To think it's only Saturday night! It's been a busy last few days - what little time I've had with my computer has been spent repeatedly checking my email. I reckon it's a mild form of obsessive compulsive disorder. If my computer is switched on, I can't help clicking on the 'Get Mail' button. My heart rate rises as the icon swirls around while the request is made to the server. There's a moment of nervous tension after the icon has stopped rotating, and as the hollow tone from the computer is emitted I can't help feeling slightly agitated: that's another 30 seconds that no one has sent me an email...
For those who can't imagine why I would do this (and why on Earth I would share this with you) - it's a roller coaster ride, I promise you.
Anyway, back to everyday matters - here's how the weekend has panned out thus far:
* Head to Paparrazi Cafe on Fulham Rd on Friday. We've been there once before, great fun - great food - great company - and most importantly, great wine. Prices were reasonable enough (for South Kensington), and I have to recommend the Piccante, with the antipasto as a started. We were drinking the house red, which was actually very good - the somellier had chosen well. Bill came to £26 - rumours have been abound that it's due to shut down in the not too distant future, so really is worth a trip down there if you get the chance.
* Saturday: Took the bike on the road for the first time, on a trip down to Stratford. Terrifying ordeal and I did fear for my life on a number of occasions. Got there and back eventually and I do feel that I've accomplished something! I was curious as to how it'd feel to run a 5k after a decent bike ride (the answer? exhausting...). Shortly after that Deeps' came by, and we went down to the London Boat Show (or as I like to call it - the London Show of Boats). Wow - boats the size of houses, boats small enough to fit in your pocket. Boats of all shapes and sizes. Sail boats, motor boats, house boats, oar boats, monster boats, race boats, etc etc. I did come across a fantastic road the world race that interested me; amateurs are taken on and trained, then sent out as part of a team. The cost for this flight of fancy? £29,950. no joke. You pay them £30,000 to help crew their boat. I'm tempted - you can do each leg seperately for £3,000 + £2950 equipment. The leg passing the caribbean does sound pretty good - maybe the next challenge after the triathlon?
Finally (will this post never end???) - John came by - we went to watch Smoking Aces. Odd, odd movie - I'm not going to go into another rant, but seriously - hitmen - if you want someone offed, do it properly. Don't hire a bunch of neo-nazi muppets who are more than likely going to kill each other than the target. The actors did the best they could with the script, but really - there wasn't much to work with. I went into that movie expecting a killer story ala pulp fiction, lock stock, or even lucky number slevin. None of that. It was almost like three movies running simultaneously. Ryan R. and Ray Liotta are making something fairly serious - the rest of the cast are making a toungue in cheek homage to mindless violence. then add in a touch of gangster thriller, throw in a cheap story with not enough time to develop the characters fully, and hit fast forward. Occasionally hit 'play', then fast forward and continue doing this for 1h 30 mins. It was entertaining, but never captured my attention for any period of time. Watch this movie just for the experience.
Time to get back to some serious 24 watching. Things are just getting interesting...
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Yes an entertaining weekend. The paparazzi lounge is way too noisy though for a meal if you actually want to have a conversation with someone. Especially the conversation I had with da lema that resulted in her having to repeat herself at least twice for everything she said. Missed the boat show sadly as given the option of Arsenal or boat show I took the first option and despite nearly throwing the dog at my beloved 40 inch plasma HDTV after another Robbie Savage special resulting in Gilberto’s sending off. Thankfully though we were not made to pay as Cesc delivered yet another masterclass in how to run a game, prompting me to wonder two things damn how good is going to get and why is he not English. 2-0 to the Arsenal!!!!!!
On to Evening time and after the first call from the local boys to instigate a night of alcoholism I decided to act quickly to save my January detox plan and decided a movie with Shahtani clan was the best idea and despite deeps wanting to watch the pursuit of happiness it all seemed a little too emotional for a Saturday and with Neil’s recent track record of being a woman (I know jaits gone but there is no need for anyone to take his place as the resident woman), the threat of Neil balling it with his hanky at the cinema, could cause me considerable irk and I could be prompted into slapping him Chimbonda style and tell him to get with the program. So with the testosterone advantage we were able overpower Deepti just barely though she much stronger than she looks and forced her to watch Smokin Aces.
As I had already not raised my hopes for Smokin’ Aces to reach the heights of other great assassin/hitmen films of years passed such as pulp fiction and Leon, I am not as disappointed as I otherwise would be by Smokin’ Aces. The film that promised so much with a killer (pun intended) trailer, concept and cast will inevitably leave the filmgoer expecting big things feeling very empty and letdown. The story was left wafer thin with very little devoted to developing it. Whilst the film didn’t really need a heavyweight story as its about a hit so really all you need to know it someone wants someone dead and the best of the best are left in a free for all to do it first and claim the money. What people wanted to see was a stylish cool in the way the assassins would attempt to carry out the hit. I thought maybe it would be the Oceans 11 of this genre of movie with each assassin having their own special weapon and skill with a Japanese comic book cool to them. Instead the film bounced between ideas of what it wanted to be, super slick action film or serious gangster movie achieving neither with any notable success. The characters all seemed very hollow and you cared very little as to who got killed and who didn’t apart from the three neo-nazi’s who I swear I saw walking into the anchor and hope the other day as they had to go. The action set pieces left plenty to be desired too a better choreographer wouldn’t have gone amiss. Assassins are supposed to cool and efficient killers and somewhere after the first ten thousand bullets fired the director probably thought awww f$%k it we already done most of the film its too late to do it properly now. I mean seriously the assassins in this film are described as being of the highest professional calibre but to most people it seems like they were handed a assassination for dummies handbook and sent off on the job yes they were that stupid. By the end of the movie it was like pull the plug or don’t who gives a s$%t I had that little emotional involvement in the film as for me the film and entertainment ended with the last bit of action. Still I didn’t hate it as it was 90 minutes of mindless entertainment (albeit very violent but since when has that been a bad thing!) but another reminder of Hollywood not producing the goods despite having everything put in place for them to deliver something special.
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