Spirited Away

I went out to the Filmhouse cinema this afternoon and saw Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It tells the story of ten year old Chihiro who finds herself trapped in a magical fantasy world when her parents are changed into pigs. It's a brilliant film and one of the classics of animation. It was the highest grossing film in Japan when it was released, and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

 

This evening I went to the Book Festival and saw Ben Aaronovitch, who has written comics, urban fantasy novels and scripts for Doctor Who (he wrote the "Remembrance of the Daleks" which I would say is one of the best older Doctor Who stories). It was basically an hour long Question and Answer session, and Aaronovitch gave some really good writing advice and was very funny. After the show I bought his book Rivers of London and got it signed.

 

Shows

It was a very packed day today: I went up to the Book Festival to meet up with my Mom. We saw actor Simon Callow talk about Orson Welles, to promote the third volume of Callow's massive biography of Welles. It was really good. 

After the show we went along to Cafe Andaluz and had tapas: seafood paella, small potatoes in tomato sauce and sour cream and some diced lamb in breadcrumbs with a cheese sauce, along with bread, olives and olive oil. It was a really good meal.

After that we went to a show called Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad? Part Two! a one man show by Rodney Bewes, sharing anecdotes from his long acting career. I always liked his show, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, even though it's dated horribly.

We went along to see a show called Radio Active, which was a live stage version of a 1980s radio comedy show that purported to be the line up for a fictional radio station. I'm a big fan of radio comedy and drama and so I had heard a few episodes of the original show, and the live version really stuck close to it. 

Mom and I stopped off for a drink, and then we went to see a play called Of Wardrobes and Rings which was about the friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and involves the elderly writers reconciling after a serious falling out. It was really good.

Mom went home after the show but I stayed out and had a Belgian waffle and maple syrup and went to see a show called 24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub, which was a stand-up comedy show by Mary Lynn Rajskub (who is possibly best known for starring in the show 24). 

I stopped off at The Joker and The Thief on the way back home and had a couple of drinks. It was a really nice day and all the shows were great.

Alexei Sayle

I went to my parent's house yesterday. My brother and his wife and my two nephews were there, so that was nice. They went out on a visit, and one of my nephews, Lawrence, who'll be five next month, ran up to me and gave me a big hug as they were saying goodbye, which was really sweet.

Yesterday evening I went out to the Book Festival and saw Alexei Sayle, who was one of the leading lights of the "Alternative Comedy" movement of the 1980s, which brought a political and social conscience to British comedy, and he was really funny.

I was off today so I went out and watched some of the Festival street performers and had a slice of salami pizza form one of the street vendors.

Kate Tempest

Last night I saw the documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, which chronicles a year of Studio Ghibli while Hayao Miyazaki worked on The Wind Rises and his "friendly rival" Isao Takahata worked on The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. It's sometimes funny, sometimes funny and a fascinating take on animation and the creative process, as well as an account of the making of two masterpieces.

I went out today and bought a book called Funny Stories for Five Year Olds for my nephew's birthday present and a card.

Later on I went to the Edinburgh Book Festival to see poet, playwright, rapper and novelist Kate Tempest talk about her new novel The Bricks That Built the Houses. It was really a great show, completely sold out. She read poetry and spoke about the healing power of art. She would get extremely animated while speaking and reading, and visibly tired herself out at times. 

After the show I bought her book and got it signed:

Two in the Wave

Last night I started reading the book The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami. it's a collection of short stories. In the first one, "The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday's Women" an unemployed man finds his dull morning routine disrupted by a series of increasingly explicit telephone calls from an unknown woman, and later, while looking for his missing cat, meets a strange girl in the garden of a deserted house. The story is actually the first thirty or so pages of Murakami's novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. In the second story, "The Second Bakery Attack", a young couple who are suffering from late-night hunger pangs decide to hold up a McDonalds.

