Is it Wednesday already?

It's my dad's birthday today. He's 61.

On Monday I had another two and a half hours' work done on my tattoo backpiece. It's looking so motherfucking rad now, man. I really love it. Which is a good thing, cos it would kind of be a problem now if I didn't, wouldn't it?! According to my little black book, that puts the total time spent in the chair so far at 12 hours. And unlike some tattooers, Xam tends to be working the whole of that time, rather than taking phone calls and shooting the shit with passers-by. As a client I really appreciate the difference. He reckons we'll be pretty much done in about another two sessions, or around five hours.

This week's session was the most painful yet. There were times when I was thinking I'd have to stop. I've never experienced that before. But I kept saying to myself, "If I tap out now, it's another six weeks or so until I get back here." That was enough to spur me on and endure the discomfort.

What else...?

Oh yeah, I sent Shea a copy of the short film I made (whisper it) 11 years ago, coupled with a music video from the following year, I think. It'll be interesting to hear what he thinks of them. If I ever get around to it, I might even post them up on here someday.

I've set myself a small film-making challenge for this week, too, so I hope to get that started and finished in the next couple of days.

Italy went out of the European Cup, losing to Spain on penalties. That sucked, but they didn't play so great.

If you've not been over to my movie reviews (such as they are) in recent weeks, there has been some activity there, though I confess to having been a little lax. I'm trying to get on top of that shit, cos I'm watching some good films at the moment.

I'm sure I had some other stuff to write about, but it's gone clean out of my head. Oh well, probably wasn't very important. Not as important as me getting downstairs to deal with the washing up, anyway. So, off I go.

To adapt from MCR: “Evangelists scare the living shit out of me”

A week or so ago, I watched the Oscar-nominated documentary film Jesus Camp, and while this blog isn't the place where I put my movie reviews (such as they are), I felt I had to at least comment on it here.

You see, it's stayed with me, the evil, vile, manipulative, deceptive, child-abusing nature of these people who run such camps.

How else can you describe people who instil such a fear into children about the devil solely to boost the numbers of Christian followers ready for the holy war against Islam that they are certain will come?

It may well be that one day a holy war will come. I won't deny that. This is not least because Muslims will never be content until the whole world is rid of infidels. That's a problem. But is the solution to this problem really the brainwashing of our kids? (I say "our" in a figurative sense, since I don't breed.)

They tell these kids that they must not read or watch Harry Potter. This is because Harry Potter is a warlock and, as such, to partake of him is sinful. If he were alive in Jesus' time, he would have been put to death, they say. (Well, listen up, freak: he's not alive in our time either. Duh! Yes, this is the one and only time you'll see me defending Harry Potter!)

They tell these kids that they should not tell each other ghost stories in theie dorm room in the dark of night. It's not the Christian thing to do, you see, to dwell on bad stuff.

They fill these kids heads with the belief that babbling incoherently is actually speaking in tongues and a sure sign of the Holy Spirit within. Puh-leeze.

How Middle America cannot see this as the child abuse that it is is beyond me. Jesus Camp "pastor" (read: evil prick) Becky Fischer should burn in Hell, if such a thing exists. Better still, since it's likely Hell doesn't exist, she should burn here on Earth.

I was heartened, however, to read that since the film was made, negative response to the Jesus Camps was so intense that they had to be closed down. Thank Christ for that.

Trailer:


Bill Maher on the movie:

There Will Be Blood

I can't remember a title of a film that so literally but unspectacularly promised what was forthcoming.

Click here, where There Will Be A Review.

Cricked neck

It's been giving me gyp for a couple of days. I knew it would after lying awkwardly on Monday for my tattoo session. It seems like it's on the mend, though, thankfully.

Just reviewed my 150th film over at Such As They Are, though, so feel free to go check out what I'm saying about Monica Bellucci vehicle Malena.

The countdown to 1,000 begins

Just kidding, kinda, but I guess I have to start thinking about what I can do special for number 1,000, right? Though, going by my recent output, it'll probably be a good year away or more. So stay tuned, folks!

Speaking of being a bit slack, my movie reviews (such as they are) have been a bit thin on the ground of late, but I did put one up yesterday, so why not check it out by clicking da linkz, innit? See the comments on that latest one, and you'll see how big my backlog is, too, so I'm hoping to get my shit together. Also awaiting my eyes are Constantine and Black Book.

