Episode 991: The Book Of Eli

Just got back from seeing The Book Of Eli at Jethro's place. As I understand it, critical reception was mixed when it came out last year, and I'm guessing this was partly because of the Christian content, even though that's not made explicit until about halfway through the movie. Even leaving that aside though, I still thought it was incredibly moving. It didn't necessarily have to be the King James Bible Eli was trying to preserve. Any other book, and I think my reaction to the revelation that he was blind would have been the same. Granted, having it be the Bible helps explain some of the more supernatural aspects of the plot, like how he pretty much evades injury right until the end, and even then, after he's been shot, doesn't die until after he's dictated the whole Bible to the curator at Alcatraz. I think that's something hard to find these days, that internalising of a book. Who would bother memorising anything in the digital age? I admittedly don't, and I still think it's a shame. Incidentally, somehow I don't recall getting the impression for whatever publicity I encountered for the film that this was what it was about? Otherwise, I definitely would have paid to see it in the cinema when it was screening. Definitely a bit heavy-handed in its treatment, but no more so than how the typical Hollywood blockbuster shoves the message down our throats that violence is cool.

Was out earlier in the afternoon as well, for Annie's surprise in Jephson Gardens. Close encounters with ducks, caterpillars, and all manner of insects. Fun times though, at least when the sun was out! We ducked into The Jug & Jester for a bit because it started to drizzle, and I think I've really developed a liking for the Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea that the Wetherspoon's chain does now. It's possibly the only way I've found I actually enjoy drinking vodka. Tried looking for sweet tea vodka in Tesco, and they either didn't have it or I just wasn't looking in the right place. As much as living on campus is going to be very convenient next year, and I've more or less convinced myself it is a better choice, I am going to miss Leamington and places like Jephson Gardens. I mean, I suppose it's basically like going to the Botanic Gardens in Singapore, except that isn't a stroll away from where I live. Sad times! Plus I can't imagine it being very easy to get a bunch of friends to just have a picnic in the middle of the week. No wonder they say student life is the best.

Episode 990: Finally...

Got back my remaining assessed work this afternoon, and at this point, short of some massive academic disaster involving a Shakespeare examination, a First is safely in the bag. I've worked it out, and even if I got just 50 for that, I would need to somehow have failed my French as well to drop from a First. So this is really good news, not to mention my PWP finally gave me a mark higher than 74. To be honest, I would have been quite gutted if it hadn't. The markers didn't necessarily agree on its merits, although both concurred that the essay was excellent. (It's like my Shakespeare creative project all over again!) Fiction portfolio, on the other hand, was somewhat disappointing, and I didn't think the feedback was particularly helpful either. I guess I'd be more upset if the genre I primarily worked in were prose, but since it isn't, I'm prepared to accept that this might be something I just don't have it in me to be really good at. That said, it sounded like the creative project I did for the EN236 examination was basically the best part of it. Was told that the story could develop into something really good with more redrafting, outside of the examination conditions, but I should never attempt to get it published in Singapore. Hadn't thought it was that incendiary, or even had the potential for being so. I just thought it was a cool science fiction flash fiction. Maybe this is my niche? Writing about Singapore, but indirectly. Does this make me political? I know it can be argued that all writing is political, but I don't really want to be actually political, if you know what I mean.

Episode 989: Resident Evil Franchise, Check

Have finished watching Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth instalment in the film franchise. The films have all been panned by critics, but have also been box office successes. It's not exactly hard to see why. Milla Jovovich isn't exactly hard on the eyes, is she, and what are the films apart from elaborate action/CGI scenes held together by the appearance of plot? (There is genuinely very little dialogue, I've noticed. It's mostly expository, or people shouting commands.) Wikipedia provides the factoid that Paul W. S. Anderson, who directed two and wrote all of the Resident Evil films, graduated from Warwick. (Same course as Michelle!) Other things I've been doing aside from watching really bad films include listening to Simon Curtis's new album R∆, which is freaking amazing pop from an independent artist, and sending a submission to a Singaporean anthology. Hope something gets selected for inclusion. It kind of blows that I can't seem to make much headway in the literary scene within my own country, at least not in recent years. Can't really say if it's a case of not knowing the right people or not writing in the currently popular fashion. Maybe I just haven't tried hard enough (to fit in)? In other news, today Eunoia Review published the first chapter of Will Henderson's memoir-in-progress, House of Cards. I think it's a cracking good read, so click here and have a look. More excerpts and links to other parts of it can also be found here.

