Being punched in both arms

Filming has begun for how to be god episode 4. So far it has mainly involved being punched in the arms repeatedly by very sharp fists. I like things to be just right, so violence has to repeated again. And again. And then from a different angle. I became aware that this was happening because I had written it. It's my fault. From now on I'll try to cut down on the physical injury element of the shooting. For me, at least.

And the shooting 'schedule' is being interfered with by things like 'exams' and 'university'. I don't understand these things, I just have to work around them. For the first time we may have to start filming the next episode before we've finished the last one. My mind can not cope with this and will probably melt in some sort of organisational implosion.

Trainspotting or vegetables

I think I like Trainspotting. I like it in the same way that I like carrots. Or vaccinations. I know it's good for me but I didn't really enjoy it at the time. I can't claim to know anything about Danny Boyle without watching it, it's essential viewing. Hard work though. Unlike the fantasy of his recent films (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire), this is all very gritty and horrible. The zombie-things of 28 Days Later were fun compared to these people, who are all varying dregrees of psychotic. It takes a special director to make me watch this sort of film; Danny Boyle pours energy and invention into something that can easily be tedious, never allowing it to get boring. There's music and movement blaring out of the first second and it never really seems to slow down.

I don't really want to watch it again but as a piece of filmmaking it's very healthy.

The rest of Catch-22

Joseph Heller's Closing Time, as a sequel to Catch-22, is what happens when all the life is sucked out of the characters, and they're all a bit depressed. It's not bad, of course not, but it's not very easy to read. All the insanity and humour of Catch-22 seems to have left these characters fifty years ago. They're mainly just dieing of cancer and looking back on every inch of their life. It's about degredation - long, painful, agonising degredation. Not very fun then, but Heller hasn't completely lost his morbid comedy. Yossarian's doing alright, living off Milo's money and pretending to be ill in hospital; he has developed an annoying habit of comparing everything to pretentious German opera, so you can't have everything. Some of the most entertaining sections of the book are the memories of the Second World War, which the character's strangely describe as one of the best times of their life. Disappointingly though, Major Major never turns up.

There's a surprising supernatural twist half way through the book that really saved it for me. The surreal military underworld brought back some of the energy that was ebbing away. Heller seems to put the reader into this melancholic daydream before shaking everything up with the end of the world. Not gripping then, but it does have its moments.

Drag Me to Hell, with smiley goats

Drag Me to Hell is squelchy good fun. It doesn't try to keep you scared for two hours, it just makes you laugh at the actors that are having maggots poured over their heads. It's full of jumpy moments, but the horror turns into comedy pretty quickly. And when there is gore it's so overblown that its funny - eyaballs popping out of heads, that sort of thing. Sam Raimi does this physical. unsubtle horror really well. It's unashamedly ridiculous and, compared to others in the genre that are just nasty, it's a pretty friendly film. It seems to be an exercise in the different ways to make you jump. There's the sudden the scares, the slow pans, the loud rumbling then sudden silence, crash zooms. All good stuff. They are pretty frequent though, and by the end of the effect had worn off. There's only so many times a Scary Old Woman with funny teeth is going to be scary, even if she does stick her arm down your throat.

Perhaps the funniest character in the film is the sacrificial goat that smiles all the way through a seance. He seems to be enjoying himself. He recognises how silly and entertaining the whole thing is, and he's just pleased to be there. Nice goat.

Doctor Who regenerates its face off

(this is covered in spoilers)

David Tennant has regenerated into Matt Smith in Russell T Davies' last episode in charge of Doctor Who. And, to be honest, I didn't entirely understand the plot of these last two episodes. The Time Lords return even though they're all dead (something to do with a time bubble) and the Master has an overflowing 'life force'. Still enjoyed it though. The image of the Doctor with a gun in his hand was probably the most surreal moment, especially after four seasons of him using only 'forgiveness' as a weapon. And the final 'knocking four times' scene was nicely understated.

It's the right time for David Tennant to leave. Three seasons (and a bit) is exactly the right amount for one Doctor, even if he is immensely popular. Any longer and he'd just be repeating himself. He's done it all. There's no more room for that Doctor. The last twenty minutes of 'The End of Time' brilliantly summarised his time on the show, as he visited all the people he thinks he might miss (including the descendant of John Smith's wife from 'The Family of Blood').  David Tennant has made it look easy - so easy that you you don't really notice that he's spent years building this character. The time has gone quickly because he's never been short of excellent, even in the slightly average episodes.

But of equal importance is Russell T Davies' departure from the show. He managed to take a franchise that I didn't care about (because I'm not 40) and created one of those rare shows that is mainstream and nerdy at the same time. It's difficult to make four seasons of anything, and he's managed to keep the quality up despite significant cast changes in each one. It's been the same show but always noticably different. It'll be interesting to see whether the tone changes with Steven Moffat. It's unrealistic to expect every episode to be 'The Girl in the Fire Place', because he has a responsibilty to the time slot, but maybe there'll be less running and silly aliens. Probably not. One thing that is obvious though, is that we won't be seeing any of these old characters again. Rose, Martha, Mickey, Donna - they're all done with now. Time to start again.