Pause....Play

It's been a while since my last blog. Not too long, mind.

So what happened?

Well, I'd be sat on the train or walking along the street working out blog entries and then get home either late or tired or both and just flake out.

So, no blog entries. :(

But I enjoy the 'creative' release I get from just splurging out a load of old tosh that some people might or might not be interested in, so I don't plan on being one of the
large numbers that give up after a few weeks or months.

I've not been up to a huge amount but have managed to book myself a week-long holiday to Morocco in March to use up the last few days of my holiday allowance. I always make sure that I get max usage out of any time that I can get off. Our company doesn't allow you to carry your holiday allowance through from one rolling year to the next so you lose it if you don't take it.

I can't believe that there are still people who don't use it all up?

WHY?

I just can't understand. Even if you don't want to travel somewhere, we live in London! There are always loads of things to do or see around the city that there's just NO EXCUSE!!!

There are sooooo many parts of London that, even having lived here for 33 years, I have never seen or been to. And that's just London. What about the rest of the world? And then there are all those virtual worlds that millions of people live their lives

There's just plenty to keep us all busy online. The list is endless!


So cinema-wise, I start the year as I ended it with more films. UGC Cinemas who I have an 'unlimited' subscription with got taken over by Cineworld so I got sent out a new dark blue membership card. It looks quite nice, don't you know! (Crap picture, with flash showing, mind you.)

I've now seen 'Matchpoint', 'Memoirs Of A Geisha' and 'Jarhead' and plan for a bit of escapism tomorrow with 'Underworld - Evolution' and later in the week probably 'A Cock & Bull Story.'

'Geisha' was a great film with amazing cinematography. The film's visuals have rekindled my desire to go to Japan some time soon. Japan seems so different culturally that it fascinates me.

'Jarhead' was basically a testosterone fuelled male bonding session of a film. No blood or guts, just a bunch of big kids mucking about in the desert, so desperate to find the enemy that they had been trained to kill. I came out really liking the film, though it's probably some primeval part of my brain that enjoyed it rather than anything at all cereberal.

'Matchpoint' was, I think, pretty much an American's-eye view of London. Lots of posh people hob-nobbing visiting galleries blah blah blah. Scarlett Johanson looked as stunning as ever and Woody Allen's decision to have a scene where she's in a white top, soaked through in pouring rain was pure genius but the film overall just didn't do it for me. James Nesbitt as a detective at one of my local police stations? Nah! I like a bit of escapism at the best of times but come on! That was pushing things too far! I wonder if Americans will love it though?

In between all this I decided that it was time to get myself a spanking new digital SLR camera. I bought myself a Nikon D70s. So now I can get some serious looking lenses and look like I know what I'm doing when I go around taking photos in London and around the world, when for the moment I haven't got the foggiest. The fun will be in the experimentation. At least with digital it won't cost me anything. Though lenses are bloody expensive!

And it makes a proper shutter sound that is sooo much better than anything else that I've had and sooo looks the business. I've a half day tomorrow so plan on trying out a few shots around central London after I've had my escapism fix at the flicks.
Until then....