I was up early this morning, for the weekend, to book tickets for the Edinburgh Book Festival in August. I've got tickets booked to see the actor Simon Callow, comedian and author Will Self, and actor Andrew Sachs (all of whom my Mum wants to see so I got two tickets). I also got tickets for my parents to see Frederick Forsyth. Later on in the morning I went up to get my groceries.

This afternoon I went up to the Filmhouse cinema to see Two in the Wave, directed by Emmanuel Laurent. The film is a documentary about legendary French film directors Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. The two both worked as film critics for the same magazines, and collaborated on each other's film projects, both becoming leading lights of the French New Wave movement. However in the seventies there was a bitter falling out between the two of them and they stopped talking. It was a pretty good documentary and very interesting. This is the final film that I'm seeing for this year's Film Festival. I also got the movie Vampyr on DVD while I was there. I've been really interested in seeing this movie for years.

Back home I saw the season finale of Doctor Who which I thought was really good.

Margaret Atwood

Last night I was really tired when I came back home. I watched some of The 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians but dozed off on my couch. I woke up at about quarter to seven and went to bed.

I had to be up quite sharp because my Dad was coming over to collect me at half past ten. We went along to the Ocean Terminal shopping centre and had a coffee and muffin at the Costa Coffee there, before splitting up to do our own shopping. I bought a couple of books in the Waterstones there. The books I got were Clockers by Richard Price and The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos. I used to own a copy of Clockers about thirteen years ago, but somewhere along the way it got lost, and I would really like to read it again.

I went back to my parent's house for lunch, which was roast chicken, diced potatoes with garlic butter and peas, followed by strawberries and cream. After lunch my Mum and myself went to St. John's Church to see a special Book Festival event with Margaret Atwood. The event was to launch her latest novel The Year of the Flood. The event was basically dramatised readings from the novel interspersed with music and songs. It was a very good event and pretty unique. After that we went along to the Book festival grounds for a drink. That is pretty much the last event of the Festival for me, at least for this year. It has been really good.

Clockers

Last night I watched a movie from 2006 on DVD called Red Road, directed by Andrea Arnold. The film is set in Glasgow, and tells the story of a CCTV operator named Jackie (played by Kate Dickie) who spends her time monitoring the city and reporting anyone in distress or committing a crime to the authorities. One day she spots a man from her past on her monitor, the last man who she wants to see, and who she thought was in prison. Jackie becomes preoccupied with following the man's actions and eventually finds herself compelled to confront him and her own past. The film is intriguing and very well-made, although almost unrelentingly bleak and grim. The title comes from the name of a quite notorious area of Glasgow.

This morning I went out and got my groceries for the week. After I had had my lunch I headed out to the Filmhouse and met up with my friend Chris from work. We were there to see a special screening of the film Clockers. The movie was made in 1995, directed by Spike Lee and based on a novel by Richard Price. The film is set in the housing projects of New York and tells the story of Strike (Mekhi Phifer), who is a "clocker" - a low-level drug dealer. When a rival dealer is shot and killed, Strike's brother Victor (Isaiah Washington) confesses to the crime, however veteran homicide detective Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) smells a rat and determines to find the truth. The film is lurid but gripping. The film was followed by an audience question and answer session with Richard Price, moderated by crime novelist Ian Rankin.

Afterwards Chris and I went to look around at the record and DVD shops. I got a book called Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. After that we went to the Edinburgh Book Festival and had a drink before going in to see David Simon, who has written a couple of non-fiction books and co-created the TV series The Wire. As would be expected from his work, Simon was very clever and funny. After the talk we managed to meet him and he signed my copy of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Coincidentally, Richard Price also wrote for The Wire.

Finally, Chris and I went and had a whiskey and listened to a band play a couple of strange jazz style easy listening songs, before we went our seperate ways.

The House by the Cemetery

Last night I was watching a doucmentary called The Rules of Film Noir on TV. It was part of a weekend long season on one of the TV channels celebrating all things film noir. Later on I watched a violent Italian horror film from 1981 called The House by the Cemetery, directed by Lucio Fulci, in which an academic moves with his young family to a large house beside a cemetery in a small New England town. The house has a violent history of people being brutally murdered, and of course it's not long before the family find out why. The film is very gruesome and violent but it is pretty stylish. It was very obviously dubbed into English which creates kind of a weird thing because a lot of the children's voices heard in the film are obviously provided by adults trying to sound like kids.

