When Marnie Was There

I stayed in today, mainly because I had a cold. The new issues of Fortean Times andSight and Sound arrived in the mail.

I half watched a movie called Killer: A Journal of Murder which stars James Woods as a serial killer in prison, who strikes up a strange friendship with a guard who encourages him to write his autobiography.

I also saw When Marnie Was There, an animated Japanese film about a girl who is sent to the country for her health, who becomes fascinated by a mysterious girl who lives in a run-down mansion. It's a good movie. I reviewed it here:http://permanentlyweird.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/when-marnie-was-there.html

Jaws

I watched an episode of Game of Thrones last night. I was feeling really kind of down afterwards and listened to a whole lot of Mary Chapin Carpenter songs.

This morning a Kuretake brush pen came in the mail from Japan. The new issue of Fortean Times arrived in the mail as well. I went out to the Cameo cinema to see a one off showing of Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie is probably one of the most influential ever made, because it pretty much started the whole idea of the Summer blockbuster. If you've never seen it, it's about a small beach town which is terrorised by a giant, hungry Great White Shark. It's a great movie, I've seen it many times before, but never on the big screen. It was actually better than I had remembered it, although I had forgotten that it is actually pretty gruesome.

Natural Born Killers

Last night I was watching the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers, directed by Oliver Stone and based on a story by Quentin Tarantino. The movie deals with a couple of serial killers, Mickey and Mallory Knox (played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) who go on a three week killing spree through the southern USA leaving fifty-two people dead, until they are caught and arrested. With the pair now a media sensation and international cult heroes, Mickey is approached in jail by sleazy TV producer Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.) to do a live on-air interview in prison. The movie throws pretty much everything at the screen with the film stock changing (seemingly at random), constant switches from colour to black-and-white, tinted scenes, weird filters, bizarre camera angles, on-screen captions, distorted images, stock footage, strange back projection, frenzied editing and even sequences shot like a 1950s sitcom. It was hugely controversial in it's day, and was a big sensation. The first time I saw it it gave me a massive headache, but I have seen it many times now, partly because, once you get used to the style it's one of those things where you see something different every time. There is a lot in it that is really good, and a lot that is absolutely terrible. I thought it was way too weird in places and I'm not a big fan of the second half of the film, once they get inside the jail, but there are great bits in it, although you do have to be in the right mood for it. It did seem to annoy a lot of people when it came out. I sometimes wonder whether Oliver Stone is on a personal mission to irritate as many groups of people as possible. Although it seems to have been a long time since there was a really controversial Oliver Stone movie. Still, there's time for him yet.

Today I went out with my Dad to the Ocean Terminal shopping centre. We had something to eat at the Costa Coffe there (I had a chocolate muffin and a mocha coffee) before we went to look at our own things. I got some books in a three for two offer: Money by Martin Amis, True Grit by Charles Portis and A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, the first volume of a fantasy series which I don't think has been finished yet.

After that we went to my parent's house. The new issue of Fortean Times (the Journal of Strange Phenomena) had arrived in the mail so that was pretty good to read. We had spicy fajitas for lunch.

That's another thing that is quite interesting about the Oscars that I just thought about: The look on the faces of the people who don't win, trying to smile for the cameras but so obviously fuming that they lost. It's kind of cruel in a way the way they keep the cameras on the faces of the losers. I won't be watching it tonight, because it is on too late, but it will be interesting to learn the results tomorrow.

Missing Issue

Last night was pretty quiet. I still had a really bad cold and pretty much slept for most of the time.

This morning I was feeling a bit better, although the cold still hasn't gone away. My Dad called around for me this morning and we went along to the Gyle shopping centre. We had some coffee and I had a cheese scone and a mocha coffee, then split up to look around on our own. I got a couple of books: Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson and The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac.

After that we went to my parent's house where the latest issues of Fortean Times and Sight and Sound. Actually the previous issue of Sight and Sound never came so I've e-mailed them to get them to send another copy.

