Los Faunos Tenen Patas, Cola y Orejas de Macho Cabrío

El Fauno e la niña Ofelia

Kevin and I saw El Laberinto del Fauno last night, in an empty cinema by Brick Lane. We are both fans of fairy tales, and we both loved the film. I was particularly impressed by the little girl, Ofelia. I usually don't like movies with children, because more often than not they simply can't act (e.g. any of the Harry Potter movies). But she was amazing throughout the whole thing. I caught myself, towards the end, gaping at how believable she was in one of the most harrowing scenes. As for the film itself, it's great to watch a fantasy movie that combines good writing, awesome special effects and non-celebrity actors. This is something that should be actively encouraged. Hollywood, take note.

There was nothing to do afterwards but come home, lie on the sofa with my journal and write a hundred maudling pages. Woke up early and have done nothing ever since (other than the usual time-killing stuff). We briefly left the house to eat breakfast in a (literally) greasy diner then walk around Victoria Park. I've been feeling very lethargic all week... don't know what it is. I haven't been to the gym in ages, and I'm not going to my work's Christmas party tonight (people are going to kill me on Monday). Murder on the news, so I went and bought a Ruth Rendell crime novel on Thursday from the used stalls underneath Waterloo Bridge. Just now, funk music on BBC6 feels all wrong, so I tune the radio to Classic FM. Kevin devours books on the sofa; he just finished a thriller he dug out from the storage room. I made us some pot noodles for dinner; who eats pot noodles on a Saturday night? Don't answer that.

We are leaving the flat in 39 minutes. We are buying rum, coke and chocolate cookies from the corner store. We don't want to do anything this weekend. We are old before our time.