On Strike!

Last night I watched the film Starship Troopers from 1997, directed by Paul Verhoeven and based on a novel by Robert Heinlein. The film is set in an unspecified future, where earth is controlled by the "Federation" and democracy has been abolished. People are classed as either "civilians" or "citizens" and only citizens have the right to vote or hold public office among other benefits. Citizenship has to be earned through military service among other things. Humanity is also taking over outer space, and is engaged in a brutal full-scale war witha race of giant alien insects. The story concerns a high school graduate who joins the Mobile Infantry to gain citizenship, and the film depicts the brutal training regime and his fighting in the war aginst the insects. The film really alomst mocks the world it is set in, with everyone being blandly good-looking and lacking any real personality. It also has amusing fake news bulletins interspersed through the film. The special effects are extremely impressive.

I also watched an interesting documentary called Timeshift which was tracing the links between British spy fiction and real life espionage.

I wasn't in work today because of the one-day strike. It was a beautiful day outside, so I took a walk into Princes Street and bought some books in the sales: I got three graphic novels, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, and a novel called The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert. I bought a pack of sushi, a chocolate bar and a bottle of Coke and went down to Princes Street Gardens sat on a bench and had a bit of a picnic. It was very nice. On the way home I got the latest copy of The List, the fortnightly Edinburgh and Glasgow events guide, which had a free restaurant guide. It was a really nice trip out, actually.