Magazines and DVDs

Today was really long and really tiring. After work I picked up my groceries for the coming week and picked up the latest issues of SFX and Empire magazines. 

I got the DVD box set of Doctor Who: The Black Guardian Trilogy which has three four part stories from the 1980s. 

I watched another episode of Stranger Things on Netflix. I'm really starting to get into that show.

Invisibilia

Last night I was watching an episode of Stranger Things. 

It was a pretty long day at work. I listened to Invisibilia which was discussing the concept of "fake it till you make it", how if you pretend to be something (say confident or whatever) you can sometimes become that, Answer Me This, Ron's Amazing Stories presenting a story about an astronaut stuck on Pluto for years who starts hallucinating due to loneliness, and Mystery Theater about a woman who wants to stop doctors performing a life-saving operation on her evil son-in-law.

On my way home I stopped off for groceries for the coming week. I also got a copy of Empire magazine, the main feature was about Suicide Squad, the story behind the movie Aliens and a list of the Best Movie Villains.

Wind and Rain

Last night was pretty quiet again. I was watching TV and reading pretty much most of the time.

Today was another slow day at work. The wind was really heavy on the way home and the rain was bad as well. It was actually difficult to stand upright and I had to walk with my hat in my hand so it didn't blow away.

On the way home I stopped off and bought a copy of Empire magazine. The main features this month were about the upcoming Captain America movie, a rumoured Alien prequel, movies that copied Star Wars and the behind the scenes story of the Michael Jackson movie Moonwalker.

I've got the day off tomorrow, and I'll be going up to get some new comic-books, but aside from that I don't know what I'll be doing.

The Belfry

Last night I was watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called "The Belfry". It was about a man who is in love with the local teacher and kills the man she is engaged to marry. When this fails to win her affections he goes on the run, but hides in the belfry of the local school, which also doubles as the local church, so he can spy on the woman.

I started writing a new story last night about a group of people who go to a new kind of virtual reality video game, only to esperience some strange after effects. This year I'm going to try to write more and read more, as well as watch more movies.

It was another average day at work. On the way home I bought some milk and the latest issue of Empire magazine, and also a steak pie supper for dinner.

When I got home the DVD of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World had arrived in the mail. So I'll probably be watching that tomorrow.

The Green Monster

Last night was pretty quiet. I spent quite a lot of time writing and read a story called "The Green Monster" by Haruki Murakami from the book The Elephant Vanishes. The story is about a woman who is surprised when a small green mind-reading monster comes out of the ground in her backyard and declares that it loves her. It was a good story and pretty strange.

It was another really dull and annoying day at work today. On the way home I bought the latest issues of Total Film and Empire magazines.

The Ricky Gervais Show

Last night I was watching an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show on TV. Basically, a few years ago writers, actors and directors Ricky Gervias and Stephen Merchant (who created The Office and Extras) and producer Karl Pilkington did a series of radio shows and podcasts where basically they just chat about anything that comes to mind, and they've been turned into an animated TV series by HBO. The show is really funny, mostly consisting of Pilkington coming up with various bizarre or naive theories while being prompted, mocked and laughed at by Gervais and Merchant.

I also listened to another radio adaptation of a Sherlock Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, in this one Holmes and Watson are pitted against a particularly evil blackmailer. In the end Conan Doyle wrote fifty-six Sherlock Holmes short stories and four novels, but apparently he really resented his own creation and it's massive fame because he thought it was taking his time away from his more "important" works (i.e. his historical novels).

I went to get my groceries this morning along with the latest issue of Empire magazine which had an interesting article about the history of the Three Stooges comedy team. I do remember I used to like the old Three Stooges short films when they were on TV, even though they never seemed to catch on as much outside the US.

Standing Order

The issue of Empire magazine that I got yesterday was pretty interesting. It had an article about the filmmaker Roman Polanski, and an article exploring the theory that Orson Welles might have committed the notorious "Black Dahlia" murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947. There was also an article about novelist Dennis Lehane and the new Martin Scorsese film of his novel Shutter Island (which I am really looking forward to seeing) and interviews with Natalie Portman and Harrison Ford. The Natalie Portman interview had by far the best picture.

Today was a really ordinary and depressing day at work. I just couldn't wait to get out of there. Afterwards I went along to the Standing Order bar to meet my Dad for a few drinks, which was nice and made a really good change.

Midweek

Last night was pretty quiet after I got back.

Today was yet another really quiet day at work. I got home at around six this evening and on my way home I got the new issue of Empire magazine, which looks pretty good, although I've not had a chance to read it yet.

