The movie reviews here at P-2004 have been on hiaitus for a while but finally make their long awaited return, beginning with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which I took my sister to see today. I’m happy to reprt that it’s yet another cracking Burton/Depp extravaganza. It was actually Steph, my editor at the (metaphorical) Globalist offices, who sparked me into writing a full review and hopefully there will be more on their way soon.

Near DarkMeanwhile several more Globalist branches have been popping up, the latest being in the University of Toronto and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This led to Steph being slightly concerned about the effect this workload may have on my health but I think her fears have been assuaged after voicing them. She gets back from Hong Kong in a day which will allow us to discuss things at a more seemly hour of the day from now on!

Having almost given up hope I finally managed to pick up a copy of the limited edition Near Dark DVD box from eBay, and it remains one of my favourite vampire movies. The uniquely genre-bending 80’s masterpiece never once uses the word “vampire” and is about monsters who don’t romanticise or expound about their situation; they’re just trying to get on with things. I also finished reading Excession this morning which I thoroughly recommend to any science fiction fans, and shall be moving on to Look to Windward shortly, possibly after a brief foray into one of several comic books that are lying around here…