When You're Strange

I had another day off today and went along to the city centre. I got a few books in the sales, namely The Soft Machine by William Burroughs, The Ticket That Exploded by William Burroughs and Mr. Nice: An Autobiography by Howard Marks (I saw the movie adaptation a couple of weeks ago at the Film Festival).

After that I went up to the Cameo Cinema and saw When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. The movie is a documentary about the influential 1960s rock band The Doors. Mostly the film focuses on the group's charismatic lead singer and songwriter Jim Morrison. It's made up of concert footage and some backstage footage along with clips from the rarely-seen 1969 film HWY, which was written by and starred Jim Morrison as a murderous hitch-hiker. The movie, narrated by Johnny Depp, will probably not have much new for Doors fans, but it is a good overview of the history of the band and of the period which they helped define. The concert footage shows just how powerful a performer Morrison really was. The only real omission is that it doesn't have anything about what the surviving Doors (organist and founder Ray Manzarek, guitarist and songwriter Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore) did after Morrison's death. It's definitely worth watching though. Actually in the audience while I was watching the movie there was some guy who must have been kind of drunk or something who was singing along with some of the songs and pumping his fist and making heavy metal style devil horns at the screen.

After the movie I went along to the Rutland Hotel and had a pint of Heineken beer and a club sandwich before heading off home.

The Runaways

This morning my Dad came to collect me and we went to the Gyle shopping centre. I had a scone and a mocha in the coffee section and then we split up to look at our own things. I got a book called The Hell of It All by Charlie Brooker, which is a collection of TV reviews. Charlie Brooker is a TV reviewer and general commentator and does various TV shows where he discusses TV, video games and the news and he hosts a comedy panel shows, and has written a couple of other books. I think he's really clever and funny. I also got a CD called American Anthems which is a collection of American rock anthems from the 1980s mostly. I happen to like that kind of music.

Then we went over to my parent's house. The latest issue of Fortean Times had arrived, which this month featured an article on the possibility of a giant serpent living in Sweden and an article exploring the background to the Peid Piper of Hamelin myth. The new issue of Sight and Sound also arrived, featuring this month a centenary tribute to director Akira Kurosawa. In the afternoon my Mum and I went out for a bit of a walk.

In the evening I went up to the Cineworld cinema to see the movie The Runaways, directed by Floria Sigismondi. The movie is set in the mid 1970s and tells the story of the all-girl rock band The Runaways, focusing mainly on lead singer Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning) and guitarist Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart). The movie is pretty much a typical rock movie biography, but it's a lot of fun with a great soundtrack, and a cool, punky seventies feel to it. It also features great performances from Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart. Personally I really like Joan Jett, her version of "Crimson and Clover" is one of my favourite songs, but the movie only really deals with the early part of her career.