Films in 2000s

I read an article on Indiewire in which film critics curated their favourite individual film from each year of this decade so far on Twitter. So I'm copying the concept and wasting time rather than writing my novel. Seems reasonable enough.

Then I took it further and went back to the millennium. I really have nothing to write in my novel...

2000: Memento
2001: Donnie Darko
2002: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
2005: C.R.A.Z.Y.
2006: Science of Sleep
2007: Atonement
2008: Wall.E
2009: Moon

2010: A Single Man
2011: Drive
2012: Frances Ha
2013: Inside Llewyn Davis
2014: Under the Skin
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road
2016: The Handmaiden
2017: Lady Bird
2018: Sorry to Bother You

The dates probably aren't right and 2013 was a tough one because that was the year Before Midnight came out. Inside Llewyn Davis only pipped it by being the film I have watched more times due to my overall fondness for watching sad-sacks on picaresque adventures.

Same goes for 2004 in which Before Sunset came out and will forever be in my heart. Eternal Sunshine is just a more meaningful film for me and is one I watched on repeat as a teenager.

NaNoWriMo - A Retrospective

Every year I either agonise about not doing National Novel Writing Month or I take the plunge and give it a go. I've been doing it since I was 16. That in itself is horrifying. I don't have the old files of my stories. They are on broken and destroyed laptops which I no longer possess. The website NaNoWriMo operates from only kept my statistics from 2011 onward.

What originally was procrastination on my part grew from curiosity to a blog post. A new entry will be added once I've finished this month but for now, I invite you to observe my catalogue of shame. The novels which never were.

Actually that's a bit of a lie. My 2016 novel is the same as this year's attempt. I've rewritten it this year and chosen to flesh out different characters and try a different perspective. Once this year is over I will cannibalise both and try to create a coherent story out of the mess of words I have gathered. Seems completely doable. (I'm lying, it sounds like a nightmare).

Novel Title - Glass Eyes
Year - 2011
So back in 2011 I wrote a novel from the perspective of a doll. The doll of the young female main character. It was back when I was 21 year old and grappling with moving away from home. At least that's what I think it might have been. I can't recall for certain. That was the year I moved to Leeds and hadn't realised the full scale of what I had actually done. I hope that writing back then helped me cope. I know I hated the novel and vowed never to look at it again. It's gone now so... yeah.

Novel Title - Room 529
Year - 2012
In 2012 I attempted my first and last foray in erotic fiction. Was this around the time Fifty Shades of Grey was a thing? Did that influence my decision? I can't even imagine... This is my only official fail. Moving on!

Novel Title - The Tornado
Year - 2013
Hilariously enough this was the first incarnation of the story I am STILL writing and this was in 2013. I don't have the file for it so I have no idea what it looked like but man... Even back then it had certainly fired something up within me. I can't even remember being so on top of things!

Novel Title - The Trifecta
Year - 2016
And I wrote a different version of the same story again! (This would be my second attempt). Someone told me that you have to do things three time to get them right. I don't really know if this is something to live by but I hope it rings true. I even wrote in my synopsis that it would be terrible. I must have been extremely confident.

Novel Title - Atlantis

Year 2018 - 2018

Turns out if I focus really hard (and have a day off work) I can bash out 6,664 words in one day. I did try to finish my novel but I killed off the majority of my characters and hated it. Then I pivoted and wrote some scenes to flesh out the characters and remembered why I loved them and why needlessly murdering them was a bit dumb. I didn't delete any of it though. It's all there for that precious word count. 

Who knows where I'll go from here...

October 2018

Weird month. The Circle ended in a much darker way than I expected, it still haunts me. Like a real life episode of Black Mirror, it's a high compliment from me but damn, there were real people living that bizarre hell. Keep me off social media, please.

I haven't read many books but this is all because I've been focusing on writing copious notes for my very own novel. Yep, it's Nanowrimo again and I'm doing it this year (last year I was too stressed out by the whole new job thing... ha!)

