How My Life Became Equal Parts Dull And Exciting, and Other Musings

Hello, it’s been a while, has it not?  This is mainly due to my life becoming equal parts very exciting and very dull. Shall we start with the dull parts first?  Well, the lack of sleep from Rome/Death Cab/Big Lebowski caught up with me in a big way.  Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday last week were completely written off through illness.  And instead of just trying to look after myself and enjoy the time off work, I tried to study!  Dear God, what have I become?  My life outside of work seems to have really hit study mode hard.  I had to turn down offers from distinguished writer Jonathan Hatfull (you can read his new blogging venture here: http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/) to see Tree of Life AND Hobo With A Shotgun.  Obviously something is wrong with me. 

So, what am I doing with most my time?  Reading through my notes very slowly.  Notes about statistics.  Statistics that I should already know and have no trouble with.  Oh actuarial exams, how you overestimate me.  The plan is to get through CT3 by Sunday and then I can hopefully get through CT6 before I go to Japan (two weeks on Friday).  This is almost do-able (I’m on Chapter 3 of 14, CT6 is a similar size).  Just have to knuckle down more, which is difficult considering my current social obligations.

So last weekend, I went to a houseparty.  As a result of said dinner party, I am now going on dinner date to Browns on Friday with a lady I’ve known for a while.  We left to party early to play Monopoly.  That is not a euphemism.  We stayed up until 6am playing Monopoly.  Because we are that cool.  So obviously, Sunday was spent recovering.  Monday was study day.  Monday was not productive.  I got through 1.5 chapters, but only starting seriously after 5pm.  Because I’m that special.  So the serious work started today.  Got to the office at 7:30am to do an hour and a half of study (so all of Chpt 3), armed with lots of fruit.  So you’d like to think that I’ll be getting home promptly from the office to do more tonight right?  If so, you’d like to be wrong.  Jonathan Hatfull is cooking spag bol for myself and Nate P. Barker (host of Saturday night houseparty).  I’m expecting lots of probing questions about Monopoly. 

Wednesday, Thursday are par for the course, lots of studying.  Friday is study in the morning, and then on to delightful company with a rather attractive lady in the presence of good food (seriously, don’t tell her, but I’m quite excited – our tastes are well suited, she’s a laughter riot and gorgeous).  Saturday isn’t study focused either.  Saturday is my buttnumbathon with Mr Hatfull.  Given how much I’ve been turning him down for the Cinema, we’ll be watching three to four films on the theme “rogues with a heart of gold”, because obviously, that’s how we live our lives.  Video game hockey may be involved.  Sunday then!  Surely I must be studying like some calculus hell demon on Sunday?  Eeeh, kinda.  Sunday is the only chance to combine my forces with my housemates with a good clean.  Hopefully though, with all of us working together, it should be done quickly.  It is important to clean the house because the letting agency want to take photos of the property. 

What else is there to comment on?  I watch Sherlock Jr and Fermat’s Room t’other day.  Sherlock Jr cemented how much I love Buster Keaton.  Guy had moves.  I seriously wish a tenth of the films released today were half as inventive as that film (ooh, fractions of fractions!).  Fermat’s Room was rather fun too!  Some clunky plot points and lines, but on the whole rather entertaining.  I must confess to never really appreciating Agatha Christie, but considering how much I enjoy films like this and Identity, I probably should give ‘And Then There Were None’ a go. 

So radio silence until I complete CT3 on Sunday? Deal?  Deal.  Just to sweeten it a bit more, I promise photos next post too. 

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Other Musings

I discovered the most amazing chocolate t’other day.  Green & Blacks dark chocolate with espresso infused type stuff.  Nom nom.  Would go well with a bottle of red and some Brahms.

I’ve curbed my drinking, but not as much as possible.  Last week there were drinks on Weds/Thurs/Fri/Sat.  This week, I’ll probably have a drink tonight and not another until Friday.  No drinking Saturday.  I find it odd when people cut things like alcohol out of their lives – surely moderation is a healthier and more productive ability than abstinence?

Another week, still no Devils coach.   Or Parise signing.  Thank goodness the Avs drafted Skog is what I say!

