So onwards and upwards into 2008 we go, I've got a feeling that we are going to be quite grown up and spend a bit of money on the bits and bobs that need doing around the house. As anyone who knows me will testify, I'm not the handiest man around the house so this will entail us "getting a man in". So the painful process will soon begin of us trying to find someone who is competent, reliable and affordable - what fun!
 
In the meantime there are plenty of Xmas viewing gifts to catch up with, I was lucky enough to be given The Flight of the Conchords DVD (not once, but twice) so at the moment I think I'm safe in saying that "I'm the muthaflippin", if you get my drift. Also had a nice Hitchcock box set containing 6 films from the 1950's, so last night we sat down to watch the 1950 film "Stage Fright", a film by the great man which I had not seen before. It boasts a wonderful cast including Alastair Sim, Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich and Michael Wilding amongst others. It also features an unusual device for it's time, when we are shown a section of the film in flashback, which we subsequently find out to be misleading. It's a very interesting thing to do as it suddenly switches your sympathies, although apparently it drew some criticism at the time. Nothing quite beats a Sunday evening in the company of Orynthia, Hitch and a cosy sofa.
 
I've been catching up with some old literature over recent weeks, firstly I read Midnight Cowboy which Film 4 kindly put onto TV for me and then I moved onto To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Oddly I've never read the Harper Lee classic before, although I bought my copy in the late 1970's as the £1.95 price tag proudly indicates. I've also been rading the winter fiction issue of the New Yorker and my latest magazine of choice - Monocle. There is a bumper pack of goodies heading my way from the good people at McSweeny's and a couple recent purchases namely You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem and Zadie Smith edited collection of short stories The Book Of Other People. Lot's to keep me occupied there.