The Vault of Horror

Last night I was watching the 1973 movie The Vault of Horror, directed by Roy Ward Baker. The movie stars Terry-Thomas, Denholm Elliot, Curt Jurgens, Tom Baker and Michael Craig, and revolves around five men who find themselves trapped in a mysterious sub-basement in a high rise building. To pass the time they tell each other stories of their recurring nightmares and deepest fears. The movie consists of five self-contained stories and a framing story linking them together. It was a pretty good film. I really like those anthology type films, because you always knew that if one story was bad there would soon be another one along. It's reviewed at Permanently Weird.

I went along to my parent's house today. The new issue of Fortean Times had arrived, the main feature this month being the theory that reports of the Chupacabras creature may have been influenced by the alien from the movie Species. We had some lasagne for lunch, and then walked along to the zoo for a bit. It was cheap to get in today due to the snow and cold. We saw sealions, penguins, rheas, parrots, tapirs, koalas, sun bears, chimpanzees, rhinos, pygmy hippos, gibbons and various monkeys. It was a nice trip and we managed to see a lot despite the fact that we didn't have much time and there was a lot of snow and ice.

I got back home at around half past five.

Decorating

Last night I had a shot on my new games. Bayonetta seems like a fun shooting and beat-up game and Assassin's Creed II looks like it will be a really good game, with an interesting storyline. I also listened to the first part of The Honourable Schoolboy CD. The story is set after the British Secret Service has been ravaged by a traitor and spymaster George Smiley has been set in charge of repairing the damage, when he discovers that his arch-enemy, a Soviet spymaster code-named Karla is being financed by a Hong Kong gangster. In order to expose the link, Smiley sends a disreputable journalist and sometime spy into the Hong Kong underworld to investigate. It is pretty good. I also watched an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents about an alcoholic woman who wakes up in hospital with a badly injured hand and a bad hangover and tries to remember how she got there.

This morning my Dad called round and we went to the Gyle shopping centre. I had a cheese scone and a mocha coffee at the food court and then we went our seperate ways. I got a couple of books: Shoedog by George Pelecanos and Shame the Devil by George Pelecanos. Pelecanos is a crime author who sets all his books in and around Washington DC, he also had a lot of attention for writing several episodes of The Wire TV series.

We went along to my parent's house where the latest issue of Fortean Times had arrived. The main story this month concerned the idea that ancient mythology and religion could be explained by alien encounters. It was an idea that was very popular for awhile in the 1970s. We had roast chicken, stuffing, peas and diced roast potatoes in garlic butter for lunch followed by apple pie, which was really nice. In the afternoon I helped my Mom decorate their Christmas tree.

I'm planning on decorating my Christmas tree this evening.

The Runaways

This morning my Dad came to collect me and we went to the Gyle shopping centre. I had a scone and a mocha in the coffee section and then we split up to look at our own things. I got a book called The Hell of It All by Charlie Brooker, which is a collection of TV reviews. Charlie Brooker is a TV reviewer and general commentator and does various TV shows where he discusses TV, video games and the news and he hosts a comedy panel shows, and has written a couple of other books. I think he's really clever and funny. I also got a CD called American Anthems which is a collection of American rock anthems from the 1980s mostly. I happen to like that kind of music.

Then we went over to my parent's house. The latest issue of Fortean Times had arrived, which this month featured an article on the possibility of a giant serpent living in Sweden and an article exploring the background to the Peid Piper of Hamelin myth. The new issue of Sight and Sound also arrived, featuring this month a centenary tribute to director Akira Kurosawa. In the afternoon my Mum and I went out for a bit of a walk.

In the evening I went up to the Cineworld cinema to see the movie The Runaways, directed by Floria Sigismondi. The movie is set in the mid 1970s and tells the story of the all-girl rock band The Runaways, focusing mainly on lead singer Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning) and guitarist Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart). The movie is pretty much a typical rock movie biography, but it's a lot of fun with a great soundtrack, and a cool, punky seventies feel to it. It also features great performances from Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart. Personally I really like Joan Jett, her version of "Crimson and Clover" is one of my favourite songs, but the movie only really deals with the early part of her career.

