Not much time.
I just really wanted to convey my excitement at the start of the Premiership season today, and the concomitant return to our (well, my) Saturday evening schedule of Match of the Day. I am very, very excited. Almost unspeakably so. About as excited as I was for the beginning of the second series of Dr. Who - and, unless they've replaced Gary 'Eccleston' Lineker with Ray 'Tennant' Stubbs, my expectations of greatness are sure to be realised. (Possibly unfair on Tennant, that. At least I didn't say Mark Pougatch.) The pundit line-up will doubtless represent the BBC's strongest possible pairing to send out a message of intent for the season ahead... this will propably be Hansen and Lawrenson, although maybe Mark's morose meanderings over the course of the summer will have seen him deposed by... er... no, it'll definitely be those two. Lee Dixon's stock dropped considerably after he couldn't name the capital of Germany while reporting there for the World Cup, O'Neill teases us all with his greatness every two years but will never be a permanent fixture, Ian Wright is a one-trick pony... that said, I look forward to seeing the return of Lee Sharpe and, hopefully, Brad Friedel on Match of the Day 2 - which will, after all, generally feature matches of a higher ilk than its Saturday counterpart.
So: yes, I am excited excited excited. Like a wee lad on Christmas morning who knows exactly what he's getting from Santa and likes the sound of it very very much. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh roll on 10.30.
My week of cinema-going to conserve money finished yesterday with the rather good A Scanner Darkly. Sadly I had Match of the Day-like expectations but it was hardly a bad film. Not one of Linklater's best. I find Robert Downey Jr almost unspeakably irritating although, as Joel said, that's probably the point. (But does that make it alright? Does it? Does it?) This week I've also seen Miami Vice, The Notorious Bettie Page (confused, although it looked great), Little Fish (relentless drab with a shit ending), Innocent Voices (good performance, great moments, but violently sentimental) and then A Scanner Darkly. I still have a list of things I wish to see and, since it saves me money, I expect a few more double-bills next week. Free films and football.... simple, simple pleasures.