I might as well have been holding a contra-bassoon

So today in an effort to combat my increasing laziness (and size of my waist) I (and indeed K as well) went out and bought a pair of running shoes.  My first ever.  I don’t really like running but there are very few excuses to be made for why you shouldn’t be compared to almost any other physical activity that involves leaving the house.  I do get painful shins and my right knee can sometimes be a bit gammy but I figure I’ll give it a go.  I’ll update on progress.

It was quite fun all told – they watched me run up and down a short track in the shop and then they stuck me on a treadmill and recorded me running.  Buying shoes is much more high tech than it used to be.

We saw Sunshine Cleaning last night which I thought could have taken things a bit further (in terms of comedy and blackness) creating a great movie rather than just a good one.  The performances though from Amy Adams and Emily Blunt were fantastic.  I’ve really enjoyed every Amy Adams performance I’ve seen.  Very natural, very engaging.

A relaxing weekend has been much needed.

 

End of the year lists:

So it comes that time when we all compile pointless lists of what we enjoyed throughout the year.  And I’m feeling it this time so make no exception.  So some top lists (in alphabetical order):

Movies:

• Cloverfield
• The Dark Knight
• Iron Man
• No country for old men
• Son of Rambow
• Wall-E

A quiet year for movies on reflection.  If I had to choose only one it would be Wall-E.  As much as The Dark Knight is perfectly accomplished and astonishing in its brilliance and Iron Man is just brilliantly entertaining, Wall-E is just a wonderful combination of stunning visuals, gorgeous sound design and heartbreakingly staged story.  I love it.

Albums:

• Crystal Castles
• Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
• Foals – Antidotes
• Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing
• Los Campesinos! – Hold on now, youngster
• Lykke Li – Youth Novel
• Metronomy – Nights out
• Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Did, Lazarus, Dig!
• Remember Remember
• Vampire Weekend

Picking a favourite from these is extremely difficult.  Or very easy, as since The Hawk is Howling was released I’ve listened to very little else.  It’s a truly stunning Mogwai album and feels fully formed, like it’s existed for years.  And I love it.  However, choosing Mogwai as my favourite of the year is kind of cheating as they’re my favourite band.  So before that was released it was Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing.  I’ve been listening to this all year and still love it.  Powerful and compelling.  Regardless, all  the above have been on constant repeat since release and are well worth listening to.  Interestingly, my favourite album of last year: Low – Drums and Guns is still on heavy rotation.

Songs:

• Black Francis – The Seus
• CSS – Rat is dead (Rage)
• David Byrne & Brian Eno – Strange overtones
• Elbow – One day like this; Weather to fly
• Fleet Foxes – Blue ridge mountains
• Fuck Buttons – Sweet love for Planet earth
• Gotye – Hearts a mess
• Ladyhawke – Paris is burning
• Lambchop – Sharing a Gibson with Martin Luther King Jr.
• Lykke Li – I’m good, I’m gone
• Metronomy – Heartbreaker
• Mogwai – Scotland’s Shame; Devil Rides
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – More news from nowhere
• Noah and the Whale – 5 years
• Pete and the Pirates – Mr Understanding
• Remember Remember – Fountain Mountain
• Santogold – You’ll find a way
• Those Dancing Days – Hitten

Rather an indiepop-tastic selection this year (getting old?) but fuck it.  My favourite?  Hmmmm.  Fountain Mountain probably (the original version rather than the split version that appeared on the album).

Books:

I managed to get through an impressive 53 books this year (not including comics) and out of those my favourites were:

• We need to talk about Kevin – Lionel Shriver
• The Murder of Roger Akroyd – Agatha Christie
• I am Legend – Richard Matheson
• Regeneration – Pat Barker

My favourite was ‘We need to talk about Kevin’ – an incredibly powerful and compelling story.  Plus this was the year I discovered Agatha Christie and more importantly, Poirot.  The full list is at my Goodreads site on the right.

So, that’s it for the lists.  Not a bad year all in all.

 

Movies

It’s been a sparse month or so aside from Bond but there are a few things coming over the horizon that are getting me excited.

I wouldn’t class myself as a Trekkie; I’m a geek in many ways over many things but Star Trek has never been a huge one.  I mean I enjoyed Next Generation and I was quite partial to Voyager but only if they happened to be on when I sat down with nothing to do.  I’ve never really seen the orginal series aside from a few episodes (and I think nearly everyone has seen the Tribbles episode, fan or not).  But the new trailer that came out a week back for the new film looks stunning.  It’s made me really quite excited to see what they’re done and (much to K’s amusment) did make me spend more than a few hours on Wikipedia reading about Star Trek continuity.

