Telly addict

Films I have watched whilst being ill:

Jackie Brown
The Bourne Identity
Magnolia
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Spiderman 2
The Incredibles
I, Robot
The Day After Tomorrow
The Bourne Supremacy
Jackass 2
Pan's Labyrinth
Good Will Hunting
Assault On Precinct 13 (the original)
Kung-Fu Hustle

They were all very good apart from I, Robot and The Day After Tomorrow, which despite my initial reservations as to whether they would amount to little more than eyeball fodder were not as bad as I was expecting them to be. Either that or the happy pills are making me delirious.

It also appears that I'm a blockbuster kind of guy. I mean, they're not all big budget bastards, but a few of them are and I'm not sure how I feel about this. There I was, deludedly assuming that I was cutting edge when clearly that assumption is a pile of old tits. Still, I'm nothing if not eclectic.

To accompany these mostly top notch films and soften myself up a bit, TV-wise, I have watched a fair amount of unbelievably horrible morning and early afternoon television. However, I can console myself in the knowledge that if I see what appears to be an antique lighter in a bric-a-brac store then I will know that it is actually worth piss all and I shouldn't be wasting my time spending thirty big ones on it.

And if you have a hand-me-down mantle clock you really need to have the two matching side ornaments, otherwise it'll lose rather a lot in value.

I know a little bit about buying houses at auction too. How useful!

I have watched a lot of this crap.

Much better than all of that is the news that I am now the proud owner of a spanking new VirginMedia V+ box, which is basically Sky+ but done by Virgin rather than Sky. It's also fucking amazing, and I now totally understand what all my work colleagues (at NTL of all places!) were going on about four years ago when Sky+ came out. Never again will I have to try and make a cup of tea at the speed of sound for fear of missing an over and a half of England not scoring any runs. Oh no, for now I can PAUSE, REWIND, AND FAST FORWARD LIVE TV! I was practically moved to tears the other evening by my new found ability to rewind back to the beginning of the cricket, and then watch Grand Designs which I had set the box to record a couple of hours earlier. Honestly, I am in gadget heaven.

It is surely the greatest invention in the history of mankind, and is proof positive that human beings are good for something after all. Which is a pretty depressing thought wouldn't you say?

End Bit

- Björk album = very good, apart from the Spanish waiter. Why does everyone love him so? I'm sorry but his voice sounds ridiculous.

- Speaking of which, in a vague sort of way, we have tickets to see Mr R Wainwright Esq. and chums at the Brighton Dome in June. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

- And here's a lovely portrait of Mr Vaughan

Comments

[Spanish Goth]

I love I,Robot but for purely personal reasons. When I wanted to watch a film and Mi Mariposa wanted to watch something else, I would put I,Robot on and she would fall asleep within 10 minutes allowing me to change the DVD and watch something else.

Switch the DVD's back after, put on the last 5 minutes of I,Robot and gently nudge her awake saying "time for bed now honey".

Know what you're saying about day-time TV though (over here, can only get Beeb channels on cable) - it would be nice, just once if when the things are valued that the valuer just bursts into laughter and says "you're taking the piss aren't you"

[Charlotte]

I don't like him that much! His hair is receding, but in that photo it doesn't look too bad. His face looks a bit weird tho. He's like the best looking cricketer I've seen, but that ain't hard is it. His personality is almost as dull as a wet flannel. But at least he's nice, eh! Top marks on the nice front. Anyway, that's enough about Michael Vaughan.

[Beth]

I'm disappointed that there isn't a single John Cusack film in that list. I'm also sad that you had to sit through the steaming heap that was the Bourne Identity - possibly the first film in history where the first film was worse than the sequel. Astonishing.

Still - I don't think there's a much better way of passing poorly time than a big old movie-fest. Except there has to be a John Cusack film there. Has to. Its the rules.

Can I recommend High Fidelity (esp if you like Jack Black) or The Ice Harvest if your SOH is a little darker!

