2013 — 14 August: Wednesday

Later today I'm off to see "RED 2" which1 I'm hoping will be as amusing as its predecessor. Hollywood's almost immutable Law of Diminishing Returns isn't in my favour, of course. Meanwhile, here I sit, both cool and unbreakfasted, but with the sleep deficit apparently cleared.

Clearly, there are...

... still some useful people breathing oxygen on this planet. However, I'm not absolutely sure this splendid slice of fruitcake (quoted on Doonesbury) is one of them:

Doonesbury

Perhaps there was a little something lost in translation? After all, Russian has long enjoyed a reputation for being a bit tricky:

No one can read Russian. That is why their books must be translated. The Russian language is very queer. It is very much like English in many ways, but it has not the jollity of George Gissing or AE Houseman. Go, little translator, and render the big Russian books into your little-mother-tongue.

EF Bozman in Modern Humour (pre-1940)


Is "clarinetophile" a...

... real word, or an invention of a live BBC Radio 3 presenter up in Edinburgh? Google wondered whether I'd meant "clarinet oil" but still offered about 48 results.

  

Footnote

1  Fingers crossed. Update: it was. And is going on to my Blu-ray pre-order list. Can't say that the experience in a cinema is any better, however, despite the Odeon 8000 HD digital projection system.