Life on the Road

I went out this afternoon and got my groceries for the coming week. I also went out later and got a couple of DVDs: Fantomas, collecting a French movie serial from 1913 to 1914, and the movie Mystery Train.

I went up to the Cineworld cinema and saw David Brent: Life on the Road, directed by Ricky Gervais. It involves Ricky Gervais reprising David Brent (from the British version of The Office) as he goes on tour with his band Forgone Conclusion, and proceeds to bemuse, insult or annoy everyone he comes into contact with. It's funny enough. If you like Ricky Gervais or The Office, then you'll be familiar with the humour.

Adjustment Team

Last night was pretty uneventful. I read a Philip K. Dick short story called "Paycheck" about a man who has just finished a two year contract with a company. However the contract has a strange clause in which the man has to agree to having the previous two years wiped from his memory. Also, instead of a paycheck, he discovers that he has sent himself a bizarre collection of random objects such as ticket stubs, a length of wire, a bit of cloth and half a poker chip. All of which turn out to be unexpectedly useful when he finds himself hounded by the police who are investigating the company. It was a good story, which was turned into a film in 2003 directed by John Woo and starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman. Dick stated that the story was about how there are times when small and seemingly unimportant objects can sometimes be worth far more than might be apparent.

This morning I read another short story from Philip K. Dick called "Adjustment Team" which was about a normal man who, due to a mistake, finds himself arriving at his office at the same time that it is being operated on by a sinister organisation who re-write reality itself. It's being made into an upcoming film called The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt.

One thing you could never accuse Philip K. Dick of was laziness, in his 53 years he wrote approximately 121 short stories and published 44 novels. Nine of his works have already been adapted as films and there are about five more on the way.

Today has been fairly quiet. I've not been out at all. I was getting a DVD down from the top of my shelves and about twenty of them fell down on the floor, so that was kind of an emergency, but despite some minor damage to the packaging of one or two, they seemed to be okay. I had an "American platter" for lunch which I got yesterday, it consists of potato skins filled with cheese and bacon, sticky barbecue chicken pieces, pork ribs, mushrooms in breadcrumbs and a pot of garlic and mayonnaise sauce, so that was really nice.

The House of the Devil

Last night I ordered a movie from the On Demand TV service called The House of the Devil, a 2009 horror film directed by Ti West. The movie references and homages the horror films of the 1980s, and is set in 1980s America, telling the story of a student (played by Jocelin Donahue) who is really short of money and so takes a babysitting job at a remote house next to a graveyard and owned by a creepy old couple (played by Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov) on the night of a rare total lunar eclipse. The couple reveal that they don't have any children and want the student to look after an elderly relative. However before long she discovers some dark and gruesome secrets in the house. It's actually a fun and suspenseful movie which benefits a lot from it's slow pace but has plenty of gory set-pieces.

This morning I went along with my Dad to the Ocean Terminal shopping centre and I had some coffee and a muffin at Costa Coffee before we split up to look around. I bought some books in the centre which were Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division by Deborah Curtis, which is a biography of Ian Curtis, lead singer in the band Joy Divison, written by his wife, 1974 by David Peace and 1977 by David Peace, which are the first two novels in the "Red Riding Quartet" of crime novels, and a horror novel called The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce.

After the shopping we went to my parent's house where the latest issues of Fortean Times and Sight and Sound had arrived. The lead story in Fortean Times was about scientists who had been trying to discover whether the human soul had physical form and whether it could be photographed or weighed. The lead story in Sight and Sound was about the depiction of corrupt cops in cinema, the film career of pulp novelist Jim Thompson and a poll of film critics to find the best film books of all time.

My Mum had planned a barbecue for today but the weather was too cold and so we had to abandon it, but we had some barbecue chicken, peas and diced potato with garlic butter. After lunch Mum and I walked along to Sainsburys where I got a couple of DVDs, of the movies The City of Lost Children, which is a very good but very weird French fantasy, science-fiction, horror film that I've seen a few times before and Hansel and Gretel, which is a horror movie take on the classic story from South Korea.

