"It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."

Fairly usual this morning. Been listening to a lot of John Fogerty. Thats not a bad thing. Strangely, after having trouble yesterday with my injection, I had no trouble at all this morning. Having the fan is good, because it's distracting. Could hardly feel it this morning, just a little pinch. Mum's here now so it's a little more organised. I've started to pack up. Finally remembered to fill out the Disability Parking form but it's now got to go down to GP for completion. Unfortunately, GP wasn't in, so will have to wait til Monday.

The usual suspects came today. Dad shifted the recliner plus the toilet overlay and the shower stool to my place. Comment was made about putting me in the recliner and just taking me back like that. Ha Ha.

Had a good laugh over Dad's passport photo. He either looks like Voldamort from the Harry Potter books or the alien from the end of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.


Came out eventually from my hole and had some lunch. Stayed out for a little while on the other chair. Did my exercises. We pottered for a little. I'd pretty much packed everything at this point. So we sorted out to go to the DFO. I tried the wheelchair. Ok, can't raise leg though. Did managed to drag my up the garden path because he insisted on parking my car right up against the house. They were able to unload and load the wheelchair without too much trouble.

Off to DFO. We went to JB first. Man, it's different when you're in a wheelchair. As guessed, JB had not been designed for wheelchairs. It's packed with people and stands that can easily be knocked over. Around this point, I insisted I start doing my own chairing (yes, it really is MurderBall!). I enjoy doing my own chairing. Bit hard to turn corners and turn around but I started to get the hang of it. Nothing at JB. Well, that Pixar BD is there, but at $44 it's woefully overpriced. I'm waiting for a discount (wait, the 20% discount puts it at $36 which is around standard price!).


Off to Bev Marks and got some pillows. Hopefully they'll be ok. The guy was very helpful and even bagging people for not letting me through. Starting to master the wheelchair now. Wasn't too fussed about what pillows. Wanted black pillow cases but was convinced to get some black, and some others. Back home. That was tiring, but not too bad. I wasn't sure how I'd go at the cinema though!!


We relaxed for a little while and had some tea. Then packed and off to my place. We took both cars and everyone came down. I had managed to amass so much shit at their place! How did I do it??


Kinda unpacked but not really. Bits and pieces. Dad did the shower doors and shower hose cursing all the time. Is a bad smell in my bedroom? I tidied a little.


We sat and watched Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Man, I could talk for days about this film. But don't have a lot of time here. I guess the main thing is that this is one of my most favorite films. I know it's not perfect, but I adore it. It's heart is in the right place, it's so damned well made and is one of the few Spielberg films which isn't sentimental (in the slighest) at the end. It's well made, well written, well acted and it looks so damned good in upconverted DVD that I can't see how the eventual BD (yes, BD, not HD DVD) can look much better. [Sidenote: yes, they are currently preparing already the BD of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull even though the studio is Paramount who currently are HD DVD exclusvie, figure that out]. So damned good I guess because it was shot by veteran English cinematographer Douglas Slocombe (although he shot the first two sequels and they didn't approximate how good this one looks). [Sidenote 2: Spielberg and his longtime recent cinematographer Janus Kaminski are approximating the look of the earlier films for the new one, thank god!]. There's just something about the composition of shots and the use of blacks that works on a really subconcious level with me. I really want to sit down and analysis the Ravenwood Bar sequence in detail because I say its one of the greatest sequences ever committed to celluloid. It starts as Casablanca and becomes James Bond. Spielberg always wanted to do a Bond film, and by proxy he did that with the Indiana Jones films. There are some dazzlingly interesting camera position choices in the bar sequence. There are many typical almost cliched shots, but then there will be an interesting shot with a good part of the shot obscured by a wall or something and you'll just see Marion in one corner of the frame and Toht in another corner. Fascinating, great stuff. That wouldn't work on 4:3 television. The entire film is shot in a really muted color scheme as well. You never see much red or blue or strong colors like that (and when you do they are very muted) - it is nearly all browns or other earthy colors, which suits the locations in the film as well. The film's screenplay, credited to Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman, is a model screenplay. It is economical, yet manages to cover much ground, it is witty, but never shallow. Spielberg's direction follows suit to this. There are many continuity flubs in this film, but I'd just as soon put that down to Spileberg wanting to keep the material moving rather than poor script supervision. The film never rests, but is never restless. There are a number of dialogue scenes such as Indy and Sallah meeting on his rooftop or the scene between Indy and Belloq at the bar that are brief and to the point but convey a tremendous amount of story information. Credit that to Kasdan, Spielberhg and the actors. Speaking of, there is not a bad performance in the film. Ford conveys a significant range of emotion for what should have been a cardboard cutout. Karen Allen never allows her character to become too much the damsel in distress (although it does happen on occassion). Paul Freeman is the most charismatic villain of the piece, yet in his own words, he is really no different to Indiana Jones. Denholm Elliott is given little to do and he does it with relish (shame he wasn't in the sequel/prequel because he is taken advantage of in the third film). Even the cutout Nazi villains are given thought, with Toht being the standout (Spielberg even recycles a joke from the 1941 cutting room floor to greater effect). The special effects are generally very good yet never really overshadow the film. The first sign of supernatural goings on is the part melting of the Ark container and it is only in the spectacular finale that Richard Edlund and his team really get the opportunity to go off (how many kids films are there with melting and exploding heads?) and seems completely appropriate to this film. The ending really sets this film apart - how many action films (nay Spielberg films) have ended with an almost bitter, sombre resignment. Oh well, at least Indy gets the girl!




We settled back down later and watched an episode and a bit of Dexter Season 2. I don't where this is going. There are some disturbing things going on - Dexter is enjoying the program and his sponser a little too much, Deb has sex with a guy from the gym straight off the bat, then seems to come on to her much older FBI boss. They are getting closer to Dexter as the killer and his plan backfires. The lady boss is outed and the old one is back in then we find out she was sleeping with the old boss fiancee. Rita is becoming a little paranoid about Dexter and her mother is on to him supposedly. On the other hand, Doakes forgets about Dexter and has matters of his own.

Diet:
Breakfast: Apricot and cereal, 2 toast
Lunch: Egg and lettuce sandwich. Tea and shortbread.
Dinner: Chicken and pea rissotto. Fruit and yoghurt.
Snacks: Crackers and guaccamole

Exercise: 2 and a bit physio
Back Pain: None