Was super duper naughty yesterday.  I popped into my local record shop to investigate their autumn sale and came away with the entire series of Black Books for £12 and Sweeney Todd and Juno for £7 each.  Not bad considering that's before staff discount.  I wouldn't have bothered otherwise, especially where Juno and Black Books are concerned, but it was simply to good a deal to pass up.  Besides, given what's been going on of late, I think I deserved to treat myself.

So I had a little film marathon today with Sweeney Todd kicking off the proceedings.  It still holds up after the second viewing, something that never usually happens with me, but in this instance: oh yes.  It's a definite return to form for Burton who was putting out some really mediocre films in the shape of Corpse Bride, Big Fish, and Charlie.  My only real bug bear regarding the film was Anthony, who is still very annoying, but that's like saying water is wet.

I then went on to Gone, Baby, Gone, which was alright, not great, but alright.  The performances were strong: Amy Ryan really deserved her Oscar nomination, and at this point I would go as far to say that Casey has more talent for acting than his brother.  That might be a unpopular opinion, but I think that he's has far more range and is more nuanced than Ben is.  His performance in Jesse James blew me away and isn't something I can see Ben duplicating anytime soon.  Anyway, what let Gone, Baby, Gone down in my opinion was the script.  There were enough plot holes big enough to drive a truck through, but that was okay.  I didn't really expect much from this film, so I wasn't too disappointed. 

After that I put on 3:10 to Yuma.  Meh.  Again, it was okay and watchable I suppose, but that might just be me.  The western genre has been dead in the water for me since I watched The Proposition.  That fim killed all other westerns for me the same way The Wire killed all other police shows.  Anything else simply doesn't stand up in comparison.  I'm glad I got a chance to see it.  It was passable, just not unmissable.

Last, and by all means least was The Departed.  I'd been avoiding it for along time since I wasn't too keen on any of the leads.  Leo has got on my wick since that god awful film,  Damon rubs me up the wrong way, and Jack is Jack.  Not only that, but I didn't see how on earth it could possibly top the original film: Infernal Affairs, which was a masterpiece.   Needless to say, it didn't.  Not by a long shot.  I suppose if I hadn't seen IA, I might have quite liked it.  But what can you do.

So yeah, that was my day off.  And I can't tell you how nice it was just to have a day to myself without having to speak to another human being.
cold_nostalgia: Default (Pretty Sky)
( Aug. 15th, 2008 09:24 pm)
What a great day it's been.  Got up earlyish, did a little bit of tidying and a little bit of nattering on the phone, then very randomly decided to go the Botanical Gardens for the afternoon.

I don't know why I thought of it.  It sort of just popped into my head, the centre of town is pretty no-go right now with the festival being on and since I'm pretty broke, it seemed like a cheap and cheerful way to spend afternoon.    I hadn't been to the Botanics since I was a little tyke and since I remembered being utterly bored the last time I went; I never really bothered going back.  Which was stupid on my part - you never appreciate your surroundings when you're young.  So I'm glad I ignored that little nagging voice at the back of my head telling me I wouldn't enjoy it.  I did.  Much more than I thought I would.

I went pretty late in the day, so I only managed to get round a third of it.  It also didn't help that I have no sense of direction and kept getting lost every two minutes, I didn't take any money with me either, so I didn't get to see inside the huge greenhouse where all the more exotic plants are kept.  Which was a bit of a shame, but it wasn't the end of the world.  What little I saw held enough of my interest.

The trees were the stars of the show, closely followed by the cushion plants.  I think my little outing today underlined just how much I walk around with my eyes closed.  I look at things, but I don't really see them or appreciate them. I take far too much for granted.  I've always been aware of this aspect of myself and I've never really cared for it.  Today just hammered it home for me.  I'd like to get rid of that habit. I don't want to do 180 degree turn or anything, but you know.

So, yeah, I had a nice time and I will go back at some point.  I'd also like to close this by saying how much I miss seeing a bumble bee and screaming the place down.  I'm wandering around in this great bloody big garden, with lots and lots and lots of flowers, and I saw about two.  Oh, there were quite a few wasps, I saw one butterfly, but that was it.  The height of summer, The Royal Botanical Gardens, and there's two bumblebess.  Slightly worrying since it's been like that since spring.  It's fair enough in the city centre, but in the RBG?  It ain't right.

Maybe I should just stop reading environmental news.  I'm still slightly upset about Greenpeace's report regarding John West.
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