It's one of those days where I just cannot think of anything worthwhile to post about. You know, there are times through the day when I think of something or something happens and I think to myself "this could make a good journal entry" but by the time I get in front of my computer and get down to type it all it's like my mind just goes completely blank. It's pretty frustrating. It's part of the reason why I tend not to post much about work, usually when I get home I've usually forgotten most of the day, or tried to anyway.

Busy Work Day

Last night was really quiet again, and I spent most of the time reading my books and watching TV.

Today was another dull day at work, but it was really busy, due to all the problems yesterday. It was actually kind of chaotic. Everywhere was absolutely freezing outside and all the pavements were iced up, so you had to be really careful where you were walking. On ym way home I stopped off and bout some milk, sugar and the latest issue of Empire magazine which was doing it's 2010 preview issue this month.

I sometimes wonder whether I'll ever get a girlfriend this year. Actually I do think it's highly unlikely, and I have pretty much given up on it. To be honest from what I've seen from other people and the experiences that I've personally had of dating in the past I think I'm probably better off out of it. If I get to Canada then I might try again, but I probably won't. In general, I suppose I always get nervous about going for the stuff I want because, knowing me, I'd screw it up in some way or something would go horribly wrong and I'd end up more miserable than I was before.

Sorry about that last paragraph, it's not particularly cheerful.

Twilight

Last night I saw the movie of Twilight on TV. The film is directed by Catherine Hardwicke and based on the popular novel by Stephanie Meyer. It's about a teenage girl (played by Kristen Stewart) who moves to a small town where she quickly falls for a local guy (Robert Pattinson) only to discover that he is a vampire. The story doesn't pay too much attention to traditional vampire lore, for example the vampires appear to be able to stay out in the day with no ill-effects and sunlight just makes them kind of go all glittery. It's not bad, and it is definitely entertaining enough, but I personally prefer vampires to be a bit scarier.

After that I was watching the movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno, directed by Kevin Smith. The film tells the story of two platonic friends, Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks), who share an apartment and are in serious trouble with mounting debts, and so Zack decides that they should make some money by making a pornographic movie. Despite the concept the film is surprisingly sweet-natured and it is also genuinely funny.

I have still been taking painkillers today, but I did go along to my parent's house and managed to eat some salmon and mashed potato, which was good because that's the first really sizeable thing I've had to eat all week. Afterwards my Mum and myself went for a walk to a supermarket and I got the latest copy of Empire magazine.

My Bloody Valentine

Last night I was watching the 2009 film of My Bloody Valentine, directed by Patrick Lussier, it was a remake of the 1981 original. It's set in a small US town where a miner goes on a killing spree, before apparently being killed. Ten years later, however, the murders begin again, leading people to suspect that the miner has returned. It wasn't bad. It had originally been made for 3D which accounts for the amount of objects being thrust at or thrown at the screen.

Today I had another day off work. I went and had a haircut, which is very short now, and then I went out and bought a DVD set of Jan Svankmajer: Complete Short Films. Svankmajer is a Czech film-director and animator, who specialised in bizarre animated films usually involving puppets. Then I went and had a club sandwich and a pint of beer before heading home. On my way home I stopped off and bought the latest issue of Empire magazine and some bread.

From Around Here

Last night I managed to get to 92 pages on the Script Frenzy screenplay challenge. It means that I have completed the challenge in eight days, which means it should be completed tomorrow. Aside from that I spent most of the evening reading stories in the Best New Horror book that I bought a few weeks ago. One of the stories ("From Around Here" by Tim Pratt) is about a displaced island god who searches for a new home in the USA while fighting evil supernatural creatures. Another one ("Pumpkin Night" by Gary McMahon) told of a man who brings his serial killer girlfriend back to life by replacing her head with a cursed jack o'lantern. The third story I read ("The Other Village" by Simon Strantzas) told of two Canadian women falling out while on holiday in the Mediterranean and one of the two finds a solution to her anoying friend in a strange deserted village. They were all pretty fun stories. "From Around Here" was fun and pretty exciting, "Pumpkin Night" was gruesome and genuinely creepy and "The Other Village" was a pretty fun Twilight Zone style one.

This morning I went out to get a birthday present and card for my brother (his birthday is on Thursday). I got a card and a £10 HMV voucher. Since he lives in London and I very rarely see him, I never know what he wants or what he's already got. At least with a voucher he can pretty much get what he wants with it. On the way back I stopped off to get my week's groceries. I also got the latest issue of Empire magazine. It was a twentieth anniversary issue this month with Steven Spielberg acting as guest editor.

