It's been a long while since I've watched films back to back.
Today, I've got through

The Killer Elite (amazing film)
(500) Days of Summer
Rounders

and currently Face/Off.

I'll probably get through another film before the day is through.

The Ideal Me

So, what's been up with me lately?

Injured my back at work, went to see friends for a couple of days, got drunk, gave too much money to an alcoholic tramp, went swimming, ate ice cream travelled the countryside and got stuck in Norwich.

Now that I have done these things, it is time to make a change. Time to streamline my life. I have stated that I want another job, easier, full time to earn money. As of yet nothing has arrived. So I am coming up with ways to make change happen.


Part of this includes the ideal me, how I want to be. This isn't personality wise, but just a few changes.

The rest is essentially work output rather than the input that I am accustomed to. Figuring out how to take advantage wasted moments.

Although I am also aware that rest is a big deal in life. Not enough of us sleep enough, comfortably or at the right time. I want to figure out how to get the most and feel refreshed. This past week, I have been a zombie.

Not only this but I need time to relax my mind and body. So change is coming.

Why the fuck did I give that tramp £10?

As of this morning, I am the only temp in my department. This means I'm the third most senior member of staff there. By this, it means I'll be doing almost all of the work.


Yes, it is time to seriously look for work elsewhere.

Fine, my retired  running trainers are called The Champions.

Go listen to Best Coast.

Great scene.

An OIL TANKER.

From what's left of the twisted metal sub-frame flames twenty feet high scorch the night, like the maw of hell on earth.

James stares, transfixed by the burning... the imprint of some insurgent's plan.

His face hardens now in a way we haven't seen before, and as the fire flickers on his features he seems lost in a privatre war of his own.

The insurgents are out there somewhere.

Ahab and the Whale

The best script I've read this year

I've read a lot of scripts and a couple of plays over the past two months. Since I'm taking a sabbatical from prose and non-fiction and spending a year just reading scripts (10 months to go!)

I have about twenty pages to go in the best script I've read this year* and it is a pretty great film by James Mangold. Copland. Go read it.

This is saying a lot, because I have read some fantastic scripts this year:

Sunshine
Thank You for Smoking
Michael Clayton
Goodfellas
American Beauty

and a couple of great plays:
Farragut North
The Farnsworth Invention



When I read scripts, I am benefitting from it. I have several books on how to write screenplays, barely got through Syd Field and I never read the rest.

Thank fully I have plenty of scripts to get me through the next ten months. Including China Town, Taxi Driver, Batman Begins, Memento, Out of Sight and loads more. Plus lots of plays by Pinter, Mamet, Mcdonagh and a Sorkin.


On a side note, since I have started working at my job, three people have left my department (granted one of them I replaced) but that says a lot about where I work. Everybody hates it here, except the people who will die here.


*best script I've read this year so far.

Isaac and Ishmael

Quite possibly my favourite one hour done in one episode ever. It is the season 3 premiere of The West Wing.

A few things about it. It was made in two weeks. Two weeks following the September 11th terrorist attacks and was a counter-attack to the people baying for bloody revenge, and also wasn't. As a single episode of a show, it introduces all the characters as if for the first time.

There is an A story and a B story. There are very few sets, and they oppose one another. One that is trying to make sense and differentiate a religion versus extremism and another trying to quickly find whether a staff member of the white house is a terrorist by linking relgion and terrorism together.

There is resolution. People come to their senses. The guy who aggressively tries to dins out if the staff member is a muslin returns and basically says he over reacted. People did over react or did they. Catastrophic tragedies have huge backlashes, somewhere to drive their  sometimes misjudged or uncontrolled emotions.

It doesn't spend much money. You could only see that episode and never see the rest of the show. Just track it down and watch it.