Knight in shining Hummer

‘The Dark Knight’ premièred a couple of weeks ago.

The theatre ticket was worth every penny.

Films based on the Batman character have been around for quite a bit. I remember watching my first ones in the early-90’s with ‘Batman’ (1989) with Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson playing The Joker. Keaton went on to reprise his role as ‘bats’ in ‘Batman Returns’ (1992) Danny DeVito was cast as a pitiful penguin in that one. Both of these films were directed by Tim Burton.

‘Batman Forever’ (1995) saw Val Kilmer cast as the caped crusader probably setting him up for his role in ‘The Saint’ in 1997. Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey weighed in as Two-Face/Harvey Dent and the Riddler respectively.  Burton produced this film and handed the directors reins to Joel Schumacher. It was swiftly followed by ‘Batman & Robin’ (1997) with George Clooney as Batman and Chris O’Donnell as Robin. In what was an indicator of the studio’s haste to milk the franchise dry, the Batgirl was introduced as Alicia Silverstone and suddenly the Batcave had become rather crowded. Arnold Schwarzenegger ’s performance as Mr. Freeze left me cold and I remain more attracted to than afraid of Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy. Robin gets to kiss her in the film and it doesn’t seem to be as bad as they’d like us to believe, I was actually envious of him.

Up to this point the Batman movies just sucked. They were infused with artificial darkness in an effort to  capture the feel of batman and bring the comic-book hero alive on screen but rather than focus on bringing out the batman mythology; why he is who he is and why even without superpowers he’s still as big as superman (maybe bigger through  Frank Miller’s looking glass). Christopher Nolan must’ve been woken up by the smell of the coffee from the Marvel film sets for both the X-Men and Spiderman franchises which successfully used film to narrate the comic book stories rather than attempt to directly lift the action from the pages and animate it for the big screen.

We owe Bryan Singer (X-men) , Sam Raimi (Spiderman) a debt of gratitude. They clearly understood that it is silly to try and tell a story the same way using media formats that are as different as the Comic book and Film. Even Robert Rodrigues’ Sin City (2005) which closely mimicked the tone of Frank Miller’s Graphic Novels still truncated most of the storylines. Miller himself took certain liberties in the telling of the battle of Thermopylae in his Graphic Novel ‘300′. Zack Snyder went on to do the same in the film adaptation in 2006.

That being said, Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’ (2005) was like the return of the prodigal son. After years of wandering in the wastes of mediocrity, the bats had come home to roost.  It is the celluloid equivalent of the paradigm shift in the public perception of Batman that was triggered by Frank Miller’s ‘Return of the Dark Knight’ in 1986 and subsequently followed by his efforts in ‘Batman: Year One’ and the 3 volumes of ‘DK2′ . In ‘Batman Begins’ it is not Christian Bale, or even Bruce Wayne that hold centre stage; it is Batman. The character for the first time on film transcended the actor who played him. Bale opened a window into his mind. We struggled with him as he made difficult choices, clumsily fell off balconies with him in his first  attempts at playing vigilante and in that way we begun to care about the Batman.

In ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008), Nolan and Bale pick up probably light years away from where they had left off. The filmaking remains faithful to delivering a believable Batman but it succeeds in doing this even more than ‘Batman Begins’. What this film delivers in spades is a villain so villainous that he got a standing ovation at the end. The late Heath Ledger is a revelation in his performance as The Joker in this picture. The only thing he had in common with the Jack Nicholson interpretation was the face make-up and even that was far fetched.

Ledger was completely immersed in the character bringing out a worthy adversary to the Batman. This Joker was as twisted as he was brilliant, as complex a character as he was depraved. The opening sequence where the audience is introduced to him in a bank heist is beautifully shot but as the film progresses it becomes evident that this was only a partial introduction. The many layers of his personality are revealed incrementally, each darker than the last. Unlike his uni-dimensional calling cards, The Joker’s psyche has infinite dimensions. He isn’t in pursuit of ends as pedestrian as cash and he demonstrates this by setting fire to quite a bit of it in the film. No, the Joker’s after something more, something bigger, something less tangible. Even I’m still not  sure what it is but I think it maybe he wants to steal our hope and belief in the good that is in us.

