We have Lily… she’s currently sleeping, which is exactly what she has been doing for the last four hours. Oh to be a puppy and sleep that much. I slept really badly last night and could do with another four hours sleep. Oh well I guess she’ll be up and about later.
She’s gotten loads bigger, she has big floppy ears and huge paws. She didn’t get car sick and she likes eating my fingers.
Right, going back to watching really bad film on ITV.
Five seconds after stepping off the puddle jumper, it felt as though I’d never left, that the gap of five months could have been five days. All in all it was a duration of five, one way or another, count it in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks or months. I was back in London for a Expo at Earls Court.
I was walking down the underpass from Paddington Station and all the chilled, lassez faire approach to things went out the window and I wanted to scream at the person who was weaving from side to side with her kid, taking up all the space, “The sign says KEEP FUCKING LEFT” It took every ounce of lip biting to stop myself. Why does London do this to me?
I don’t know what I was expecting when I got the station, but it wasn’t what appeared to be the Harry Potter film crew filming at the end of the platform I pulled into.
Still I got lots of ideas for work, which I’ll probably forget no doubt. It’s also nice to be home, even if it appears to have turned into the Lake District round here.
I have a cold… I’m not that impressed, because someone at work shared it with me. I manage to make it all winter without getting a cold or the flu thanks to my flu jab, but now I’ve got a cold and I don’t feel so fantastic. Finding it hard to breath, so I’m sure I’ll be sucking away on my inhailer for most of the day.
Can’t decide whether to go back to bed and watch cheesy films in the comfort of bed, go and finish the visio diagram I’ve been doing for work, or stay on the sofa and watch Mega Movers day on the History Channel… bleurgh.
If you’re bored, and fancy looking at some amazing science, then might I recommend you pop along to www.google.com/sky It might just blow your mind.
This week has been all things science. I’ve watched the two part documentary on Stephen Hawking, a National Geographic documentary on Huble (amusing as it was filmed years ago and the assumptions it made about what was going to happen in the future were ever so slightly askew) and now I’m in the middle of watching Contact.
The debate about being able to go into space is an interesting one. Whilst I’m a science geek at heart (even if I was lousy at it when I was at school, doesn’t help me being in awe of modern scientific achievements) and I’m not in the slightest way religious (lets not get started on that one), I don’t fancy going into space. I’m happy to sit here on earth, and let others have fun.
My mind is torn between exploring distant galaxies for other life, or the quest to understand how our galaxy was born. Perhaps with better understanding of where we came from we might be able to understand what life is out there, and how we can communicate with it. I still can’t get my mind around space being infinite, I mean surely, it’s got to stop somewhere? If it’s infinite, and galaxies are expanding how can they expand any further if space doesn’t stop? I know it’s the cliché from the teaching advert, but it’s quite true in asking, what the hell can we expand into?
Of course I’m all for SETI, I’m just a bit hesitant, not for the spiritual reasons that would bug so many, but because, well, you’ve seen what Hollywood has made of Sci-Fi… I’m sure not everything out there is good, there being so much hatred and suffering on our own planet, what makes us assume it’s going to be any better out there?
Well thanks to some lying bitch in Humberts in Salisbury who sold us out, more to the point gave the house we wanted to a family who saw the place after us, we have nowhere to move to. Time is running out, and we won’t be moved by the time I start my new job. I’m now stressed to the max. I’m also very angry that the sanctimonious bitch gave away the property and lied to me.
Christmas is upon us and the only small victory is my seven foot Christmas tree, and a smattering of presents nestling underneath it’s plastic boughs.
I went to deliver Christmas presents today, and whilst shivering my arse off in the sheltered arcade at the top of Victoria street, a brass band was playing Christmas carols. I came to realise two things whilst sitting there trying to remember Bear Gryll’s survival tricks to warm my extremites up. 1. they were actually very good, and 2. I only know one verse of just about every Christmas carol they were playing.
I’m tired, bone weary tired. I am hoping for some good luck, and for it to come very fast. Tomorrow I shall be wrapping presents and watching cheesy Christmas films.
I seem to have a thing going on with the number two (not that number two you sick creatures), I mean a tale of two comedians and now two books, two films.
Last week my rental copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix arrived. As this was the film version of the biggest Potter book, I was expecting, well, more… I have to say I was deflated and let down. There were so many good things in the book that were simply missing from the film. Somethings I could understand, but the Hospital scene, totally gone! why? You got to see Neville’s parents, and it would have been pretty good to see the Hospital. Instead you got “look everyone, Dad’s back from hospital”… err, where was the gag with him trying to get stitches? Pah. I felt there was far too much missing from the book that it seemed watered down and without direction. I want to say more, but well there’s not much point.