I went over to my parent's house today. In the afternoon my Dad and I went out and I bought a new mobile telephone! So far it looks really good.

This evening my Mum and I went out to the Edinburgh Book Festival and saw Will Self talk. He's kind of a comedian, pundit and satirist. He was very funny. After the show we met Dad at La Tasca and had some tapas. After our meal, the three of us went back and saw Frank Skinner who is a famous stand-up comedian. He was very funny.

Late Evening

Last night went pretty well. I headed up to the Book Festival and saw the comedian Arthur Smith talk and read from his newly published autobiography. It was pretty good and he was very funny.

After the show I went down to the All Bar One near the Sheraton Hotel. I was waiting there for my family and I had a book with me (Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman) and I wrote a bit in the notebook I had with me so it was okay, even though I was waiting for nearly an hour and a half.When they arrived we moved through to the Sheraton itself. It was my parents, my brother, my brother's girlfriend, her parents, her brother and her brother's girlfriend. This was the first time I had ever met my brother's girlfriend's parents, or her brother and his girlfriend, but they all seemed nice enough. It was a really nice evening. We all left late and I got home at around two in the morning.

Today has been very quiet so far. I went out for a walk in the afternoon, so that was quite nice.

Family Lunch

The fifth season of The Wire started last night, which was pretty good. I've decided not to record this one.

I had a day off work today and I went off to meet up with my Dad and my brother for lunch. We went to Cafe Rouge and had a three course fixed menu meal. I had mushrooms in garlic butter to start, followed by a burger done in the French style (no bun and garlic butter on top) with fries and fried tomato, and a chocolate mousse as dessert, so that was really nice.

Afterwards my brother's girlfriend arrived and we went along to a book store with a cafe for some coffee. The other three went home and I stayed in the book store for a bit and bought the CD of season one of That Mitchell and Webb Sound. I really like putting the sketch comedy radio shows on to my iPod, because at work or on the bus they are really great to kind of dip in and out of.

Tonight I'm going up to the Book Festival to see the comedian Arthur Smith. My brother's girlfriend is singing in an opera of Macbeth this evening and so my parents, my brother, her parents and her brother with his girlfirend are apparently going to go along and go out for a drink afterwards, so I am planning on going up to join them after my show.

Neil Gaiman

This evening I went out to the Edinburgh Book Festival to see Neil Gaiman and crime novelist Ian Rankin discuss graphic novels. Ian Rankin has just launched his first graphic novel, Dark Entries. The event was really great and both writers were very interesting, engaging and very funny. After the event there was a book signing which was really good. I got my copy of Fragile Things signed by Neil Gaiman. I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan and he is kind of a hero to me and so it was really great to see him in person. He was a really nice guy and he seemed genuinely touched when I told him how much I loved the audio CD version of Fragile Things (which I do, I listen to it at work a lot). He wrote in my book "Robert - Fragile Wishes - Neil Gaiman".

Apparently the signing he did yesterday took three and a half hours and he signed for five hundred people. There didn't seem to be as many people there today, and I was only waiitng for about forty five minutes, but I was prepared for a long wait. It was a great evening.

For the past few days my internet has kept randomly freezing up. It's very annoying.

Public Enemies

Last night was pretty quiet. I ended up falling asleep on my sofa at one point. I spent most of my time watching comedy shows on TV.

This morning I went out and got my groceries for the week. This afternoon I went out to the Cineworld Cinema to see Public Enemies, directed by Michael Mann, and based on the book by Bryan Burrough. Set in 1933, the film tells the true story of notorious bank robber John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) and his pursuit by FBI Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). The movie is a really entertaining action crime thriller, with a very interesting back drop. The film is pretty long (it runs close to two and a half hours) but it all moves well. I always like all these stories about the 1930s gangsters and bank robbers.

