2005-11-08

Top Five Things I Just Did

1. Caught up with an old friend.
Dominiek and I worked together years ago and now we do again. I love people who don't care how long it's been since they last saw you. You can cut the crap and get straight on with laughing it up like flyboys.

2. Discovered Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.
Domi asked me to get this book from amazon.co.uk and he'd pay me when when we met. But we were both so impressed with everything we'd read about it that he bought a deluxe three-volume edition in Books Etc. and I kept the copy that was intended for him. Then we got in knots over who owed the other how much cash and it took us until breakfast the following day to work it out to our satisfaction.



3. Saw Wallace & Grommit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.
It's no The Wrong Trousers but it's still ninety minutes of good, clean plasticine fun that wears its filmic influences (Frankenstein and King Kong) proudly on its sleeve. Unsurprisingly, Harvey gets a nod too.

4. Planned my Christmas break.
I've been invited to eat turkey in Amsterdam, then to a cottage in the Lake District for the New Year. This represents an 8000% improvement on last year and it's a huge relief to know I won't be lonely on either occasion. May all of my friends be so fortunate.

5. Ate a lot of junk food.
Two pizzas, two curries, two Burger Kings, a McDonald's and a cooked English breakfast at the Naff Cafe in Brighton. My body craves fruit.

posted by thisismarcus @ 18:56 

13 Comments:

Blogger C said...

#4 - how very Swallows and Amazons! Lucky you! I'm jealous. Someday I'm going to fly over the pond and visit the Lake District myself.

21:10  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So glad your Christmas break is not spent being lonely. That's the worst time to be alone or in an unfamiliar place.

As for one of your comments one my blog--you're 6'3"?? Crazy!

22:22  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're all about the twos, aren't you? My New Years' are usually spent on my parents' couch (my parents having gone to bed hours before) drinking a glass of the good champagne that doesn't really matter because no one else in my house is awake. Let me know what you think of Jonathan Strange once you've finished it.

23:16  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

C: I haven't read Swallows & Amazons but I'll be sure to explore my heart out (or maybe just the inside of my mind) while I'm there.

S: Will certainly let you know. I'll probably review it here and this time I'm tempted to wait until I finish the book! The twos? I don't understand.

K: Yup, 6'3" and everything's in proportion. In related news, you are apparently enormous in just the right places. Feel free to mail me directly with more information about that.

23:30  
Blogger Trundling Grunt said...

I'd be interested in what you think of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It took me a long time to get into it as the mains are very unlikeable but when you get through that it's a stunning story imo. I just hope we don't have to go through the initial bit when the next one comes out.

01:38  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, I think I may have blushed just now.

01:52  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The twos: two pizzas, two curries, two burger kings...of course, I guess the singular McDonald's and cooked English breakfast screw up that pattern. By English breakfast, do you mean the whole eggs-toast-baked beans-sausage-deal? No wonder you want to eat only fruit today!

02:29  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re Trundling Grunt -- I loved STRANGE, partly because Norrell, who dominates the first third of the book, is so hard to warm to. It shows a confident sort of wilfulness on the part of the author that drew me in rather than otherwise.

But then if I can't get Victorian literature, give me cod-Victorian literature. Currently reading Margaret Atwood's ALIAS GRACE and have just reached a marvellous kind of tipping point, two-thirds through it, where I'm so desperate to finish that every second spent not reading it is a painful exercise in self-discipline. Fantastic.

12:22  
Blogger Unknown said...

I watched you kiss a good looking girl on new years eve last year. You had a big ol' smile on your face at the end of that night too. An 8000% improvement would seem to imply you plan on kissing 8000 girls this new years eve. I just can't believe that to be true.

22:12  
Blogger Trundling Grunt said...

To Shig:-

Maybe, but I was hard pressed to get through that myself. Once they got to Spain the whole thing opened up immensely and it left me hanging at the end to know where the next episode will take us to.

I'm too trivial to do literature, I leave that up to the missus.

01:11  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

Joe: Always good to hear from you! Do you get my text messages?

Lest I offend anyone else that I spent last New Year with, let me clarify that I had no plans to do anything until a week before, I had a stinking cold, couldn't summon the willpower to drive to New York to visit my college friends, and then there's the therapy and medication I was on. The Archangel Gabriel could have come down and given me three wishes -- cos, you know, that's his thing -- and I still would have said, "but I'm stuck in Norfolk, dude."

So when I say this holiday season looks like being 8000% better than last year it would be a mistake for any of my friends in Virginia to take it personally. In fact, you were the saving grace of my entire U.S. experience. Capice?

BTW 8000% better is only 80 (or 81) girls, but I like your version better.

11:47  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe the girl you'll get to make out with this year will be 8000% better looking?

14:13  
Blogger erika said...

BTW 8000% better is only 80 (or 81) girls, but I like your version better.

please don't fight about math!


xlpzijua

14:15  

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