2013 — 29 November: Friday
Later this morning, I shall be undertaking a Hal Clement book title1 in 3D, no less. We've timed our visit to try to minimise the risk of an overabundance of ankle-biters. Report to follow, doubtless. Once the vertigo has subsided. Assuming it does.
Exit Portals
One of my chums asked me yesterday if I'd noticed the Grauniad had removed its "Search" facility. Since I could still see it, and was able to show him a screen capture showing it, he eventually theorised that the problem2 might be that he appeared to be in Germany "which seems to be the exit point from the IBM intranet to the wider web". I couldn't help thinking of that strange Spike Jonze film "Being John Malkovich" with Germany standing in (as it were) for the New Jersey Turnpike as the on-ramp for the Information Superhighway.3
Perhaps I should reduce my drugs intake? [Pause] No, wait, I'm not on medication... Just tea. Having checked the Met Office weather maps, I'm pleased to see there was zero risk of excessive UV (at 03:00 this morning). So I assume the new low-energy street lights are safe. That's a big relief.
Shivers
Yesterday morning's "Breakfast" on BBC Radio 3 played a truly appallingly-bad Britten arrangement — worse, in English — of "David of the white rock". That mistake has just been rectified by a (the?) Bryn Terfel performance. It happens to be the only song I remember singing (solo) with any pleasure in Junior school, several years before Bryn T was born.
Report
Well, "Gravity" is quite a blast, though the implausibility count did rise fairly steeply towards the end of the film. Nor — rather surprisingly — did 3D really do all that much to enhance it; in fact, at times it was just a nasty distraction. Turns out there's a nice "eat as much as you like" Chinese buffet restaurant just by the cinema, too. That was jolly handy by the time we came back down to Earth.