Comics Reviewed

Last night was pretty quiet. I was reading some more of my new comic-books (which are reviewed over at Permanently Weird) and watching TV. I got into work for shortly after seven. There was a baguette run today and I had a panini with roast beef, crispy bacon, brie, mozarella, jalapeno peppers, onion and English mustard. I left work shortly after one and went into the city centre. I got a birthday card for my brother along with a couple of scented candles for home, and then I went along and bought a book called The Rough Guide to the Universe by John Scalzi for my brother's birthday present. On my way home I stopped for some groceries for the next week.

The Seventh Seal

Last night I watched the 1957 Swedish film The Seventh Seal, directed by Ingmar Bergman, on TV. The film is set in medieval Sweden ravaged by the Black Death (bubonic plague) and concerns a knight, Antonius Block (played by Max von Sydow), and his cynical squire (Gunnar Bjornstrand) who have just returned home from the Crusades. On the shore Block meets Death (Bength Ekerot) who tells him that his time is up. However Block, who has become disillusioned following his experiences and is tormented by religious doubts, does not want to die until he has found some kind of meaning to life and so he challenges Death to a game of Chess while he searches for answers to his questions. It's a very powerful film and one of the classics of world cinema. It's reviewed over at Permanently Weird. Today I got in to work at around half past eight and was there for six hours. There was a baguette run today and I had a panini with roast beef, cajun chicken, brie, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers, English mustard and onion. After work I went up to the comic book store and got issues of Spawn, Batman and Robin, Northlanders, Fables Are Forever, Hellboy, The Unwritten, Red Robin, Daken: Dark Wolverine, Batman: Arkham and The Li'l Depressed Boy (which is a really good series, very similar to the Scott Pilgrim comics). I got home at around four.

Ricky Gervais Show

Last night I was watching an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show. Basically Ricky Gervais and his friends Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington did an internet podcast which have now been turned into an animated series. It pretty much consists of Karl Pilkington saying various ridiculous things while Gervais laughs at him. In this one they were talking about whether seals evolved from crossbreeding fish and dogs. I also watched a double bill of The Big Bang Theory.

There was a baguette run at work today and I got a white bread panini with roast beef, onions, jalapeno peppers, brie, savoury cheese, English mustard and sliced egg. I took a half day from work today and went up to the comic book store. I got Hellblazer issue 277, Batman: Streets of Gotham issue 21, Batman: The Dark Knight issue 2, Batman Incorporated issue 4, The New York Five issue 3, Fables issue 103, Spawn issue 205, Ultimate Spider-Man issue 156, Silver Surfer issue 2, Dracula: The Company of Monsters issue 8, Neonomicon issue 4 and Hellraiser issue 1. The Hellraiser comic was co-written by Clive Barker and marks the first time he has been directly involved with the franchise since the first Hellraiser movie in 1987.

I went for a drink afterwards. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in reading weekly comic book reviews on my Permanently Weird site? Let me know if it's something you'd be interested in reading about.

Quatermass Baguettes

Last night I watched an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD. This epsiode featured a dangerous gang of criminals who are so paranoid about getting caught that their plans never actually involve them doing anything illegal (their elaborate jewellery store heist is basically just one of them buying a watch, followed by a complicated getaway).

I got up at half past five this morning and was in work shortly after seven. There was a baguette run today. I had a white bread panini with roast beef, jalapeno peppers, savoury cheese, brie, sliced egg and English mustard. The resulting sandwich might have looked like something from The Quatermass Experiment but it did actually taste nice.

I took a half day and left shortly after eleven. I went out to the comic-book store and got Batman issue 708, Xombi issue 1, Northlanders issue 38 and DMZ issue 62. After that I went up to the stationary store and got some sketching pencils, erasers, pencil sharpener and a marker pen. I got my groceries for next week on my way home.

Writing and Comedy

I was reading the Akira graphic novels last night and I have been really enjoying it so far. The storyline is a lot more coherent than the movie (apparently Katsuhiro Otomo who wrote and drew the comic and also wrote and directed the film said in an interview that he assumed that anyone who would watch the movie would already be familiar with the comics, and that is why there is a lot that never gets explained in the film).

I did manage to do some writing as well last night so that was good, and I watched an epsidoe of Monty Python's Flying Circus which featured an organisation dedicated to confusing cats, and an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show.

It was another quiet and dull day at work. There was a baguette run today and I had a panini with roast beef, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers and English mustard.