Roma, Death Cab, Big Lebowski & Other Musings

Hello again world!  I am very much still alive!  Both my flights took off and arrived in their destinations without a problem.  Though, to be fair, I was far too dazed to noticed anything on the return flight.  I think I totalled 6 and a half hours of sleep over four days.  Not much in the way of excitement to report I'm afraid.  If anything sordid happened (and I'm pretty sure it did), then it happened to someone else.  Here's a brief (haha) rundown of the trip:

Sunday 3rd: So I arrived at a colleague's flat (his name is Andrew and he's rather pleasant) in Teddington/Richmond in the hope that it would be easier to get a taxi as he lives fairly close to Heathrow.  The night was spent with two other colleagues (Nick 'the Shadow' Everritt and James Fielding) eating pizza and playing all manner of bizarre racing simulation games (definitely not arcade games).  It was very nice reminding myself which one the accelerator pedal was.  Anyway, it gets to midnight and we still haven't booked a taxi...for our 7:05am flight...which requires us to get there for 5:30am.  We try some numbers and it becomes painfully clear that we're not going to get a taxi.  On the plus side, it sounded like a couple of these taxi businesses were home run, so I was personally responsible for ruining a couple of people's Sunday night. We decide to forgo sleep in order to successfully get a night bus to Heathrow and therefore we played poker to stay awake.  I now owe Andrew £5.  Actually, I owe him a bit more for pizza as well.

Monday 4th:  Turns out Heathrow Terminal 5 is rather nice.  Very clean looking.  The flight was as comfy as a flight could be.  I was expecting a pleasant breakfast, but was severely disappointed.  A ham and mayonnaise roll does not a good breakfast make.  I was also expecting no one to leave chewing gum on the way were I was resting my leg by way of my rolled up jacket.  My black suit jacket is now a write off.  Huzzah.  Time for a new three piece?  The coffee was awful too, in fact the coffee was awful on the whole trip which caused me great pain given the amount I had to ingest to stay awake.  Anyway, a 2 hour chat to one of my managers and a half hour snooze later, we were there and the conference began.  Logistically, it was an absolute nightmare.  Trying to move 400 actuaries around several hotels and conference rooms is not easy, especially given the early flight and some speakers inconsiderately going over their allotted time, causing us to miss some shuttle buses (this was a frequent occurrence).  Grr.  Basically, the majority of the trip was spent listening to people talk in dark rooms.  On note of room, my room at the hotel was incredible (as evidenced by the following pictures - ooh, multimedia).  I wish I had spent more than twenty minutes conscious in it.

Compare this to my room currently:

The evening was spent at the Marriott (I drafted this on their stationary).  Terrible food but plenty of free drink.  Bed time at 3:30am.  

Tuesday 5th:  Wake up time 7:00am, 3 hours and a half sleep.  More talks.  Lunch was the previous night's dinner reheated.  Watered down coffee was hurriedly consumed between sessions and before you could blink, the evening's festivities were upon us.  We had been promised a two hour gap, but due to the previously mentioned speakers, this turned into half an hour, thus ruining my chances of using the gym and the swimming pool.  The dinner was much better than the night before, but the "networking" event planned was ruined by an incredibly loud band playing in the rather cramped social hall, so the majority of people stood outside in the heat than face that awful racket (gosh, I sound so old!).  The night then descended into the same sort of mess as the prior night, except I didn't drink as much.  That didn't stop me from being the last person standing.  5:30am, everyone else went to bed.  I decided that this was the perfect time to hit the gym (well, small exercise room - nice equipment though, even though I couldn't work out the treadmill) and then after that, the swimming pool.  Nothing like an early morning dip.  I went back to my room, packed and looked at my watch.  The time was 6:45.  I was elated.  An all nighter and I'll make the morning's first session.  That'll show my far drunker colleagues.  15 minutes until breakfast.  "I'll just sit down for a second" I remember thinking and probably saying to myself (my brain had more than likely turned to drool at this point).  Bam.  It's 10:30am.

Wednesday 6th:  Taxi across (no shuttle buses after 8am).  Nothing else worth commenting on except I wasn't the only late comer and I was far better dressed than some people (most of my shirts were wrecked from leaky mouth wash in transit - thankfully I'd saved my awesome fitted CK shirt, non iron and it makes me look like I work out far more than I do).  After seminars there was plenty of time for pool action (my flight departed Roma at 9:15pm, the seminars finished at 4pm).  I had a gelato at the airport.  Highlight of the trip.  One incredibly sleepy flight and one scary taxi later, I arrived home at 1am Thursday morning.

It's not like I got a good night's sleep on Thursday night either, I had tickets to Death Cab For Cutie!  Which I went to!  With my good friends Mike Hewitt and Iain McGibbon (both med students)!  And also Paul!  A colleague on secondment from Chicago!  I was a big Death Cab fan back in my High School/Sixth Form days, but after/during Plans, I kind of lost track with them.  The set list was a nice mix of stuff I knew and new stuff.  I'm tempted to pick up the albums I've missed after that show.  No Brothers On A Hotel Bed, but apart from that, there wasn't anything else missing that I was dying to hear.  So the show was good, only great because I knew all the words and was standing in the second row, centre stage.  It got me thinking about a conversation I had with a housemate about the band Feeder.  He said they were amazing live and I was skeptical.  I couldn't see them doing anything incredible that would make a great live show except be generally amiable and play a fan friendly set list, which is exactly what Death Cab did.  Not going to bring over any new converts, but not going to lose them fans.

