Neil's Slightly Random Wiblog

… last night we went to see The Lives of others the Oscar award wining German film just out in the UK. I have been really looking forward to seeing this film, and for once I was not disappointed! This is quite simply the best film of the year so far, the characters are brilliant, the plot interesting at every point, the pacing is good – despite being well over 2 hours long.

The film is all about the monitoring of potential dissidents within the pre-unified East Germany, and centres on a writer and his girlfriend. The man in charge of monitoring them seems cold and emotionless, but as the film goes on his character develops into something much more, and in fact he gets to deliver the supurb last line of the film that makes you laugh and cry at the same time.

Made me think a lot about surveillance of governments, and today in a obituary of the cellist Rostropovich I read this “In 1970 he had written an open letter to leading Soviet newspapers and magazines in support of his friend the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, protesting against the newest restrictions on cultural freedom. The letter remained unpublished, but he was earmarked for attention. The situation worsened when it was discovered that Solzhenitsyn was living at Rostropovich’s dacha on the Baltic coast. Finally, at their own request, Rostropovich, his wife and family left the Soviet Union, but were stripped of their Russian citizenship” which is an echo of the situation in the film, and bringing it right into the news of the day on BBC Radio 4 news later I heard this “MI5 secretly monitored two of the London 7 July bombers four times before the 2005 attacks, it emerged during the fertiliser bomb plot trial… While the details of what was said remained unknown, MI5 officers followed Khan and Tanweer to their home addresses in Leeds and Dewsbury… Three weeks later, officers recorded Khan in Khyam’s bugged car, discussing imminent plans to travel to Pakistan.“

Scary stuff, but I guess it has happened as long as we have had the technology, and will happen as long as governments have an enemy, or perceived enemy to crack down on.

Busy day Sunday, the majority of it was taken up watching the Hill Climbing at Wiscombe Park. Great racing as usual, friendly atmosphere, good Bacon Sandwiches and the Otter bar, the weather was fantastic, and very incident free (apart from someone who managed to disappear into a bush in a very unlikely place).

Coming through “The Gate”, from blazing sunlight to the dark of the woods, this is always a tricky area for drivers.

The same car in the paddock, you can go right up to the cars and talk to the drivers, everyone likes to talk about their cars!

The car I would have, and in this colour.

..Bay Fm will be back on the air for 2 weeks next month, I will be helping out again on Sundays, but this time my shift is the Sunday Breakfast Show. In a slight change of tack I will be doing a religion/ethics/faith type show, with a mixture of religious/spiritual/Christian and secular music. I am also hoping to get out and about with a microphone and minidisc recorder and get some interviews (I just need to find a microphone…)

I will obviously try and grab some of the church leaders in Exmouth and the area, no doubt can rope some friends into interviews about various things… but what else could I do? It’s a totally new type of show for me, and I want it to be good!

…getting woken by a housemates friend at 3am is one of the many depressing things about living in a shared house, along with unclean baths and washing hanging on every possible surface.

Can’t concentrate on the reading today (The Wasps by Aristophanes), and just trying to watch Woody Allens Match Point and it is truly awful so far.

Must find something cheery I can concentrate on…

[Edited to add that that film really is the worst pretentious twaddle that Allen has ever produced...]

…Had Tapas in the new Tapas place last night, I admit I was ignorant in what a tapas is! I assumed it involved wrapping something in something, how wrong I was! We then played a bit of poker for fun (not implying that we don’t normally have fun), then we noticed the moon had gone all odd, and there was an amazing and large ring shining around it. I used to have a reoccuring dream about a ‘night rainbow’, this is about the closest I have ever seen to that dream. I tried to take a picture, but it didn’t come out well.

Back to college tonight, I am so behind with my reading, I think I may feel a little intimidated, and the first exam is less than a month away…

…a few other bloggers have been doing this VisualDNA thing, not quite sure what it is about but it seems to flash pictures of things you like, or don’t like, or something.

The common theme in them seems to be Chocolate, and the liking of it.

Now I like chocolate, it’s fine, but is it really that great? Why do people rave about it so much? Do people like it so much because they actually like it, or do they elevate it’s status because they want something that they feel is a luxury treat, and good marketing puts it in such a position? perhaps it is a ancestoral memory of when chocolate really was a rare treat?

Chocolate will remain a mystery to me why people like it so much, just like ice cream and football…

Runs and hides from hoardes of choclolate ice cream fooball fans…

…how might you get from Boston to Exeter? A Plane would be the obvious choice, but Google maps has another suggestion…

Let’s have a closer look at those travel instructions…

yes, swim across the Atlantic ocean, no wonder the travel time is 29 days! It gets worse though, you dont swim to Cornwall, or even Wales…

You swim to France, then catch the train to Exeter!

Moral of the story, Google is good at finding things, not so good at telling you where to go.

…After the rather lazy day at work we went to Steve and Sarahs for a BBQ, which was very nice, and watched Brick again, I enjoyed it second time, but not sure what other people made of it though.

Saturday evening was poker at Joe and Naddies, my first game while drinking for a very long time, but I did OK, today have had a slow day, feeding my parents cat while they are away and keeping her company for a few hours, reading the millions of Observer suppliments and reformatting my MP3 player and putting a completly different selection on it for a change.

Tomorrow I havea lot of catching up to do on the reading front, so i may retreat on one of the libraries to aid my concentration and minimise internet distractions!

…Land of Leather

…the doctrine of Penal Substitution

…any road called a Flyover

…Went to see Hayseed Dixie last night, must be the fourth time, but they just get better each time. where else can you hear The Ace of Spades on the banjo? They really are one of the most entertaining bands I have ever seen.

Having a fun day at work, lots of reps and former staff members dropping by, and the sun is out!