Stayed out at the mother-in-laws yesterday following a shindig. We were going to have a barbecue, but the weather wasn’t quite there for it. So we elected to cook dinner indoors. However as we were all having lunch we could smell burning. We went outside and found the whole of the neighbour two doors along’s back garden alight! I told my wife to unspool the hose, and broke into next door’s back garden. I climbed up on a pile of bricks and hung over the fence trying to dampen the fire. I managed to stop it spreading too far before the fire brigade arrived and put it out. They said it was a good thing I acted, because the fire was edging closer and closer to a gas bottle.
About an hour or so later, the fire started up again but on the opposite side of the garden. I went back out there and put it out. I guess an ember from the original fire must have struck the fence at some point, and it smouldered without anyone realising.
So even though my eyes were stinging, I was coughing and spluttering and stinking of bonfire, I was pretty pleased in how I acted. If the fire hit that gas bottle it could have got nasty.
Anyway.
The Stars My Redemption is free today, and it’s going well. It’s already in the top 100 FREE in the Kindle Store. If you haven’t already please support by grabbing a copy for yourself. It’s free, so what have you got to lose?
Saw Prometheus today. It’s a very good film. Just a little bit shy of being great, in my opinion. Well, I say this but even as I type I’m realising that it is in fact an excellent Alien film. But as a big-idea-sci-fi film? Very good. Just falls short in a few places.
If you want spoilers for the film, look elsewhere. I won’t ruin the experience for you. It’s beautifully shot, the 3D is by far the best example of 3D I have ever seen, and it is shockingly frightening and eerie in places. But there are plot elements that they could have done without, to be honest. And some of what happens in the film is sort of brushed aside in favour of larger events.
Remember Ripley hiding around the corner from the alien in absolute terror? Yeah, there’s no time for that here. It’s quicker, more modern. Faster paced, and I think it hurts the film a bit. But that’s my nitpicking.
I know I will spend the coin to get this on blu-ray so that I can revisit it again and again. It’s a very good film. Almost great.
Almost.
My advice? Don’t read the reviews from the critics. They’re split over the film. Just go and see it. You will walk away thinking about the film, I promise. Make up your own mind. See it, think about it. But just bear in mind, you may not sleep on it…
Tony Healey 