2009 — 20 May: Wednesday
From time to time over the past two decades Christa and I would invite Mike and Bryan over to subject them to a meal in our tiny dining room (that used to be the back half of our garage) and then to watch a film displayed on a comparatively tiny screen (never larger than 50" in Christa's lifetime). Similarly, we would from time to time find ourselves over in Winchester of an evening, enjoying many an exotic dish, and then sitting down stretched out in front of a Cinemascope aspect ratio projection screen displaying a picture too large to quantify.
On one such occasion (9th August 2002, to be exact) Mike photographed Christa standing against his kitchen's roller blind:
Christa in Mike's kitchen, August 2002
I'm almost willing to bet that Mike will know what film we watched that night. We had Peter with us, down from the University of York. Personally, I suspect we watched American Beauty since a) it's an excellent film, and b) we'd all seen it except Peter (you see how cross-generational democracy works?).
Stopping while you're ahead... dept.
It's just gone 01:11 and I've just finished another amazingly good film: In the land of women. It seems both of Lawrence Kasdan's offspring have fully inherited their Dad's talent, dammit. I think I'd better resist the temptation to try for three in a row.
G'night.
Gustave Verbeek
As I sip my morning cuppa I'm contemplating an overnight email from Mike containing an animation that rotates a drawing of a frog through 90 degrees. It metamorphoses into a horse (or, at least, a horse's head and neck). It reminds me of cartoons by the chap (a Dutch-American cartoonist) in my heading. As journalist Ian Ball put it in 1971, Verbeek "produced a series of 64 unbelievable weekly episodes" (in the "New York Weekly Herald") "of a topsy-turvy comic strip entitled The Upside-Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo." He's well-worth checking1 out. (I use the past tense because he died in 1937.)
I should — it seems — be taking drugs by virtue of being over 55. BBC Radio 3's news at 08:30 is vague on the details. Something about cutting heart attacks at a stroke... (I can't say I was listening carefully, but I'm sure our medical experts are correct. Only yesterday I was talking to one who'd managed to lock himself out of his house, and his car.)
Good and bad
Going out to shop before 09:00 is good, 'cos the carpark is almost empty and the shelves are full. But it's bad, 'cos lots of small people are milling around, crossing roads, and lots of parents (of same, I assume) are standing around, driving huge vehicles around, and generally clogging up the roads. Then there's British Gas who are obviously under strict instructions to dig holes in the road and make lots of tea while they watch their traffic lights stay fixedly on the wrong colour.
Still, I now have the necessary ingredients for my next culinary experiments (including a marinaded chicken). All that remains is to shovel in breakfast (yes! I went out without any; a cardinal sin for the last three decades) and quickly prepare a packed lunch. Walkies in the New Forest is high on the agenda today. It's 09:35 — tick-tock.
Is there anything finer...
... than to return from a nice stroll in the New Forest to a small batch of audio and video goodies? Including the new collaboration between Brian Eno and David Byrne? Even if the CD cover illustration looks for all the world like one of those deliciously lethal "Bayko" toy buildings from the 1950s (that current Health and Safety rules would no doubt ban even before it reached the drawing board stage).
Buying decisions for this little lot?
- Pool Girl
The cast, the story, the director - Early Doors
Extravagantly praised TV comedy that passed us by - Pulling
ditto - Everything that happens will happen today
Who needs any reason to buy music made by these two heroes of mine?
And, thank you, Mr ERNIE, for your latest miniscule contribution to my continued financial well-being.
Is there anything more horrid...
... than the report about long-term, widescale abuse of children within the Irish Catholic "system"? (Link.) I suppose, if I were more intelligent, I might begin to understand how the Christian Brothers successfully sued the commission in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members, dead or alive, unnamed in the report. "Good God" indeed!
Still g(r)o(w)ing strong... dept.
How about these, Christa?
In general, the 20th May each year can be a tad melancholy for me as it's the day I became a "half-orphan" (if that concept exists). But an email from Microsoft (of all people) rather cheered me up. If only they knew!
It's always been my wish — as a sun-drenched Web God — for a discounted what-not from Microsoft. (You do realise professional marketing folk dream up this tripe, don't you? I also note that the only "free" bits are the actual joining and the ability to agree to be pestered by further stuff. I'm too old for this sh1t.)
Three in a row!
Pool Girl didn't let me down. So, whatever next? It's only 20:51 — the night is young... Well, at 23:26 I've just paused The Visitor while taking a call from Junior, who's planning a flying visit here on Saturday. That will be nice. Now, back to what looks very like being the fourth excellent film2 in a row. It's reminiscent of Green card but without the humour of a romantic comedy — by a long way. I fear it's a much more realistic portrait of the fate and condition of "illegals" in New York these days. Richard Jenkins' performance is a revelation.