Sunday, January 13, 2008

"Thank you for taking care of my bride, peasants."

First morning back at home. Unfortunately I was as sore as this morning. Both legs. I put it down to either a) the bed b) the pillow(s) or c) new routine. Quite possibly it's a combination of all three. Kept waking up with pains in my knee. But I think I got a decent amount of sleep anyway. Really sore in the morning.

Unfortunately, no cereal so improvisation was required. I tried to get up and do my new do my own brekkie routine but didn't really pan out that way. I was able to do most of the rest of my routine though. Showered without too much problem - basically there's much less room to manoeveur than Mum and Dads, but I was able to do it. Otherwise the bathroom is set up ok. I struggled with my injection this morning, really didn't want to go in.


Did my exercises. Mum and Dad came through and we kinda sorted going to see a film.

We watched another couple of episodes of Dexter Season 2. What a soap opera this is turning into. It's watchable, but is becoming more predictable, more conventional as it goes along. The status is that Dexter is now sleeping with Lyla after being bumped and then asked back by Rita. Dexter has basically stopped killing (although he does kill his copycvat which makes little sense) and now considers himself some kind of superhero (there are references abound, the comic book store was nicely put together and I'm just waiting for Dex and Lyla to start killing together). There was at least a cute dream/line that Dexter had where he was dressed up as a super hero. Rita now his her mum there and she's suspicious. And we Doakes who was suspicious then wasn't but now is again. And Dexter has filed a complaint against him to Maria. Maria, of course, set up the other woman by sleeping with her fiancee and then it comes up she slept with Doakes as well. Deb has supposedly now found the perfect man but is having naughty thoughts about a man old enough to be father (or is that what she wants?). It's still well written, well made and well performed, but seems to have lost its edge (and its nerve for that matter) now. And I've just worked out Rita's mum is JoBeth Williams - you're an idiot!

Sorting out the cinema going wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't completely without some pain. Dad found a lump of wood under the house perfect size to fit under my ass and extend out for my leg. I then sat on a pillow on the chair with another pillow between my leg and the lump of wood. I'm getting pretty good at the solo wheelchairing, only really having problems going up hills. We went and saw Enchanted. My first problem in the cinema was that the wheelchair bay was on a slope so they moved the chair up to flat ground and then me as well. So far so good. The only other problem was the my ankle got really saw for most of the middle act. I survivied (barely) but hope we can get a sturdier plank of wood for next time so my leg doesn't bend down.

Enchanted was a suprisingly lovely, entertaining piece of fluff. I was surprised because Disney haven't really made a live action film this good since, possibly the eighties or even seventies. It's no masterpiece, but it's well written, very well made and well performed. I think the keys here are the writer, Bill Kelly, who has written what appears to be an original, albeit Disney sanctioned script, the director, Kevin Lima, who keeps things moving at a snappy pace, and very rarely falls into predictable cliche and star, Amy Adams who truly shines as Giselle. She has that rare gift of natural beauty combined with intellligence and a goofy charm. She is competently supported by Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden. Timothy Spall and Susan Sarandon especially are under-used (Sarandon is too quickly turned into a giant dragon, that is, while Phil Tippett cool, a waste of her talents and seems one of the few real cliches of the film, to have a special effects finale). The film clearly cost Disney a lot of money and it shows - from the multiple New York locations with teams of extras to the practical and computer animated effects. The hand drawn animation is crude, but serves its purpose (in a nice touch it is in 4:3 then extends out to 2.35:1 for the live action) and nicely setups up many of the situations to grace the film in the third act. Some of the elements are too cute to really work (am I the only person sick of chipmunks?) but overall this is an engaging, witty and heartfelt movie for the whole family. Oh, and it has a really nice feminist bent that even Joss Whedon should be proud of! Oh and Rick Baker does a really great Old Hag makeup on Sarandon.

Came home and quickly did more exercises. We watched another Dexter. Moisturised my foot and I wore the boot for a while.


I watched Apocalypto. I really wanted to like this film. The film looks absolutely stunning. On BD with cinematography by the great Dean Semler using HD cameras it looks gorgeous - not a hint of grain, everything crystal clear, strong colors (mostly green, but some striking use of blue and even white!) and the most amazing small detail you've ever seen. The story is a compelling one and due to the complete subtitling the film is very much visual storytelling (which I always like). The dialogue while occassionally contempary, is never offputting and doesn't strike you as wrong noted at any time (as they say on the commentary, how would the average person know how the Mayan's spoke?). The film is very well acted by what appears to be a cast of complete amateurs. My problem is with Mel Gibson - and we all know he has problems. Like Passion Of The Christ and even Braveheart before it, the man is as subtle as a fucking sledgehammer. He constantly pushes your face into the most dispicable violence. He tells us within the first fifteen minutes of the film, yes, these are an incredibly violent people. At that point he should settled down and let the story carry the film. Any violence after this should be used sparingly, subtly (The Last Of The Mohicans is a simialr film that is much more judicious in its use of base violence). But NOOOOO, Gibson constantly smashes your face into the violence. Time and time again. At some point, it wore me down so much I basically gave up. Sure I kept watching the film, it is such a compelling story. But the violence had numbed me, in a way densensitised me to the point where I was going "oh, another uber violent moment, ok". Thats a shame, this could have been a really great film!

"I am Jaguar Paw, son of Flint Sky. My Father hunted this forest before me. My name is Jaguar Paw. I am a hunter. This is my forest. And my sons will hunt it with their sons after I am gone."

Had an accident on the toilet tonight, so I struggled a little. Did my blog and did a little internet surfing. Unfortunately that included more DVD buying on Amazon - I can't help myself can I? And now it's just on midnight! So good night!!

Diet:
Breakfast: 2 toast. Fruit salad Smoothie.
Lunch: Cabbage soup with toast
Dinner: Chorizo salad.
Snacks:


Exercise: 2 physio
Back Pain: None

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

"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

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