Snow Day for Shooting Guns at Buses

Mmmm snowy and lovely. Unfortunately trains were working (actually on time?!?) so have managed to get into work. Am considering hitting the Heath at lunchtime, and sliding on my arse down Parliament Hill........

Yesterday me and Shaggy hit Dalston, noshed some tasty Turkish tucker, and hit the cinema to watch Babel. Our main motivation was Gael of course. However I think he probably has about 10 minutes screen time in a two and half hour film, so perhaps not worth the bother for him alone. That said, it's a thoughtful film interweaving stories (as is the 'yawn' fashion) around the ownership of a single gun. Surprise surprise everybody involved has a pretty shit day. Probably the best performance (and most excruciating) is Rinko Kikuchi as a Japanese deaf-mute teenager, who's grieving, hormonal, and can't get anyone to take any notice of her, to-boot.

There was a definite anti-American tone to it - the authorities badly over-react to the incidents in the film, and are oblivious to the devestating effects this has on the people involved. Mind you the Brits and French don't come out of it too well either. In the film there's a bunch of Euro tourists who act in an incredibly petty and callous way when something happens to someone on their tour bus. I found this a bit difficult to swallow. But maybe I'm being a little naive and the worst in people does come out in panicky situations. I just seriously hope that isn't the reality though. Anyways, I'd probably give it 7/10. Interesting but bloody depressing.