I would quite like to see the new Transformers movie sometime. I liked the first one, and I can remember the old animated movie which I saw in the cinema back in 1986. I pretty much grew up with the toys and the cartoon series and I collected the comic for years. I wish I knew where they were now, but I have a horrible feeling that they've all been thrown out now.

I've been trying to save money for the Canada move, and so have been wondering whether to go without my monthly Sandman graphic novels. Although, I suppose I can still budget money for the occasional books and so on, it's just being a bit more careful with spending.

I called my Mum this evening and she said that my Book Festival tickets have arrived. I ordered them a couple of weeks ago, and the Festival itself is in August. I should be seeing Neil Gaiman, David Simon, Margaret Atwood, Frank Skinner, Will Self and Arthur Smith. I tend to get important mail sent to my parent's house, because there is much less chance of it being misdelivered.

It's another really hot day today.

Happy Fourth of July to anyone celebrating it!

Book Festival

I had the day off work today but was still up pretty early to book my tickets for the Book Festival. For myself, I have got tickets for Neil Gaiman (who is going to be talking with crime novelist Ian Rankin about graphic novels) and David Simon (creator of the TV show The Wire and author of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets). For myself and my Mum I have booked tickets for Arthur Smith, Will Self and Margaret Atwood (who is giving a specially written performance of music, songs and stories). For myself, Mum and Dad I have got tickets for comedian, actor and writer Frank Skinner and for my Mum I got a ticket to see Sarah Vine and Tania Kindersley. I was on-line and booking them at half past nine this morning and by eleven they were already starting to sell out. The Margaret Atwood event was sold out early and so was Neil Gaiman. Also this was the first day of booking, so I'm glad I got everything. I also had to write a cheque for a large credit card bill (I had to renew my home insurance) so it was a very expensive day when I'm trying to save for Canada! But it happens. I'll have to economise for the next month or so.

This evening I went to the Cineworld cinema to see my next Film Festival event, which was a talk and question and answer session with director Darren Aronofsky (director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain and most recently The Wrestler). It was very interesting, although Aronofsky refused to answer any questions about the well-publicised rumours of his involvement in the re-make of RoboCop. Then again, the original RoboCop is a classic. There was a lot said about low-budget film-making which was very interesting. Next month I'll probably try and write another novel or another movie to keep myself occupied without spending too much.

The third season of The Wire is on TV tonight.

Adventureland

Last night I watched a documentary about the history of brain surgery, which was very interesting - if gruesome. Then I saw a documentary in which two people tried to spend a couple of weeks living on the food that was popular the 1980s a lot of which I could remember pretty well. One thing that kind of made me laugh was how shocked they were by microwave ready meals, which are pretty much my staple diet today. After that I saw some of the 1983 movie Risky Business, directed by Paul Brickman. The story revolves around a mild-mannered high school student (played by Tom Cruise) whose parents are away for the weekend while he prepares for a crucial interview for acceptance to Princeton University. However he ends up meeting and falling for a beautiful prostitute (Rebecca DeMornay) and ends up with a novel money-making scheme. The movie is very funny and entertaining.

I got up pretty early today, my Dad came round and we went along to the Gyle shopping centre. We had a coffee and scone for our breakfast and then we went and had a look around. I bought a notebook and some pens. Then we went back to my parent's house and my parents and myself went along to Pizza Express for Father's Day. We had olives to start and I had a Diavolo pizza (a pizza with tomato, cheese, jalapeno peppers, spicy beef and pepperoni), it's really nice and very hot and spicy. For dessert I had a Chocolate Glory (which is ice-cream with chopped up chocolate fudge cake and chocolate sauce). It was a really nice meal. Back at my parents house, we kind of sat around for a couple of hours and I read some of the book that I had brought with me which was The Russia House by John le Carre (I'm trying to save money for Canada and so instead of buying new books I'm making an effort to read all the ones I've bought previously and never got round to reading).

