slycat | Last weekend and this

I know it's a week ago now but I just want to write up quickly what I did last weekend.

Saturday 29th

Went out with Paul and had a great pub lunch and a few beers (thinking this is more like what I should have done for my birthday) followed by going to the Southampton Guildhall to see Dave Gorman talk about his latest story, "Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure". Now, not to give anything away, I'll say it was a very entertaining tale about something that would otherwise come across as rather mundane. Dave has an unusual amount of energy and passion for his story (which comes accompanied by a slide show of what he's talking about) which goes on for just over 2 hours without an intermission. It's full of laughs, twists and suprises. He's writing a book about it all to follow up his previous adventure, "Are You Dave Gorman?" so I've probably already given away too much if you're a fan and was unable to see him live.

Sunday 30th

Went to London with my brother to do a bit of shopping and then go see The Matrix Revolutions at the IMAX cinema. As the trains were messed up due to engineering works, we had less time in London before the film as we expected so we basically went to Oxford Circus and walked down Oxford Street, bought some things in HMV and got some rare Aphex Twin stuff in Selectadisc (The shop

nonezumi showed me, down Berwick Street) before making our way to the cinema.

Hats off to my brother, he had managed to get arguably the best seats in the house as we were dead center in the theatre. Many would argue that you get a great view anywhere in an IMAX cinema but when you've had to sit ont he far side, you appreciate the different view. I had seen the film already but in a rather shabby local cinema. This time it was an eye candy treat... especially the fetish club scene ;) Sadly the clarity of the sentinel swarm was rather blurry. As a film and the conclusion of the trilogy, I got a bit more from watching it a second time but there's not a hell of a lot of plot to draw from. Let's just say it's all about equilibrium (not meaning the film of the same name). However it could have been done differently and they could have done with less of the sentinel swarm bit and characters we don't care about and have a proper "What happened afterwards" bit.

Today

Been playing Final Fantasy XI Online when I can, finally worked out the mechanics of the game and have got myself to level 2. Not entirely certain if I like it yet but I think I'll enjoy it better once I have people on there to go around with and kill things. Went to the cinema this evening with my brother to go and see Timeline, based on a book by Michael Crichton. While I hadn't read the book, I've read Crichton's more recent novel, Prey. I thoroughly enjoyed Prey even though it did have it's flaws so had high hopes for Timeline. It was also directed by the same director of The Goonies so this could only be a good thing ;) Sadly the film lacked somewhat from a bad screenplay and lowsy acting. It seemed as if the plot had to move quick to fit everything in and it simply didn't work. It needed much more padding to make it enjoyable. Paul Walker is rubbish and frankly shouldn't have been in there in the first place (he was supposed to be playing Billy Connely's son but it was never explained why he was American). Everyone in the film seemed to treat him as if he was Scottish. The film also featured typecast Frenchman, Lambert Wilson of Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions fame (Merovingian). I'll see about reading the book as a friend at work has it. Hopefully it's more entertaining than the film was.

That's it for now, I'm off to watch my Dog Soldiers DVD. Ta-ta!