Back to Work

Yesterday afternoon I was watching a DVD of the Doctor Who story "The Daleks" from 1964. It was the second Doctor Who story broadcast and the first to feature the Daleks. It wasn't a bad story, even if the special effects have naturally aged quite badly. It's also interesting in the fact that the Doctor (William Hartnell) was a much more ambiguous character in the early stories, in this one for example he deliberately sabotages the TARDIS so he can investigate the alien city where they encounter the Daleks, who became an instant hit with the viewers in the sixties (there was even a rubbish pop song from a group called the Go-Gos called "I Want to Spend My Christmas With a Dalek").

I also finished reading my book for the next book group meeting: Death of a Murderer by Rupert Thomson. The novel is set in November 2002 where PC Billy Tyler is assigned to spend a twelve hour night shift in a hospital morgue to guard the body of one of Britain's most notorious killers. Sitting alone in the dead of night he starts reflecting on his past and present and realtionships with his family and friends. He even imagines himself having conversations with the killer's ghost. It's a book I really didn't think I was going to like, but it was pretty good. Not much really happens in it, but it is still quite disturbing. It is very stylish and well-written.

I went back to work today after my four day Easter break. There was literally no work around at all, so we just had to make do with what came by. Most people ended up leaving early. I spent a bit of time filling out the form for the annual performance review, so that's another thing to worry about. I left at around five and renewed my bus pass. On my way home I bought the latest copy of Total Film magazine.

This evening I've got to go and finish off my story for the evening class tomorrow. This'll be the last class. Which is a pity because it has been really good.

Book Group

I ran out of bread last night and so this morning I had to buy a ready-made sandwich on my way into work, along with today's copy of The Independent for the Great Poets booklet which today discussed the life and work of John Milton.

Work was more or less the same as usual, and was very quiet. After work I went down to the Victoria Bar for the meeting of my book group. I haven't been for a few months, but I went along today and it was good. This month's book under discussion was Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and everyone loved it. It went down really, really well. There were about five other people there, aside from me and I was the only man. We left at around half past ten, and I walked home.

Rebecca is a good book. It was published in 1938 and concerns a young woman who works as a paid companion for this wealthy older woman, and while the two are on holiday in Monte Carlo the young woman (who is never named in the book) meets the mysterious Maxim de Winter who owns the large mansion of Manderlay in England. After a whirlwind courtship the young woman marries Maxim and moves with him to Manderlay where she meets the sinister servant Mrs. Danvers and starts to learn more about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Maxim's first wife, Rebecca. The book is kind of slow to start for the first few chapters, when it's mroe like a romance novel, but when the mystery and sinister elements start to take hold it does become quite gripping. It was made into a very good film by Alfred Hitchcock.

I wrote my story for tomorrow's evening class last night. This class is the one where I'll have my turn at the one to one tuition. Should be interesting.

Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted

Last night I was listening to a radio show called William Burroughs: Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted, presented by the musician Laurie Anderson, about the Beat author William Burroughs. It was very good actually, featuring recordings of Burroughs along with appropriately spaced-out music. It was actually very dream-like.

Another day at work and another day when one of the key computer systems came down. I wasn't able to do anything for about three hours this afternoon, which made it extremely tedious. After work I went to my evening class which went well. My story got a good reaction and the lecturer said that I had a "beautiful imagination", and that my work was extremely visual. I think it's the way my mind works, I tend to try to visualise things, which I think is part of the reason why I have always been attracted to reading, writing and movies. It may also explain why I have never been any good at maths, because I can't really visualise it. I enjoyed writing the story, but due to the limitation on the length, I wasn't able to put in everything that I wanted to, and I think it suffers from that. I am planning to expand it at some time though and I might write some more stories set in that world. For next week we have a choice of writing either a "journey story", a "suspense story", a "courtroom story" or a "moral story". I believe that I will go for suspense. Also next week I have my one-to-one tutorial with the tutor, so I'm more than a little nervous about that. No-one likes being told they're a stupid, talentless half-wit. But hopefully she wont tell me that.

I had my coffee at Beanscene as usual, and drank it while reading my latest book for the book group meeting on Tuesday (this month's book is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier), but someone hadn't cleaned the table off properly and the back of my nice, new book got messed up, which I was less that pleased about.

I got home and watched an episode of Red Dwarf, which I must have seen about twenty times before. Speaking of writing, a show called Worlds of Fantasy is on TV tonight. This week it's about "The Epic Imagination" about the works of JRR Tolkien and Mervyn Peake, which should be well worth watching.