Luckily I've ensured I've prepared for my writing. Killing Eve and Barry were extremely formative experiences. Both good fun and fascinating and completely different takes on the assassin trope. I highly recommend both. Aside from that I haven't watched much aside from my standard 'comfort food' viewings. I would also like to say I love the new Doctor Who and my 80 year old granddad also loves her. Nothing could make me happier.

October

3/10 Genghis Khan: And the Making of the Modern World Jack Weatherford (2004) 312p
6/10 Table 19(2017) The Circle (4) Strictly Come Dancing (1)
7/10 The Circle (3) Killing Eve (1) The Apprentice (1) Doctor Who (1)
8/10 Great British Bake Off (1) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (4) Jack Whitehall: Travels with my Father (Series 2 – 1 episode) Elite (Spanish dub - 1) A Star is Born (2018) The Circle: Finale
9/10 Jack Whitehall: Travels with my Father (1) Great British Bake Off (1) Ozark (Season 2 – 1 episode)
10/10 Jack Whitehall: Travels with my Father (1) His Girl Friday (1940) The Apprentice (1)
13/10 Strictly Come Dancing (1)
14/10 The Romanoffs (1) Riverdale (Season 3 – 1 episode) Doctor Strange (2016) Doctor Who (1) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (1)
15/10 Jack Whitehall: Travels with my Father (2) Chef’s Table (Season 5 – 1 episode)
16/10 Chef’s Table (1) Great British Bake Off (1) Celebrity Hunted (1)
17/10 Chef’s Table (1) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (1) The Apprentice (1)
18/10 Chef’s Table (1) The Birdcage (1996)
19/10 The Americans (1) Daredevil (Season 3 – 2 episodes)
20/10 Enter the Void (2009) Daredevil (7) Strictly Come Dancing (1)
21/10 Doctor Who (1) Daredevil (4)
22/10 Bojack Horseman (1) University Challenge (1) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (1)
23/10 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (1) Great British Bake Off (1) Bojack Horseman (1)
24/10 Barry (4)
25/10 Riverdale (1) The Apprentice (1) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (1) Barry (1)
26/10 Barry (3)
27/10 Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (3)
28/10 Strictly Come Dancing (1) Doctor Who (1) Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (7)
29/10 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (3) University Challenge (1) Maggie’s Plan (2015)
30/10 Bojack Horseman (1) Great British Bake Off (1) Celebrity Hunted (1)
31/10 The Americans (1) Night of the Living Dead (1968)

September 2018

I've been on holiday! Like a proper holiday with sun and a beach. Did a lot of cycling on the tiny island of Formentera (just off the coast of Ibiza) and sunbathing. Also ate lots of paella and used my shop-talk Spanish to great effect. Before leaving I decided that I want to do more cycling, practice my Spanish and learn more about stargazing. Sometimes I forget to do anything or make plans or get excited. I want to do more and be more... And now it's written down so I won't forget!

Also this month I ended up watching The Circle on Channel 4. I can see this reality show format (social media meets Big Brother) becoming quite a big thing. For now though there's a weird alchemy going on as the production team and the contestants feel their way through this new format and game and it just feels electric and engrossing. Then again maybe I've become so attuned to crap reality TV I've been blindsided somewhat. Who knows! I like it though.

