Roger Corman

Last night I was looking at more places for jobs and accomodation in Canada, and I watched the latest episode of The Wire, which was a really good one.

Today was another really quiet and dull day at work. The biggest event in the office at the moment is that they may be getting more people moved around the departments, again.

After work I headed up to the Cineworld cinema to see the next event that I had booked at the Film Festival, which was a discussion with the legendary director, writer and producer Roger Corman. Corman has produced over three hundred films and himself directed around fifty. At his peak he apparently made seven films in one year (he said that he had periods where he was filming one movie, casting the next and editing another all in the same day). He started his career in the 1950s and specialised in low-budget horror, science-fiction, gangster, biker and teen movies with his biggest successes being a cycle of movies based on Edgar Allan Poe stories and poems with Vincent Price. He also gave directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Rob Howard and James Cameron their big breaks, as well as actors such Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro. The event started late and over-ran by nearly half an hour but it was interesting and enjoyable, and Corman was full of great stories. It was hosted by Sight and Sound magazine, and we all got free copies of the magazine when we came in, which was nice (even though I'd already got this month's - I have a subscription).

On my way home I got a fish supper for my dinner.

Book Festival

I had the day off work today but was still up pretty early to book my tickets for the Book Festival. For myself, I have got tickets for Neil Gaiman (who is going to be talking with crime novelist Ian Rankin about graphic novels) and David Simon (creator of the TV show The Wire and author of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets). For myself and my Mum I have booked tickets for Arthur Smith, Will Self and Margaret Atwood (who is giving a specially written performance of music, songs and stories). For myself, Mum and Dad I have got tickets for comedian, actor and writer Frank Skinner and for my Mum I got a ticket to see Sarah Vine and Tania Kindersley. I was on-line and booking them at half past nine this morning and by eleven they were already starting to sell out. The Margaret Atwood event was sold out early and so was Neil Gaiman. Also this was the first day of booking, so I'm glad I got everything. I also had to write a cheque for a large credit card bill (I had to renew my home insurance) so it was a very expensive day when I'm trying to save for Canada! But it happens. I'll have to economise for the next month or so.

This evening I went to the Cineworld cinema to see my next Film Festival event, which was a talk and question and answer session with director Darren Aronofsky (director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain and most recently The Wrestler). It was very interesting, although Aronofsky refused to answer any questions about the well-publicised rumours of his involvement in the re-make of RoboCop. Then again, the original RoboCop is a classic. There was a lot said about low-budget film-making which was very interesting. Next month I'll probably try and write another novel or another movie to keep myself occupied without spending too much.

The third season of The Wire is on TV tonight.