Lomography

This post has nothing whatsoever to do with lomography. Thought I'd clear that up now.

I should be sending out CVs or looking for a place but today I'm choosing activities that won't get bollocks'd up if I have to stop suddenly to vomit, as that seems to be the one thing my body is interested in today.

So I figure blogging is safest; I can always come back and fix spelling errors, or pick up where I left off if I need to reach for yet another Sainsbury's bag. I'm sure you wanted to know all of this. On to other things.

I watched Enemy at the Gates yesterday. It's not really good, but I realized something which had hitherto escaped my notice: my guy looks a lot like Jude Law. Very similar eyes, nose, lips and jaw-line. If Jude Law were a touch more masculine (not that I have anything against the pretty boy thing, but I do enjoy my manly man), they could be brothers. Or cousins. Anyway, it was kind a surprising observation to make and I kept looking back and forth to see if the similarities were really there or if I was just imagining them.

I have so much house work to do today and I haven't done any of it. The guys we live with haven't done their washing up in ages, so the sink is disgusting, but I really did plan to tackle it and then take care of the dishes of ours that have been accumulating beside it. Also, I planned to do some packing, some laundry, some anything. I hate being sick and I hate not knowing what's causing it. Mlah, I may actually have to go see a doctor - and also, as much as I hate being sick at work, I almost think it's worse to be sick on your day off - like the sickness steals the day from you or something.

This is quickly becoming a long, rambling, woe-is-me blog post of nothingness, so I think I'll cut it short there. Hopefully I'll have something a little more cheerful to share next time :)

New in the World of Me

Actually, not too much is new in the world of me, at the moment. Still working at the pizza place, still in the tiny room in the house in the middle of nowhere, still happy and content to a fault.

It's really sunny and beautiful out and really, I should be outside enjoying it - or at the very least, I should be putting the laundry in the washing machine now so that it can be be dry by tomorrow.

We went to Bournemouth the day before yesterday and had a grand time there. Other than being slightly less touristy, it doesn't really seem to be different from Brighton in any significant way. But it was a good day, spent with friends, and full of moments of quiet squee.

In other news, I designed another new T shirt (see the Jeff Goldblum dinosaur to the right). Have to say, I'm pretty pleased with it (Hehe, pretty pleased).

There was one other thing I was going to mention, but now I can't remember what it was. I hate when that happens, but it happens so frequently now that I'm pretty much used to it. Need more B12, I guess.

Additional: I remembered what it was. I was going to say that I'm quite pleased that Blogger finally introduced separate pages - but thinking about it, finally might be stretching it a bit; a few years ago, I looked into it and there was no way to have more than one page, and it never occured to me to check to see if that had changed until I visited this blog either last week or the week before and found that the author had set up multiple pages.

Stuff

I saw (the?) Ghosts of Girlfriends Past today. It was cute, in a I'm-glad-I-didn't-pay-to-see-it kind of way. It was basically like all other goofy romantic comedies. I'm still not sure why it came out in the summer, though, 'cause it was clearly designed to be a Christmas movie.

I also saw Juno for the first time tonight. It's pretty cool. I have new respect for Jason Bateman's acting abilities. The man has mad skills.

I'm up to 52000+ words in Aigaion Girl, which is pretty sweet, but the last chapter is coming sloooooooooowly. I may have grandchildren by the time I'm done.

Also, because I'm a retard, I started something new. Well, I started it a while ago, but before I only had characters, and now I actually have the almost-starting of a plot. Go me.

I think that's it. My weekend wraps up tomorrow, which is sad, but it's been a good weekend, and I'm looking forward to getting back to my daily workouts and... well, nothing else, really, but I miss my puppy.

Movies were Better in Black & White

I've come to the conclusion that, by and large, romantic comedies were better in black and white. Before bright colours and special effects, movies had to rely entirely on the talent of the the cast and crew to gain popularity and to earn money. Dialogue had to be quick and witty in order to keep the audience's attention, and the physical comedy - not necessarily slapstick - had to be near-constant.

Recently, I've been thinking about making a list of my 100 favourite movies, and which movies I would want to include, and through the magic of YouTube, have added a few to the running.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer would never make it as a modern film; the storyline is much too racey. This is especially interesting, because the actual content of the film wouldn't even warrant a PG rating today.

Cary Grant plays an attractive painter, who gives a speech at a high school about his views on America. A young girl in the audience (18-year old Shirley Temple) sees him and immediately falls in love.

Here comes the bit that would never make it past today's censors: through a series of unlikely but hillarious events, Grant's character is sentenced to become the beau of Temple's. The rest of the movie is spent exploring the aftermath of their forced courtship.

While a similar romantic situation might appear in a contemporary film, something tells me that 43-year-old Grant's on screen romance with 18-year-old Temple would more likely be the subject of a dark, dramatic movie, rather than one of a family-friendly film.

Personally, I think the movie is absolutely brilliant and - apart from the really creepy uncle - am in love with the characters.

Bringing Up Baby is actually what got me started on this old movie kick to begin with. I watched Arsenic and Old Lace about a million times when I was a kid, so I've always been in love with Cary Grant. I went searching for other things he's been in, and through a series of random clips and fanvids, found my way to Bringing up Baby.

The premis of this movie is so ridiculous that it doesn't bear explaining, but everything that happens in it, from beginning to end, is so screamingly funny that I happily watched it a second time within 24 hours of the first.

I have to say that I will never understand how or why people became so obsessed with Audrey Hepburn while Katharine was around. Katharine was much prettier and infinitely more talented than Audrey could ever hope to be - and her chemistry with Cary Grant in this film (and the two others of their's I've seen) is absolutely perfect.


By now, it might have become obvious that all the movies I'm listing star Cary Grant. If you're wondering, this is because I'm obsessed with Cary Grant and have been watching a lot of his movies lately. He is easily the best actor of his time (in my opinion), and one of the best in the history of cinema. I plan on marrying his straigh reincarnation, just as soon as I've found him.

Holiday is a great movie, and from what I've seen, fairly progressive for its time.

Grant's character, a self-made man, has fallen in love with the daughter of a wealthy banker, and together with her siblings, they are trying to convince her father to allow them to marry.

Unlike a lot of movies that were coming out back then (and actually, unlike a lot of movies in general), Holiday seriously bucks the status quo, suggesting that people should question the things they have always taken for granted - in this case, the reasons people work, and what should be sacrificed in order to maintain a marriage.

One of my favourite characters is the banker's son. He has a severe drinking problem, but rather than making his constant drunkenness the subject of humour or scorn, the film almost refuses to address it. He's a drunk, irresponsible, a pushover - and a good person who loves his family. Everything I love about this film can be summed up by watching the brother. I can't put it in better words; you'll have to watch the movie.

The Philadelphia Story is another semi-serious romantic comedy, which I tend to enjoy.

This is yet another movie in that turns the typical romantic comedy on its head. It deals with alcoholism, infidelity, and a bunch of other things. And unlike most modern-day romantic comedies, there isn't a good character vs. bad character thing going on here. Both Grant and Stewart's characters are good, honest men, and Hepburn's attraction to both of them is completely understandable.

This is the first film I've ever seen James Stewart in. He is brilliant in this movie. I actually found myself rooting for his character, which, considering how Grant-obsessed I am, is quite an achievement.

I suppose that's it for my Grant-centric romantic comedy edition of why black and white movies rock. It's kind of sad, though, knowing that I'll run out of new old movies one day. In the meantime, though, I'll enjoy them - probably a lot more than the modern ones.