Spaceballs

Last night I was watching the movie Spaceballs, directed by Mel Brooks, which is a pretty funny spoof on the Star Wars movies from 1987. 

I also saw an episode of Peep Show, a British comedy show starring comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb as a pair of losers living in London. The whole show is filmed from the perspective of the characters in the scene, with voice-overs revealing their innermost thoughts. I really like, although it is often pretty dark. They made a pilot for a US version, but it never got picked up. It was kind of similar to the original show, but not nearly as dark.

I was back at work today after my few days vacation. I was listening to the Robin and Josie's Book Shambles podcast where Robin Ince and Josie Long interviewed comedian Alexei Sayle. They discussed how people do seem to be becoming more engaged with politics and activism and are coming together and so on and so on, and how grass-roots creative culture can have an impact and provide a reason for hope even when things get really bad.

I got a take-out steak-pie and french fries, and I have got to 15,004 words on my NaNoWriMo novel.

Life on the Road

I went out this afternoon and got my groceries for the coming week. I also went out later and got a couple of DVDs: Fantomas, collecting a French movie serial from 1913 to 1914, and the movie Mystery Train.

I went up to the Cineworld cinema and saw David Brent: Life on the Road, directed by Ricky Gervais. It involves Ricky Gervais reprising David Brent (from the British version of The Office) as he goes on tour with his band Forgone Conclusion, and proceeds to bemuse, insult or annoy everyone he comes into contact with. It's funny enough. If you like Ricky Gervais or The Office, then you'll be familiar with the humour.

Shows

It was a very packed day today: I went up to the Book Festival to meet up with my Mom. We saw actor Simon Callow talk about Orson Welles, to promote the third volume of Callow's massive biography of Welles. It was really good. 

After the show we went along to Cafe Andaluz and had tapas: seafood paella, small potatoes in tomato sauce and sour cream and some diced lamb in breadcrumbs with a cheese sauce, along with bread, olives and olive oil. It was a really good meal.

After that we went to a show called Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad? Part Two! a one man show by Rodney Bewes, sharing anecdotes from his long acting career. I always liked his show, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, even though it's dated horribly.

We went along to see a show called Radio Active, which was a live stage version of a 1980s radio comedy show that purported to be the line up for a fictional radio station. I'm a big fan of radio comedy and drama and so I had heard a few episodes of the original show, and the live version really stuck close to it. 

Mom and I stopped off for a drink, and then we went to see a play called Of Wardrobes and Rings which was about the friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and involves the elderly writers reconciling after a serious falling out. It was really good.

Mom went home after the show but I stayed out and had a Belgian waffle and maple syrup and went to see a show called 24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub, which was a stand-up comedy show by Mary Lynn Rajskub (who is possibly best known for starring in the show 24). 

I stopped off at The Joker and The Thief on the way back home and had a couple of drinks. It was a really nice day and all the shows were great.

Only Yesterday

I went out today to The Stand Comedy Club and saw Josie Long perform stand-up comedy. It was a very funny show.

Later on I went to the movies and saw Only Yesterday, a 1991 animated film directed by Isao Takahata. It tells the story of a bored, 27 year old Tokyo office worker who goes on a working holiday to her brother-in-law's family's farm to help out with the harvest. Along the way she becomes increasingly absorbed with memories of when she was ten years old in 1966. It's a beautiful, powerful, slice of life drama.

Alexei Sayle

I went to my parent's house yesterday. My brother and his wife and my two nephews were there, so that was nice. They went out on a visit, and one of my nephews, Lawrence, who'll be five next month, ran up to me and gave me a big hug as they were saying goodbye, which was really sweet.

Yesterday evening I went out to the Book Festival and saw Alexei Sayle, who was one of the leading lights of the "Alternative Comedy" movement of the 1980s, which brought a political and social conscience to British comedy, and he was really funny.

I was off today so I went out and watched some of the Festival street performers and had a slice of salami pizza form one of the street vendors.