September
1/9 Bodyguard (2018 – 2 episodes) Blackkklansman (2018) One Punch Man (2)
2/9 Jack Ryan (2018 – 2 episodes) Bodyguard (1) BLOG POST– novel chapter 2,710 words
3/9 One Punch Man (1) University Challenge (1)
4/9 The Great British Bake Off (1)
5/9 One Punch Man (1)
6/9 Searching (2018)
7/9 Preacher (1 – season 3 finished) Molly’s Game (2017) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 13 – episode 1)
8/9 Strictly Come Dancing (1) Last Night of the Proms 2018
9/9 GREAT NORTH RUN 2018 – 3 hours 1 minute 29 seconds – all agony One Punch Man (2)
10/9 One Punch Man (1) University Challenge (1) Bodyguard (1)
11/9 One Punch Man (1) The Great British Bake Off (1)
12/9 One Punch Man (1)
13/9 HISTORY BOOK CLUB – unfinished books – The Scramble for Africa Thomas Pakenham (1991) read approx. 200p The Fortunes of Africa: A 5,000-Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour Martin Meredith (2014) read approx. 300p It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2)
14/9 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2) Cowboy Bebop (1) Listen to Britain (1942) Bling Ring (2013)
16/9 Bridget Jones Baby (2016) Wind River (2017) Bodyguard (1)
17/9 Bojack Horseman (Season 5 – 2 episodes)
18/9 Bojack Horseman (1) The Great British Bake Off (1) The Circle (1)
19/9 The Americans (season 1 – 1 episode) The Land of Steady Habits (2018) The Circle (1)
20/9 Bojack Horseman (1) Mass for Shut Ins (2017) Sullivan’s Travels (1941) The Circle (1)
21/9 Bojack Horseman (1) The Andromeda Strain (1971) The Circle (1)
22/9 The Lady Eve (1941) 12 Angry Men (1957) Rope (1948) Strictly Come Dancing (1)
23/9 Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017) The Americans (1) Killing Eve (1) The Circle (1)
24/9 Bojack Horseman (1) Killing Eve (1) The Circle (1)
25/9 Killing Eve (1) Bojack Horseman (1) The Great British Bake Off (1) Queen of the World (ITV Special) The Circle (1)
26/9 Killing Eve (1) The Circle (1)
27/9 The Americans (1) Killing Eve (2) The Circle (1)
28/9 Killing Eve (2) The Circle (1)
29/9 Game Night (2018)

We watched First Dates in Spanish on holiday (never managed a full episode due to extensive channel hopping which is why it's not on my list). It's identical to the Ch4 production except I could only understand slivers of conversation - this vastly improved the programme. 

The Valet

Cynthia was quite an ordinary looking girl. As far as hosts went she could have been the most plain woman Donovan had ever laid eyes on but he was aware it was eleven in the morning on a Wednesday. Any restaurant worth it's salt would preserve the jaw-dropping specimens for the evening shifts when there would be much more traffic. Plus, for all Donovan was aware, the girl could be a relative or friend of the owner and had been given the job to line her pockets for whatever vocational endeavour she was wrapped up in. Perhaps shot-put or javelin. Her shoulders were very broad.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't have a valet here."

At least she sounded genuinely distraught by the revelation. Donovan rewarded her empathy with a sad smile.

"So what are we going to do Cynthia?" He asked with an air of authority he had observed his father adopt when admonishing a subordinate. It felt powerful, no wonder the bastard rolled it out so often, everyone was a subordinate in his father's world.

"I'm not sure what..." She was young and nervous. Donovan felt quite confident he didn't have to ask if she knew who he was. Any young woman in her early twenties with a social media account could likely identify Donovan in a line up. He was certain he had been a question in a TV quiz show a few weeks ago. His net worth and influence were hotly debated topics in the tabloids. Not that Donovan had any idea what any of it meant if he couldn't find the woman he had lost.

A man with a buzz-cut swathed in chef whites lumbered toward the bar as the pair stood awkwardly facing one another. He was carrying a large metal pan and slung it in the sink at the bar and turned the tap to begin filling it.

"Lee..." The girl croaked, she cleared her throat, "Ellis said you shouldn't do that Lee."

The chef ignored her, he was thumbing at the mobile phone in the hand which wasn't resting on the tap. "Lee!" She squawked.

The older man looked up. Donovan noted the crows feet and noticeable sagging of jowls along with an indistinguishable black tattoo on his neck. "Sorry love, what were you saying?"

"We have a customer." Cynthia flapped her hand anxiously at Donovan.

"Ellis said you shouldn't do that Lee." Donovan said employing the same admonishing tone he had just used.

The chef made a low grumbling sound in his throat and turned the tap off abruptly.

"Actually, maybe you can help me." Donovan said. "I'm looking for a valet called Steve."

