The downside of the unlimited card is that I see stuff like this.

[slemslempike]

On Saturday I went to see The Mist. All the black characters with speaking parts were killed, mostly when they failed to listen to Whitey and, rather than believe in a tentacled beast rising out of the mist, thought it might be more sensible to go in search of help themselves. Later a black MP (as in military police) was found dead as well, but that's okay because it turned out that it was at least partly his fault that there was a tentacled mist-beastie. (The army had a secret weapon thing that involved opening a window to another realm, but "I guess they found a door instead".) Working class people also died when they took offence at being called dumb by a patronising middle class asshole, rather than knuckling their foreheads and saying that of course maister knows best. Later a woman kissed her childhood love, and I think we all know what happens to sluts like that. They get stung in the throat by a giant mist-insect so that their throat and face swell up and suffocate them to dead. NOT SO PRETTY NOW, WHORE. It was also a bit odd, because the Main Guy had a nice wife at the start of the movie, but then he and his son left her to go to the supermarket, and before they'd established that she was dead, they'd given him a love interest. Anyway, blah blah blah he was right and no-one would listen to him, heroic attempt with love interest, son and two old people who were sensible enough to hang on his every word, drive as far south as the gas would take them (except actually including a stop to find his wife was in fact dead so the love interest relationship was legitimised, and also driving STRAIGHT PAST abandoned cars that could have had the petrol siphoned from them) . The gas ran out and they get the gun out, but there are only four bullets. Then love interest said "but there are five of us" and I wondered how stupid they thought the audience was that the needed the problem stated, but then the woman in front of me whispered to her friend "are they going to kill themselves", so I guess they knew better than me. Anyway, Main Guy heroically kills everyone else and then gets out of the car to have a strop. But the mist clears, and the army drives through with the survivors, so the joke's on him.

I also watched Would I Lie To You, which was the episode I saw being filmed last year, and it was perfectly fine. Considering how disappointing television is at the moment, this is a great accolade.

On Sunday I met up with another placement student and we went round the Museum of Scotland and discovered our ignorance. I did enjoy seeing the modern Scotland exhibit, and the view from the roof garden was simply wonderful. It was, for once, a nice day, warm and far visibility. There were too many people around to test our reaction times, but I bet they would have been GREAT.

Comments

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

I always blame Would I lie to You for been neither Call My Bluff nor (old-style, good) Hignfy. But I think that's a bit unfair, really. I do love David Mitchell though. There was quite a lot of nice staring between him and Robert, and then Rob Brydon is always love as well. It's just a shame it's not funnier.

[whatho.livejournal.com]

Telly is a bit profoundly awful at present. It upsets me. I thought Would I Lie to You was less than bad considering.

That film sounds ... well. I'm sorry for your pain.

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I like the book ending of The Mist, but I guess it's too ambiguous for film. But it always bothered me that the protagonist got a love interest before he knew whether his wife was really dead. Though based on my experiences this last week, it isn't at all unrealistic!

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I don't know the book at all, but I can imagine that it would be better than the film. And now I am intruiged about your experiences, but I have no lj access so I can't go and check!

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Stephen King doesn't generally translate well to film, I've found.

I'm afraid it isn't too exciting - went to an academic conference last week, and was propositioned (separately) by two married men. So if they'll do that just because their wives are in another town/country, I can easily accept they'll stray when they think there's a fifty/fifty chance she's dead.

I haven't gone to many stay-over-night conferences before this year - I can't believe what a hotbed of passion and betrayal they're turning out to be!

[metamorphosa.livejournal.com]

I haven't gone to many stay-over-night conferences before this year - I can't believe what a hotbed of passion and betrayal they're turning out to be!

Ohhh, yes. And the higher up the ranks you go, the more acceptable it becomes. Some PAs sleep with management, others somehow become their assigned confidants...

[metamorphosa.livejournal.com]

I haven't ever read the book, but when deciding what film to see I ruled The Mist out. I'm quite pleased that I did, now.

I have never heard of Would I Lie To You, but then that's not unusual. I wish I had more time to visit museums, though.

[badbadbookworm.livejournal.com]

My boy and I rather enjoyed The Mist, in a camp sort of way. But in our defence (?) we were thinking about how it would work as a roleplay game.