The big surprise from the gig was actually the support band, the Head and the Heart.  I've usually had good experience with support bands.  Even if they're fantastic, there's a less than favourable chance of support bands making it big, so I like to jump in quick, grab some EPs and then these songs become staples of my mix tapes (well, back in the day, I don't go to so many shows these days).  I can honestly say, the Head and the Heart were one of the top two support bands I've seen (it's tight between them and Owen Pallet - he might edge it given he sold me a t-shirt personally in a flirty manner).  They reminded me why I enjoyed playing music so much.  I wish I could have joined them onstage so much!  Looked like they were having a whale of a time.  I'm a big fan of fuzzy lo-fi music, so seeing them battle against their road weary equipment added to the quality of the performance.  I shall be buying their records and t-shirts shortly, but in the mean time, enjoy this youtube video!

So, did I get a good night's sleep on Friday?  Well, yes, but not early by any stretch.  I had tickets to see the Big Lebowski at the BFI as part of their Jeff Bridges season!  So I went with Iain McGibbon (my medic friend), Jonny Hatfull (my writer friend) and his brother Nicholas Hatfull (my artist friend - remind me to put up a photo of his work for a gander soon).  Good times were had by all.  There really isn't much to say about Lebowski any more.  I remember finding the ending 5 minutes much sadder than previously.

So what does the next week bring?  Hopefully nothing as hectic.  My immune system couldn't cope.

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Other Musings

My jogging mixtape is finished!!!  Get in touch if you want a link to it.  I'm a huge geek so it's not like 30 tracks, it's two tracks 45 mins (roughly) each.  I usually add a load of film quotes and the like, but I struggled to find anything good on the concept of jogging.  Maybe when I get a new laptop, I'll get back into this mixtape malarky.

Look!  It's a letter!  It says that most of my road is being closed off for filming a film with an internationally known cast.  Quick research on t'interweb tells me that the cast includes Dakota Fanning and Paddy Considine.  In your face Hollywood.  Personalised letters!  I think I'll move one of my study days to that day and have a good perve on camera equipment.  Expect a report back.

British GP has just passed.  Was rather good.  Still don't understand the new track though.

Less than four weeks to Tokyo, less than eight weeks until moving to a new flat, less than nine weeks until exams.

Mini Update Pre-Death Defying Flight and Other Musings

Hi all!  Just a quick one today!  Today is Sunday, tomorrow is the day I jet off to Rome for a work conference for three days.  Not going to have much time to see the actual Rome, instead I'm spending much of my time in a (thankfully air conditioned) hotel room listening to people talk about regulatory necessities for insurance company.  Riveting.   Thankfully, I've visited Rome previously, so I don't feel like I'm missing out.  I'm taking my camera, so expect a post with pictures soon!

Personally, I dislike flying, but can stomach them so long as I have a nice selection of books.  For this trip, I've gone with the Moviegoer by Walker Percy, NHS Plc and Shepperton Babylon (haven't got them to hand right now, but will update with authors in a later post).  Only one fiction this time.  NHS Plc is about the privatisation occurring within the NHS (which interests me, big leftie that I am) and Shepperton Babylon is a brief history and "what-ever-happened-to" regarding the early British silent film industry.  Hopefully they can distract me sufficiently so I can forget I'm in a big metal tube, eight miles high.  Anyway, if I don't make it back, I feel happy to say that, if I had the chance, I'd do most things differently - makes it more interesting the second time round.

Not much has been going on, not much seen in the way of films (my LoveFilm delivery seems to have got lost in the post somewhere).  I wanted to enjoy some war, Michael Caine and glorious Welsh baritone in Zulu, but the internet connect has been somewhat sketchy here as of late, so online streaming is impossible.  Had to settle for Brief Encounter on DVD while I ironed some shirts last minute - first time I've seen it.  Relationships are a funny thing aren't they?  Sure, we want to be treated with romance and lavished with attention by someone we love, but surely the whole point of a relationship is that these sort of actions can be turned down without feeling insecure about your partner leaving?  I do sympathise (to an extent, I'd like to stress) with Laura's husband.  I've been in his position, but with the unhappy conclusion of my lady leaving (she now lives 10 mins down the road with her Dr Harvey - though I have to say, if he seemed as nice as Trevor Howard, perhaps I wouldn't have minded so much).  But on the other hand, love is love, and storybook love doesn't come around much.  But what is the etiquette in this situation?  Nothing seems binding any more, so I personal feel very pressured into lavishing people with dinners and attention.  Trust is a difficult concept.

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Other Musings

I've just sat down to watch the Wimbledon finals.  Prediction - Nadal in four sets.

Jogging mixtape is still unfinished - my non-work laptop and I are having disagreements.

