I have a bad feeling about this…

Greetings from Justin’s flat, where I am part-way through my week’s tour of the east of Scotland.

The intermission - and wireless internet - gives me a chance to take Rich up on his suggestion that I expand on my comments about the new Indiana Jones film.

In a nutshell, and without giving too much away, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull sees the franchise “jump the shark“.  At what particular point I don’t know, but with fridges in nuclear blasts, aliens, and triple waterfall survival, you’re spoilt for choice.

The plot is weak and preposterous, even for a Hollywood action film, and the film takes the traditional concepts of Indiana Jones way beyond where they were in the previous three.

The first three Indy films had touches of the supernatural, the unexplained, and the mysterious… but it was the fact that the truth was never entirely revealed in the films (much as the X-Files would later make its signature) made them vaguely thoughtful and compelling.  Meanwhile, this latest offering goes right over that line with no apologies.

On the plus side, the acting is quite good (although Charles “Uncle Jim” Widmore displays a terrible American accent), Harrison Ford is his usual enigmatic self (and looks great for his age), and the progress of the film is fast and never boring.  The special effects, action sequences and fight scenes are also excellent, there’s some nice humour that keeps us entertained and which nods nicely back to the previous Indy films, and overall it is a couple of hours of mindless, entertaining nonsense.

However, I can’t help thinking that it was a bit too mindless, a bit too nonsense, a film that stained the reputation of a great cinematic brand, and as such a film that shouldn’t have been made.

Whoooooosh

I’ve just been in wonderfully sunny Skye for the weekend, so apologies for the lack of blogging.

I got back just in time to go see the absurd new Indiana Jones film, and then tomorrow I am off on another whirlwind of work-based adventure.

Tomorrow is Cupar and then back up to Aberdeen for the night, then on Wednesday morning at a most unhygenically early hour of the day I fly from there to Orkney and then down to Edinburgh that afternoon, and then meetings in Edinburgh and Dundee will keep me out of trouble until the end of the week.

Thankfully the following week is holiday, when I plan to do little else except sit around the flat reading, uploading photos, and enjoying what sunshine remains.

How are you?

Doomsday

I went to see Doomsday last night, on something of a whim. And boy was I glad I did.

Spectacular action sequences, wonderful scenery, side-splitting humour and homages to numerous other films made it one of the best films I have seen in a long time.

Doomsday is the story of of a post-apocalyptic Britain, where Scotland has been walled off due to a disease that has destroyed the population. The government in London discovers survivors in Scotland and so when the disease is found in London, a team is sent over the wall and into Scotland, to track down an antedote.

The films follows their venture into a wasteland where crazed, tattooed, cannibalistic tribes run wild and feudal order has returned among those (un)lucky enough to survive. There is violence aplenty, but done in a way that is hysterically funny before it can be gruesome or repugnant.

The director was clearly having fun with Doomsday - there are nods towards scenes, styles and plots of other films like Mad Max, Aliens, Lord of the Rings, and (according to websites) numerous others that I’ve not seen. The film is full of wonderful ripostes of action film clichés, and some hilarious touches of very Scottish comedy (despite it having an English director, there was clearly some Scottish influence or understanding in the script).

But it is also very well-made, well-acted, and spectacularly put together, with some amazing scenes of a futuristic Glasgow wasteland, with run-down west end tenements and notable buildings from around the city only barely recognisable among the decay and chaos that has overcome it.

You could write the film off as shallow and silly, but given that it is a pastiche of action films rather than necessarily a serious contribution to the genre, that’s no bad thing. I haven’t laughed this much for a long time, and highly recommend anyone who likes action films, futuristic thrillers, and good doses of ridiculous humour.

Stargazing

I’ve slowly been getting into the habit of reading again in the past few weeks - being off ill for a few days helped.

Just the other day, I finished Stargazing, a wonderful memoir by Peter Hill about his experience in the early 1970s of working as a lighthouse keeper.

It’s an absolutely engrossing book, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s an original subject - how much do any of us know about lighthouses? Very little in my case.

Secondly, it’s a period I know little about, even in Scotland. The world he creates and describes is miles away - sure, there are familiar places, and even one or two pubs in Glasgow referred to that are still in existence.

But the 1970s seems like a different universe - the writer keeps in touch with his friends by landline phone and letter. The TV shows watched in the lighthouses are ones I’ve not really heard of. Watergate provides the political backdrop. There’s the looming threat of automating the lights, something this generation would think perfectly normal.

It’s amazing to think how much the world has changed in just forty years.

But thirdly, it’s so brilliantly and fluidly written. The language is warm, soft, and unchallenging (I read it in a few hours) but certainly not lightweight - there’s all sorts of fascinating ideas, emotions and pictures in Hill’s language, and he cleverly uses poetry and music to create a firm sense of place and time.

In short, it’s a wonderful window into something that’s lost, and is quite compelling.

Read it.