Week Off

Last night was pretty quiet. I was watching a few TV comedy shows, and I managed to get to bed before one o'clock in the morning, which for me is really, really early! I was up at half past five and headed off to work, arriving at about quarter past seven. There was a baguette run today and I ordered a white bread panini with roast beef, brie, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers and English mustard. It was really nice. I was kind of rushing to get everything done before having my week off work. I didn't manage to get everything finished but I did get as much as possible done.

I went up to the comic-book store after work and got Wolverine: The Best There Is issues 1 to 4, Silver Surfer issue 1, X-Men issue 8, Freedom Fighters issue 7, Amazing Spider-Man issue 651, Sweet Tooth issue 19 and House of Mystery issue 35 (I really like that comic-book, it's set in a house in another dimension where people end up trapped and they pay for their food and drink by telling stories in the bar, and so in each issue alongside the main story there is always a really short self-contained story). On my way home I stopped off for a drink

Comics and Bills

Last night was pretty quiet. I was watching repeats of comedy shows on TV and doing a bit of reading.

I was up at half past five in the morning today and got into work at five to seven. It was a pretty quiet day although there weren't many people in and most people seemed slightly hyper due to the fact that it was Friday. We had some blueberry muffins brought in which were really nice and there was a baguette run. I had a panini with roast beef, English mustard, brie, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers and onions. It was a really nice sandwich.

I left work at one today and went up to the comic-book store, where I got a pretty big haul this week: Hellblazer issue 276, Night of the Living Dead issue 3, Memoir issue 2, Fables issue 102, Daredevil Reborn issue 2, Superman and Batman issue 81, Wolverine issue 5.1, Wolverine issue 1000, X-Men: Legacy issue 244, The Suicide Forest issue 3, Let Me In: Crossroads issue 3, DMZ issue 62 and Batman issue 707. So, yeah, it looks like a good set.

There was an electricity bill waiting for me when I got home, which was slightly more than I had been expecting, but not by too much. Bills always seem to come at the wrong time, but then there isn't really a right time for bills.

This evening I'm off to see Carrie at the movies with the Horror Group, so that should be fun. This is only the second time I've been out with them, but so far it has been really good.

I've been thinking about my holdiay for this year. I had been thinking of taking few days in Amsterdam next month, but I haven't got round to booking it, and I'm not sure if I'm really all that hot to go. I've been to Amsterdam before and really liked it, but I feel like waiting and maybe doing something like I did last year when I was travelling around the US and Canada, but going to different places. Anyway, if everything works out I shoud be doing a lot of travelling this year.

Superhero Valentine's Cards

Last night was pretty quiet yet again. I was watching an episode of a show called How TV Ruined Your Life which involves writer and presenter Charlie Brooker (who is known for writing very savage and very funny reviews and essays on TV and other subjects) complaining about how love is portrayed on TV. It was a very funny show.

Today was another dull day at work. There was a baguette run this morning and I got a panini with roast beef, brie, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers and English mustard, which was really nice.

I also saw a thing on the internet about some frankly bizarre superhero themed Valentine's Day cards. I suppose nothing says "I love you" like comparing your beloved to a psychotic mass-mudering clown, or The Penguin.

A Not-So-Early Start

I actually didn't manage to get up at five o'clock this morning like I had intended and instead woke up at around half past six and almost panicked. I got straight in the shower, dressed grabbed my bag and headed out for work as fast as I could, and ended up arrivng at twenty past seven (and it's about a half hour walk there).

There was a baguette run this morning and I had roast beef, brie, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers, onions and English mustard. It was nice. I was only working a six hour day so after work I went up to the comic book store and got my weekly comics haul: Northlanders issue 37, Batman and Robin issue 20, Spawn issue 202, X-Men issue 7, Spider-Man issue 153, Death of Spider-Man issue 1, Daredevil: Reborn issue 1 and Fables Are Forever issue 1.

This evening I am going out with the Vampire/Zombie/Horror Group to the movies. We'll be seeing the movie The Faculty, so hopefully it should be good.

Early Rise

Last night I wrote a bit more of the Lonely Cities comic. I got up at about five o'clock this morning and was in work for seven. There was a baguette run today. I ordered a panini with honey chilli chicken, onions, barbeque sauce, jalapeno peppers and savoury cheese. It wasn't bad but for some reason they had put sweetcorn in it, which I really don't like it, but the rest of the flavours managed to drown them out.

