Resurrection of the Daleks

Last night I was watching a Doctor Who from 1984 called "Resurrection of the Daleks". In the story the fifth Doctor (played by Peter Davison) and his companions are caught in a "Time Corridor" and drawn to 20th Century Earth where the Daleks are planning their latest attempt to take over the Earth by replacing political and military leaders with robot duplicates, while in the future, a Dalek strike force are trying to break their creator, Davros (Terry Molloy), out of a prison ship in the hope that he can develop an antdote to a lethal virus that is attacking them. It's a good story, but surprisingly violent for Doctor Who, it has got quite a high body count. I do remember seeing at least a bit of it when it was first broadcast in 1984, which would have made me about five. I just really remember the scene where a Dalek explodes to reveal kind of smouldering green porridge inside it.

Today, I was off work so I went out and got a haircut and posted a letter.

Gran Torino

Last night was pretty quiet. I was reading the novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It's a really good book, and I have nearly finished it.

Today has been pretty quiet so far. I went along and posted a letter, and had a haircut for my trip away. After that I went along to the Cineworld cinema to see Gran Torino, directed by Clint Eastwood. The film tells the story of a retired car assembley worker and Korean war veteran, Walter Kowalski (played by Clint Eastwood), who is prejudiced against pretty much all races and more or less hates everyone who is not like him, including his own, spoilt grandchildren. Estranged from his two sons, after the death of his wife the only two things that he cares about are his dog and his classic 1972 Ford Gran Torino car. When Thao (Bee Vang), the teenage son of Kowalski's Hmong neighbours, is pressured by the local gang to attempt to steal the Gran Torino, he is stopped by Kowalski. The following night the gang return to pressure Thao into trying to steal the car again, but he refuses and a fight ensues. However, Kowalski appears and scares the gang away with his gun. This makes him a reluctant hero to his neighbours, depite the fact he only wanted to get the gang off his lawn. However, with the help of Thao's talkative sister, Sue (Ahney Her), he gradually starts to warm towards the family, and when Thao is ordered to do chores for him as a way of making amends for trying to steal the car, Kowalski takes the boy under his wing and teaches him some lessons about life. However, the gang are determined to take revenge on both the family and Kowalski. Tense, moving, exciting and sometimes very funny it was a really good movie about race relations in modern day America. Clint Eastwood manages to evoke memories of his most famous roles, in what, apparently, might be his last screen role. On my way back I got a fish supper for my dinner.

Irvine Welsh

I had another day off work today and went up to the post office to mail a letter and on my way back I went and had a haircut. It's probably the shortest now that it's ever been.

Later on I went out to the Edinburgh Book Festival to see Irvine Welsh. He was reading from his latest novel (Crime) and answering questions from the audience. He seemed quite ambiguous about the huge success of Trainspotting saying that while he was happy that the book was successful and made a lot of money, it did become something of an albatross for him that he could never really get away from, despite the fact that he thought a lot of his later books were much better. However, Irvine Welsh has written a sequel to Trainspotting and a prequel is in the works. I saw him at the book Festival ten years ago, when he was promoting his book Filth. After the talk there was a signing session and I got my copies of Trainspotting, Crime and If You Liked School, You'll Love Work signed.

A Trip Out

Today was another really cold and wet day. I went out today and got a haircut. After that I went to the shops and had my bus pass renewed for another month. I got a couple of books: Factotum by Charles Bukowski and Choke by Chuck Palahniuk.

I got the brochures for the Edinburgh Book Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, both of which are happening in August. Every August there are a number of Festivals in Edinburgh, the main one is the Edinburgh International Festival which claims to be the largest arts festival in the world (it includes mostly classical music, lectures, ballet, opera and theatre), there is also the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which sprang up around the main festival and is for things that don't really fit into the main festival (such as comedy, theatre, shows, cabaret, concerts and so on). There is also a Film Festival, a Book Festival and a Jazz & Blues Festival.

I went up to Starbucks and had a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich along with a chocolate muffin and a mocha coffee. I got a Father's Day card for my Dad and then headed home, stopping on the way to get my groceries for the coming week.