Gordon recently asked if Bryan Singer, director of the Usual Suspects and X-Men, was the best director around at the moment. Although potentially rhetorical, I responded negatorially and was challenged by Gordon to name the ‘best’ of the ‘new breed’ of directors.

This poses two problems. Firstly, how do you define “new breed” and secondly, “best” is surely subjective, very much like beauty. The second is more of an issue for me because I can respect a director even though I’m not keen on his work (in just the same way that I can respect Picasso for being a fantastic artist but wouldn’t want any of his works hanging on my wall).
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Just when you thought I’d forgotten all about it…

Joining Weight Loss Resources may well have been the step I needed to take as my weight has plummeted 3 pounds this week and I am finally under 14 and a half stone. That’s about a loss of 9 lbs in six weeks so I can’t complain.

Of course, from here on in it starts to get a little more difficult. That being said, my energy levels are higher than they have been for a while (or is that just caffiene psychosis?) and I think I’m fitter than I have been in a while, regardless of my setback earlier this year. I’ll be able to tell in about an hour after doing my first 5km race of the year (provided I can get an entry).

Damn Pixeldiva and her links. I have just lost an hour of my life attempting to complete (well, not so much attempting as completing) a “Sudoku” puzzle.

Ah well, beats work!

I ‘ve been slacking.

Actually, that’s not quite true in the broadest sense. After all, my training paid dividends yesterday when I ran a 5-mile cross country race in a time that’s 5 minutes faster than my previous course best. Oh, and despite my moaning, I have lost a lot of weight in the last six weeks - just not quite as much as I’d hoped. And I may be doing some semi-professional (albeit unpaid) diving work in the coming months which might start me on the way to getting a professional diving qualification.

But I have been slacking when it comes to writing posts. I sit here and look at the drafts section and see, amongst other things, 8 film reviews I haven’t published and a gig review and some book and game reviews and other snippets. See - that’s slack.

So, considering that when it comes to all things blog related, I’m a bit of a slacker, I think someone else should organise a midsummer webloggers picnic/barbecue/gathering.

I am a nasty, evil person and deserve to be spanked.

I just thought I’d share that with you.

This was totally off my radar!

Aside from the Watchmen, one of my other favourite graphic novels is “V For Vendetta” by Alan Moore. A story set in a dystopian London of an alternate reality where a fascist power has taken control of Britain and one man, the “terrorist” hero V, is the only man to stand up against them.

It turns out that the movie version of V For Vendetta is scheduled for a release in November of this year. Empire caught Stephen Fry at last night’s premiere of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” and he confirmed that he had been cast as chat show host Gordon Dietrich and that John Hurt, Tim Piggot-Smith and Sinead Cusack were also starring.

My reservations about this film are that a) no good film has been made from an Alan Moore story yet (see ‘From Hell’ and ‘League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ to date, both missing the subtle nuances of the original source material that set them an echelon above your run of the mill graphic novels) and b) it’s being produced and written by the Wachowski brothers and is being directed by a first time director James McTeigue who has been 1st/2nd AD on the Star Wars prequels, the Matrix films and, erm, Street Fighter. Then again, he was 2nd AD on Dark City.

Still, the cast (which includes James Purefoy as V, Natalie Portman as Evey, Stephen Rea and Rupert Graves) is encouraging.

Typical, fucking typical! I book my holiday and the day after they announce that the day after I get out there, they’re holding a mass Star Wars celebration day in London when they will be showing all six films. Yes, all six. Including Revenge of the Sith. George Lucas, Ian McDiarmid, Hayden Christiansen, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew will also be in attendance.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!*

I hope it rains.

*EDIT: On second thought, it doesn’t require that many shits. I find myself not that disappointed. Hell, I’m going to be abroad, diving. What the hell have I got to complain about!

I’ve just listened to the new NIN track “The Hand That Feeds” - or rather, watched the video which is on the site. I’m decidely underwhelmed by it and am hesitating about buying the single. ( I will, of course, because I have all the others and it would be wrong to not maintain a complete collection. ) I don’t know what it is but it seems to lack the same vigour of his earlier work. Perhaps I need to listen to it without the distraction of the video or maybe, like “Perfect Drug”, it’ll grow on me.

Not long until the album’s released anyway and I will be buying that for sure.

Half a pound. Half a frigging pound. That’s all I managed to lose this week.

Drastic measures are called for so I’ve signed up with Weight Loss Resources (again) as keeping a food and exercise diary is the only way I’ve ever been able to lose weight properly. And only 3 weeks before I go on holiday…

The return of Phil Mitchell to Eastenderland may have been a bit of a (dull) flash in the pan bid to get more people to tune into the Beeb’s flagship soap but I may have to break a habit of a lifetime and watch some Corrie in the next few weeks.

Why? Because Ian McKellen is going to be in it. I kid you not - he’s going to be in 10 episodes of the this years prizewinning ongoing television serial. Still don’t believe me? Well you can read it straight from the horse’s mouth too.