Episode 988: Milestones...

A submitter whose work I've rejected a couple of times has just me some poster, inviting me to an event. It's not spam, but still, not cool at all, simply because it's unsolicited. Anyway, this week sees Eunoia Review publishing our first two pieces of creative non-fiction, which is pretty exciting. Yesterday's piece was also the 250th overall to appear on the site, and we've also gone past 150 contributors now. Not bad for what has been, and will probably continue to be for quite a while, a one-man operation. Finished reading the first issue of Stone Telling today, which I quite enjoyed, although I'm not entirely sure if its voices are quite as diverse as the editor suggests. I mean this in the sense that when non-Western cultures are brought in, they don't feel like they have enough depth to be more than token symbols of speculative poetry moving beyond a Western cultural bias. (Curiously though, this magazine is held up as a shining example of diversity by one non-fiction piece included in this issue. The author did also come across as a somewhat polemical feminist with no sense of humour, so I'm not sure how inclined I am to concur with her expressed opinions.) Anyway, I've just finished watching Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and am about to start on Resident Evil: Extinction. Nothing like a bit of silver screen silliness before bed!

Episode 987: I Want A Direwolf

Went to church to do stuff for Kidz Klub, and I managed to finish reading Issue 5 of Horizon Review while getting a pile of newsletters into envelopes and labelling them with postal addresses. I thought that was pretty good multitasking! Meant to read both issues of Cake when I got home, but ended up having dinner and watching Game Of Thrones instead. I would really like a direwolf, thank you very much. Also finally started watching the Resident Evil franchise. Don't play the games, and almost certainly never will, but I like film adaptations of video games because they give me the bits that I'd enjoy, i.e. the storyline. Granted, Resident Evil and its sequels all seem like ludicrously messy affairs, in all senses of the adjective, but I've had lots of practice at suspending disbelief. By the way, I did hear back a couple of days ago from the editor of LITSNACK, to say my submission had gone up on the site here. A reader has commented that it reads like something out of CSI or Law & Order: SVU, which is actually spot-on. It would be the cold open sequence, and then after the opening credits, we'd jump to possibly the boy's dead body, with the CSIs snapping away with cameras and generally looking grim.

Episode 986: Finally Watching Doctor Who!

Stopped by The Jug & Jester for Phil's birthday drinks after service, and ended up staying till closing time. Now back home, finally watching the midseason cliffhanger of Doctor Who. I totally already know what happens though, because I simply had to know and looked up reviews of the episode online. Meant to get some reading done today before church, but ended up watching a new episode of Camelot instead. Kind of expected Leontes to die in this one, and I'm still convinced that's where the series is going (there is one more episode after all, and it's likely to feature a convenient battle of sorts), just that I was surprised by the restraint in not killing him off now, what with all those arrows flying about. I suppose saving this death till the end is some attempt to enliven what has otherwise felt like quite a slow season. I mean, Merlin has painfully slow plot development as well, partially because it's started from when all the central Arthurian characters are practically kids, but Camelot is just ridiculous. There've only been a couple of occasions when it surprised me, a notable occasion being the episode where the story behind how Merlin acquires Excalibur is told. It's a pretty grim episode overall, and a little morbid as well, naming the sword after a dead girl.

Episode 985: X-Men: First Class

Did something I don't usually do, and went to see a blockbuster during its cinema run. To be fair, after I saw the trailer for X-Men: First Class a while ago, I did think to myself that this was a film that I wanted to see, and I don't remember feeling that way about the original film trilogy or X-Men Origins: Wolverine (not a Hugh Jackman fan). Loved the film, although I think whoever scripted it clearly wants the audience to like Magneto as a character, if not necessarily sympathise with his views. Then again, it's hard for Professor X's telepathic powers to look more impressive visually than all that manipulation of metal. (Incidentally, am I the only one who thinks Michael Fassbender in this film looks weirdly like Jon Hamm's long-lost twin?) Also, I now definitely want to catch the upcoming Green Lantern film, after seeing the trailer today in the cinema. We adjourned to The Benjamin Satchwell for a drink, where the bouncer accepted my ISIC, but the bartender inside refused to accept it as ID. Plain ridiculous! So I went home to get my passport and came back to join Ed's birthday bar crawl, although that essentially had one proper stop. We made a very brief stop at Saint Bar, more to pick up some people who'd moved on from the pub than anything else. It was my first time there, and I wasn't impressed by how small the place was, considering the thumping dance music it was playing. The night ended interestingly though, with another personal first: a meal at Millennium Balti (instead of the proposed trip to Kelsey's)!

