Easter Decorations

Last night was pretty quiet. I stayed in and watched TV and read some of my books. Today I went along to my parent's house for lunch. We had spicy chicken fajitas for lunch, and in the afternoon I went out with my Mum and we got a small branch, which we do every year, because my Mum likes to decorate them for Easter. I'm listening to a radio play version of Torchwood (a spin-off from Doctor Who about a group in Cardiff fighting off alien threats) in this episode they are investigating a group in India who are using alien technology to live forever in "one perfect day" (140 years ago). It bears a passing similarity to an issue of The Sandman comic. It's pretty good though, and works well on te radio. It's the second episode of The Walking Dead on TV tonight, so I'll be watching that.

Torchwood Finale

Last night was the fifth and final installment of the third season of Torchwood. It was really good, if really dark. I do hope that there is going to be a fourth season. Although this one was very successful. Although it is really good to see science-fiction in a prime time slot on a major, mainstream channel.

Today has so far been a pretty quiet day. The only time I have been out was to get my groceries for the coming week. Mostly, however I've been at home, reading.

The weather has been good though, and hopefully it will stay good for the rest of the weekend.

Leaving Early

Last night was a pretty powerful episode of Torchwood. The story concludes tonight, and I'm really looking forward to it. It was also a really good episode of Psychoville which, instead of dealing with the usual wide range of bizarre characters, this time focussed entirely on the mother and son serial killer team in an episode which was pretty much entirely a homage/parody of Alfred Hitchock's film Rope. The comedy highlight was where the killers put on their "cheering up tape", which is an upbeat aerobics tape to which they do a terrible dance routine.

Today was a fairly quiet day at work, and I left early, around ten to four. I went out and got the book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood by David Simon and Ed Burns. I also got a book called The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which only cost £2. All that, and I got the latest issue of Empire magazine. I know I should be saving for the Canada move, but I figured a couple of books wouldn't do any harm. I have actually spent much less than usual in the past couple of months.

I know I have to do something about actually moving to Canada. Like I said there is quite an overwhelming amount of stuff to do before I go. What I think I'll do over the weekend is make a list of all the stuff I can think of that I would need to do, and then try to break it down into a series of weekly action plans.

Nearly the Weekend

The third episode of Torchwood was really good and ended on a great cliffhanger. It was also the last of this week's batch of episodes of The Wire. There are only three more episodes of season three to go now and the action is definitely hotting up.

At ethe weekend, I might buy the book The Corner by David Simon (creator of The Wire). I know I should be saving to move to Canada, but I have a ticket to see David Simon at the Book Festival and so I could get the book signed.

It was another really quiet day at work today. I left work about half an hour later than I had planned, but I'll probably leave early tomorrow.

Torchwood

Last night I was watching the second episode of the new series of Torchwood. It was a really good one. The story involves every child on Earth suddenly stopping still and delivering strange messages, apparently foretelling the arrival of aliens to Earth. The creepy children reminded me a bit of that John Wyndham story The Midwich Cuckoos, in which the entire population of an English village suddenly fall asleep all at once one afternoon. When they all wake up, it turns out that every woman of child-bearing age is pregnant, and they give birth to apparently alien children with devastating psychic powers.

Later on I was watching the latest episode of The Wire. It's getting towards the end of the third season. I always find it amazing how that show mananges to tell one story over thirteen hour long episodes without it ever feeling stretched or artificial. It must take a lot of working out.

It was another quiet day at work today. The new work organisation that a number of the bosses had worked out yesterday lasted about three hours before it was abandoned. Also the work computer systems had to be shut down for half an hour this afternoon, which wasn't too bad, because I just read for half an hour.

At the moment I'm listening to the third and last of the Torchwood radio plays from last week, which I downloaded. They have been really good.

I had an idea for a TV show, but I might wait until I'm settled down in Canada before I write it. I'm still planning it and trying to work things ou about the move. Although, as I said earlier, it's easier said than done, it should still be possible.

The Willows

Last night I was watching the first episode of the new series of Torchwood. This season, the show's third, is much shorter than usual, running just five episodes being shown every weekday for a week. It's all one story as well. Torchwood is a spin-off from the recent Doctor Who series, about a secret quasi-government agency based in Cardiff who are there to fight alien threats to Earth. The show had kind of a shaky start, but as it went along it got much better as it went along. Judging by the first episode, this third season is going to be really good. Following that I watched another episode of The Wire, which was really good.

