"Damages" on F/X

Okay, normally, by the time shows get to the UK, it's already too late to say anything about them. This might be one of them, but wow. It's on F/X, which shouldn't really surprise me. They've got a history of absolutely fantastic shows, if their stack of emmy nominations and awards are any indication.

I had seen articles about this show online and every critic has been favorable. I downloaded the season on iTunes. Saw the pilot last night and was blown away. Glenn Close is just absolutely fantastic in her role as the ruthlessly manipulative Patty Hewes.

I can't wait to see the rest of the season and hope that it'll get picked up for another year.

WTF?!

First off NFL football here in London? Secondly, two story anamatronic robots to sell it?

Stardust - Review

This film just opened here in the UK, so I finally got a chance to see it.

I had heard it referred to as the closest thing to "The Princess Bride" in twenty years, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to see it.

I have to say that I don't think I've been this enchanted by a movie since I saw "Amelie". It's a sweet love story, a swashbuckling adventure film, and a magical fairy tale all wrapped up together.

While I loved the ostensible male and female leads: Charlie Cox and Claire Dane, for my money the film was stolen by Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer. Both of them played against type wonderfully.

The heroic journey of Cox's Tristan was fairy tale pitch perfect (not that I expected anything less from a film based upon a story by Neil Gaiman). There were trials passed and failed, difficulties faced or avoided and a wonderful mix of odd-ball characters filling out the magical realm of Stormhold.

See it. Pay full price, but please see it on the big screen.

Maddening!

Somewhere, something in the flat is beeping. One beep every five minutes. I have no clue what the hell is making the noise or how to stop it.

It just keeps on beeping. Looks like I'll be sleeping with the fan on tonight to get some white noise to keep from being disturbed.

Update: My flatmate just came home. It was his phone. He couldn't call and let me know that it might be here and beeping on low-battery, because he didn't have his phone. Oy.

At least the good news is that my back is feeling much much better, no twinge at all today and I didn't even take any pain pills. Go healing.

Charity

I realize that charity is tough for some people to take, but sometimes it's just weird.

The other day, I was in line at the grocery store and I was chatting with the people that were next to me. They said that they were with a youth charity. After I paid for my groceries, I tried to slip some money to the cashier to help pay for their groceries: cake, chips, etc... for the party that they looked they were going to have. All I wanted to do was to do something nice and then slip away.

The cashier didn't want to play ball. He couldn't take the money. I had to do it. By this point in our discussion, the people behind me had figured out something had happened. They weren't sure if I was trying to take some of their groceries. I tried to explain that friends of mine worked with youth and that there was never enough money and I wanted to help. They didn't want my help, but I finally talked them into taking my money. Then they wanted my email to thank me.

*Sigh* You just can't do something nice and anonymous these days.

Things that make me homesick

Boston T | Slog | The Stranger | Seattle's Only Newspaper

At least Dan Savage makes me laugh when he does it.

Fear

The last couple of days were interesting. Each time I went out, I was afraid that my back was going to act up again. My anxiety level would go up and I had trouble just leaving the house. I had to break it down it down, just to step outside.

When I started thinking about it, the issue was fear. Fear of falling, fear of being stuck on the ground, fear of not being able to help myself, fear of embarrassment, etc... It probably didn't help that I didn't have to face it for a couple of day. I was able to avoid work, by pointing out that muscle-relaxants and pain-pills weren't conducive to solid coding practices.

For two days, I slept, watched TV, read and slept some more. I did the stretching exercises that I was supposed to and did some walking. And I took my pain pills, hoping to hoard my last couple of muscle relaxants until I really needed it. Each time I kept the walking to a minimum near the flat.

This morning was tough. I was up for a couple of hours before the alarm, worrying about whether I would be able to make it, whether I'd fall again, etc... When the alarm went off, I sort of shoved the stupidity aside and got going. Pulled on clothes, groaned in pain at parts, sucked down my pills and got moving.

As usual, what I was afraid of was less than the reality. At times my back spasmed, but nothing as bad as it might have been. I walked when I could, stood when I had to, got to work, had breakfast and did my stretching exercises. Now I'm getting back up to speed on the last few days at work.

Oh the joy.

My London "Sicko" story

Earlier in the week, I hurt my back again. (I wish I had been doing something exciting when it happened, but all I did was reach for a book while I was lying in bed. I either felt something pop or just spasm, I can't really remember what. All I know is that I hurt. I popped some Ibu and did my back stretches and it was manageable.

Everything was not pleasant, but dealable and getting better. Until Saturday. It got worse and nothing was making it any better. Getting off the bed almost brought me to my knees. The pain helped make up my mind, I decided that I had to go to the doctor. I got the pullover on, put my stuff in my pockets and reached for the door. A spasm hit and I collapsed.

I couldn't walk. Hell, I couldn't even get to a kneeling position. Five minutes quickly became twenty and the pain hadn't gotten any better. I slowly made my way from my stomach to my back. I could reach my cell, but didn't have anyone to call other than an ambulance. The problem was that they wouldn't be able to get to me, because the front door to the flat was locked.