Jagr in Philly is such a tantalising prospect.

Ah well, time for a bit of last minute packing and exercise before I'm off to Rome via Heathrow via Richmond.  Radio silence in 5...4...3...

Kaboom, Bridesmaids, Art, BBQ and Other Musings

Opening on a ponder: were weekends designed to race by?  I'm going to list what I achieved this weekend and you can tell me if it sounds like I've lost some time somewhere.  Saturday and Sunday combine for 48 hours, Friday night adds 7 on top of that - should I have got more done in 55 hours? 

Friday night was a bit of a write off.  Myself, my housemates, Jonny Hatfull (ex-Birmingham based writer), Fletch (friend of Jonny's) and  Nick (the Shadow, Le Shad - a colleague) may have visited the Maple Leaf.  This may have involved a fair few Sleemans.  This may have contributed to a large bill.  This may also be the cause of my distinct lack of memory of Friday night and my severe headache the next morning.  Unfortunately, this headache prevented me from getting my haircut.  I finally awoke around 9:30, got ready and headed out to Soho to meet Mr Hatfull.  From there we watched the new Greg Araki film Kaboom, visited his brother's art show and then headed back to mine (with Fletch now in tow) for NHL 2010, bacon sandwiches and a bit of telly watching.  Woke up at 8:30 Sunday morning, studied until 11am (so much study in fact that I let a whole pot of coffee get cold - lame!), then it was getting ready and out again for another cinema trip (Bridesmaids this time).  Home again for an hour of revision, then BBQ!  Frisbee!  The celebrity game!  Does that sound like 55 hours worth of activity or have I been short changed somewhere?

So, let’s get down to brass tacks, two cinema trips this weekend – one a lot more hungover than the other, but both very positive experiences.  Just for reference, although I know about Greg Araki’s career, I have only seen Mysterious Skin previously.  Still, no prior information would have been needed – Kaboom is the most fun I’ve had in a cinema all year.  If you’ve heard the critical hyperbole (“David Lynch meets 90210” rings a bell), there’s definitely some truth in this, especially Wild at Heart-era Lynch.  However, unlike a Lynch film, most of which I could type about for hours, this is completely vacuous – not that this is a problem!  The fun here is completely in subversion, cinema techniques and a gleefully dark and absurdist  sense of humour.   [Future blog post idea: a person I used to know was of the opinion that there should never be nudity in films, that it was always unnecessary.  Debating that could be fun – I probably should stress here that Kaboom is incredibly rife with nudity].

Just to emphasis, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard, frequently or as joyously in a film for a long time, and Kaboom is far from being a conventional comedy – which brings us to Bridesmaids.  My name is Ben Sheppard and I don’t like Judd Apatow films.  Ooh, that felt good.  Ok, that might not be strictly true – there are three films with Judd Apatow’s name attached that I can say that I love – Walk Hard, Pineapple Express and now Bridesmaids (strangely too, I have a soft spot for Drillbit Taylor).  On the whole though, I find his films irritating, juvenile (not that this is a problem when done well) and scarily conservative in their message (some time to the point of offense).  The key problem, however, is similar to my issues  with Family Guy.  Films under the Apatow banner mug for laughs far too much.  Please stop trying to draw all the attention to something you find funny!  If it’s funny, I’ll notice it and I’ll laugh.  I do not need signposts with flashing lights reading “Joke here! Laugh at Seth Rogen’s silly voice”.  I am very very very very happy to say that Bridesmaids doesn’t fall into the usual trappings.

The main reason Bridesmaids succeeds is Kirsten Wiig – in both performance and writing.  Although Wiig’s Annie is in a bit of a mess as a person, the joke never feels like it is at her expense, and it is in fact our sympathy of her character that really makes this film resonate.  The rest of the supporting cast are solid – Chris O’Dowd particularly impressing me (I would say the same about Jon Hamm, had I not gone in expecting him to be that good).   The vulgarity is left pretty much to one scene that does feel a tad tacked on and generally out of place with the tone of the rest of the feature.  On the whole, entertaining and recommend worthy.  It’s not all roses however, Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson are particularly unimpressive.  Again, it’s a complete question of tone – all their jokes are far too on the nose in a very annoying manner (Matt Lucas: “Maybe you should have a sign on your door saying ‘please don’t come in here, read my diary and try on my clothes’).

So after all, you’d have thought I’d be all out of opinions for this post  - not so!  I have opinions about something other than films as well!  I have opinions about art!  Modern art!  New modern art by up-and-coming artists!  I’ve dug out my camera so I’ll take some pictures of the program later and maybe add some pics to the “Other Musings” section.  Some stunning stuff there (Nicholas Hatfull – Jonny’s brother sold some of his art!  For much of the money!   It was worth any penny!)  There were a couple of very awesome visual displays.  One room was complete with retro 50s US surf music and grainy super 8 footage.  No need to say, that was completely my favourite. 

