If I had but the talent or the inkling...

This is fantastic! Batman meets Jane Austen, one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.

And speaking of films, holy heck was I disappointed. I watched Be Kind, Rewind last night. Now, while the film was good, not excellent by any stretch of the imagination, I enjoyed it. I loved the use of pizza bloodsplats, and tinsel ghost tazers, but the ending was... not exactly an ending. One thing I like in a film, if it is not part of a series, is for it to have some closure. BKR had no closure. It seemed like they got to that point in the film and just said "Ah, stuff it. That'll do. It's a wrap." Pah! Such a pity, because it was a good idea.

As for the clustering. It seems to be coming along a little. The brain is slowly opening, like a Predataor's maw with lockjaw! I'm not used to thinking in spidergraphs, it almost seems forced. I'm finding it difficult to generate ideas when prompted with something that is likely to be far from the actual story subject. Hopefully, once I've worked through my skepticism, this technique will turn on some lights. At the moment it just feels wrong forcing my brain to make leaps that it wouldn't normally, it usually takes tenacious leaps of its own accord and slaps me accordingly!

Anyway. Back to it.

Cloverfield

I have finally had the chance to see Cloverfield. Well, I was dubious, as it had been dubbed the Blair Witch meets Godzilla (I hated Blair Witch, it bored me stupid). I can see why, but there was much more to hold the attention in Cloverfield . Unlike BW, I did find that ball of anxiety in my chest during the tunnels and exploding friend scenes. However, I didn't think it was amazing. That may have been due to watching it on TV. I can see how the tension could have been built watching it on the big screen. But, I did enjoy it. Not got more to say on it than that.

On the subject of films though, one of my favourite films happened to be on yesterday. What was the film? The Princess Bride. I love it! I have never read the book - a flaw on my part - but I am worried that if I read the book the shiny of the film might be marred. Now, this isn't like me. I would rather read a book than take a film based on the book at face value. The Princess Bride is a different matter though. I love that film so much, I can watch it over and over again, that I don't want to read the book in case it does affect my enjoyment of the film. See, I might have enjoyed Eragon if I hadn't read the book, but the glaring omissions in that film just made me angry. So, I don't know if I will ever get to reading William Goldman's book.

As for returns of essays... I'm still waiting. *Sigh* I'm finding it hard to concentrate on the 60s when I don't know how I fared on the last essay. However, I am slowly trudging through the science section. I think I am quite certain that I will tackle science in the next essay, and possibly music and history, though having done okay with the art sections... We'll see. I think doing the history part is a given, just because to tackle periodisation you can hardly ignore it.

And to finish; the best swordfight (or fencing duel, I'm not sure!) in film!

Woohoo for Moffat!

OK, so this is no slight on RTD, after all he did bring the Doctor back to our screens and made Saturday nights good again (for thirteen weeks of the year!), but I am so glad that Steven Moffat is taking over as head writer for the next series. The episodes he penned were fabulous. So chuffed!

I went to see Iron Man with Laura last night. What a fantastic film. I was disappointed when Robert Downey Jr was cast as Tony Stark, but I was pleasantly surprised. I love the fact that Stan Lee still has to do his Hitchcockian style cameo. Twas good fun!

I've also been taking a break from studying. I needed to sit down and just read a book that didn't need careful perusal. So, after ditching Un Lun Dun - it just started to drag and drag - I decided to read The End Of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas.

First thing to mention about this book; it is, for want of better words, deliciously Goth in its appearance. It has a lovely deep to bright red cover and the edges of the pages are black. It gives the book a little extra something.

Second thing to mention; it reads as if it was written by someone who had done a humanities degree comprising Literature and philosophy. Sometimes it feels like it should be a course book. The story itself reads like a thought experiment, but that only makes it more interesting to read. I'm not too sure about the main character though, and it does seem a little lack in characterisation. There are lots of infodump occasions too. Other than that, it is holding my attention.

So I shall go now and finish reading it. And then I will read over my TMA one last time and get it sent off. Fingers crossed it doesn't come back as a fail.

Hellboy and Stardust

I finally got around to watching two of the DVDs I have purchased over the last couple of months.

• Hellboy.

I really enjoyed this film. I have to admit I haven't read the comics, but maybe I'll go and search some out on Ebay now. Other than I enjoyed it, I haven't got anything else to say as I watched it to relax and free my brain from thinking.

• Stardust.

Watched this last night (after Principessa went to sleep while watching Hellboy. She was supposed to watch Stardust with me, but she wanted to watch the red monster instead). After hearing so many people say it was awful I was quite surprised as I quite liked it. Okay, so some of the plot points from the book were missing, and other things were there that I don't quite remember from the book (I'll have to read it again now), but otherwise it was okay. I was hoping the the fight between the unicorn and lion would still be there as that scene, for some reason, really stood out for me. But no, just the unicorn appeared.

I might get around to watching Daywatch tonight. I really loved Nightwatch. I've got the books sitting on the shelf waiting to be read, but there is a pile of books to get through before I get to them. Reading Dust by Elizabeth Bear (or I will when I find it... the gremlins seem to have picked it up for their plaything at the minute. Can't seem to find it. Hmmm...) in between reading Block 3 for the OU course. God it's boring! Block 3, that is. I'm hoping it will get easier and less like my brain trudging through a quagmire.

*Sigh*

And it's all over.

Bah! Tsonga didn't win. I was really hoping he would. In the end, Djokovic deserved the win as he kept his head better. Such a pity though. I suppose there'll be plenty of other chances for Tsonga, he just needs these experiences to know what to expect next time around.

'Twas a great match, never the less, and after the first set I did think that Tsonga might win. Both of them played some brilliant shots, but Tsonga made far too many errors. Was close, though!

I ended up watching the Chronicles of Riddick last night. I didn't like Pitch Black, but I liked Chronicles. I liked the idea of the Necromongers. Yep, I think I might watch that one again with a little more concentration.

I have now heard from the tutor for my OU course. Kirst and I can now send off our TMA's (tutor marked assignments). I'm just hoping there can be something sorted out for going to the tutorials. I'm not sure I'll be able to get there in the wheelchair. Poop!

On writing - I might have discovered a way out of the slump. I have started scribbling ideas down for the story I began for the NaNo, and something in the first chapter or so might need a little reworking, but I'm feeling more optimistic about it again. The idea for fixing the rut seemed to come steamrollering into my head this morning just after the tennis finished. I have no clue as to what flicked the switch, but I'm glad it did!

Grandand is just getting Principessa ready to go out with him to the shops, so I might just go upstairs and do some studying. I need to get my head around the Art History part of the OU course. Argh!