Handymen, assassins, playwrights and aliens

Yesterday I signed on for hopefully the last time for four months as I should start college in less than two weeks. Apparently I’m getting some pro-forma in the post to fill out, erm, yippee. My last signing went rather smoothly. I mentioned that I’ll need to change my job search agreement when I return from college as I’ll be looking for music and media related stuff. We shall see how that goes.

My girlfriend and I had a nice night in for Valentine’s Day. I bought her a card, some chocolates (most important!!) and some bath stuff from Lush. She seemed to like it. I got a card and a bottle of wine from her. Not sure when I’ll drink it though. We watched some episodes of 30 Rock together but then she seemed to really feel the cold and had to sit on the sofa with a duvet wrapped round her. I let her go to bed and warm up and after a while I joined her. Nothing romantic happened once I was up there, but it’s not like I was in the mood or awake enough anyway.

I bought a new guitar lead from a music shop that’s just opened in town. I can’t hook up my effects board without it. I’m looking forward to trying it out. Am I sad for getting excited about testing a piece of wire? Yes, ok, maybe I am.

We’ve got our usual handyman in fitting a rail for the shower curtain. There was a temporary one that was just spring loaded onto the wall. It was rubbish but did the job. I’m not a big fan of babysitting workmen, but what can you do. For some strange reason my girlfriend never books them to come out when she’s in the house. Funny that.

I bought Luc Besson’s Nikita in a charity shop in Scarborough the other day and started watching it yesterday without the subtitles on. My eyesight’s so bad now that it’s too hard to read subtitles so it’s easier for me just to guess what’s going on. I know the Nikita story pretty well anyway, so I’m not too fussed about he fine details. It’s nice to watch a foreign film for a change, rather than reading it.

I’m trying to think of ideas for plays that me and my girlfriend can write and perform together. She gets sudden bursts of motivation for doing things but when it comes round to actually doing them she manages to find herself feeling ill with a vague malady. Oh well, I try to be as positive as I can and always sound up for trying new things.

We’re going to the cinema tomorrow with some friends to see that new Pegg/Frost film “Paul”. Apparently it’s getting mixed reviews, but I wouldn’t expect anything more/less from those two. It sounds like a three star film, which will do me fine. I hope there aren’t too many kids and teenagers at the screening as I can’t handle the noise and threat of being teased.

I think the handyman’s arrived, so must go and tend to that…

Travelling without moving

It’s all quiet on the old housemate front… but for how long? She made some angry and confused/drunk phone calls about her benefits and the house but things are now eerily quiet. I’m sure things will kick off again soon. We keep putting the chain on the door when we’re in the house so she can’t sneak in. Just had a call from her doctor checking that this was the right address for her but I said she’d moved and we haven’t got any forwarding details.

I’ve finally got my criminal record clearance through for college. It was all clean and spotless as expected. There’s been no word from the college, but I’ll give them a call today. Fingers crossed the next time I sign on will be my last for a while.

We went to Scarborough for the day yesterday, which was really nice. The weather wasn’t great but we enjoyed ourselves regardless. We had a nice lunch and played on the penny arcades. My gf had a bit of a panic attack and felt down but then seemed to level out. I got a bit frustrated as I’d hoped the day would take her mind off things. We took the coach up (£10… cha ching!!) so it was pretty easy going.

I need to clean the bathroom as it’s getting really icky. I hate going in there and using the toilet. We’ve got a workman coming to fix a new shower railing and I feel guilty about him having to see the state of the room. Not sure I’ve got time to do it today, but I’ll get it sorted. I hope.

I’ve still not heard from my dad. If he’s moved then he’s not furnishing anyone with a forwarding address. Oh well, we’re a troubled lot so I can understand if he wants to see the back of us.

I’m still in contact with my old friend from college and we have great chats on the phone. My gf isn’t used to me having friends so she gets a bit “funny” about me talking to him for so long. She’ll have to get used to it as she’s got loads of close friends that she talks to for ages and meets up with all the time. I might go down and meet up with him before I start college.

Anyway, better go and listen out for the door…

“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” – film review

I’m not sure what the moral implications are of watching a sequel before the original, but I’ve not really been that keen on catching Wall Street 1 but sort of guessed what the general gist of it was and heard roughly how it ended.

So, how does watching a sequel “blind” work out?

I guess I’ll find out when I finally watch the original, but for some reason I was attracted to seeing Money Never Sleeps to satisfy certain curiosities… namely, why does a director who tends to tackle quite serious political issues in one-off releases feel the need to dig out a film he made twenty years ago and make his first ever sequel?

I’ve not seen many Oliver Stone films, not because he’s a bad director or a boring visualist, but because, like Martin Scorsese, his usual subject matters don’t tend interest me very much. On the odd occasion that he does stray away from war films or political musings then you’ll find me forking out the cash for a reduced-to-clear dvd copy.

There’s an important and valid point made in Money Never Sleeps which the news media really needs to make clear to the general public when the country falls into another recession: a capitalist economy is cyclical, you’ll get dips and crashes in the market but this needs to happen in order for it to regenerate itself… so don’t panic!! Numbers can’t hurt you, things will work out in the end and people, lives and relationships are far more important than year end bonuses. Freedom and wealth can’t be counted and felt in bank balances and possessions.

I did brace myself for an angry film about sharp suited yuppies clambering for money and power, but I’m guessing that’s what the original film was about. Even though this one sort of starts off like that, it actually turns out to be a very sweet and warm hearted little film that wants to inspire people to push themselves to improve the world for the greater moral good rather than for personal gain.

There’re ace performances from the lovely (oh so lovely) Shia LaBeouf (who’s managing to prove that he’s not just another young stud from the Hollywood cookie cutter to end up in the forgotten footnotes of movie casting history), Michael Douglas (one of my favourite movie stars… he’s just so cool and nobody gets angry quite like him) and Carey Mulligan (who’s stunning emotional breakdowns and twinkly, tear filled eyes are given extra screen time and pauses by Stone’s adoring camera).

Money Never Sleeps is a film about hope and believing in doing the right thing even though it doesn’t earn you millions and billions of sweet, sweet dosh.

Give it a go, then watch the first one.