And today the first proper trailer for the new Friday the 13th movie was released.  To me that is a very cool thing.  Regardless of their actual artistic value I love the Friday 13th movies.  I have them all (aside from Jason goes to Hell which I couldn’t find) and they sit side by side with my complete Nightmare on Elm Street collection and the orginal Hallowe’en (one of my old time top 10 movies and a classic of the genre).  F13th was all about schlock horror, amazing deaths and good old fun.  The new film is a reboot and is taking elements from the original 3 movies.  It looks awesome, visceral, fun and most of all scary.  Plus the trailer is a wonderful homage to the ’death count’ trailers for the orginal movies.  

Also about to hit screens is the Day the Earth Stood Still remake which intially never really got me but has slowly got me interested.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button looks like it’s going to be well worth seeing and despite my feelings about Sin City and the like, I’m still interested in seeing The Spirit.

Bring on the popcorn.

 

Picking pennies from the floor with my cold, cold hands

Ah nights.  Barely have I started before going back onto nights.  Still, I quite like the solitary, dark nature of a week of nights.  I was awake from 9 to 18.30 which was pretty stupid – I’m going to be suffering for that soon.  Plus, daytime sleeping’s going to be tough as it’s so damn hot.  May have to sleep downstairs on our sofa bed as I can turn the AC on.  And tonight there’s no coordinator meaning I can be bleeped by anyone, for anything.  Potentially bad.

Got my first pay cheque this week which was nice and necessary.  I now owe K a huge amount of money so will be her bitch for the next month or two until that’s paid off.  It probably would have just been simpler to transfer my English money here but then if I always did the simpler option I’d have nothing to keep me occupied.

So we also saw Four Holidays the other night.  Now before you say anything, K got free tickets from one of the local radio stations.  Someone rang her to say they had got them so she should ring, which she did, only to be told by the DJ you had to ring when a certain song was playing.  Then he just gave them to her anyway!  Film was mediocre at best.  Occasionally funny but a lot of the characters where genuinelly unpleasant.  Glad I didn’t pay for it.

I’m gradually getting through a huge number of photos from Nepal and New Zealand (the latter number are steadily increasing just by being here) so will post some here once organised.

 

Flying Santa

As described:

How traditional!  Just like I remember as a kid.

 

The man with the second face

I am indeed still alive.  Just been having fun.

Our trip around parts of the South Island a few weeks back was wonderful.  The scenery and landscape was great.  Photos are being sorted out as we speak and I will post them up here soon.

Started work last Monday and so far things are going well.  I’m on one of the respiratory teams and my consultant is about the nicest man you could ever meet.  It’s very quiet though which is a bit annoying.  Right now I’ve got 2 patients and nothing to do for most of the day, and that’s after being on call all of last week.  Acting as a house officer again is a bit weird too as I want to get a bit more involved.  However, with so few patients it’s not really possible.  I’m hoping things will improve on that front – I want to get stuck in and learn something.

I’ve been on call twice and those have been for the most part really quiet too – I cover respiratory, cardiology and renal.  And it’s quiet!  I’ve not known it like that before.  Well, I start nights this Friday so we shall see how that goes.

Good things include days which finish at 4, free meals every day, nice people, fast and efficient service and a nice walk home through the park in the sun.

—————————————————

This weekend just past we went to the Coca Cola Christmas in the Park concert which was extremely cheesy but turned out to be quite good fun.  Picnic in the park, scorching sun, drinking wine, listening to Pop Idol wannabes singing christmas carols.  Plus we watched Santa arrive on his flying canoe.  It’s true.  See:

Funny night and they had a decent firework display to finish off the night.  The first photo takes you to the whole album.

Sunday I went to the beach with K and the girls while they all had a surfing lesson.  I stayed on the sand (it’s becoming increasingly common that I’m having to explain to people just why I don’t like being in the sea).  Weather wasn’t too nice though.

And tonight we went to see Ghost Town which I wasn’t fussed about seeing (just going as we were out for dinner and the girls wanted to see something).  However, it was really good; funny, Ricky Gervais is entertaining and easily carries the movie and for a RomCom (which it kind of is) it’s not too cliched.  Worth checking out while waiting for the release of the Spirit.

Anyway.  Later.