Episode 984: Money Should Whisper, Not Shout

Feel so accomplished. Finally had a good night's sleep after two consecutive nights of comparative deprivation, and then I managed to sort out transport arrangement for when my parents and I are in the UK for my graduation. Have also written my review of Ten Stories About Smoking and e-mailed it, with a few hours to spare before my deadline is technically past. I should stop cutting it so close. It's not like I even get an adrenaline rush or anything, putting things off this way. Had a pleasant surprise in the afternoon, by the way. Discovered I've been wired what is apparently my June allowance, although it seems like a lot of money for just one month. Didn't think the monthly rate for Warwick had gone that high. Not going to say exactly how much I got because money should whisper, not shout. (That is apparently an original formulation of what seems like sound advice for the nouveaux riches of this world. By original, I of course mean that put in quotation marks, it gets zero hits on Google. I'm going to shamelessly say that is pretty impressive.) In my case, whispering apparently takes the form of buying almost all the back issues of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. Shipped all those that I bought via The Book Depository back to Singapore, but a couple from third-party sellers will arrive at my UK address. This is something I've been wanting to do for ages, and I could have afforded to even without the surprise allowance influx, thanks to my comparative financial prudence this year. It's just gratifying to watch your bank balance roll with the shopping punches, I guess?

Episode 983: Religious Identities In Literature

Attended a symposium today, which was great. I think David Jasper, who delivered a paper entitled 'Ways of Knowing: The Identity of the Artist and the Mind of God', might be my new academic hero. (Don't ask me who my old one was because I really don't know. Thomas Docherty, maybe?) Was so impressed by his paper, intellectual without being dry and insular, that I went to the Library and borrowed a book he wrote called The Sacred Body. If that impresses as well, he might become the first academic whose books I buy. Well, if they're available in paperback. The rest of the papers were also interesting, but his stood out particularly for its smooth, unhurried delivery. Turns out he's also an ordained Anglican priest. Now I'm just beyond impressed. Also kind of wish I'd had something intelligent to ask him during the symposium. Ah well. Finally got around to uploading a couple of posts to The Cadaverine, took less time than I thought. Definitely had enough time to write the review of Stuart Evers's short story collection tonight, but I'm too tired, and I've got the whole of tomorrow anyway. Also got an acceptance from High Coup Journal, which took two stanzas out of the haiku sequence I sent in. I'm pleased that the associate editor pushed to take all five stanzas, although the submission guidelines do state that they're usually unlikely to take more than a couple from a given submission anyway. There is one pretty long sequence in the issue I'm in, but the narrative flow in that is a lot stronger than in mine, the individual stanzas of which sit perfectly well on their own as they should do. That makes nine poems accepted in less than a week, and also four out of four in terms of places I sent work off to. Don't think I'm going to be able to top this for a while...

Episode 982: In A Forest, Dark And Deep

Popped into London for the afternoon to catch Neil LaBute's In A Forest, Dark And Deep. Obligatory Oxfam visit, of course, although I only made it to the Marylebone branch, before I had to go pick up my ticket from the Vaudeville Theatre. Still, not a bad haul, including Mick Imlah's The Lost Leader and a couple of Shearsman collections. The play itself was fascinating, like LaBute's stuff generally is, although I can see why it's received some criticism for not exactly breaking new thematic ground. The corrosive sibling relationship was handled well by Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams, and it was great to see them playing characters so different from their respective TV shows (Lost and Dollhouse). I enjoyed the gradual revelation of Betty's secrets, as well as the unpleasant tension created by the juxtaposition of Bobby's politically incorrect statements and the refreshing candour with which he delivers them. Won't spoil the ending for people who might still have a chance to catch it before it ends its run, but suffice it to say that although to some extent, I spotted most of the reveals coming, it didn't make them any less chilling, especially in a play that peppered its first half with plenty of jokes. Headed back to Leamington for Roisin's birthday party, and wound up sitting next to another international student from church. I didn't recognise him, but he recognised me from a couple of weeks ago when I was on worship. Party was fun, first of many this month lined up.