Mad Dogs and Englishmen

I went to see Derren Brown's new show Infamous. If you don't know who Derren Brown is, he's about the nearest thing real people can get to having Sherlock Holmes powers. He's a stage magician and mantalist. He is very cool. I'm not going to spoil his show because you have to see it to believe it and because he asked us not to. He's a nice guy, least I could do.

Anyway, i just want to put this out because I know some of you (like me) have life get on top of you and he gave out this very handy trick for putting problems in perspective:

When we envisage a problem we see it as a sort of film reel going at about eye level: it is  on top of us, so that's why it feels so all-consuming. If, when this happenms, you picture it shrinking down and playing further down- about the level of your stomach, it suddenly seems very small and insignificant, and you feel huge and all-powerful.

( Minor show spoilers )

Yes I waited until Febuary to see my first film of 2013, sue me.

I have an odd relationship with Tarantino movies. On one hand he is without a doubt a terrific director with his own unique style, and the films he makes are very good. However, for some reason, I've yet to see a film of his that grabs me by the throat and doesn't let me go until the last moments. I can never say I love any film of his. It's not his fault, there's just something about them that doesn't quite mesh with me. That being said, I've not met a Tarantino film that I actively dislike (except, for very personal reasons, Inglorious Basterds), so every time a film of his comes out, I usually go and see it because it guarantees a good time. Not every film has to be District 9.

So, that being said, I went to see Django Unchained. To me, it looked like what Inglorious Basterds should have been, and was at the very least not covering a historical period I was familiar with. I went in expecting gore, slaughter and good dialogue, with perhaps a little hope that this would be the film that would make me understand why Tarantino is so universally beloved by so many.

I'm sorry to say I still haven't got it, but that's all I can complain about, because Django Unchained is a rollickingly good film, and I had a really good time. It was, all around, really good, really fun, and really, really satisfying in a visceral way you only get with Tarantino films.

Unlike Basterds, in which I hated the title characters to the point I wanted to Nazis to blow them up as soon as possible, the main characters of Django and Schultz are very likable. They're not always likeable people, but as an audience there's no real problem in rooting for them. The bad guys similarly, are so repellently bad that it's a joy and delight when they get blown away in showers of bullets and floods of very pretty blood.
( Spoliers from here people, you are warned )

Really, this is a game. The other characters? Are other players connected over the internet. Who don't have a chat option.


Seriously, think of this not as a game playthrough, but as a ghibli-style animated film. Clear out an hour and a half of your time and watch it.

Holy fuck.

"It's like you’re casually walking home and then BAM chloroformed and you wake up in a room full of gay superheroes and you don’t know how you got there but you like it."
-    suchalostcreature on Tumblr

One giant load of I TOLD YOU SO wasted. Nevermind that my reaction was NO NO NO DON'T. Yeah, fuck that shit. Because I am so British that my genes and bones are one giant sea of Napoleonic wars. I will be fucking supportive and nice, and polite and just wait until I get away and spend the rest of the evening downing vodka and The Sheep Look Up.

Fuck that shit.

The voice of Otto von Bismark

Seriously, how totally awesome is that? We can thank the slimebag Edison for having it recorded, it's from 1889.

I'm not entirely sure how someone's train of thoughts can lead them to decide that the right course of action upon seeing an old lady collapsed on the pavement with two police and a civilian bystander trying to help her is to complain that she ought to be covered up, because you can see her legs and up her skirt and 'it's disgusting'.

Seriously, what sort of excuse for humanity does that? I mean, I've read ne-nazi pamphlets and tretises on how to run gas vans, not to mention keeping abreast of the American Republican election, and I have never seen anything that revolting. Even the policemen looked sick.

1- I love turtlenecks (nothing to do with X:FC, I've always loved them)

2- I love the colour grey, the lighter and paler the better.

3- I love cashmere.

Guess what I found in a charity shop for £10?

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