2011 — 29 August: Monday
A much sunnier start1 and my first cuppa blows away the already-fading fragments of a curious dream featuring a varied cast of characters from my past, including my old landlady from nearly 40 years ago in Hatfield. Last night, after further, largely successful, battle with that stack of MP3 files I turned for a change of pace to the wacky world of modern cinema. I tried both my new films. Oh dear.
"My last five girlfriends" lasted perhaps 10 minutes. A voiceover, and a flashback plot that you know within a couple of minutes is going to end in suicide...
It has been said ... that there are few situations in life that cannot be honorably settled, and without loss of time, either by suicide, a bag of gold, or by thrusting a despised antagonist over the edge of a precipice on a dark night.
... or a suicide attempt loses much of its potential as either a rom-com or even a twisted 'take' on same.
"Hanna" did somewhat better by contrast, though I still had no difficulty pausing it about half way through for an hour or so. (A "modern-day Leon" it is not, no matter what 'Company' magazine[?] thinks.) In my view, an "action-packed suspense-thriller" that can throw in several minutes of Spanish flamenco (beautifully lit and shot though it was) with absolutely no connection or relevance to its already ludicrously implausible plot neither demands, nor receives, my full attention. I've obviously mislaid much of my necessary "willing suspension of disbelief" somewhere along Life's twisty little highway. No matter. "It's only a movie."
Breakfast, Mrs Landingham? Yes, why not. I thought you'd never ask.
Who knew a security firm which "tags" 70,000 miscreants a year for the MoJ could possibly employ such careless staff? (Link.)
Learn a little...
... something every day, that's my motto. This (early) afternoon's lesson has been the discovery that washing machine door seals are a good source of dried lint. Who knew? And track one of a four-track
album by Eberhard Weber has gone AWOL somewhere. I may yet find it "Later that Evening" :-)
[Pause]
In fact, it's sitting right there in the main MP3 library (Track 1: Maurizius) but for reasons I don't begin to fathom, Foobar2000 has failed to add it to its own internal Media Library.
This, despite the fact that Foobar's Library, when browsed by "folder structure", clearly reveals the Lost Sheep. Baa!
I also suspect2 my little walking waistcoat may well foam a bit during the next shower I'm caught in. Could be amusing. Meanwhile, Brian tells me that my little white server is now ready for Phase 2 of its user acceptance trials. He's hacked and patched his way around / past / through the little Gallery program's failing "rewrite" issue. Clever chap, my chum Brian. Oh well. As the Easy Star All-Stars' version of "Dark Side of the Moon" winds down, I think a spot of lunch is called for. It's 13:01 and I'm peckish.
Podcasts rescued
A backup is writing as I type. But that's the last use I will be making of my little iPod. You should not have to attach it to a Linux box to repair things. (Not that Apple things ever work less than 110% perfectly at all times, of course. Perish the thought... perish the data.)
It's 16:19 and a nice day out there.
Not having quite enough...
... things to do this evening, I've registered my copy of DVD Profiler (after a frantic search for my Pay Pal password), and have once again embarked on the entry of a few product codes (176 so far, but I'm now on a coffee break). It's somehow become 21:52 and seemingly quite cool.