The Bad Lieutenant

Today was another day off from work. A True Blood T-shirt that I had ordered on Monday came in the mail today so that was really good.

Later on in the morning I went up to the cinema to see The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans, directed by Werner Herzog. The movie is set in New Orleans several months after Hurrican Katrina and tells the story of a police lieutenant (played by Nicolas Cage) who suffers from severe back pain after saving a prisoner from drowning. The lieutenant now has a severe drug problem and is a very reckless gambling addict, resulting in him owing the bookies thousands of dollars. Adding to his problems is the brutal murder of an entire family of five in an apparently gang related execution, a teenage witness that he has to guard, and finding someone to look after his dad's dog. The film is neither a sequel to nor a remake of the controversial 1992 Abel Ferrara film Bad Lieutenant, which starred Harvey Keitel. This one is a good movie and often darkly humerous with Nicolas Cage doing one of his best, and most unhinged performance in the title role. The film is possibly one of Herzog's most mainstream and accessible films, although it does have plenty of his unique touches, such as filming the investigation into a car crash from the point of view of an alligator. Ferrara himself was apparently furious about the idea of the film saying about the film-makers: "I wish these people die in Hell... I hope they're all in the same streetcar and it blows up." Herzog claimed that he had no idea who Ferrara is and had never seen any of his films. After the premiere Herzog said that he would like to meet Ferrara saying: "I have a feeling that if we met and talked, over a bottle of whiskey, I should add, I think we could straighten everything out." Personally I thought that both of the movies were good in their own ways. They are completely different.

On my way back i stopped off and bought a few posters for home and also the DVD of Rashomon, which should be really good.

I'm back to work tomorrow for a day and then it's the weekend.

A Delivery

I watched the rest of Twin Peaks last night and this afternoon. It was really good, but it all ends on a cliffhanger that was never resolved, due to the fact that a planned third season was never made. It would be really great if they did another season of the show or another movie to conclude it, but in a way it kind of works leaving it open.

This morning a Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey tee-shirt which I ordered on Monday arrived, so that was good.

No Lunch Today

Last night was really quiet. I was mostly flicking through the TV channels. I watched an episode of a comedy series The IT Crowd, and was interested to see one of the characters wearing a T-shirt from the same website where I ordered mine from the other day. Actually, speaking of those T-shirts, I just had a phone call from my mum to let me know that they arrived today, so that's very quick. I'm impressed with that. I get packages sent to my parent's house because there's usually someone in, and there si less chance of it being mis-delivered. As long as I let my parents know, they don't mind.

Today I got out of bed later than I had intended so I had to hurry out without any breakfast. I also realised later on that I had forgotten to pack in my sandwiches for lunch, so I was pretty hungry all day, just having a couple of chocolate bars and a packet of crisps. I had some fish and chips on my way home.

Also I have two weeks of holiday to take off before the end of March, so I'm going to try and get a couple of weeks off. If I don't, I'd just lose the time.

Weird Tales

Last night I was looking at a website which had some really interesting movie-themed T-shirts, but the twist is that instead of featuring the movie's title or logo it features logos and details of the fictional corporations, brands, or places from the movie. I bought a couple, one promoting emigration to the "Off-World Colonies" (inspired by Blade Runner) and one for "Stovington Academy" (inspired by The Shining). In fact the Stovington Academy one is based on a T-shirt that Jack Nicholson wears in the film. They're kind of different and fun.

I was also listening to the first episode of an interesting radio show called Weird Tales, a series of original radio dramas inspired by the world of H.P. Lovecraft's stories. The first one involved two sisters who return as adults to the strange seaside resort where they used to go on holiday as children, only to discover that something has been waiting there for them for a long time. I also watched an episode of the original series of The Twilight Zone called "Spur of the Moment", written by Richard Matheson, which concerned a young woman who is haunted by a nightmarish figure of a woman in black on a horse. At first the young woman is convinced that the vision wants to kill her, but later begins to wonder if it might have been a warning. It was quite a downbeat episode with some pretty scary moments in it.

It was another fairly quiet day at work, and pretty depressing again. I was really glad to get away this afternoon. I just went straight home and had a microwaved spaghetti carbonara meal for dinner.

A Half Day

I had a nice time with Michele yesterday evening. We met at a bar called Le Monde on george Street, which we went to when we met up last week. We were there for about two hours, before going our seperate ways.

I decided to take a half day from work today, not for any real reason, but just because I felt like it. I went to the New Yorker bar for my lunch and had a pepperoni and cheese panini, which was nice, served with nachos and salad. After that I went out and got a few T-shirts in the sales. I got a Clockwork Orange one, a Batman one and a shirt reading "Stay Classy, San Diego" (from the film Anchorman). Then I went down and bought a book as a present for my Dad's birthday next week.

I'm going out tonight with Michele and my friends Jackie and Alan, so that should be fun.