It

Last night I went out and saw It, based on the Stephen King novel.  I saw the two part miniseries adaptation from 1990 when I was about 15, and it was really my introduction to Stephen King, and I saw it several times.  I also read the book when I was 15, and I was on this massive King kick and buying pretty much everything I could find from him.  It is still one of my favorite Stephen King works.  The movie is good, and sticks fairly close to the book, although the setting is updated to 1989.  It's set in a small town in Maine (where else?), which is being terrorised by a string of mysterious disappearances of children.  Seven outcast kids band together to find out what is going on.  They soon learn that the culprit is a weird clown called Pennywise, which is just one manifestation of a hugely powerful, evil, shape-shifting entity, that the kids just call "It".

I saw the show with my friends Alan and Jackie, and we went out afterwards to Five Guys for some food.  I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries.  Then we had some drinks before heading home.

I went along to my parent's house today for lunch, which was fun.  When I got home I got the book I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist delivered.  I had pre-ordered it a few weeks ago.  Lindqvist is a Swedish horror writer, who is probably best known for Let the Right One In which was turned into a hugely successful Swedish movie, and was re-made in the US as Let Me In. 

I also got some writing done.

From Up on Poppy Hill

Last night I watched From Up on Poppy Hill, directed by Goro Miyazaki. It's an animated Japanese film, based on a 1980s manga, set in Yokohama in 1963 about a teenager who helps run the boarding house where she lives, who gets involved in a campaign to save the school's ramshackle clubhouse and falls for an aspiring journalist. It's a really sweet, nostalgic film. I reviewed it here: http://permanentlyweird.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/from-up-on-poppy-hill.html 

The Blu-ray of When Marnie Was There arrived in the mail. it's the latest and possibly last ever Studio Ghibli film. I saw an episode of Supernatural, a 1970s British show about a weird club where prospective members have to tell a true story of supernatural horror which, if it fails to scare all of the club's members, means death for the would-be member. 

I went to the movies and saw Hell or High Water, directed by David Mackenzie. It's a kind of neo-western crime thriller about two brothers who commit a string of bank robberies through Texas, while being pursued by a pair of laconic Texas Rangers. it's exciting, dark and genuinely funny, with Jeff Bridges at his best. I reviewed it here: http://permanentlyweird.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/hell-or-high-water.html

I went to Nandos this evening with my parents. I had olives and garlic bread to start, then butterfly pir-piri chicken with piri-piri fries and coleslaw and a slice of chocolate cake.

The Soft Skin

I went out today to meet up with my dad. we went to Cafe Andaluz and I had an egg and bacon roll which was nice. 

Today I watched the 1964 movie The Soft Skin, directed by Francois Truffaut. It was a huge flop when it was first released, but it is really good. It's about a famous, married academic who has an affair with a younger airline stewardess. It all ends very badly. I wrote a review here: http://www.permanentlyweird.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-soft-skin.html

Drawing and Magazine

I went out to a shopping mall with my Dad. We started off at Starbucks, and I had a mocha and a chocolate swirl. I got a drawing pad, a notebook and a copy of Neo magazine (a magazine that specialises in reviews and features about manga, anime and related subjects).

We went along to my parent's house. The weather was so good today that we were able to go and sit outside for most of the afternoon.

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.

Good Intentions

I went out to the comic book store today and bought Harrow County issue 15, Batmanissue 5, and the book John Constantine, Hellblazer: Good Intentions by Brian Azzarello, Richard Corben, Marcelo Frusin and Steve Dillon. I went along to KFC and had a Zinger Tower Burger meal, and walked around in the, very rare, warm sunlight.

Writing and Food

I did some more writing last night.  

Today I went along to my parent's house for lunch.  We had roast chicken, boiled potatoes with mint sauce, peas and stuffing, followed by strawberries, profiteroles and butterscotch ice cream.  It was really nice.

Calzone

On my way into work I was listening to Chilling Tales: The Podcast. This week's story was called "Ultrasound" about a teacher who decides to play a trick on an unruly class by playing a special sound that causes horrific hallucinations. Unfortunately, the hallucinations don't stop, even after the sound is switched off, and the teacher realises that the sound summoned up much more than just a trick of the eye. It was a pretty good one.

It was a pretty long day at work, but afterwards I went out to meet my Mom. We went to Ask Italian to eat. I had some garlic bread with mozarella to start, a calzone filled with beef tomato sauce, chili, pepperoni and ham, for dessert I had a chocolate ice cream and a raspberry sorbet. It was really nice.

Myths and Wind-Up Birds

It was a pretty quiet evening last night. I was reading the new Stephen King novel,End of Watch, and a couple of episodes of the comedy show Peep Show, which I really like, even though I don't normally find it hilariously funny.

I was pretty busy at work. I listened to The Myths and Legends Podcast which was doing the story of Hong Gildong, basically a Korean Robin Hood, about the illegitimate child of an aristocrat who takes revenge by robbing wealthy, corrupt aristocrats and giving the money to the poor. Except he also has magical powers and fights demons. I also heard an episode of RadioLab about a man who basically tried to record every detail of his life on tape, basically wearing a wire everywhere he went. I've been listening to the audio book of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I got as the free download when I signed up with Audible. It's very long, but it is really good.

