Top 250-Mullholland Dr.

Its been over a month since I wrote on here and alot has happened in that time. So since August the 10th I have moved out of my old flat,tempoaraily moved in with some friends, convinced some other friends to move up North, found a house with them, put an offer in on it (rental only), been accepted, got accepted on a MA course in Film Studies, completed Two Sprint Distance Triathlons and been abducted by Aliens (I think they were hungarians). All except the kidnap has happened so I've been a little bit busy as Work keeps banging away. Anyway back to talking about films, at least for this post

So onto Mullholland Dr. This doesn't bode well for my new MA course (Its Film Studies with Screenwriting) but I had no idea what was going on for most of this film. I'm sure you could spend pages dissecting this film but I'm not interested enough in it to try.
It was enjoyable and had some good sexually charged scenes between the two main actresses but there were far too many throwaway scenes which didn't seem to add anything. (I guess these were going to be followed up when they originally planned the film as a TV series.) The guy in the diner is the one which comes to mind. And as for the plot I think the most cohesive version of it I've read is that the start of the film is all make believe and that the darker ending is the real world. This explains why Adam has such a harsh time at the start as Naomi Watt's Character feels he stole Rita away from her so is punishing him in her dreams. She is dead in the fantasy as she doesn't want to be her but to be Betty instead. The best scene was when Betty was acting out her piece for the audition I was absolutely riveted and couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

I wouldn't put this as one of the top 250 of all time and was shocked to see how many awards it had won. I'd give it 7 out of 10. That's another one down and more to go.

Top 250-Toy Story 3

First a disclaimer. Based on the viewing of this film I am a robot at best and a sociopath devoid of emotion at worse. In other words this weepy didn't get me going and I'm even struggling to understand why it made anyone cry. But I'll leave that for the end. And as ever there may be spoilers ahead.

As someone was remarking to me the other day why all the excitement over a threequel? Shrek 3 wasn't greeted with such eagerness or recieved so favourably. Why has the third Toy Story burst into the top 250 at such a high place?

I brainstormed some ideas and came up with these as the reasons.

Characters
There is a big cast  of characters each of which is defined and memorable. We've come to care for these little guys, as we do our own playthings and we just want to hang out with them again. These characters have flaws but they're not as unpleasant as the Shrek crew. Sarcasm is a mode of communication in the Toy Story universe not the only way to make a snarky point.

Time
Its been sixteen years since Toy Story waas released and 11 since Toy Story 2. They haven't rushed out a sequel in record time. They've taken time with their craft.

Previous Quality
TS1 and TS2 were masterpieces. When building on solid foundations its harder to screw up. In no way impossible but more difficult.

Pedigree
Come on guys. Its Pixar. When did they ever release a bad film? And before you say it "Cars" was not a bad film, it was just an average film. Most other studios would kill to have their successes be as good as Pixar's "failures"

Actual Film
No matter all that bumpf up above this. If the film wasn't good then it would be so highly praised. And it is good but I think it may be overhyped. The basic story is that Andy is off to College and his toys get donated to a Daycare centre. Its a horrible place and they need to break out and get back to him. That's cutting out alot of it but why spoil the film too much?

It was a very funny film with a fantasy sequence at the beginning,with death by monkeys (Everything is better with monkeys!) and a lot of new characters to come to know and love and in one case hate. The villain of the piece had me at one point contemplating bying a stuffed version of him just to knock it around with a baseball bat. So well done Pixar for that.

But the main thing I'm left thinking is why all the hyperbole about the tears? At its saddest the ending was bittersweet but more sweet than bitter. And the other part I've heard talk about being a tear duct wringer is when they all hold hands. Now maybe I was just more caught up in the dynamics of the plot that the characters at that point but I was thinking "No way can they end it like this." and I was admiring the bravery of such a down ending to a kids film. So it was disbelief rather than sadness at that point. There was then relief but I didn't feel sad. The only point at which I did was when the remembered all the fallen toys near the beginning and Woody missed Bow Peep. That was the most emotional part for me.

I understand why I'm meant to have felt sad about it. The loss of childhood and how our children outgrow us. But I don't have any children to outgrow me and you can still be childlike without being childish. I suppose the film does make me wistful for an easier time when all you had to worry about was the space goblins coming to invade the playmobile castle being defended by Big Ted and a Lego Diver Man. So a Wistful film for me rather than a sad one. As sad films go "Up" and "Wall-E" have this one beat in my mind. Go see this though and make up your own mind.