"Yeah, I know Steve." The chef said, "He's my pot-wash."

Cynthia and Lee exchanged concerned glances. Cynthia looked terrified and Lee appeared to be angry for some reason, his forehead was creased and his nostrils flared. Donovan could tell that this revelation was the sort of bombshell he had not anticipated.

"Hope you don't mind me asking but why is someone like you coming here and asking for Steve?" Lee asked with an eloquence Donovan was disconcerted by.

Cynthia was staring at her shoes with grim fascination.

"I'm not judging or anything." The chef held up his hands, "Steve did the whole rehab thing but if he's still doing -"

"I don't think that's any of your business." Donovan could barely contain his incredulity. This man in stained pyjamas had crossed the line of impropriety.

"He's my employee." Lee was much taller and broader than Donovan had previously noticed.

"Steve happens to know someone I am looking for." Donovan said hotly.

"Yeah, Steve knows a lot of people but they don't turn up here and I'd rather they didn't if I'm honest." Lee had moved from behind the bar and was standing next to Cynthia who appeared shrunken in his presence.

"Cynthia." Donovan looked down at the crown of the girl's head, "Could you please give Steve my number and ask him to call me?"

Luckily Donovan had a pen in his pocket. He took a napkin from the bar and wrote his number on it and then crammed it between the young woman's fingers. He took an opportunity to catch Lee's eye and glowered at the chef before stalking out of the restaurant.

Later that evening

"You’re here!" Donovan crowed delightedly.

"I should not be here." Sarah said solemnly. "You are awfully chirpy."
"Ah, that'll be due to.... well, they are very nice here!" Donovan looked down at his arm which was resting against his chest in a cast and sling. His face felt fatigued from the strain of smiling but he was vaguely aware he wasn't in pain. He had been advised to expect some discomfort. He couldn't move his lower extremities having been bound into a sitting position with sheets and pillows.

"Is she coming?" Donovan's head suddenly shot upwards having been surveying his neatly arranged sheets with curiosity. His chin tilted upwards to expose a large red welt consuming the lower section of his jaw and chin. His eyes were encircled with deep purple, ice chip blue eyes prominently glinting from his bloodied visage.

Sarah felt a pang of sympathy for him. It hadn't crossed her mind to try and contact anyone else regarding the brief phone call she had received from a harried ward nurse. The experience of answering the phone and immediately jumping in a taxi to get to the hospital had taken up all of her energy. Fury and frustration had consumed her as she had stormed into the building striding toward the hospital room. 

Donovan had been asking repeatedly since becoming conscious when his 'emergency contact' would be coming. One of the nurses had suggested informing his father about what had happened but Donovan had vehemently disagreed with taking such action. 

"Why am I here Donovan?" Sarah asked upon entering the room. She rarely sounded like she was pleased to see him but Donovan had always admired her honesty. It was a refreshing change to the familiar sycophancy he was subjected to. She was all leather, black jacket, boots and attitude. The sight of her felt like a tonic to his anticipation but Sarah wasn't who he expected to see.

"They said they'd call my emergency contact." Donovan wasn't sure how to approach the question. Perhaps She was in the hall waiting to make an entrance. Perhaps they had travelled separately.

"And why did they have that number? My number?" Her eyes were down-turned, forehead slack, hair somewhat frayed at the edges, Donovan noticed on second inspection that she looked dishevelled.

"That's the emergency contact number that she gave me." He said distractedly, "Where is she?"

Sarah loitered at the bottom of the bed surveying him with a furrowed brow, down-turned eyes and a sorrowful expression. She sighed deeply and looked at him, their eyes connected. It was rare for her to make eye contact, she would always look off into the distance or focus on her own fidgeting fingers when talking to him. 

"She's not coming Donovan." Sarah said softly. 

"Oh..." Donovan looked at his feet enshrouded in white cotton. Sarah's black figure hovered in the background, out of focus, a shadow he wished would vanish. He wiggled his toes back and forth and then looked at the florescent lights distractedly. His eyes stung and he scrunched them shut, his toes continued to wriggle, "When is she coming?" He croaked.

