online catalogue of short films on almost any media-related topic, there’s nothing not to love. 

Where? Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5TX 
How much? £6.50 for students

The Places of Bristol

 I have recently taken over as Theatre Editor for Bristol’s online magazine, Inter:Mission and with my new role comes new experiences (and the odd free press ticket). I’ve only been in the position for two weeks, but I’ve already been to an array of new places across the city. There are so many little theatres, bars and quirky activities that students don’t seem to take advantage of. I have discovered that Bristol is so more than just Whiteladies Road and Lounge, and as embarrassed as I am that it took me almost two years to realise it, I hope to persuade you too.

In this new feature for my blog, I hope to point you in the direction of new and fun places to go outside of the student routine. If you feel like you seem to be visiting the same places over and over again and actually quite fancy a good cocktail bar rather than Bed @ Bunker or a quirky cinema rather than the Odeon, then you’ve come to the right place. 

oldukphotos

Why I Love the BBC

From a lonely drive made more interesting by the dulcet tones of Jeremy Vine to a desire to find out the headlines in English while abroad, the BBC seem to have all areas covered. After a recent conversation with a friend, I discovered that I am rather a fan of the BBC and the extent to which it surfaces in my daily life. Beyond praising (rather patriotically- there were mentions of how America just cannot do the same) this wonderful corporation, we managed to completely justify to ourselves the £145 annual TV licence. I thought I’d share a few of those reasons with you…

The Choice of Radio. They do it all. Want to hear some calm Sunday morning chit chat? Fancy a gentle introduction into the history of the blues? Read a bestseller book recently? Radio 2. Fancy putting on your pretentious hat and forming strong opinions on Cameron’s Europe speech? Want to hear what records Nick Clegg will take to his desert island with him? Need your Archers fix? Radio 4. Too young/cool for the above? Radio 1.

News. I don’t want anyone to burst my bubble. The BBC news website provides us with unbiased, up-to-date, well written journalism. Forget the typos of the Daily Mail Online and the ridiculous stories dug up by The Sun, the BBC gets to the point and you feel like an educated person wrote the words that you are reading. 

Sport? Not something, if I’m honest, that I pay attention to on a daily basis, but people tell me that they’re the website to seek. 

David Attenborough. Now this one is important. We came to the conclusion that without the BBC, there would be no David Attenborough. From Life on Earth in the 70s, the more recent Frozen Planet to the current Africa, many Britons would argue that the nature and wildlife genre on TV will cease to exist when Attenborough retires. Which, considering he is still going at 84, he never will.  

Remember this?!

5 Ways to Avoid Procrastination

Image: A Writer's Journey

It is that time of year when university students have spent all their Christmas money, gained a few pounds having enjoyed home cooked food far too much and are starting to fear the looming January exams. Procrastination is at an all-time high, visibly demonstrated by the sheer numbers of people on Facebook chat and the abuse of the Facebook status. As a fellow sufferer, I have tried to discover a few simple steps in order to battle this terrible affliction. 

Tea Breaks. One of my most successful ways of avoiding the random need to get up and wander around is to decide when I am going to take my tea breaks (or booze breaks for those in desperate need) before I start working. Knowing that I have an end-point certainly helps me concentrate. 15 minutes to go…10 minutes to go… 5 minutes to go… break… 1 hour 30 to go… and so on. NB if you decide you need abnormally common tea breaks, you might need to factor in loo breaks as well…

Website Blockers. I have recently had my attention drawn to these God-given gifts that have the power to disarm you from Facebook/Twitter/YouTube for a certain period of time of your choice. LeechBlock for Firefox or WebsiteBlocker for Chrome are good examples of programmes that can block the websites that your procrastination habits abuse. If extra precautions are to be taken, ask a friend to set the password. NB unless you don’t mind a fairly severe frape, I suggest you carefully consider which friend to ask…

To Do Lists. This one may sound obvious, but rather than face a mountain of notes in one go, it may be easier to set yourself lots of little tasks. Particularly satisfying if you write a list of tasks at the beginning of the session and then get to tick them off as you go. Learn 2 equations: tick. Read 10 pages: tick. Repeat 2 equations: tick. NB abuse of this rule may lead to time wasting… 

Rewards. Working is hard, revising is really hard and exams are horrible. Encourage yourself to work harder by treating yourself if you are productive. Learnt 20 pages of notes? Watch a movie. Finished that essay? Have an ice cream. Didn’t go on Facebook for an entire day? Celebrate. NB Try to avoid rewards that involve alcohol, working is already hard enough.   

Do Not Start A Blog. But if your body needs its procrastination fix, I suppose you could read this one.