Its Tuesday-Its Graph Day

I love me some graphs

Books

Films

As you can see I'm quite ahead of the curve for books and well behind for films.

BRICK!

Today I completed my first lot of Brick training. What is that I hear you cry? Its when you bike then run. The entomology is either from Bike, Run, ICK or from the fact your legs feel like someone has attached some brick to your lower legs. Either way its not a pleasant experience. I bike for 40 minutes (covering 17.5K in that time) then running straight after for 10 minutes which got me about 1.85K. I would have run longer but my training session only said to do that and I was in a rush to go see a shared flat. I didn't even have time to shower and change properly. So when I turned up wearing shorts, dress shoes and a monkey tshirt with Aviators perched on my balding head I'm sure you can imagine the odd sight it was. Off for that Shower now then to Tramlines.

Image found here

Frankie Boyle

My Shit Life so Far by Frankie Boyle

This is a simple review really. Do you find Mr. Boyle's Stand up funny? Then you'll like the book. Do you think he's a vulgar bully? Then you won't like the book. What about if you think he's funny, definitley vulgar but you're still sitting in judgement about the bully part? Then you'll enjoy it with the occasional nagging doubt that you shouldn't be laughing. If you're anything like me you'll shake off that feeling with the justification that humour is all about transcending boundaries, whether that be of taste, reality or social norms. Why is someone falling over funny? Its not the done thing in normal society so it is inherently ridiculous plus we're glad its not us. Why is Python funny? Its bizarre and the manner in which it doesn't match reality makes it ridiculous. Why are Frankie's jokes funny? They're past the boundaries of taste and aren't said in polite society. Its the same as the falling over. Its not the done thing in normal society and you're really glad this time that its not you involved in the joke. Just a quick theory of humour there, which I shall be looking to develop as time goes on.

Apart from the expected tasteless jokes about all and sundry I was also surprise by the warmth in parts of the book. I'm sure that this has snuck into the book under the radar but its there. In particular the part where Frankie is speaking about homeless folk. We're all only a couple of paychecks away from there ourselves and he suggests its this fear that we could so easily slip off society's rungs that leads to our fear and distrust of the homeless. He also says that walking past these folks every day is damaging our society. Its in our nature to have compassion and we are stamping it down on a daily basis. Quite some interesting thoughts there in amongst all the filth.

Even after reading the book I couldn't tell you anything particualr about his life. It seemed pretty uneventful, Even the hedonistic druggie days were kinda dull but the jokes surrounding it make up for it. The overall image of Frankie Boyle I get from the book is an angry guy, who wants to be seen as a misanthrope but deep down he cares for the little folk who get crapped on, even as he gets angry at them for letting it happen to them and for others for doing the defecating. Basically Frankie Boyle is Spider Jersualem but without the filthy assistants.

So after reading that my bookshelf position is 2687.

Image found here

Top 250-Inception

*May Contain SPOILERS

With the very first image from this movie I thought "Oh A Sequel to Titanic". Obviously its far from it but the sight of Leo Dicaprio face down in the surf looking half dead its easy to see why the connection came up.

Inception is currently Number 3 in the Top 250 and I'm sorry to say its not the 3rd best film of all time. (That would be The Big Lebowski, Planet of The Apes(1968) or Fight Club depending on my mood.) Its a new release though and any connoisseur of the top 250 knows that many films burst into the Top 250 only to disappear once more than just the fanboys have seen it. I think this one will hang in there but only time will tell.

I doubt you really want to read my ramblings about the figures and trends of the Top 250 and would prefer to read an actual review of the film. So where to begin.

In this world that Christopher Nolan, Cinematic Genius. has created its possible to get inside peoples dreams and to share them as a group. This has led to a group of thieves using it to steal secrets by constructing dreams which the target then populates with their sub conscious and their secrets. Even just writing that had increased my awe for this film. I've made it sound complex and confusing whereas the film manages to introduce the idea naturally and smoothly The intricacies of the plot get complicated later but the blocks that are used to construct the plot are not. You'll need to pay attention to keep up with what is going on and the way I found to do this was to concentrate on what had just happened and what was the current objective. This prevented me getting caught up in knots about everything else that was in play at the same time. The filmmaking skill would remind you of what was important and you needed to know as you went along.