Check-Up

Yesterday I watched a few episodes of The Corner which is a very good series, and very faithful to the book. I also watched a few of the extras on The Double Life of Veronique DVD. There are about two and a half hours of extra features, including an interview with lead actress Irene Jacob, an interview with the director Krzystof Kieslowski, a French TV documentary about Kieslowski and a selection of Kieslowski's short documentary films from the 1970s and 80s. I watched a very short documentary film from the 1950s that was on the disc called The Musicians about factory workers in Poland who play in a brass band in their spare time. I listened to an episode of the Doctor Who radio series, in which the Doctor (Paul McGann) finds himself in what appears to be mythical Ancient Greece, however the locals have access to futuristic technology and the rulers have a gruesome procedure to ensure that they remain young forever. The radio Doctor Who shows tend to have much darker themes than the TV version. I think because it's on radio things can slip under the radar a bit more. I was also listening to the fourth part of A Caribbean Mystery.

Today I left work early to go to the doctor's surgery for my New Patient check-up. The check-up was done by the practice nurse who took my blood pressure, measured my height and weight and asked me questions about my life-style and medical history. It was pretty much okay, but apparently I am slightly overweight and could stand to lose a couple of pounds. They also forgot to ask me for a urine sample, so I will have to deliver that at some point during the week.

I am off work now until Wednesday, which should be good.

DVD Sales

Last night I was listening to a Doctor Who story on the radio called "Horror of Glam Rock". In this episode the eighth Doctor (played by Paul McGann) arrives at a motorway service station in England, 1974, where he encounters vicious alien monsters lurking in the car park and a glam rock band called The Tomorrow Twins, who are apparently in contact with an alien intelligence. It was a pretty good story and a really effective radio story. I also listened to the third part of A Caribbean Mystery.

Today at work I decided to take a half day and go to the DVD sales at Fopp Records with Chris. I got a DVD of the complete series of The Corner and the movie of The Double Life of Veronique, so that made for a fun change.

Frost/Nixon

Yesterday I was listening to a radio adaptation of The Gold Bug from a story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story revolves around the discovery of an apparently gold insect and a coded message which apparently points the way to buried pirate treasure. It was a pretty good adaptation, although quite heavily changed from the original story.

Later on I was playing a couple of hours of Fallout 3, which was fun and involving. Then I was listening to an radio adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel The Moving Finger, in which Miss Marple is called to investigate a spate of poison-pen letters in a sleepy English town, which quickly leads to murder. It was a good play, actually. I like the late night Agatha Christie radio plays on Saturday night it's very relaxing for late at night.

This morning my Dad came to collect me fairly early and we went along to the Cameo cinema to see a preview of the film Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard. The film is set in the late 1970s where British TV show host, journalist and interviewer David Frost (played by Michael Sheen), searching for a way to revive his career, decide to go for the biggest scoop of his career by conducting a major TV interview with disgraced former president Richard Nixon (played by Frank Langella), who had resigned from the presidency a few years previously after the Watergate scandal. The film depicts, not just the interview sessions themselves, but the backstage manoueverings as the two sides try to arrange and prepare for the interviews. It was a good film, which managed to be suspenseful despite consisting of almost no action, just people talking. It is probably best, though, if you know something about the background of the interviews before seeing the film.

After the film we went along to my parent's house for lunch, which was chicken, peas, stuffing and tiny roast potatoes in garlic butter. It was really nice. Also I discovered that my subscription for Sight and Sound magazine is up for renewal. The offer also includes a free DVD. I can choose between Sunrise (a silent film from 1927) and F for Fake (a documentary by Orson Welles). I got home at around half past five and listened to this week's episode of The Man in Black on the radio. This week Mark Gatiss was introducing a grisly story about a couple who move out to the country for some peace and quiet, but find horror instead.

20th Century Ghosts

Last night I was reading another couple of stories from the 20th Century Ghosts book by Joe Hill. The first one, "Abraham's Boys", was quite a disturbing story about the family of Abraham Van Helsing (the vampire hunter in Dracula) after the events of the book, the second one "Better Than Home" was about the son of a professional baseball player, who suffers from painfully acute hearing. It wasn't a horror story, instead it was quite a moving story about family. Mostly it was a very quiet evening. I watched a repeat of That Mitchell and Webb Look and a couple of episodes of The Office DVD set. I have been really enjoying that show. My friend Joe sent me a text message to ask if I had Saw 3 on DVD, but I don't have any of the Saw films on DVD. When the series has finished and the films are all released on DVD I might get a box-set of all of them, but that won't be for a couple of years at least.

The weather today was very sunny, but very cold. It was another quiet day in the office. I had quite a lot of difficult work to do. I was listening to my iPod a lot, including the Juno soundtrack again - I should probably know every word to every song on that album by now. It feels like I've listened to it every day for months now. I still really like it though. I've really gotten into the music of Kimya Dawson and the Moldy Peaches (who feature on the soundtrack). I really loved the movie as well. I've seen it several times now. I was also listening to a couple of episodes of The Mighty Boosh, which were still very funny, despite how many times I've listened to them already.

