Solitude 

I’m a little curious about something, so this is a post for those who’ve visited Glasgow or have travelled to the airport in the last few months; if you don’t fit, bear with me.

As part of my job, I travel to London a reasonable amount. This means that I generally get the Glasgow Flyer bus service (recently taken over and upgraded by Arriva) from Glasgow city centre direct to the airport, and vice versa. As part of the increase in ticket prices and better service etc., they announced free wi-fi (which I believe is provided by Moovera Networks).

I’ve tried this both from my N95 and iPod Touch (which I’ll talk about at some point in the near future), and I get the same result on every trip: I can connect to the router just fine (i.e. the devices can talk to the buses equipment), but if I try to request ANYTHING from the internet it just does not work. It looks to me like the outgoing connection to the internet just doesn’t work. I’ve tried numerous different sites that don’t go down (Google, IMDB etc) and I’ve never made a successful request.

Has anyone else had this working? If so, what were you doing? Am I missing something really basic here? I’d be interested in finding out.

UPDATE: Moovera have replied in the comments, seems to be a known and now-fixed issue. Excellent.

I’m not a comic book fan. The genre staple of superheroes fighting each other in every possible combination over childish dialogue and ludicrous lack of continuity really does not appeal. Which is why, after telling some comic-loving friends this, I was so surprised to enjoy their recommendation: Y: The Last Man.

It tells the story of Yorick Brown and his pet monkey, starting from the day when every other male on the planet suddenly and violently dies. They’re left with a world where women have to rebuild. With significant losses to the population of nuclear engineers, politicians, pilots etc, Yorick witnesses a society that is struggling to find meaning while throwing off old gender stereotypes. Meanwhile, he is tasked with finding a cure, accompanied by a brilliant geneticist and a bodyguard.

While some of the sci-fi trappings can seem a little clichéd in synopsis, the excellent writing (provided by Brian K. Vaughn, who now writes for Lost) is thoughtful and tactful enough that everything that happens seems so inescapable, there’s no other way that you can conceive of events unfolding.

Unfortunately, the final issue of Y was released just last month, but it’s better that it was a planned finale (the story was always supposed to end at this point) than it running on longer than the story could have taken.

I’d advise anyone, particularly those who’ve taken a snobbish attitude to the comic book form, to read this one book. If you’re not hooked by the end of the first issue, I can’t help you; this is the work of genius.

As a post-script, I’d like to add that it’s drawn me into some of the less stereotyped comics (I still don’t like superhero books), including:

• Ex Machina — Vaughn’s other series, about a man who becomes a failed vigilante with the help of a mysterious accident,
• The Walking Dead — A fun, though sometimes drawn-out, story about zombie apocalypse survivors (I have a soft spot for all things zombie),
• Buffy Season 8 — Whedon continuing his brilliant storytelling with a massive increase in scope in terms of what can be achieved.
• V for Vendetta — The classic 10 part series about revenge, propaganda and change; which makes the film look like a vague embarrassment.

Go, read.

Kicking off another year of Film Fight in a particularly late fashion comes the January 2008 update.

Dan in Real Life hits an interesting balance between a character study of a man falling apart with feelings of jealousy and inadequacy, and lightweight family comedy. Steve Carrell plays the titular character who falls in love with a woman he can’t have. Under slightly cliched circumstances, they are forced to spend a substantial amount of time together and shenanigans ensue. While at times it falls short, with schmaltzy scenes and some resolutions that are a little too easy, it proves itself to be a surprisingly good film. It’s warming fun, without being unbearably cookie cutter. Worth seeing.

Almost in stark contrast, Charlie Wilson’s War is a lot more lightweight and throw-away than it should have been. The film follows a minor congressman through the period where he shadow funded Afghanistan against Russia, in order to bring about the end of the cold war. The subject matter could’ve been the stuff of heavyweight political drama and dark dealings, but we’re left with a fairly insubstantial fluff piece about a womanising politician trying to do something with his life. The one stand out performance is Philip Seymour Hoffman as an aggressive but ultimately brilliant CIA agent who masterminds the broad strokes of the plan; his performance making it a real shame that the thrust of the film wasn’t better conceived.

The Coen brothers return to form with a new modern masterpiece, No Country for Old Men. Excluding a slightly over-long and fruitless final scene, acting as a diminuendo, this film hits home perfectly. It has a quiet mood to it: dialogue is sparing (particularly in the early part of the film), scenes are framed in shadow, and plot revelations are left largely to what the central character knows. Josh Brolin plays that well-trodden Coen archetype: a man in the wrong place at the wrong time, presented with an opportunity, and he pulls it off superbly. His performance is only bettered by Javier Bourdem, a killer who is terrifying and ruthlessly homicidal, while being fair, principled and honest. Throughout he comes across like a force of nature: uncompromising, unchallengeable but not malicious. Brilliant from any angle, and well worth seeing.

Sweeney Todd is a complete change of pace. Based on the musical, it sees a typical Tim Burton cast sing their way through a dark comedy about revenge, treachery and mince pies. While the opening hour is painfully slow and the various accents laughable, it really starts picking itself up for a solid, if somewhat predictable, finale. Going a few steps off the beaten path have certainly made an odd concept work surprisingly well.

Finally, Walk Hard sees John C. Reilly step out of the shadow of his peers and into the limelight, somewhat mimicking the on-screen change of a Johnny Cash wannabe hitting the big time. For the most part the jokes are obvious and somewhat cheap, but that doesn’t stop Reilly hitting the mark. A particular highlight is the cameo-laden Beatles scene, full of bickering and in-fighting (as well as terrible Liverpudlian accents). It won’t win any awards, but is worth seeing once.

The first film fight winner of 2008 is: No Country for Old Men, another notch for the Coens.