And the other book? The Northern Lights, for I will call it that as it’s the British title of the book, ok so the film is called The Golden Compass, but I know it as the Northern Lights. I saw the film today, I’ve read the book twice. Hmmm… and indeed Hmmm… I have doubts over the casting of some of the characters, don’t get me wrong, there were some excellent actors and actresses in it, but I think it lacked conviction on places. Ten out of Ten for the casting of Serafina Pekala, Farder Coram, Lee Skoresby, Ma Costa and Lord Faa, but the rest? hmmm.
Dakota Blue Richards hasn’t convinced me she is Lyra, merely that she’s probably a stroppy little madam. She seemed to struggle (as I did when reading), with the colloquialisms laid out in the book, words like “en’t” they just seemed to stick, and hang, just as much as if she’d said “fuck” at the most inopportune place. As for Ian McKellan, he has an imposing voice, and as Gandalf it was as if he was born to play that role. As Iorek Byrnson, he was not. My first thought was Patrick Stewart, they’re voices are quite similar.
I was interested to hear that Daniel Craig was playing Lord Asriel and
Nicole Kidman was playing Mrs Coulter. Daniel Craig had the worst line
in the film “Can’t we sort this out like gentlemen” (I actually
cringed) and Mrs Coulter just wasn’t as venomous as I’d hoped. Both
excellent actors let down by a poor script. Daniel Craig was especially let down, when you read the book, and try to imagine Lord Asriel Daniel Craig works as someone to portray him, but for some reason he just didn’t work.
I knew what was coming when I saw it for the first time on the screen, and then I thought, “oh god, please don’t let them do that every time Lyra reads the Aletheometer”… Sadly as there is no god, my prayers were not answered. The worst special effect of the film was played over and over every time the Aletheometer was consulted. The dust came swirling out of the centre of the Aletheometer and you got to see what it was telling Lyra, only it was not constructed well and you couldn’t clearly see what she was seeing. I think had they had a stronger actress, she could have explained away what it was saying, even if it was just to Pantalaemon.
Other special effects were better than hoped. For example the air-ships, using gyroscopes to power them was quite impressive. The Daemons, as a rule were quite convincing, with the exception of Mrs Coulter’s golden monkey, which just didn’t look right. There was some sloppy work in there though, the scene with Lyra riding on Iorek’s back across a frozen lake, did not flow very well, it looked, lumpy. When Mrs Coulter bent down to pick up her Daemon on the airship, it was clumsy, badly edited. I know a lot of money was spent on the effects, and they took a long time, but I felt they could have been done better in places.
Empire said that the ending had been cut, to act as a follow onto the next film, but it still came as a bit of a slap when you got to the end. I was all fired up for the ending. What they have done is imply that two of the main characters (for those of you who have not read or seen the film yet, I won’t spoil it in detail), will carry on throughout the next film, which in the book they do not, a whole new set of characters are introduced. Why would you do that? I don’t believe the director’s argument for doing so is a valid one.
Again this was another film that felt watered down, whilst the outline of the plot was in essence true to the book, it just didn’t feel as rich and full bodied as the book did. Perhaps they will polish it up further between the film and the DVD release, to give it that Lord of the Rings shine. It has to be said, even the special effects in the Harry Potter film were significantly better. It was good to see the film, to see it brought to life and alive, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I had hoped I would.
Update 6/12/07:
<a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7128985.stm”>Two “religious” reviews of the Golden Compass</a>, so following on from yesterday’s rather long post (above), today I read the linked reviews on BBC news online. The first one was a pathetic attempt at a review, focusing solely on the Magesterium as a Catholic style institution. Get over it, go harp on about how great the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is. It’s no reason to boycott what is in essence being marketed as a Christmas Kids film. The kids aren’t going to see the Religious divides in this, in less their parents indoctrinate them so much that they are forced to believe that is what the film is about. Yes I get the irony, and the sarcasm, but it’s not a film about Polar Bears.
The second review from the atheist, to a degree covered everything that I wanted to say (but probably did so poorly), he made the point I failed to, but also felt, the film was too short, it should be 2.5 hours long. I don’t like the idea, (and I think Philip Pullman agrees) that the film is being used to wage some religious war against Catholicism and Atheism. Whilst Pullman has recognised that the book is anti-religion, I think there is something beyond that in the book. The books are wonderful stories, the kind that open your mind and pull you through. As for them not being Children’s books? I think that’s incorrect, as you’ll find them in the 8 to 12 reading range in Waterstones… (I have copies, I was looking for Christmas presents).