He places Batman, Harvey Dent, the Police, the people of Gotham City and ultimately us in such diabolical moral dilemmas that it is plausible that he is Lucifer-lite. He is frightening in his compassion, giving all his victims just enough choice to make decisions that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. In one scene, he kills a mob boss and tosses them a broken billiard cue to the 3 bodyguards telling them his organisation has a vacancy for only one – leaving them to fight it out among themselves. but what is the Joker without the Jokes? In the midst of all the mayhem, he is still a funny character. In a nod to the modern-day terrorist, he crashes in on a mob meeting rigged to explode and goes on to make them an offer they cannot refuse. In another scene, he blows up a hospital he has given notice to be evacuated but when it doesn’t go according to plan, we see him seemingly perplexed by his faulty remote detonator only a minute later to have a mighty explosion rock the hospital and the Joker hurry guiltily away as though he had nothing to do with it.

It is good that there were no Robins and sundry characters to distract us from the Batman/Joker dichotomy. The film successfully delved into ethical questions we struggle with in some way everyday. Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox meets attempted blackmail with a thinly veiled threat and then turns around to conscientiously object to Batman’s misappropriation of sonar technology to eavesdrop on the people of Gotham City. Michael Caine’s Alfred the butler secretly makes an ethically ambiguous choice that allows Bruce Wayne to go on being Batman and is the strong shoulders upon which our disillusioned and despairing  hero leans upon. Even Lt. James Gordon isn’t above a little deception in the pursuit of justice and we see the political considerations that shape the thinking of the mascara-wearing Mayor of Gotham City.

There were a few things about the film that I disliked. Batman sounds as though he’s just survived a garrotting and is in need of throat lozenges. I was afraid that if Bruce Wayne stayed in the Batman guise for too long, he may develop laryngitis. The transmutation of Harvey Dent into Two-Face was a bit too fast for me. It takes some doing for paragons of virtue to cross over to the dark side. Anakin Skywalker needed 3 episodes of the Star Wars films before he finally became Darth Vader (albeit they traced back to all the way to his childhood).  A few hints on the demons that Harvey kept locked up inside himself would’ve made the slide into insanity easier to understand.

I tip my visor to Messrs. Nolan, Bale and Oldman. I bow to Bob Kane who created batman, Frank Miller who revived him, the late Heath Ledger whose Joker made us believe in Batman again and all the other people who rescued the damsel in distress that is the Batman story.

You are the true dark knights.

Audiophile: The Killers – Shadowplay
Off my shelf: Batman; A Death in the Family
Midday Matinee: The Dark Knight (2008)
Starring: Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gyllenhall
Directed by:Christopher Nolan

 

 

I’ll chop your balls off and feed ‘em to you

It’s hard being a man today. (no snickering)

and just what maketh a man? I certainly hope it’s more than just bulging pecs and hairy testicles. I have the latter if not the former. An aversion to both steroids and weight training has seen to that. I have always equated being a man with taking responsibility. Those guys you see who making a bollocks of things then calmly turn round to face a firing squad whilst suavely drawing on a cigarette could very well be really all that’s left of the real men (yes, Saddam too).

Now in all probability, chaps facing the business end of a rifle will probably be peeing in their pants but in history, they tend to play out as heroes.

Now, here’s a list I found on Wikipedia of the general qualities that are to be expected of a man;

1. Physical — virile, athletic, strong, brave. Unconcerned about appearance and ageing;

2. Functional — breadwinner, provider for family as much as mate

3. Sexual — sexually aggressive, experienced. Single status acceptable; (does not mind walking around naked, especially around other guys)

4. Emotional — unemotional, stoic, for example, the proverb “boys don’t cry”;

5. Intellectual — logical, intellectual, rational, objective, practical,

6. Interpersonal — leader, dominating; disciplinarian; independent, free, individualistic; demanding;

7. Other Personal Characteristics — success-oriented, ambitious, aggressive, proud, egotistical; moral, trustworthy; decisive, competitive, uninhibited, adventurous.

Tall order, that.

What makes it even more vertigo-inducing is that boys are not raised by both parents anymore, usually the mom is the primary (and sometimes only) caregiver or an equivalent substitute is adopted i.e. a nanny, au pair, governess, babysitter, aunt, sister, grandmother………..you get the idea. Men, where they haven’t bailed on their kids have been completely cut off from their sons and boys from their fathers.

Women make for great Moms but they are really lousy as Dads.

What we get is a generation of pansies; small boys trapped in grown men’s bodies for whom shirking responsibility is as easy as breathing. The reason these guys are so bipolar is probably because they have the equipment all right but they aren’t quite sure who they are and what it’s for. So they walk around going through the more obvious motions of being a man; shooting guns, watching sports, drinking beer, making money, working out, fucking and wearing Calvin Klein underwear.