I left work at about one. While I was waiting for the bus some random drunk guy told me that I looked like a serial killer. I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. I had never seen this guy before in my life.

I went up to the comic book store and bought Batman issue 706, The Amazing Spider-Man issue 651, King City issue 12, Spawn issue 200, DMZ issue 61, Batman: Streets of Gotham issue 19 and Memoir issue 1. Afterwards I went and had a couple of drinks.

The Wrestler

Last night I did start working on a comic-book. So far it's called Lonely Cities. It opens with someone arriving in a strange town looking for something that they've lost, but they don't really know what it is. The feeling I'm kind of going for in it is that feeling you get when it's 3AM and you're completely alone in a strange part of a strange city and you can't find your way home again.

I watched the 2008 movie The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky. The movie stars Mickey Rourke as a one-time professional wrestler who was at the top of his career twenty years earlier but is now pretty much forgotten and spends much of his time wrestling at the weekend on the independent circuit trying to recapture his glory days. It also stars Marisa Tomei as the stripper with whom he strikes up a tentative relationship, and Evan Rachel Wood as his estranged daughter. It was a really good movie. It's reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

This morning someone came to my door at quarter to eight while I was having my breakfast (or at least a cup of coffee, I never seem to have time for a proper breakfast). It turned out it was the book that I ordered on Friday. The book is EmiTown by Emi Lenox. It's described as a "Sketch Diary", and is pretty much an autobiographical comic-book, along the lines of American Splendor.

It was another fairly dull day at work, but there was a baguette run that was good. I had cajun chicken, onions, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers and chilli sauce. It was really nice.I was listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter songs on my iPod on my way to and from work this morning (I walk, so if takes about twenty five minutes each way).

Early to Work

Last night I spent most of the time reading. This morning I was up at five in the morning and got into work around seven. There was a baguette run at work and I got a panini with cajun chicken, savoury cheese, onions, chilli sauce and jalapeno peppers. I was only working for six hours today so I left at about one and went up to the comic book store. I bought Batman and Robin issue 19, Dracula: Company of Monsters issue 5, Freedom Fighters issue 5, iZombie issue 9, Let Me In: Crossroads issue 2, The Walking Dead issue 81 and House of Mystery issue 33, along with the graphic novels John Constantine, Hellblazer: Original Sins by Jamie Delano, John Ridgway and Alfredo Alcala and John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits by Garth Ennis and William Simpson (incidentally the Dangerous Habits storyline was one of the main basis for the Hellblazer movie version, Constantine). I went out for a few drinks afterwards.

The Hidden Thing

Last night I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on DVD. I saw the movie last year when it was first out, and I really liked it a lot. The movie was directed by Edgar Wright and based on a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley. Set in Toronto, the film tells the story of 22 year old Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera) who plays in a garage band and is dating 17 year old Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). However,he immediantely becomes infatuated with mysterious American delivery girl Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but in order to date her he must defeat her seven evil exes. The movie is really stylised with endless references to comic books and video games and so on. I think it's a great movie, with an awesome soundtrack. It's actually one of my favourite movies.

After the movie I watched an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called "The Hidden Thing", about a man who struggles to remember key details after he witnesses his girlfirend being killed by a hit and run driver.

I was up at five o'clock this morning and in work for seven. The place was absolutely snowed under at work, so it was a really busy day. There was a baguette run though and I had a panini with roast beef, brie, jalapeno peppers and English mustard on it. I left work at three.

Interview with the Vampire

Last night I was watching the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, directed by Neil Jordan and based on the 1976 novel by Anne Rice. The movie opens in modern day San Francisco and involves a vampire (Brad Pitt) telling his story from 1790s Louisiana to the present day, to an interviewer (Christian Slater). The movie also stars Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas and Kirsten Dunst. Famously Anne Rice was very unhappy with the casting of Tom Cruise as her vampire Lestat (who is the lead character of The Vampire Chronicles series). Her choice was Julian Sands, but the studio wanted a bigger star. However when she saw the film she changed her mind and was full of praise for Cruise's performance. River Phoenix was originally cast as the interviewer but died four weeks before shooting began. Christian Slater donated his entire fee for the film to Phoenix's favourite charities. It is a really good movie, and reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

It was a pretty dull day at work today. There was a baguette run this morning. I had a panini with roast beef, brie, jalapeno peppers and English mustard which was really nice.