Posts (page 2)
I laughed quite a lot. I smiled wryly quite a lot. I cried quite a lot.
I wished there was more of it quite a lot. I wasn't sure I could take it when it turned out there was more.
I heartily recommend this especially to someone we all call John who I predict will pretend to like it less than I say he will which is lots plus or minus a bit of random pants for the custard cream section of the review team (you know who you are).
Not sure I need any more seemingly clever metaphor laden whimsical acoustic two handed ballads ever mind you.
Don't read this until after you've seen it. Unless you want to I suppose. Or unless someone holds a gun to your head. And points the holey end at you.
What's the best thing about today?
I get to spend all of it with my daughter :) :) :)
Dunno why I'm doing this but John said I would so it must be destiny:
Four jobs I have had:
1) Bean picker
2) Beer pourer
3) Pretend advertising executive
4) Credit data analyst
Best one of these was bean picker.
Four movies I could watch over and over:
1) The Princess Bride
2) Gattaca
3) Fight Club
4) Adaptation
Four places I have lived:
1) West Ham
2) East Ham
3) North Dublin
4) Guildford
Four TV shows I watch:
1) Top Gear
2) Friends
3) House
4) Dr Who
Good job it wasn't five.
Four places I have been:
1) The Eiffel Tower
2) The Blue Mosque
3) The World Trade Centre
4) The doldrums
Four foods I like:
1) Battenburg cake (but there doesn't seem to be any in the shops recently?!)
2) Lamb and mint sauce
3) Beef pot noodle
4) Oranges
Four people who Email me regularly:
1) Me
2) Wife
3) erm... gets a bit sketch after that
4) "People at work, all the while...."
Four places I would rather be right now:
1) Nowhere
2) Asleep in our bed
3) Underwater
4) Sitting around, talking with my friends
Four friends I think will definitely repsond:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Four things I am looking forward to in the next year:
2) Getting some sleep
3) Deciding on a haircut
4) Going running again once my feet get better
Oh and 5) Forgot to mention I'm really excited about getting my new bike. Yippee! Only two weeks to go. Like this except mine's red.
List five reasons (at least) why you are awesome.
Submitted by goobers18.
1. I am awesomely modest.
2. I can go to the toilet standing up using one hand whilst holding and playing with a baby with the other; without the two activities interfering with each other.
3. I was instrumental in the creation of said baby.
4. I am alive, unique and continually changing.
5. I always have a sense of scale.
6. I can ride a unicycle.
7. I have awesome critics.
8. I am standing on the shoulders of giants.
9. Awesomething.
Firstly, thanks to James for the free tickets.
If you haven't seen this film you can read the first part without spoiling anything, I'll tell you when to stop. Except to say that it's almost always better to see any film without knowing anything in advance. I once fell down on this when I went to see Ed Wood with Johnny Depp. If only I'd known it was a true story I might have enjoyed it fractionally. Anyway, onto:
****/5 while you're in the theatre, but only * for what you come away with.
Great, attention grabbing opening scenes of a man stacking clothes and photos into a barbecue as though to excise himself of a lover. Then it's all slick vari-speed slow motion, focus blurs and inventive use of camera angles. To my mind these were creative enough to avoid post-Matrix visual cliche and give a strong hyper reality feel that should see the film stand the test of time rather than freezing it in the noughties along with a host of other big budget try-hards.
Right from the beginning we're asked to question what we're seeing but it starts in a subtle way. He buys crack, then has to stop to ask someone what to do with it. Afterwards he comes round in a panic and calls 911 "I have no belly button!... and that poses frightening questions about who I am". Our wayward TV star gets in the car to go to hospital and the resulting crash lands him under house arrest. Then it seems the film is then going to calm down, but it's only calm on the surface. The metaphysical unease is causing a disquieting undertow. Then the number nines start creeping in. All good fun.
At one point in the film during focus group trials for a new TV drama, they paraphrase Hitchcock "you should never confuse the audience". The whole film is one big confusion of twists, turns, half revealed truths and theories but it's a finely balanced act keeping your mind on tiptoes almost throughout. Is it a reality TV show, is he mad, are we seeing the finished drama product that's going on TV, is it a virtual reality computer game or the Matrix or is this the real world? Every time you think you know what's going on, the scenario changes completely, the actors start playing different roles and you really do have to think on your feet to stay in the game. Just how I like it.
Right at the beginning, they were happy to only imply the burning down of the house without showing it at all; we only ever see the match in mid-air before the screen burns into the next scene. Despite this powerful restraint, they have to grind the final ending into us with their dumbed down Disneyesque boot heel. Do they really think that people who haven't followed it to the end will feel better for being patronised like that? I blame the focus groups. This film could have become a cult classic on the shelf next to Donnie Darko but ironically, it seems they messed it up by being scared of confusing people. It's excellent though, you should have a look for yourself.
If you've seen it or don't care about ruining the ending:
Pixies fans won't be surprised by the final analogy, except God isn't seven and there's no mention of heaven. In this version, monkeys are six, man is seven and surprisingly koala bears are 8. I do wonder whether the whole film is just another by-product of the Scientologist's world domination via Hollywood and the same philosophy that created My Name Is Earl. There is a mention of Karma in the film somewhere and it certainly makes you consider your position in the grand scheme of things. The final upshot is that we're supposed to believe that the world we live in in its 91st incarnation and it was created by this being who's just got addicted to playing with his powers. He's not God but if God is a 10, he's a 9. I'm sure it would have been a much better film if they hadn't spelled it out beyond saying this and we really could have done without the attempts to portray the consciousness of multidimensional beings floating away from the earth using CGI glittering diamonds. What a waste of money.
I always think that superior beings would use a higher base for their number system as well so I doubt they should be nines. Probably they should be The Fs. That would make this film a C.8
No 24 in a collaborative series with James. (Not that he had any choice).
Strangely I usually eat my breakfast at my desk nowadays and that means there is no after breakfast and before work since work is during breakfast and vice-versa. There is a spoon.
Would you sign a prenuptial agreement? Why or why not?
Submitted by Lantastic.
No. It's too late.
Who would you like to trade places with for one day and why?
Submitted by Nathalie.
I wouldn't need a day. I'd lock myself naked in a cupboard with a timelock and trade places with rupert murdoch for twenty minutes then transfer all his dosh to a private numbered account in Switzerland and not tell him the number. Yes I did mean to spell his name without capital letters.
When was the last time you made a drastic change to your personal style (i.e., wardrobe, hairstyle, etc.)? What did you do?
Submitted by miyna.
Yesterday I bought a bright orange trendy mountain cagoule type thing to hide in my rucksack when it's sunny. It's great except the first person I spoke to accused me of looking like a road mender. Then again I wore it in the rain on the way to nursery today and I was DRY underneath. Much better than the one I threw away yesterday which was ten years old and had reached the stage of just holding some of the water against my body to keep me cold.
Not very drastic I'll give you but I can't remember that. I suppose that would be when I shaved my beard off in the middle of erm 2005.
However I'll never forget when I shaved my long long hair off when I was at college and half a dozen people I'd sat next to for a couple of years completely ignored me.
So after seeing Steve Vai at Hammersmith on Sunday night and talking to James about guitars and stuff, I got my bass out from under the bed and it's great how I can still go thunkety plunkety chickachicka booblybom dooby dowoomh bongk as badly as I ever could.
Then I was trying to find some footage of Jonas Hellborg playing acoustic bass to link to (couldn't find any) and discovered loads of blokes on you tube posting videos of themselves playing along with commercial tracks. What's the point? Can't imagine there's any explanation other than that they are tubes.