Unfortunately these things are all done out of context; they shoot at unarmed civilians or overwhelmed enemies, sports are watched in a garage or a bar (hardly ever in one’s own domain), Beer is drunk on the sly or in excess, money is wasted on unnecessary luxuries to show up the Joneses rather that the basic necessities, exercise regimens are to raise the opinions of others not for health and they pay for intercourse in one way or another. Oh and by the way, the underwear’s optional. These are knights whose horses are in a petting zoo, whose armour is at the cleaners and whose lances are locked up in a safety cupboard. And yet the women still expect these poor sods to slay their dragons?

Come on.

That’s how Misandry (hatred of men/boys) has become fashionable and acceptable primarily in such matriarch-dominated societies as the United States. Small wonder then that it’s OK to wear t-shirts that say ‘boys are stupid, throw rocks at them’ in the same place where a message hating on women swiftly gets you convicted. With costs.

Lads, what we are is men.

We don’t initiate lawsuits, we shoot or punch whoever crosses us.
We don’t whine about abuse of rights, we go out and fix whatever’s wrong
Most of all, we do not wait for things to happen. We make things happen.

Audiophile: Django Reinhardt – Del Salle – Take 1 (Bruxelles to Paris:1947-1953)
Off my shelf: DK2 Vol.2 – Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
Midday Matinee: The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe and a young Marilyn Monroe
Directed by: John Huston

Daisy Chainsaws

The dating circuit’s a funny place. Full of anxiety, bravado, hope, despair, ill-feigned indifference and unconvincing nonchalance.  Getting older doesn’t help nor does leaving it for a while then returning once a relationship fails.

Aside: Is there a nicer word for what we have with the ones we love other than ‘relationship’? It just seems so………..dry and impersonal a word for something’s that’s so intimate and sticky and messy and warm and painful. Relationship: That’s a word that’s usually followed by ‘Manager’ or ‘Officer’ as printed on business cards or engraved on plaques in office doors at my local bank, PR, Marketing, Audit, Insurance firm whatever……..Maybe  it’s because most of us have found relationships to be that last thing – Painful; that we have chosen to distance ourselves and seek sensory deprivation by hiding behind innocuous words to describe what we feel most.

Anyway in the dating circuit,  a somewhat interesting sequence of events usually takes place. I like someone who doesn’t like me back in that way but instead likes someone who in turn likes someone else ad nauseum. So in the end we are all probably chasing people who are running not from us, but after someone else.

Nice place to play musical chairs.

Every once in a while one gets tired of running and allows themselves to get caught and looks on wistfully as the object of one’s affections gets ever further away. The cries of delight from whoever has managed to catch you go unheard. Sometimes the one you want gets tired of running and we convince ourselves that  ‘they have seen the light’ as it were deaf to the disquieting voice that whispers that you are only second-best.

Sometimes an old flame returns too late to light your fire.

Then again, sometimes maybe two people who genuinely like each other, switch off their search radar and at point-blank range, fire cupid’s arrow at each other.

Audiophile: Django Reinhart – Peche a la Mouche (Bruxelles to Paris:1947-1953)
Off my shelf: DK2 Vol.2 – Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
Midday Matinee: Fight Club (1999)
Starring: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter & Meatloaf
Directed by: David Fincher

Obalma?

Somewhere in the world, there is a belief that you stumble every time someone mentions your name. If that is indeed true, then one Barack Obama’s toes must be very sore.

Everybody’s talking about him.

He’s young
He’s handsome
He’s articulate

He’s black.

Some have gone as far as calling him the messiah and others have gone as far as predicting that he will die in office a la Kennedy. Both make for a compelling argument. He may be a messiah of sorts; the American political system is in dire need of a saviour.

America gave us the ideals of freedom and modern democracy on one hand but it also gave us slavery, insupportable amidst grinding poverty, an arms race, racial segregation, denial of civil rights, support to dictatorial regimes, 2 unconscionable wars and a return to civil rights violations. It promised the world a dream but has delivered a nightmare instead.

After decades of decaying ideals juxtaposed against ugly realities, the American political system has reached the point where it has to make itself relevant once more to its citizens and a world disillusioned by its failures. The collective American conscience has been constantly and mercilessly pricked by the victims of its excesses. America’s moral authority has crumbled and facing a constant barrage of criticism both at home and abroad. The Bush administration(s) are I hope, the lowest point America will ever reach.