Barbecue

Last night I was watching the latest episode of Doctor Who on TV, which I thought was pretty good, and I also watched the first couple of episodes of the second season of True Blood on DVD. So far, it looks like it will be a really good series.

Today was really hot and sunny again today. I went along to my parent's house for lunch as usual. For a change, it was warm enough to have a barbecue and we had hamburgers, sausages and chicken legs with some salad, although we had to go in for a bit when it started to rain briefly but very heavily just before we were about to have dessert. I really like barbecues, but we very rarely get a chance to have many, due to the usual bad weather.

The new issue of Fortean Times had arrived during the week, the main story was about a theatre which is supposedly haunted by a donut throwing poltergeist. When I got home I listened to an episode of Doctor Who on the radio. They have a series of Doctor Who episodes specifically made for the radio, and a lot of them are really good.

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.

Daylight Saving

Last night was pretty quiet. I watched some Twin Peaks and some ice hockey. The clocks all had to be turned back an hour last night for the daylight saving time, so that meant I had to lose an hour's sleep.

This morning I went along with my Dad to the Ocean Terminal shopping centre. First of all we stopped off at Starbucks and had some coffee and a muffin. Then we split up to look around. I got three books in the sales which were: It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock - A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler, Shout!: The True Story of The Beatles by Philip Norman and The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien.

After that we went along to my parent's house. The new issue of Fortean Times magazine ("The Journal of Strange Phenomena") had arrived during the week, so that was pretty interesting. In the afternoon I went out for a walk with my Mum to see if we could find any good branches for Mum to use to make her annual Easter Tree for the house.

I'm off work tomorrow and in the morning I'm planning on going up to see Shutter Island, and in the afternoon I have a dentist appointment to clean up the area around where my wisdom tooth was removed in November. I might need to get a filling with that.

The Fly

Last night I watched the 1986 film of The Fly on TV. The film, directed by David Cronenberg, was based on a 1957 short story by George Langelaan which was previously filmed in 1958. The story involves a nerdy scientist (played by Jeff Goldblum) who has developed a matter transmitter device. The scientist tests the machine on himself with apparently successful results, however it turns out that a housefly was trapped in the machine with him, and the scientist slowly begins to undergo bizarre transformations. It is a really good film, and probably one of the classic horror movies of the 1980s. David Cronenberg has a brief cameo as a doctor in a hospital, and apparently he was really surprised that the film was so successful because he felt that the level of gore might have put people off. The film produced a sequel, which was much less successful, and The Fly was also adapted as an opera, written by Howard Shore who composed the score for the film, and last year it was announced that Cronenberg is planning a re-make of the film.

Following that I watched the 1987 Coen Brothers movie Raising Arizona. The movie is a comedy film about an inept armed robber (Nicolas Cage) who marries a police officer (Holly Hunter). When it turns out that she can't have children, they decide to steal a baby from a local businessman who has just made the news due to his wife giving bith to quintuplets. However, they have to deal with suspicious neighbours, escaped convicts and an evil bounty hunter. The film is pretty bizarre, but very funny.

This morning I went along with my Dad to the Gyle shopping mall where we had a cup of coffee and a scone, then we split up to do our own thing. I bought a couple of books in a buy one get one for half price deal: Maskerade by Terry Pratchett and The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett. I also bought a Mother's Day card and a memory card for my camera. After that I went back to my parent's house for lunch. The new issue of Fortean Times had arrived during the week.

I also finished reading Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. The story is set in 1954 where two US Marshals are sent to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane on the remote Shutter Island off the Massachusetts coast to investigate the mysterious disappearance of an inmate. It's a pretty good book and is a genuinely suspenseful thriller.