On my way home I bought some milk, and when I got back I had a microwaved meal of spaghetti carbonara and apple juice. Of course, NaNoWriMo starts pretty soon. I'm taking part in it this year.

Night Out

The other evening was really quiet. I was watching a show called Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments which was a countdown of the forty best moments from the Blackadder series. The show is kind of a historical sit-com and is really funny. Each of the four seasons is set in a different time period.

Yesterday was another really quiet day at work. Apparently there are going to be some new people being put in the room from Monday, so it looks like the quiet days where I can listen to my iPod won't really last much longer, because it is going to be much more noisy.

After work I went out to meet my friend Joe for the party. One shock was that Alan came along. For the benefit of people who don't know, or who have forgotten, Alan used to be a friend of mine, until about six months ago when there was a problem with someone sending e-mails under my name (it wasn't me, I had absolutely nothing to do with it and didn't even know anything about it until it all blew up). The thing was all over another friend of mine, Michele, who I used to have feelings for, but she didn't return those feelings, and Alan started hanging out with her, and it was all ruined by whoever it was that was sending the e-mails. So we hadn't spoken for six months, but last night Alan apologised for suspecting me, we shook hands, bought each other a drink and we've agreed to let bygones be bygones. Naturally enough there's still some tension, but it's a major step in the right direction. Anyway we went to a place called Assembly Bar and had a few drinks. and then we went along to another place called the Citrus Club. I did have quite a bit to drink. I got home at around two in the morning. So it was a pretty late night. It's funny really, this was the first night out I've had in about two months, and it's still fun, but it's not quite what it used to be. I suppose I've lost something of the taste for going out partying all the time.

Today I went along to the shops and bought the season three DVD set of the US version of The Office, which I think is really funny.

Burn After Reading

Last night I was watching the 2003 film House of 1000 Corpses, directed by Rob Zombie, on DVD. As the name probably hints, it is a horror film in which a group of twenty-somethings travel through America researching odd local legends and unusual attractions in order to write a book. When they stop off at Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Madmen, run by a creepy individual in a clown costume, they become intrigued by the local legend of a sadistic doctor, and decide to go to the site where he was hanged. However, they get lost and soon run in to the murderous Firefly family. It's a deliberate throwback to the 1970s style of gritty, graphic horror films, and is pretty gruesome and full of bizarre imagery. The film features appearances from a number of cult actors, and also a couple of actors who went on to bigger and better things, such as Rainn Wilson who went on to star in the US version of The Office.

I had to be up pretty early this morning because I was going to see a preview of Burn After Reading with my mum. My parents came round to collect me at around quarter to ten, but when we got to the cinema we realised that mum had made a mistake with the times: instead of it being ten o'clock for a ten-thirty start, it was ten-thirty for an eleven o'clock start. So we went and found a coffee shop and had a drink before heading over to the cinema.

Burn After Reading is the latest film from the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan). It's a kind of spy comedy. Basically, Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) resigns from the CIA, much to the horror of his doctor wife (Tilda Swinton) who is having an affair with another Government agent (George Clooney). Osbourne decides to write his memoirs, while his wife decides to get a divorce and records all the details of the household finances on the same computer disc that Osbourne is usuing to save his book. However the disc is lost at a gym and found by the employees who immediately think it is all top secret spy stuff and two of the employess (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt) decide they can use it to get some money. The film has a pretty involved plot and is often extremely funny. It might not be the best of the Coen Brothers film but it is well worth watching, because it works really well as both a thriller and a comedy.

After the film we went back to my parent's house and I picked up the latest copies of Sight and Sound and Fortean Times ("The Journal of Strange Phenomena"), and some free Alfred Hitchcock DVDs that my parents had ordered for me from The Times. Later on we had some tacos for lunch. In the afternoon my parents were busy with the wiring under the house (they are planning a large scale decorating project in their house over the next few months or so).

Distorted DVDs

Last night I was watching my new Peep Show DVDs, but halfway through the fifth season DVD the picture was completely wrecked by distortion, which I was really annoyed about.