Busy Morning

Last night I was watching a 1986 film called Caravaggio, directed by Derek Jarman. The film opens in 1610, with the famed Italian painter Michaelangelo Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) on his death bed, and looking back over his short but eventful life. His life is depicted in a series of episodes which are lit and shot in a way that they match Caravaggio's paintings. Most of the film is concerned with the love triangle between Caravaggio, his muse (Tilda Swinton) and model (Sean Bean). This is probably Derek Jarman's most accessible and enjoyable film. He started out as a painter himself and directs with great feel for the art work. A curious aspect of the film is the deliberate inclusion of anachronistic details, such as electric lighting, pocket calculators and modern dress.

This morning I had a letter arrive that told me that I am to appear in court at the end of next month as a prosecution witness. It must be due to my robbery a few months ago. I am actually really nervous, but hopefully that will be the end of it all.

I went out to the shops today, and tried to renew my bus pass, but my bank card is still not working so I went to the bank and it turned out that it could be fixed very easily, but they still gave me the wrong instructions. Luckily I was able to figure it out for myself, and I think that's it working now. I bought some DVDs in the sales: Goldfinger, Forbidden Planet, Blade Runner: The Final Cut and Doctor Who: The Mind Robber. I also went and bought the book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier which is the next book group book. I've never read it before but I liked the Alfred Hitchcock film of it. I also picked up another Daphne du Maurier book called Don't Look Now and Other Stories. Don't Look Now was turned into a very scary film by Nicolas Roeg. I also got a book called The Book of General Ignorance as a Mother's Day present. It's based on TV series called Q.I. which I know my mum loves.

Doctor Who and the Daleks

Last night I more or less passed out on my bed while writing my diary. I woke up with the lights on and my book and pen on the pillow beside me. I was feeling slightly hungover and terrified of the thought of how I might have hideously embarrased myself last night.

I went out into Princes Street and renewed my bus pass for four weeks, and once again looked for the book for this month's book group (this month's book is Northern Light by Philip Pullman, published as The Golden Compass in the USA) but again I couldn't find it, as long as I manage to get a copy and read it by the 28th of this month.

I was feeling depressed and decided to treat myself a bit by getting some DVDs in the sales. I bought a set called Doctor Who: The Beginnings, which contains the first three Doctor Who stories from 1963 and 1964: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks and The Edge of Destruction. I also got a DVD of Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks from 1988. That was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw when I was nine years old. Although I remember watching bits and pieces of the show before then. It's still one of my personal favourite stories. I can still remember my brother and I doing Dalek impressions, basically putting a bucket over the head and shuffling around, with the arms stretched out and screeching "ex-ter-mi-nate!" I've always preferred the older series to the newer one, which is still very good. I liked that the older stories were longer, and invariably split into several episodes, the stories in the new series often seem kind of rushed.

Touching From a Distance

Today was rather busy. I headed out into Princes Street and bought The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, which is the next book under discussion at the Book Group. It was in a three for two offer, so I also got The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Kingdom Come by J. G. Ballard. It was really good actually, because the other two books were ones that I would certainly have wanted to get anyway, especially the Ballard book, because I really like J. G. Ballard's work. I also got some postcards. On the way home I bought my groceries for the week.

When I got in I had a quick Southern Chicken flavoured Pot Noodle for my lunch before heading out again. I went out to the Cineworld cinema and saw Halloween, directed by Rob Zombie. It's a remake of the famous 1978 John Carpenter film. In the film, ten year old Michael Myers kills most of his family on Halloween, but seventeen years later he makes a violent escape from the institution he had been incarcerated in. His psychiatrist (played by Malcolm McDowell) believes he has headed home to finish what he started. The original film was notable for the restraint it showed with it's depiction of violence. The remake dispenses with any restraint. The scenes of Michael Myers as a child made a brief prologie to the original, whereas this spends almost the entire first half of the film on the young Myers. Malcolm McDowell piles on the ham in the role that Donald Pleasance had in the original. It's not too bad, but fans of the original will probably be disappointed.

