Sputnik Sweetheart

Last night I listened to the last in the current series of That Mitchell and Webb Sound. It was really funny! It’s a pity that it’s over now. I also finished reading Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. The story is told by a 25 year old teacher known as K. whose best friend is 22 year old college dropout Sumire, whose main ambition in life is to become a writer and who models her look and lifestyle on her idol Jack Kerouac. Sumire falls madly in love for the first time with a woman named Miu, who is seventeen years older and already married. Puzzled by her feelings for Miu, Sumire bombards K., who is secretly in love with her, with late night telephone calls about life and the nature of love. However, one night K. receives a telephone call from a distraught Miu who tells her that Sumire has vanished on a remote Greek island. The book is surreal, funny, mysterious, enigmatic and often deeply moving. Despite only being 229 pages long the book tackles a lot of really big themes. It is definitely worth reading.

Later on I watched a TV show called Gameswipe, which was a comedy show about video games. It was really about the history and development of video games, along with reviews of popular games. It was also very funny. Some of the things in the show reminded me of some of the video games that I used to play years ago. I can still remember when they came on cassettes and it took about five minutes for a game to load. That’s if they loaded at all, I remember they were often really unreliable.

After that I watched a Doctor Who story from 1989 on DVD called “The Curse of Fenric”. In the story, the Doctor (played by Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) arrive in England during the Second World War, near a secret military base on the coast, where a new codebreaking machine is being developed. However, a group of Russian commandos are planning to steal the machine, however the Doctor is more interested in the ancient Viking curse that is rumoured to haunt the local area. Before long the local area is under attack from vampire monsters from the future, and a powerful ancient evil awakens. It is one of my favourite episodes of the show, and is much darker and a lot scarier than most of the other stories from the series

I walked to and from work again, and it was another really quiet and dull day. The systems all went down again this afternoon, so I spent the last half hour reading my book. I got a sausage supper on my way home, and shortly after I had eaten someone came around to try and sell a new gas and electricity supply but I wasn’t interested and was pretty irritated by the interruption, because the guy was giving his spiel for nearly quarter of an hour, before giving up, which meant that I missed the first ten minutes of this evenings Doctor Who on the radio.

Brave New Town

Last night I listened to a Doctor Who radio story called “Brave New Town”. In the story, the Doctor (played by Paul McGann) and Lucie (Sheridan Smith) arrive in a seemingly normal English town, only to find that the town is forever repeating the same day (September 1st 1991). The town is also located in Russia, and surrounded by the military, also the townspeople, who are strangely unconcerned by the strange events, are all hearing the smae strange voice in their heads. It was a pretty good story. Later on I was listening to a couple of crime stories which were pretty good.

I did some more writing last night. It wasn’t as much as I did last night but still some is better than nothing.

I did walk to and from work again today. It was another very slow and quiet day at work as usual. It was really dull.

Persepolis

Last night I was watching an animated French film from 2007 on TV called Persepolis, directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. The movie is based on the autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi. Opening in an airport in Paris, Marjane Satrapi (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) contemplates boarding a plane to Iran, as she waits, she remembers her childhood experiences during the 1979 revolution in Iran, and subsequent war with Iraq. It was a really good movie, very stylishly animated, and intelligent, moving and often very funny.

Before the movie I did manage to do some writing which I was really quite happy about.

Today was the start of another week at work. In order to get some exercise, instead of taking the bus, I walked to and from work (which takes about half an hour each way). It was a very slow and very dull day in the office as it almost always is.

The Looking-Glass War

Last night I was listening to a documentary on the radio called Archive on 4: Self on Ballard, in which novelist Will Self talked about the life and work of his friend and fellow author J.G. Ballard who died in April this year. Ballard started out by writing science-fiction novels that dealt mainly with the psychological effects of futuristic technology before moving on to grim and controversial works such as High-Rise and Crash, which was turned into an equally controversial film by David Cronenberg. He had his biggest success in the 1980s though with his semi-autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, which was turned into a film by Steven Spielberg. I’ve read quite a few of the J.G. Ballard novels so it was an interesting show.

I also read the final story in the Just After Sunset collection by Stephen King. This final story was a pretty long one called “A Very Tight Place”, and told the pretty gross story of a man trapped in a portable toilet by a maniac.

Today I went along to the corner shop and bought some milk and some sugar. I also got the latest issue of Total Film magazine. The main feature this month was the 100 movie-related things and people that are likely to be popular over the next year (including video-game adaptations, horror movie remakes, social-networking and Ellen Page).

When I got back home I listened to the second and final part of the radio adaptation of The Looking-Glass War based on the 1965 John le Carre novel. The story revolves around a small and forgotten section of the British Secret Service called “The Deaprtment” which sees a chance to enhance it’s status by infiltrating an agent into East Germany, when it comes across weak evidence that Soviet missiles are being placed near the West German border. It was pretty good, and complex, with a very bleak conclusion.

After that I went and started cleaning my bedroom. It has been a really exciting day.

