I only just realised I haven't checked my PC for viruses since August 2006. And now it's taking absolutely ages, and I want to go to bed!

Stunning comeback entry once again from myself.

Things that have happened since I last made an LJ entry, in descending chronological order:

- I spoke relentlessly about sport into a microphone.

- We got a new TV, which is an HD LG 32"... TV. It's really nice, it makes the 360 look quite special indeed.

- I have been diagnosed with labyrinthitis / neural vestibulitis, which is an inner-ear infection affecting balance. It is quite nasty, and has been going on for a month now, but I think it's subsiding.

- Ruth and I went to Rome and Vatican City for three days in January, and it was very nice, if very rainy.

- Ruth turned 26.

- Ruth's brother got engaged.

- Ruth and I went to Scotland for a week with her family, and it was very nice, and didn't really rain at all.

- Ruth and I moved in together and now live in Teddington, Middlesex. It reduced my commute to work from one hour to 10 minutes, which was pleasing.

- I turned 22.


So there you go, a year of quiet summed in a few lines. Efficient!

Amazingly exciting.

Just got the go ahead to move into mine and Ruth's new flat on Saturday! Classic stuff!

So, from Saturday onwards, I will be living in Teddington. I get to look forward to paying council tax and a lot of rent, great!

I believe this will be really brilliant, and I am very excited.

Bloody hell, Bob Woolmer is DEAD! Yesterday I'm subtitling him being annoyed about losing in the Cricket World Cup, today he's dead!

Strange world...

BBC1 are trailing series 3 of The Apprentice. I can barely contain my excitement.

Having recently made 140 British pounds by playing poker, I am considering turning semi-professional.
Now, to get me some sunglasses and get back to online poker...

Not really. I have won that money, but right now I'm merely at work, reading about poker and waiting for my final bout of subtitling on the tennis from Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Juan Carlos Ferrero vs somebody else with an easier name...

In any case: I am really good at poker. Somebody play me. I dare you, and I RAISE you!

Quick reviews of films I have seen recently:

Rushmore
It's good, for sure. It's relaxing and nice, but not really very funny or interesting. The character of Max Fisher is the best thing about it, but all in all I prefer Van Wilder - which is the same film, but funnier.

Volver
This film is BRILLIANT. I have no idea why, though. It's like chewing gum for the eyes - nothing really happens, and yet a lot happens really. It's one of those films which is just brilliant because of everything it is, not anything it purports to be. It took me a full day to realise it, but it's truly great.

Children Of Men
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER MADE. The cinematography is absolutely sublime, absolutely mesmerisingly fantastic. Tension, fear and suspense are held by the single shot of a lens, and inbetween the mesmeric action sequences is a story mired in dystopian sludge, morbidly fascinating and tellingly gritty. Clive Owen is undisputably cool, and the fact that it's all set in London and England at large makes it resonate with me on a higher level.

Silent Hill
This is one of the most disturbing films ever made. Not in a good 'Children of Men' way, but in an oppressive, almost sickening way. It has the cool feel of the games - how the town can transform in a split second - but sales most of the psychological value of the games in favour of a cheap and garbled story about a mine.
The one thing it does really well is get across the sense of disbelief in what is going on - Rose finds herself in the situations she gets into so effortlessly, and she wanders out of them again with similar ease, and with this the transition between light and dark is achieved admirably.
The nurses are just laughable, though.


There we go.

Two things about Children of Men:

1) IT IS BRILLIANT.

2) It is, without a doubt, the most dystopian film ever made. No question.

3) IT IS THE BEST.

I am extremely proud of this moment from my subtitling last night. Here we have the speaktitle log of the moment Benni McCarthy put Arsenal out of the FA Cup:

#ColourWhite Bentley, Derbyshire, no offside, Gallas... the young striker had to hurry his shot.
#ColourYellow This is why it is good for Arsenal to have Gallas back. You look at the gap he has made up he gets back in, Gallas, he started to make the chance a difficult one.
#ColourWhite #SendClear #ColourWhite Denilson. Here is McCarthy. Derbyshire is on the run, if the cross comes in. Bentley as well, still, McCarthy! Four minutes to go! Finally this fifth-round tie has a goal! 86 minutes into the replay!
#ColourYellow I told you! Sorry, Arsene Wenger. This tie has 1-0 written all over it Sometimes you can just feel it. #SendClear #ColourYellow What's a hits! #BackspaceWord #BackspaceWord hit from here, it was all about Benni McCarthy. We talked about Senderos being a makeshift right-back Benni McCarthy really get at him. He is always good on his right side, you have to keep him left. It was an invitation for a top, top striker to do that. A brilliant finish. It is a goal fit to win a cup tie.
#ColourWhite He was heading for the bench where he had spent a majority of the evening. He got booked for leaving the field.
#ColourYellow I nearly started laughing in the build-up to the goal, Graham Poll went flying try to keep up with play. He has pulled his calf, I think.
#ColourWhite Blackburn on the brink of knocking out Arsenal. It is Benni McCarthy who is cast in the role of replay match winner.

Lovely stuff.