In the evening I headed over to the Cineworld cinema to see the first film that I had booked for this year's Film Festival, which is now in it's sixty-third year. The film I went to see was Adventureland, directed by Greg Mottola. The movie is set in 1987 and concerns a high school graduate, James (played by Jesse Eisenburg) who, in order to raise money for college, takes a summer job at a run-down amusement park called Adventureland where he encounters various odd-balls and eccentrics and falls for co-worker Emily (Kristen Stewart) and befriends the married maintenance man Connel (Ryan Reynolds), who is secrelty having an affair with Emily. The movie is very funny in places, but it's also really moving at times as well. The star of the movie, Jesse Eisenburg was there to introduce the movie and answer questions afterwards.

Tomorrow I'm off work and I'm going to try get the tickets for the Book Festival. There's going to be a lot because I'll have to buy the tickets for my parents as well. As it stands I want to see Neil Gaiman and David Simon. Mum and myself want to see Margaret Atwood, Arthur Smith and Will Self. Mum wants to see Sarah Vine and Mum, Dand and myself all want to see Frank Skinner. I just really hope I actually remember all that!


"The line between actually very serious and actually very funny is actually very thin."
- The Russia House by John le Carre.

Thursday Comedy

Last night was another really quiet one. I watched some new epsiodes of The Big Bang Theory (this was the last in the series, unfortunately) and That Mitchell and Webb Look. Later on I watched a couple of episode of Peep Show and The Mighty Boosh on DVD. Thursdays are comedy night.

Today was a really quiet day at work, as it always is on a Friday. However I am off until Tuesday. I'm taking Monday off work to book my tickets for this year's Book Festival in August. I know that I definitely want to get a ticket to see Neil Gaiman and also David Simon (creator of The Wire, which is one of my favourite TV show).On my way home I bought a sausage supper for my dinner. It was quite nice.

Shrooms

Last night I was watching a horror movie from 2007 on TV called Shrooms, directed by Paddy Breathnach. The story concerns a group of five American college students who go on holiday to Ireland to meet a friend of theirs and spend some time camping in the woods and trying the local hallucinogenic magic mushrooms (also known as "shrooms"). They end up in a remote area of the woods which has a history of strange and violent occurances. One of the students (played by singer Lindsey Haun) experiments with an extremely potent and dangerous mushrooms, after which she starts having a series of violent and bizarre hallucinations in which her friends are murdered by a pair of hooded figures. Almost immediately afterwards her hallucinations appear to be coming true. The movie has some striking images but mostly it is pretty predictable and often plays like one prolonged hallucination, which just makes it annoying. The ending makes very little sense.

Today was another very quiet and kind of dull day at work. The Edinburgh Book Festival brochure came out today. There are some really impressive people there this year including Neil Gaiman and David Simon (creator of the TV series The Wire) and others. The tickets go on sale in a couple of weeks. I'm going to put in to take the day off work so I can get my tickets as soon as possible, before they're sold out.

This evening there is a new episode of The Big Bang Theory on TV and a new series of That Mitchell and Webb Look starts, so at least there's plenty of great comedy.

Printer's Devil

Last night I was watching an episode of the original series of The Twilight Zone called "Printer's Devil" which concerned an owner of a struggling small town newspaper who meets a strange man who offers his services as a reporter and typesetter, but he seems to be able to predict the news before it happens. It was quite an amusing story.

Today I went up to the Book Festival to meet my mum. We were there to see the author Will Self talk. He was very good, really, really funny, especially when he was answering questions from the audience. After that we went back to my parent's house. The latest issue of Fortean Times had arrived so that was good.

That's the Book Festival finished for this year. It ends tomorrow. This will be the first time in about four months that I haven't got anything booked.

James Bond and Rock Stars

I went out to meet my mum in Princes Street today. We went up to the City Art Centre to see an exhibition called Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design which focussed mainly on the cover designs of Ian Fleming's James Bond books from the 1950s and 60s to the present. It also had exhibits of some of the film posters, some of the prelimenary sketches and memos, along with one of Fleming's manuscripts for a book, with his notes. It was good, but it could have done with a bit of analysis about the art work and what aspects of the books different covers focussed on. Some really focus on the sex appeal, some on the exotic locations and some on the action. After the exhibition I had a look in the gift shop and bought a book called Major Works by John Keats (it cost £4 reduced from £11.99).