The visuals were amazing and I've heard complaints that the dreamworld wasn't surreal enough. I thought this was a good move. Dream Logic is not narrative logic. If a dream logic had been adhered to then causes and consequences go out the window. So by keeping the dreams based in reality even if it is the hyper reality of a crime caper. It even explains why this creative decision was made via an inworld explanation.

Again I've heard that some saw it as overly expositional, too much tell not enough show. I didn't find this so. This was because of the strength of the actors doing the telling and how gripped I was by what was going on. It does show as well with some great action sequences like the corridor fight and some stunning imagery as dreams collapse.

My only critique would be that I wasn't emotionally enough invested in the characters. I did care but as one detached. Other films drag you in a make you empathise with the characters. You feel what they feel. With this one you know what they are feeling but it never impacts on you. Without this flaw I'd have given it a 10. It does for now get a 9.

Image found here

Inception, books and graph fail then Fix

Just seen Inception. Proper review to follow but it was excellent. Its in the Top 250 so that's another one off the list but it appears that something else I've already watched has dropped off. So the graph looks like this.

And although the chart looks lovely on my desktop I can't work out how to get it to post here. Edit: Bit more research solved it.




Also I've been reading quite a lot of books so that side is going well also. At this point you were also suppose to get a graph but its late and I'll work it out later.
Edit: Solved it



Edit: So make of those as you will for now.

Just got a New Camera

Just got a new camera and not alot to take pictures of in my living room at one in the morning. So here's a photo of the picture on my wall.

Mental Fortitude

I'm sure I'm not alone as a non sportsman that Its always seemed bizarre when sports folk have said that the failure was down to their mental state and their head wasn't in the game. Today it finally clicked however. As my head was not in the right space for my Gym session today. I was supposed to be doing a 30 minute run at 10kph. I made it through 15 minutes and had to slow down. I made it another 5 minutes and gave up. Why? I don't know now I'm sat here in my flat. My legs weren't too bad and neither wa my breathing. In my mind I just wimped out. I then tired going back on the machine after a few weight stations but again failed afte 5 minutes. I then headed home.

The problem was I'd already been dreading this session. I'd got it into my head that I wouldn't be able to do it. And then it all crumbled from there. Still another shot in the morning. That's the theory anyway. We'll see if I manage to get up in time.

Snake Meat

I chased up this via email yesterday and its about 60 quid a kilo for rattlesnake and 70 quid a kilo for python. Prime Beef is about 25 quid a kilo. So Snake is quite pricey. And my funds are looking a bit shakey at the moment so this will have to go on the back burner for a bit. Its a shame as it looked as if I'd found a couple of volunteers/victims to join me in my culinary experiments. It will happen folks just maybe not this month.

Kraken and Mine Ha-Ha

I've finished some more books today so here's a quick review of the two of them. Let's start with Kraken by China Mieville.

Kraken is the tale of what happens when a giant squid is squidnapped from the natural history museum and starts the countdown to the apocalypse. I was really excited about this book as I loved Mieville's previous book "The City and The City". I was less enamoured with this one it must be said but it was still a good read. The number of ideas in it were astonishing, as were the words that I didn't quite understand but could get the jist of in context. I like learning as I read. It loosely has the structure of a buddy flick mixed with a chase mixed with a mystery. Our hero Billy is the guy who bottled the Squid and his companion Dane is a worshipper of said squid. Once the squid goes missing Billy is seen as a Squid Prophet and all of London's underworld is out to get him to find out what he knows, which he claims is nothing. Mix in Occult Detectives, Body Hopping Egyptian grave slaves, Magical Unions, Chaos Nazis, Sea Embassys, a talking tattoo, human radios and more besides and you've got a potent mix for lots of trouble heading towards Billy and Dane. This book may be trying to say something about religion and belief but I think its just a bit of a romp as Mieville flexes his immense imaginative muscles. Be warned there are some gruesome parts such as a vicious poking to death. It doesn't sound bad when I write it but the proper text is horrific.

"Mine Ha-Ha (Or on the Bodily education of Young girls)" is a book where I think I've missed the point. It is definitely trying to say something but I'm not entirely sure what. 'll take a stab at what its saying later. In it girls are taken to a strange bordering school and trained to be very similar and to only be able to perform. They are then reunited with the boys they knew so well as little children and the story ends. I think its meant to be about, especially at the time, how women are conditioned to be seen and not heard and to only be pretty and feminine. This is achieved by making them seperate from boys. I didn't enjoy this book. Nothing seemed to happen. It was dull. The message that forcing girls into preset pigeonholes isn't a good idea is a worthy one as noone should be forced to conform against their will but the narrator herself didn't seem to see anything wrong with her treatment. It was her passivity which undermined the book. She is writing it many years after the events and even as a grown women seems passive and uninteresting. A book I don't know what to make of but at least it was short.

