Enchanted

Well, I heard from Michele last night. She apologised for leaving it so long since she last contacted me and said that the reason was that she had added me on one of the social-network sites, but added me under an old account that I had made a couple of years ago, never used, and completely forgotten about. I've got two e-mail addresses and so, forgetting all about the previous one, I had made another account, which I did have people adding, and I did use. Michele found herself the only listed friend on my previous account, and thought that I was hiding something, or something was going on. I explained that that was not at all how it was, it was just a simple mistake, and so I deleted the old account and added her to the main one that I use. Michele thanked me for explaining and said that she should have spoken to me about it long ago. I really feel bad about it, because like I said, it was completely unintentional, and I really hope that she still wants to hang out.

This morning my parents came up and, while my dad finished painting the windowframes, my mum and myself went along to the Vue Cinema to see a free preview of the film Enchanted, directed by Kevin Lima. When we got there we had to wait almost an hour before the film started because the cinema apparently wasn't aware that they were supposed to be showing it and so they weren't ready. However the film was funny and entertaining. It opens in an animated, typical Disney movie style, about a princess in a fairy-tale land, who falls in love with a prince, but ends up being transported by his evil stepmother into a modern-day (live-action) New York. After the film, mum and I went along to John Lewis and had coffee and a scone, and then went around for a few minutes so mum could buy some golf balls for my dad's Christmas present, and then we met up with dad and went back to my parent's house for our weekly lunch (which was tacos today, flavoured with cheese, salad and salsa sauce). The latest issue of Sight and Sound magazine had arrived, so that was good, something to read.

The painting on my window frames is now finished, except for another coat needed in my bathroom, so that meant that I could put up my Christmas decorations, which certainly brightens the place up. That means that the process of installing the double glazing is almost finsihed now.

Painting

Last night I watched some more episodes of the old series of The Twilight Zone. The ones I saw were called "Nightmare as a Child" about a young woman who is visited by a mysterious child who unlocks a dark secret from the woman's past, "A Stop at Willoughby" about a harrassed 1950s businessman who is haunted by strange dreams of a bucolic 19th century small town, and "The Chaser" about a lovesick man who decides to use a love potion on the object of his desire.

My dad came around this morning to start painting the windowsills in my home, after having the double glazing installed. It was just the primer coat that went on today. There will still be two or possibly three more coats of paint to come, and then the process should be finished.

I went to my parent's house for lunch (which this week consisted of roast chicken, peas, stuffing and roast potatoes, with a blackberry and raspberry crumble for dessert). The rest of the afternoon was quite quiet.

Rescue Dawn

It was another really quiet day at work today. One of my friends got into work at around twelve and took about a four hour lunch. During the afternoon I had about twenty angry text messages from his girlfriend who was worried that he was drunk. Of course I wasn't with him, so I didn't know. One thing is that he is sitting next to one of the bosses now so he'll have to be really careful.

This evening I went along to the Vue Cinema to see a preview screening of Rescue Dawn, directed by Werner Herzog. Based on true events, the film is set in 1965 and tells of the story of Dieter Dengler (played by Christian Bale), a US fighter pilot, who crashes in the jungles of Vietnam. Shortly afterwards, he is captured and held as a prisoner of war. Trapped in horrendous conditions, Dengler comes up with an audacious plan to escape. Herzog first dealt with the Dieter Dengler story in a 1997 documentary called Little Dieter Needs to Fly. The film is powerful, exciting and entertaining, being more like a survival adventure film than a war movie. However it has attracted controversy from the friends and family members of some of the people depicted in the film, who claim that they have been misrepresented. Of course, there are plenty of famous stories about the insanity of previous Herzog films: On the set of Even Dwarves Started Small Herzog jumped naked into a cactus patch to apologise for setting one of the cast members on fire and running him over with a car. On the set of Aguirre, the Wrath of God Herzog threatened to shoot dead the actor Klaus Kinski when he threatened to walk off the set (on that same film Kinski had fired three random shots into a hut filled with partying extras because he thought they were making too much noise, and almost killed another actor by hitting him on the head with a sword). Herzog also ate one of his shoes for a documentary, and once walked from Munich to Paris because he thought it would stop a friend of his from dying. I think the craziest story from the set of Rescue Dawn was that Herzog ate live maggots with Christian Bale.

I walked home, the first time I had done so since my robbery, and on the way as I was about to head into my road, I saw the guy who did it on the other side of the road. He didn't see me, he was too busy trying to beg money off passers by, and then he vanished, so I was able to cross the road and get home without being spotted. That was quite disturbing.

My mum had been in my flat today because some workmen came to finish off the work to the windows. The windowsills and frames still have to be painted though. I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow.

Window Inspection

It was back at work today after my day off, and it was pretty much the same as usual. At around half past one I had to go to an hour long training meeting, which was amazingly dull.

I had to leave early, because someone from the Window Advisory Service was coming to check over my double glazing that was installed yesterday. This was quite important because we only have to pay the company if the windows pass the inspection. It turns out taht they hadn't filled in a gap between on of the walls properly and one of the windows hadn't been fitted properly so they will have to go back and do it again. The guy arrived about an hour late and was here for about half an hour. My mum, who knew the inspector, was there as well. When the guy left, my mum propsed that we phone up my dad and all go out to the Scotch Whiskey Society clubrooms for dinner (my parents are both members). I had sausages, with mashed potato and onion gravy, with a glass of red wine. It was very nice. The clubrooms are really nice. I'd never been in the evenings, and they seemed to be going for the look of a 19th century "gentleman's club" complete with subdued lighting, candles, roaring fires and thick leather and wood furniture.

I have to say, I've not been feeling at all well for most of today, with a very strong cold. Hopefully it will pass soon.

Double Glazing

Today has been really busy. I woke up early, despite having the day off work, to move furniture around. My dad came around to help. The double glazing was being fitted today, and it was no easy task getting the areas around the window cleared. The guys to fit the windows came at around ten (about an hour late).

I took a walk up to the St. James Shopping Centre to meet my mum. Dad came as well, leaving the precious things in my flat to the tender mercies of the window fitters, although my parents assured me at length that my possessions would not come to harm. We had a coffee and cheese scone at the Place to Eat in John Lewis, and my dad went back while I went for a walk along Princes Street with mum. Along the way I got a warm woollen hat, a pair of gloves and a scarf (see pictures below). We went to Pizza Express for lunch, which was a large thin-based pizza topped with tomato, mozarella, anchovies, parma ham, capers, olives and boiled egg, with a triple chocolate sundae for dessert. It was really nice.

When I got home my dad and I tried to tidy up my home as best we could. The windows seem nice. They certainly cut down on a lot of the noise. There's a guy coming round tomorrow to inspect them and make sure that they have been fitted correctly. After that it is a matter of painting the sills and that should hopefully be it finished.

Books and Movies

Last night I watched the 2006 remake of The Omen directed by John Moore. The film stars Liev Schreiber as Robert Thorn, an American diplomat in Rome, whose child is stillborn. In order to spare his wife (Julia Stiles) pain, he replaces the stillborn baby with an orphan child, who they name Damien. By the time Damien is five years old, Thorn has been promoted to the American ambassador to Britain, and the family are now living in London. However soon strange events start to happen around Damien. A strange priest tells Thorn that his child is evil, while his wife becomes incresingly paranoid, and people suspicious of Damien start to fall victim to strange, fatal accidents. The remake is very faithful to the 1976 original, which makes it kind of pointless really. It seems like the film was made soley so it could be released on 6th June 2006 (6/6/06). It's not bad but the film lacks a lot of the power if the original (and Liev Schreiber is no Gregory Peck).

I also watched a Japanese horror film called Ju-On: The Grudge 2, directed by Takashi Shimzu. Despite the title, this is actually the fourth film in the Ju-On series. The series revolves around the idea that when someone dies in a state of extreme rage a curse (or "ju-on") is left in the place where they die and kills whoever enters the place. The films concern a house in Tokyo haunted by the pale, lank-haired ghosts of a murdered woman and her son. In this film the ghosts haunt the crew of a TV documentary series on the supernatural which film an episode in the haunted house. The problem with the film is that is are very episodic. Basically it'll focus on one member of the crew who will go home and then be attacked and made off with by the ghosts (an effective aspect of the films is that the ghosts haunt people rather than places, it dosen't matter where they go very soon the ghosts will visit and attack either them, their loved ones, or often both). The film is effective and often really creepy, but the episodic nature soon makes it feel repetitive. It's not bad, though.

This morning my Dad came round to help me get ready for the double glazing being fitted tomorrow. I had to move around a lot of boxes and there is some cleaning to do as well. I went around to my parent's for lunch as usual. We had salmon, mashed potato and peas. The new issues of Sight and Sound and Fortean Times had arrived. Sight and Sound had a very interesting article about the controversial and prolific German film-maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who managed to churn out over 33 feature films, over thirty theatre productions and four TV serials in a career spanning thirteen years. He was found dead in 1982, slumped over his editing table, after a life of hard work and even harder partying. My mum had also gotten me the complete series of "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman (Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass). I had been looking for Northern Lights for a few weeks for my book group, but mum had seen the set in a sale and got me all of them, which was very nice of her.

Gone to Pieces

Last night I watched a documentary film on TV called Gone to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film. The movie was, obviously enough, an examination of the history of the slasher films, discussing Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream and several others. There were lots of interviews with horror directors such as Wes Craven, Sean S. Cunningham, Rob Zombie and John Carpenter, along with a plethora of gruesome clips. It was quite entertaining, and would probably serve as a good introduction to the genre, but probably wouldn't tell fans much that they didn't already know. It's quite surprising how many of them were made, especially in the early 1980s which was really the hey-day for slasher films.

Back to work again, and it was a long day. My double glazing at home is set to be fitted in next Monday, and on that same day I've been called up to go for possible jury selection. I might be able to get the day off on special leave for that, because with jury selection you don't really have a choice. You have to go to it.

I'm trying to examine my life a bit more at the moment and it's interesting actually looking back through this journal, how much is actually about me, and how much is about movies, books and TV shows. I think I have probably written more about moves then I have about myself. Although I have noticed places where I do seem to be just a little bit lacking in self-esteem. So I don't know, should I write more about myself and my personal thoughts and feelings, or more about movies etc.?

Alton Towers Trip

Today was fairly quiet. I am going on a trip to Alton Towers, which is a rather large theme park in England with lots of rollercoasters and such like. That is happening a week on Friday. The trip is being organised by the Social Events Group at work and today was the last day they were taking bookings so I put my name down more or less on impulse.

I left work very early today at around four and went to my parent's house, where the guy who was at my place a couple of weeks ago was there to discuss the quotes for the double glazing for my windows.

I had my dinner at my parents house, which was meatballs and pasta with melted cheese in a tomato and pepperoni sauce.