I did a long day at work, so I paused on my way home and got a take out steak pie and French fries.

At the moment I'm listening to the Talking Comics podcast, which is probably the best and certainly most comprehensive comic book podcast.

Comics Reviewed

Last night was pretty quiet. I was reading some more of my new comic-books (which are reviewed over at Permanently Weird) and watching TV. I got into work for shortly after seven. There was a baguette run today and I had a panini with roast beef, crispy bacon, brie, mozarella, jalapeno peppers, onion and English mustard. I left work shortly after one and went into the city centre. I got a birthday card for my brother along with a couple of scented candles for home, and then I went along and bought a book called The Rough Guide to the Universe by John Scalzi for my brother's birthday present. On my way home I stopped for some groceries for the next week.

Dog

Last night was pretty quiet. I spent most of the time watching TV. The weather was really good today. I went along to my parent's house today for lunch. We had roast chicken, roast potatoes, peas with ice cream for dessert. My brother and his girlfriend came over later on in the afternoon with their pet dog, a little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Hamish. He's a really sweet, friendly little dog but also very curious and he was running around all over the garden checking everything out. I got back home at around seven. The first episode of The Walking Dead is on TV tonight. I've never seen that show and I'm really psyched to watch it. One thing I need to do during the week is get back on track with the Script Frenzy script. I seem to have fallen badly behind.

Feast Day

Last night was pretty quiet. I got up to 16 pages on my Script Frenzy movie script. I did a six hour day at work today. There was a Feast Day at work, which meant there were sandwiches, cake, and so on. After work i went out to the comic book store and bought the latest issues of Green Lantern, Memoir, iZombie, House of Mystery, Freedom Fighters, Sweet Tooth, Hellblazer: Bad Blood and Let Me In: Crossroads. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning before work.

Bad Cheese

Last night I didn't really do much! I got a piece of cheese yesterday for a snack and as I was munching away at it, I noticed that it was starting to go bad at the far end, so I threw it out. Ugh. Gross cheese!

I was listening to an episode of The Man in Black on the radio. It was about a guy waiting for a bus late at night in a city where a lot of people have recently gone missing, and who meets a strange girl. It was quite predictible towards the end, but it was effective. Also cities are pretty creepy late at night.

Today I went along to my parents house for lunch. We had tacos which were really nice. I've decided I am going to try drawing in my sketch books. What I am really worried about is if I discover that I can't draw at all.

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.

Darkman

Last night I watched a 2009 movie called Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, directed by Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea. It's a documentary about the production of acclaimed director Henri-Georges Clouzot's unfinished and unreleased 1964 film Inferno. The documentary was triggered by the discovery of 185 film canisters (totalling 15 hours of footage) and some 30 hours worth of soundtrack. The movie comprises of footage from the unfinished film, a couple of actors performong scenes from the script on a blank stage and talking-head interviews with the film crew who worked on the movie telling the story of the production and it's eventual collapse. The movie Inferno was intended to be about a man who is driven insane by jealousy when he suspects his wife is having an affair, and they shot hours of test footage for the hallucinatory dream sequences. According to the documentary, Clouzot didn't endear himself to the crew. He was an insomniac who thought everyone else should sleep as little as he did, and was in the habit of phoning people up at all hours of the night whenever an idea came to him. He also didn't like people taking time off and on Sundays, when the crew had the day off, he would hang around in the lobby of the hotel where they were staying and grab the first crewmembers he saw and tell them to go out with him and shoot test footage. One of the camera crew apparently took to coming and going through the ground floor bathroom window in order to avoid Clouzot. It was a very interesting documentary and well worth seeing for movie fans and especially aspiring film-makers. It shows just how difficult film-production can be and how easily everything can just fall apart.

Later on I watched the 1990 movie Darkman, directed by Sam Raimi. It stars Liam Neeson as a scientist who is working on a synthetic skin, which always becomes unstable and melts after about an hour and a half. However one night he is attacked by gangsters and his lab is blown up with him inside it. He survives, but is horribly burnt. The medical treatment that he undergoes renders him unable to feel pain and gives him sudden bursts of superhuman strength and flashes of violent rage. He escapes from the hospital and uses his synthetic skin to visit his girlfriend (Frances McDormand) and take violent revenge on his attackers. It is a really fun movie which moves along at a good fast pace. Both of the movies are reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

Today I went out to a stationary store and got some cardboard magazine storage boxes for my comic-book collection, two packs of Sharpie pens, and two A4 size sketch-pad journals (which were in a "buy one get one free" offer). They'll be really good for drawing comic books and other stuff.

My parents are going to see True Grit this afternoon, and I'm meeting them once their movie is finished to go to Pizza Express for dinner. Tomorrow lunchtime I'm going to the Dental Institute, and then I'll probably get some lunch and go to the comic-book store or somewhere.

