Freddie and me

I'm not really one for reading biographies.

I don't think I've ever read an autobiography before.

I've certainly never ready a biography of someone I'd never heard of and who didn't actually live that interesting a life.

I'd never even seen a graphic-autobiography before.

But the story of a Queen-obsessed boy from the UK, moving to the USA and remembering important events in his life and how they relate to Queen concerts and album releases sounded like fun...

So is it any good?

Well, its alright. Obviously if you don't like comics / graphic novels, then this one is not for you. Also, if you don't really care much for the music of Queen then you'd probably best avoid it too. But if you shed a tear on the day when Freddie died and have ever sung along to a Queen song holding a (real or imagined) half microphone stand, then you'll probably relate to this guy and enjoy the book.

The artwork is good and the story is touching. But when the two most significant events in the life of the central character are the death of his grandmother and the death of Freddie Mercury, its not exactly the greatest or funniest story ever told.

Possibly the most interesting sub-plot in the book is the relationship between the central character (a Queen fan) and his younger sister (a Wham! fan), how they are divided by musical differences, then united watching the Freddie tribute concert. Given this sub-plot, the book actually ends on a really heartwarming note... which you'll have to read the book to find out.

Perhaps not as good as I'd hoped it would be, but well worth a read if you're a geeky Queen fan.

Same Difference - The Logo...

Is it just me, or does the skewed D with the dots on it (presumably intended to look like a smiley face) actually make the word 'Difference' look like a caterpillar?

Yes, there's a 7 year old SD fan in my house at the moment... Sigh.

Be kind rewind

Strange film.

I'm not sure this knows what kind of film it wants to be. It starts out with the set-up for a dumb comedy, but with not enough laughs. Then, about 25 minutes in, we get to the video remakes bit which is probably all that the audience knew about before watching the film. This starts off a bit dull (the Ghostbusters & Rush Hour 2 bit) but gets fairly entertaining for ten minutes or so of remakes which come thick and fast. But its clear that the remakes can't sustain interest for the rest of the film and so the movie switches genre and morphs into one of those light-hearted films full of quirky characters that you're supposed to care about. And the funny thing is that you do care. Finally, at the end, it turns into Cinema Paradiso and goes all arty on us.

So, in no way is this a coherent film. But it is entertaining and even a little moving. And probably about 20 minutes too long.

Jack Black is, of course, just playing Jack Black. If you can't tolerate him, then steer clear. If you can, this is fine.

About 20 minutes into it is a near perfect sight-gag that is just brilliant. Almost worth the rental price just for that moment of art. (Yes, I mean the bit with the 'camouflaged' boiler suit when the police turn up. Masterful.)

However, I'm unlikely to watch this again. Next...