As I sat down to dinner - watching the tail end of Primeval - I heard that the nursing home had called a short while before, to tell us that my father's mother had just died.
It seems that she may have been having strokes all day, so it was fairly obvious that she wasn't going to last long.
Saturday 2 February 2008
Four leaf
This afternoon, I headed off to Uxbridge with my old mate Paul, to see a little film called Cloverfield.
I was a little wary of the film because it's filmed in glorious camcorder-o-vision and, like the Blair Witch Project, in 'mockumentary' style. Blair Witch fell flat on its face by being dull and not remotely scary, and I feared more of the same from Cloverfield. The only ray of hope was the name J.J. Abrams in the credits.
To be honest, it wasn't easy viewing. That style of film is hard to pull off because it's so far off the norm. If you don't connect with the characters you're seeing through the jarring, whirling camerawork, you don't care what happens to them... The fact that I did connect to some degree is part of why I found it hard to watch. Bits of the film felt uncomfortably intimate - particularly when the recording cuts between what was originally on the tape, and the events that make up the bulk of the movie. The contrast was jarring and left me not knowing what to think.
It wasn't easy viewing for Paul either. He had an attack of motion sickness about half to two thirds of the way in, so we had to leave. He kept saying I should go back in, but he was looking far too unwell and had fallen over on his way out of the theatre.
I'll see the film another time, I'm sure. What I saw of it was well done, and just interesting enough to make me want to confirm my suspicion of how it will end.
I was a little wary of the film because it's filmed in glorious camcorder-o-vision and, like the Blair Witch Project, in 'mockumentary' style. Blair Witch fell flat on its face by being dull and not remotely scary, and I feared more of the same from Cloverfield. The only ray of hope was the name J.J. Abrams in the credits.
To be honest, it wasn't easy viewing. That style of film is hard to pull off because it's so far off the norm. If you don't connect with the characters you're seeing through the jarring, whirling camerawork, you don't care what happens to them... The fact that I did connect to some degree is part of why I found it hard to watch. Bits of the film felt uncomfortably intimate - particularly when the recording cuts between what was originally on the tape, and the events that make up the bulk of the movie. The contrast was jarring and left me not knowing what to think.
It wasn't easy viewing for Paul either. He had an attack of motion sickness about half to two thirds of the way in, so we had to leave. He kept saying I should go back in, but he was looking far too unwell and had fallen over on his way out of the theatre.
I'll see the film another time, I'm sure. What I saw of it was well done, and just interesting enough to make me want to confirm my suspicion of how it will end.
Not the best way to start a year...
So, from the top, my boss has resigned (whether the MD chooses to accept that or not), my senior designer will be working a 2-day week for the time being as his mother has terminal cancer and now, following another fall/broken bone, my grandmother has had another stroke in the nursing home. Going by what my mother said when I spoke to her a short while ago, she'd possibly already had one today, because this one happened after they'd left earlier this evening.
On the plus side, my offer has been accepted on the flat, and I have a mortgage in the pipeline that has no connection with my bank or - thankfully - my MD. So far, so good... no real hitches now I'm not relying on the Notting Hill branch of my bank.
On the plus side, my offer has been accepted on the flat, and I have a mortgage in the pipeline that has no connection with my bank or - thankfully - my MD. So far, so good... no real hitches now I'm not relying on the Notting Hill branch of my bank.
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