June diversions
It's been a bit of a quiet month...
Films: Three this month... Terminator Salvation was silly 'splodey fun, and like it's predecessors it pays to not try to think too much whilst watching. Gone Baby Gone is dark and difficult and really rather good indeed. Casey Affleck plays a PI trying to find a missing child; lots of good ethical and moral dilemmas wrestled with here. And finally, 21, based (allegedly) on the true story of a bunch of MIT students who learn to count cards and rip off the Vegas casinos. Not bad at all, with Kevin Spacey on scenery chewing form.
Books: Still going on AnathemTraitor's Purse by Margery Allingham is by far the best Campion in the series so far. After the significant problems I had with the last one, I was a bit tentative about picking this one up. But my faith was repaid; despite the rather silly MaGuffin of a plot (typical of books of this era) this is a more complex novel than the rest. Two years into WWII, and Campion is suffering complete amnesia following a fight in which a police officer has been killed. Waking up in hospital, he can remember nothing except an overwhelming feeling that something very very bad is going to happen very very soon, and it's up to him to stop it. The complications of memory loss for a man who routinely lives using a pseudonym, has a devoted but independent fiancée he has rather come to take for granted, and skills that are worryingly disreputable make for an intriguing story.
TV: The latest series of CSI wrapped up this month. It's been interesting to see the character development, and the nice use of Ray as a re-introduction to the basics of the science. As a professor and medical doctor, as well as being both the newest and the oldest member of the team, he's also disrupted the existing team dynamic usefully.
Films: Three this month... Terminator Salvation was silly 'splodey fun, and like it's predecessors it pays to not try to think too much whilst watching. Gone Baby Gone is dark and difficult and really rather good indeed. Casey Affleck plays a PI trying to find a missing child; lots of good ethical and moral dilemmas wrestled with here. And finally, 21, based (allegedly) on the true story of a bunch of MIT students who learn to count cards and rip off the Vegas casinos. Not bad at all, with Kevin Spacey on scenery chewing form.
Books: Still going on AnathemTraitor's Purse by Margery Allingham is by far the best Campion in the series so far. After the significant problems I had with the last one, I was a bit tentative about picking this one up. But my faith was repaid; despite the rather silly MaGuffin of a plot (typical of books of this era) this is a more complex novel than the rest. Two years into WWII, and Campion is suffering complete amnesia following a fight in which a police officer has been killed. Waking up in hospital, he can remember nothing except an overwhelming feeling that something very very bad is going to happen very very soon, and it's up to him to stop it. The complications of memory loss for a man who routinely lives using a pseudonym, has a devoted but independent fiancée he has rather come to take for granted, and skills that are worryingly disreputable make for an intriguing story.
TV: The latest series of CSI wrapped up this month. It's been interesting to see the character development, and the nice use of Ray as a re-introduction to the basics of the science. As a professor and medical doctor, as well as being both the newest and the oldest member of the team, he's also disrupted the existing team dynamic usefully.