The world is tired of America. America is tired of America.

It is a heavy cross Mr. Obama carries; he is expected to make a clean sweep of of the mess George Bush leaves behind.

George W. Bush has taken the American political system to a point where it desperately needs to tear itself away from the disrepute, infamy and ridicule that he imbued upon it. He got to the oval office under a cloud, in circumstances more akin to the fledgling democracies of the 3rd world than the home of the statue of liberty. Whilst he has been minding the shop, the planet has become a more polarized, perilous, pricey and polluted place to live in. I know we cannot lay all the blame at poor old George’s feet but he hasn’t shown much by way of leadership in sorting out the ills that ail us. Rather, he has shown himself to be a somewhat myopic leader with a marked preference for sticking his head in the sand.

Barack Obama is just what we are yearning for. Actually virtually anyone short of Dick Cheney (and maybe John McCain) will do after the George Bush experience but is Barack what we really need?

I have my doubts.

I’m just not too sure if this isn’t some carefully choreographed plan by the American political system to reinvent itself in the wake of Mr. Bush’s folly. Is Mr. Obama is just a bit actor in an elaborate production? Looking back at the election campaign, I just can’t seem to shake the feeling we’re being set up for a long ride.

Let us look at the players; in the red corner, the Republicans led by a colourless John McCain. He’s the archetypal candidate for presidency; Caucasian, Male, Wealthy and Old. He comes from the same people that  that brought you George Bush, evangelical conservatism (See: John Hagee, Pat Robertson), WMD’s (where are those darn things?), Enron & Halliburton, exotic holidays at Abu Grayeb & Guantanamo Bay, waterboarding, “Say NO to Kyoto” and lots of other goodies that are as welcome as crabs in your crotch.

In the blue corner, the Democrats who had us spoilt for choice. They not only gave us a young, half-black, not-so-wealthy male candidate but they also gave us a credible female candidate. In the world of political correctness, race and gender equity, it was a win-win situation for them. The fight for the nomination was  as brutal as it was fascinating and in spite of the fears of analysts that the party would be riven in two, it served to only boost the democratic credentials of the party and begin restoring faith in the system.

So now, we have a poster-boy for freedom and the American way in Barack Obama against the big bad wolf in senator McCain. As Hollywood endings go, this one’s pretty easy to figure out.

I would urge the Prophets of doom to take a second look in their crystal balls. Obama is strategically, the best thing to happen to America right now. He’s the guy who will wash away the Bush and the all the other old-rich-white-guy stains and for that reason alone the establishment will protect him from harm. He’s here to soothe the American conscience, to regain the moral high ground. “Look at us,” Americans will say, “We’re very democratic, we voted a black man into the white house”. After which I suppose 4 years is all they will be able to stomach and they will return to their old ways. However, should Obama not play ball and shake things up a little more than he is expected to, then it may very well be open season once more.

Audiophile: Fall Out Boy – Dance, Dance
Off my shelf: DK2 Vol.1 – Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
Midday Matinee: Malena (2000)
Starring: Monica Belluci, Guissepe Sulfaro, Luciano Ferderico and Matilde Piana
Directed by: Guissepe Tornatore

BBC Fool

I er, stumbled across the food channel sometime ago and got hooked on the culinary porn they have there. Now, I suppose James Martin, Giorgio Locatelli, Bill Granger, Gino D’Campo and Jamie Oliver are all very good looking without their clothes on but I’m more partial to the likes of Kylie Kwong, Sophie Michell, Rachael Allen, Sophie Wright and Nigella Lawson whom I bet look much better sans undergarments. A sight to make your eyes really water (and not from chopping onions either) would be Keith Floyd, Ainsley Harriot, Rick Stein or those Hairy Bikers in similar circumstances.

This is the food channel, not the fashion channel. Here it’s what you put together, not how you’re put together that counts. So I tune in to watch these chefs make whipping up soufflés, roasts, salads and the occasional cocktail look so easy. The ingredients always look exotic even if I have them in the refrigerator, the recipes always sound mouth-watering even if it’s just a ploughman’s lunch that is on the menu and their kitchens always have appliances and utensils that are either more rustic or more cutting edge (that includes knives) than mine.

