2010 — 21 February: Sunday
Having caught up with the two latest episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" as an appetiser I watched, and greatly enjoyed, "On a clear day". I also listened to the excellent director's commentary from (almost unbelievably) this first feature-length film by Gaby Dellal. Definitely a keeper.
But it didn't take me too long to decide that "The Wrestler" was no more my kind of film than, well, anything else I've so far seen by young Mr Aronofsky. I gave up — Christa and I both gave up — on "Pi" and although Mike and I had each bought, and together watched, "The Fountain", I can't pretend it was exactly my cup of tea. Interesting, though. So, I ended up watching1 (if that's the right term) the first four episodes of the 1962 BBC SF production of Fred Hoyle's "A for Andromeda" that I mentioned here. (Thanks to Len for the loan.)
Mysteriously, it seems to have become 00:51 already. Strange. Still, I reckon that means it's time for bed. G'night.
What larks?
No, that's Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, silly. Unheard for all too long. And it's just morphed into the one from Berkeley Square with what sounds very like Stéphane Grappelli on violin! Yes, it was, and with Yehudi Menuhin too. Two of Dad's favourite musicians (though he was far from keen on ol' Igor). It's a somewhat damp morning, lots of cloud around. But the OJ has been drunk and the tea is next on the list. I also survived the bit of ancient icecream I tried before throwing out the rest, which doubtless speaks volumes about the proportion of preservative junk it contained.
Those Tories! They now promise (as a pre-election bribe!) to allow me to buy cut-price shares in the very same banks that I already now own2 (or, more precisely, that I keep being told I now own — I've yet to see the slightest bit of evidence of my ownership in their reformed behaviour). No wonder I don't understand the dismal science. It's all far too much like Milo Minderbinder and his egg-buying syndicate that ends up bombing his own airbase. Oh, wait! Look at that fabulous suit of clothes on the emperor! You can just see it in the mirror through all the smoke.
Give that man my vote! And, speaking of voting, there's a killer final paragraph in the "Letter from Beijing" in the current issue of Private Eye...
The same piece told me that "brown envelopes"3 (or hongbao) are actually coloured red in that fine democracy. Should have guessed that, I suppose.
As I belatedly realise that what I thought was heavy rain is actually hail, all I can say (in the words of my newest love — Tina Fey — the woman the New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter calls 'the sex symbol for every man who reads without moving his lips.') is "Bleurgh!" But it's now time for a repeat of John Mortimer's choices on "Private Passions".
It's a mystery to me... dept.
I see from this very diary that I've been doing battle with Sudoku for 18 months or so now. I generally use the program that Mike introduced me to; it generates fresh puzzles at whatever difficulty level you wish, but you can also use it as a template to fill in from (for example) the trio of "Times" paperbacks (Easy, Difficult, Fiendish) that he gave me. Now I haven't ever sat down and studied the puzzle, so I didn't immediately see how some starting points could be intrinsically more "fiendish" than others. Well, I've been working my way through the printed puzzles, starting at the back of the "fiendish" volume, and can now see that many of the patterns have indeed been somehow trickier than those the code generates. That, and the fact that they've been taking me (on average) about twice as long to solve...
It's 15:52 and I need a cuppa! Meanwhile, there is much of interest (and some wry amusement) to be gleaned here.
Merde doubled!
I mentioned my last attempt to obtain a DVD (Les Geants / Among Giants) I wanted from Amazon in France. On that occasion, I was thwarted by a marketplace seller who wouldn't ship to the UK. This time, it's a shipping charge that adds more than 50% to the cost of the DVD. I shall continue to wait. I had no idea the pound had atrophied so much against the Euro. What a good job that recession is over, heh?!
Silly movie trivia question: what other film (besides "Avatar") features a material called unobtainium? Right; it's 19:57 and (having dined) I shall leave the dishes to soak for a bit while I soak up some serious pixels downstairs.