Suspiria

Last night I was watching the 1977 film Suspiria, directed by Dario Argento. The movie tells the story of a young American woman who goes to a ballet school in Germany, where she quickly learns that gruesome and bizarre events are underway. Like many Argento films the storyline is almost non-existant, and pretty much just serves as a thread on which Argento hangs his trademark elaborate and gruesomely violent set-pieces. The movie has a really distinctive look, full of strange overbright colours and scenes flooded in red, green and blue light. It also has a memorable shrieking score by Italian rock band Goblin.

This morning I went along to the Ocean Terminal shopping centre with Dad. We started off at Costa Coffee for a coffee and a muffin and then had a look around the mall. After that we went back to my parent's house. The latest issues of Sight and Sound and Fortean Times had arrived during the week. The travel agent telephoned to confirm some details about my holiday, and I listened to the third and final part of the radio adaptation of The Honourable Schoolboy.

The Mask

Last night I was watching the 1994 movie The Mask, directed by Charles Russell, on TV. The movie tells the story of a shy bank clerk (played by Jim Carrey), who is constantly being walked over and pushed around by everyone because he is such a nice guy, until he finds an ancient wooden mask which, when he puts it on, transforms him into a green-headed, super-powered wild man, with the ability to manipulate his own reality and pretty much do anything, kind of like a live-action cartoon character. The movie was originally intended as a pretty violent horror movie, similar to the comic-book that inspired it, but in the end they decided to make the film as a comedy. The movie is very funny and features ground-breaking special effects.

Later on I saw the film Mirrors, directed by Alexandre Aja, which told the story of an alcoholic ex-cop (played by Kiefer Sutherland) who gets a job as a night security guard at a burned out derelict department store. While there he begins to see strange things in the store's mirrors. Before long the things become increasingly vivid and dangerous. The movie was an English language remake of a Korean film, although I have heard that the American film is very different to the Korean version. The movie was fairly predictable, but it did have a few nice shocks in it. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Andrei Tarkovsky film Mirror, a surreal autobiographical film which mixes in childhood memories and Russian history.

Lastly I watched Day of the Dead, a 1985 film directed by George A. Romero, and the third of his Dead series of zombie movies. By the time the film starts human society has completely broken down due to the plague of flesh-eating zombies. However, a small group of scientists and military personnel have holed up in a disused missile silo. The scientists are trying to find a way to domesticate the zombies (teaching them to shave and read Stephen King books). However the rising tensions between the military and the scientists begins to pose more danger to both groups than the advancing zombie hordes. It is a good movie and quite interesting.

Today my parents came around to check my flat and make sure that everything was still okay, which it mostly was, and I went back with them for lunch. The new issue of Fortean Times ("The Journal of Strange Phenomena") had arrived during the week with plenty of bizarre and interesting stories in it. After lunch I walked along with my Mum to a shopping centre and bought the sixth season of Red Dwarf on DVD, which should be fun. I have seen it before several times on TV and I do think that it is one of the best seasons of that show.

The Shawshank Redemption

Last night I was watching The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, and based on the novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King. Opening in the 1940s, the film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, a banker who is accused of a double murder and sentenced to serve two life sentences at Shawshank State Prison. While he gets used to the prison's regime Andy befriends the prison's "fixer", Red (Morgan Freeman). I first saw the movie at a preview screening in February 1995 and I've always thought it was a great movie. It was not successful at all in it's cinema release, but it really found it's audience on video and then on TV, and now it routinely tops polls of the greatest movie ever made. I think when it was out at the cinema they had trouble with marketing it: it had a strange title, no big stars, no prominent female characters, it's set mostly in prison and it was based on a Stephen King story but it wasn't a horror movie (although I did see one advertising slogan for the film which played up the Stephen King connection and went something like "A Fiendishly Perfect Partnership and a Horror that Goes Beyond Homicide", which makes you wonder whether they actually saw the movie). It is a great movie about the possibility of hope in even the worse circumstances. It's one of really only two movies that have ever genuinely made me tear up (the other being It's a Wonderful Life).