"She's not." Sarah said. 

The phone number the nurses had called was Sarah's personal number, it was a phone she didn't use but carried with her at all times and kept fully charged. Sarah hadn't used it for anything for the longest time but kept it with her out of habit. It was an old scar that had barely healed and threatened to rupture at the slightest provocation. Donovan didn't know this. Sarah could discern at least that much. The number had been given to him because She knew that it would be a direct line to Sarah and that Sarah would always answer the call regardless of the time or place. It felt like a betrayal.

Sarah walked up to the side of the hospital bed and her cool skeletal fingers entwined with his. He could barely feel the sensation of skin against his but he was vaguely aware of her sudden proximity. Had Donovan been able register what was happening around him he would have realised that this was the first time Sarah had touched him. The drugs and despair were too much for him to appreciate this small moment of intimacy. It felt like gloved hands brushing in the winter. He was too numb, too far away to feel her attempt to pull him back. 

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, her hair framing her expression of concern as she looked down at him, eyes boring into his forehead as he resolutely avoided her gaze.

"I'm fine!" He said quickly and much more loudly than he expected. Was he shouting? Did everyone hear him? What would the nurses think? 

Sarah released his unresponsive fingers and collapsed into the plastic chair next to his hospital bed. She surveyed the wires and contusions adorning his exposed arms with a grim expression. They sat in empty silence for a few minutes. 

A nurse appeared and broke the spell as Donovan was compelled to discuss how he was feeling with the warm business-like woman. She rearranged his pillows when he said he felt like he was 'sinking'. Sarah helped shove another cushion behind him. The nurse reviewed the clipboard at the bottom of the bed and suggested that they would wait for the doctor to see if they would need to keep him in for the duration of the night. Sarah had nodded and mumbled in acquiescence. 

"Do you think they'll give me a sponge bath?" Donovan asked after the nurse had left.

Sarah cleared her throat, "What happened?" She asked.

"I got pushed out of a window." Donovan said.

Sarah looked shocked, he could tell. He couldn't quite twist his head to look at her face directly, she was sitting at a very awkward angle with her legs slung over the arm of the chair. His neck brace was very obstructive but he could definitely tell she was horrified by the prospect.

"Nah, but I did get the shit kicked out of me." He said.

"No kidding." She said.

Donovan had received an ominous phone-call around six in the evening. A low gravelled voice wanted to know if someone required the services of a valet. Donovan had been sitting in a bar with a few friends in the Quadrangle. The surrounding music had been loud and he had to jam his fist in his ear to block out the voices and noises around him. The voice advised Donovan to meet him at a hotel in the lower Business District and go to room 603 in an hour.

Donovan looked around him and a smooth smiling face was peering at him from across the booth. Rashida was giving him some very promising signals. She had a perfect petite nose and complimentary features. Her mother was a cabinet minister and they had frequented intersecting social functions for the past several years. Since she had graduated from University Rashida had begun to increase in confidence, she was also dressing better and drinking hard liquor. Further to that she had been making eyes at him for the majority of the early evening. 

"Ahh, might not be able to make it tonight chum." Donovan had said. The line remained silent for a long moment, "Are you there?" Donovan had asked. "Sorry the line has gone quiet." He pressed the phone harder to his ear.
"Just get to the fucking hotel fuckhole." The line disconnected.

"If only I had stayed with the lovely Rashida..." Donovan said wistfully.
"Then maybe you could have slept on her couch." Sarah said.

The hotel had been an exceedingly low-class establishment, far below Donovan's standard, he doubted he had ever had the displeasure of setting foot in a discount chain hotel before. There were vending machines in the lobby and a singular receptionist in a garishly coloured waistcoat with an overly large pimple on her cheek. 

A sharp rap on the door of 603 had prompted it to creak open into a darkened cramped room and then the itchy carpet had grazed Donovan's chin and his ankles were grasped firmly as he was dragged deeper into the cavern.

