What's A Girl To Do?

There is a recurring phrase in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books: "You do the job that's in front of you", usually used by Sam Vimes, and occasionally by Granny Weatherwax, both of whom have hard jobs to do but do them anyway because somebody has to.

I don't have a particularly hard job; it's an incredible, fun, interesting job that I feel privileged to do every day. But because the place is so understaffed, all of us end up 'doing the job that's in front of us' even when it's not a good idea. Like moving extremely heavy and awkward things when you're recovering from a broken arm. To be fair, I broke it five months ago, and it is well on the way to healing, but this last week I have shifted a lot of large, heavy boxes in cramped, awkward spaces, and it is pushing my recovery backwards. I had a physio appointment this morning and told her that my arm was more sore this week than it has been in a while, but then afterwards went into work and got right back on with carrying things that I know I shouldn't. And this evening I'm back on the painkillers.

And I know I should have not done what I did today, but there is a culture at work of suffering in silence - everyone has bad backs or other (usually work-related) health problems, but because there are so few people to do these things or to ask for help, they all feel they have to soldier on rather than show signs of weakness (or something like that!). And this culture is infectious - I took one week off work when I broke my elbow. One week. I was still in a great deal of pain, and could barely use my right arm, when I went back, but I felt I had to or I'd be letting people down. And I have spent weeks (months, now) struggling to type, and to move drawers or boxes of specimens, but I have kept my mouth shut and kept going, because it's what everyone else does.

Tomorrow I am NOT going to be moving heavy boxes. Either somebody else can help, or they're not going to be moved.


Sorry to get all maudlin and ranty on you today, but sometimes it's nice to get things off your chest! And I haven't written anything here in ages! I have been to lots of amazing gigs recently, so maybe I'll write a post about those later this week. But right now I have to go rest my sore arm because typing is making my wrist hurt!

Me And You Vs The World

What a bad Blog Mistress I am. Yet again, 'Oops, sorry, my bad'.

Films Wot I Have Seen Recently:


Inception:
Wow. There is no other word. Christopher Nolan, you are a genius and I want to make love to your brain. That sounded less bad in my head.


Toy Story 3:
Yes, in 3D and everything. Which was great! It worked really well, and didn't make my eyes hurt at all, unlike the last film I saw in 3D (Coraline. Obviously not the film's fault, it was a great film, but it didn't really benefit much from the 3Dness). The animation was AMAZING, and it had a lovely story. Anyone who didn't have a little tear in their eye at the end isn't human.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World:
This was today's cinema outing. It is a massive slice of awesome from start to finish. I love Edgar Wright, he is also a genius, and he has a wonderful and distinctive style of film-making. I love spotting all the affectionate references to other films/TV shows/games etc. in his movies. Being an American film this time (and based on a graphic novel) obviously it was slightly different in style to the stuff he's made with Simon Pegg (not a Cornetto in sight!), but there are still little touches that mark it out as an Edgar Wright film. And it was funny, and clever, and the effects were amazing, and despite still looking like a teenager (there was some stubble in evidence, so I'll upgrade him from 12 to maybe 14), Michael Cera kicked some serious ass! Is it very wrong that I now have a tiny crush on him? Well yes, obviously, since I just said he looks about 14, which makes me sound like a paedophile. I'll shut up and go away now.

But while I get my coat, just time for a quick rant. I was appalled (if not totally surprised) to see at the cinema today a trailer for Let Me In, an American remake of the Swedish Let The right One In, which was itself based on a Swedish book of the same title. My question is: WHY? From the trailer the remake appears to be a direct shot-for-shot, frame-by-frame replica of the original film. Which makes it totally redundant. But of course some people are lazy and can't read subtitles, so let's just re-do the entire film for them, rather than suggest they watch it dubbed. Bloody typical. I saw the Spanish film The Orphanage a couple of years ago, and while it was still showing at the cinema I heard that an English language remake had been planned. Which thankfully hasn't yet emerged, but I believe is still in the pipeline. That film was superb, and the subtitles in no way distracted from the creepiness or the sentiment of the film (this is all true for Let The right One In, too).
So please, lay off on the crappy remakes of superb non-English language films.
/rant