So, what's in the news? Well, of course there is a lot of talk about the UK's return to nuclear power over the coming years. Man, I don't know... Nuclear power? I mean, have we not learned anything from the past? Okay, let's say for a minute that nuclear has had bad press. Let's look on the bright side. Apparently it's clean and it's therefore better for the environment than coal and oil.

But it has a half-life of 10,000 years. I mean, you can't just bury this shit under the Irish Sea once you're done with it and forget about it. And yes, that apparently was the plan mentioned by an unnamed governmental minister just a couple of days ago. Then last night, on Newsnight some other dude was saying that he's sure there are communities across the UK that would only be too glad to have a nuclear dumping ground and all the jobs that would entail. Um, really? Cos I can't see people lining up for that business opportunity.

This, in my humble opinion, of course, is a fucking global disaster waiting to happen. What's next? "Oh I know, let's take all this old nuclear waste material and dump it on an uninhabited island somewhere. That's fine." Yeah, and with all the ocean liners that seem to constantly crash causing massive oil spills, imagine the severity of a similar situation with a liner full of nuclear waste... Not good.

Still, most people, who probably know more about it than I do, seem concerned more about the costs of the nuclear programme than about the dangers, so what do I know...?

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Also in the news is talk of abolishing the blasphemy law. What's particularly interesting about this is that the Church of England is in favour of its abolition, while the government is keen to keep the law in place (what's that about separation of Church and state again...?)

Personally, I'm all for the abolition of the blasphemy law, of course. I blaspheme from time to time. I take the Lord's name in vain. I don't necessarily think it's big or clever, but as an atheist I see it as my God-given right (ha ha!). And I certainly don't see that anyone should be punished in law for blasphemy, especially writers, artists and broadcasters, people in the public eye who are the most likely to find themselves at the end of such legislation.

Something funny is that if I blaspheme in English, the missus is mildly tutty at me, but if I do it in Italian she virtually blows a fuse. It's bizarre. Also weird is that they have this exclamation in Italian: "Cazzo di Buddha!" This means, "Buddha's cock!" This is deemed perfectly okay, but if I replace Buddha with "Dio" (God) or "Cristo" (Christ), that's highly frowned upon. So it's okay for Italians to be rude about other people's deities but not their own!

Religion is funny. Well, it would be if it weren't for the fact that it's the cause of so much of the trouble in the world... Have a great weekend, y'all.

Dentistry... and a large ass

Won't be around much tomorrow. Off to the dentist. Phase 1 of a root canal treatment. Great.

Still, I have posted some new movie reviews in recent days. Feel free to check 'em out if you haven't already. Also, I joined the Large Association of Movie Blogs (or LAMB for short). You can find it here at largeassmovieblogs. So far it's quite a small ass, but it has big ass-pirations. Is that enough ass talk? Butt I like it!

Have fun without me. He he, like that's possible, right?

Monday

Last night I watched David Lynch's Inland Empire. You can read my review of it here.

This morning I made my wife cry. I'm a bit mean. Not always in a good way. It wasn't intentional. Sometimes men just don't "get" chicks. Sorry.

Non-Lynch stuff

Some exciting news from Cat
A film review (such as it is)

Want movie reviews? We got ’em!

Been a bit short on time to blog this week. Also been short on time to look and edit the video footage I shot of all the cool dogs at the Dogs Trust Open Day, near Canterbury, on Sunday.

I have thrown up a couple of movie reviews over at Such As They Are, though, so feel free to swing by there and check them out.

Hope to catch up with you all soon... Once I get all this work out of the way.

Hmmm...

Inspirationless.
As dry as a nun's cunt, as they say. (Is that blasphemous?)
Hopefully something will come to me soon.
Meantime, I guess I'll write some movie reviews (such as they are).

Where’d the week go?

Forgive me, reader, for I have sinned. It's been four days since my last blog post...

It's been one of those weeks where not much seems to happen worthy of writing:

1. Watched a couple of movies (16 Blocks and le dîner de cons), so they'll make it over to Such As They Are sometime in the distant future. Latest review over there at the moment is the highly recommended Manon des Sources.

2. Been working -- same ol', same ol'.

3. Got the year's expenses receipts organized for the accountant.

4. Bought some jeans from The Gap for £13.59 ($27), which was a total bargain. They were discounted anyway, and then I had a further 20 per cent off for a missing button on the fly!

