Movies and news

I appear to be on a writing roll this weekend. A more constructive plan would be to actually write something of use, but let's not quibble. I'm gradually catching up on movies I had stockpiled to watch, so in the spirit of 'well I'll watch them so you don't have to', here's some quick summaries.

The House of the Devil
Set as a 1980s horror movie, the basic plot is fairly standard. Girl becomes babysitter, it's a full moon, strange house some distance from anywhere. However, the movie is an excellent horror, well paced, well scripted, period style (think friday 13th pt1/2 style) all good. And it's got some genuinely odd things in it. When's the last time Satanism popped up in a horror movie? Without appearing too cheesy? (the cheese cuts out Bruce Dickinson's Chemical Wedding). There's some nice small touches, sweet wholesome family in photo is seen later spread out in a pentagram in less wholesome fashion. But it's not a laboured point. As in most horror films the build up is slow, with many nods to classic horror scenes - without quite falling into Scary Movie parody level - causing a 'ho-hum' view and settle back to chill out vibe, then things get ugly. Very ugly, good use of gore here. The final twist is excellent, and a nod to another high quality horror. Definitely worth seeing 8/10.

The Devil's Chair
One chair, some sex, parallel dimension, insanity, cliche ridden professor and research assistants. Not good, not good at all. To summarise from best to worst points: music > SFX > setting > babes > acting > script.


I'm sure there was something else I watched recently that was good, but it's gone from memory.

There's been some excellent news articles this week, to quickly summarise three of them.

Invest your money here.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the arms market is where it's at during a recession. The arms market has increased 22% in the last five years, mainly to South America and south-east Asia.

What this says about us, when the going gets tough, the rich buy bigger guns.

Ohh poppies dude.
Scientists have finally, after a 50 year hunt, isolated the genes in poppies that provide the painkilling properties. This opens the way for synthesising morphine, and possibly creating more efficient drugs - in large tanks rather than the traditional plant based vector.
What may be more interesting is the effect this has on poppy farmers in the UK (2500ha) and afghanistan. There was a push in the early stages of the war to pay the farmers off, which wasn't very successful. I doubt the drugs market is going to dry up, but any subsidies being paid for growth for medical purposes could disappear. And where does that put the farmers? I suspect back to the drugs trade, as farming drugs is far more profitable than grain farming.

And in the gold medal olympics, Caesar stylez, the only gold medal minted to celebrate the murder of Julias Caesar was put on show at the British Museum.

I think that's all I'll be writing this weekend. Think I'll put my feet up and view a movie, or cook something, who knows.

B