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alobearClint Eastwood really knows his trade. I've not been a huge fan of his directorial work in the past - those I've seen have been crushingly depressing, and those I haven't have been avoided because the subject matter or probably execution have put me off. However, I have been reliably informed that the films are very good - just not my kind of thing. So, when Invictus came around, I was delighted to be able to give Mr Eastwood my attention, and delighted by the film that subsequently ensued. It was intelligent, emotive, funny in just the right number of places, and very satisfying. Add to that excellent performances (as you'd expect) from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, and plenty of appealing supporting characters to round out the cast (I particularly liked the character arc of the bodyguards), and this was a highly enjoyable film.
Marcus Brigstocke's "God Collar" show was equally enjoyable, though somewhat different in tone. Dave found it amusing that I laughed loudest and longest at the fart gag, but there was also a lot of very intelligent humour, mostly centred on religion. I had to experience most of the first half as radio, since there was someone very tall sitting in front of me and Marcus annoyingly remained almost exactly behind the guy's head the whole way through - but hey, I'm used to listening to him on Radio 4, so it wasn't too bad. And one of my lovely companions agreed to swap seats with me for the second half, which was a tremendous improvement. I think I liked all the stuff about his family best, most of which was somewhat off topic but no less funny.
The Flashman Papers must be the definition of a guilty pleasure, since Flashman is such an appalling human being and yet somehow I find reading his adventures extremely entertaining. I do feel a bit bad about liking him so much as a character, particularly considering some of the things he gets up to in Flash For Freedom, which I finished reading yesterday. It's all about the slave trade, which is probably enough said. The number of times a phrase like "Little did I know just how bad things were about to get" was followed a few pages later by something along the lines of "And by a blind stroke of luck I came across exactly the thing I needed to get out of my predicament" seemed more frequent than usual, but the whole plot in these books is always so ludicrous, you just have to go with it and enjoy the ride. And then feel bad about it afterwards, apparently. :o)
Marcus Brigstocke's "God Collar" show was equally enjoyable, though somewhat different in tone. Dave found it amusing that I laughed loudest and longest at the fart gag, but there was also a lot of very intelligent humour, mostly centred on religion. I had to experience most of the first half as radio, since there was someone very tall sitting in front of me and Marcus annoyingly remained almost exactly behind the guy's head the whole way through - but hey, I'm used to listening to him on Radio 4, so it wasn't too bad. And one of my lovely companions agreed to swap seats with me for the second half, which was a tremendous improvement. I think I liked all the stuff about his family best, most of which was somewhat off topic but no less funny.
The Flashman Papers must be the definition of a guilty pleasure, since Flashman is such an appalling human being and yet somehow I find reading his adventures extremely entertaining. I do feel a bit bad about liking him so much as a character, particularly considering some of the things he gets up to in Flash For Freedom, which I finished reading yesterday. It's all about the slave trade, which is probably enough said. The number of times a phrase like "Little did I know just how bad things were about to get" was followed a few pages later by something along the lines of "And by a blind stroke of luck I came across exactly the thing I needed to get out of my predicament" seemed more frequent than usual, but the whole plot in these books is always so ludicrous, you just have to go with it and enjoy the ride. And then feel bad about it afterwards, apparently. :o)