 

Just like a swimmer

K left the country yesterday for New Zealand (via LA) which is sad but exciting.  Sad as we don’t get to see each other for the next 3 months but exciting as it’s the start of a new life.  Exciting also because I got my job in Christchurch so now can buy my plane ticket.  Add to my ticket to Nepal I bought last week and life is very exciting.  Well, apart from today which is just ok.

Paid in a check, bought some books, then fought a massive desire to just read my book rather than do anything ‘constructive’.  Meh.  Plus the weather is switching from baking sun to pounding rain and back again at the touch of a random button.

———————————-

An interesting video for the new Mogwai single Batcat has been released.  It’s an odd tune, very metal.  I need to hear this album as a whole as none of the recent tunes seem to fit together.  Watch it here.

We saw The Dark Knight again the other day at the IMAX – it really does look great on such a huge screen and is worth the journey.

 

Stephen King’s ‘N’

Say what you will about Stephen King (I’m an unashamed fan) but he’s more than happy to embrace new story telling styles.

It’s a good idea – over the next 5 weeks there will be 25 two minute ‘graphic video episodes’ serialising his new short story ‘N’.  With a pan and scan format, comic style art, a real audio score and voice actors you can get daily updates for free online or via your mobile (if you live in the States).  The trailer is up and the first episode is available if you register.  If not it starts next Monday.  Click the pic:

The first part is wonderfully OTT in tone and it sounds like it will be a dark and addictive tale.  It looks great though the music is on the hokey side of horror.  I tried to grab the player for my blog but it wouldn’t work.  WordPress doesn’t like widgets much.

It has been jointly produced with Marvel and is due to be released as a comic mini series later in the year.  The King short story collection Just After Sunset in which ‘N’ appears is also out later in the year.  I find his short story collections the most rewarding for variety and enjoyment.  He is prone to occasional lengthy works of tedium (try reading Desperation for an exercise in pointlessness) so at least the odd crap story only lasts a short while and is usually followed up with something awesome.

Stephen King seems to be doing pretty well with Marvel right now – The Dark Tower series has so far been stunning and could easily run for a very long time.  As well as that the new serialisation of The Stand is shaping up to be a thing of wonder.  Say hello to Captain Trips:

It’s going to be nasty!  I’ve always thought (not to discredit the TV movie) The Stand would work really well as a long TV serial (with the right people and money) but a 35 part comic is a pretty good alternative.  Bring it on.

 

The Dark Knight

I am now content.

Turns out the seats were not bad afterall so me, K and a cinema of excited people sat down to watch the special advanced screening of The Dark Knight last night.  And it was everything I wanted.  Everyone played their part perfectly so credit to them all (not just Heath Ledger).

 

Regardless, the Joker is a magificent creation in this form.  I was genuinelly scared at times when he’s on screen as you just didn’t know what was going to happen.  The sense of instability is ramped up even more by the marvellous and deeply unsettling score.  All the whining and screeching really put me on edge.  The mob and the disappearing pencil trick was about as terrifying and succinct introduction to a charcter I’ve ever seen.  He got multiple cheers and shocked utterances from the crowd the whole way through.  Plus I’m really glad I didn’t sneak a peak at Two Face all those months ago on the leaked images.  Jesus H Christ!

The only concern of mine is I cannot see where it can go next.  I almost don’t want it to.  Stil, going to see it on IMAX soon so can really sit through and enjoy it for what it is.

What with seeing Wall-E (twice) last week (just as good if not better the second time) and this I’m pretty happy.  Roll on Hellboy 2 in a few weeks.

Start nights tonight for the next week so probably more blogging.

 

Feeling better

Am indeed.

Supposed to be going back home today to start moving things back into storage (or my Mum’s house as it’s commonly known).

Last night I saw Wall-E which I’ve been looking forward to since seeing the teaser with Ratatouille and it was every bit as wonderful as I hoped it would be.  It has such heart and looks beautiful and makes me really happy that there are film companies out there that are trying their hardest to make small bundles of magic.  Pixar (aside from Cars which isn’t bad per se, I just have no connection with it) can do no wrong.

I was welling up though most of the movie and I’m not sure why.  The very first time I saw the teaser it made me teary eyed as he sat looking up at space and for some reason it still does.  It’s not sadness, it’s just somehow formed a connection in a way I don’t understand.  I like that.  It’s a powerful feeling.

Aside from that, the trailer for Watchmen leaves me cautiously excited that they may be doing this right.  I’m a fan of the comic (though not a rabid one – I just appreciate it) and think a film is a bad idea (and I really didn’t like 300 so Zack Synder has a lot to live up to), but it looks right, it feels right and it seems like they’re trying to treat it with respect.  If you haven’t read it then go get it.  Click the pic to watch the trailer.

