Last night I watched the Oliver Stone Castro documentary "Comandante". I had been planning to for ages, it was a very interesting study of him and his ideas. Initially I had thought I wish it was longer, since Stone spent 30 hours with him, but I think the length is just right. Good too is the interview with Stone at the Edinburgh premiere in 2003. Although at the beginning Stone states that either he or Castro could say cut at anytime I sometimes felt that a certain spontaneity could be lost in editing. Often the words of Castro's wife, translating for Stone, did not match her movements onscreen. But all in all I think it was pretty fair. Now I want to track down the follow up film by Stone, apparently entitled "Looking for Fidel", don't know if it has actually been released though. Also I watched the 3rd episode of "The IT Crowd". It did nothing to change the opinions of either myself or Tashi, who find it very funny, or those of Alice and my folks, who don't. Or at least they seem less enamoured of it than me, though they stop short of calling it rubbish. I will admit it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi but each episode so far has had me laughing out loud, which seems a fair judge of a good comedy to me. Whether it will stand the test of time, I don't know.
So today I read more of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", the second section about excesses of the human mind, hence the title of the post, and reading about the Tourette's sufferer Ray I was inspired to draw this picture: 
After initially being prescribed Haldol by Sacks Ray returns a week later with a black eye due his newfound inability to dodge in and out of rotating doors. I have several mind related books to read afterwards, thinking maybe "The Prehistory of the Mind", want to browse through "The Oxford Companion of the Mind" thats downstairs too.
Actually I thought of drawing it afterwards when I went for a walk with Meghan up to Piercefield. She ran off in the grounds, it seems some gunfire there in the past has permanently spooked her, though at the time I wondered if she had become agoraphobic in her old age. Probably just me being influenced by reading about disorders at the moment. I was also pondering filmmaking and getting some ideas for things to do when I finally clear some tape space, or buy some new ones. I really think a wide angle attachment would be a wise investment, but I'd like to try it out first to get a feel for it. I am listening to Jazz Record Requests at the mo on the little radio in my room, its "Big Blow" by Manu Dibango, a funky Afr0-jazz tune. Last tune now, Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden "On the Sunny Side of the Street". I love the mix of old and new stuff on JRR...and there always seems to be someone from around Portsmouth putting a request in, go Pompey jazz fans!
I had a chat with Alice today on the old dog and bone, was trying to get her to send me the burrito recipe she told me about but she has to write it all down so may take a while. She has mucho work to do at the moment too with dissertation in soon and her interview at Bristol. I also spoke to Jessie, she took over while Alice was cooking eggs!
