Smart People

Last night I was watching a live astronomy show called Stargazing Live, which I thought was pretty interesting. There was a section where they were debunking the science of science-fiction movies. I really doubt many people would be surprised to learn that Star Wars is not scientifically accurate.

Later on I was watching the 2008 movie Smart People, directed by Noam Murro, which was about a literature professor (played by Dennis Quaid) who is constantly bitter and rude towards everyone, and is consequently disliked by both his colleagues and students. After an accident he meets and falls for a former student who is now a doctor (Sarah Jessica Parker). Aside from this the professor has to deal with a visit from his lazy, irresponsible, adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) who comes to borrow money and stays to help unwind the professor's lonely, uptight, intellectual daughter (Ellen Page). It's not a bad movie, and quite funny in places. To be honest, the best thing about it was Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page. The movie is reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

Today I went out and bought some comic-books. On my way home I got a Whopper meal from Burger King. One of my favourite bookstores has closed down now, which I'm not happy about.

Today is the last day of the Christmas/New Year break, and so this evening I'll be taking down my decorations.

New Year

Well, it's been a busy couple of days. On Friday I was up at half past five in the morning and got into work at quarter past seven. The place was pretty quiet, but then New Year's Eve is a really big day Scotland (where it's called Hogmanay). There wasn't really much to do and I left at about five past midday. Back home I got ready for when my Dad was scheduled to pick me up at half past three and take me to my parent's house. There, there were Christmas and birthday presents from my brother and his girlfriend. I got a Film Posters of the '50s 2011 calendar, a bottle of Ampleforth Abbey cider, a Budweiser gift set and a couple of boxes of chocolates and mints. It was a nice New Year. We just rang in 2011 with the family.

On January 1st, we had another fairly quiet day. In the afternoon we watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I thought was a really fun movie despite the overwhelmingly bad reaction it seemed to get form the internet.

This morning I went out with my Dad and we went to the Gyle shopping centre and had a scone and coffee. We split up and had a look around. I got a book called How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog by Chad Orzel. After that I went back to my parent's house and after lunch Dad took me back home. I've just been changing over my calendars and journals.

Bullitt

Last night I watched a one-off horror drama on TV called Whistle and I'll Come to You which starred John Hurt as an elderly man who has just put his wife in a nursing home and gone on holiday alone to a quiet seaside hotel. After discovering a wedding ring on the beach he finds himself haunted by increasingly disturbing supernatural occurances. The story was loosely based on a short story by M.R. James (called "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad"). In the original story the main character is an unmarried middle-aged academic who finds an old whistle on the beach and blows it, and then finds himself tormented by ghostly occurances. Also the original story was actually quite scary, but the new TV version cut out the scary bits. It was okay in places, and it had some good sequences, but just not enough. Mostly it was kind of a disappointment.

I also watched the last in the current series of Peep Show, which was kind of a New Year special.

Today I was watching the 1968 movie Bullitt, directed by Peter Yates. Set in San Francisco, it stars Steve McQueen as police lieutenant Frank Bullitt who is assigned to safeguard a witness from the Mob, on the request of a sleazy politician (played by Robert Vaughn). The movie hasn't really aged well and the pace kind of sags in places, but it does feature Steve McQueen in probably his most iconic role, and a cool jazzy score from Lalo Schifrin (which has probably been played at every wine bar and cocktail party for the past 40 years) and also one of the most famous and influential car chases ever seen on film. All that, and the presence of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Robert Vaughn, pretty much makes it a compendium of sixties cool. It's reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

Tomorrow I am pretty much going to have to be up at half past five in order to get into work early so I can leave as early as possible. It's New Year's Eve so it's likely to be a really busy couple of days. To be honest I am not looking forward to going to work tomorrow at all. I love New Year, but to be honest I feel like I'll be doing well to make it to midnight without passing out.Anyway, Happy New Year!

Back to Reality

Last night was pretty quiet. I watched an interesting documentary called Dear Diary, which was hosted by Richard E. Grant, and was about diaries and diarists. This installment was about whether it was advisible or even possible to truly reflect everything about a person in their diary. It was quite good.

Today I went back to work after the break over the Christmas holidays and pretty much it was as if nothing had changed. One of the main computer systems crashed and so that caused no end of trouble. Mostly there was enough there to keep busy. Someone lent me a book called Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg, which looks pretty interesting. I got home at about six in the evening.

I really hope that this year is really great for me. As I said, last year wasn't a bad one for me, I just wish that it had been better, if that makes sense. I still have my Canada plan, so I hope that that works out this year.

New Year

Well, here we are in 2010. On Thursday, my Dad came along and took me to my parent's house. In the evening we went anlong to the Cineworld cinema to see Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, and based on the famous detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story, which is set in late 19th Century London, involves Sherlock Holmes (played by Robert Downey Jr.) and his friend Dr. Watson (Jude Law) investigating a series of bizarre, apparently supernatural, crimes. It wasn't based on any of the original stories, but it was a pretty fun movie. I've read most of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I was really into them at one time, but they are still really good.