There’s also very little time to watch the complete saga of Dr Horrible, so please do.  It’s worth it.

 

Some movies

Watched Hancock last night which was pretty fun.  It couldn’t quite work out what it wanted to be though.  Partly a comedy which worked fairl well (the whale throwing gag still gets me) but also partly serious drama which also worked fairly well.  However, together they didn’t work as well – moments of tension and darkness startlingly mixed with coarse humour.  Still, brave attempt at telling a different slant on the whole superhero thing.

Also better than Wanted which i saw last week and just seemed to lack something.  not sure what but it just felt lacking.  Looked pretty and very little else.  Oh well, one more day till Dr Who…

 

So easy to please

I would probably write here more often were it not for crappy internet access.  Anyway.

K and I had a nice holiday in Sardinia last week (hot, mostly great food and even a few rare days on a beach – I know!  I even have a vague tan).  Still, going immediately back to a week of renal nights takes the fun away slightly.  As such I also can’t see the Incredible Hulk till next week.  I wasn’t that keen to start with (ans still remain one of the 10 people in the world who actually really like Ang Lee’s Hulk).  Still, iron Man was awesome and I’m so excited about the concept of an Avenger’s movie that I’ve bought into it.  I’m just a big sucker for continuity.

I was also looking forward to The Happening (being a big fan of M. Night) but the reviews have been so terrible I’m not sure whether I can make time for it.  Both Iron Man and Hulk came out while on nights and if that happens with Dark Knight (my most anticipated movie this year – closely followed by Wall-E) I’m going to be narked.  Wait a minute…FUCK FUCK FUCK – I am on nights.  Damn it all to hell.

Sulking now.

More another time.

 

Please prescribe the red one…

20 past 1 in the morning.  Psychiatric hospitals can be quite creepy at this time of night.  My second of three nights currently. 

Last night was ridiculously quiet but tonight’s already been a lot busier.  It’s still strange compared to medical nights though.  I mean, medical you’re up and working pretty much all night.  Here, I could have gone to bed at 10.30 last night and slept through (as it was I went to bed at 2 after arsing around and reading for a while).  But then you don’t know whether to sleep much in the day as you’ve just had an entire nights sleep.  Thing is if you stay up all day and then have a really rough night you could be awake for over 24hrs which is never going to be conductive to work or ability to funtion.  So, I went to bed last night and during the day.  And now I have a headache as my body has no fucking idea what’s going on!

While I’m thinking of it: movie update of recent weeks:

I actually really liked 1408.  I’m a big Stephen King fan as most people know (and am actually reading The Tommyknockers at the moment) and enjoy his short stories almost more than the novels so was rather glad this got made.  It’s a good adaptation and John Cusack did an amazing job.  An imaginative and creepy presentation of an old, potentially cliched story.

Really did very little for me after expecting so much.  There are some really funny moments but about half way through the humour seems to disappear and it just gets really unpleasant.  I don’t mean in a gratuitous sense, more watching people trying to deal with difficult situations badly and everyone being so negative and aggresive to everyone else just got really depressing.  I’m still holding out for Superbad though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shoot ‘em up is the most ridiculously entertaining thing I’ve seen since Transformers and before then…well, who knows?  It’s amazingly fun, completely stupid and absolutely worth watching.  Paul Giamatti and Clive Owne are so much fun.  Watch it.

I’m pretty sure I actually had something to say rather than just talking about movies but I’m tired and have a headache so may leave it at that.

 

Plus

Count me cautiously excited…

 

Mirrored

So on Tuesday night I saw Battles at the Concorde 2.  And they were AWESOME (excuse the shouting).  Seriously, they were storming.  Considering their style of music they were so tight and so electrifying I have no idea how they held it together that well.  The whole thing from start to finish was intense and relentless and their drummer seriously deserves an arms of steel award because he must be a machine.  Atlas was great but I really liked Ddiamond.  They played most of Mirrored with some of the EP stuff.  Nice work.  Supported by Math Class who seemed interesting but we only caught the last 3 tracks.  After getting upset at not blagging myself a ticket anywhere my mate managed to get a ticket off a tout for a bargain so I ran down and was subsequently very happy.

