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.