WALL.E

Last night I was watching the 1959 film Look Back in Anger, directed by Tony Richardson, and based on a play by John Osborne. It was one of countless social-realist, or "kitchen-sink", dramas that came out of Britain in the late 1950s and early '60s. The film tells the story of intelligent but disaffected Jimmy Porter (played by Richard Burton), who runs a sweet-stall in a market and plays trumpet at a jazz club at night. He spends most of his time endlessly complaining about everything and bullying everyone around him especially his long-suffering wife, Alison (Mary Ure), and her friend (Claire Bloom). The film has really dated quite badly, but it is still pretty good. It's stage origins are quite evident, with characters given to spouting out long, poetic monologues and it also suffers from a deeply unpleasant main character. The play was adapted by Nigel Kneale, best known for the classic Quatermass science-fiction series.

I went along to my parent's house today for lunch. We stopped off on the way, so I could get some groceries for the week. I had some sushi for my lunch and some strawberries and cream fro dessert, so that was really good. I really like sushi. Also my tickets for the Book Festival in August arrived, and everything seems to be in order. This afternoon I went along to Cineworld with my mum to see a Film Fetsival screening of WALL.E, directed by Andrew Stanton, the latest film from the Pixar animation studios. The film is about the last robot left on Earth, who is single-handedly trying to clean up all the rubbish that has rendered the planet uninhabitable by humanity. The film was really great, very funny and really charming and sweet, with some truly spectacular computer animation. It was preceded by a hilarious short film called Presto about a magician's rabbit who is determined to get a carrot. After the screening, one of the chief animators of WALL.E gave a short presentation about the development of the character and the animation. My mum and I had a quick drink after the show before I went home.

When I got home I listened to an episode of Fear on Four on the radio. It was about a couple who buy a house, at a very low price, and find a secret, hidden room containing a couple of empty boots and a press-cutting about a brutal murder that happened in the house, as well as something much nastier. I also watched the latest episode of Doctor Who, which was really good, featuring the Daleks and, for the first time in twenty years, their creator Davros.