Scream 4

Last night I was watching a TV show called Awfully Good Ads which was about TV commercials that are so bad that they are funny. Some of them were really terrible. I fell asleep on my couch again. On Fridays I get up much earlier than usual, and I tend to stay up quite late so I often end up pretty much crashing out. Today I went out to see Scream 4, directed by Wes Craven. The movie opens on the tenth anniversary of the murders from the first film, when two teenagers recieve taunting phone calls and are then brutally stabbed to death by a "Ghostface" killer. The following day, Sidney Prescott (played by Neve Campbell) returns to town to promote a book and becomes involved in the murders. It wasn't a bad movie at all. I was kind of doubtful about it because it was coming out eleven years after the last Scream movie, but it was fun. I loved the Scream movies and I used to watch them all the time. The movie is reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

The Walking Dead

Last night I watched the first episode of The Walking Dead, and I thought it was really good. I've only ever read one issue of the comic-book series. I'll probably check out more now and some of the collected editions. I love a good zombie story. One good zombie story that I've been reading is the iZombie comic, in which it is possible, with difficulty, for the zombies to retain their humanity. After that I saw a couple of epsiodes of Spaced and The IT Crowd. It was another pretty dull day at work today and it seemed to last forever. I got home at about half past six.

Mother's Day

I did write some more of my Script Frenzy script last night, which means I'm now on page eight of it. The general rule of thumb for screenplays is the one page of a script equals one minute of screentime. The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. I spent most of the time watching TV and reading. This morning my Dad came round and took me to the Omni Centre shopping centre. We had coffee and a muffin at Starbucks and then went out to look at our own stuff. I got a DVD of the Dario Argento movie Inferno and a book called Ricky Gervais Presents... The World According to Karl Pilkington. Of course it was Mother's Day today. Mom was really happy with her present (a book called Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde) and her card. I'd also brought along some olives for my parents. The latest issue of Sight and Sound had arrived in the mail during the week. Among the articles this month was a feature about director Wim Wenders, an article about New Russian Cinema and a feature about the Alfred Hitchcock movie Vertigo. My mum had ordered Dad to make the lunch today, which was salmon, roast potatoes and peas. I thought it was nice, but Mum didn't seem to happy with it for some reason. I got home at around five, also I have tomorrow off work, so that should be good!

A Few Days to Go

It was a pretty quiet evening last night. I watched repeats of Spaced and The IT Crowd. I also finished the fifth volume of Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo. It is really good and very different to the film version. Apparently they are making a live action version, which will be split into two films. Leonardo DiCaprio is apparently in line to produce it. Today was the start of another week at work and it was pretty much the same as usual. I got home at about half past six. There are only a few days to go until the Script Frenzy challenge starts. I am going to attempt it this year. I have been thinking very hard about it, but I still have no idea exactly what I'll be doing for it. I still don't know whether I'll be doing a movie script, a TV show or a comic book script.

(500) Days of Summer

Last night I was watching a TV movie called Christopher and His Kind which starred Matt Smith (the current Doctor in Doctor Who) as novelist Christopher Isherwood and it was about Isherwood's experiences as a gay Englishman in 1930s Berlin, as the Nazis come to power. It was quite an interesting show. I've never read any of Isherwood's books but I still thought it was good.

Today I decided to stay in. I watched a movie this afternoon called (500) Days of Summer, directed by Marc Webb. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a greetings card designer, who meets and falls in love with a co-worker (Zooey Deschanel). The movie is told in a non-linear style, moving back and forth in time during the five hundred days of their relationship from the joy and exuberance of the early days if the relationship to the bitterness and heartbreak of the end. It was a good film actually. It's reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

As I've said before I'm not a huge fan of romance movies usually, and I know nothing about relationships as I've never really been in one and realistically have little to no chance of ever being in one.

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.

Pump Up the Volume

Last night I watched some of the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume, directed by Allan Moyle. The film stars Christian Slater as a shy, largely ignored high-school student, who has just recently moved into town. However, at night he hosts a pirate radio show from his bedroom which becomes a smash hit among the students, due to his anarchic, confrontational style but is widely hated by the faculty and parents. It is a good movie, with a really great soundtrack including Leonard Cohen and the Cowboy Junkies. However, watching it now it looks really dated. I think the internet and podcasts have effectively killed off traditional pirate radio stations.

