I need some more scary films to watch as I’m running out so it’s recommendation time.

But before you head off to the comments box, let me qualify what I’m looking for. I don’t want slasher flicks, torture porn or anything which is predominantly gore over substance. Not that I mind gore so don’t worry about that. Basically, I’m looking for stuff that’s weird scary, occult scary or supernatural scary.

Examples? Well, here are the obvious ones: The Exorcist, The Changeling, The Wicker Man, Rosemary’s Baby and most of the stuff that I’ve been reviewing on here recently. I know there’s a lot more Dario Argento stuff I should have watched too (pretty sure that I’ve seen Suspiria and Inferno but was probably quite drunk) so that’s on the list already.

There’s one more condition: it needs to be available on DVD. Preferably via LoveFilm.

Activities that I am currently using to put off doing any writing:

1. Finishing Half-Life 2 Episode 2 (which was great and I’ll tell you all about it soon)
2. Designing a new theme for the blog (and actually getting somewhere too)
3. Work.

Ah well. Maybe I’ll do some tonight.

Now, questions:

1. Can anyone recommend a freeware ADSL download monitor?
2. Does anyone know how to display text in a font on a webpage that the reader may not necessarily have. (PHP solutions involving graphics generated on the fly are also acceptable)
3. What should I include in the blog design in terms of functionality?

Today is an international day of solidarity for the picketing writers of the WGA Strike. There are several events taking place including a demonstration outside the Trades Union Congress HQ in London, organised by the WGGB, demos in Ireland, Montreal, Toronto, Perty, Sydney and also, a one woman demonstration in Bournemouth by Lucy Vee.

I don’t really have any excuses as to why I didn’t go down to London today (apart from client work, deadlines, having to catch a train and all that) but as is obvious, I’m in full support.

• Jonathan Handel, media lawyer in LA, provides an interesting breakdown of what it will actually cost the AMPTP to agree to the WGA proposals.
• Jericho fans put together a very good video in support of the writers.
• The latest “name the faces” video from Speechless Without Writers.

This amused me no end today.

Greenpeace are holding a whale naming competition wherein you, the internet surfer, may go to their site and select a name from a shortlist of 30 that will be given to a Humpback whale or something. Ingenious idea that only Greenpeace could come up with. Names to choose from include Japanese names such as Aiko and Suzuki (after the environmental activist, not the motorbike), names of famous people like Jacques (Cousteau) and Atticus (Finch) and various others.

But there’s one name that currently has over 60% of the votes. That name?

Mister Splashy Pants.

This little blog entry here is indicative of just what a genuinely top bloke Mr Neil Gaiman actually is.

That is all.

 
 
 
 
 
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Since deciding not to run a marathon on this forthcoming Sunday, I have done absolutely nothing that could in any way, shape or form be construed as exercise. Okay, that’s a actually a bit of a lie as I have taken the dog out for a walk most days but to me that doesn’t really feel like I’m doing anything active. Oh, and I did spend a couple of hours digging over the allotment yesterday (and by god did it need it! Only another 10 hours or so until it’s done.) What I mean is that I haven’t been running, gymming, swimming or anything else which might raise my heart rate over 120bpm.

Largely as a result of this but in no little part also as a consequence of eating, drinking, eating, more drinking and perhaps a little more eating, I’ve put on quite a bit of weight - at least half a stone in the last 2 months. Granted, it could be worse. So, motivated by the fact that my trousers are a little too tight in all the wrong places and the bloated feeling I absolutely loathe, I took to the treadmill this afternoon.
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Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood blog has been running a series of short films about the Writers Strike over the Thanksgiving weekend. The films, part of a series called “Speechless”, star well known actors such as Holly Hunter, William H. Macy, David Schwimmer, Kate Beckinsale, Sean Penn and Harvey Keitel amongst others.

You can see all of them on the site.

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.

- William Makepeace Thackeray

This quote (which you may remember being uttered by Brandon Lee in “The Crow”) really gets to the heart of a thematic convention that is often used in horror films as a way of isolating and effecting not only the protagonists but also the audience. For most people, the concepts of both Mother and God are associated with the notions of security and sanctuary, associations that stem from childhood. They are the powers which keep the darkness at bay, that can defeat the monsters under the bed and make the bad dreams go away. The convention in horror films is to undermine these two concepts and eliminate the sense of safety and protection that they provide.

Spoilers ahead for “28 Days Later”, “Alien”, “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Exorcist”.
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I’m so very nearly at the half way point.

The chances of finishing this draft before the end of November are slim. Not impossible, just unlikely. It will mean writing 6 pages a day which is definitely doable - provided I have no more distractions and stop procrastinating. But the story is beginning to bore me which I’m taking to not be a very good sign. Or maybe it’s the last scene I wrote last night (I say wrote, what I mean is drunkenly splurge words on a page in the hope that they make some sort of sense in the morning). In theory, I quite like the scene potential but it definitely feels like a filler and not actually furthering the story.
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