Later on last night I was watching a 1971 "Hammer Horror" film called Countess Dracula, directed by Peter Sasdy. In seventeenth century Hungary, an elderly countess (played by Ingrid Pitt) discovers that bathing in the blood of young women can temporarily restore her youth and beauty. She ends up becoming a serial killer, murdering countless victims so she can romance a young soldier, by pretending to be her own daughter (who she arranges to have kidnapped by bandits). The film was loosely based on the legends surrounding real life Countess Elizabeth Bathory (the so-called "Blood Countess") who was one of the inspirations for the story of Dracula. Like most of the Hammer Studios films it was very lavishly designed, if on a low-budget. It was quite fun.

I was up quite sharp this morning because, before going to my parent's house (as usual for a Sunday), I went along to the Cameo Cinema with my mum to see a preview of a French film called I've Loved You So Long, directed by Philippe Claudel. The film stars Kristen Scott Thomas as a woman who is released after fifteen years in prison for murder, and moves in with her younger sister and her family, as she tries to start a new life. It's very well-made, if not hugely original, and is very well-acted.

I stopped off afterwards and exchanged the Peep Show DVDs, before heading back to my parent's house. Sunday lunch was chicken, peas, potatoes and white wine sauce, followed by rhubarb and gooseberry crumble. The new issue of Fortean Times (the Journal of Strange Phenomena) had arrived during the week, and it was pretty entertaining. It was warm and dry enough to sit outside, which made a nice change.

When I got home I checked the Peep Show DVDs, and this time there was distortion on the fourth season disc! Luckily it seemed to only be effecting the main menus rather than the episodes, but I won't know until I've checked them all the way through. I was really, really annoyed! It's not the first time I've had to replace Peep Show DVDs, I don't know if there is a problem with the company that manufactures them or something.

One thing I noticed while transcribing my old paper journals onto the computer, is how little things have changed since 1999. If you substitute "college" for "work" it's pretty much exactly the same. Things never really seem to change that much. I suppose they can, but it's very difficult. I've got about thirty-seven volumes of diaries and journals that I've been keeping for about nineteen years. There is probably something very odd about my need to document every aspect of my pointless, dull life.

DVDs

Last night I was watching a couple of episodes of Dawson's Creek which was entertaining. I have the second season on DVD, which was probably my favourite season of the show. After that I was watching an episode of Life on Mars. That was a really good show. Later on I was watching television and I must have fallen asleep on my couch, because next thing I knew it was five in the morning and I felt like I had wasted most of the night.

My gas bill came today, which luckily wasn't too high. I went out to the city centre and bought a few DVDs in the sales I got the fourth and fifth seasons of Peep Show (I have the whole series on DVD now and I think it's my favourite comedy TV series) and the film Juno (which I saw at the cinema and really liked). On the way home I stopped off to get my groceries for the week.

It's shaping up to be another fairly quiet weekend, but I've got the DVDs to watch, anyway.

Andrei Tarkovsky Collection

Last night I ordered a couple of DVDs on-line. I ordered Stalker, a weird science-fiction movie from Russia directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, and Solaris, the 1972 three hour Russian version from Andrei Tarkovsky. They only cost £14.98 for both of them together, when they would ordinarily cost about £24.99 each, so I got a good deal. Also I have kind of a collection of Andrei Tarkovsky films. They tend to be so slow that they are quite relaxing. Watching them can be quite meditative.

I was also watching some of the movie The Lost Boys, directed by Joel Schumacher. It's about a divorced woman who moves to a small Californian town with her two sons. The eldest of them (Jason Patric) ends up getting involved with the local gang who turn out to be vampires. It stars Keifer Sutherland as the leader of the vampire gang. It's quite a fun movie, and I've seen it a few times before.

Today started another week at work. It was a fairly quiet day, as it almost always is. I got back shortly before six.

The Secret Centre

Last night I was watching a documentary called The Secret Centre about the author John le Carre. It was quite interesting, focusing mainly on his early life and his career as a spy, and how it informed his writing. The documentary was a special feature on the DVD of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, although it did seemingly spoil the ending of the last story in the series (Smiley's People) which was not good.

It was another fairly dull day at work, and as usual for a Monday there seemed to be a lot of people off. I've booked Friday off on annual leave, so that should be fun. The Film Festival starts later this week as well, so it should be fun.

Sunshine

Last night I was watching the latest episode of Doctor Who. It was a pretty good one this week, the first of a two part story. I also watched a film called on TV called Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle. The film is set in the year 2057 when Earth's Sun is burning out. A spaceship, "Icarus II", is sent out on a three year mission to fire a powerful bomb into the Sun in order to re-ignite it. The film is set entirely in the cramped confines of the ship, as the crew (which includes Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh and Chris Evans) struggle with the malfunctioning equipment, the increasingly dangerous conditions outside the ship and increasing tensions inside the craft, as well as the mystery of what happened to the first mission to the Sun, sent out seven years earlier. It's a pretty good film, and mostly very tense and effective, with some really impressive special effects and strong performances and a good script from novelist Alex Garland.