It took a half hour, but I got shoes on. (Well, Tevas, but let's be generous. At the time, it felt epic.) Then the long slow crawl to the closed door of my bedroom. Stretch, spasm, collapse, repeat. At some point, I realized that if I forced myself not to collapse during the spasm, I'd make slightly better time.

Out in the hall, the slippery wooden floor meant than I made a little better time as a human Swiffer across the floor. About an hour later, I was at the front door to the flat. Unfortunately, there I couldn't reach the lock from the floor. I was going to have to get to my feet. Getting my feet under me didn't work. Pushing my torso up, while trying not to bend my back was not happening. Finally, I got the idea to try to use the corner to get to my knees or my feet, so I could reach the lock. A door to my back didn't work; the door wobbled slightly, which set my back spasming even worse than before. I wormed my way back to a corner, where both were walls. It took forever—false starts where I couldn't get past the pain, then I finally got my legs beneath me and pushed up against the wall and stumbled off of it to stumble toward the door.

By this point, my back was spasming so badly that I had to lean against wall to keep from falling again. I couldn't even lift my arms without agonizing pain. I had come too far to just collapse and have to start all over again. After what felt like forever, I toddled to the door and was able to unlock it. Breathing rapidly to try to keep the pain down, I got the door locked and stumbled down the hall to get outside.

Once I was outside, I dialed 911 to get an ambulance or something. There was no way that I'd be able to make it to a place where I could find a cab; I needed the wall to even stand. I let out a groan and a young girl must have taken that as a dirty bastard moan or something and rushed inside.

In London, 911 doesn't work. I called my cell phone company's customer service line to find that you need to dial 999 here in the UK. I said I needed an ambulance and they redirected me to the ambulance service. They took my information, though I had to tell them my address three times—I can only imagine that my Boston accent must be indecipherable to her.

The wait for the ambulance felt like forever. (Now, anyone that knows me knows that I hate cats and clearly they hate me. A local outdoor cat made a bee-line toward me. Clearly, it's nemesis-sense was tingling and it could tell that I wasn't going to be able to shoo it away. It took this opportunity to rub against me and use my jean-clad leg as a scratching post.)

Finally, the ambulance showed up and the two EMTs helped me inside. At this point, things moved much quicker. It was a rush of taking my vitals, giving me an inhaled analgesic that made me light-headed, giving the EMT my history to expedite my entry into the hospital.

I wasn't in danger of dying. They quickly verified that it wasn't a kidney stone or appendicitis and moved me from emergency to minor wounds/problems. A nurse checked me out and gave me something for pain and told me to walk a bit while they waited for the pain meds to kick in. I don't think I was there for than twenty, thirty minutes on the outside, before I saw a doctor and was treated.

It didn't take him long before he realized that it was back spasm in my lower trapezius and not my spine. He said what I expected: pain meds and muscle relaxants, back exercises to stretch things out. Instead of a prescription, I got handed the pills I need. I had my Sicko moment, when I wondered about payment. There was no cost for the ambulance or the hospital visit. I even got looked at funny, when I asked about that.

The only thing I had to worry about was my cab ride home from the hospital and then the pizza that I ordered, because all my pills needed to be taken with food. At the moment, I'm on the mend and hoping to be mobile in a few more days/weeks.

Jumper!

One of my favorite books, Jumper is being turned into a movie.

I don't know whether it's any good, but the trailer looks like it's been turned into a big action movie extravaganza.

Ramadan Is Not An Excuse For Weight Gain

Who knew?

Seriously, I went to the doctor last night to see about getting referred to a sleep study so I can finally get checked for sleep apnea — it's only been what 15 years since an ex said that I would stop breathing in my sleep as I snored. The doctor pointed out that I've put on some weight in the last month. The only thing that made sense is that my co-workers are fasting for Ramadan, because I don't think I've become any more sedentary in the last month or ate anything much more than I usually do. *shrug*

We'll see how well eating less and exercising more work.

And as to the sleep study. There's one place where it can be done in London. Add to that the rise in obesity — which I thought I heard was linked with sleep apnea — and it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they're heavily booked. My appointment is on Dec. 19th.

Also found that I'm getting some tax money back from the UK. (Am I the only one that feels guilty for getting an overpayment back when I'm getting free meds and medical care? That must be either a liberal thing or it has to do with the mindset that says that medical care must be expensive.)

Worst Logo Ever

I'd heard how bad it was, but words still fail. I see Lisa Simpson in it as the detractors say.

Now Comes The Time of Decision

Hmm.... What to do... What to do... The iPhone is coming to UK, but only on O2.
Now comes the big question, do I want one enough to get tied to an additional two year commitment and all of the other bits of fine print that I'll have to sign up for to get one of them?
It's £269 for the handset. And the new plans are £35, £45 or £55 per month with unlimited data. All of that seems similar to what I've got now, except with a different handset and no unlimited data. The other bonus is that I'll have access to 7,500 wifi hotspots with a monthly plan. Can you say Starbucks anyone?
It certainly looks really cool and I've enjoyed playing with them in the past.
Hmm...
Dear God, I've become one of those obsessive Mac people.
At least I've got until 9-November to decide.