The weather here in London is ridiculous.  Too hot!  Too hotttttttt!  Which leads me nicely to a nice catchy song on a sunny day (http://tinyurl.com/2hbwmp).  Twee twee.  Thundery showers forecast for tonight, thank god!  Couldn’t take another sleepless night, plus I’ve been going through shirts like I don’t know what.  Last night wasn’t too terrible, so the house paid host to a BBQ.  Nom nom, white spirit fuelled charcoal crisp meat. 

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Other Musings

NHL Draft.   Larsson!!!!!  Larrrrrrsssssssssssson!  Now, if only we could re-sign Parise, trade Rolston and invent a time machine to bring Brodeur from 2002 to now.

Shadow of a Doubt was incredible, ending a bit iffy.  Do love myself a bit of Joseph Cotton.  Teresa Wright was rather delightful as well.  Next up?  Probably Torn Curtain. 

Jogging around the park is postponed until this ridiculous heat is over. 

We’re having an audition on Wednesday for a new housemate; this one might be one of those lady things I keep hearing about. 

Pictures in the next post okay?  I can’t be bothered moving from the sofa right now.  

Blue Valentine, Birmingham, Twitter and Other Musings

Drat, another mostly 'B' led blog title.  Curses to you twitter!  You ruin everything.

Here's a short post (yes, my first filler post - but damn it I'm compelled to do this at least twice weekly!!!!) to keep you up to tabs on my life in the only capital city England has to offer.

Since Tuesday, not a lot has happened.  I've been to work twice, I've come home from work twice and I've managed to completely screw up untying my laces twice upon my arrival home.  This can only mean one thing, and if you know what that is, could you please tell me?  I'm quite concerned.

Last night I caught up with Blue Valentine, which I've been waiting to do for ages!  After all the Sundance buzz, I wanted to catch it at the BFI London FilmFest, but all the screenings after work sold out wayyyy to quickly.  I also missed out in January, probably because I was moping too much (blame the cryfest combo of Rabbit Hole & Never Let Me Go).  Annoyingly, I wish I had caught it in the cinema.  I love my bleak films, but sometimes it's hard to take them all in at once at home.  If I can lock myself into a pitch black cinema, I'll generally appreciate these films way more.  Plus, I'll probably cry.  I am an absolute sucker when it comes to crying in cinemas.  Even the nauseatingly romantic ending to Julia's Eyes had me in tears.  I didn't cry during Blue Valentine, but I know I would have been in floods if I'd have seen in a moviehouse.

This film is actually a really good comparison to another film I saw recently (Last Night with Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington).  Well, I say comparison, I mean both are films about adult relationships, dealing with couples who are falling apart, but one of these films is completely vacuous and t'other is not (guess which!).  Also, Blue Valentine is incredibly well composed, each of the cuts in narrative has been incredibly well thought through in order to emphasize aspects of the story, the characters of Ryan Gosling & Michele Williams or simply to really hit the gut of the audience.  Last Night, however, simply overlays the "message of the film" over shots of the significant other not present.  To emphasize what?  It's unclear.  The only point it seems to put across is "look the person we can hear is physically/emotionally unfaithful to person we're looking at and they're not thinking about them".  Meh.  Ryan Gosling's hairline steals the show.

Last Wednesday, I went to Birmingham.  Yes, this is late reporting.  I went to help a friend of mine (one Mr Jonathan Hatfull) move to London in order to find his fame and fortune.  It was a bit grim of a trip.  The weather was a tad miserable and the journey took me through some places I wasn't keen on revisiting (this is a story that may have involved a girl - but that's another blog post all to its own).  Anyway, I'd like to say a big welcome to Mr Hatfull, a gifted writer and true friend.  London is that much more friendlier with him in it.

So, after years of resisting, I'm taking twitter seriously.  My handle/username/sillypagetitle is @benshep88 if you want to get in touch.  Yes, now I have another place to store all my tedious thoughts!  The world is now a better place!

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Other musings

Hitchcock fest continues tonight hopefully with Shadow of a Doubt.  Given how much I love Joe Cotton and black and white films, I'm hoping this lives up to expectations.

I promise this blog will have pictures soon!  I am definitely going to sort my picture taking device out!

Upcoming films!  Kaboom on Saturday (following a nice haircut, hopefully), Bridesmaids on Sunday (following the gym, hopefully) and then Evangelion 1.1 and the Last Picture Show from LoveFilm.  How exciting.

I am never watching the Apprentice ever again.  Such a shoddy show - terribly edited and really conveying some horrible morals/messages.

I need to make a mix tape.  Well, technically two, one for jogging, one to impress people.  If you have music that is fit for jogging or you love a couple of bands that no one is likely to have heard of in the UK, please get in touch.