It's Over

I love reading, and I do get very involved in my books. So while I can happily sit doing little else for days, racing towards the end of a book, it's always disappointing to reach the end, because the story's over and I have to return to the real world. Which can sometimes be a slightly jarring transition, especially if I've been reading an Alan Dean Foster novel, and have to remember that interstellar travel isn't possible, there are no giant talking insects, and no Commonwealth of planets. He has created such a coherent and vivid galaxy in his books that it is sometimes easy to forget that all these things are not real (if you're me, anyway)! My disappointment at reaching the end of the latest Foster novel is compounded by the fact that it's the last book in a series which he has spent nearly 40 years writing. And a series in which the previous few books have been something of a letdown, having lost the thread of the main plot somewhat and headed off on unnecessary and frivolous tangents.

The last book in the Flinx series was not in itself a letdown at all, in fact it was extremely good (but don't expect a review or even plot synopsis here, because if you haven't read the series it'll mean very little to you, and Mum hasn't read the last book yet, so I'd hate to spoilerise!), but coming to the end is especially disappointing simply because there will be no more. It's taken a long time to get there, but Flinx's story is over, and reaching the end is like losing an old friend. I've grown up with Flinx - I was 16 when I read the first book, about the same age Flinx was at that point, and we're both 26 now - I've always loved him as a character and looked forward to reading his latest adventure (even when it did stray from the major plot of the series), but now I have no more adventures to look forward to! I guess I'll have to go and get a life of my own instead! After I've read the last few non-Flinx Commonwealth books that I just realised I missed somewhere along the way!

Big Cheese

I just read an article on Yahoo Movies blog about films that're so bad they're good. And they do have some corkers! Highlights include Birdemic (the link in their blog doesn't work), which is so tacky it looks like a spoof trailer, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, which looks like possibly the most awesomist film ever, and Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, starring John Barrowman (which just about tells you everything you need to know: it's gonna be cheesy as hell).

And I can think of a few other films that definitely fall into the category of 'so bad they're good':

Ticks, a wonderful 90's horror film featuring Carlton from Fresh Prince trying to be a badass, Seth Green, and some giant mutated ticks. And plenty of unintentional hilarity.

Piranha, a stunning piece of late 70's cheese that followed in the wake of the success of Jaws. I love the buzzing sound effect they used when the piranhas attack. There is a remake out this summer, which instead of mutated piranhas uses 2 million year-old supposedly extinct piranhas! In 3D!

Zapped!, a large slice of 80's Stinking Bishop starring a very young Scott Baio as a science geek who accidentally discovers a formula that gives him telekinetic powers, leading to all sorts of hilarious high school hilarity.

Flash Gordon. Ah, Flash Gordon. A predictable addition to the list, I'll admit, but it is without a doubt one of the cheesiest movies ever made. And BRILLIANT. What's not to love? It has everything you need: Ming The Merciless, Brian Blessed, and a soundtrack by Queen. Job done.

Any others you think I've missed? There must be millions. I have discounted such gems as Evil Dead, Nightmare on Elm Street, WarGames, Willow, Die Hard, Gremlins, Short Circuit, Dune etc., on the grounds that I think they are genuinely good.

Strange Ones

So that's it. No more Supergrass. My world has a little musical hole in it. Last night they said farewell to Scotland, at the Barrowlands (a wonderfully tacky old ballroom) in Glasgow, as part of their final tour.

And they were wonderful. They were always wonderful, of course, but last night in particular will forever stand out as a great gig for me. It was a true retrospective: starting with the most recent album and working backwards, they played 3 or 4 songs from each, and finished at the very beginning with the first song they ever wrote (Caught By The Fuzz, of course). They even had little video montages to introduce each album.

The crowd were great, by about halfway through the set...they were all a bit static to begin with, and it wasn't until we got to Moving that the whole room started jumping, and after that there was some pretty consistent moshing! But even when people were just standing still, the cheering and the singing along were pretty damn impressive! You could really feel the love in that room. The band played for a solid two hours, and every song was a gem. We got the hits, and some brilliant album tracks that they haven't played in the past when I've seen them.

It was all over far too soon, they took a bow, and then were gone.

Goodbye, boys. I will miss you.

