Surprised

I don't know why but somehow, the fact that Stieg Larsson was dead managed to totally pass me by.

I came to know him how I'd imagine a lot of people did, with his Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series of books, especially when the films came out and his books were pride of place everywhere, from Waterstones to the Amazon Kindle store.

On looking into it further, it seems he died before the first of his books was even published. I find it incredibly sad that he didn't live to see the success that his books would bring, not to mention the big screen adaptations.

In a way, I find it incredible that I could sit through all of the media hype at the time and still not know that he wasn't around to enjoy it/hate it, depending on his nature. I wonder how many other people are still going around in ignorance? I could be the only one who didn't know. A damn shame.

Here's to you Stieg.

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Smackdown

If two magpies and a pigeon are on your bird table pecking at seed, what does it mean? Oh wait there are four magpies now and one skittish looking pigeon. The pigeon is still eating though, he’s got balls. If it is a he. Five magpies now, but still the pigeon eats. I think I am looking at a power struggle that was decided five minutes before I started watching. You might think I am bored, I really am not. I can just see what’s going on from where I am sitting and am intrigued. Now if only that bad-ass squirrel turns up, the one who keeps ramming his nuts into my neighbour's lawn, I think things might really kick off!

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Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad follows the life of a relatively normal, meek man, who is a chemistry teacher. He finds out one day that he has cancer and that he may not live for very long. He decides to hook up with an ex student who dealt a little weed here and there, and they decide to start cooking crystal meth, so that he can build up a nestegg for his family for after he has gone. 

Bryan Cranston plays the teacher, Walter, and he is a truly brilliant actor (he was also Hal in Malcolm in the Middle, and cropped up in an xfiles episode too.) 

What I like about the show is that no matter how far they get, shit keeps happening that keeps eating into any funds they have built up. They also find that they are both capable of things that, before it all, they would never have dreamt possible. I like how it highlights the effect an awareness of their own mortality might have on someone. The fact that it’s well acted, humourous and well shot certainly add to its impact also.

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Californication

I have recently finally torn open the infuriating packaging from my Californication boxset and feasted my eyes on the delights therein contained. When I got bored of that, I actually watched one of the shiny discs, and found it much more interesting. 

If follows Hank (David Duchovny), a writer who is trying to fuck his way out of writers block, while trying to reconcile with his muse and the mother of his child. It is so funny that I regret not seeing it sooner. I am now on the 2nd season and it continues to be riveting. 

What particularly impressed me was that his daughter read the Satanic Bible in school and it is referenced a bit. Whether she grows out of it or not I do not know yet but I loved to see the friction it caused with a hypocrite at the dinner table. 

I’ve read the Satanic Bible myself, it is a good read with some interesting ideas and philosophies and it makes the hysterical reaction of people who have never read it, but condemn it look so funny. I might add that I have also read books on Buddhism, Zen, Hinduism, Christianity, Quakerism etc, and find them all interesting in their own way.

A conclusion I have come to however, is that religion isn’t for me. That doesn't mean I don't believe in something but I sure as hell am not going to be giving away any power I have over my own life, to someone else and their idea of what is really behind it all, if anything. The least you can do is follow your own delusion, not someone elses.

Well, I didn't see that going the way it did, it was just going to be a quick few sentences about Californication. And they say TV dumbs things down! Speaking of which, I must do a post on Breaking Bad at some point, one of the best shows I have ever seen...

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Afternoon Dip

Just recently, the last few days in fact, it gets to about 1pm and my mind seems to want to bed down for the rest of the day. I have to rest allot, its part of my illness, but this mental shutting down has been like clockwork lately. Even if I am relatively well rested, and fancy trying to do something pretty untaxing, like a bit of reading or writing, my mind just doesn’t seem to lock on. 

A short moment ago I was looking out of my window, my mind blank, but not in that pleasant Zen type way. It was more like the silence that fills a room after someone has let rip a really loud fart and the whole restaurant has fallen silent in shock and awe, a kind of tense silence. The thought then arose that it seemed similar to what Terry Pratchett spoke about in one of his books (it eludes me which one). In it, he says that ideas are like particles, shooting through space and falling to earth, with no regard for where they land or whose mind they may enter. A truly ground breaking idea, instead of saving humanity, could just as well end up in a horses head, or even a rock. 

When I was staring through the window, I felt that I might have been close to the state of the rock, but even worse, I could act on any idea, but would I? Well I did, as here I am typing this. 

If I had a journal, today would definitely get a nice little entry, double underlined in nice big capitals. “Today I proved that I am better than a rock.” Although not at doing rock type things, I’m not that hardcore.

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