I feel like a cheese toastie for dinner.

Richard III, The Birds, Biopsy and Other Musings

Bloody Shakespeare, had to ruin the alteration of my title by not re-writing the name of historical kings.  I s'pose I'll let him off, but that's nowt to do with how "talented" he is and more to do with how forgiving I am.  In some ways, I find the success of his work rather curious, but that should be a blog post all to itself!  On Sunday night, I went to the the theatre! (Am Sonntag Abend, bin ich ins Theater gegangen!)  The play was Richard III, the venue was the Old Vic and therefore Kevin Spacey himself was in the lead (Sam Mendes allegedly directed - more on that later).  My goodness, what a performance.  For my money, the first half of that play is some of the greatest stuff the old Bard ever wrote and Mr Spacey was easily able to conjure a truly wicked and comical performance, both verbally and physically (yes, there was the old pillow in a shirt routine).  Unfortunately, I can't say much for the rest of the cast.  True, the play is focused completely on its lead (and all the better for it, old Kevin was doing plenty of heavy lifting), but had any of the other players been required to do more stage time, I believe the production would have fallen apart.

Let me stress that I am most certainly not an expert in either theatre, the works of Shakespeare or the works of any of his peers (haha, yes, as if that wasn't made perfectly clear by the stupidity of my opinions above).  Most of my criticisms therefore could probably be explained away by either "the motivations of character X aren't explicitly explored in the text" or "that was the style of theatre of the time, if you wanted something more naturalistic, go and see "Streetcar..." instead".  That's not going to stop me from writing them down though.  My main two issues with the production were as follows.

One.  If you were an actor not called Kevin Spacey, then when anyone else was performing their lines, you were standing awkwardly not quite knowing what to do with your hands.  My amateur dramatic career was completely comprised of high school drama (plus an amateur version of Cider with Rosie (I think I was 13 then)), but watching some performances really reminded me of some of my performances, in that I found it incredible difficult to react to what was meant to be going on around me in a convincing manner.  Perhaps though this is intrinsic in Shakespearian performances though, as the focus is on the wordplay?

Two.  My goodness, this play tail ends.  After introducing us to a truly interesting and complex character, Richard becomes nothing but a boogie man in the second half.  Richmond, allied with just as dastardly a group as Richard, is rather idolised to the point of nausea.  Oh well.  Worth it completely for Mr Spacey and a big shout out to who ever designed Annabel Scholey's dress.  Yowza.

Right, and if you haven't lost all your respect for my opinions, just you wait.  I'm going to chop down Hitchcock next.

Being a bit of a film nut, buying me a box set of 14 Hitchcock films is a very good idea, especially considering that I had only seen Psycho prior to the purchase.  I've had this box set for two and bit years now, so I can add Rear Window and (as of Friday night) the Birds to my list.  I've decided enough is enough, so the housemates and I are going tackle these 14 films over the next few weeks.  I really enjoyed the Birds, but I don't think it's a great film by any stretch.  Watching it, it is impossible not to see its influence on films like Night of the Living Dead and Jaws, but both of these are vastly superior films for three reasons (acting, script and the ending).

I really love that, despite my negative reaction to the film as a whole, I have so much more respect for Hitchcock as a visual director.  The playground sequence is a complete stroke of genius, which makes me pine for better visual directors.  Let me round this off now by discussing the ending.  That is not a ending.  That is a story running out of steam and just finishing.  Personally, I am a huge fan of anti-"is that it?"-type endings.  John Carpenter's The Thing (or even Halloween for that matter) is a great example of this.  I even enjoy a well delivered incredibly slight ending (see Funny Ha Ha for that).  This unfortunately is just an embarrassment.  It plays like a straight faced version of Monty Python's Holy Grail.

In other news, today I had a hospital appointment.  A doctor stuck a needle in my neck and scraped about a bit.  Comically, I think I made more of a mess on my face shaving today than the biopsy caused.  Not a terribly pleasurable experience.  I rate it C-.  I wouldn't recommend it.

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Other musings

How about that Game 7 eh?  Watching Vancouver in that game was pretty much the equivalent to watching a man try and open a pull door by pushing it and then, finding that didn't work, pushing it hard and harder and then quitting after 40 minutes.  Of course, this analogy only works if the door cross checks the man in the face twelve times and he does nothing about it.

The inaugural Stanley Cup Stake of Steaks Payout was last night.  Rob and I went to our favourite Canadian pub in London (The Maple Leaf, Convent Garden, do go and say hello to the lovely staff), had a pair of 12 oz Sirloin Steaks (yes, capitals are needed) and slipped them down with a few too many bottles of Mooseheads.  Still got up and exercised this morning though.  Go me.

I've had another idea for a screenplay.  If I start this one, that'll be 7 started, none completed.  Quite the batting average.