"Carpet burn on my chin!" Donovan exclaimed, perhaps his other injuries were technically worse but the carpet burn was certainly an insult more than anything. Such an injury wouldn't have happened in an establishment with a better pile density in their carpets.
"Classy." Sarah had said smoothly.

For the following ten minutes or so he was kicked and throttled and at one point his arm was slung behind his back and cracked into two pieces. The x-rays showed a perfectly clean transverse fracture according to the doctor when he first came around. Apart from that there was a lot of internal bleeding and perhaps they mentioned a rib or two but nothing had been ruptured.

Donovan thought the actual beating hadn't been half as bad as lying on the floor shifting in and out of consciousness for what felt like hours. The gravelled voice had called an ambulance and had left Donovan on the floor with a bag of ice from the mini-bar tucked against his stomach. The cold had burned, inhaling and exhaling were agonising, the darkness had been overwhelming. 

"I just turned up and fucking Lee... he told me I shouldn't go back there or he'd call the fucking police." Steve had grunted sitting on the end of one of the single beds in the dark room. Sirens were echoing in the streets. 

"I haven't been a valet for years." Donovan recalled the voice saying as he saw white specks dance around his vision, he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed. "I lost my job then too. But she made it up to me." Donovan could see the faint glow of a mobile phone in the dark illuminate an aged wrinkled face with gnarled features.

"And now we're even." Steve the valet had said walking away and slamming the bedroom door behind him.

Sarah frowned as Donovan ended his story with a deep sigh.

"She cost him his job." Sarah mumbled.

"And I had my knickers around my ankles in the back of some Rolls or whatever and well... yeah." She had cackled maniacally. "Oh man what a night...." Her hand slapped her thigh and her martini glass shuddered as she careened forward spilling it across the table.

"That's not what I asked." Helen had been unimpressed with her raucous demonstration. "You shouldn't be giving the clients drugs." She added sternly.

"I don't think you should be telling me how to do my job Helen." She had said with an unfocused glare, "I don't tell you how to cash the cheques."

"I think it's fair that we don't get involved in each other's areas of..." Sarah mumbled.

"The grown-ups are talking Face." Helen interjected with a raised palm toward Sarah. 

'The Face' was Sarah's code-name. This was if they were attempting any level of discretion but such fripperies continuously fell by the wayside as the women ignored their own rules with sneering disregard. Any level of professionalism evaporated once they had begun to drink. Helen referred to Sarah as the 'Face' simply as a term of derision. Sarah knew it was because she had nothing more to offer the business and Helen belittled her as a way of maintaining control. Being able to acknowledge such behaviour didn't make it any easier to accept. These were not reasonable women. Helen had become less combative as time had passed but Sarah never could forget those early vicious moments.

"He was her dealer." Sarah explained to an enraptured Donovan. "The first night she met him she cost him his job."

"Oooooh." Donovan said with realisation and relief. Sarah noted that he looked very drowsy. "So how did she get him sacked?" He asked.

"Don't remember." Sarah shrugged.

August 2018

More reading this month. My shift patterns mean I get an hour in the morning to do that in the kitchen. I might get bored of reading at some point though... I'm not sure yet. It's been a pretty sparse month for much of anything else.

It was my birthday which felt like a non-event. I kept holding out that it would fix my worrisome nagging feeling that something would go horribly wrong. It didn't make it better and I'm still terribly afraid the ground will fall out from beneath me. I'm just waiting for the moment I stumble and trip over the detonator.

