2009 — 30 August: Sunday

It's safe to say the new loudspeakers have had their first 15 hours of "running in" — and mighty fine they're sounding, too. I've just re-watched In the land of women partly because I was curious to revisit Kristen Stewart's performance a couple of years before she went "global" in Twilight. Right! I'm getting tired, and it's time for a Christmas 1977 picture of Christa at her parents' house in Meisenheim. We were over there with dear Mama, not an experiment that went very well, to be honest:

Christa in Meisenheim, Christmas 1977

Oops. I see I'm still being remiss in tracking incoming entertainment material. Too late tonight. I've got a beer and curry festival to get up in time for! G'night.

Saluting the new Kernel

At some point today, and for an estimated 10 minutes, my web server will be having its kernel upgraded. So if you read this before or after, it's OK, and if you can't read this, it's not! Provided the kernel doesn't panic, nor will I. It's 09:17 and none too sunny. It's not all beer and curry, by the way — there's a walk to and from the car to get to it. Should be about six miles altogether. No packed lunch needed, of course.

A day of thirsts

My "thirst-ever" beer festival, and all I drank was a pint of delicious elderflower (elderberry?) cordial, half and half with fizzy water. Delicious. My thirsty walking companions, for whom this was by no means their thirst such occasion, headed for the beer tent, printed spreadsheets in hands, starting with "Pompey Royal" and trying, in one case, "Pigswill". I think I'd have a quiet word with that (Stonehenge) brewery's marketing manager. The weather could have been a lot nicer — it's been hinting strongly at Autumn now for about a week. The cold drizzle was helped along by plenty of blustery wind, but the company was a major compensation.

snaps

Three "Twilight" fans among them, by the way. (Not including me.) Thanks, as ever, to Mike and his trusty Nikon.

So, it's now 17:31 and I find myself wondering whether the time has come to twitch the room thermostat above its summer setting. It's a balmy 68F in the living room, which is basically adequate, I guess.

Silence isn't golden

I can sympathise with the sentiment here:

Despite the fact that I now have forty days and eighteen hours of music on my computer, enough to outlast the Flood, I keep returning to a stack of favorite disks that I keep next to my stereo.

Alex Ross in the New Yorker


Who could have predicted the inexorable rise of computer-based listening?

Later

Dishes done, next batch of plums stewed. An interesting (Prom) interval chat about "Pictures at an exhibition". So, now, time for a new film. It's 20:44 and horribly dark outside.

Well. I'm taking a brief break half way through Seven pounds. At this point with many a film I've formed a pretty clear idea of where it's going to end up. Not so tonight. I have a couple of theories, I admit, but I wouldn't place a bet yet. Intriguing.