2011 — 4 July: Monday
It being an appropriate time of year1 I finally made a start (one mustn't rush one's retirement) last night on that HBO mini-series "John Adams" based on the David McCullough book that Carol gave me nine years ago. I'm afraid I found the first episode a struggle to stay with as it was over-mannered, underwhelming, and horribly dumbed-down. I shall persevere, if only for the astonishing cast, but may yet end up declaring my own independence from it.
Time for a quick, pre-breakfast, supplies run. [Pause] Crikey, it's already sticky out there.
News is what they don't want you to know...
... all the rest is advertising.
I don't watch broadcast news, so I have no idea if the toe-curlingly robotic "interview" with the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition (!) described amusingly here was actually broadcast last Thursday. Source and snippet:
If news reporters and cameras are only there to be used by politicians as recording devices for their scripted soundbites, at best that is a professional discourtesy. At worst, if we are not allowed to explore and examine a politician's views, then politicians cease to be accountable in the most obvious way. So the fact that the unedited interview has found its way onto YouTube in all its absurdity, to be laughed at along with all the clips of cats falling off sofas, is perfectly proper.
Frankly, I don't think I'll be resuming my broadcast watching any time soon.
Thanks, Len!
To my delight, he showed up proffering a precious tube of the anti-ulcer gunk I'm now waiting for — it was the cure-of-choice for his Dad's mouth ulcers, too. After a pleasant meal and chat at "The Wheatsheaf" I'm now sitting here in tight-lipped splendour having applied the stuff to the several clusters currently playing havoc with my bonhomie. It's 26C out there, and a cloudless sky. Must be summer. So I'm now quietly playing indoors ("You'll ruin your eyesight!") scanning and repairing some Posy Simmonds artwork clipped from copies of the Guardian back in 2004 that have been patiently gathering dust and gently vulcanising2 while waiting for me to find the round tuit that is so elusive.
The "music while I 'work'" is deliberately being restricted purely to the magnificent Little Steven's Underground Garage, which will make ex-Pinpoint Music owner Steve Gibbs smile. [Pause] Spooling it over from the Terastation NAS is using less than 0.05% of my available LAN bandwidth. Which makes me smile :-)
And saves wear and tear on my local drive.
Thanks, Mr (yet another new) Postie
I hafta say, at £3-49, the DVD of PT Anderson's first full-length feature film is a damn' sight cheaper than the LaserDisc copy I initially bought was! I don't know the Kevin Bacon title, but I have enjoyed several other films made by Luis Mandoki...
In my garden...
... the grapes that incur my wrath get cut off, as it were...
... in their sub-prime. The picture shows my victims approx twice life-size. I only popped out to do a tiny bit of trimming and pruning and, before I knew it, it was after 19:05 already and food is as yet uneaten — indeed, as yet unprepared. Bother.