Then last night I got to see the Bourse Ultimatum and it was every bit as good as I wanted to it to be.  One of the most entertaining and thrilling films I’ve seen in a long while.  The tension at times, in fact, the whole way through was, well, intense (English not working too well today).  Really gripping and a real connection to the character.  Matt Damon again demonstrates why he’s a great actor.  Add that to Harry Potter and Transformers and we’re having a late resurgence of the mostly crap summer season.  Now on the distant horizon I’m left waiting for Iron Man, The Dark Knight and Hulk (along with a few others that aren’t based on comics).  Oh yeah, Northern Lights (don’t care what you say – it’s called Northern Lights, not the Golden Compass).

Anyway, got to go.  Enjoying Brighton!

 

Sad songs remind us of friends…

It’s been a hectic week since getting back from the Lakes. Suffering from the late nights and the stress already though I did have 4 people tell me in the first few days that I looked like I’d gone on holiday which was nice.

Got my flat sorted in Brighton and going to meet the landlord Tuesday to finalise the details. Excellent.

And then on Thursday I saw Mogwai at Somerset House in London. And? I hate to say it but I came away slightly disappointed. Crap. It wasn’t the best I’ve seen them though maybe after the legendary Royal Albert Hall gig I might have to scale back my expectations. They were just on fire that night. Anyway, the venue was great (large open air courtyard) with perfect weather. It was also in surround sound which was pretty cool and being in the middle did sound awesome. Most of the feedback came through and felt like the noise was washing over you from all directions. But they didn’t seem to find the volume until half way through. Near the end there were moments of ear splitting intensity but nothing as bad as I’ve seen before.

But my biggest problem came with the setlist:

• superheroes of bmx
• friend of the night
• I know you are but what am I?
• ratts of the capital
• 7:25
• hunted by a freak
• R U still in 2 it?
• travel is dangerous
• stop coming to my house
• ex-cowboy
• small children in the background
• glasgow mega-snake
• we’re no here

encore:

• cody
• 2 rights make 1 wrong

First the good: they played some older tracks and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen them play R U still in 2 it which went beyond awesome as they had the legendary Aiden Moffet (from the sadly defunct Arab Strap) turn up to provide the hauntingly melancholy vocals. Unfortunately half the crowd didn’t know who he was. They also played ex-cowboy which is the song that started it all off for me (and still sounds darkly relentless – they played this one loud), GMS was ridiculously entertaining as always and there was a lot of singing this time especially from Stuart (not seen that for a while).

The bad? Well, the opening truncated version of Superheroes could have been better (it’s on of my top 5 gwai tunes) but my main gripe is no Herod, no Fear Satan, no Helicon and no Xmas Steps? And no big ending? They had a brief 5 min sonic assult after we’re no here, then came back for their encore. 2 rights was done pretty well but I saw the definitive version of this at the RAH and this just couldn’t compare. Still, beautiful song which was played out and ended suddenly as it does and then…goodnight, thanks very much. I stood there for about 10 mins with a bewildered look on my face waiting for them to come back on and end it properly but no. 11pm, curfew, end of gig. No final monumentous sonic adventure with mountains of feedback and distortinfg and pure mind fucking noise? Nope. It’s like you’re having the most mind blowing sex ever and then just as you’re about to come everything suddenly stops and that’s it (an analogy the women are more likely to relate to I suspect). I have to say that really got to me.

So, not the best time ever and an odd way to end it but hey. They’re still my favourite band and I’m devoted to them so can’t complain too much. Support was from Malcolm Middleton (the other member of the Strap) and he was really quite awesome. Set was mainly from his recent A Brighter Beat which is a great little album and worth checking out. Only members of the Strap could sound so cheery while singing about such depressing things!

Then while feeling low anyway on Friday I managed to miss the leaving do of one of my favourite people I’ve met this year. Mainly because I fell asleep after getting home form work and didn’t leave to really late, by which point it was over. Rectified this by going down to Brighton yesterday and having coffee with her and later her husband. I still find it strange that I have married friends. In fact, the more people I find / find me on Facebook, the more people I know are married or have kids. Scary shit.

As I was feeling low Friday I went to see Harry Potter in the middle of the night which I’m glad to say was awesome. I really don’t like the 5th book, it’s too long and Harry is such a miserable moody fuck in it that I can barely cope reading it. However, they really did a good job with the adaptation and the movie is tight and really cinematic. They portray him well, get across his frustration and rage without alienating him and they make the ending exciting opposed to the let down I felt with the book. The final battle is truly a spectacle. Really can’t wait till next week when the final one comes out. Not that I’ll be able to read it for a few days as I’m doing the Three Peaks next weekend. More on that later though as this has become really long.