F for Fake

Last night I was watching a documentary called Paul Merton Looks at Alfred Hitchcock, in which comedian Paul Merton discussed the early career of Alfred Hitchcock, when he was making films in Britain, with particular emphasis on his work in silent films, and how he retained the visual stylings of those early films right through his career. The documentary combined stills, film clips, interviews with people who knew and worked with Hitchcock, and archive clips of the man himself. The visual gimmicks that were used didn't always work, but mostly they did and it was a very interesting show. Paul Merton knows a lot about silent film and did a very interesting series on silent comedy a couple of years ago. I remember I did an evening class on the work of Alfred Hitchcock a couple of years ago. Interestingly, Hitchcock was a big fan of the "James Bond" novels by Ian Fleming and was very keen on making a Bond movie, but the producers of the Bond franchise refused because they thought a Bond film done by Hitchcock would take the emphasis away from the rest of the series.

Later on I watched the 1974 film F for Fake, directed by Orson Welles, on DVD. The film is a kind of documentary, initially focusing on well-known art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, who became famous for writing a fake "authorised biography" of billionaire Howard Hughes, the documentary also discusses Welles' own career, in particular his famous radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, and actress Oja Kodar. The film discusses the nature of art, forgery and illusion. It is mostly interesting and often very funny.

Today I got up pretty late and went out to change some money for my trip to Amsterdam and also to buy a guidebook. On my way back I bought a copy of Empire magazine, which was running a big feature story on the new Terminator film.

Dracula

Last night I was watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory, which I thought was really funny, and a repeat of an episode from the latest episode of Peep Show. After that I listened to the first of a seven part radio adaptation of Dracula, based on the popular novel by Bram Stoker published in 1897. The story involves a young solicitor's clerk who travels to Transylvania in order to negotiate with the mysterious nobleman Count Dracula, who wishes to buy properties in England. However, before long he discovers that Dracula is not what he seems.

I got up later than I had intended, mainly because I really didn't want to get out of bed and start the day. The whole place was absolutely freezing, because my heating (which is on a timer) had already switched itself off. I usually have porridge for breakfast, but I was too late for that, and even too late to wolf down a quick emergency apple, so I had a cup of coffee to warm myself up and wake myself up. I didn't even have time to let it get properly cool enough to drink, so I almost had a burned mouth. I hate getting up in the morning on week days, when you're rushed and there seem like a million things to do, and you've got to get to work.

On my way into work I did at least find time to buy the new issue of Radio Times and the latest issue of Empire magazine, which featured a large article on the planned film of The Hobbit and a feature about the history and background of the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series.

It was another really quiet day at work. I was told that I will probably still be staying in the current department for at least another week. Which is fine for me because the work is pretty easy and I can just listen to my iPod.

Video Games

I spent a lot of time again last night playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It's interesting really with video games because when I was a kid we had a ZX Spectrum computer and later we changed it for an Amstrad and I used to play games on both of them all the time, and my brother had a Super Nintendo which I always enjoyed, but later on I really got out of gaming and didn't buy many games for the later PCs that we got, although I did buy some. Even when I got the GameCube last year I still played on it, but didn't get really into it. However I have really gotten into the Playstation 3, and I have really gotten back in to gaming. There is so much that video games can do these days it's quite amazing.

Last night I was listening to a documentary on the radio about Edgar Allan Poe, which was pretty interesting.

It was a very quiet day at work again today. I have pretty much got used to being back at the old job. Sometimes it almost feels as if I never left it.

I left work at about five and on my way home I picked up a copy of Empire magazine. The main feature this month was a preview of the new films coming out in 2009 (mostly the new Transformers film that's coming out).

Quantum of Solace

Last night I finished reading the novel Smiley's People by John le Carre. The book was first published in 1979 and forms the final part of a trilogy (the other two books in the series being Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy). When a Soviet ex-spy turned defector is found dead in a London park, world-weary George Smiley, one time head of the British Secret Service comes out of retirement to investigate. He soon realises that it was a professional assassination, and that the ex-spy was on his way to meet Smiley with some secret documents, which have are now missing, relating to Smiley's arch-enemy, the enigmatic Soviet spymaster code-named Karla, who engineered the devestation of Smiley's personal and professional lives. Obsessed with destroying his nemesis, Smiley sets out across Europe on a personal mission of revenge. It's a very well-written book, and probably the best in the series. Away from the glamour and action of James Bond-style spies, the novel depicts a bleak, murky, paranoid world of moral ambiguity, where literally no-one can be trusted.