August
1/8 Prime Japan: Sushi (1) Tamara Drewe (2010)
2/8 Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again (2018)
3/8 The Bold Type (1) Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
4/8 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X with assistance of Alex Haley (1965) 501p
5/8 Albert Nobbs (2011) Love Island Reunion
6/8 Prime Japan (1) Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party Curtis J Austin (2006) 348p
7/8 University Challenge (1)
8/8 The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr Edited by Clayborne Carson (1999) 370p
10/8 Antman and the Wasp (2018)
11/8 Preacher (1) Tomb Raider (2018) The Illusionist (2006)
12/8 The Bold Type (1) Phantom Thread (2017) Mississippi Grind (2015)
13/8 Dark Tourist (2) University Challenge (1)
14/8 A Little History of the World E H Gombrich (2008) 284p Prime Japan (1)
15/8 Preacher (1)
16/8 Did You Wonder Who Fire the Gun? (2017)
17/8 Dark Tourist (2) Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
18/8 How Heavy This Hammer (2015) The Wedding Banquet (1993) Dark Tourist (1) Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
19/8 Historytelling (2018) My Man Godfrey (1936) Death Becomes Her (1992)
20/8 Prime Japan (1) 1,000 Years of Annoying the French Stephen Clarke (2010) 645p
21/8 Dark Tourist (1)
22/8 Dark Tourist (1)
23/8 Preacher (1)
24/8 Dark Tourist (1) Cape Fear (1962)
25/8 Cape Fear (1991) Prime Japan (1)
26/8 The Last Emperor (1987) Prime Japan (1) Machete (2010)
27/8 The Romanovs Simon Sebag Montefiore (2016) 657p 8 ½ (1963) Prime Japan (1) University Challenge (1)
28/8 The Great British Bake Off (1)
30/8 One Punch Man (3)

July 2018

Fair warning, Love Island is now thankfully over. I think there's an episode due on the weekend but then it's all over. May we never speak about it again. That and the World Cup, the euphoria was contagious and pleasant, I liked that everyone had something to be optimistic about for a change. Apart from that I am now gainfully employed and trying to feel secure in myself. It's a daily struggle.

July
1/7 Queer Eye (4)
2/7 Brooklyn Nine Nine (5) Love Island (1)
3/7 Brooklyn Nine Nine (2) World Cup: England vs Colombia (Final 16) Love Island (1)
4/7 Preacher (1) The Bold Type (2) Love Island (1)
5/7 Brooklyn Nine Nine (2) Love Island (1)
6/7 Brooklyn Nine Nine (5) Love Island (1)
7/7 World Cup: England vs Sweden (Quarter Finals – and history was made) World Cup: Russia vs Croatia (Quarter Finals)
8/7 Champions (2) The Bold Type (5) Love Island (1)
9/7 Glow (1) Love Island (1)
10/7 Glow (1) Love Island (1)
11/7 Glow (1) World Cup: England vs Croatia (Semi Finals) Love Island (1)
12/7 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Turning Points in Ancient History) Eric Cline (2015) 180p Love Island (1)
13/7 Love Island (1)
14/7 Glow (2) The Mummy Returns (2001)
15/7 Sunday Politics (1) Wimbledon 2018: Men’s Final (3 sets – boring) World Cup: France vs Croatia (Final) Glow (1) Love Island (1)
16/7 Glow (1) A Burning Hot Summer (2011) Love Island (1)
17/7 Love Island (1) Glow (1)
18/7 BLOG POST– novel chapter 716 words (unpublished – unfinished. Published 1,539 word post which I was previously unhappy with on 30/6) Love Island (1)
19/7 Glow (1) Kuro (2017) Love Island (1)
20/7 The Exorcist (1973) Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
21/7 Love Island (1) Unreal (season 4 – all 8 episodes) Glow (1 – season 2 finished) Joel McHale Show (2) Preacher (1)
22/7 Sunday Politics (1) Joel McHale Show (4) The Bold Type (5 – finished season 1 & 4 episodes of season 2) Love Island (1)
23/7 The Bold Type (3) Love Island (1)
24/7 Preacher (1) Love Island (1)
25/7 The Bold Type (1) Love Island (1)
26/7 Dynasty (2018 – 1 episode) Love Island (1)
27/7 Love Island (1)
28/7 The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam Karen Armstrong (2004) 371p To Rome with Love (2012)
29/7 Mala Noche (1985) The Hymns of Muscovy (2018) Dynasty (1) Erase and Forget (2017) Love Island (1)
30/7 Preacher (1) Love Island: Finale (1)
31/1 Detroit (2017)