 

Tideland

Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie quite like that. You have to go and see this now, even if just to see how it affects you. This is dark and sinister and bizarre. It’s frightening and it’s uncomfortable. It’s brave and challenging and deeply disturbing. Yet it’s also perfectly innocent and that’s what really got me. You can really tell it’s a Terry Gilliam film. No one else quite like him. This man should be allowed to make whatever he wants.

The story is extremely dark but it’s told through the eyes of a child and that’s how you have to see it (as Mr Gilliam himself explains in the intro – and after watching it I really understand why he did that). Visually it’s stunning, with wonderful fantasy elements, use of colour and some exquisite cinematography. But the performance of Jodelle Ferland as the young Jeliza-Rose whose world we are drawn into is phenomenal. Right from the beginning it’s captivating. She is so wonderfully accomplished that she carries almost the entire film. If this had been portrayed by some one with less skill the film would have been on very dodgy ground but she absolute convinces.

It reminds me of Pan’s Labyrinth (another truly wonderful film about the horror of life seen by a child) and is every bit as exciting, dangerous and disturbing. Also, every bit wonderful, fantastical and tragic.

I genuinely felt very uncomfortable throughout bits of this and it did challenge me but by the end I was completely overcome and realised I had tears in my eyes. A very powerful movie. I really want to watch it again with a few friends who would really get it. Watch it.

 

 

A nice sight to drink to

Feeling a little bit better but I’ve got a dirty cough which is unpleasant.  Today was a bit of a blow out.  Got down to Brighton after lunch and mooched around in the grey rain.  And the guys I was supposed to meet up with to check out the flat never showed.  Turned out (later) that she had lost her phone last night.  So, nothing really achieved but I did buy some music, some comics and a dvd.

There’s a really good, small indie/alternative record store in the North Laines called Resident which pretty much has everything that isn’t part of the mainstream including all the indie from the US and Canada.  Basically my shopping heaven.  Can’t wait till I can go there every week and buy music slightly more eclectic than that at HMV or Virgin.

Picked up the new album by The National:

I really liked Alligator and this is as good on first few listens, maybe better (though there’s nothing quite so exciting as Mr November).  The melancholy, subdued vocals are really enchanting and there’s some great percussion work here.  It’s very peaceful despite all the guitars and wotnot.  The Editors should take note.

I also bought the début album from Amiina:

They provided the string section for Sigur Ros on the last few albums and this is their debut.  It’s all quiet, melodic, wispy, beautifulness with a host of strange instruments.  Really quite lovely and great for unwinding.  Can’t wait to let this one sink in a bit more.  Plus, the cd packaging is great – it’s a thick, gatefold cardboard sleeve (similar to the stuff they make young kids books out of – the ones you can really chew the corners of) which looks and feels divine.  Always nice to see thought going into packaging.

I also bought Tideland by Terry Gilliam which I’ve been meaning to buy for a while, so will let you know what I think of it once I get round to watching it (maybe tonight if I get my arse into gear and actually do some of the things I need to do before morning comes around).

Off to Brighton again to tomorrow to check out another flat (and have a few lined up for next weekend) so fingers crossed.  Chilli on the hob, bubbling away.  I’m off.

 

Philosophy and girls

I finally got around to watching Broken Flowers while home alone and feeling poorly (though slightly better than before). And I’m not sure what to make of it. Seriously.

It suited my current mood and need for quiet. I got a little tired at the camera work and didn’t always like the style or composition. There were a few scenes and characters that really surprised and delighted me (Lolita was dangerously innocent; Chloe Sevigny’s secretary stole the entire movie). Bill Murray is always a joy to watch but when it really came down to it I feel he did a similar thing to much more powerful effect in Lost in Translation. I’m not even entirely sure I liked it but it has left me thinking which I appreciate. Plus it has a great soundtrack. I would recommend it as an experience.

To bed (and hopefully better health tomorrow). Off to Brighton tomorrow to meet up with potential new flatmates.

 

Flat hunting: day 1

Actually never had to really do this before so it’s a new thing for me.

Need to find somewhere to live in Brighton next year. Preferably with 3 other ‘young professionals’ in a flat-share, close to the centre, with fun people who are friendly. Not too much to ask for. Hmmmm. So far have found 3 potentials and have shot off emails. And to top it all off the very first flat I found (via Facebook) is someone who knows my mate Toby (my longest ’serving’ friend). Small world.

Don’t have that much time though before I have to move (what with going on holiday again soon). Then this made me all smiley:

Yes I’m such a child. Yes, and a geek. So? Later.