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Mind blowing

Every so often, there comes along something that blows your mind.  I wouldn’t say it’s a once in a lifetime experience, as something always comes along an challenges that perspective.  For me, the things that blow my mind include: books, films, and amazing scenery etc.  There are few films that have blown my mind, Hero and The Matrix are two films that challenged my thoughts on films.  The first because the cinematography was utterly stunning (even more so now we’ve got it on Blu-ray), the second because it challenged my mind, much like an M C Escher drawing, paradoxical I guess you could say.

Of course there are films in our burgeoning collection that awe me, I love them, they’re fantastic entertainment, Casino Royale, The Day After Tomorrow to name a couple.  I love those films for different reasons, although I’ll admit that Casino Royale went on a tad too long.  There are also films that have been highly rated that I just thought the hype was just that, hype and hot air.  Titanic and Avatar are two such films that come to mind.  I can even say that an acquaintance was dismayed to find that I’ve never seen Titanic, nor do I have any desire to.

Today however, I was blown away by Inception.  I had slight misgivings over the film, simply because its star is Leonardo DiCaprio, who to be frank, I can’t stand and I don’t think is a great actor (I know there are those who would beg to differ, I’m just one lone voice), still I knew it had Michael Caine, Marion Cottilard and Tom Hardy in it so there was some saving grace in there.  The film however, isn’t simply about the actors, nor the special effects or the story, it’s all three together that make it something breathtaking to behold.

Unlike The Matrix which could be pulled to pieces the minute they released the two sequels, this film is well thought out, and you can see that Christopher Nolan has looked at similar films and tried to learn from the ludicrousness of them.  The story is well thought out, with no little detail overlooked.  Even where the architect is taught about paradox structures, has a reason to it.  You’re spoon fed little pieces of detail that build up like the structures they’re creating in the dreams.  It’s very much like pulling apart each layer of an onion (without the eye watering consequences).

Oddly enough, watching the film, I’m reminded of that legendary line uttered by Morpheus in The Matrix, ‘Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real?’.  Of course there are many similarities that can be drawn between the two films, although I’d have to say Inception was probably more believable as something that could actually take place (only slightly mind you).  I know for certain that there are many occasions when I’ve wished my life was a dream, and that I could wake up and it would somehow be somewhat better than it actually is.

I think it’s now written in stone that the Wachowski brothers have had their day.  With two spectacular Batman films under his belt, and now Inception, I would suggest that Christopher Nolan is now a force to be reckoned with.  It would be interesting to see what he would do with a Bond film, he’s already said that a lot of Inception was done in homage to the Bond franchise, and that’s none more evident than with the snow fortress part of the dream (think Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights or The Spy Who Loved me).  Every detail has been well thought out and carefully crafted, and of course that’s what the film is all about, little details that plant themselves in the sub concious psyche.  Well I think he’s certainly done that, and spectacularly at that.

If you really do only see one film this summer, make it Inception.

Holiday part 1 – cornwall

Well here we are in wonderful Cornwall and it’s blowing a gail and raining. Why does this always happen when I’m on holiday? I could go to the Bahamas and I’d end up in the middle of a hurricane. The only time this might be of benefit is if I were going storm chasing but I’m not.

We’ve actually brought the dog with us, who is having, like, the best time evah! She likes beaches, doesn’t like the sea and shows her like of somewhere by belching, loudly. So far we’ve done just about everything you can do in Cornwall with dog, this includes lands end.

Seriously disappointed that there is so little to do with dogs. Most of them are better behaved than kids. Fistral beach for example, pissed up rich kids a plenty. Although the dog was allowed on the beach, she also had fun.

Looking forward to week two, 9 days of doing nothing. Bliss!

Twin Peaks and Vampires

So I spent last weekend watching season 1 of Twin Peaks.  It’s been a very long time since I’d watched it first time around, and even then I hadn’t watched the whole thing.  So it was a bit of a shock seeing the clothing and hair styles, but once I’d gotten over that, I had to ask the question whether the whole concept was dated.

