Lathany

Well, I'm detecting a commercial theme in the windows of this year's calendar. At least there's not been any product placement so far.

Working from home has saved me from today's travel horrors - and it sounds as though the office building was extremely empty.

I received my first Christmas card today. It was from an old university friend who now lives in Hong Kong. I was surprised and rather shocked to read that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, after a mastectomy, she recovered completely. However, she's the first of my friends who is my age and has been diagnosed - it's odd to think of it.

I also opened my first Advent Calendar window as the title to this entry implies. Lovely calendar, rather unexpected window.

"When we go to Lourdes will you buy me a washable rubber virgin?"

Which comes from The Exterminating Angel and is the weirdest line I've heard in a film that I can remember.

The film itself is 1962, Mexican (with subtitles), black and white and very weird (the setting is an upper-class dinner party). We watched it last night I don't know if I'd recommend it. I've found a review which states: "With The Exterminating Angel, the viewers are lucky enough to receive a statement by the director at the beginning of the movie. Therefore using that statement as a guide to make sense of the movie would be a very wise choice. The statement reads as follows 'The best explanation of this film is that, from the standpoint of pure reason, there is no explanation.'" I don't remember this statement from our version, but it does kinda sum up the film. Anyway, weird, a classic and regarded as one of the best Mexican films of all time.

Today is the last day of my fortnight holiday as I'm back in the office tomorrow. It's been an excellent two weeks as I've managed to do pretty much everything I wanted, both in terms of household chores and in terms of Enjoyable Stuff. I started the fortnight feeling sleepy and wanting a rest; although I was also keen to get out and do the things that are difficult to arrange with the duo around. The days went like this:

( Days )

It's going to be odd to be back at work tomorrow (not to mention tiring - I haven't been up before nine lately). However, I really feel that I've had a great fortnight and have managed to do everything I felt I should do along with lots of things I wanted to do. Ah well, next big stop will be Xmas! At least I still have much Farscape (I'm about a quarter of the way through season two) and Star Ocean (I'm mining copper) to keep me happy.

I'm so looking forward to my holiday at the end of this month. I've started to feel rather run-down and tired. It's mostly because, whilst I've taken time off earlier in the year, it's always been to do something (such as Bea's dance show). The prospect of lying in a heap for a fortnight really appeals. Apart from anything else, I might get to finish Dirge or play The Void.

As per usual, my update-by-bullet-point:

• Heroes Emmy Nomination - A surprise, yes, but the category may be less of one: "Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series". It's for Brave New World and I think it is well deserved. Heroes' problems were all in the writing - plot in particular, but also some of the dialogue. I doubt it'll win though. In other Heroes news, the movie is now looking less likely. So season four may be it.
• Gaunt's Ghosts - Now I've started on this Warhammer 40K fiction lark, I don't want to stop. I've moved on to the first Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus (apparently book 1 - The Founding - is the most popular 40K fiction) and enjoyed that too. Of the trilogy, the second book is a bit too flashback-to-short-story-per-Ghost but the first one is great if you like the good old "underdogs come through" stuff. The third book had a slow start, but I eventually got into it.
• Films - These were The Holiday and Starship Troopers. I have the same general comments about both of them, fun and enjoyable, but somewhat lacking in plot and not something I'd rewatch. The Holiday IMO isn't as good as 27 Dresses as it seems a bit aimless in places and Jack Black is a bad fit (particularly with the rest of the cast). That said, the interactions between Eli Wallach and Kate Winslett's characters were great. Starship Troopers had Denise Richards playing - what I seriously hope was supposed to be - one of the most annoying and smug characters I've ever seen on-screen. Consequently, I liked Dizzy on default alone (aka the other female character). It's not a bad premise, but again rather aimless and without a real conclusion.
• Portal - Can't believe I've not met Portal before now. But Steam were giving it away free and bateleur suggested I loaded it up. It's utterly awesome. I can see why even Zero Punctuation was stuck for criticism. Good puzzles, good pace, awesome black humour. And I just about coped with the motion sickness as I finished the end of level 18.
• Meteor - Last, but most important of all, I've finally kicked off my new roleplaying game. And, so far, so good. I love both the parties and I'm pleased at how differently things are progressing in different parts of the same world. lanfykins, bateleur, chrisvenus and AJ are stuck in the House of the Heretic hoping that the tomes in the library are going to save them whilst ao_lai, chrestomancy and quisalan are battling with divine clashes and a little matter of amnesia aided by bateleur's DPC. I'm hoping it continues to go to plan.

Then for the final season.

( season four / volume five - Redemption )

That's really my lot on the four seasons of Heroes. If there's a movie I'll comment on that and if there isn't, I'll probably post that it didn't happen here. But otherwise my regular Heroes posts are done.

Next up, the writers' strike season.

( season two / volume two - Generations )

Heroes has been cancelled (says so here). Which, at this point, is not a surprise. The possibility of an end movie/whatever is still under discussion.

Here's my usual Heroes write-up from BBC3 last night - the final episode of season four. This is also, possibly, the final episode of Heroes as they're still considering renewal.

( Brave New World and general comments on season four - Spoilers )

So, that's that. Because it's over, this now means I can read everything on the webs and so on - I can no longer be spoilered (which is the first time given I only started watching eighteen months ago). I'll also write a longer post on Heroes soonish about what I've thought of the entire series - what went well and what didn't.

She's had a look around downstairs and is currently hanging out in the middle of a stack of toy baskets in the playroom. The twins think she's lovely.