After that I was watching an episode of Peep Show which I had seen several times before but was still funny. During it I felt really tired all of a sudden and came close to falling asleep on my couch, but I didn't.

It was another fairly quiet day at work, and I got back around half past six.

Dead Parrots

Last night I was watching episodes of Spaced, The IT Crowd and Red Dwarf, which used to be one of my favourite shows when I was about twelve, and is still very funny.

I also watched an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD. This episode featured the famous "Dead Parrot" sketch in which an increasingly exasperated customer (played by John Cleese) tries to persuade the owner of a pet store (Michael Palin) that his just-bought parrot is dead, despite the owner's excuses and diversions. It eventually culminates in a long rant from the customer: "The parrot is dead. It is deceased. It is a late parrot. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It has kicked the bucket. It has snuffed it. It has pulled down the curtains, shuffled off this mortal coil and joined the choir invisible. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies. This is an EX-PARROT!" Apparently it was based on a real incident that happened to Michael Palin when he took his car to be repaired, and the mechanic kept making excuses and denying there was anything wrong. When Palin pointed out that the engine was completely busted, the mechanic pointed out that the car was a very pretty colour. Palin allowed that it was but also stated that the colour didn't really matter much if the thing wouldn't move. It must be one of the most famous comedy sketches of all time.

I tried to do some drawing last night, but it turned out really badly.

I was back at work today, for the start of another week and it was pretty much another fairly dull and average day.

Alien Blancmanges

Last night was pretty quiet. I was watching repeats of comedy shows on TV, and reading some of my books.

This morning I watched an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD. This episode featured giant, intelligent alien blancmanges from the Andromeda galaxy turning the entire population of England into Scotsmen, in the belief that Scotland is the worst tennis playing nation in the world, so that the blancmanges can win at Wimbledon. They are eventually defeated when an elderly couple eat them.

I went along to my parent's house for lunch as usual. This week we had minced beef, carrots, mashed potato, spring onions and cheese baked together and some peas, with profiteroles for dessert. It was a nice lunch.

Les Diaboliques

Last night I was watching the movie Kick Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn, on TV. It's based on a comic-book by Mark Miller and John Romita, Jr. and tells the story of a New York City teenaged comic-book fan (played by Aaron Johnson) who, despite having no powers and no training, decides to become a superhero named "Kick-Ass". Despite the abysmal failure of his initial attempt he soon becomes an internet celebrity and attracts the attention of vengeful ex-cop turned superhero "Big Daddy" (Nicolas Cage) and his murderous 11 year old daughter "Hit Girl" (Chloe Grace Moretz). It is a really entertaining movie with plenty of humour and action.

Today I got some more of the Akira graphic novels by Katshiro Otomo delivered in the mail. Mostly I had a really quiet morning watching TV. In the afternoon I went out to the Filmhouse cinema to see the 1955 movie Les Diaboliques, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, with the Horror Group. The movie is based on a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, who also wrote the novel that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo. The film deals with the brutal and cruel headmaster of a second-rate boy's boarding school (Paul Meurisse) who is married to a fragile young teacher, Christina (Vera Clouzot), who has a weak heart, while openly carrying on an affair with another teacher, Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret). Tiring of his ill treatment of them both, Christina and Nicole decide to murder the headteacher. However, after the murder, the body goes missing and a succession of strange and disturbing events begin to occur. It is a really good suspense film, and features a memorable twist. Apparently it was one of the influences for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and Robert Bloch (who wrote the original novel Psycho) named it as his favourite horror film. After the movie we went out and had a couple of drinks. The movie is reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

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.

Psycho

Last night I was watching the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho. The movie tells the story of a real estate secretary, Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh), who steals $40,000 from her employer and sets off to drive from Phoenix, Arizona to California to meet her boyfriend. On the way she stops off at the remote Bates Motel and meets the shy, slightly odd owner and manager Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who tells her that he lives with his elderly mother in the creepy old house overlooking the motel. Marion decides to relax by having a shower before bed, however that proves to be a big mistake when Mother pays a visit... It's a really good movie, and is probably one of the most famous and influential ever made. It's been imitated, parodied, spoofed, remade, discussed and commented upon endlessly since it's release, but it is still powerful and striking and also at times very funny. It's reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

I had a pretty quiet day today. I went out and got some milk and a couple of magazines (a TV listings magazine and a copy of Total Film). I also saw a bit of a 1994 comedy called Airheads, directed by Michael Lehman, about a bunch of metalheads who hold a radio station hostage in order to get their band's single on the air. It really does not seem like such a long time since 1994 when that kind of music was so popular. It was pretty funny, even if it seems pretty dated now.