This has now put me up to 2737 on Living Social. One of the downsides of using living social is that if I don't read I drop back down the table as others are reading all the time. Still keeps me motivated.

Top 250-Metropolis

This is quite possibly the oldest film I have ever watched, the only one I can think of which may be older is Man With a Movie Camera and that was more a visual accompaninent to a concert. So I approached the grandaddy of Sci Fi with Trepadation. Its in Black and White. Not a problem. Its a foreign film. Not a Problem. Its got spoken words in it. Getting more difficult. Its an example of German Expressionism. Not got a clue what that is.

After viewing the film I do feel I have a better understanding of expressionism. I think its very melodramatic and focuses on showing emotional very obviously. I'm sure someone will tell me if I am wrong.

My intial thoughts were that the film was going to be a struggle. The pacing is slow comapred to even the most languid films today and the lack of speech made it hard at first. Something twigged about 20 minutes in though. Without any words I was able to impose on the movie more of my own ideas and feelings. The lead character is looking forlorn and his mouth is moving, its up to me to decide what he's saying. For this modern movie viewer it felt like a collaborative effort between me and the filmmaker and helped to draw me in. I must admit though I did cheat as I was reading the wikipedia overview as I watched but I excuse this as the same thing as watching an opera in a foreign language with programme notes.

The sets also helped to encapture me. They may be old but they were well done and the effects all work to tell the story. The general look of the piece is very ditinctive and I think this more than the story is what has kept it in legend for 83 years now. You can see its influence in films such as Blade Runner and even Superman's Metropolis. It set the template for the Sci-Fi City.

As for the acting very little acting actually stands out but the casting does. Rotwang, the mad scientist is very well cast as he does look deranged and creepy and Grot, the leader of the workers, could easily be Brian Blessed. For all I know it is.
The one performance that did stand out was that of Brigitte Helm who has to play two very different roles in this piece. I particularly like her take on the robot character of "False Maria" who unlike most future robots has no robotic charcteristics at all. Instead she is a evil prankster with a side of lasciviousness. This can be particularly seen in the part where she flips the switch to break the pumps. The manner in which she looks around grinning is puckish in its glee and malevolence. She also plays Maria ,who is the Union leader for all intents and purposes, this is a less interesting character and portrayal but it does highlight the fact that she is performing rather than being herself on screen.

I would recommned this film to anyone who is interested in the history of film and can cope with silent movies. I don't know if it'll make it into my own personal top 250, as it holds up as more of an important film rather that one I would go back to again and again or a moving film. Its final placing will depend on exactly what criteria I decide dictates a film worthy of inclusion. Still I give this an 8 at the moment with my hazy scoring system.

Watching Rain Man

I've had this DVD sat on my table for a couple of weeks now. Its been hanging around at the bottom of the Top 250 list and I hadn't seen it. By the nature of the beast this means I've got to watch it. I've popped it into the player and checked the site. Son of a bitch. Its dropped off the list. Still about 15 minutes in now, may as well finish it. Who knows if it'll come back on one day? Also My Neighbour Totoro has rejoined the list and I've seen that one. Just a warning there will be Spoilers but you've had since 1988 to watch it, as have I.

Well so far its Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise but a dickish version of himself. Its quite bizzare seeing Ramada from Hot Shots in something else too. This is going to be like Forest Gump isn't it? Its going to be a heartwarming tale involving a mentally handicapped guy. And here he is. Hoffman has appeared and He's an excellent driver. What's the age difference between Cruise and Hoffman? I'm not buying them as brothers.

Maybe its just this film is old and well known but I feel I've seen it before. Or its not going to be heart warming at all. Its going to be a tale of a young man taking advantage of a handicapped man for money. Possibly with some redemption at the end. About half an hour in now and quite bored. Hoffman is good but its been parodied so much over the years that it has lost some of its impact. Although Hoffman about to stumble upon them having sex is a funny scene.