I've been on an absolute book binge lately.  Today, while I was waiting for my needle prodding, I started the Moviegoer by Walker Percy.  Really enjoying it so far!  I've also been reading Fragments (the collection of Marilyn Monroe's diaries/letters/poems).  I must admit, that I never understood the Monroe hysteria until I flicked through this.  Strangely enough, it's the photos that really caught me.  She has this bizarre quality that makes every photograph look like a shared intimate memory.  I'll try and share some of these some time.

Rome in two weeks yesterday.  Swimming pool body nearly perfected.  Pull up bar has helped immensely.

Canadian GP, real time updates of SC Game 5, to do list and other musings

This might get interesting.  As mentioned in the previous post, I have a bet going one with one of my housemate (Robert, the man who can make any sport interesting and believe me, I have actually sat and watched cricket with him!  Cricket!).  Tonight we cook sausage, mash and beans, we drink beer (and maybe a drip or two of scotch) and watch our recording of the game!  And because it's a slow week content wise, I thought it'd be fun to do a live text update of the atmosphere in the room.  [I would also like to point out that even though I know who wins, I don't know the score or any details].  

Brief introduction to the key players:

Myself (Vancouver) - I am the only one who follows ice hockey regularly.  I will more than likely get far too involved in the game and swear profusely (and in hopefully entertaining ways).  As scribe, the typing might get a bit ropey towards the end (which I'm sure will have nothing to do with the beverages to hand).  

Rob (Boston) - Rob seems to love all sports.  Fact.  All sports.  Not only this, but he has this wonderful and infectious enthusiasm.  Sadly, this will be the one and only Stanley Cup Stake of Steaks bet we have, as I can reveal Robert has accepted a new job in Swindon, which unfortunately involves him moving away from Laaaandan.  Disappoint.

Alex (sportsmanship) - Mr Whittaker is a big fan of puns.  I will probably only cherry pick my favourites/the most groan worthy, but this man makes more puns in an hour than dinners in a month.  Most likely candidate for the Stanley Cup Stake of Steaks for next year.  

Tom (seven) - Tom will more likely than not be playing with his phone/writing apps instead of looking at the glorious game on the television (plug: Tom is the co-creator of the biggest Muse fan site in Europe? Maybe, the world?).  There's a very entertaining video of Tom accepting an award for it on the telly, but being rather drunk.  I'll see if I can find it later, but for now, here is the great paperweight of an award (http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5041791685_cd63861707_m.jpg).

Huzzah, Rob has returned from the shops and the beer of choice for this evening is Leffe, Belgium extraordinaire! 

So, now that's all done, and while we have a bit of time before the clash of the Titans, let's talk about the other big Canadian sporting event, the one at the rainy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.  Golly gosh, humdinger doesn't begin to describe it!  It had everything!  Rain, fantastic driving, overtaking and old fashioned defensive driving (and also Lewis Hamilton acting like a spoiled brat and generally proving me right =) ).  Everyone is heralding this as one of the great races of the modern era,; the sort of race that the last few seasons have been lacking.  Since last season, there has been two big changes; the switch to Pirelli tyres and the Drag Reduction System (DRS).  Now, in previous races, the DRS has been seen as a success as it has allowed quicker drivers to race up the field without resorting to pit strategies (i.e. the overtakes are on field).  This race was different however, as we saw some great defensive drivers (Schumacher and Kobayashi) left completely exposed by this system.  Unfortunately, this system to a new tool that gives the advantage to fast cars not fast drivers. 

20:28 - Dinner is out the way so let's start the festivities!  Wow, downtown Boston looks a lot like Canary Wharf, if only our accents were as fun.

20:30 - Tom - "everything looks better in caps lock"

20:31 - The Leffes are open! Hello Ron MacLean!

20:33 - Hello Rachel McAdams!

20:35 - Tom asks when they start playing hockey.  Not a fan of build up then.  He also predicts a tie.

20:36 - Shock, awe and disgust at Don Cherry's suit.  At some point, they should really ask his suit what it thinks about head shots. 

2039: - Cheers from Rob at Oh Canada, Tom predicts tears at the Banner.

20:41 - Bobby Orr is the "first modern footballer".  

20:42 - "Come on Tim!" [Rob] and Wimbledon is so soon.

20:43 - Tom has the colours explained to him for the 3rd time this evening.  

20:43 - 20 seconds into the game, Raymond is down.  Hmm, methinks Boston are going to own the physical game.  Rob also notes that hockey fans sound exactly like rugby ones.

20:46 - Well would you look at that, both captains have 33 on their backs and are penalised.  The similarities never end.

20:47 - Calls from Alex for the ice hockey horn to be used in snooker matches.

20:49 - Well at least the Vancouver defence turned up this for this away game.  

