Category: toreview

Somewhat odd and halfway today.

On the upside:
-Day 2 of a 3 day week, then off to Devon for a few days visiting family, which will be good fun. That is a big upside actually.

-Loving the Animal Crossing. I think that needs a review soon, but unsurprisingly, it is a very good thing

On the downside:
-Left ankle hurting a lot last night for no good reason. My body is all out of wack with the back issue, and I think being cold and walking oddly may have hurt it. Fine today, but was a bit sore last night. Still, get to see the docs about it soon now.

-Have something difficult to write on here. It isn’t that it is highly personal really, that it is emotionally difficult to write about this thing, it is just literally hard to write. I’ve had the post in my head for a week, and I can’t quite put it together yet. I’m just finding it annoying, and it may well be when I am on holiday I will sit down and do it, clear it out of my system. I hate to be all precious, but I do have a slightly fractuous author side to me, and I won’t rest until I get this done.

I ran out of podcasts to listen to on the way home, so I had to move onto this weird old thing I used to listen to called music. Kraftwerk in particular, which was very relaxing as I walked home. I drifted off a little, my mind turning to my selection of films that I have to get round to watching again.

I am a lazy film viewer. My to watch shelf is well, pretty much a shelf. Lots of good intentions and all that, but just don’t seem to get around to it always.

Part of the problem with this is that it forces further down the list things I have seen one or more times before, and this was what I was pondering today, the less popular films from my list. What follows are some of the highlights:

Freddie Got Fingered

I’ve probably lost half the people reading this immediately. To the majority of people Tom Green is an terrible comedian, and even worse filmmaker. I see him as Cartman grown up and slimmed down, with a fucking huge dose of some things he should have left alone at college, and a terrifying set of issues with his parents. I have never found him easy to watch, but then why should everything be easy?

Okay, I’m not going to labour this one too long, but you should give this film a go because 1) Rip Torn is in it. Artie from the Larry Sanders show. As his dad. 2) It has got a cute charm (honest) in the Jerry Lewis, Adam Sandler feelgood mode. Sort of. 3) It is screamingly funny. IF you like South Park and suchlike when it is on the very edge of taste.

Subway

This is a great eighties French film set in the Paris Metro. I’ve got it on video tape, and only watched it once, as it is dubbed so badly it is almost unwatchable. I saw it on TV first of all, with subtitles and it was great. It has occured to me recently that the DVD version might have the subtitles restored, so I can watch it again.

It just has a fantastic sense of French eighties cool, Christophe Lambert with shocking white punk hair, dudes skating and playing funk bass, and a whole literally underground subculture. Well overdue another viewing.

Hudson Hawk

Again, a very maligned film. And I can’t necessarily defend it. The film is a battlefield between Bruce Willis and Michael Lehmann (the director of Heathers, a great little movie). it was rumoured that there was something like 147 script rewrites, and it looks like it. I believe myself every good idea is from Lehmann and every bad from Willis. There are some wonderful ideas in there.

The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course

Okay, this is probably the hardest sell of the lot, and I’ve picked a couple of notorious stinkers there. This film is just absolutely barking, and paints Steve Irwin as quite barking too. I found it utterly hilarious, and I just need to see it once more in my lifetime to believe it was actually that funny. I may however have been drunk at the time.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

This truely is in a different league to the other films. I love them all, but this film is genuinely one of the best there is for me. Wu Tang Clan member making the soundtrack – check. Samurai philosophy – check. French guy selling ice cream – check. Ancient and useless Mafia guys – check. Forrest Whittaker being stunning – check. It is just designed to appeal to every part of me, also having many elements of French cinema that I love (and should be far more knowledgable about). It is great, but not many people seem to have heard of it.

So those are the underloved films that I love. What about you?

I’m trying not to geek out too much on here these days, at some stage I will sort out my proper geek blogging, and put such stuff on there. It only seems fair, I have already deprived you lucky people of my wrestling thoughts at

Anyways, this is a very sensible set of points to remember about the overall aims of trying to blog, what you should think of. Tips for Pro Bloggers

I agree with them that I should maybe think about clearing up the clutter on the right hand side a bit. I might have to follow their advice there. Maybe have a junk page for putting various things on, a bit like a virtual shoving things under the bed.

Well we have a slightly new look here, thanks to my friend B, who has very kindly helped me come up with a new logo. I need to tinker with things a little more, host all the images here for speed, and get some other little bits sorted. I’m very happy with it, tell me what you think!

We used to get a burnt out car a week round this bit of Oxford, this seems a little old skool. Bonus points for trying to crash it through the underpass though

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m having a bit of trouble with my back at the moment. Lower back pain, probably sciatic I think (had it before, waiting to see the docs). Anyway, found something wonderful last night, a stick-on heat patch. Slap it on the problem area, and then it warms up.

I wore one all last night, and I can’t tell you the difference, it is unreal. It has just helped to get rid of so much tension back there, I hurt so much less. Obviously if you have a back issue, the first thing you need to do is speak to a doctor, but if you need something to soothe the pain, you have to try these. What is making me giggle today is that I rejected patches for giving up smoking this time (still going by the way, lost track of how long that is in the scheme of things, but it isn’t an issue at the moment), but I end up wearing one for my back instead.

Well I can’t really complain about that for a weekend. Lots of relaxation, got some good chores done around the house, walked to town and bought loads of fish (you need to have me cook fresh scallops from the fishmongers in the covered market for you. My word they were good). Got some good doses of sport and animal crossing in, watching both the F1 GP from Australia, and half of Wrestlemania. Will watch the other half tonight.

Also a bit of geekery, for one it looks like the transfer from 1and1 to textdrive has worked okay. If you have any thoughts, that it is getting to you faster/slower, let me know. Looks slightly quicker to me, and also I think the site is now out of its frames hell.

Just to let you know, I am changing the dns on the flotsky domain this weekend. So we could disappear for a bit. You should be able to read the rss feed still. See you on the other side!

I was thinking today about the extended album version of Rasputin by Boney M. What I liked about it was that rather than just extend the groove as most dance records of there age did, they wrote another couple of verses, so you learn even more about the history of Rasputin. My only regret is that it wasn’t part of some larger concept album to teach European history. I can’t think of anyone else who could effectively relate the rise of Hitler, the French Revolution and the establishment of
the EEC over a disco beat.

There was a total eclipse today as well, but it was only very partial here in Britain, and we didn’t really notice it. I saw a proper one in Cornwall in 1999, one of the strangest and most wonderful experiences I have had. What was also odd was that I stayed there for 3 days, just along the coast in Devon, and every day we were there, we drove right through the little town where my future wife’s parents lived. During the eclipse I was looking across the bay back at Exeter, and at that very town also. I feel there was a little connection, a little glimpse of future being made there.

Tonight thought, it is just raining a lot.