Hoffman or should I say Ray's freakout about the planes was a shock. It came out of nowhere and was the first sign we've had that Ray isn't a calm person and on a knife edge with his semi-normality. From what I can tell Autism was not as well known back in '88 from the reaction of the nurse at the doctors. Maybe that is why it is so popular. When people first saw it, it was something new. Nowadays we're more used to te concept of autistic folk even if we don't know them ourselves, exactly what autism is or how we'd deal with it.

There was a good scene in the bathroom which gives the film its title where Rain Man is shown to be a corruption of Raymond as said by Charlie when he was little. Also the baby burn bath tub part of the same scene was affecting.

Looks like a gambling scam is getting under way. This won't end well, I predict. Amazinigly it did.

And the film got me in the end. Yes, it dragged at times. Yes, I felt like I'd seen it before. But by the end I did care about Raymond and Charlie. It may have starte out about money but it wasn't by the end. I wouldn't put it in the top 250 films I've ever seen but I'd recommend it to others. It's managed to avoid the schmaltz I was worried about but just not enough happened. It'd be nice to see Cruise in some more films like this now though. Ones which are more character based rather than Star vehicles. Films like this and Magnolia show why he's a star much more than Mission Impossible 2. I'm going to give it a 7 which is a high one.

Edit: Just checked the Imdb tracking site and Rain Man has snuck back in at 249 so I've ticked it off and I've now watched 117 of the Top 250 films. That's just under 47%. Another 8 films and I make halfway. Pfft.

19: Understand and Appreciate Poetry

When I watch a film I can tell if it is well made as well as the fact that I enjoy it. Similarily although less so with music. If watching the X Factor I can tell if the singer is objectively good despite my individual taste for their voice or style. Poetry however I'm completely flummoxed by. I know if I like a piece but that is down to the feelings and emotions in it. The below is one of my favourite poems but I couldn't comment on its structure or its general quality. Here it is

It's worth a look at. Today however I started looking at Haiku. It appears that what we've been told about the 5.7.5 format is not quite true. Our syllables don't match up to the japanese moras. I've been playing around wiht Haiku today and sticking to the 5.7.5 format. Will try and bust out of that box at some point but I'm still trying to get to the bottom of what seems to be a very simple form. It should try and include 3 images and describe emotion through the imagery rather than actual words. Its should also contain some reference to the season. There was also something about cutting words but that will need more investigation. So from my brief research I've written this haiku about today and have also started writing a report on a gig in Haiku form for another website (www.spotisfaction.co.uk) which I'll also put here after its posted there. Without furthur ado here is my haiku from today. I feel there will be more to come but every journey must start with a step.

Summer Afternoon
Waiting on football update
Outside Cheers preempt

Busy, Busy. Busy

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls I have returned. I have upgraded my computer to a new version so regular service can resume. Well you've missed quite a but whilst I've been gone. I've moved even further up the rankings on Living Social (Now at 2750 on the rankings), been to the gym, investigated ukuleles, investigated hot air balloons.

I've also thought of other stuff to out on the list so I may condense some parts into others or just add more. I'm thinking of adding jousting and i did think of something else earlier. Its slipped me mind for now, mehaps it will return at some point. Maybe it won't.

The books I've added to get me up to that rank were I kill Giants and Wolf Boy. Yes another comic but they're books and Wolf Boy is a great look at a feral child who ends up living with some dogs in post perestroika russia. In turns moving, disgusting, sad and fun. Its very odd but when it looks as if he's about to get taken into care you're filled with mixed emotions. He'll be better off in care but it'll mean leaving his home and family. Its just in this case his family are a pack of dogs and his home is a hole beneath a ruined church. This could be one of those books which takes off big time, if the right people get behind it. I'm looking at you Richard and Judy. Track it down.

I Kill Giants has won many an award for a good reason. Its about a girl i surburbia who is reclusive, a bit but happens to be a giant killer at the same time. The less you know going in the better. Don't even read the back beforehand. You'll gain much more from the story and the skillfull manner in which its told if you avoid the blurb. A black and white comic again but I found I had no trouble telling who was who. Just wait till I draw my comic. No one will have a clue who is who or even what it meant to be happening. I shall have to eat my words then.

Off to try and move all my information from one computer to the next now. Fun Times.

Up date to come.

My computer is playing up so just a quick post to say words on She Hulk and Fullmetal Alchemist tomorrw. Till then.