When the film finished I made a bee-line for the box office and got a ticket for the film Control, directed by Anton Corbjin. The film tells the true-life story of Ian Curtis, lead singer and lyricist for the band Joy Division. The film opens in 1973 in Macclesfield, England, where a teenage Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) finds escape from his dull life on a housing estate by listening to David Bowie records. A couple of years later he has married his girlfriend Deborah (Samatha Morton) and works at the local Jobcentre. He also join local band Warsaw as a vocalist. Shortly afterwards Warsaw are renamed Joy Division and started to have some success, while Curtis has a baby daughter. However, Curtis is suffering from very badly-treated epilepsy, which coupled with his guilt over falling in love with a young Belgian fan, starts to tear his world apart. This was the debut from Anton Corbjin who made his name as a photographer and also directed the stunning video for Joy Division's "Atmosphere". It's a very bleak film, although stunningly photographed in black-and-white. The music is brilliant, and the fans will probably enjoy it.

When I got out and was waiting at the bus stop, I switched my mobile phone on again, and was bombarded by about six simultaneous, and increasingly desperate messages, from Joe, Jackie and Alan. It turned out Joe wanted a night out, and so I met Joe and three of his friends at the Rush bar, while Alan and Jackie and one of Alan's friends were at Frankensteins. I didn't know any of Joe's friends, and the place was very loud and they were all very drunk. Also Jackie was annoyed that Joe wasn't with her. I sent her and Alan a couple of messages on Joe's behalf but my phone ran out of money. In the end I only stayed for about an hour, and had one beer, before deciding to head home. I think I have probably had more than enough nights out for one week.

Unexpected Night Out

Yesterday took a turn for the unexpected. I had a very bad cold at work, and was feeling quite miserable. My friend Alan had just stumbled upon a picture of his ex-girlfriend and was feeling depressed, and so both of us decided to go to the New Yorker for a couple of drinks with Jackie. However, it turned out that it was Jackie's friend's birthday and so she was going for a night on the town. Alan and I decided to join her on impulse, so we had a couple of drinks at the New Yorker, and then went to the Limelite bar next door and I had a tequila sunrise. Jackie bought us three bottles of vodka, which weren't finished. I didn't have much of it. We went to Burger King and had a couple of burgers, and then went to a place called The Advocate, where we met Michele, because Jackie had sent her a text message asking her to join us. We intended to go to a place called The Tron, but they wouldn't let us in, because they thought Michele looked under 21 (she's actually 28). We went to a nightclub to meet Jackie's friends, but the place wasn't open so we went to the bar next door. Eventually we went in to the nightclub, but Jackie's friends couldn't get in. So we went to another nightclub, but it was shut. Finally we ended up at a place called Siglo, which was partially closed for a private party and so we had to pretend to be agriculture students.

I got up quite late today and it was lunchtime by the time I made it into work. Luckily we're on flexitime. I left at around quarter past seven to go to the bookgroup meeting at Victoria Bar. I only had one drink the whole night, because of last night, which is quite good for me. It was good, but I was kind of tired, and I had only eaten one sandwich and a chocolate bar since the burger last night. I'm out tomorrow as well, because I'm going to meet Michele at a jazz bar, which should be good. The book we were discussing was Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. Two people really liked the book but everyone else wasn't really keen on it. I got back at around eleven.

Last night was a lot of fun, but it's really just something I'd want to do once in a while. Especially during the week!

Late Night

Last night after work I went out to a bar called The Phoenix to meet the members of a book group I was thinking of joining. It was a good evening, actually, and I stayed out fairly late, not gettinmg home until nearly three in the morning. The next proper meeting of the group is on October 4th and the book under discussion is Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I didn't get home until nearly three in the morning and didn't wake up until nearly half past eleven.

I went out and got the book group book and a double pack of books called "Vintage Fear". The books contained in the pack were the complete, uncut translations of the Grimm stories (apparently in their unedited form the stories are quite violent and scary) and a book called The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (which was filmed as Company of Wolves).

I'll be going out shortly for Joe's birthday.

Drinks After Work

I went out with my friend Joe after work for a couple of drinks, that was nice. Although his brother came up to us to talk to Joe about his X-Box for about half an hour. On my way home I bought a fish supper for my dinner, which was very nice.

It seems to be that Joe's birthday party is on Saturday night, which is good because I should be able to go to the book group drink thing on Friday night and meet them before I buy the book and read it.

Back To Work Again

Last night I watched the second part of Comics Britannia, which has been pretty interesting. After that I saw a documentary called This Film Is Not Yet Rated which was about the American film rating board, and was quite entertaining. I was also speaking on the phone for about half an hour to a friend of mine called Emily, which was nice.

It was another dull day at work. I got an e-mail from a book group I was thinking of joining, saying that they were having a social drink at a pub on Friday night, however that same night happens to be my friend Joe's 21st birthday party, so I'll have to miss that, unless Joe changes his mind again and holds his party on Saturday, in which case I'd be able to go to both.