Weekend and that

Blah drinkies with homeopaths blah B Movie blah fun bounce ignore Stuff(tm) except rant at helpless passerby, possibly _alexander_ blah afterparty chez childeric blah kitty_goth blah gin blah pissed blah sofa blah hangover/fall asleep in shower/computer fair/mr_flay/pub blah fixed Simon's PC, pub, PetenMoznTobesnMaxnOthers blah home, sleeeeeeeeep. Sunday, catfeeding Marillion camies, coolgoodfun but not RAWK enough. Thanx to Si&Mary. Home, video: Analyse This. Very good. Stars (in supporting roles) same bloke as last vid last week, Shallow Hal. (Also excellent.) Odd, that.

Today, work, cycle through Hyde Park to see the deeply underwhelming memorial "fountain" to Diana, Princess of Blondes. It's a concrete ditch about 30m across. Water flows in both directions (slightly cool bit, that) from the uphill bit to the downhill bit, where it cunningly mingles - appearing to flow in both directions at once in one bit, which is kinda nifty - and then disappears underground beneath a small footbridge. Not as impressive as the one at Somerset House, nor as interactive, despite dozens of paddlers.

Then a pleasant half-hour chat with theladyeve, who is NOT enjoying her job in Preston. I'm worried about her as well as Caitriona, now; she sounded very stressed and unhappy. I hope a chat helped. She wanted to check I was OK post-split, bless her. She impressively made it to nearly 15min before saying "I told you so", too.

Rode down to the West End to take myself to the movies, since my date for the night - the luscious pmcmurray - had stood me up. Went to see Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (An Alexander Pope quotation, apparently. Great title.)

Found it was the premiere of Spider-Man 2 tonight. Caught glimpse of Toby Thingie. Wow. (Not.) Failed to catch one of Kirsten Dunst. Booo. Saw performance by some teenybop band - McFly? Thousands - literally - of screaming kiddies in ol' Leechester Square. Very odd; no idea who the band are. Some banners also read "Toast". I mean, what?

Film excellent. Laughed at first half, wept and wept and wept at second half. Barely prevented myself from bawling in the middle of the cinema, which was, happily, nearly empty. Still, it is the end of its run. Remain a tiny bit sniffly now, in fact. All about lost relationships, split ups, moving on, new partners, meeting old partners, trying to forget, removing all traces of former partners from one's apartment and life, and the possibilities of rebuilding something. Utterly and totally agonizing and heartwrenching. Inspired fucking choice, Liam. Great one to try to persuade a potential date to come to. (No, *not* Pat.) Glad I failed to, really.

Blinding film, though, not only in the literal sense of being unable to see through a mask of tears. The themes are old news in written SF but it's a splendid exegesis. Superb direction from its co-writer, in, IIRC, his first feature or at least first English-language feature: as the hero flees through Grand Central station in his memory, trying to keep his ex with him, trying not to lose her memories, the people in the station blink out like lights, one by one; buildings gradually disappear, parts just vanishing, sometimes leaving others unsupported, falling and crumbling and vanishing as they fall. Not a trad SF movie: it's set in 2004, and the only SFnal gimmick is the memory-erasure device - controlled, bizarrely, by an Amstrad Portable PC from circa 1989. (The boss has a newer Thinkpad.) </geek> But thus a REAL SF film, which is far far far too rare. No danger of that with I, Robot.

Jim Carrey was excellent in an utterly atypical role. My faith in him as an actor, always there, is vindicated. Also stars Kirsten Dunst (in supporting role), as does the film playing so noisily next door. Odd, that. I must say, though, that Kirsten in her knickers and a vest seemed entirely gratuitous. Not that I'm complaining, you understand - she's gorgeous - but there was no reason except the aesthetic, or erotic. I must be getting old to complain, or even bloody notice.

Superb film though. Extremely thought-provoking, in my personal context. It might even prompt me to start talking to The Ex again. Maybe.

EDIT: Fr1st P0st with new Firefox addin Deepest Sender. Well, that didn't work too well. Much fixing, some rewriting since I was here. More experimentation needed. What a kickass browser this is, though.