2. Get into the Top 2000 of Living Social-Backwards movement

I've been doing some housekeeping on my living social account and unfortunately have spotted some books I've counted as being read twice.I did also notice I hadn't noted I'd read the first few volumes of She Hulk so I added those After deleting the duplicates and adding those missing ones my total books read total stands at 591 and I'm at rank 2783. That's a bad days work. Will do some more weeding later so it may get worse before it gets better.

I've also checked at what book total the current 2000th ranked person has and its 700 books. So each book, if my maths is right moves you up about 7 places. So I need to be reading about 112 books between now and my 30th birthday. So a bit over one a week. Good times.

14) Get BMI into the “Normal” Zone and stay there

Well this one is a trifecta of progress. Its working towards my waist measurement, Olympic triathlon and also the BMI target too. Today, as I'm sure lots of you know was the England V Algeria Match. As a consequence the gym was like a Ghost town. So dead I could wander around the changing rooms skyclad (love the phrase)and not feel awkward as only me there. Whoop. Now I didn't forget the match was on but rather then USA game was so dull on Saturday that I thought I'd risk it and skip it. Also just didn't care today. I may regain some enthusiam as the tournament goes on, assuming we get any furthur. The last few minutes I saw once I got back from Asda (popped in after Gym, surprising amount of cars with england flags on considering) were pants. This isn't about the football. Its about my list.

Today I up the intensity of my run. Still running for 30 minutes but now at an average speed of 9km/h. Just need to up it another k to 10km/h and I'll be hitting my target for the run part of my sprint triathlon which will be the basis for the olympic distance. Legs are kinda of achey now. I did skive off the row at the end of the workout as my ankle started to click. I may be a wooz but I don't want to knacker myself out during training. Also upped the weights and reps on some of the machines but can't recall the exact stuff. I have upped the stomach crunch part as that's where I'd like to see some more development. At the end I weighed myself and apparently I weigh 80kg and the machine said to hit "Normal Weight" I need to be 79.2kg so pretty close. Weight can fluctuate by about a Kg a day so could be there already or could be 2 Kg away. We shall see. As for waist size still not there yet.

2: Break into the Top 2000 of Living Social part 2

This is the part of the list I think I'm most likely going to tick off first. It seems the easiest as reading is something which comes naturally to me. I always have some books on the go and even occasionally finish them. So the one which has added to my total today is "Scott Pilgrim Versus The Universe" or Volume 5 as I think of it. Now you may have seen the trailer for the upcoming film and if you like the trailer you should like the books. This one in particular ends on a cliff hanger and is just great fun. Even this far into though I do have a couple of issues with the series. Sacrilege for many but that's what these reviews are for.

I often have trouble working out who some of the periphery characters are. This may just be me being a bit dense and reading it too quickly. I've particularly been having trouble in telling the female characters apart at times. Julie, Kim, Lisa and others I often find hard to tell apart until they act in some manner which tells you who they are. With a bit more concentration though its fine. I'm just used to colour comics so I often use colour palette to tell who is who. That's an insight which only just hit me.

That's the main complaint which is only a minor one. Also at times I can't see why Ramona is suppose to be so amazing but I think that is par of making her a real character rather than just a "Mary Sue" or whatever the equivalent is of an idealised girlfriend.

Only one volume left to go and I can't wait. This may seem a bit of a down review but so much praise has been heaped on the series I don't feel the need to say anymore. You should read this series. It ace, just not perfect.

My Rank is now 2756 and my book count is 593. On we go.

2: Break into the Top 2000 of Living Social

I don't know about you but I love making lists and getting rankings. Maybe its a guy thing. Maybe its some sort of nervous tick. I don't know.Maybe its a thing about competition. What I do know is that when I woke up this morning I was in a competition with millions of people and they don't even know it. I'm even competing with some of my friends in this but they don't know either. This competition is on living social, a social networking site on which to track what books you're reading. You can use it to track other things too but I'm sticking with the books at the moment.

This morning's rank was 2778 and that was with 591 books read. However that was this morning. Since then I have finished a book. That book was "The Psychic Tourist" by William Little. The author has a on and off relationship with psychic-ality. He got his sister and his niece a birth chart simply as a gift which then predicted their death by water. His sister has got freaked out by this and so he goes on a mission to try and find out if there is any truth to matter of predicting the future. He talks to lots of different folk including Derren Brown, some witches and Richard Dawkins. If you know anything about any of these folks then you'll know what there different takes are on it. (The author seemed surprised that Dawkins wanted evidence not just a knee jerk anti-stance.)