After that we went along to Pizza Express and I had a Four Season pizza (basically it's a pizza divided into quarters with olives: One quarter is plain cheese and tomato, one is mushroom, one is pepperoni and one is anchovies and capers). For dessert I had a Chocolate Glory (vanilla ice-cream with squares of chocolate fudge cake and chocolate sauce).

After eating, we went along to the Edinburgh Book Festival and saw Rick Wakeman. in the 1970s, Rick Wakeman was a pretty big rock star in bands like The Strawbs and Yes. These days he does quite a lot of TV shows. He was really, really funny. With some hilarious anecdotes especially about his days as a session musician working with people like David Bowie and Lou Reed.

Irvine Welsh

I had another day off work today and went up to the post office to mail a letter and on my way back I went and had a haircut. It's probably the shortest now that it's ever been.

Later on I went out to the Edinburgh Book Festival to see Irvine Welsh. He was reading from his latest novel (Crime) and answering questions from the audience. He seemed quite ambiguous about the huge success of Trainspotting saying that while he was happy that the book was successful and made a lot of money, it did become something of an albatross for him that he could never really get away from, despite the fact that he thought a lot of his later books were much better. However, Irvine Welsh has written a sequel to Trainspotting and a prequel is in the works. I saw him at the book Festival ten years ago, when he was promoting his book Filth. After the talk there was a signing session and I got my copies of Trainspotting, Crime and If You Liked School, You'll Love Work signed.

Suspiria

Last night I was watching the film Suspiria, a 1977 horror film directed by Dario Argento. The story, such as it is, revolves around a young American dance student (played by Jessica Harper) who goes to study ballet at a prestigious German dance academy. However on the night she arrives, two students are brutally murdered. As the new student settles in, she notices the mysterious disappearances of a number of other students as well as a range of bizarre happenings, which leads her to investigate the academy and it's dark history of witchcraft and the occult. There is not much story really, and what there is doesn't really make a lot of sense, instead the film is all about it's uniquely surreal and nightmarish atmosphere, utilizing bizarre camera angles and lighting the scenes in garish, vivid primary colours (especially reds, blues and greens), and ear-splitting music from rock band the Goblins (with contributions from Argento himself). The film also features some of Argento's most famous of his trademark gruesome set-pieces. It is probably the best of the Argento films.

I was off work today. Technically there is a strike on today, but I had already taken the time off on annual leave and so I still get paid! I went into Princes Street to meet my mum, who had vouchers for a free breakfast at a French restaurant called Cafe Rouge. It was a continental breakfast which meant a couple of differnet kinds of croissant and some crusty bread, After that we walked along to the Edinburgh Book Festival, where I bought the book Non-Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk. It's a collection of short non-fiction stories, essays and interviews from the weird and wonderful world of Chuck. Then we went to see the author Alan Sillitoe (author of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner). It was a really good talk, and very enjoyable.

After that we went along to the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibition of celebrity portrait photographs from Vanity Fair magazine. Some of them were really good. After the exhibiton we went to a stand-up comedy show by comedian Andy Zaltzman which was really funny. Then we went along and had a prawn sandwich and coffee.

It's weird though but I noticed, and not for the first time, how much less worried mum is about stuff than I am. I worry about: being mugged, money, being murdered, getting beaten up, work, death, failure, my lack of success with women, being humiliated, being laughed at, my shyness, my weird voice, my ugliness, my awkwardness and my stupidity. This is all completely seriously how I think. I even worry that I worry too much. Seriously. A lot of the time I get too nervous to go places or do stuff. Mum doesn't worry about stuff, she even strikes up conversations and make jokes with complete strangers. I said to her, I wish I had her confidence. Sorry that a previously quite cheerful post degenrated into angsty nonsense about the inner workings of my mind, such as it is.