Sunday, March 02, 2008

Weekend of Random Photos

The weather yesterday (Saturday) was total pish - rainy and windy - so Paul and I decided to go to the cinema and finally see No Country for Old Men, which should be re-titled, "No Time for Country Old Coots Who Wax Poetic About Animal Slaughter". But anyway.

Now, I know that film nerds, like myself, get absolutely worked up over Coen Brothers' films and many think they are the high pinnacle of American film-making. Whatever, I think they're good but frankly I could take them or leave them. I mean, I remember watching Barton Fink and really liking it and thinking it was clever, but I can't tell you what the hell it was about. I find that with a lot of their films like Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, And the Man Who Wasn't There.

Anyway, No Country for Old Coots - I loved the first half of the film and was completely engrossed. However, it just seemed to fizzle out towards the end. Also, what was the point of NOT filming/showing the climax of the film - i.e. the point when Chigurh tracks down Llewelyn in El Paso?! And please don't tell me it was some clever cinematic point by the Coen Brothers because that's just bullshit.

Do I sound angry? Because I am. I feel cheated because throughout the whole film, it felt as if it was leading up to a final encounter by all three leading men: the Sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones), the psycho killer and his awful haircut (Javier Bardem), and the anti-hero Vietnam vet (Josh Brolin).

Oh, and The Big Lebowski is overrated!

Ok, here are some more pictures from last weekend on Arran:

Can you tell how windy it is?


This is an old church that is no longer in use. If you look closely, you should be able to see one of these weird palm tree plants that are all over Arran. What's up with that?

Paul, on the beach, and showing me his washed up treasure he found.

Ok, so while I was away in Canada in January, there was a huge march held in Glasgow to remember the victims of Bloody Sunday: 14 civilian protesters who died after being shot by British troops in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in January 1972.

Frankly, I don't like parades - except the Toronto Santa Claus one - and I especially don't like Orange parades that march by my window at 10am on a Saturday morning, waking me up.

Glasgow has enough sectarian problems as it is, so why does the Council allow for religiously-influenced parades to take place? Yes, people should have the right to march and protest but what's the point of having Orange marches every other weekend?

Anyway, I'm assuming that the remembrance walk for Bloody Sunday happens only one a year and I guess it's a hot issue - judging by the police presence from this pictures!

I should also note that Paul took these pictures from the safety of our flat. Thoughtfully, he took pictures and showed them to me when I got back to Glasgow; Paul likes to educate me about the bizarreness of his hometown/ home country.

Apparently there were some dudes who didn't care much for the parade and were screaming at the marchers. The police had to swarm them.

More swarming!

And to end everything on a nice note, here is a lovely wee sunset. Photo by Paul.

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