The Looking-Glass War

Last night I was listening to a documentary on the radio called Archive on 4: Self on Ballard, in which novelist Will Self talked about the life and work of his friend and fellow author J.G. Ballard who died in April this year. Ballard started out by writing science-fiction novels that dealt mainly with the psychological effects of futuristic technology before moving on to grim and controversial works such as High-Rise and Crash, which was turned into an equally controversial film by David Cronenberg. He had his biggest success in the 1980s though with his semi-autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, which was turned into a film by Steven Spielberg. I've read quite a few of the J.G. Ballard novels so it was an interesting show.

I also read the final story in the Just After Sunset collection by Stephen King. This final story was a pretty long one called "A Very Tight Place", and told the pretty gross story of a man trapped in a portable toilet by a maniac.

Today I went along to the corner shop and bought some milk and some sugar. I also got the latest issue of Total Film magazine. The main feature this month was the 100 movie-related things and people that are likely to be popular over the next year (including video-game adaptations, horror movie remakes, social-networking and Ellen Page).

When I got back home I listened to the second and final part of the radio adaptation of The Looking-Glass War based on the 1965 John le Carre novel. The story revolves around a small and forgotten section of the British Secret Service called "The Deaprtment" which sees a chance to enhance it's status by infiltrating an agent into East Germany, when it comes across weak evidence that Soviet missiles are being placed near the West German border. It was pretty good, and complex, with a very bleak conclusion.

After that I went and started cleaning my bedroom. It has been a really exciting day.

Max Warp

Last night I listened to another Doctor Who radio play. This episode was called "Max Warp", and was set in the far future where one of the most popular TV shows is a spaceship show called "Max Warp", however when one of the presenters is killed when the spaceship he is testing crashes into a planet, the Doctor(Paul McGann) believes that it is more than just an accident, and that someone is trying to reignite an old interplanetary war. It was a really fun episode, even if much of it is a parody of the British motoring TV show Top Gear. Later on I listened to the fifth and final part of the radio adaptation of Murder at the Vicarage, based on the Agatha Christie novel.

Later on I watched the second episode of the new series of Peep Show, which was very funny. I was also reading a few more of the Just After Sunset stories by Stephen King. In "Mute" a man picks up a hitch-hiker and proceeds to rant about his unfaithful wife, and soon has cause to regret it. In "Ayana", a terminally ill man is miraculously healed by a mysterious stranger, however there is a price to be paid.

This morning I went out an walked to a shopping centre where I bought a new shower curtain, and on my way home I stopped off to get my groceries. While I was there I got the latest issue of Empire magazine. It had an interesting article about an aborted attempt to make a film of Frank Herbert's science-fiction novel Dune in 1974. It would have been directed by deeply eccentric Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, art design by HR Giger among others, music by Pink Floyd and a cast including Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Salvador Dali. It fell apart, but the book was filmed by David Lynch in 1984. Interestingly enough Jodorowsky is collaborating with David Lynch on his next film, a Western called King Shot, which will probably be more than a little weird.

This afternoon I have spent most of my time trying to clean my kitchen and bathroom. I think it went quite well.

Destiny of the Daleks

Last night I was watching a Doctor Who story from 1979 called "Destiny of the Daleks". In the story, the Fourth Doctor (played by Tom Baker) and his companion Romana (Lalla Ward) arrive on Skaro, home planet of the Daleks, where they soon find out that the Daleks are excavating the subterranean ruins of their old city in an attempt to find their creator, Davros and enlist his help in their latest war with the ruthless alien Movellans, who have also arrived on Skaro and are determined to stop the Daleks at any cost. It was quite a fun story, but it has not aged well, with the special effects severely lacking, for example the mask for Davros was obviously designed for another actor, and was visibly too large for the head of the actor who did play the role, and it wobbles quite obviously throughout the story.

This morning I got up quite late and went along to the supermarket to get my groceries for the coming week, and spent some time cleaning in my kitchen.

Sunday Lunch

Last night I was reading a story called "S.R.O" by Harlan Ellison, from the Essential Ellison book that I got yesterday, the story involves a failed theatrical promoter in New York, who sees his chance to make his fortune when he discovers a spaceship floating above the street containing a troupe of alien actors. It was a really amusing story.

Today I went over to my parent's house as usual for my lunch (roast chicken, mashed potato, peas and stuffing with strawberries and rhubarb crumble) which was really nice. I finished off looking through the boxes of my old stuff which we took from the loft last week. Most of the stuff were books which were so worn that they just had to be thrown out, but I put a couple back on the loft.

When I got home I tried to book a ticket for The Mighty Boosh stage show on Thursday or Friday, but it was sold out. I'd only found out about it today.

The Weekend, At Last

Last night went pretty well. We started off in Frankenstein's (the Frankenstein-theme bar), and then went on to about three more places afterwards. The night out was because Jackie was leaving the work. There were four of us there, Jackie, Alan, Michele and myself.

This morning I went out and renewed my bus pass and bought a couple of cards (a birthday card for my dad and a card for my gran because she hasn't been well). I also got a couple of posters advertising the film Grindhouse, apparently although it's advertised as a Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino double bill ("Together in One Smash Explosive Show") according to the poster, the films are going to be split up in countries outside the US, which means there'll be longer cuts of the films internationally but without the fun of a kind of double feature presentation.

I spent this afternoon cleaning my place. It took all afternoon, but it looks pretty good now. I took a break to watch Doctor Who of course. It was a really good episode this week, with them arriving on a disabled space-ship with 42 minutes before it crashes into the sun.