Haunted

Last night I was watching a 1995 film called Haunted, directed by Lewis Gilbert, and based on a book by James Herbert. In 1905, England, a young boy named David Ash witnesses the accidental death by drowning of his twin sister. 24 years later, Ash (played by Aiden Quinn) is a professor of psychology, and is devoted to debunking paranormal phenomena, and exposing fake mediums, he is also the author of a popular book on the subject. Because of the book, Ash is being hounded by letters from a distressed old woman who lives in the isolated mansion of Edbrook Hall, and who is convinced that she is being kept prisoner in the house by evil spirits. Ash arrives to investigate and meets a young woman, Cristina (Kate Beckinsale) and her two brothers. It turns out that the mansion was owned by the parents of Cristina and her brothers, and the old woman (Anne Massey) was the family servant. However the parents are now dead. Ash, who is far more interested in investigating Cristina than in investigating ghosts, tries to convince the old woman that there is nothing happening, with the help of the old family doctor (John Gielgud). However a series of bizarre supernatural happenings soon shakes his scepticism, and Ash comes to realise that there is more going on in Edbrook Hall than he could have guessed. The film is quite slow to get going, but it does have a lot of atmosphere, and is at times quite suspenseful. I'm always quite surprised that James Herbert hasn't really caught on with filmmakers because his books are pretty popular.

After the film I watched some TV and played Resident Evil for a bit on the GameCube. Resident Evil is a video game where you wander though this big mansion shooting at zombie things. It's quite fun.

It was another really dull and quiet day at work. The start of another week. Although I did have a nice e-mail from one of my old Team Leaders saying that he really liked the story that I wrote and got printed in the staff magazine.

I got home at around half past five and as I was eating my dinner (a microwaved spaghetti carbonara) some guy knocked on the door to try to get me to sign up to a new electricity supplier, but I wasn't interested. I was actually quite annoyed at being disturbed in the middle of my dinner, especially by someone trying to sell me stuff.

Some Games

Last night I was watching an interesting documentary called Inside the Medieval Mind which explored the way that knowledge and the way people saw the world developed during the period. I also watched a documentary about the Crusades presented by Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame), and so he managed to make the show light-hearted at times as well as being interesting.

Work was pretty much the same as usual. I left early today though and headed to the shops where I got a couple of games for the GameCube. The ones I got were Super Mario Sunshine and 007: From Russia With Love, so they should be good.

Quiet Day

Last night I was playing a lot on the GameCube. The controls and style of gameplay does take quite a bit of getting used to, because the only other console I've ever really used much is my brother's Super Nintendo, which is about fifteen years old now.

Today I went out and got my groceries for the coming week. Along with them I also got the latest issue of Empire magazine, which was pretty interesting.

GameCube

I was only in for a half day today at work, so that was good. I also bought Joe's GameCube console for £25. He also included three Resident Evil games (Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 0).

As soon as I brought it home I had to go out again to fix my bank card. Apparently it has been unlocked now, but I can't use it for twenty four hours. I also bought a few second-hand games, very cheaply, for the GameCube. I got Batman Begins, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, so I've got a nice selection to start off with.Everything really seems to work okay, so that's good. I've always enjoyed computer games, but was always put off by the cost for consoles, but the GameCube seems to be a good machine, and you can get really good games, fairly cheaply (albeit second-hand).

My brother came up from London a couple of days ago with his new girlfriend. I should be seeing them tomorrow.