5. Heard some disappointing news from my brother in his bid to get on The X Factor: in short, he didn't make it.

6. Watched more episodes of Seinfeld. Wife and I are working through all the episodes on DVD in chronological order. It opens it up to a whole new level of brilliance, seeing how the storylines run through entire blocks of shows. Genius.

7. Bought an aerial lead so I could get the Freeview channels on our TV. That way we can now record one channel while watching another, a luxury we haven't been afforded for years. Sure, I know there's fuck all on TV, but you can guarantee that, like buses, two good shows always come along at once.

8. I haven't shaved.

So, that's it. A week in the life of a 30-something self-employed man who blogs.

What will next week bring? Well, among other things I have the series finale of Heroes to look forward to. That's on Monday night. Beyond that, friends and loved ones, it's a blank canvas. Wish me luck...

Tuesday stuff

The day is fast disappearing, unlike my workload, and I fear I won't get a post done today. That makes me frustrated. Luckily, though, I did post a review over at Such As They Are first thing this morning, so that's good.

In other news: my Season 2 DVDs of Twin Peaks arrived today, and I couldn't be more excited. Well, I could be, I suppose -- about going on holiday and spending some quality time with the missus, for example -- or getting a new tattoo, but I'm still pretty psyched.

We went out after lunch and ordered some tiles for the kitchen, which we are getting redone in a few weeks. Bloody hell! £240 for a couple of walls' worth of tiles. I hope we've seriously overordered, cos they have a returns policy, thankfully, so we might get some money back after the job is done.

Oh well, I've got to get my ass to the post office now and pay my Visa bill. How lovely that is, huh?

Other recent bits and pieces

If you'd like to read my 100th movie review, head on over to Such As They Are for the lowdown on David Lynch's masterpiece Mulholland Dr.

And if you'd like to see a mathematical equation related to cats, click along to Cat: A Blog of Disasters to see what happens when I'm without a TV. I just have to make my own fun!

New DVDs to watch

Saturday, Red and I went out to buy a new hi-fi* because our old one had given up the ghost. First the tape deck went wonky; then the CD trays began playing up and being fussy what discs they would play; and finally the minidisc slots started swallowing minidiscs.

And while we were out shopping at the wonderful Bluewater mall in Kent, I took the opportunity to use some of the funds still on my Virgin gift cards.

What goodies did I purchase?, you might be wondering. (Equally, you may well not be wondering, but I shan't let that stop me from sharing regardless.) I bought the following discs:

Brick, the one-disc version; I didn't even realize there was a two-disc version. Bugger! Not to worry. I don't even know yet if I like it, cos I ain't bleedin' sin it yet. I have high hopes.

The Three Burials of Tommy Lee Jones (or whatever it's called). Again, I have yet to see this, but the trailers look well wicked, so fingers crossed.

Open Water. You know the one about the two people who get left behind in the ocean after a diving trip. Uh-oh, shark bait! I enjoyed this film and thought it worth having on the shelf.

At £20 (US$40) for the three, I thought they were a bargain. So I guess these flicks will be getting reviewed over the coming weeks. As ever, though, I am somewhat behind in my reviewing.

For your information, these are the films I have seen in recent weeks but have not yet reviewed:

The Libertine
Domino
The Rundown (aka Welcome to the Jungle)
The 6th Day
Crimson Tide
Mulholland Dr.
Tsotsi
25th Hour
The Family Stone

Anyone seen any of those? What did youse think?

* I use the term "hi-fi" very loosely, since for the sort of money we were paying and the size of system we bought, high fidelity is highly dubitable, but it seems okay so far. Its dinky size meant we could put it on the same side of the lounge as the TV and stuff, so for the first time in several years we've routed the TV and DVD players through it, too.

Other posts from Casa AsteRed

I may well not get around to posting here today, but you can check out other stuff at these highly recommended blogs:

A film clip with poetry at Cat: A Blog of Disasters;

A movie review at Such As They Are;

An amusing tale of linguistics and music at Red-Letter Day.

Go, my friends, and enjoy them all!

Busty ladies (and men)

Busy, busy, busy today. I don't know if it's just me -- and one day this will prove very embarrassing -- but often when I try to type "busy", I end up typing "busty". Can you imagine? There I am typing to a woman who might potentially give me some work: "Hi Geri. Are you still busty? If so, give me a call -- I might be able to help you out." Ouch!

