saying something stoopid like i wuv wooo

this week started off with the best gig of the year so far with ponytail and comenechi making me dance like that woman in flashdance in tommy's bar. we began the night by going for a supposed romantic meal in pizza express (nothing says romance like a 2-4-1 voucher) and had to move tables due to the 10 excited tweens at the next table making it hard to think let alone hear ourselves talk. it was good eating: my pizza had an egg on it, i require nothing more in this life. steen was worried we'd be late but we were first there and the bands hadn't finished soundchecking. we found a anxious looking john from FORECAST who was putting on the gig. someone had also scheduled casiokids to play in clwb the same night. ouch. and one of the support bands hadn't turned up. owee. subsequently there was a big time delay in getting started but it gave ample time to chat to mates charlotte and ashli about our beautiful cat and get a pint of old rosie in before the bands started. COMENECHI were a japanese girl and lanky britguiarist in a skeleton mask. she drummed and yelled into the mic things like "you are retard! i was your lovely sunshine!" and did ace confused stage banter and they were amazing fun. throughout the gig there was a petit, dykey lass with cropped hair and a pixie face in the crowd. "she's new", noticed perv claire, is there a student in tommy's bar? heavens to betsy! but no, she turned out to be the winning lady from PONYTAIL. she came onstage, went into what looked like a spiritualist trace and yelped and chirruped and danced like she'd taken some strong peyote. behind her were noodley post rock guitars and an unerring beat. i started dancing and clapping and grinning and didn't stop till the music did. i turned to john, who was dancing next to me "gig of the year!" i said excitedly. thankfully it wasn't just me but a whole bunch of lovelies were all a bit rapt.

this was also a week of catching up with some old mates. on tuesday me and my long lost friend paul (who has not so much been lost as "living in bristol") had a couple of bottles of wine and a catch up, vowing to never leave it so long again, and i bloody hope we don't. then thursday i met my friend elena for a less boozey version of the same thing. last night i was yurt-bound for nims and kats birthdays and a girlie winefest. its wonderful realise that even though you haven't had a proper conversation with your mates for a few months you can slip back into it so easily and get it all off your chest.

this weeks' ushering shift was an interesting one, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED with anne hathaway. i was quite excited about seeing it as she was nominated for awards and i do love american indie but i was quite disappointed. it was all right, the script was quite sharp and the acting was good (debra winger as her mother had a small but powerful role) but i really hated the smug family. i can't stand wedding films at the best of times. i find it hard to empathise with any of that stressful "the petals for the bridesmaids to throw don't go with the tablecloth!" nonsense and this indian themed wedding a capella singing and electric guitar "here comes the bride" the family had was especially irritating. apparently the screenwriter who is the daughter of sidney lumet based it on her family and it was very annoying having all these self congratulatory people around ("and now a speech from our close family friend fab five freddy...."). but then afterwards i was thinking about it and maybe you're meant to hate the family as much as rachel, maybe they are irritatingly smug so you feel more sympathy for her. all i knew is that i'd probably be off my face on drugs if i was a teenager in that family too.

mid week we stayed in and watched CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS as steen had not seen it before and i'd not seen it since i saw it in the cinema many years ago. i was slightly disappointed as they had done a new version of the movie for the dvd which cut out the beginning bit where it looks like you're there to watch a PBS film about childrens entertainers in new york and it unexpectedly turns a bit dark when they talk to the most popular clown david friedman. this is actually what happened, the director was making an innocuous film and discovered this huge story about friedman's fucked up family in a nearby suburb. instead the dvd version went straight into the story about how david's father and little brother ended up in prison after being accused of sexually assaulting a group of boys at the computer club. i felt it lost a little in going straight into the story, you didn't get a sense of the director's journey into the story so much, but its still bloody fascinating. it turns into a salem witch hunt in this town with the stories getting increasingly incredible and no-one sure what happened for real and what people are being selective about. the friedmans filmed themselves on videocameras during this time, thinking that it would just blow over and they'd look back and laugh so it becomes a film about reliable memories. i watched some of the extras from when the cast and crew took the film around the film festivals and these were like car crash tv, david and his brother almost doing a stand up routine about it, the only way they can deal with it. disturbing.

we also went around to see the patti girls to watch RED RIDING on thursday, armed with biscuits and ready to drink lots of tea. the episode featured the yorkshire ripper and we saw how much further the police corruption had sunk. steen and i were too young to remember the ripper really but helen told us some of the fear that was around at the time and we reminded each other to all go on the RECLAIM THE NIGHT march on tuesday to show our support for the cause.

on friday steen and i went to see THE AGE OF STUPID with my friend anne. it was suitably frightening and steen and i vowed that we would not take any unneccessary flights. i want to go and visit my brother in germany but we have to stop thinking of these things as cheap and convenient, according to the scientists we don't have long before we can stop global warming and there are enough ignorant people out there using up fuel and pumping shit into the air without us adding to it. train to rostock please! it only takes about 24 hours....

tonight i'm looking forward to seeing one of casey's films in gwdihw (which i seem unable to pronounce without doing it in a camp comedy high pitched tone). today i am tired and its beautiful and i'm stuck inside. booo for work!