Max Warp

Last night I listened to another Doctor Who radio play. This episode was called “Max Warp”, and was set in the far future where one of the most popular TV shows is a spaceship show called “Max Warp”, however when one of the presenters is killed when the spaceship he is testing crashes into a planet, the Doctor(Paul McGann) believes that it is more than just an accident, and that someone is trying to reignite an old interplanetary war. It was a really fun episode, even if much of it is a parody of the British motoring TV show Top Gear. Later on I listened to the fifth and final part of the radio adaptation of Murder at the Vicarage, based on the Agatha Christie novel.

Later on I watched the second episode of the new series of Peep Show, which was very funny. I was also reading a few more of the Just After Sunset stories by Stephen King. In “Mute” a man picks up a hitch-hiker and proceeds to rant about his unfaithful wife, and soon has cause to regret it. In “Ayana”, a terminally ill man is miraculously healed by a mysterious stranger, however there is a price to be paid.

This morning I went out an walked to a shopping centre where I bought a new shower curtain, and on my way home I stopped off to get my groceries. While I was there I got the latest issue of Empire magazine. It had an interesting article about an aborted attempt to make a film of Frank Herbert’s science-fiction novel Dune in 1974. It would have been directed by deeply eccentric Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, art design by HR Giger among others, music by Pink Floyd and a cast including Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Salvador Dali. It fell apart, but the book was filmed by David Lynch in 1984. Interestingly enough Jodorowsky is collaborating with David Lynch on his next film, a Western called King Shot, which will probably be more than a little weird.

This afternoon I have spent most of my time trying to clean my kitchen and bathroom. I think it went quite well.

Just After Sunset

Last night I listened to a Doctor Who radio play called “Dead London”, in which the Doctor (Paul McGann) and Lucie (Sheridan Smith) finally make it to London, however it appears that several time zones are colliding in the city and the Doctor soon realises that an evil alien force is at work. Later on I listened to the fourth part of the Agatha Christie adaptation of Murder at the Vicarage. My Mum telephoned today and in the course of the conversation she told me that my brother had given out my telephone number to one of his girlfriend’s relatives. I know who it was that he gave my number to, but I do wish that he had let me know.

I read a few stories from the Just After Sunset collection by Stephen King. In one of the stories “N.” a psychiatrist’s notes tell the story of a patient who believes that he has discovered a powerful evil force in a stone circle standing in an abandoned field. Another of the stories, “The Cat From Hell”, told the story of a hitman who is hired by a dying millionaire to kill a cat, but he soon discovers that it is no ordinary cat. That was a story that King originally wrote in the 1970s and had been filmed in 1990 as part of Tales From the Dark Side: The Movie. A third story “The New York Times at Special Discount Rates” told of a bereaved woman who receives a telephone call from her dead husband. Some of the stories are really great and are Stephen King at his best. Although I always keep trying to guess which ones will eventually become films.

It was another very slow day at work and quiet. I left after six hours though, so it was a nice short day. Back home I switched on the 1947 movie Black Narcissus, from the legendary film-making team of Michael Powell and Emric Pressburger. The story involves a group of nuns (lead by Deborah Kerr) setting up a hospital and school in the Hymalayan mountains, only for emotional tensions to run riot. The movie is brilliantly made, creating quite a surreal atmosphere at times. It even manages to be quite shocking at times, more to do with what is hidden and hinted at rather than what you actually see on screen.

Radio Dramas

Last night I listend to the second part of the Doctor Who radio story, “Human Resources”. In the epsidoe the Doctor (Paul McGann) and Lucie (Sheridan Smith) discover that the mysterious “office” is actually part of a giant war machine on an alien planet where brainwashed humans target weapons and control robots, under the illusion that they are doing normal office work, as part of a war being waged aganist the Doctor’s old enemies, the Cybermen. It was a good story. Later on I was listening to the third part of a radio adaptation The Murder at the Vicarage based on the novel by Agatha Christie.

Today was a really dull and quiet day at work. The most eventful thing that happened was that an unfortunate bird flew into one of the windows. I know that I have only been in work a couple of days this week but I am already looking forward to the weekend!

Human Resources

Last night I was listening to the first of a two part Doctor Who radio story called “Human Resources”, In which Lucie (Sheridan Smith), the Doctor’s companion who was kidnapped at the end of the last episode, wakes up to discover that she is in an office at her first day of work. However the office is very strange, in that no-one seems to know in which town they are, and no-one is actually able to leave. When the Doctor (Paul McGann) comes to investigate he discovers that the office is hiding a shocking secret and he encounters some of his oldest enemies. It was a good story. I also listened to the second part of a radio adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel called The Murder at the Vicarage, in which Ms Marple has to investigate, surprisingly enough, a murder at the local village vicarage.

I was reading some of the stories from the Just After Sunset collection by Stephen King. They kind of range from the more famous Stephen King supernatural horror stories to crime thrillers. One thing I like about short story collections is that you know that even if you don’t like one story then there’s another one coming along soon after.

