"Vengence is mine," saith the Mac. Avoiding my attention as I left the room, instead conspiring with the Edinburgh weather, I was needless to say thoroughly showered by the Edinburgh rain. It has been a nasty day all day. Luckily I have avoided the outside as much as I could.

Okay, it's true, I admit it. I hate Chekhov. He's overrated. Of course, this feeling wasn't helped at all by the rather amateurish performance of "The Seagull" I stumbled into; at times it was almost funny. Unfortunately for a cast who really weren't up to it, the play calls for at least one character (Nina) to accuse herself of bad acting. Hmmm, yes. But then the play just doesn't do them any favours. For instance it really doesn't help that Constantin needs two tries at shooting himself before he succeeds or that Nina keeps on spouting, "I am a seagull, I am a seagull!" Hmmm, yes.

If that weren't enough, I was already suffering a little from bottom vomit. (My new phrase for the day. Chekhov would be proud.) I am fully convinced it was the grapefruit at breakfast, certainly not the kippers, and definitely not the haggis, and positively not the copious quantities of Deuchars last night.

(You know you just have to say the word, 'Deuchars' to understand where the Scottish accent came from.)

Then on to a programme of "World Shorts" in Filmhouse. The Chinese one showing an alsatian trying to hump a chihuahua was a real highlight. No, it wasn't. No, it really wasn't.

Being over sooner than expected, and not entirely disappointingly so, I ran down to a concert by a saxophone quartet, the Sax Collective and their "Joy of Sax". The attempts at humour between pieces were as bad as the title, but happily their playing was really good. The girl on soprano sax looked a little like Kate Winslet, but I was concentrating on the sax.

Then on to some more movies in Cineworld. This was my first time at this particular venue and it wasn't in the nicest part of town. No. Nevertheless I had 40 minutes to kill before the first screening, so I went into a bar/restaurant for some fish and chips and a pint of cider. The barman looked the spitting image of my cousin Ray, only the Scottish accent betraying him. Unfortunately as he poured the cider I noticed I had spent a little more than I thought. He stopped pouring while I counted out my pennies. No, definitely not enough. But what was I talking about! You accept Visa, don't you? Yes, indeedy. Saved by my flexible friend.

The first movie was made by the director of the Korean true life serial killer movie, "Memories of a Murder". Good pedigree. So what was this new one, 'The Host', like? A good old fashioned Korean monster movie, with a bit of American-bashing politics thrown in. It's a strange one and I'm not sure if I agree with the Festival director who claimed it would blow us away like "Star Wars". It is very distinctive though (putting me in mind of the original Japanese "Godzilla"), with a strong emphasis on the little man and the little man's family. Bong Joon-Ho was there himself, but you got the impression that his interpreter needed an interpreter and on the few occasions when Boon answered something for himself in English, his answer was far better.

We all had to leave the cinema then and the queue outside was really long, so I was practically the last one back in and so lucky to get a goodish seat for Lucas Belvaux's new one, "The Right of the Weakest", a heist movie with Socialist tendencies. It's too long, particularly in the build up to the robbery and at the end of the day it does nothing really exceptional. I suppose all it really does is get moral on crime. Remember kids, don't do armed robbery. Just say no.

So I have a break now at 23.00. The next event for me is a comedy/nightclub hosted by E4 at 12. There are night buses so it should all be well.