Seconds

Last night I was watching the last in the current series of Peep Show which was very funny, and obviously all set up for the next season. I was also watching a 1966 film on television called Seconds, directed by John Frankenheimer. The film tells the story of an elderly businessman, Arthur Hamilton (played by John Randolph) who pays a shadowy organisation to fake his own death and then "re-birth" him (using complex plastic surgery) as youthful artist Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson). However he soon tires of the young swingers that are his new friends and longs to return to his old life, but the organisation doesn't do refunds and will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. The film is well-made with crisp black and white photography and uses distorted visuals, tilted camera angles and surreal sets to create a genuinely nightmarish paranoid world. The acting is really good, especially from Rock Hudson.

I went out today and bought some books in the sales: After Dark by Haruki Murakami, Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming and If You Liked School, You'll Love Work... by Irvine Welsh. On my way home I stopped off at the supermarket to get my groceries for the week. It is a really beautiful day outside today.

Doctor Who is on later, the second part of a two part story. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.