Later on I watched the 1985 movie Brazil, directed by Terry Gilliam, on TV. The movie tells the story of a timid clerk (played by Jonathan Pryce) who lives in a nightmarish future world, but escapes into his own elaborate fantasy world where he imagines himself as a winged superhero. It’s a very good movie, at times very funny and at times being genuinely horrific.

I was back at work today and it was another really dull day. Not much has changed there. One of the strange things about coming back to work after even just a very short time away, is that it very quickly feels as if you’ve never actually been away.

Dental Institute

Last night I listened to another episode in the Doctor Who radio series. This one, called “No More Lies”, starts in the middle of a story, as a strange alien criminal escapes from the Doctor (played by Paul McGann) in a time-travelling escape pod. The Doctor follows him and arrives at a sophisticated garden party, where he finds out that the alien has been living on Earth for thirty years and has become very wealthy. However, the party is caught in an endlessly repeating “time-loop” and there are dangerous monsters from outside of space and time trying to manifest themselves. Later on I watched the third and final part of the Red Riding trilogy of TV movies based on the David Peace novels. In this episode the scene has switched to 1983, where a troubled defence lawyer (played by Mark Addy) begins convinced that the person arrested for the brutal murders in 1974 is in fact innocent, and one of the corrupt police officers becomes increasingly disillusioned by the day-to-day brutality and corruption. Interestingly, there were four books in the series, bu the second novel was never adapted for TV. I don’t know why.

I was off work again today, but I was out early to meet my Dad at the dental institute. The young dentist who spoke to me (who was female, Irish and very attractive) explained what I’ll be in for. They did an x-ray of my mouth and the problem is that my two lower wisdom teeth are coming in at an angle, and so food is getting caught there and it means that there is starting to be decay, and I’ll have to get the one on the left out. Apparently, they are going to cut a flap in my gum, drill a couple of holes in the bone and lever the tooth out, after which they’ll stitch my gum back up again. I’ll also need to get a filling in the tooth immediately in front of the one that is being removed. They said that they’ll monitor the left hand side wisdom tooth and decide what to do about it in a year’s time (by which time I may, hopefully, be in Canada but we’ll deal with that when the time comes). However, I have an appointment to get my tooth out on the 9th November. They riginally wanted to schedule it for the 2nd November, but I changed it to avoid it clashing with my Mum’s birthday.

Dad and I then went to the Royal Museum of Scotland, where we had coffee and a scone and had a quick look around the collections, what there were out anyway. The museums being refurbished and not much of the collection is on display. Then we went to Pizza Express and I had a Four Seasons pizza (a pizza divided into quarters with each quarter having a differnet topping: plain cheese and tomato, mushrooms, pepperoni or capers and anchovies). It was really nice. We had a look around the shops and then went our seperate ways.

I got three books in a three for two offer: Just After Sunset by Stephen King, A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre and Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. So they should be good. Back home I went and dealt with the urine sample that I had to deliver to the doctor’s surgery as part of their New Patient check-up.

The internet has been down most of today and that has been extrmemely annoying.

The Night Gardener

Last night I watched the second of the films in the Red Riding series of inter-linked TV movies based on novels by David Peace. This episode was set in 1980 against the backdrop of the real-life “Yorkshire Ripper” murders. In the story a straight-laced young police officer (played by Paddy Considine) is sent to West Yorkshire in order to lead a secret Home Office enquiry into the police investigation of the “Yorkshire Ripper” case. However, he comes up against violence, police corruption and secrets from his own past. It was pretty good. The third and final film in the trilogy is on tonight.

I finished reading the book The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos. The book opens in Washington DC in 1985, where two young patrolmen, Gus Ramone and Dan Holiday, are involved in the police investigation of a serial killer who has killed three teenagers, the only connection between them the fact that their first names were palindromes (spelled the same way forward and backward). Twenty years later, Ramone is a respected homicide detective in the Washington police, while Holiday has been drummed out of the force. When a boy named Asa, a friend of Ramone’s teenage son, is found murdered, both men believe that the killer has returned and the two find temselves negotiating the violent criminal underworld of Washington DC as well as their own pasts, on the trail of the serial killer. It was a pretty good book. Very fast moving and exciting.

I had the day off work today so I went along to the Cineworld cinema and saw Inglourious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino. For the record, I know the title is mis-spelled but that is how it is written in the film’s titles, and presumably Tarantino knew what he was doing. The film is set in Occupied France during the Second World War, and concerns a group of eight Jewish-American soldiers (led by Brad Pitt) who are dropped into France with the simple mission of trying to kill as many German soldiers in as gruesome as possible a way. It’s a pretty epic film and quite violent.

After the movie I wandered around the shops for a bit before heading to Pizza Hut for a late lunch. I had an individual Meat Feast pizza (that is a small pizza with melted mozarella cheese, tomato sauce, chopped pepperoni, ham and chopped up spicy sausage) with a bottle of Budweiser. After that I went back home.