Anyways, Red is still under the weather, so I'm trying to help her out a bit, but I'm also snowed under, and it's only going to get worse.

And tonight we can't even work a straight 12-hour day because we have "men" coming to look at our kitchen, which we are hoping to totally renovate before the summer. It's a galley kitchen, and this has been a long time coming, but it is quite necessary, even though we'll likely only gain three or four inches of walkway space. But show me a man who wouldn't be happy for three or four more inches...

I put a review up over at Such As They Are: it's for Good Night, And Good Luck., so why not go check it out?

In other news (and totally ignoring the real news in the world, such as the Italian prime minister resigning; God help us if Berlusconi gets back in), if recent traffic is any indication, I should receive my 20,000th visitor sometime over the weekend. If it's anyone I recognize from the SiteMeter, I'll give a shout-out. It could be you!

Early morning postings

Nothing new here just yet, but Cat has updated his blog with a tale of more disaster.

And you'll find a review of the film Junebug over at Such As They Are. Upcoming reviews include Lost Highway, Domino, and The Libertine.

Thinking about things, like a walk in the park, things, like a kiss in the dark

Actually, I'm not thinking about things like that at all. Well I do occasionally go for a walk in the park, and that's nice. I'm enjoying walking more often. And it's the best way to explore a new city when you go away for a break.

I'm not thinking about a kiss in the dark, either. Although I do occasionally have kisses in the dark. Best not say any more about that, though ;-)

What I am thinking about follows.

1. My birthday. It's only four weeks away today. In four weeks -- that's two fortnights, twenty-eight days, etc -- I will be 37 years old. It's weird, because just yesterday I was thinking that I was 38. So realizing I'm not even 37 yet makes me feel even younger. Maybe this is one of the greatest things about being a toy boy: you already see that being older is not so bad.

2. Valentine's Day. It's only one week away, guys, so don't forget to buy something nice and/or make a special effort for the loved one in your life. At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser (or should that be "pussy-whipped wuss"?), I try to do nice stuff year round for my woman. Sometimes I fail, though. It seems I criticize more than I ought to. I don't even realize I'm doing it, so I'm gonna make a real effort to fix that.

3. Work. Face it, we all gotta do it from time to time. It's taking me away from blogging as much as I'd like, too. Oh well. Actually, that's not strictly true. I somehow find time to write a post each day, but I'm struggling to find time to visit all my fave hangouts. Sorry to you all, but I am making efforts to rectify that too.

4. The weather. Apparently we're going to be hit with a shitload of snow over the next 24 hours. Brrrrrr. The logs are in the cellar ready for a nice open fire.

5. Spring cleaning. Yes, I know that's a bit of a girlie thing to think about, but our cellar is a damn mess. There are two DVD players to throw out (they don't work) and one 24-inch TV, which I suspect no longer works because it's been in the cellar too long. There's also a huge stack of videotapes to sort out, and a big box full of paper to recycle. PLUS we have to sort out the lounge because we have a new piece of furniture coming soon, so we need to make room for it.

6. Cat. He hasn't blogged in a long while, and I fear his few readers are losing patience. It's not through want of trying; he just never gets a look in on the computers these days. He sends his apologies.

7. Films. I am loving watching movies again recently, so much so that I can't keep on top of my reviews (such as they are).

8. The new David Lynch film Inland Empire. This is the film I am most looking forward to this year. Tomorrow there is a screening in London, with a Q&A with Lynch afterwards. I entered a competition to win tickets, but I doubt I'll get them. And even if I do, with the impending snowstorm set to paralyze the nation, I'm not sure I could get there and back...

Anyways, I think that's all I'm thinking about today. Oh, and you, of course.

Movie reviews

I have finally finished transferring my backlog of movie reviews over to my movie review site Such As They Are.

Additionally, of course, there are quite a few that are exclusive to that blog, including the most recent additions, United 93 and Inside Deep Throat.

Coming soon: Junebug, The Break-Up, Domino, and more...

General stuff that might interest you

I'm currently loving this, at my friend Candy's blog.

Meanwhile, Wife tells me that the British government doesn't want a worldwide abolition of the death penalty. Click to find out why. It involves America, of course.

And I've also put a couple of new film reviews up at Such As They Are, so why not check 'em out if you haven't already?