feeling listless

And... Mocha Valencia. In a break from tradition I'm starting back to front tonight simply because I have to get this lunchtime 'treat' off my chest. Regular readers will know of my love for 'Starbucks', the smells, the decor, the music and of course the coffee. But there is a darkside. The Mocha Valencia, the most rancid, indigestion inducing mug of hell you'll ever taste. You know when you were a kid and you experimented with Orange Milk Shake, by diluting cordial with milk instead of water? It tastes just like that (only warm) and with the same belly-ache inducing after effects. Finally a coffee you can share with your enemies. The little writing which appears underneath it on the menu should also include a disclaimer: "Not for people who hate Terry's Chocolate Orange or those creams you find in Cadbury's Roses".
The Other Boleyn Girl told the story of Henry VIII's second wife Anne through the eyes of her sister. This was a semi-improvised, Dogme 95-style anti-Andrew Davies costume drama which gripped from its opening video diaries; Henry had eight wives -- this brought home to the viewer what kind of a man does that kind of thing.
Die Hard With A Vengeance is not the best action film in the world -- but it is very, very close. I think the problem is that despite everything the first film had a sheen of realism -- McCain actually got hurt badly during the course of that film. Here he's shot and stabbed and exploded and through all the dirt on his shirt is still able to walk. In the audio commentary on the DVD the screenwriter describes how his original script ('Simon Says') which he wrote in eleven days was re-written to become this film. In the original script, the bad guy was actually revenging the hero for something which happened in their childhood -- hence the nursery rhymes. They stayed in the film because the director thought they sound cool. Makes sense ....