Archive for January 4th, 2008

The Friday Night Fright: The Last Man on Earth

By
Ian W
Published: January 4, 2008Posted in: Horror, Movie Reviews, Science FictionTags:

With I Am Legend currently in cinemas and, inexplicably, breaking box office records, now seemed like a good time to revisit the first, and still the best, version of Richard Matheson’s classic novel.

With a budget that was probably less than a third of what the dog in I Am Legend got paid (inflation adjusted of course) this American financed and Italian shot film manages to create more tension, more suspense and more emotion than the mega budget Will Smith starrer could even dream of. For example it’s far more effective to have Neville, or Morgan as he’s renamed here, confront his dead wife when she returns from the grave than have her die in some unnecessary CGI explosion. The big bang may look more impressive but that’s just superficial gloss. The Last Man on Earth isn’t glossy, for one thing it couldn’t afford to be, but it works on a gut level that’s far truer to the original story.

I have to admit I was a bit surprised by Will Smith’s performance, he does surprisingly well (with the exception of the Bob Marley scene) even if he is miscast. I had feared we were in for a performance like I, Robot or, heaven forbid, Independence Day, instead he’s surprisingly restrained. He can’t hold a candle to Vincent Price though.

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Doin’ the iPod Shuffle

By
Ian W
Published: January 4, 2008Posted in: Doin' the iPod Shuffle, Rants & RavesTags:

I recently got hold of an iPod Shuffle for free (no it wasn’t a Christmas present, it was a Tesco DVD Rental promotion, 3 months and you get a free 1Gb Shuffle, so technically not really free) with the idea of using it for my walk to work in place of my aging and rather bulky (by today’s standards) iRiver 40Gb player.

Getting the thing working with Vista wasn’t my idea of fun, plug-and-play it ain’t. I was torn between putting it on eBay or getting a hammer and smashing the little bastard to pieces. Instead I persevered, and after, much googleing and several false hopes, managed to get it working. I’m glad I did as it’s a pretty cool little gadget.

Now for a little background info. Prior to Christmas, in fact for the past couple of months, I’ve had a problem with my feet (the left one in particular). Having seen the doctor I was told there were four possible courses of action – a) avoid whatever aggravates it (working in retail and being on my feet all day this was a no go) b) take anti-inflammatory tablets (this seemed to do the trick) c) steroid injections (this didn’t sound like fun) d) an operation (this sounded even less like fun). While the tablets worked the thought of taking them for the rest of my life was less than appealing but this was the impression I was given by the doctor who told me I didn’t need to make another appointment when they ran out, just phone and ask for a repeat prescription.

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