Later on I was listening to a reading of The Willows by Algernon Blackwood on the radio. It's a good story from 1907 about two tourists holidaying down the Danube river when they find themselves attacked by monsters from another dimension.

It was another quiet day at work, although they seem to be getting themselves in a real mess with trying to organise the work and the different systems, which is making life annoying for everyone else.

I got home at about quarter past six, and at the moment I'm listening to a download of one of three Torchwood radio plays from last week. They are really good, and they work very well on radio.

The Martians and Us

Last night my internet connection was down for most of the evening (which was why I didn't post yesterday). I watched a DVD of a Doctor Who story called "The Five Doctors", which was a twentieth anniversary special from 1983. Later on I saw an episode of a documentary show called The Martians and Us, a history of British science-fiction. This episode involved the theory of evolution as seen through the works of writers such as HG Wells, John Wyndham, Olaf Stapleton and Arthur C. Clarke as well as the Daleks from Doctor Who.

It was another quiet and dull day at work. I had to go to an hour long lecture on new updates to bankruptcy laws. At work I was reading a book called Stranger Music by Leonard Cohen. It's a collection of his poetry and song lyrics. I got home at around six o'clock.

The streets of the city are a complete mess at the moment due to some industrial dispute about collecting the rubbish.

At the moment I'm listening to the Torchwood radio plays from last week. The show is back on TV today.

I'm still working on my plans to move over to Canada. There is so much to arrange and work out that it is all very over-whelming but I am committed to the idea and the more I think about it, the more promising it seems.

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.

Zodiac

Last night I was watching a film on TV called Zodiac, directed by David Fincher. It's based on the true-life story of the notorious "Zodiac Killer" (a serial-killer who sent taunting notes, complete with codes and ciphers to police and newspapers). The film focuses less on the killings themselves and more on the impact of three people who become obsessed with the killings: An alcoholic newspaper reporter (Robert Downey, Jr.) who is covering the killer, a cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal) who becomes completely consumed with solving the case, and the police detective (Mark Ruffalo) in charge of the investigation. It was a good film and quite complex.

Today was fairly quiet. I went out this morning to get my groceries for the week and then spent the afternoon watching the final four episodes of the first season of Torchwood on DVD. This evening of course I was watching the season finale of Doctor Who, which I did think was quite emotional.

End of the Week

I was watching another couple of episodes of Torchwood on DVD last night. Last night's episodes were "They Keep Killing Suzie" and "Random Shoes". I'll have to get the second season set at some point. They're only doing five episodes of Torchwood next year, broadcast over the course of one week. Hopefully, at some point, they will do another full length season.

It was another quiet day at work, as it always is on Friday. On my way in I bought the latest copy of Radio Times. My friend Owen in the office lent me a DVD of The Sarah Jane Adventures (which is another Doctor Who spin-off show), which I haven't seen before. I stayed in work about half an hour later than I had intended, which wasn't too bad because at least it meant that I managed to make up some time.

Countrycide

Last night I was watching another couple of episodes of Torchwood on DVD. The episodes that I saw were "Countrycide", in which the team investigate a village full of murderous cannibals in the Welsh country, and "Greeks Bearing Gifts", in which Tosh (Naoko Mori) is given an alien pendant that allows her to hear people's thoughts. They were a good couple of episodes.

Work was really quiet today. There was barely anyone in today for some reason. There were only about four people (out of thirty-eight) still there by five. I left around half past five and went down to Victoria bar to meet my Australian friend Alice. We were there for a couple of hours, so that was nice.

Yet Another Workday

I was watching another few episodes of Torchwood on DVD last night. Today was another fairly dull day at work. This afternoon we had to go to one of the annual talks that the overrall boss of the organisation gives. It's supposed to give an overview of the previous year and detail their plans for the future, whereas in reality it's just half an hour of sitting there being bored. It was pretty warm today but very muggy. I tend to get mild hayfever, and today my nose was just streaming all day (I know that's probably too much information).

After work I went along with my friend Joe to the New Yorker bar and had a couple of pints of beer. Joe's girlfriend, Heather, joined us after about an hour.

I stopped off on my way back to get some milk, and I got back in shortly before eight.

