TV

* Watched a very silly but highly entertaining movie on Saturday night - EUROTRIP - a teen comedy about four High School students who cause mayhem in Europe searching for an attractive German e-mail pal of one of the kids. But the star performance and what makes me want to see this film again was Matt Damon playing a skin-head heavy rocker guitarist/lead singer. Worth watching the whole film for this performance. Boy can that guy act/sing.

* And on Wednesday night watched FREAKY FRIDAY, with Jamie lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan and I laughed so much I was almost howling. Brilliant idea to temporarily have the uptight mum in the body of the bolshy teenager and vice versa. But also very touching as each comes to understand how the other ticks.

Both actors were brilliant but the real surprise to me was Lindsay Lohan. All I knew about her before I watched this film was that she was a wild party girl who gets into lots of trouble. Pity if that's true because the girl can act and has a real screen presence. I hope we see more of her on the screen rather than in Heat magazine etc. Which reminds me - I still haven't watched any of this years Big Brother. I'm truly proud of myself.

* Was mesmerised by the first episode of HOUSE OF SADDAM on BBC 2 on Wednesday: fascinating to have such a drama and although it's fiction I'm sure the 'essence' of Saddam's character is there (incredible performance by Igal Naor - who, ironically, is actually an Israeli actor) and it's not only interesting but also educational to see events from another perspective, including the political realities and the strong role of family in Iraq, and Sadam's hatred of Iran.

As I watched, I was struck by how this drama reminded me of a Shakespearean tragedy in not just the brutal consequences for so many of those involved but also the knock-on effect for Iraq, Iran and rest of the world.

Not that I see Saddam Hussein as a Shakespearean tragic hero. Shakespeare's heroes were men who were in some way brilliant (in a positive way) but had a flaw that proved to be fatal. Saddam is more like a Shakespearean villain, oozing with evil thoughts and deeds but with brief hints of humanity and that came over most effectively in this drama.

* Have just finished watching the DVD box set of DAMAGES, staring Glen Close as a very tough lawyer, not frightened to resort to violence if necessary, who pursues a wealthy business man for damages for his ex-employees. They had lost everything because of his shady dealings and she is determined to squeeze as much money out of him as possible. It does not present the legal system in a flattering light (oh, what a surprise!) and as a drama it works very well, with lots of flashbacks and twists and turns. You really have no idea how things will turn out until the very end. I'm hoping that they make a second series.