99.9 F°

Hot today. As hot as a very hot thing in a hot place. Or maybe hotter. Lovely.

With the air of sodding typicality, I had my assignments to finish off, but I raced through the last question on the M150 and I was done by half past two, so I could come downstairs and enjoy the weather, sat on the sofa with the patio doors open wide, a hint of a cool breeze and a glass of something cold to drink.

As a reward to myself, I cracked open the seal on my copy of Red Dead Redemption and fired it up. It's always a slightly overwhelming experience starting a new open world GTA style game, but this immediately felt familiar. My first impressions are that this is the most graphically adept game that Rockstar have ever produced. I loved Liberty City, as you probably know, but I really had a hankering for the wide open vistas of San Andreas. Red Dead has landscapes that make you want to rein in your horse and stop and stare. I went on a ride and then looked at the map to see that I had covered a bare fraction of the territory. Wowzers.

It's too early to comment on the story yet, but I am intrigued so far. The end of the wild west in the early 1900s is an era that doesn't really get much coverage in films, and the only book that that really springs to mind is Larry McMurty's 'Telegraph Days' that deals with the way the west was mythologized by writers and film makers.

Dis caturday is just too darn hot

How Not To Grow Up - Richard Herring

How Not to Grow Up: A Coming of Age Memoir. Sort of. by Richard Herring


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As the comedian Richard Herring approached his fortieth birthday he found himself behaving in ways that were increasingly childish. His life was a non-stop round of gigging, drinking, getting up late and then spending most of the day sitting around in his pants eating sweets and playing video games. His search for a relationship was becoming increasingly desperate, alternating between hopeless romanticism and a series of ill-advised temporary flings. He didn't even know if he really wanted a long term relationship when he couldn't even commit to a bag for life from the supermarket. The only people that seemed to understand him on his level were small children, perhaps recognising that he was a child like them rather than an adult.

Richard Herring has chronicled a pivotal year in his life in startling and sometimes confessional detail. He slowly starts to understand his urge to self destruct and gains an insight into how to strike a balance between adult responsibilities and the need to maintain a childlike view of the absurdities of life. Without giving too much away, he does turn out to be a bit of an old softy in the end (and not just around the middle from a diet of fried chicken and flumps).

If you have listened to the hundred and something podcasts that he has produced over the last two years, or read any of his daily blogs, then this book is an essential 'directors commentary' to accompany everything else. If you are not a die hard fan, then this might just turn you into one.

Highly recommended!

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