Later on I was watching The Bourne Identity, directed by Doug Liman, from a novel by Robert Ludlum. In which a man (Matt Damon) is found floating in the sea with four bullet wounds, when he is recovered he discovers that he has lost all memory of who he is and how he came to be in the sea. He also learns that he has a code to a safe deposit box in a Swiss bank which, when he investigates, turns out to be full of money, various foreign passports and a gun. To make matters worse there are some powerful people determined to stop him regaining his identity. It was a fun and exciting thriller, with some great action scenes.

This morning I went along to the Gyle shopping centre with my Dad and had a plain scone and some coffee, before having a look around. I ended up getting a couple of notebooks. Then I went along to my parents house for lunch, as usual.

The Fountain

Last night I was watching the film The Fountain, directed by Darren Aronofsky, it was a really bizarre blend of science-fiction, fantasy, philosophy and romance. It consists of three inter-linked stories set in three different time frames. One story, set during the 15th Century, involves a Spanish conquistador (Hugh Jackman) searching for the Tree of Life in the South American jungle, and to attempt to save the Queen of Spain (Rachel Weisz) from the Inquisition. In the second story, set during the present day, a doctor (Jackman) is conducting experiments on sap from a South American tree in order to find a cure for his cancer-stricken wife (Weisz) and in the thrid story, set in the far future, a man (Jackman once again) lives alone on a small, bubble-shaped spaceship with a tree where he is haunted by dreams and visions of a mysterious woman (Weisz). The film blends the three stories together, in quite a confusuing manner. Very little is really explained. Visually the film is spectacular.

I watched the first half hour or so of RoboCop very late last night. Although it is quite a product of it's time in some ways (the film was released in 1987), in many ways it really hasn't dated much at all, the special effects are still really impressive. I first saw it eighten years ago. I'll have to watch it again sometime, because I really liked it.

I went out today and bought some DVDs in the sales. I got The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremecy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Diamonds Are Forever and the third series of Peep Show. On my way home I stopped off and got my groceries for the week. I also got a letter today from my friend Allison in New York. She works in films, but at the moment she's working on a pilot for a TV show, which she's not too happy about.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Last night I was watching another couple of episodes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy on DVD. It is really good, very faithful to the novel, with very good acting (especially from Alec Guinness in the lead role). I also saw a few episodes of Extras on DVD, which was always really funny.

I had the day off work today and headed up to the cinema to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, directed by Steven Spielberg. It's the fourth in the Indiana Jones series and, set in the late 1950s, the story involves archeologist Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) in a race to find a legendary crystal skull before the Soviet military. I thought it was really enjoyable, with some really good action scenes. I've always really enjoyed those movies. I remember seeing the previous one (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) at the cinema when I was about ten.

After the film I went to a bar next to the cinema and had a plate of fish and chips and a glass of beer.

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

Last night I was watching a 1965 film called The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, directed by Martin Ritt, and based on a novel by John le Carre. The film tells the story of a British secret agent, Alec Leamas (played by Richard Burton) who, on his return to London from East Berlin, is offered the opportunity by his boss to "come in from the cold" (i.e. quite spying and return to some kind of normal life) but Leamas refuses, and so is given a mission to pose as a disgruntled ex-secret agent and to pretend to defect to East Germany in order to infiltrate their intelligence agency and sow disinformation. It's a very gritty, and quite bleak film, far from the glamorous world of James Bond, where everyone is selling out everyone else for whatever little information they can get. Burton is superb as a cynical, burnt-out agent.

I went out today and bought some cheap DVDs in the sales. I bought a box set of horror films (which included House of 1000 Corpses, Tattoo and Monster Man) as well as the film A Very Long Engagement. On my way home I stopped off to buy my groceries for the week. I was asked to prove that I was over the age of 21 so I could buy my bottle of wine. The only thing I had with my date of birth and a photo was a college ID card from 1996. The guy at the checkout said that they would only accept either a passport or driving license. I don't drive so I don't have a license, and because I wasn't planning on travelling the globe in search of cheap microwave meals, booze and horror DVDs, I hadn't brought my passport with me. I'm 29 now. I wish I was 21. The guy called his supervisor who took one look at me and told the checkout guy to let me have the stuff, so it was okay.

