Days 188 to 194

Aka Monday 7 August to Sunday 13 August

I’ve still being feeling restless and unable to settle down to do much, so, aside from pottering about and watching TV/DVDs, I didn’t get much accomplished or get any reading done.

I did receive my appointment letter from the local Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Clinic, but instead of giving me an appointment time and date, it asked me to call the hospital to make the appointment. It would have been much easier if I’d just been given the number by my GP, rather than waiting two weeks to get the letter! So, I called the hospital and they said that there were no appointments in the next few weeks, so they would write to me with an appointment date! (edit: So, after three weeks and a day I finally got an appointment, but it’s for mid-September!).  

I started and finished watching season eight of Castle, which is the worst season. The previous season had a warmth and lightness of touch, a certain spark, that is missing from season eight. They seem to have run out of stories for Beckett, now that she is a Captain, they also seem to be scared of writing Castle and Beckett as a married couple and keep splitting them up or treat them like they just boyfriend and girlfriend. 

They also add another, unnecessary layer to the conspiracy surrounding the murder of Beckett’s mother, although I did like that they showed the investigation into Locksat over the whole season, rather than cramming it into one show as they had done before. It just seems like they ran out of ideas and thought well the conspiracy episodes and the spy episodes went down well, let’s combine them.

There are some great episodes, but with the writing issues and the knowledge that they had decided not to renew Stana Katic and Tamala Jones contracts, leaves a slight bad taste. The fact that they decided not to have the co-star in the next season and to drop one of the main secondary characters, just doesn’t sit right and further fuels the idea that they had run out of ideas. At least the season ends on a happy note. 

And just in time I got the Hawaii Five-0 boxset in the post:

Hawaii Five-0 is my guilty pleasure, I know that it’s just a (fantasy) cop show and it can be a tad jingoistic, but most of the time it manages to tell good stories with the right balance of drama, comedy (Scott Caan and Alex O’Loughlin are a great double act) and pathos. And it’s nice to see actors from some of favourite shows (like Pushing Daisies, Lost and Battlestar Galactica), like Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, Masi Oka, Chi McBride and Jorge Garcia, back on the screen. 

I also saw Life, which isn’t a bad film, it’s got a good cast, it’s well directed, it looks great and while the story (first contact with alien life doesn’t go well) isn’t new, it is handled realistically. At least that’s the case for most of the film, unfortunately, towards the end things do go more blockbustery and predictable, which kinda ruins the film for me. As soon as Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson agree to trick the alien into an escape pod and for Jake to pilot it into deep space, while Rebecca escapes back to Earth, you know that it’s not going to work and eth opposite will happen. So, what should have been a tense finale isn’t as you’re left hoping that the writer(s) have been clever enough to come up with a different ending.

On Wednesday/New Comic Book Day, I got these beauties:

And the new Black Grape album, Pop Voodoo, which I haven’t got high hopes for, but their first two albums were great (although the second gets unfairly slagged off, it’s not as good as the first album, but it’s not as bad as some say it is), so maybe…yeah!

On Friday, I popped into town for my weekly food shop and picked up a Hawkwind compilation and the Directors Cut of Leon. I’ve heard a few Hawkwind tunes that I liked, so I’ve decided to dip my toe into their catalogue. Leon, The Directors Cut was on a special offer at the counter, so I couldn’t pass up on getting it (Leon is a great film, with perhaps Gary Oldman’s best ever scenery chewing).

What I couldn’t get was the new Red Axes album, The Beach Goths. That’s been one of the main things I’ve missed, back when I worked in London there were plenty of shops to go to, but now I’m back home there’s not much choice, so if you want something that isn’t mainstream, you need to order it online (or hop on the train into the big smoke).