Ken Park

Laura's Half-Arsed Film Review #2

The other night I watched a Larry Clark film I borrowed off my fabulous brother Ken Park (2002) (That is, of course the name of the film. I don't normally follow my relatives name with a date. My brother's name is Harry by the way. I also have a sister called Angela. Anyway, back to the review). You may know Larry Clark from other films such as Kids (1995) and Bully (2001). I didn't, before this film I was a Larry Clark virgin. But now I am a convert.

Ken Park follows the lives of four teenagers, actually, when I say follow it's more of a prolonged snapshot. It presents these characters to the audience via an examination of their relationship to sex. There is a male youth (I struggled whether to call him boy, young man, guy, and settled on this rather affected term) who is cheating on his girlfriend with her married mother. Another who's father can only understand love in terms of acts of violence and sexual perversion. A sociopath with a three-legged dog who plays skip rope with the neighbourhood kids. And a girl who is living under the oppressive shadow of her dead mother that her deeply religious father has created. Book-ending these lives is of course the eponymous Ken Park. But I won't tell you what happens to him, just watch it.

The characters are contradictory and as a result satisfying and likable. Clark presents these unlikely events with an impressive amount of plausibility. And it ends with a thought-provoking, although some may deem pretentious and unnecessary, reflection on a utopian society. Immediately after viewing I thought I would probably have got more out of this film had I watched it in my teens, and undoubtedly this is a market that this film (and perhaps Clark in general, I don't know, as I say I'm quite ignorant of him) caters for. But on reflection it is a film I feel I would like to return to, if only to revisit its characters. Thoroughly recommended.

Day Six: First Night at Work

Tonight I went to work at Vanilla. I don't usually work week nights but my boss has torn her achilles tendon so I was covering. I usually buy myself a drink or two after finishing work, and then a take-away on the way home but tonight I did neither.

I had fun with Kam (see below) who seemed to be in a chirpy if slightly manic mood. She is teaching herself how to press play on the decks so we got to listen to rock music after closing, including Papa Roach who I have not listened to since college.

Kam was incredibly flattered to have an elderly lady tell her profusely how beautiful she is

I was going to do another film review but I can't even bring myself to be half-arsed. I'm sure anyone who is reading this will be devestated. Night all.

Stand by the Dead Girl

I went to the pub last night with Lu. I had a diet coke again. I found out that pubs are really boring if you're not drinking. It may be a pattern I've got myself into but it seems drinking alcohol helps me generate thought and conversation. With a diet coke in my hand my mind goes blank. Anyway, that marked the end of day 5 and I'm still clean.

 

 Laura's Half-Arsed Film Review #1

I watched one of my new films last night, Dead Girl. It was fookin' hilarious. Like a messed up version of Stand By Me it is a coming of age film that sees a group of teenagers finding a dead body. Except it's not so much about the journey to find it but more about what they do with it afterwards. It's from the producers of Hellraiser and Heathers so expect some twisted shit. And terrible acting. That's mainly where the comedy comes from.

Off to eat my crumpets........

Things I like about today that are not alcoholic

Muller Strawberry Shortcake yoghurt mmmmmmmmm

My new Primarni socks!

Of course, tea.

6 DVDs for 9pence thanks to a Lovefilm Voucher. There is a wine glass in the background, rest assured this is from ages ago. I rarely tidy up.

My new wireless mouse! It's so smooth and responsive mmm

Sleeping Better

This morning I awoke with a start and a realisation that there had been no waking up in the middle of the night and finding it really difficult to go back to sleep.

I always used to equate that behaviour with caffeine, as can be seen from previous posts I am an enthusiastic tea consumer. But now I'm thinking it may have more to do with sugar.

As well as cutting out alcohol I decided to stop taking sugar in my tea as well, as going through a big pack every two weeks slightly freaked me out. Aside from these consumptions I never really had a high sugar diet (except for the comfort/binge eating I would do after a drinking session). Am I experiencing the positive effects of lowering my sugar intake?

I certainly hope so. Since I began this I have been waking up every morning feeling incredibly tired, as if I would need to stay in bed all day. But after forcing myself up and having a good breakfast (which normally involves peanut butter) I would generally be ok. This morning was a little easier, hence me posting on my blog at 8am. 

I look forward to future positive signs of my actions, the first being next monday when I weigh myself. If I haven't lost anything from taking away my alcohol calories and MAKING SURE I'm not replacing them with food ones I will take the pug's name in vain.

Day Four - Getting Harder

Today was a beautiful sunny day and as I went to run a few errands in town I was so tempted to have a pint. It would have been automatic at any other time. Plus it seems currently I'm being offered alcohol here there and everywhere, although that's probably just my perception.

Anyway, I'm feeling good because I refrained and I've just done my exercises. Nothing else to say tonight really.

Socks and Scratch

She thought she had eczema...in actuality she was transforming into a werewolf.

Last night I slept with socks on my hands to avoid scratching in my sleep. It reminded me of a friend of mine, Tiger Jen, who I once saw curled up asleep on the end of my bed with woollen socks on her hands. I very much doubt I looked quite as endearing.

If anyone is reading this and wondering what I am talking about, it may an unsavoury subject to some but I will talk about it anyway: my eczema is slowly but surely taking over my body...and my mind. I would like to point out that it has got noticably worse since I watched Black Swan, a film about transformation that I thoroughly enjoyed. I don't think it's too far-fetched to imagine this is actually a physical manifestation of some greater transcendence.

Lu told me I really should go to the doctor. I tried to explain that it was ok, it had now become so painful I am less likely to scratch it. For some reason this did not seem to sway her from her conviction. Hm.

Early this morning I was lying in bed unable to sleep because the urge to itch was so great. I'm not sure I'm fully able to get across how uncomfortable it really is. I began fantasising about applying red hot branding irons to the affected area just to distract me from.....ok, I'll make an appointment.