I was off work today and headed up to the cinema to see Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond film. The journey took ages because of road-works and even at the time I went, twenty past twelve, the cinema was packed. The film is a direct sequel to the previous Bond film Casino Royale, and takes up pretty much straight after that one ends. As James Bond (played by Daniel Craig), agent 007 of the British Secret Service, embarks on a dangerous, personal mission of revenge, he finds himself up against a powerful international criminal organsation. Like Casino Royale, it's a much darker kind of Bond film, with few of the trademark quips and gadgets. However, there is non-stop action, exotic locations and beautiful women (in this case Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton). The movie is named after a 1960 Ian Fleming short story, but has absolutely nothing to do with the story at all, aside from the name (the story is a domestic drama of marital infidelity which is told to Bond at a party).

After the film I went to the shops to get my mum a birthday present (I bought her a book called Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris, it's the sequel to Chocolat, which I know mum liked, and it's pretty new, so hopefully she's not had a chance to get it out of the library yet). There was a sale on so I got a couple of John le Carre books for myself (A Perfect Spy and The Russia House). I also got a birthday card for mum and some wrapping paper. On the way home I picked up some milk and the latest issues of Radio Times and Empire.

I've just got the card written and birthday present wrapped, so that's all ready for Sunday. Also, of course, NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

Monday

Last night was fairly quiet. I spent a lot of the time just watching repeats of TV shows and writing in my notebooks.

It was the start of another fairly average week at work. The place was fairly quiet, which is fairly typical for a Monday, of course, and the time really seemed to drag, so I was quite glad to head back home. On the way I stopped off and bought the latest issue of Empire magazine. The main feature was the previews of movies coming up later this year, an article on movie credit sequences, and the life and career of film-maker and author Kenneth Anger.

A Clockwork Orange

Last night I was watching A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick, on DVD. The film, which was made in 1971 and adapted from an Anthony Burgess novel, is set in near future Britain, and tells the story of Alex (played by Malcolm McDowell) the charismatic but brutal leader of a teenage street gang, who spends his evenings fighting, robbing, and violently assaulting innocent people. After a botched robbery leads to murder, Alex is arrested. however after a couple of years in prison, he still shows no sign of reforming and so he is subjected to an experimental treatment called the "Ludovico Technique", a form of aversion therapy, which renders the subject unable to commit any acts of violence. The treatment works, and upon his release, Alex soon finds out what it's like to be the target. The film was hugely controversial on it's release, and still packs a powerful punch, although it hasn't really aged very well. McDowell gives a superb performance in the lead role. Kubrick famously withdrew the film from circulation in Britain, and it wasn't re-released until after his death in 1999. Burgess soon got sick of the film, which he really had nothing to do with and was adapted from a book he never liked in the first place, because he bore the brunt of a lot of the controversy surrounding it. In fact in the stage directions of Burgess' own musical play version of A Clockwork Orange there is a line: "A man, bearded like Stanley Kubrick, comes on playing 'Singin' in the Rain' on a trumpet. He is kicked off the stage". The film, and especially the book, use an interesting invented slang called 'Nadsat' (Russian for 'teen') which mixes English and Russian. For example: 'droog' = 'friend', 'viddy' = 'see', 'slooshy' = 'hear', 'tolchock' = 'hit', 'glazzies' = 'eyes', 'veck' = 'man', 'devotchka' = 'woman' and so on.

I remember being fascinated by A Clockwork Orange when I was a teenager for years before I finally saw it. I was just really intrigued by the title. I had absolutely no idea what it meant. I read the book for school when I was fourteen. I've read it countless times since. I remember after Kubrick's death, I organised a screening in the Student Union at College of a triple-bill of The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and A Clockwork Orange. It was completely packed out. Standing room only. After the films were over, I was introduced and everyone applauded and I took a bow. Great days.

Today was, as ever, a quiet dull day at work. It gets quite depressing a lot of the time. I really need to get going with doing the things that I want to do. One of the things is that I really lack self-confidence, so I don't really know if I can do all the things that I actually want to do. Like move over to the States and write books and make movies and so on. Anyway, on my way home I bought a copy of Empire magazine, which was quite interesting.

Very Quiet Day

Last night I was watching the first episode of the new series of The Apprentice. It's probably the only one of the reality shows that I actually like. I actually think it's quite funny.

It was a pretty quiet day at work. On my way home I bought the latest copy of Empire magazine. It'll soon be the weekend anyway. I know it's been a short week for me, but I'm still looking forward to when it's over!