Ah so, after an hour of furious drooling and limited scribbling, I set off to my kitchen to attempt to recreate what I have witnessed on television. Rummaging around the larder and turning out the cupboards reveals that half the ‘exotic’ spices are missing and so is the sirloin steak. So, I start up the car for a quick dash to the shops and come back laden with jars and cold things wrapped in newspaper and other things that claim to be organic just because someone forgot to give them a quick squirt with a hose to wash off the soil that still clings to the roots.

Back into the kitchen, curse not having an island (hadn’t factored in camera angles when it was being built), whine about inadequate pots & pans, get depressed over not enough water pressure from the faucet in the kitchen sink, sceptically wonder if my stove will get the job done and proceed to slice my finger instead of a carrot on the cutting board. “@#&!*%$^” I say, slap on an elastoplast and try again.

An hour  and 45 minutes later, what started off as a salad somehow turned into a vegetable stew, the steak is extremely well-done on the outside whilst remaining very rare on the inside, my soufflé is crater shaped instead of dome shaped and has an incinerated  surface that looks like a nuclear explosion took place there and  the chocolate-mousse-and-something-or-other cake is just fine. Only that it is salty, smells slightly of moose and has to be cut with a powersaw.  Ah well, I give myself a pat on the back for a job well done and wince every time my injured finger presses the buttons on the phone as I dial my local Chinese restaurant to deliver my won-ton soup, sweet & sour pork and egg noodles.

Audiophile: Fela Kuti – Konfussion
Off my shelf: Batman; Year one – Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
Midday Matinee: Casino Royale (2006)
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen and Judy Dench
Directed by: Martin Campbell

The Doctor is in

Fantastic race weekend.

MotoGP was a hoot.

Valentino Rossi has been in good form but not perfectly so. He is currently at the top of the rider’s standings in MotoGP with 142 points after consecutive wins in Shanghai Le Mans, Mugello and coming in 2nd today at Catalunya. Dani Perdrosa won that one by a mile but the real story was the tussle between Rossi and Stoner for 2nd place. The riders went at it tooth & nail around turn 1 and the chicane switching positions over four times in the course of the race.

For Pedrosa, it was his second win this season after grabbing pole on Portugal’s podium (Estoril) earlier this year.  Today’s performance was emphatic, Pedrosa had built a massive 6 second lead on  Rossi and Stoner but throttled down when he knew he had it in the bag to win by 2 seconds over Rossi.

Today’s win puts him only 7 points behind Rossi as we go to  Donington Park in the British isles on 22nd June.

It wasn’t all bikes and boys though,as these things go there was plenty of eye candy to keep things on an even keel. Enjoy.

F1

Thing’s were a little more dramatic on the formula 1 circuit in Canada. Lewis Hamilton knocked both  himself and Kimi Raikonnen out of the race when he ran into the rear of Raikonnen’s Ferrari which had stopped for a red light at the pit-lane exit.

Nico Rosberg also damaged his front wing when he cosequently ran into Hamilton’s car. The two drivers are faced with a 10 place grid penalty in the next round.

It was a disappointing race for Hamilton in Montreal where he had his maiden win last year and it left many of the fans who had turned out to see him crushed. However, the casualty count at the circuit stood at  35% with 7 out of the 20 drivers registering DNF.

Both Renaults both did not finish with Alonso spinning out of the race and Nelson Piquet retiring with brake failure. Force India’s Adrian Sutil retired in the 12th lap with a broken gearbox as did his teamate Giancarlo Fisichella who spun out of the race, Kazuki Nakajima nudged his Williams into the rear of Jenson Button’s Honda and with a dislodged front wing sticking under his car, crashed into the pit-lane wall.

Hamilton and Raikonnen were the other two drivers who failed to finish. Hamilton had managed to open up a 6 second lead in the early stages of the race but lost it all when the safety car wa deployed following Sutil’s retirement in lap 17. It was after the drivers’ pitted in lap 19 that the crash between Hamilton and Raikonnen occurred.

Robert Kubica led Nick Heidfeld for a BMW one-two and his maiden win to put him at the top of the driver standings, 4 points clear of Hamilton. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa drove faboulously despite a poor start as he overtook both Rubens Barrichello and Hekki Kovalinen at the hairpin turn in what was a fantastic maneouvre  by the Brazilian. He came in 5th to put him at an even 38 points with Hamilton.

See you in magny-Cours, France on the 22nd of June.