Whilst I think the first review is a farce, I think the second one is pretty much spot on in terms of having to pull their finger out for the second and third books. Perhaps they should get Peter Jackson on the case, he seemed to have pulled off something completely amazing with the Lord of the Rings trillogy, I’m sure he didn’t spend as much as Wietz did on the Golden Compass and it was not a sloppy production in any way.
Well, I find myself at home with slightly more than the trapped nerve I first thought that I had (try trapped artery… long story), so I thought I would write my promised posts.
I don’t quite know what made me do it, perhaps it was seeing Stardust coming out on film, or perhaps it was Tom Reynolds waxing lyrical about him, but I found myself wandering to the Sci-Fi / fantasty section of Waterstones at Bluewater. I picked up Stardust and then thought, what the heck and picked up Neverwhere and American Gods for good measure.
I read Stardust first and whilst I liked the story, I thought it was a little short, it could have gone on for longer. I would write a stunning review of it, but it did leave me wanting more and was very disappointed that it didn’t really deliver what I wanted.
Neverwhere on the other hand, what a fantastic book. I think I have a bizarre fascination about the underground, bunkers and bizarre places, that’s why I loved it. What a way to provoke the mind into far off recesses of the psyche. I got completely lost in the book, it was like a nice warm blanket wrapping around you on a cold winters night. I went to bed thinking about it and I woke up enveloped in it.
American Gods, now that was just weird. I really enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong. It took me ages to read it, because I actually read it. Which surprised me somewhat. I was just a bit disappointed at the end. I guess I hoped for a different ending than what I got. I guess saying that I actually read the book is the biggest compliment that Neil Gaiman can get from me.
Not much of a review of any of them, but then I guess I’ll need to read them once, or twice, before giving you a proper blurby review of them.
Manic weekend! I think six hours in a hot car, not enough water, and heavy food contributed to the migrane and projectile vomiting at 4 o’clock on Saturday morning… still a good weekend was had by all. Cousin enjoyed trip, I un-wound somewhat, and dad enjoyed Eater Lunch at a country pub…. job well done.
My dad lent me The Queen, (no not that one, I’m sure that people might talk if they did), the film that’s just won all the Oscars. I have to say that I can see why Helen Mirren won the Oscar it was a stunning performance, and I sympathised with her. I can’t quite remember what happened to my feelings that week as I remember spending three days wanting to throw up quite a bit (I know you probably think there’s a pattern forming here, but honestly there’s not). From what I can remember it was a lovely shade of blue thanks to a job lot of blue curacao (the detrius, not my thoughts, although the blue curacao could have contributed quite significantly to the lack of memory, ok so it DID contribute quite a bit but that’s a story for another time).
Anyway, the film was rather good, and it only served to make me hate the Blairs even more. I would strongly suggest that their time coming to an end soon can’t be soon enough in my books, however, Brown must not stay. Again, I digress. I wanted to say that I watched Mansfield Park the other week, what an utter pile of crap. Who wrote the script? Was there a script? did it say “poorly cast actresses should look whistfully at each other a lot as they can’t act for toffee and there’s no point writing a decent script”? I mean seriously, who on earth though ITV could make a period drama? They should leave it to BBC and Merchant Ivory.
Which leads me nicely onto my final tie in (getting reasonably good at this aren’t I?), we stopped off at Wilton House this afternoon, which was used in a couple of scenes in the recent Pride and Prejudice film. Quite interesting, not much open to the public, but it is nice to see a stately home still owned and used by the family with some rooms open to the public. The grounds were probably better than the house, as it did seem a little muddled. Anyway, that’s enough for tonight, I’ve got stuff to sort out for work in the morning.
I may get around to blogging about the horsey set that were permanently camped out in the hotel / pub that we were staying in… If I hear one more person say “mummy” or “daddy” who’s old enough to know better I might go slightly postal…
Downloading the Top Gun soundtrack for your other half because he knows all the words to the film and laughs before the cheesy lines are said… I used to like the film, but it seems to have waned some what since the other half guiltily admitted he knows all the words. I’m obviously not watching the film because I’m typing this… Tom Cruise? pft, is Katie Holmes blind?
Well I’m still job hunting. I’m also now desperate for money… One will have to have a conversation with my solicitor on Tuesday regarding money owed to me…
Anyway, we decided to watch Star Wars this weekend (Episodes 4 - 6 as we watched 1-3 last week), and has anyone noticed the massive blooper in the second film (5)? Obi Wan says something about Luke being the last, then Yoda says there is another… well surely Obi Wan should know this as he was there during the birth… Strange one.
Anyway, I’m contemplating some posts to the blog which I’ll be working on in the next week.
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