Well, I made it through yet another Christmas Day in one piece, although I was having some pretty gloomy thoughts there for a while. Anyway, now I can press onwards to New Year’s Eve, where the slate gets wiped clean and I can start afresh. Woo! See, I can be positive sometimes.
My lesbo friend was texting me throughout yesterday, which was kind of her to do. I made a pretty dark joke by text a few days earlier, so I think she was a little concerned about me. Bless. Who knew that, out of the four of us sat at that pub table fourteen years ago, me and her would be the only ones lef in touch. Although, to be fair, my ex can’t help it, what with being dead and all that.
My brother texted “Merry Christmas!” to me later on in the day, so I just lazily liked it, in the manner in which he’s started doing to me. I hope my point gets through to the dope.
I’m still working my way though those classic Hollywood historical epics. In fact, I’ve added two more! Those would be: Samson & Delilah and The Black Rose. I’m not totally convinced the latter counts, but I’m even less sure I’ll manage to get to it. I am trying to stay keen by taking breaks to watch a few episodes of Family Guy, which seems to be helping.
I’ve just finished The Egyptian, which is a sadly forgotten gem. You could barely call it an “epic” really, as it’s more a wonderfully bleak drama. There’s a slight Coen Brothers-vibe to it actually. You know, one of their studies in human misery. Nothing good happens in the entire film, as our nihilistic protagonist gets screwed over time and time again. I like how it’s really a film about the “heretic king” Akhenaten, but that fact is treated more as a shocking reveal towards the end. But I totally called it. I also called that they’d slip in paroles to Christianity, even going so far as to have characters predict said 1,300-off religion. Sigh. Oh well, it was the 1950s, after all. There’s even some classic 50s sexism in there too, as the film implies that women don’t have anything to live for if they lose their looks. How awful. No wonder the counterculture revolution was only ten years away. Regardless, The Egyptian is a wonderfully offbeat “epic” that, until it gets preachy towards the end, is encouragingly cynical. There’s even a horrifying scene of civilians being mowed down by archers, which I’m gonna go ahead and assume was cut out of most versions in conservative Western countries, such as my own. I have a Friend copy though.
Mwahahahaha!
Oh I forgot to recommend Land of the Pharaohs, which was the first film in my little marathon. Season? Nah, I’ll go with “marathon”. Like The Egyptian, Pharaohs isn’t quite what you’d expect. I’d call it more of an “ancient crime thriller”, with a brilliantly dark twist at the end. It rocks along nicely too, although my low-quality Korean copy skips a lot, so maybe there’s much I’ve missed. A Spanish Blu-ray has just appeared online, os I might put an order in for that asap.
I also watched a cute German TV movie called Nachhilfe fur Vati, which is about a brother and sister who go to stay with their estranged father for… erm… some reason. I think it’s to fix up his house. There’s no English dub or subtitles on my copy, but I got the gist. There are only so many interactions possible between one human and another so, if you bear that in mind, you can generally understand what’s going on in a foreign language movie. Sadly, the two young leads didn’t go on to do much else, as they’re both great. Oh well. I like watching German and Dutch films, as it reminds me of my youth living in Holland briefly. You do tend to scurry back to the past when you find yourself depressed a lot of the time.
I’m enjoying having a microwave, at last. Those Chinese takeaway leftovers reheated much better than they would in the oven. Rice does tend to dry out too much in a conventional electric. I’m also able to finally create my favourite food: soggy cheese & onion pasties, which you also can’t achieve in the oven. Sometimes ruining something makes it better.
Insert joke about virgins here.
I think “Loud Phone Lady” next door is back from wherever she’s been. I’m pretty sure I heard her knocking around earlier. I have missed her drunken cackles, I must say. “Angry Game Boy” has been around, but he’s uncharacteristically rather quiet.
Hmmm, I think that’s about all for now. I’m going to try and get tomorrow’s grocery delivery slot moved up a few hours, but that’s about as exciting as today gets. I’m curious to see whether that booze will last until Sunday. I do need to post some things at the surgery, so that might be a good motivator to stay off the sauce.
She says.
Right, I best go watch Victor Mature pretending to act. Again. He was in Thy Egyptian too, for my sins. To paraphrase his own words: “I’m no actor, and I have thirty films to prove it!”. What a gent.
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
