Flaming Zinc

I am not a big fan of the Western genre. In fact I have spent my whole life avoiding any thing remotely involving excess amounts of dust, Smith & Westerns, horses and cowboys. Testament to my ignorance, for years I thought that Clint Eastwood played the character John Wayne in the movies! But, since there is a dearth of character driven drama I dipped into HBO’s Deadwood. The first episode was slow, but has potential and I will stick with it. Plus, it’s great to see Lovejoy Ian McShane gone bad

Some thing struck me as I watched the promo for Law & Order SVU – they seem to be proud of their non-original plots with their tag line ‘ripped from the headlines’. Should they change it to ‘too lazy to think of something ourselves’? I am also confused over the mixed messages that the glut of reality shows send out. I always thought that the west disapproved of arranged marriages but isn’t that the idea behind all these tv dating shows? And as the US recovers from an economic slump, the hot new phrase around the water cooler is ‘You’re fired’ taken from a show about redundacy down sizing…thank you The Apprentice.

What a treat when I went to see Scooby Doo 2 I got the added bonus of seeing trailers for the new Harry Potter and Thunderbirds movies. First off, it is always a joy to see anything with Alan Rickman in it (even in a greasy black wig and I was by far the most excited person in the cinema about the live action adventure of the Tracy clan. The film does look good, Tracy Island is a dead ringer for the infamous Blue Peter model and it solves the mystery of what Anthony Edwards has been up to since he left ER….he’s Brains!

Oh the main feature wasn’t too bad either – it stuck v close to the cartoon and was v silly

Or rather they are The Hollow Men and last night we saw the second act in the British/Irish Comedy Invasion. I really didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised by their mix of sketches, miming and interpretative dance (Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn was cracking and worth the price of admission alone).

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself is an extraordinary film that has an old fashioned flavour with a twist of Capra.

It is set in Glasgow and is the tale of two brothers who are left to run their father’s run down second hand bookshop. Harbour is the sensible one and protective of his troubled, younger sibling Wilbur. As the title suggests Wilbur is bent on ending his life – unfortunately (or fortunately) he is incompetent. He grows more despondent with every failed attempt and more humiliated every time he returns to the suicide help group. Enter Alice, a single mother, who entwines herself in both their lives.

This is an exceptional black comedy – smart and ultimately a very satisfying experience.

I have a pretty high tolerance for bad movies. Give me an entertaining or visually pleasing picture that are either flawed or otherwise vacuous (The Core, Fast and the Furious, GI Jane, Terminator or Alien 3 to name a few) and you wont here me complain. Unfortunately, Taking Lives built itself up to be a smart, scary thriller but turned out to be IMO a dead donkey. It stars the uber talented Angelina Jolie and the premise was intriguing – I had hopes of The Bone Collector spliced with Prime Suspect. The superb cast is underused (as is Montreal), the twists are easier to work out than your average episode of Law & Order and then the plot line starts to fall away.

I haven’t read the book, but I do intend as I have a feeling that it makes a better job of weaving a story that enthrals and entertains.

Oh my, what a busy few days – I was so glad when they let me finish my shift early so I could amble home and slump in front of the computer. Hard enough being a dynamic, multi tasking, 21st C gal but throw in a sick Alex and even I am struggling to keep up. I was v worried on Saturday as he only (half heartily) checked his email once, lucky it only seems to be a 24hr bug and he is now merrily programming away.

This months reading group proved to be another lively debate. I don’t think ‘Flowers for Algernon’ was to everyone’s taste. I feel that SciFi stories tend to date, so whilst I enjoyed it I had to keep in the back of my mind that it was written forty odd years ago. The general opinion was that Algernon was indicative of that decade, over time the themes become less powerful and maybe in twenty years time the same would be thought of ‘Lovely Bones’.

I guess I better return to tending to the sick….

For the first time in the history of the UN a film is being shot on site, The Interpreter, and this was my shallow motivation for visiting last weekend. As it turned out the tour around the building and learning about it’s history were far more interesting than spying on the extra’s milling around. Our tour guide was v friendly and informative. It’s such a great accomplishment having a delegates from 191 countries gathered together but very frustrating when you realise all the restriction the UN operates under. When we were in the General Assembly the actors playing the delegates started to come in and our guide found it v amusing that there seemed to be an equal spilt between the sexes when in reality the majority of the countries representatives are male. So at least we have equality in celluloid

This evenings episode of The Archers should be a blast – at the Borchester Land Conservative Dinner Dance (or what ever the proper title is). Brian is coming across as a don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t want to know type regarding Adam’s new boyfriend and Lillian bumping into her ex-flame Matt and his wife should make an interesting menage a trois!

A good day all round yesterday – finished off my second unit in English, I can now give Chaucer a rest for a few weeks and can start the units in Greek Art & Architecture and English Modern Prose I perfected my recipe for tuna pasta bake. Last night I added sweetcorn, mozzarella and baby toms to the concoction – it was scrummy!

I took a break from all the depressing literature choices I have made in the past few weeks….’Jude the Obscure’ is proving v harrowing and this months book group ‘Flowers for Algeron’ had me reaching for the tissues by the final chapter. So during my break on Sunday I nipped to the book shop and picked up the 3rd instalment of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency – ‘Morality for Beautiful Girls’. It is proving to be a v absorbing read

I nearly forgot it has just started snowing…..

Last week I saw Good Bye Lenin and it is an amazing German film – very touching and funny! The premise is that a woman falls into a coma in East Germany before the Berlin wall comes down and the subsequent reunification. When she wakes up a few months later it is to a very different country, her doctors tell her family that she must not have any shocks so they decide to pretend that nothing as changed. As her son tries to shield her from the dramatic changes he builds an alternative world and it concludes with a different spin on the united Germany.

Since it is a foreign language film it has a limited release but it really is worth watching and I am sure ultimately more satisfying than a lot of the current releases at the moment.

As a footnote I am not sure what to make of Wonderfalls…I liked the main characters pithy (or should I say pissy) humour but it should be interesting to see it develop over the coming weeks