I still wasn't feeling good at all today. My Dad came around to look at my washing machine. We eventually did get it fixed, apparently. The problem was that the draining hose had come loose and that was what was causing the leaks. However it should work now. I went along to my parent's house as usual for my lunch, which was tacos today. The latest issue of Fortean Times had arrived during the week, which this month had a large feature on Dracula, tracing the history of the Bram Stoker novel and exploring it's phenomenal popularity. Pretty much everyone has at least heard of Dracula, even if they've never read the book or seen any of the movies. The cover promised "20 Things You Never Knew About Dracula" and one surprising thing was that apparently Ingmar Bergman had planned to do a Dracula adaptation, but never got round to it. Maybe one where Dracula discusses the futility of existance and the search for the meaning of life in a meaningless universe. Later on I was listening to the third and final part of the radio adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy based on the John le Carre thriller. It's been really good and very close to the original book.

I sent my brother an e-mail a week ago to find out what he wants for his Christmas present and he still hasn't replied. I have absolutely no idea of what he wants, because he lives in London and we don't really communicate much. Basically if he doesn't let me know by the end of the week then he's getting a book token.

Fear in the Night

I managed to do another thousand words of NaNoWriMo last night. Less than usual but I wasn't really feeling into it yesterday. Later on I watched a 1972 movie called Fear in the Night, directed by Jimmy Sangster. It's about a young woman (played by Judy Geeson) who is attacked by a mysterious assailant with an artificial arm. Later, she and her teacher husband go to a remote, deserted rural school, where she meets the creepy headmaster (played by Peter Cushing) who has an artificial arm, and who wanders around the deserted school corridors in full headmaster regalia playing tape recordings of classes in the empty classrooms to preserve the illusion that the fire-damaged school is still in session. At the school, the woman is again attacked by a mysterious, one-armed figure. Of course she immediately suspects the headmaster, but there is a twist. It was actually a pretty neat thriller.

Fortean Times magazine came yesterday, featuring this month articles about the British thriller author Dennis Wheatley, who was massively successful in the 1930s to 1970s but is almost completely unknown now, and also an article celebrating fifty years of The Twilight Zone.

I woke up and I still wasn't feeling well. I was really feeling the area where my tooth was taken out and I've still been taking painkillers. I took Monday and yesterday off work on sick leave and I've booked for the rest of the week off on annual leave so, hopefully, I'll be able to do something fun later on in the week, but for now I'm having another quiet day at home.

Darker Than You Think

Last night I finished reading the book Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson. The book was first published in 1948 and tells the story of small-town newspaper reporter Will Barbee who is reporting on the return of an archeological expedition to the Gobi Desert, when he meets the enigmatic April Bell. When the team, who consist of Barbee's oldest university friends, arrive they seem strange, terrified of something that they discovered in the desert and preoccupied with the safety of an old box they discovered and a mysterious and deadly enemy they call "The Child of Night". Shortly afterwards, Barbee finds himself tormented by strange dreams in which he commits horrific murders in the guise of a large wolf. It's a pretty good book and full of twists and surprises, although a lot of the dialogue is quite clunky at times. The style of writing owes a lot more to the pulp detective thrillers of the 30s and 40s than it does to more traditional horror writing. Also it comes up with science-fiction explanations for the apparently supernatural occurances. It's worth reading because it is pretty entertaining.

This morning I went along to the Gyle Shopping Centre with my Dad. First off we had a scone and some coffee, then we went and did some shopping seperately. I got a couple of books: The American West by Dee Brown and Best New Horror Volume 20 edited by Stephen Jones.

I went back to my parent's house for lunch (which was tacoes this week). The latest issue of Fortean Times magazine had arrived with an article about the occult history of London, which was quite interesting.

Taking a Walk

Last night I was watching the first four episodes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy on DVD. The story, based on the novel by John le Carre, involves retired secret agent George Smiley (played by Alec Guinness) who is brought back to uncover the identity of a top level double agent who has infiltrated "the Circus" (the British Secret Service). The story is very intricate and complex, but there isn't really much action in it, the story unfolding at a slow and sedate place.