Playing Tourist With Friends

It's especially tough after a long sleepless night doing the London cancer walk.

Update: Unfortunately, they're gone. :( Hopefully, I'll get some more sleep tonight, because this week is going to be crazy with some writing classes after and instead of work, as well as all weekend.

Things that make me laugh...

Pix from a wedding.

Dyson UK - Dyson Airblade™

Dyson UK - Dyson Airblade™

Okay, this is the coolest thing I've seen in the office bathroom since one of the senior partners left a dirty magazine in there.

I washed my hand three times, so I could keep playing with it.

I've Tasted Heaven....

And they're called Garlic Poppers. They're basically, roasted garlic on a skewer with a light batter on it, served with garlic toast. I went to Garlic and Shots to try a few things on the menu out.

They're not too bad. Shots don't do much for me, but I did try the buttered rum and garlic shot, which wasn't too bad. It seemed the least nasty of the choices. I can't wait to try to get people to try it when they visit.

3:10 to Yuma (Original)

I just saw the original 3:10 to Yuma with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. I've seen the ads for the remake for several weeks and as soon as I found out that it was a remake, I wanted to see the original. (I'm a nerd that way.)

I have to say I miss the old westerns from that golden age of cowboys. Long sprawling cinematic shots of the stark plains, actors that effortlessly hoped on and off horses in a way that showed how much time they spent on horseback, and the rooftop shootings that remind you the difference a good stunt man can make to a movie.

Glenn Ford was incredible, but that was to be expected. I had never seen him play a heavy before and he played as only he could: principled, direct and absolutely deadly when need be. Van Heflin was a cypher. I had never even heard of him before. He had a fantastic role—a rancher pushed to his limit by drought and forced to go against Ford's character. And Heflin played that to the hilt in a few tense cat and mouse moments that reminded me of some of the brilliance of Infernal Affairs.

I recommend it and look forward to seeing the remake.

Black Sheep premiere

It's going to be so baad.

Update: Website. And I recommend this movie. It was nonsensical, silly, and hit absolutely every sheep shagging joke that I've ever heard.

Only in London

Yesterday morning, I stopped by a cafe for breakfast before running some errands. On the menu was the Jolly Roger breakfast platter: a fried egg, baked beans, a fried tomato, toast, four fish fingers and a ration of chips.

Who the hell eats this sort of thing for breakfast? (Well, outside of me.)

Maxjet

Heading from NYC back to London. This time, the company put me on Maxjet, which I had never heard of before. Checking out the web site, some of it seemed almost too good to be true: large comfortable seats and what seemed to be good food. (That's pretty much all I could hope for.)

Then I got to the airport after an initial worrying moment, when the terminal that I had been told to go to turned out to be incorrect things have been wonderful. Plenty of room, access to outlets, and free wifi. There's also snacks and beverages, but I haven't sampled them yet. At the moment, I'm blogging, checking my email one last time and then curling up with a book and my podcasts to just relax a bit before sampling what's available.

And from what I was able to find online, it's all business class and not horribly expensive. I may fly them again, if everything onboard is as good as this.

Update: Two things: I can blog with my Palm and everything in the lounge is free. Free, I tell you. Soda, pretzels, water and possibly even the chair massages. Okay, that's not here, but I expect to find it.

Update II: The plane... First, we sat on the tarmac at JFK for about an hour, but I think that's more of JFK than MaxJet. The seats were large and there was about a yard of leg room. Seriously, the guy next to me had to unbuckle to put his book into the pocket behind the seat in front of him. While we were on the ground, the flight attendants came around with canapes to see if we wanted a snack, while we waited.

The food was wonderful. A real glass and real metal flatware rather than the typical airport plastic. For dinner, we started with a mozzarella, tomato and lettuce salad with a nice vinaigrette. The mozzarella wasn't horribly fresh, but it was very good. The fresh hot dinner rolls and chilled butter was nice, but I prefer my butter a little easier to spread. I did make a faux pas with the entree. It was chicken stuffed with goat cheese and herbs served with artichoke spears and peppers. The food was nice, but it was cold. Figuring that it hadn't been cooked, I asked for it to be heated up. The French flight attendant told me that the meal with served cold, but if I would like a hot meal I could have the sea bass or the sirloin instead. Feeling like an idiot, I said I was happy with my chicken.

Our dessert was coffee in a real mug and a cheese and fruit plate.

The entertainment center was a bit lacking. The good was that it was full of movies and TV, as well as having the ability to pause, fast forward, etc... The bad was that it was free standing which made it fairly impossible to use while eating and they were a bit buggy. It took me two or three of them before I got one that reliably worked.

The biggest bonus was that I had room to stretch out and really sleep for most of the night.

The downside is that the plane went to Stansed so it took another 15-20 minutes to get into the City than Heathrow. Not horrible and the queues were large and the trip back home from Liverpool street was an absolute bear — Liverpool was crushingly full and my transit pass had expired, so I had to wait in those horrible lines.