Audiophile: The Killers – Read my mind
Off my shelf: Batman; Year one – Frank Miller, Lynn varley
Midday Matinee: The Hill  (1965)
Starring: Sean Connery, Michael Redgrave, Ian Hendry and Harry Andrews
Directed by: Sidney Lumet

Something’s gotta give

PETROLEUM ($/bbl)

PRICE* CHANGE % CHANGE TIME Nymex Crude Future 122.25 -.05 -.04 08:22 Dated Brent Spot 120.96 -.96 -.79 08:53 WTI Cushing Spot 122.30 -2.01 -1.62 06/04

PETROLEUM (¢/gal)

PRICE* CHANGE % CHANGE TIME Nymex Heating Oil Future 355.35 .77 .22 08:22 Nymex RBOB Gasoline Future 319.80 .29 .09 08:22

Oil is trading at $122 a barrel today. It just makes saying the phrase “fill ‘er up” that much harder. These days, my system of pulling up to the pump for a full tank that’ll run me for a week has been shot to shreds. I have been gritting my teeth through the ordeal but as the zeroes at the pump close in on the zeroes on my paycheck, I find myself drained (no pun intended) every time I’m leaving the fuel station.

What’s bringing me close to tears is just that when we’ve almost perfected the internal combustion engine with Electronic Fuel Injection, Active Valve Control Systems, Double Over Head Camshafts, yadayadayada and just when the cars have gotten to be sleek spears shaped in wind tunnels with airbags and cubbyholes just about anywhere you look and they  emit among other things, an exhaust note to die for………..there’s nothing for these works of engineering genius to run on

“TOYOTA PRIUS!!!!” I hear you scream. Er….well, it’s got two things going against it. One, it’s a Toyota and two, it’s a prius. Looks like it was designed on an etch-a-sketch, does 0-60 in the same time it takes paint to dry (on a wet afternoon) and worst, it can’t seem to make up its mind what it is; do I run on gas, do I run on static? is the eternal debate. A bragaddocio Jekyll meeting a benign Hyde.

Enter the Tesla roadster.

0-60 in less than 4 seconds (3.9 to be exact)
220 miles per full charge
No stops at fuel pumps……….ever

Shame they don’t have a saloon version (yet)
Shame it takes 3.5 hours to get fully charged (something about paint drying?)
Shame it goes for about $ 100 000 (for now)

And if I hear one word from some ultra-environmentalist about the carbon load/footprint/whatever that generating enough electricity to run this car makes, I will give them a  load of lead/foot-in-butt/whatever will make them shut up…..for now.

Audiophile: Franz Ferdinand – Michael
Off my shelf: Energy prices report: www.bloomberg.com/energy
Midday Matinee: The Merchant of Venice (2004)
Starring: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and Lynn Collins
Directed by: Michael Radford

Bleeding hearts; sutures or sticky plaster?

When a girl gets her heart broken, she gets a circle of friends, a tub of Häagen-Dazs and a box of Kleenex. When a boy gets his heart broken, he gets a fifth of scotch, an impatient bartender and a splitting headache the next day to go with the heartache.

Go figure.

Audiophile: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cheated Hearts
Off my shelf: mulling over it
Midday Matinee: The Departed (2006)
Starring: Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg
Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Dust devils

Went rally-chasing over the weekend.
Had lots of fun.
Got really dusty.
Took some great photos.
Here they are.

The end.

Too close to the sun

I think I flunked a job interview today. I walked in there cocky and half-cocked at the same time. I swear i have the mind of a contortionist it’s a shame only my body lets me down. Anyway, I was dressed up to the nines, looking spiffy in a sharp suit and a bold tie. I had my technical presenation down so cold you could see my breath when I presented it. The penny dropped when I met my interviwer. He was slouchy and overweight and he kept looking for his non-existent chin with the tip of his pen. Something about that just put me off. I tried making small talk about motorsport and the rally I was at over the weekend but drew a blank.

By now I was really off-balance and then came the revenge of the nerd. He asked me where I’d want to be in  years nad I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the thought of a deserted beach with a scotch in one hand and Hemingway in the other would be my ideal choice. So I hemmed and hawed instead. He went for my jugular like a daylight Dracula.

As I left, I mentally drop-kicked myself for being so unprepared and deluding myself into thinking I could wing it. Turns out I’ll have to learn to fly first.

Audiophile: PJ Harvey – Down by the water
Off my shelf: Batman; The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
Midday Matinee: Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai)  (1954)
Starring: Toshiro Mifune
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa