Cartoon Exhibition

Last night was pretty quiet. The clocks went forward one hour last night and then I was playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on the PlayStation 3 for a while. It is a really fun game. This morning my Dad came along to pick me up and we went along to the Gyle Shopping Centre. We had a coffee and a scone before going our seperate ways. I got two books: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon and Blue Blood by Edward Conlon. I also got a magazine about emigrating to Canada. We went along to my parent's house, where the new issue of Fortean Times had arrived. The main features this month were about weirdness in Victorian times. For lunch we had chicken with lemon and bay leaves along with fried potatoes, onion and red peppers. In the afternoon my Mum and I went along to the Gallery of Modern Art to see an exhibition by Jeff Koons, an American artist who uses advertising style photography, coloured mirrors in the shape of cartoon animals, and lifesize sculptures of cartoon characters. It was pretty good.

James Bond and Rock Stars

I went out to meet my mum in Princes Street today. We went up to the City Art Centre to see an exhibition called Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design which focussed mainly on the cover designs of Ian Fleming's James Bond books from the 1950s and 60s to the present. It also had exhibits of some of the film posters, some of the prelimenary sketches and memos, along with one of Fleming's manuscripts for a book, with his notes. It was good, but it could have done with a bit of analysis about the art work and what aspects of the books different covers focussed on. Some really focus on the sex appeal, some on the exotic locations and some on the action. After the exhibition I had a look in the gift shop and bought a book called Major Works by John Keats (it cost £4 reduced from £11.99).

After that we went along to Pizza Express and I had a Four Season pizza (basically it's a pizza divided into quarters with olives: One quarter is plain cheese and tomato, one is mushroom, one is pepperoni and one is anchovies and capers). For dessert I had a Chocolate Glory (vanilla ice-cream with squares of chocolate fudge cake and chocolate sauce).

After eating, we went along to the Edinburgh Book Festival and saw Rick Wakeman. in the 1970s, Rick Wakeman was a pretty big rock star in bands like The Strawbs and Yes. These days he does quite a lot of TV shows. He was really, really funny. With some hilarious anecdotes especially about his days as a session musician working with people like David Bowie and Lou Reed.

Suspiria

Last night I was watching the film Suspiria, a 1977 horror film directed by Dario Argento. The story, such as it is, revolves around a young American dance student (played by Jessica Harper) who goes to study ballet at a prestigious German dance academy. However on the night she arrives, two students are brutally murdered. As the new student settles in, she notices the mysterious disappearances of a number of other students as well as a range of bizarre happenings, which leads her to investigate the academy and it's dark history of witchcraft and the occult. There is not much story really, and what there is doesn't really make a lot of sense, instead the film is all about it's uniquely surreal and nightmarish atmosphere, utilizing bizarre camera angles and lighting the scenes in garish, vivid primary colours (especially reds, blues and greens), and ear-splitting music from rock band the Goblins (with contributions from Argento himself). The film also features some of Argento's most famous of his trademark gruesome set-pieces. It is probably the best of the Argento films.

I was off work today. Technically there is a strike on today, but I had already taken the time off on annual leave and so I still get paid! I went into Princes Street to meet my mum, who had vouchers for a free breakfast at a French restaurant called Cafe Rouge. It was a continental breakfast which meant a couple of differnet kinds of croissant and some crusty bread, After that we walked along to the Edinburgh Book Festival, where I bought the book Non-Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk. It's a collection of short non-fiction stories, essays and interviews from the weird and wonderful world of Chuck. Then we went to see the author Alan Sillitoe (author of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner). It was a really good talk, and very enjoyable.

After that we went along to the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibition of celebrity portrait photographs from Vanity Fair magazine. Some of them were really good. After the exhibiton we went to a stand-up comedy show by comedian Andy Zaltzman which was really funny. Then we went along and had a prawn sandwich and coffee.

It's weird though but I noticed, and not for the first time, how much less worried mum is about stuff than I am. I worry about: being mugged, money, being murdered, getting beaten up, work, death, failure, my lack of success with women, being humiliated, being laughed at, my shyness, my weird voice, my ugliness, my awkwardness and my stupidity. This is all completely seriously how I think. I even worry that I worry too much. Seriously. A lot of the time I get too nervous to go places or do stuff. Mum doesn't worry about stuff, she even strikes up conversations and make jokes with complete strangers. I said to her, I wish I had her confidence. Sorry that a previously quite cheerful post degenrated into angsty nonsense about the inner workings of my mind, such as it is.