We've just come back from 'Casshern'.

What we thought
We were both blown away by this luscious film. Again, I'm too knackered to put my thoughts about it together into any meaningful form. It was nice to see screen 5 of the cinema pretty much full, I can't imagine many people were left disappointed. Again I teared five stars, with Gordon tearing four due to some minor but valid criticism revolving around the extent to which the film's underlying premise is overplayed to a certain degree.

Tomorrow
I think I might catch Outfoxed tomorrow, although I've not really made my mind up yet.

So, the film festival is now underway and our choice for today is 'The Machinist' at the Hyde Park Picture House. Unfortunately we haven't been able to buy tickets for the film online, so fingers crossed it's not full.

What we thought
We liked it lots, my only criticism being that the story seems to lack sufficient pace, interest and relevance in patches in the middle of the film. In honesty I'm too tired to really write anything interesting or useful about the film now, maybe brought on by the chronic lethargy that the main character suffers from throughout the picture.

We got a chance to register our rating of the film by virtue of a tear-card provided to us with the tickets. I gave it a five stars out of five, Gordon a four. In fairness there wasn't a 4-and-a-half-stars section I could tear as I would have wished, and although I thought I could perhaps tear a line inbetween the four and five stars bits I knew I had to make a call one way or the other.

Tomorrow
For tomorrow, we've picked 'Casshern' at the Ster Century. Once again, we've been unable to get tickets (neither online or in person at the box office) although that's mainly due to only making our choice about half an hour ago.

...is that it can really ruin your weekend.

I've just uploaded four sets of pictures from December 2003 to pics.paulholloway.com.

* Pick a supermarket and stick to it, get their loyalty card thing if they have one
* Go once a week on roughly the same day
* Don't go on an empty stomach
* Know what you've already got available
* Figure out how many meals you need for the week, and only buy what you need
* Take a basket, not a trolley
* Keep ready meals to a minimum (they tend to be full of bad shit and are expensive)
* Get fruit for snacks (cheaper, healthier)
* Buy stuff for lunches, so you don't have to buy lunches during the week that work out to be a lot more expensive

At around this time last night, I was just settling down for my first proper bingo session. Bingo was part of the itinery for the evening set out by Steph, as it was her birthday we were celebrating.

I remember being pretty relaxed before my first trip to the casino earlier this year, but I was increasingly apprehensive about the bingo. The preconceptions about the punter demographics within the bingo hall (which were spot on) and the potential seriousness that said punters take their bingo (also reasonably well founded) seemed to contrast dangerously with us - a group of eight, slightly pissed up and giggly young 'uns. I figured that as long as we didn't win anything, we'd be safe from any physical retribution from any hardcore bingo types.

Turning up just as the main session was starting didn't help at all. I managed to get my backside on a seat and get my dabber ready just as the guy was reading the first numbers out. Sadly there was no little ducks, fat ladies or Maggie's dens - delivery of those crucial numbers were delivered in a somewhat serious and uninspringing style, although with just the slightest little hint of something that I can only really describe as 'tinpot local radio DJ camp'.

I was trying to concentrate on the six cards in front of me, and initially found it a bit difficult. I was still thinking that we'd be okay if we just played it cool, when one of our party shouted "line" in the first game. Beginner's luck? No. An strategically placed finger holding down her card hid a number that hadn't been called, and so the first shout of the night was a false call. Maybe we didn't have to win to get taken home in an ambulance.

However, we started to win. Between the eight of us we won

I've spent the last two evenings quickly rustling up a website for a friend in time for a Friday evening deadline. It's pretty basic at the moment but not bad for a couple of hours work! Take a look.

People of Leeds, do not miss the GNER Leeds International Film Festival. The festival runs from 28th October to 7th November. You can pick up a brochure at Waterstones like I did, and I'm sure other outlets will have them in stock too.

Whilst reading Warming Up, the blog of Richard Herring, I came across a very thoughtful newspaper article by Richard's one-time double-act partner Stewart Lee that robustly challenged my initial view of a recent news story (Connolly blasted over Bigley joke).

I spent the last weekend on Dartmoor, a group of us about fifteen of us staying in a camping barn near a little place (a few houses and a pub) called Manaton.

It's a long, long way away from Leeds. Taking the M62, picking up a passenger close to the M60 in Manchester, making our way down the M6 and then the entire length of the M5 took over seven hours. Nearer to the barn, well away from A class roads, we were greeted with faltering light and roads barely wider than the width of my car. Although driving on these roads were just a little stressful - especially when you're not really sure of where you're headed - the stark contrast from the normal roads I travel on did seem to provide a pretty fitting way to start the weekend.

The barn was spot on - spacious, toilets, shower, electric lighting and a seperate-ish area for sleeping. When we'd all arrived, we surveyed our food and drink provisions and figured we could probably stock a supermarket for a couple of weeks with them.

Over the course of the Saturday we covered about 12 miles walking across Dartmoor, taking in a few of the tors and climbing right to the top of a few of them. The promise of cold, windy and rainy conditions made sure that we all came prepared with the right kit but, while it was windy on top of the tors, I felt it could have been a lot worse. The rain only materialised once we'd stopped for our second break at about five o'clock and, although we had a few hours of walking back to the barn in the rain, it didn't seem to make much difference to the day.

I've not done that much walking in a day since I was a child, and the fact that I was able to do it pretty comfortably is due to the work that I've been putting in over recent months. Had we attempted the walk six months ago, I just wouldn't have been able to do it. I enjoyed this fact, enjoyed the walk - in fact I enjoyed everything about the entire weekend. Even managing to cover my car's back seat in beer dregs from bottles that we were recycling didn't really bother me... I'm sure that sort of thing would drive me bonkers most of the time.

I could write lots more about my barn weekend, but I've not really got the time now. I'm hoping I can follow this post up with some photographs in the future.