You'll most likely have your take on this too. You'll either be a believer or a sceptic. I have to say I'm towards the sceptical end of the spectrum and some of the tales are tragic, like the man who was predicted either he or his son would die so he killed himself. And this book will do nothing to change your viewpoint on the matter. There are some interesting digressions into the potential scientific basis of such powers. Surprisingly its all to do with quantum.

What I'll remember: Most memorable will be the idea of quantum entnaglement and this somehow being able to move consciousness around in time. Or the idea of the time machine that can only travel back as far as the time when it was switched on. As you can probably tell I didn't fully understand the more sciency bits.

So how has this helped me to reach my goal. I'm now at rank 2766 with 592 books read.
Wooh.

Edited: As I got the book total wrong.

And Away We Go...

Very Simply 30 things to do before I hit thirty. The deadline is 00.00.00 28/05/2012. This gives me just under 2 years to accomplish these. Some will be hard. Some will be easier. All will require me to do something. Let’s be a bit more specific on the time availiable. Here’s some number crunching.

1.96 Years
23.04 Months
101.74 Weeks
712 Days
17,088 hours
1,025,280 Minutes
61,516,800 Seconds.

Anything less than weeks I’m choosing to see as over pressurising. So let’s keep our figures based around the week mark. So we have 30 tasks, to be mentioned hence, and 101.74 weeks therefore

Current Target: 1 Item every 3.39 weeks

I have no idea how long .39 of a week is so looks like we’re going to go to days


Current Target: 1 Item every 24 days

So as I’m sure you’re aware that’s almost a month so that pretty convenient. We’ll check back in 24 days time (10th July) and re-do the stats.

Now the moment we’ve all been waiting for the list.


30 Before 30


1) Have watched all of the IMDB Top 250 Films
Current score 116/250. I’m tracking this on http://250.s-anand.net/user/srhowell56@googlemail.com . You can follow me there too.

2) Break into the Top 2000 readers on Living Social
This is a site which I’m using to keep track of what I’ve read and what I’m reading. I’m still working on a way to link to it. Anyway current status is 2775.

3) Finish writing The Blacksmith and The Dressmaker
Finish means to have a completed story of at least 100,000. This is a story which I have recently begun and I’m notorious, in my own mind anyway, for not finishing stories. This should hopefully change that.

4) Regularly maintain a blog
This one is going to be fulfilled by this blog. By maintain I mean to update it at least 102 times. This is slightly more than once a week. For an update to count it must contain more than 500 words.

5) Complete Nanowrimo 2010 and Nanowrimo 2011
This is a great website www.nanowrimo.org which is all about getting rid of your inner editor. Give it a try.

6) Get a Job in Publishing

7) Work in America

8) Buy a House

9) Draft a Graphic Novel-At least 100 pages

10) Draw a Comic Book
Black and White or Colour. It doesn’t matter. At least 32 A4 size pages

11) Complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon
I’m currently training for a sprint distance triathlon and well if you’re going to do something you may as well go the distance.

12) Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

13) Get Waist Size back to 32 Inches

14) Get BMI into the “Normal” Zone and stay there
Only just slightly out now but it’d be nice. By normal mean between 20-25. Honestly we’ll be looking at the top end here

15) Improve my French
This has two criteria either of which counts as completion. Either be able to read the whole book “Les Femmes Preferent Les Monstres” or be able to converse properly for 30 minutes with my mate Mel in French without us having to go into English. Feel the book may be easier.

16) See the Northern Lights

17) Learn an Instrument
I’m thinking Ukulele at the moment but the mood may change. Better decide soon. Criteria is 10 songs

18) Get something published

19) Understand and Appreciate Poetry
How to measure this? I’ll know if I know. You’ll have to trust me on this one. Going to start by reading through Stephen Fry’s book “The Ode less Travelled”

20) Run a 5k in A Costume
I’m thinking the Bookstart bear costume

21) Put on A Puppet Show

22) Eat a Snake

23) Take my Niece to the Zoo.
I was just going by myself but it seems a better excuse to go with her.

24) See Shakespeare at The Globe

25) Make some Short Films
Put them on You tube. At least ten minutes worth of stuff.

26) Get a Cat

27) Get a ticket for the Olympics 2012
It’ll be to soon to actually to have gone by the deadline but should be able to get a ticket.

28) Brew Own Beer

29) Make A Sculpture

30) Fire A Gun
Yeah that’s right. Fire a gun.