Pancakes

Last night was pretty quiet. I was watchng some TV and reading. I fell asleep on my couch while watchng the movie All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which for what I saw was an okay horror movie, but for some reason I wasjust feeling really tired.

Today my Dad came to collect me and take me over to my parent's house. The new issue of Sight and Sound magazine had arrived, which this month had a big feature article about the latest Woody Allen movie. I'm often surprised about how prolific Woody Allen is, considering that he releases at least one film a year. For lunch we had some sausage cassarole and some pancakes (diue to it being Pancake Day on Tuesday). I really like pancakes but I very rarely have them, so it was really nice.

After lunch I had a walk to a supermarket with my Mum and I got a DVD set of the complete Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series, which was in the sales. That should be really interesting to watch. Monty Python seems to be one of those shows where you don't often get to see the full episodes, more isolated clips and edited compilations.

The Human Centipede

Last night I was watching an episode of Spaced on TV, which I really enjoyed. Later on I watched a frankly bizarre 2010 Dutch horror movie on TV called The Human Centipede (First Sequence), directed by Tom Six. It's basically about two American tourists in Germany who find themselves at the house of a demented surgeon who plans to surgically attach three people together to form a "human centipede". Despite the horrific premise, it really isn't a particularly gruesome movie. Pretty much all of the horror is in the concept and the resulting creation, and it all loses it's impact long before the movie is over. Although there are some pretty good suspenseful and scary scenes. It's reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

I got to bed at about half past five last night and was awake at eleven this morning. The gas bill came today, and it was a lot, so that was pretty annoying. I went along to get my groceries for the coming week, which were four microwave ready meals, some bread, some potato chips, some flavoured milk, some chocolate and a bottle of wine, along with a TV listings magazine.

Back home I had some lunch and watched a couple of episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Week Off

Last night was pretty quiet. I was watching a few TV comedy shows, and I managed to get to bed before one o'clock in the morning, which for me is really, really early! I was up at half past five and headed off to work, arriving at about quarter past seven. There was a baguette run today and I ordered a white bread panini with roast beef, brie, savoury cheese, jalapeno peppers and English mustard. It was really nice. I was kind of rushing to get everything done before having my week off work. I didn't manage to get everything finished but I did get as much as possible done.

I went up to the comic-book store after work and got Wolverine: The Best There Is issues 1 to 4, Silver Surfer issue 1, X-Men issue 8, Freedom Fighters issue 7, Amazing Spider-Man issue 651, Sweet Tooth issue 19 and House of Mystery issue 35 (I really like that comic-book, it's set in a house in another dimension where people end up trapped and they pay for their food and drink by telling stories in the bar, and so in each issue alongside the main story there is always a really short self-contained story). On my way home I stopped off for a drink

Reading and TV

Last night was pretty quiet. I spent most of my time reading and watching TV. There wasn't really much on, though.

Today was another fairly quiet day at work. There is apparently going to be some building work going on in the office over the next few weeks, so that will probably be a real headache. I got home at around quarter past six and had a microwave spaghetti bolognese meal. It wasn't bad.

I'm looking forward to having next week off! I really don't know what I'll be doing, except on the Wednesday when I'm going to the Dental Institute. Still, it should be fun and I usually manage to find something to do!

The Dharma Bums

Last night I finished reading the book The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, which was first published in 1958. The novel opens in October 1955 and concerns aspiring writer Ray Smith who makes his way to San Francisco where he meets poet and Zen Buddhist Japhy Ryder. Enthused by Ryder's beliefs and philosophies, Smith joins him on his mountain-climbing expeditions in the High Sierras. However, Ray soon finds his devotions to the simple life sorely tested by the marathon poetry readings, wine-fuelled orgies and wild, three-day parties that make up bohemian life in San Francisco. It is an autobiographical book. All the characters are loosely disguised real people. Kerouac himself is Ray Smith and Japhy Ryder is poet Gary Snyder. Kerouac's friend and fellow "Beat Generation" luminary Allen Ginsberg appears as Alvah Goldbook, and an early scene describes the famous Six Gallery poetry reading at which Ginsberg first performed his classic poem Howl (which is named "Wail" in the book). There's not much of a story to it but the book does contain some truely beautiful writing, and there are some amusing anecdotes of Kerouac's adventures hitch-hiking across America. The book is reviewed at Permanently Weird.

I was back at work today, and it was pretty much an average dull day. I was doing an "Environmental Awareness" test that apparently everyone has to do at work, and I got 92%. It really wasn't a difficult test at all. I also have all of next week off work! I've got a lot of annual leave left and I'll lose a lot of it if I don't use it by the end of March, so that should be fun.

I got home at around quarter past six and had a microwaved chicken and bacon pasta bake ready meal, which was quite nice. I've seen the main Oscar results. The King's Speech got four awards. I've not seen that movie. Although I was glad that Natalie Portman got the Best Actress nomination for Black Swan. I think she deserved it.