Another Week Begins

Last night was pretty quiet. I watched the first couple of episodes from the Torchwood DVD set that I got yesterday. I'd seen them before when they first aired, of course, but it was fun.

I got into work at around twenty past nine this morning. It was another fairly quiet day at work, more or less the same as ever. There didn't seem to be many people in the office at all today. I suppose it's really the holiday season now. I left the office at around half past five and headed home.

The Kreutzer Sonata

I had a pretty quiet morning today, but in the afternoon I headed out to the city centre and bought the season one DVD box-set of Torchwood in the sales.

After waiting about half an hour for a bus, I went on up to the Cineworld cinema to meet my friend Malcolm, where we went to a Film Festival screening of the film The Kreutzer Sonata, directed by Bernard Rose and based on a novel by Leo Tolstoy, which was itself inspired by a Beethoven sonata (the Violin Sonata in A Major for piano and violin, Op. 47). In present day Los Angeles, wealthy Edgar (played by Danny Huston) marries a young pianist (Elisabeth Rohm) after an intense affair, however, as she is rehearsing a benefit performance of "The Kreutzer Sonata" with a young violinist (Matthew Yang King), Edgar becomes convinced she is having an affair and becomes consumed with obsessive jealousy. The film is shot on digital video with a non-linear structure. It was a good film but very, very dark and very explicit. It is a film that may possibly put you off having sex for the rest of your life!

It's the last day of the Film Festival today and the film was screening as part of the "Best of the Fest" day where they show the most popular films for the Festival. After the film Malcolm and I had a quick drink in the bar before going our seperate ways.

Quiet Weekend

Last night I was watching the final epsiode of the second series of Torchwood last night. It was a pretty explosive finale with a few surprises. It'll be interesting to see how the show carries on from there. I hope that there will be a third season, because I certainly thought that the second one was better than the first.

Today has been fairly quiet. I went along to my parent's house for lunch as usual so that was nice. We had a beef casserole in red wine sauce.

A Friday Off

Last night I was watching a couple of TV shows over the On Demand service. I saw That Mitchell and Webb Look, which I thought was funny, and Wednesday's episode of Torchwood, which was pretty good about ghosts from an old piece of film coming to life to steal people's life-force.

I was off work today, which was fun. It meant I managed to have a nice lie in bed and listen to the radio. I went out to the shops and bought a bunch of DVDs in the sales. I bought the first three seasons of Peep Show, which is a very funny TV show about a couple of complete losers who share a flat, the twist being that slmost the whole show is filmed from the point of view of the characters and the inner thoughts of the two main characters are described in voice over. I also got the second season of Extras, which was another really funny series, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. When I got home, however, and put one of the Peep Show DVDs on, it didn't work, so I'll try and get that replaced tomorrow.

There was a beetle or something climbing up a wall in my kitchen. I managed to get rid of it, with a bit of difficulty, because I had to climb over some cabinets.

Torchwood

I was watching the latest episode of Torchwood last night. I think that this season has been better than the first one, and certainly this episode was really enjoyable.

Work was pretty much the same as usual. I ended up staying much longer than I had intended too, with the result that I was late to my evening class (although the bright side is that I have built up a lot of time at work recently which means that tomorrow I should be able to leave a bit early).

The class was good this week. We were mostly concentrating on dialogue. The course finishes next week. If things had been running to schedule this would have been the last class in the course, but the tutor had to cancel a class because she was ill, and so they added on an extra week at the end. It's a pity really because it's been a really good class.

After the class had finished I went and had my usual cup of mocha coffee at Beanscene, where I read some of the book that I had brought with me. The book was The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath by Ronald Hayman. I have read it before and I really liked it. I hadn'r much to eat during the day so i was really hungry on my way home. I bought a fish supper, which was quite nice, but it was filling, at least.

I'm watching a 1991 episode of Red Dwarf called "Dimension Jump", in which a complete loser meets his counterpart from another dimension who, to his horror, is a smart, heroic, popular test-pilot. The idea is that there are an infinite number of parallel universe in which every alternative is played out. It's an interesting idea actually.

On the way home I came up with a little riddle:
I am the seed of all life
I am the source
of all strife.

There is no lock
There is no key
That you can use
To open me.

I am strong
But have no bone
I am just a rolling stone

What am I?