Two photos

I was in Edinburgh today, getting my favourite* train, the 0645, and got back earlier this evening.

My prize for such a long journey was the photo on the right on the way home. I’m quite chuffed with it.

Meanwhile the other evening I took the photo below of the castle which I also like. It got a couple of nice comments on Flickr, so I thought I’d brag about it here too.

No rest for the wicked**, however, as I will be taking in Aberdeen, Perth and Fraserburgh before the week is out.

Best get some sleep, then.

* did you detect the irony there?

** and even less for the sanctified.

Loud music

On Friday night, I went to see Mogwai at the Ironworks.

I had been looking forward to seeing them for a long time. I’d seen them once before, and so it was great they were coming to Inverness.

The gig was great - loud, dark, brooding instrumental rock music, and quite a few new songs. Their sound is gripping and engaging, with slow, long build-ups of guitars and drums that explode into the most intense crescendos of noise.

They didn’t play a few of their best songs which was a real shame - I particularly missed Mogwai Fear Satan, their 16-minute long epic that is a perfect gig-closer. But I’m just happy they’re still going after over a decade, and still putting out some excellent new pieces (which you can hear on their MySpace).

Last night, I was in the Market Bar in town and there was live music on (as there is every night). It’s a small intimate bar with a tiny stage, and yet they managed to pack in a five-piece classic rock cover band who were very talented but easily filled the shoebox-sized pub with their energetic sound, a second round of aural punishment after the ear-splitting noise of Mogwai.

This morning, my ears are understandably ringing from their ordeal. Tinnitus, as it’s known.

As opposed to listening to too much Hergé, which I imagine would be called Tintinitus.

Bring me sunshine…

I’ve spent the last couple of days in Aberdeen and Dundee for work.

The two nights in Aberdeen gave me a great chance to catch up with lots of friends and enjoy the wonderful sunshine that Scotland seems to be blessed with lately.  Aberdeen is always magnificent in the summer sunshine - colour, cheer and vibrancy bringing the city to life after a winter looking like a gothic film set.

Annoyingly I spent most of my time exploring Aberdeen having forgotten to take my camera out with me, so I missed the chance to capture the most magnificent red sunset on Tuesday night.  Ah well, next time.

I’m at home for the rest of the week and over the weekend, thankfully, so might get a chance to enjoy more of the sunshine here.

If it lasts.

Happy Star Wars Day

May the 4th be with you.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the old ones are the best.

One year on

The SNP have been in power at Holyrood for a year now.

It’s a somewhat bizarre feeling for an SNP voter to finally have their party in power… though that’s not the objective, independence is.

But it’s been fascinating to look back on the past year and see how they have been doing and how the country has changed.

Like any government, they’ve not been perfect.  I’ve been particularly disappointed with what they’ve done (or rather not done) on transport - no major commitments to dualling the A9 any time soon, and the cancellation of the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link (EARL) was a silly idea.

They opposed both EARL and the Edinburgh trams scheme but compromised by getting rid of just one of them.  Of course they should have axed the trams and kept EARL (which would have made the airport more accessible to the rest of Scotland), but axed EARL instead.

On the other hand, they’ve done a number of wonderful things - scrapping road bridge toll and the graduate endowment, making moves to bring in a local income tax, freezing council tax, and various other grand initiatives.  Many more things they’d like to do are constrained by not having a parliamentary majority - which does at least lead to constructive dialogue with most of the other parties, and a chance for the healthy consensus politics we were promised in 1999 but are seeing only now we have a minority administration.

They’ve also continued to make the case for independence.  They’ve stated the case where it needs to be made that more powers would enhance the parliament and the country.  They’ve engaged firmly but constructively with London.  They’ve got people talking about independence more than ever.

And above all, they’ve introduced a positivity to Scotland - we’re a country that talks about what we can do rather than what we can’t do.  Our confidence is rising.  Independence may not be imminent but it is certainly more likely than before, and it really does at last seem like Scotland’s going somewhere.

Here’s to the next year.

Going nowhere

I was going to be in Aberdeen tonight, breaking a journey to Arbroath where I was working tomorrow.

Then I was going to Newcastle to see friends for the weekend, and then spend the Bank Holiday Monday back in Aberdeen before a meeting there on Tuesday.

However, I’ve spectacularly failed to shake the bug I had at the weekend - I’ll spare you the detailed symptoms but it involves lots of snot and phlegm.

After coughing my way through a long day of work in Edinburgh on Monday, I went off sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, and when I tried to go back to work today I found I was not yet one hundred percent, so to allow for a full recovery all my travels up until Tuesday have been cancelled.

While it’s never good to be off work, and I’m annoyed I’ll not see my friends in Newcastle, a city I really like, I think a few days just sitting at home quietly will do me good. It’s a good lesson, no doubt, to take it easier after what has been a very, very busy time.

The plan for my imposed long weekend is to read lots, take it easy, and hope that a combination of vitamin C and whisky nurses me back to health in time for the new week.