I have a recommendation for a much better looking Michael Vaughn - he's not real, but he's a spy and he's a JJ Abrahms creation long before everyone was wittering on about how amazing lost was....try here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vaughn

[Marcos]

high fidelity style top 5 (from that list):
1. pan's labyrinth
2. jackie brown
3. magnolia
4. goodwill hunting
5. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

michael vaughan.. pah! I still miss graham thorpe. what a great batsman he was... had the fortune of watching him bat against india at lords in dickie bird's final test. he had a long stand with jack russel after to top order collapsed.

[Cat]

I didn't much like the film of High Fidelity, but I love the book. The best film I've seen of late is Little Miss Sunshine - get it on DVD if you've not seen it already.

On another note, daytime telly is one of my guilty pleasures. I think it takes me back to my days of being a skiving student, and there's something very satisfying about watching Fern Britton talking about all things domestic of a morning, knowing you should be at work. Just me, then?

[Charlotte]

@Beth

I agree, he is a better Michael Vaughn! I fancied that Michael Vartan in some film I saw once.
Although, obviously I fancy Tim a hell of a lot more...[had to clarify that or he might burst into tears]

[Timbo]

Goth - Wow, that's another film that sends people to sleep then. One for the list.

And I did actually see an auctioneer laugh at some of the people on one of those shows the other day. They'd bought some seriously dodgy looking James Bond cufflinks, whatever a James Bond cufflink is, for £30, and he valued them at £2. He laughed, and so did I.

Beth - Yeah, well, John Cusack is very good, and I love Grosse Pointe Blank but alot of his other stuff is a bit weak. Don't get me wrong, he's good, but the film lets him down. For me High Fidelity is a good example of this. Pushing Tin is also particularly crap.

And I'm sorry, but I bloody loved those Bourne Thingummyjig films. Had me on the edge of my seat the whole way. Woo-hoo!

Marcos - Yes, Thorpey was a class act. Personally no-one will ever compare to Graeme Hick in my personal poll, but then I'm a Worcestershire fan so I would say that.

Cat - I'll have to check that one out. I recommend A Scanner Darkly. If you haven't seen it then see it. It's a head-wrecker.

And luckily I've managed to avoid Fern Britton. She's obviously above the crap that I watch.

Charlotte - Somebody better than Michael Vaughan? Surely not? And it's too late, I'm already crying me a river (and morphing into a crap version of Justin 'OOOH!' Timberlake).

[The Goldfish]

I was just reviewing films-watched-in-state-of -yuckiness myself. I very much like I, Robot, I have to say, but then I still carry a somewhat flickering torch for Will Smith since my childhood and I'm kind of into Asinov, Turing, the implications of AI on the human condition and all that jazz. Not that I, Robot is exactly an intellectual exploration of such issues, but still...

But Eternal Sunshine is one of my all-time favourites. Great film that. Don't know why I like it as much as I do - if my head was clearer, I might be able to tell you...

[Timbo]

Goldfish - So it's not just me then? Glad to hear I'm not alone in my ill-at-home-watching-stuff-ness. And I know what you mean about I, Robot. I actually thought it was pretty decent up until the last ten minutes, which was when it changed from being quite a seriously innovative film with a really twisted premise (rather like Ghost In The Shell mixed with Usual Suspects, if you know what I mean) into an "Oh robots are scary and isn't the future worrying yet bloody obvious at the same time and we can't push the boat out too much on the controversial ideas front seeing as we want this movie to make some money" type film. So I liked it, but then I also didn't like it. And Will Smith was half-naked far too much. And the robots looked a bit rubbish. Anyway.

And Eternal Sunshine makes me and Charlotte cry. Every time. We're soft bastards, we really are.

AND, unrelated, here is a link to the Bjork vid AGAIN. Let's hope it doesn't get fucked off like the last three...

[clarissa]

I was really nicely surprised by Eternal Sunshine because I really hate the mere sight of what-the-fuck-is-that-guy's name .. oh yeah, Jim Carey. Drives me rabid.

[Alda]

The Spanish waiter! LOL!!

[vyejmbdquo]

older men suck