For New Years, we stayed in and watched the movie Adaptation, directed by Spike Jonze, in which successful screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) struggles to adapt the best-selling non-fiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (played by Meryl Streep), while his enthusiastic twin brother Donald (Cage again) has decided to take up screenwriting again with a serial-killer movie. It's a really strange movie, but I really liked it and I think my parent's did as well. At midnight we had a drink and something to eat.

Yesterday was very quiet, although I did watch the new episode of Doctor Who, which was the final episode to feature David Tennant as the tenth Doctor and marked the introduction of Matt Smith as the eleventh Doctor. A new series starts in the Spring.

I hope that everyone does have a great 2010!

The Kindly Ones

Last night I was reading the graphic novel of The Sandman Volume Nine: The Kindly Ones written by Neil Gaiman. Unlike the previous entry in the series this one is a single story. When Lyta Hall's three year old son, Daniel, goes missing she blames Morpheus, "The Sandman", Lord of Dreams, and for revenge she makes contact with The Furies, the Kindly Ones, unstoppable, supernatural agents of vengeance who attack those who spill family blood and will stop at nothing until they have destroyed their target's entire world. As war comes to The Dreaming, Morpheus discovers that there are more sinister forces at work. It's another great story with actually a really epic sweep. There are a lot of sub-plots and things going on in the story, so it is probably best to read the others in the series first. Also, don't read the introduction before you've read the book, because it does contain a major spoiler about the ending.

Today I went along to town and got a couple of DVDs in the sales, including the third season of Blake's 7. By sheer coincidence I met my Mum in town and we had coffee together, so that was nice.

2009 has not been a bad year at all for me, but then it hasn't really been a particularly good year either, it has been kind of bland. The main things that happened this year for me were my holiday to Amsterdam and getting my tooth out. What I would like for next year is for something really good to happen. It would just be great for something to change for the better for once.

Tomorrow, of course, it's New Year's Eve (or Hogmanay as it's called in Scotland), and I probably won't be able to get back on-line for a few days, so I hope that everyone has a really great New Year and all the best for 2010.

Resolutions

Yesterday was pretty quiet. I watched the 1988 film Scrooged on TV. It is a comedy update of the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol, relocated from 1840s London to 1980s New York, and stars Bill Murray as a cynical and cruel TV network president who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve. It is a funny film, and pretty enjoyable, although it would probably have been better screened two weeks ago.

Later on I was listening to a couple of short radio plays written by Harold Pinter. In the first, Landscape, an elderly man and woman reminisce about their past lives while on a visit to a beach, and the second, The Examination was a monologue concerning a battle of wills during an examination or interrogation.

At around lunchtime I went out to get my groceries for the week, but there had been a problem with the supplier for the supermarket and so the shelves were half empty. I did manage to get some stuff though.

Over the past couple of days I've been reading a book called Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook. Davies is the executive producer and head writer of Doctor Who, at least until he steps down next year, and the book is like a year's worth of e-mails and text messages between Davies and Cook, covering the production of a season of Doctor Who.

Of course, 2009 is now two days old, and the main thing that I want to be able to be doing by the end of the year is to be able to make money out of my own writing.

New Year

I went to my parent's house on Wednesday for New Year's Eve (or "Hogmanay" as it's called in Scotland). The new issue of Fortean Times had arrived, and we watched some of the New Year's programmes on TV, and the film Monty Python's Life of Brian, which was really funny. My parents went up to party up the road and I stayed back. They were back in time to watch Grumpy Old New Year (which is a spin off from the shows Grumpy Old Men and Grumpy Old Women in which a selection of middle-aged celebrities complain about things that annoy them).

Yesterday was very quiet, I was watching a show called Doctor Who at the Proms, which was a special concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London of music from Doctor Who.

I went back home this afternoon and got everything sorted out for the new year.

Torchwood

Last night was pretty quiet. I watched a couple of episodes of Torchwood on DVD (I got the second series DVD box-set for my birthday). If you've never seen it, the show is a spin-off of the later Doctor Who series and focuses on a secret group who investigate aliens in Cardiff.

It has been absolutely freezing here and I woke up with a really bad cold. I went out, however, and bought a game called Fallout 3 for my PlayStation 3. It's a kind of action, role-playing game where you have to explore a post-apocalyptic environment and fight various monsters and solve puzzles and so on. It seems to be pretty good so far.

After today I probably won't be on-line for a couple of days due to it being new year. So Happy New Year, and hopefully 2009 will turn out well.

Quiet Weekend

It's been a couple of quiet days recently, but I've spent most of the time playing video games, watching Doctor Who DVDs that I got for my Christmas, and listening to the new radio. There's a station called The Arrow that I found the other day and I really like it because it is non-stop rock music with no DJs or adverts or anything, so it's great to listen to when you just want some music.

Of course it will soon be New Year, I really hope that it will be better than this year, which has been kind of disappointing in many ways so far.