EIFF 2010 - Day 5

Another day at the film festival and another full lineup. We started in the Cameo for the Japanese animation Mai Mai Miracle which could have been better but was alright. After a Red Bull to stave off my tiredness, we caught the amazingly funny Jackboots on Whitehall which is like a British World War II Team America. After a break giving us enough time for dinner, we went into French gangster movie 22 Bullets which was Jean-Reno-tastic. With only a 10 minute break it was straight into Snowman's Land which was completely different from what I thought it was going to be. Finally, we had to rush back to the Cameo to see documentary Superhero Me

EIFF 2010 - Day 4

Our first full day of films and with 5 to get through it proved to be a bit of a marathon. First up was New Zealand comedy Boy which was excellent. This was followed by the 1930's period piece The Red Machine. Third film for the day was another excellent movie, Monsters which is as much an emotional road trip tale as it is a monster movie. After a short break for dinner it was time for gritty prison drama R and then on to the pretty awful Outcast.

EIFF 2010 - Day 3

Day 3 and another 3 movies, first up was the massively disappointing Huge followed by yet another slow paced foreign film (in a good way). This time round it was Iranian drama The Hunter. We finished the evening with madcap Greek Zombie movie Evil in the Time of Heroes.

EIFF 2010 - Day 2

3 films yesterday at the second day of the Film Festival. First up, a slow paced family drama from France, Family Tree. Second, a slow paced drama from Hong-Kong questioning memories and identity, Fog. And lastly, a Dutch horror which although pretty generic, still had a few scares: Two Eyes Staring.

Another 3 films today, so hopefully some more interesting ones.

EIFF 2010 - Day 1

Last night was the opening night of the 2010 Edinburgh International Film Festival, it signified the start of a marathon run of 17 planned movie viewings over the first 5 days of the Festival.

With the public screening of the opening Gala not starting until 21:45, Rosie and I decided to make use of the Hotel du Vin deal with offers 15% off food and drink during the Film Festival (exclusions apply). The food was excellent, I had ribs marinaded in Innis and Gunn with steak to follow and Rosie had smoked salmon
followed by Lamb. I was pretty stuffed afterwards.

We then headed off to see The Illusionist which was a fitting start to the festival, if not entirely to my tastes. 3 films tonight should get us in to gear for the weekend when we have 5 films planned for both Saturday and Sunday.

South Park Season 7

Another excellent season of South Park and as with previous seasons, it just gets better. Season 6 was the last season I had seen in entirety, so it was nice to see some episodes I had never seen before. There's a good mix between the completely ubsurd and the introduction of a new technique whereby the show takes a hot topic issue, splits the town in half on it and resolves it by saying that everyone should find some middle ground and that the solution isn't simply black and white. Top notch comedy.

Score: 4.5/5

Rome Season 1

HBO's Rome is, like many other HBO shows, produced to almost feature film like quality. The show follows Gaius Julius Caesar during a period in which he returned from Gaul and set about overthrowing the Senate and becoming the supreme ruler of Rome.

The overall plot arc stems from history, and the events are shown to the viewer as witnessed by two Roman soldiers, Lucias Verenus and Tito Pullo. This makes for a plot which is both interesting and informative.

The sets are vast and detailed and looks amazing and the plot is interspersed with enough action to keep things moving. The acting is reasonable and the setting of ancient Rome believable.

Overall, well worth watching, for both entertainment and to learn a brief overview of Roman history.

Score: 4.5/5

Levens - Thai Fusion

Levens in tollcross sits in what used to be Favorit, the restaurant has a big glass frontage with further seating in the back behind the bar. Modernly decorated the interior is bright and well presented.

While the menu is a little short, there were still a number of options which caught my eye, I opted for Umbrella Prawn to start followed by duck in red and green curry sauces. The starter consisted of a massive prawn served with a fried tofu sheet for the umbrella. There was a helping of some kind of sweet crunchy noddles on the side, overall very tasty.

The main course was more impressive, the dish was served in two halves, one with the red curry sauce and one with the green curry sauce. Each side had a helping of perfectly roasted duck breast as well as aubergine, pineapple and grapes. A portion of rice sat in the middle. The duck was excellent as were both the sauces which were different enough to warrant the separation and serving of both, highly recommended.

The dessert menu had the usual ice-cream/sorbet as well as some other desserts. I opted for the Taro creme brulee. The creme brulee was excellent and the layer of Taro (An oriental root vegetable) on the bottom complimented the sweetness of the top well, although there was a little too much of it for my liking.

Overall, in an area of town with a fair few Thai restaurants, Levens comes recommended, their blend of Thai and Western cuisine makes for some interesting dishes.

EIFF 2010!

12 days or so until the Edinburgh International Film Festival opens and I just picked up my tickets today. Got 18 films planned which is higher than most years, but not the most ever, 10 of these are all in a single weekend though, so hope I can survive my two 5 film days!

PSI Metallica Cover?

Just got £2 free Amazon Mp3 credit and while trying to decide how to spend it, I came across a Pitchshifter track on a Metallica tribute album (The Blackest Album 4: An Industrial Tribute to Metallica). Pitchshifter covering St. Anger, bit strange, but ok.