Back again. Like you haven't had enough of me. :)

Today I actually got some work done. I've inked up all my pottery illustrations. Since I've lost my thicker ink pen I'm working with the only two I have left. It's probably not ideal, but they came as a set and were quite expensive. They're the sort you fill with ink, you see. I could probably buy a replacement, but it means finding somewhere that sells them and forking out the money... or I could fudge it. As I have been doing. I'll reduce them to the size they're supposed to be and see what they look like.

Hmm... what else have I done? Some more of the neverending washing. Is there anything nicer than clean bed linen? The smell alone is one of the best things in the world. Ahem. Also, I watched Temple of Doom and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I didn't watch them until I'd done those drawings. I should be doing more than a few drawings, but at least this way I got something done. Aargh...

Anyway... it was the first time in ages I've watched commercially produced videos. There must be children being born who'll only ever see DVD's. Well, I suppose people still record things from the TV onto video tapes, but soon they won't. It's another milestone in the development of the human race, like vinyl and CD's. What was I saying? Videos. It's annoying that you have to sit through the trailers. And both of the tapes had little fuzzy bits at points. The white crackly lines. But they went away as soon as they arrived. DVD rocks.

At least the videos were widescreen. Much better than pan and scan. :)

I definitely like Raiders more than Temple of Doom. Raiders seems a much more accomplished film. I mean, it has a longer, more detailed sort of plot. A plot that kind of makes more sense. Not just a lot of "hocus pocus". Temple of Doom almost descends into a collection of action cliches, gross moments and supernatural gubbins. Heap on some more bugs! Let's see more monkey brains! And so on. Mind you, Temple of Doom did make me laugh several times. And the cheek of calling the establishment at the beginning "Club Obi Wan"... very amusing. :)

I watched them in chronological order as opposed to the order in which they were made, which throws up a few inconsistencies. Indy seems much more developed in Raiders than in Temple of Doom, which is interesting. Because Raiders was actually the first film made, but Temple of Doom was the first film in Indy's timeline. The biggest inconsistency is that Indy doesn't seem to believe in "hocus pocus" in Raiders, even though he's seen the inner workings of a scary Indian cult and almost fallen victim to the evil Kali. And seen what's so special about the sacred stone.

Yes, Raiders was very cool. What things did I like in particular? Well, I like the part where Marion asks Indy where it doesn't hurt, and kisses everywhere he mentions. It looks like something might happen between them and... he falls asleep. I love that. There are lots of good bits. Woo-hoo!

On a personal note, I found it interesting how strong all the main characters seem to be. Indy and Sallah lifted the stone covering the Ark - how did they do that?! Ali and I were lifting paving slabs on Saturday. They were pretty big ones, admittedly, but they weighed a ton. We might have managed to lift one between us, although we didn't take the risk of damaging ourselves when there were men around who wanted to prove their worth. (Silly macho people, they always injure themselves..!) And then Indy pushed a stone block out of the way so that Marion and himself could escape the Well of Souls. The place with the snakes. You know.

Ah well.

I watched the interview bits, too. At the ends of the tapes. They were done in 1999 and were pretty interesting - Mr Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford. The most interesting thing I learned is that Tom Selleck was signed up to play Indy, but he couldn't do it because he was contracted to do Magnum P.I.. So Harrison Ford took over. It reminds me of Timothy Dalton, because he only got to play Bond because Pierce Brosnan was signed up to do Remington Steele.

But that doesn't really matter.

George Lucas always scares me.

Dunno why. ;)