I went along to my parent's house for lunch, as usual, today. The latest issues of Sight and Sound and Fortean Times arrived today. For lunch we had roast chicken, diced roast potatoes with garlic butter and peas, with apple pie and cream for dessert. After lunch my Mum and I went along to the train station in order for Mum to get a timetable. Then we went to Starbucks for a mocha coffee and a chocolate muffin.

The Corner

Last night I was listening to the second part of the radio adaptation of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, based on the novel by John le Carre. It was pretty good, and very faithful to the original book. I also finished reading The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood by David Simon and Ed Burns. It's a non-fiction book detailing a year that the authors spent following the lives of the residents of a tough inner-city area in Baltimore, in particular around a street corner which is one of may that are used as pretty much twenty four hour, open air drug markets. A large part of the book deals with a broken family of two drug-addicted adults and their fifteen year old son. The book also discusses the nature of drug addiction and the history and effects of the American drug trade and the resulting legislation in an inner-city area. It is a very good book, and very powerful. It was adapted into a six part miniseries for HBO, and Burns and Simon subsequently went on to create the TV series The Wire, which also deals with drugs in Baltimore.

Today I went along to my parent's house for lunch. The latest issue of Fortean Times had arrived, this month's main story was about an alleged UFO crash in Wales in 1974. Our lunch today was salmon, with peas and boiled potatoes followed with some more of my Mum's homemade raspberry ice-cream. Later on I listened to the third and final part of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

The cold is a lot better now, which is good! I just really hope that this coming week is better than the last week has been.

Twilight Zone

It was a pretty quiet evening last night. I listened to the latest episode of The Twilight Zone radio series. This one was called "The Ring-a-Ding Girl" and was adapted from a 1963 episode of the TV series. It told the story of a world famous movie star who is given a ring by her fan-club from her hometown. However the ring gives her disturbing visions of the future. It was a good story, with a genuinely surprising twist in the tail.

I went along to my parent's house for lunch as usual on a Sunday. Lunch was really nice, being chopped up salmon with rice, spring onions and red peppers. The latest issue of Fortean Times ("The Journal of Strange Phenomena") had arrived as well.

Be Kind Rewind

Last night I was listening to an episode of The Twilight Zone on the radio. The episode was called "The Hitch-Hiker" and it was about a young woman who is driving cross-country but finds herself haunted by the figure of a mysterious hitch-hiker who appears to be waiting for her everywhere she goes. It was a pretty creepy episode with a good twist at the end.

Later on I was watching the 2008 film Be Kind Rewind, directed by Michel Gondry, on TV last night. The film tells the story of an employee at a run-down neighbourhood video store (Mos Def), who is left in charge of the store when the owner (Danny Glover) goes away for a few days. However, the employee's best friend (Jack Black) accidentally becomes magnetized and inadvertantly erases all the video tapes in the store. In a desperate attempt to save the store, the duo decide to replace the tapes by re-making the films themselves, with home-made special effects. However, the home-made tapes end up becoming extremely popular in their own right. The film is very funny in places, especially with their home-made versions of films such as Ghostbusters, RoboCop, Rush Hour 2 and Driving Miss Daisy. It's a really fun and likeable film.

After that I was watching a Japanese film called Death Note, directed by Shusuke Kaneko. The film concerns a university student (Tatsuya Fujiwara) who finds a supernatural notebook which if you write someone's name in it, while picturing the face of that person, they will die. The student uses it to kill criminals all over the world and the mysterious serial killer, dubbed "Kira" by the public, becomes a hero to some while being condemned by others. Meanwhile a mysterious police detective, known only as "L" (Ken'ichi Matsuyama), is determined to track him down.

I went along to my parent's house for lunch today, as usual. We had chicken, small, cubed roast potatoes in garlic butter, peas and stuffing. It was really nice. The new issue of Fortean Times arrived during the week, and so did the DVD of F for Fake which was my free gift for renewing my subscription to Sight and Sound magazine.