20:52 - Higgins missing the empty net.  Pheeew.

20:53 - Balls.  Rob the Gentleman at least offered to get beer from the fridge.

20:54 - Luongo saves one.  That 50% away average working out?

20:55 - Balls.  5-Hole? 

20:56 - Ric Flair being used for evil I tell you!!!!

20:58 - Rob: "Nathan Horton looks like he likes his pies" Whoa whoa whoa Tim Thomas, stop poking the Sedins with that big stick!

21:01 - Rob: "It's not like Boston can do anything on the powerplay."

21:02 - Hmm.  Don't worry, we have them exactly where we want them.  Alex asks if we've accidently put on the repeat of Game 3.  No, unfortunately, Vancouver actually played well in the first period of that game.

21:05 - What?? Even Kaberle is getting in on this?  Ok, there must be a team decision to let every Boston player score in compensation of not giving them the Cup?  

21:05 - New bet, over/under on Boston scoring 6, Rob takes over (7-3), I take under (5-0).  

21:09 - Finally!  Some saves! And Tom's phone makes its first appearance.  

21:12 - Tom Wilson gets 50% off Burger Gormet Kitchen.  Why didn't he mention this earlier?

21:16 - Wow, that Canuck fan looks depressed.  I'm glad the only thing I'm losing is steak.

21:19 - Comeback starts here.  Come on Burrows!  Though looking at the replays, it really looks like the Canucks have forgotten that they need to touch the puck to put it into the net.  Think I can sell them that secret?

21:27 - Reliving Game 2's highlights.  Oh, glory days.  Where are you?

21:28 - Hello Don Cherry's suit!

21:31 - Pausing Don Cherry to call Alex, Tom and Rob's friend Phil on speaker phone?  Asking about Sea Cows? 

21:41 - Post?!?!?!  Seriously?

21:42 - Tom: "Papa Roach Ben, remember him?"  Tom only knows hockey from video games and keeps asking for the glitch goals.

21:45 - Rob: "Maybe the Sedins are secretly Norwegian." That would explain a lot right now.  

21:46 - Oh lord, are they really playing "Black and Yellow"?

21:48 - Rob drops the bombshell that it is his birthday tomorrow.  I know the game is pre-recorded and we can't affect it, but I'm sure he's only mentioned that to get Vancouver's head out of the game.  I bet Boston have known for weeks!  Now the Canucks have to worry about what to get him.  How are they going to score when they're worrying about presents?!?!

21:52 - Alex mishears "he's going after the puck himself" as something far more entertaining.  You can tell people have lost interest as in the last 10 minutes, we've discussed manatees, corporate bribery and competitive rates of interest.  Now we're onto nuclear power.  Wow, we're so cool.  Get a Leffe?

22:04 - Hello Alex Ovechkin  SportsCentre advert.  

22:07 - Alex is onto something.  Boston's 6th man is their organ player.  Dude can wail.  

22:16 - Best twins we've seen all night ;)  And only seconds later a Sedin scores!!!  That girl in the tight t-shirt must be a good luck charm.

22:20 - Goal? No post.  Lame. I thought we had a game on our hands!

22:25 - Referees repair the ice now?  

22:27 - Wow, first "not" joke I've heard since Borat.  Well done CBC play-by-play guys!

22:29 - Tom wants to change his name to 'Classic'.  So that would be "Classic Wilson".  

22:30 - I was sure that Boston didn't know what a powerplay was before this series.

22:32 - Damn, looking at the sideboard is making me think that I could really do with a coffee, a donut and a rental car right now.

22:35 - Kesler's beard always makes him look like he's having a nose bleed.  Maybe that's convincing him that he's injured and therefore making him play badly.

22:38 - Rob makes a convincing Bruins = Boddingtons argument

22:39 - Tom: "Mark Recci is older than the Sun!"

22:46 - What the hell is a Chevrolet I-Desk?  Alex: “Only one Leffe.”

22:47 - The severe cussing has started.  I just dropped 3 f-bombs in an 8 word sentence.  Conveniently that matches Luongo's save percentage.

22:50 - Three more goals to get!  In 2:26?  Totally easy.  

22:52 - And then the Sky+ ran out?  Did Vancouver score another 4 goals?  We'll never know!!!   

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Why is it that on TV shows you can't hear people on the phone, but you can hear the dial tone when they hang up angrily?

I have a to do list.  It includes recommending films to a friend and making a mix tape.

I really really really really need to organise/sort out my camera.  I used to be quite into my photography (http://spiderland.deviantart.com), but it kind of drifted off when an ex-girlfriend hung onto my camera after the break up.  I got it back in November, so my excuses are fairly limited.  

The latest Yves Saint Laurent adverts with Vincent Cassel actually looks like clips from Irreversible.  I’m not sure that’s an associate that they’d want to have.