Bob Monkhouse has sadly died. I heard it on a radio playing in the background this morning while I was out and about. Immediate thought: ‘Shit.’ It wasn’t a great surprise, but I was hoping his treatment would give him a bit longer.
Read More »Bob Monkhouse, R.I.P.
Well, I guess Christmas is almost over for another year. The Day Itself is done with. It seems like our television schedulers have given up any pretence of making any real effort this year… I wonder if that reflects an overall feeling of growing apathy?
Christmas day was just like a weekend day, really. Only with decorations and turkey. We ended up watching My Fair Lady in the afternoon, which I hadn’t seen for years. I’m not a musical fan, but this one’s a sentimental favourite for unknown reasons. I like it. Rex Harrison was great.
Read More »Good Riddance
My most recent DVD purchase was the director’s cut of The Wicker Man. It’s an almost-but-not-quite complete print that restores most of the footage hacked from the theatrical cut, which you also get on a second disk. This film has a reputation as being amongst the best British entries in the horror genre, along with Witchfinder General (one of Vincent Price’s finest moments). The packaging unsurprisingly emphasises the presence of Christopher Lee, in light of his recent Indian Summer.
And it is a great performance by Lee, who should seem comical and ridiculous in his fright wig and kilt, but doesn’t. Casual menace defines his screen time. Okay, so seeing him at the end in a long wig and a dress is quite funny! Otherwise, he’s just plain creepy, in a weirdly seductive way.
Read More »The Wicker Man (1973)
It’s odd how my vocal acceptance of Web design not being the career for me causes another long debate about it! I can’t escape from it.
What I really want is to go into brain surgery. But I need practice. I have a load of good utensils in the kitchen. Volunteers? Er, no one’s doubting my inestimable skill are they?
Read More »I Want to be a Brain Surgeon
I’m experiencing some emotional turmoil, with various factors ever-present. My employment situation, general isolation and lack of self-belief, etc. They’re big issues, without any obvious answers, and it drags my morale down constantly. It is possible in fifteen years to go from thinking you have tons of creative potential to believing you’re worth nothing. A long cycle of non-success is usually sufficient.
Read More »Slight Improvement?!
No, I haven’t abandoned the blog. I just haven’t had much to say, really. Mom and I both had a nasty cold week before last (caught from her boss), and with mom’s health not being great, she’s still suffering the effects, so it’s been a subdued atmosphere.
I got asked for a blowjob today by someone about 15 years my junior. Charming folk round here! But, I guess, the nearest thing to a proposition I’m gonna get anytime soon. 🙂
Read More »Back and Forth
Well, it’s now December, which means this blog’s three years old. How scary. Life was quite substantially different three years ago (in both a better way and a worse way). Starting a blog was just a laugh at the time, which on reflection might be the best attitude to have, since looking for a greater importance seems bound to fail.
Read More »1095 Days
This is slightly old news, but I wanted to comment on the exclusion of Christopher Lee’s footage of Saruman in The Return of the King.
It seems amazing that they would go to the trouble of having Christopher fly out to film extra footage (his last day of shooting was back in July) only to not use it in the theatrical release—sure, it’ll show up on the extended DVD eventually, but it seems to me these things ought to have been planned out long ago. Such last-minute decisions doesn’t create an awfully good impression. Mr. Lee will not be attending the premiere, and I can’t say I blame him. He deserves more respect.
As noted in the previous comments thingy, I made the decision Monday that I’d had enough of the endless New Deal harassments (it’s been going on in some form or other since March). I had two appointments in one day: I neglected to attend both of them.
The government will, of course, suspend my benefit almost immediately. Well, tough! I almost took this route four months ago, but someone out there (not a Jobcentre person, I hasten to add) decided to treat me with a bit of understanding. Fine. But enough’s enough. Their tiny handouts just aren’t worth the stress. Sunday, I had a recurrence of IBS, which hasn’t bothered me for a year or so. By Monday, it was crippling me. Funnily enough, it’s mostly subsided now. I might be in deep shit as far as money goes, but I feel a lot less stressed out.
Oh, I haven’t a clue what to do. Broadly speaking, I think I have to consider myself self-employed at the moment and figure out if I can make money from something for once in my life.
Read More »Moving On
I’m feeling the worst depression I’ve had for quite a while. [I initially put it more strongly than that, but in reflection, I prefer it this way.]
Read More »Tired of Life