Dental Institute

Last night I went out with my parents to Pizza Express. To start with I had garlic bread with mozarella cheese, and then I had a Four Seasons pizza (a pizza with a different topping on each quarter: mushrooms, pepperoni, plain cheese and tomato, and anchovies and capers), and for dessert I had a Chocolate Glory gelato (basically ice-cream covered with chocolate sauce and squares of chocolate fudge cake). It was really nice.

Back home I watched an episode of How TV Ruined Your Life which this week dealt with "Knowledge" and discussed how TV dealt with news and factual programming, from the early days of the TV news (when it was just still images, occasional diagrams and voice-over narration, because the powers that be felt like film footage and announcers would trivialise current events) and very soberly presented academic documentaries to the current docu-soaps and celebrity presenters and flashy rolling news, that try to make it really exciting and dynamic. It also managed to take in the moralising on 80s kid's cartoon shows like He-Man and Thundercats, and a bizarre "mocumentary" from 1992 called GhostWatch which was basically a fictional horror drama for Halloween about a haunted house, but was presented as a non-fiction documentary hosted by well-known presenters. People at the time didn't realise it was make-believe and were genuinely terrified and angry about the show. Seen today it's pretty much a forerunner of The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. The episode itself managed to be genuinely informative and also extremely funny.

Later on I watched a documentary called The Return of A Clockwork Orange, which was made in 2000 to commemorate the re-release of A Clockwork Orange in Britain. Stanley Kubrick, who directed A Clockwork Orange, withdrew the film from Britain and it was not available to view legally in Britain until after Kubrick's death in 1999. The movie was incredibly controversial in Britain when it was first released due to the violence. For three decades it was the most high-profile banned movie in Britain and was trotted out in endless magazine and newspaper articles, documentaries and so on about violent movies. It's now readily available in Britain though and is frequently shown in TV there. I remember a few months after Kubrick's death I arranged a tribute evening in the Student Union at college and me and another guy promoted and showed The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and A Clockwork Orange. By the time the last movie came on it was literally standing room only. The place was packed out. That was a great night.

Today I went up to the Dental Institute. The bus broke down on the way, so I had to run up to the Institute and then I got lost in the building, but I maanged to get there in the nick of time. In the end they were running late anyway so it didn't really matter. I had my right wisdom tooth taken out in November 2009 and this was basically a review appointment to see how it had been in the meantime and whether I needed my other tooth taken out. In the end the extraction had completely healed up and the other wisdom tooth, while coming in at an angle wasn't causing any trouble to the tooth in front. For now at least I don't need it taken out. The dentist who was dealing with me was this really cute Spanish woman which helped.

I went along to the comic-book store afterwards and got: Lil Depressed Boy issues 1 and 2, Batman Incorporated issue 3, Batman and Robin issue 20, Fables are Forever issue 2, Spawn issue 204, X23 issue 7, Spider-Man issue 155, iZombie issue 11 and Venom issue 1.

Monty Python

Last night I was watching a few episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus. If you've never seen it, it's a sketch comedy series that started in 1969 and finished in 1974 and was written and performed by John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam (who also did the bizarre animation sequences that became a trademark of the show). Sketch shows tend to be very uneven, and in my opinion a sketch show that makes me laugh about fifty per cent of the time is doing pretty well, but with the Monty Python episodes I found about sixty percent of the show funny. When you see the full episodes, as opposed to edited highlights, you get to see how well the sketches work together, also a lot of the less well-known sketches are really funny as well. I really enjoy Monty Python comedy in general, although I know that a lot of people really don't find them funny at all.

Today was my first day of my week off work, and I didn't really do much of anything. I spent the day on the computer, trying to do some writing but not really succeeding much. Although it is a nice feeling that I have got pretty much the whole week to do more or less whatever I want.