Since the first time I watched it, I was quite young (well clearly younger than I am now), so I’m not sure I picked up on the subtle humour.  In watching it, you’ve really got to ask whether it was meant to be that funny.  Well, when I say funny, it was at the point of cringeworthy.  Like the day after Dale has the first dream and lines everyone up in the forest to throw stones at a milk bottle.  Seriously?

Of course, it only lasted for two (very short) seasons, so there was only one real story line to compare it with.  It was all everyone talked about at school, we shouldn’t have really watched it.  I recall one episode from season 2 with Bob in that gave me a very sleepless night and probably put me off slasher movies for the rest of my life.  It was just so ahead of its time in so many ways that it made it really appealing.

It could be quite easy to compare the series with films like Silence of the Lambs, but beyond that, there really wasn’t anything that came close to it.  Now moving forward 18 odd years, you’ve got a plethora of programmes that hit the mark with the teenage market.  Instead of one concept however, you’ve got many different types of the same theme.  Namely Vampires.

Now, if I were a teenager, around the same age I was when I watched Twin Peaks, would I be addicted to The Vampire Diaries and True Blood?  The second is probably the kind of illicit watching that I’d like to get away with at that age.  I’ve not seen either so I can’t really commit to saying how good (or bad) either might be.  I guess the problem with The Vampire Diaries is that it looks rather lame, and the problem with True Blood is that, Anna Paquin’s accent drives me nuts.

Anyway, I’m rambling here, and with no real point to make, merely an observation on how one thing that was probably ahead of its time, gave so much of what we see now a clear path to follow.  Quite impressive.  I wonder what the less successful members of the cast are up to now?!?

WP 3.0

Well there appears to be a new update for Word Press, which I’ve installed, and now I’m just trying to get my head around it.  Not too tricky which is always a good thing.

Some of the sidebars are a bit knackered as a result, but I’ll be working on fixing those up.

Book geek

Well we all know (those two of you who read this blog), that I’m a bit of a geek.  I also happen to love books.  So along with my shiny new MacBook Pro, I’ve bought myself a copy of Delicious Library.  This is a bit of a change for me, as I have used Collectorz in the past.  Well the thing that got me, was a. it was cheap, and b. I can use my iSight to scan barcodes, automatically adding them to my library.  This really is something that Collectorz are losing out on.

So today, I started the somewhat mammoth task of cataloguing all of my books.  As I have a rather nasty bought of RSi courtesy of a presentation that I spent seven solid days working on, it was cut short at around 416 books.  Yowch!! that’s a hell of a lot of books I’ve got there, and I’ve not finished.

So anyway, delicious has this great output thingy which allows me to upload my library to teh interwubs.  So I will be attempting at some point in the next 24 hours to get my library online.  Go me!!

This is phase 1 in my master plan that I shall be keeping to myself for a while.

UPDATE: You can now get at my library by going to www.emmachittenden.com/deliciouslibrary/

And lo! I’m back online

Sorry… it’s gotten a bit dusty around here again hasn’t it?  I’ll put it down to my distinct lack of technology at home.  My PowerBook just became so creakingly slow that new technology was required.  Of course I had to save up for a new replacement.  Now I am sat with the gleaming silver words saying ‘MacBook Pro’ in front of me as I type.

So with any luck, posting should resume soon, in the mean time, can someone please hand me the Mr Sheen and a nice fluffy yellow duster?

Death becomes us all

Wow.  It’s not right, to be 32 to and to see people who you grew up watching die when they’re only a few years older than you are.  Of course I’m talking about Corey Haim, who died yesterday.  Why on earth am I bothering to write anything about him when he stopped being so famous a long time ago, and an admission of liking him is probably slightly embarrassing?  I guess he is indirectly responsible for my love of books, well certainly my love of Dean Koontz books anyway.