This afternoon I watched House of 1000 Corpses, directed by Rob Zombie. It's about a group of four college kids who are travelling the backroads of America to investigate, weird, out-of-the-way roadside attractions and, on Halloween, stop off at a service station featuring "Captain Spaulding's Museum of Murder and Mayhem" where they learn about a gruesome local legend about a deranged surgeon. Heading out to investigate they break down at an old house where they run afoul of a sadistic family. It was a pretty gruesome film, a little like an extended heavy metal video at times.

Blade Runner

Last night I was watching the film Blade Runner on DVD. It's a 1982 film, directed by Ridley Scott, and loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film is set in Los Angeles in the year 2019, by which time humanity has colonised other planets and robots are used as slaves. These robots, almost identical to humans, are known as "Replicants", and occasionally escape to Earth, where specialist police squads known as "Blade Runners" track them down and execute (or "retire" as they term it) the rogue replicants. Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) is a retired Blade Runner who is brought back to track down four escaped Replicants. However these are the latest models, and as his investigation progresses Deckard finds it increasingly difficult to tell who is really human. Visually the film is spectacular, with it's nightmarish depiction of fututristic Los Angeles influencing countless science-ficiton films and TV shows. The version I saw was the "Final Cut" ediiton, which has numerous edits and special effects tweaks.

Today I went out to the shops and bought some DVDs in the sales. The ones I bought were A Clockwork Orange, Monty Python's Life of Brian, L.A. Confidential, Serenity and a box-set of Capote and the film of In Cold Blood. So I was quite pleased with that. It was a good haul and I didn't spend too much. It should be enough to keep me out of mischief for a few days (not that I ever get into any in the first place, of course).

I was watching Doctor Who this evening, and it was another good episode. This season is shaping up really well, I think, and I do think that Catherine Tate is turning out better than I had expected as the latest companion. It was good to see the Sontarans back again as well. I always thought they were a bit underrated.

Irritating Co-Workers

Last night was very quiet and today has been another fairly quiet and average day at work. There's a guy in our office who is really interested in an '80s kids cartoon show called Mysterious Cities of Gold, he just bought it on DVD and goes on about it constantly. I once mentioned to him that I used to watch it when I was about six, and so he's always going on about it. I've not seen it in over twenty years and I feel like I could write the episode guide. Aside from that there was the usual constant complaining, this time resulting in an hour long discussion about whether office work was really important in a philosophical or spiritual sense. I got out at around five, so that was pretty good.

To be honest there's really hardly anything to write about today.

Mirror

Last night I was watching a Russian film from 1975 called Mirror, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. The film is a virtually plotless portrait of three generations of a Russian family. It is loosely autobiographical and merges past and present, childhood memories, semi-documentary elements, contemporary scenes and dreamlike fantasy. As with most Tarkovsky films this features astonishingly beautiful images, shot in long languid takes. The film was very much a family affair featuring Tarkovsky's wife and his mother as actors, as well as his father Arseny Tarkovsky, an acclaimed poet, who reads his own poetry on the soundtrack. If you let yourself go with the film it provides an astonishingly beautiful and genuinely haunting viewing experience.

Today I went out and renewed my Ridacard bus pass for another month. I also bought a gift voucher for my brother's birthday at the end of this month, and a card. My brother lives in London so we usually just give each other gift vouchers as gift, because we never know what else to get. On my way home I stopped off and got my groceries for the week. Among my groceries I got today's copy of The Guardian newspaper, which was giving away a free DVD of the original Godzilla.

This afternoon I was watching Godzilla, a 1954 Japanese film directed by Ishiro Honda. The film opens with the mysterious disappearances of several ships in the same area of the ocean. The disappearances are initially blamed on mines or undersea volcanos. However, when a research team visit a nearby island they soon discover the real source of the disappearances: A giant prehistoric monster, with a fiery breath, which the islanders named Godzilla, and which lives undersea but has been awakened by recent H-bomb tests and is now on the rampage. It's not long before he's headed for Tokyo, determined to stomp the city and eat the trains. The film was hugely successful in it's day, spawning endless sequels, cartoon shows and a big-budget Hollywood re-make. The film has a strong anti-nuclear message and is much darker than a lot of the later films, with a lot of emphasis on the death and devastation that the creature causes. The Japanese name for the film and the monster is "Gojira" (a combination of the words "gorilla" and "kujira" the Japanese word for "whale"), because the original conception for the creature was apparently to be a cross between a gorilla and a whale.

I was also watching a very good episode of Doctor Who this evening.