Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Summer of Sam

Last night I was watching the film Summer of Sam, a 1999 film directed by Spike Lee, and set in New York City during the summer of 1977. As the city swelters under a record-breaking heatwave, the streets are being stalked by the serial killer known as "Son of Sam". The film focuses on a small Italian-American neighbourhood, in particular the popular hairdresser Vincent (played by John Leguizamo), who enjoys disco-dancing and constantly cheats on his wife (Mira Sorvino), and his friend Ritchie (Adrien Brody), a punk who loves The Who, wears his hair in spikes and sports a fake British accent. Ritchie's outlandish appearance and unconventional lifestyle soon cause tension in the tight-knit neighbourhood community. As the heatwave increases, the crime rate in the city rises and the "Son of Sam" killings continue, causing increased paranoia and tension. It's a very stylishly made film, using a variety of cinematic techniques. Spike Lee has a small role in the film as a TV reporter. I remember very clearly seeing it when it first came out at the cinema.

It was another fairly quiet day at work, as it usually is. On the way into work I happened to see my friend Joe going in the opposite direction. I hadn't seen him around or heard from him for a week or so, but he said it was just because he was very busy, which is fair enough. It'll be fun having a couple of days off at the end of the week. I don't really know what I'll be doing though. I was listening to my iPod at work this afternoon. I was listening to the Juno soundtrack again, which is really great, but I have to remember to get the iPod updated sometime. I keep meaning to but I always forget.

I got home at around quarter to six and made myself a microwaved lasagne for my dinner, with a glass of apple juice. It was quite nice, if not particularly exciting. I ate while watching an episode of The Simpsons.

I've been listening to the original radio series of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy on tape over the past few nights before getting to sleep. It's still really funny, and has aged really well, better than many other comedies. I was actually worried that the tapes wouldn't work, because I hadn't listened to them in years, but so far they work fine.

It's funny but I remember about a year ago when I used to go out drinking quite a lot, and because of various things I don't do it any more, or I do occasionally but not nearly as much as I used to. I actually don't really miss it. Most of the time I actually think I'm better off just staying at home, reading my books and watching TV. Besides, there are various things I'm probably better concentrating on, like my writing and other stuff, also I am still planning on emigrating at some point. I need to work out some kind of plan, especially because I've been feeling slightly down about my thirtieth birthday approaching, in many ways, like there was a stage I wanted to be at in my life by then, and I'm not there yet, and I am worried that soon it might turn out to be too late. maybe one thing I should try to do is relax more, have more fun and not get so stressed out about things.

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