Let me explain.  I grew up a loner, I spent a lot of time on my own, so I spent a LOT of time watching films.  I got addicted to films with Corey Haim in (look,  I was a teenager, it’s probably the same thing with teenagers and vampire films today).  So anyway, I ended up watching a very obscure film with him in called Watchers.  One thing led to another and a traipse through WH Smiths one Saturday led me to “bumping into” Dean Koontz books.  The rest as they say, is probably history.  I started reading Watchers and then read just about everything else that I could get my hands on by Dean Koontz, then by other similar authors (except Stephen King, don’t like his books for some reason).

If I’m being a bit nostalgic, (which clearly I am as I’m listening to Pearl Jam, REM and Stone Temple Pilots), then it’s worth recalling that I ended up reading a lot of books that films were based on.  Mainly for the reason that we had no cinema in the town where I grew up, and no video rental stores, you either bought it, or relied on Sky.  So I read things like, Silence of the Lambs (great book, well written, the film is very close to the story), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (the book was OK I seem to remember, but it’s the only film I’ve seen with Leonardo DiCaprio in, he’s a terrible actor), Pride and Prejudice (OK, so I loved the TV series, we did have TV, it wasn’t that archane in Somerset growing up), and Sleeping with the Enemy (great book, great film).

Anyway, it’s just quite sad that he’s died really, he clearly didn’t have a fantastic life, probably a typical sad story of the wasted youth of a child star.  I guess hats off to him for giving me my love of reading the genre I like to read.  I hope he has a better afterlife.

radio silence

Apologies for the radio silence the last week.  I had a bit of a light bulb moment last week in regards to something I can’t really discuss at the moment.  Anyhoo, it’s a bloody genius idea and I’m going to be developing it in more detail.  Think of it as my total world domination (oh god, think of the Google hits I’ll get off of that phrase).  I plan to conquer the world with it! (yes I’m sure you can all see the mental image of me rubbing my hands together with hunched shoulders and saying “excellent” in a Mr Burns-esque manner).

The only thing I’m going to share with my very few readers is a question.  When you pick up and read a book for enjoyment (as I know you all do), what words come to mind?  What do you immediately think of when you think of a book?

Such a loss

I know this blog is supposed to be about books and literature, but I wanted to take the time to pay tribute to Alexander McQueen, who died today.  A really talented fashion designer.  Britain has lost one of its shining lights.

Something she’s not

She sits, bolt upright, and surveys the room.  Like her, everyone here is a stranger to one another.  She seems too rigid and false.  Her hair is not carefully coiffured, it is a mess of thick wiry blond, it  is reminiscent of a sheep’s coat.   She surveys the scene, having arrived later than everyone else, the session is just starting, but she looks at everyone with a careful disdain.  Her eyes narrow and her lips contract until a small thin pink line is all that’s visible.  Perhaps she is annoyed, perhaps she is disgusted, it is hard to tell, but her look causes a bristle to the person carefully watching her behaviour.

The introductions had already begun, carefully moving about the room, conveying who each person is, and why they are here.  A lot of nervous smiles and a wash of pride for every person who has gotten to this room today.  Yet she sits, and she watches and she waits.  When it is her turn, she conveys an authority that does not appear to be hers to give.  There is something in her voice, like she has to boast of her background and what it is that she does, like she is somehow more important than every other person in the room.  There is something about her that appears false, that she is something less than she is.

The hours tick by and she remains ramrod straight in her chair.  Her looks suggest she is at odds with the room, like they do not deserve to be there as much as she does, what rights do they have.  When the break comes and she stands to leave the room, her clothes give her away more.  Clean and tidy, and carefully put together, but no brands are on show.  When she returns, she perches on her seat and opens her lunch, the observer of her behaviour notes what it is and how she nibbles her food.  It reminds the observer of a squirrel, holding a nut in both hands and carefully nibbling away.

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