Haje’s Brain

I lived in London for about 18 months, during the bulk of which I was with Be Internet. You may have heard of them, they offer internet connectivity which is, quite frankly, ludicrously fast. I never quite managed to measure how fast, but it was upwards of 20 mbps download and probably around 2mbps upload. In fact, I frequently had significantly faster internet at home than at work.

Be was fantastic, in that they Just Worked: Blisteringly fast, 100% uptime, and - the one time I had to contact them about something (I needed the IP addresses to their DNS servers) - quick and highly skilled customer service who answered the question you asked, rather than waffling randomly for no reason (yes, BT Internet customer service, I’m looking at you). (more…)

Gone baby Gone is a movie written by Aaron Stockard and Ben Affleck. It was released in 2007, and is an adaptation of a book by Dennis Lehane. It features a star-studded cast-list, including the big-budget movie début of Ben’s brother Casey Affleck, and solid performances from Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris

The movie that wasn’t shown in the UK until recently (or rather, it’s about to have its cinema release) because of its similarities with the Madeleine McCann case, where a young girl was allegedly abducted from a holiday resort in Portugal. The delay, it has to be said, was understandable, as it would probably have been rather insensitive to show it earlier - not least because the actress playing the kidnapped Amanda McCready in the movie is called Madeleine, too… (more…)

The book is basically what it says on the cover: Ten-and-a-half short chapters, which together cover a lot of ground. It is not, as you may be led to believe, a book about history, however.

Rather, it is one of those books that somewhat reminds me of those Official Soundtrack albums they keep releasing: “Music composed for, and inspired by, X”. The stories are, in fact, all fiction. But rather than being history, they cleverly become part of history. Or they will do - for anyone who reads the book. It is also obviously inspired by history, in a way that no other book I have ever read is. (more…)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is a very strange, yet powerful book. It touches on subjects that many more established writers know to leave alone, but does so with an amount of grace and respect that makes it all worth while. (more…)

Donnie Darko - a film that could not be understood in its full glory neither on its first nor on its fifth viewing - deserves a user manual. In his own version of this motion picture, that is exactly what director Richard Kelly is offering (more…)

Closer is a film released in 2005, directed by Mike Nichols. The movie stars Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in the four lead roles.
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Disco Pigs is an Irish film released in 2001. It is the story of Runt (Elaine Cassidy, The Others, The Bay of Love and Sorrows) and Pig (Cillian Murphy, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 28 Days Later, Cold Mountain), two kids who might as well have been siblings.
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Girlfight is a movie released in 2000. It was written and directed by Karyn Kusama. (more…)

Imagine, if you can, a film that is made in Hollywood, is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, released in 2004, and has the incredibly cheesy title of “Man on Fire”.

Imagine, if you will, that this same film only has one name on the billboards, and that is Denzel Washington. Furthermore, it tries to tempt you to watch it, by explaining that “bla bla bla super special assassin agent bla bla bla talked into working as a bodyguard bla bla girl he is supposed to protect kidnapped bla bla bla opens a can of whoop-ass”.
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Layer Cake is a film released in 2004. When a film markets itself with the tagline “By the people who brought you Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, you realise that you are about to receive a rather big serving of “gimme some more, jack”.
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