EDIT 11/6/2010: I sat listening back through all their albums at work yesterday (enjoying the wonderfulness of them all over again, and discovering I like Road to Rouen as an album a lot more than I used to!), and have figured out the set list from the Glasgow gig. So for those who are interested, here it is (not necessarily in order within each album):

Bad Blood
Diamond Hoo Ha Men
Rebel In You
Outside
Tales of Endurance
St. Petersburg
Road To Rouen
Kiss of Life
Rush Hour Soul
Brecon Beacons
Grace
Funniest Thing
Moving
Mary
Pumping On Your Stereo
In It For The Money
Richard III
Late In The Day
Sun Hits The Sky
I'd Like To Know
Mansize Rooster
Lenny
Strange Ones

Encore:
Alright
Caught by The Fuzz

I think that's all of it! Pretty impressive. Particular highlights for me included...ah hell, the whole set was a damn highlight! How do you choose out of that bumper assortment of goodies?!

Some videos have turned up on Youtube now, so here are a few gems for your enjoyment:

D Is For Dangerous

OK, OK, I know I said I'd back off and leave Twilight alone, but that was before I read it. I was told by one of my friends that the books were much better than the films (she compared them favourably to the Harry Potter books, some of which I do really like (and some of which are a bit average)), so I thought maybe I should actually give it a go. And as she lent me the first book, saving me the embarassment and cost of going out and buying it, I didn't really have much of an excuse not to!

Let me start with the good (because I do strive for balance, and I really did go into this thing wanting to like it, despite my poor opinion of the films): the last 100 or so pages are quite gripping. Once the action gets going, the pace is swift, and it is pretty tense. Unfortunately, this change in gear occurs 328 pages into the 434-page book. The first 327 pages are little more than disturbingly schizophrenic teenage obsession dressed up as love. Bella falls over a lot (she makes endless complaints about her clumisness, which is obviously supposed to demonstrate her ordinariness next to the godlike, graceful Edward (just two of the many adjectives used to describe him in the book)), at least 5 boys fall in love with her (much to her surprise because, again, she thinks she's so very ordinary), and Edward spends a lot of time warning her that he's dangerous and that they should keep their distance, while at the same time stalking her (seriously. It's creepy). But there is very little evidence of a story. 'Girl meets vampire, girl begins unhealthy, obessive relationship with vampire' about sums up most of the book.

Which may suit some people fine - and it obviously does, because these books are highly popular best-sellers - but I'm afraid it lacks the depth of storytelling needed to hold my attention. There is very little subtlety or intricacy to the writing here, and the cast of supporting characters have so little page-time or dialogue as to be interchangable. It is easy and quick to read, but that's not particularly a good thing...it's quick to read because you don't need to be paying much attention to follow the 'action' (or lack thereof), and even the main characters are so unrealistic and poorly drawn that I cannot really get emotionally involved with either of them. They are cliched caracatures, not rounded human beings, and the endless overuse of superfluous adjectives/adverbs to describe everything about Edward (including his eyes, skin, hair, muscles, smell, movement, voice, smile, laugh, chest, teeth, breath (I'm not kidding)) really begins to grate. I know it is teen fiction, so my criticism of it for being simplistic may be a little harsh, but these days there are some very smart, complex teen novels out there (including works by Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and Catherine Webb), compared to which Twilight is something of a disappointment.

Sorry. I read it, I tried to like it, I failed.

It was OK, but I didn't love it. It's possible that the books get better as the series continues - I wasn't overly enamored of the first few Harry Potter books either, but the last few are cracking - but I'm not sure if I have the willpower to battle on and find out! At least the first few HP books were short!
 

Next I think I'll move on to The Twilight Watch (the similarity in title is purely coincidental - Twilight Watch is the third book in the superb Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko) for some seriously good, intricately-plotted, character-driven horror fantasy.

This Summer

OK, add Scott Pilgrim vs. The World to my list of films I wanna see this summer. Just watched the trailer, and it looks great. It's a superhero movie (of sorts) based on a comic book, and it's directed and co-written by Edgar Wright, so it's bound to have lots of in-jokes and fan boy movie references. And plenty of nerdiness, because it also has Michael Cera (of Juno fame - love that movie), who must be in his mid-20's by now but still looks about 12!

I've now seen Prince of Persia, and it was pretty good. The dialogue felt a little stilted in places, but you can't fault the action sequences, or the impressive shape Jake is in (there may have been drool). Plus, it has Scary Jeff from Coupling in it (who is almost unrecognisable)!