Rupert Christiansen in The Telegraph reviews Harold and Maude, and brings back a whole raft of memories to me. Thanks to Yuki for saying to me all those years ago that I simply had to see this film. She was right. I see that Christiansen ranks it alongside If…, which was another film that made a profound impression on me.
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Mourning Sickness
An interesting, and sobering, story in The Guardian today. It’s about the reaction to the death of an American teenager – Anna Svidersky – that has become an Internet phenomenon. Real life and online life appear to be becoming one and the same for some people. Indeed, as the article points out: for some, their online life seems to be more important.Leave a comment
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WTF?
Distressing evidence emerges today that journalists on The Observer are becoming lazy irresponsible hacks who can’t be bothered to check the credentials of anyone purporting to be an expert.The evidence: quoting Christopher Malyszewicz as an "MRSA Expert" after Dr. Ben Goldacre, on the Observer’s sister paper, The Guardian, has convincingly shown Malyszewicz to be a quack of the first water.Still, the ever-hungry maw of journalism has to grab and masticate whatever it can. Witness the BBC’s faux pas over Guy Kewney. He’s an IT pundit who was recently invited to comment on the Apple versus Apple Corps legal wrangling. Imagine his surprise when waiting in BBC reception to see his taxi-driver (who is black and French-Gabonese) being introduced as Guy Kewney (who is white and English) and being interviewed on TV.Leave a comment
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Not What I was Looking for…
So there I was, looking for a solution for long term storage of our extra bedding (sheets, pillowcases, and so forth). I’d seen a solution that was like a strong plastic bag, into which you stuff the textiles and then suck out the air, leaving a smaller, well protected package impervious to moths and damp. But where to buy such a thing? Then I thought of Wehkamp – the Dutch equivalent to the Sears (US) and Littlewoods (UK) home shopping catalogues.4 responses to “Not What I was Looking for…”
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oh my.
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Yup, the Dutch are very pragmatic about this sort of thing…
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Oh. Oh, my.
Nevertheless, I always thought that watching hours of late-night
infomercials in college might someday pay off. What you are looking
for is the "Space Bag" (or sometimes "Space Saver Bag"). Amazon.co.uk
(oddly, where amazon.nl redirects me) lists a number of them – search
for "space saver" and ignore the various Power Rangers results, they’re
in there.Alternatively, look at AsSeenOnTv.com and scroll down to find Space
Bags. Not sure about their international shipping, but with the
deplorable state of the dollar, you might find that the exchange rate
offsets the shipping expense. -
Mike, terrific – thanks for the tip. I always thought that knowing the proper names for things was the key to advancement in life…
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And The Big Gay Read Winner Is…
… Armistead Maupin for Tales of the City. While it’s understandable that Maupin has won – the books are good and deservedly popular – part of me thinks that, for a competition seeking to find the favourite books of British gays and lesbians, it’s a pity that a British author didn’t make it into first place. Sarah Waters and Jeanette Winterson figure prominently, of course, and I see Alan Hollinghurst and Patrick Gale are also in the top ten, so British voices weren’t entirely drowned out by our transatlantic cousins. Personally, I would have liked to have seen the work of the late Tom Wakefield also in the list.Leave a comment
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Black Lake: The Ballet
Here’s a piece of trivia for you: Sir Sean Connery is reputed to have devised a ballet in the mid-1960s. Perhaps fortunately for posterity, it was never performed. However, Tim Dowling, in today’s Guardian, does a wonderful job of imagining what it might have been like.4 responses to “Black Lake: The Ballet”
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Bloody hell! Shaun…. ballet……. yeah….
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Oh, I dunno – everyone has hidden depths, you know… 🙂
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Sean Connery devising a ballet – Ha!
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And I bet he was the leading man!
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Prejudice in the EU
A sobering article in the Guardian today that contrasts the situation of gays and lesbians living in different parts of the EU. The prejudice and homophobia that exists in some countries such as Poland must make life pretty miserable for gay people. Another reason to be thankful that I live where I do.Leave a comment
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The Piper and the Penguin
Idle Words has an entry on Tierra del Fuego with an arresting image of a piper and a penguin. The words are interesting too. Although, I don’t share his enthusiasm for Bruce Chatwin, who always struck me as a monstrous carbuncle, feeding off his friends and family. Read Nicholas Shakespeare’s biography of Chatwin to understand why I feel this way.Leave a comment
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Shuffling the Rats
Simon Hoggart nails it as usual. But the biggest rat of all didn’t get shuffled- he was the one doing the shuffling. There ain’t no justice in the world.Leave a comment
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Cracks in the Pavement
When I was very small, I used to be scared to step on the cracks in the pavement. I also was quite convinced that there were dragons in the attic that would come after me when I left the bedroom to go downstairs each day. So there were rules that I followed (religiously) about not stepping on the cracks and running downstairs so that the dragons wouldn’t catch me.Some people have similar rules, that frankly, in retrospect, strike me and Ophelia as just as bizarre and nonsensical. But then, we perhaps claim to be a trifle more rational than some.Oh, and I grew up. One day, the dragons disappeared from the attic after I dared them to catch me. And the cracks were just cracks.2 responses to “Cracks in the Pavement”
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But, don’t you think that at that moment when the cracks are just cracks, some little bit of magic went out of the world?
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Gelert, nope, I don’t. There’s a difference, I think, between a sense of wonder at the structure of the universe and its contents – which I think any scientist worth his or her salt should have – and an irrational belief that is powered by a sense of fear. Then again, as Arthur C. Clarke said: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
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Never A Truer Word…
"B&Q is not an evolutionary part of the process. A B&Q shed planted on the edge of the greenbelt is not evolution, that’s just mismanaged".– Bill Bryson on the current state of the British Countryside; an interview in today’s Observer.What he says goes for here in the Netherlands as well – perhaps even more so. Since moving to what passes for the country in a densely-populated country such as The Netherlands I’ve become aware of how little of "Nature in the raw" there is, and how much of an agrarian machine exists here. It’s like Disneyland – a simulacrum of reality (or Hyper-Reality, as Umberto Eco puts it so well); in this case, a simulacrum of Nature. That’s not to say that I don’t take pleasure in it, I certainly do; but unmanaged wilderness it ain’t.Bryson talks about the loss of hedgerows. They are almost unknown here. I am struck by the amount of electrified fences I see as I walk or cycle around the region. Hedgerows – a vital part of preserving wildlife and bio-diversity – seem to be an extinct species here in The Netherlands so far as I can see.Leave a comment
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Damn It, Janet
Another event in London that I missed. I saw the original production at the Royal Court (was it really 33 years ago? Ohmigod!), have seen the film countless times and have even gone to parties dressed as Frank-N-Furter. It’s in my blood, I tell you…Leave a comment
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Choose One from the Following
Gary McKinnon is either:a) barkingb) a sad casec) trying to justify himselfd) taking us for a rideMy money hovers between (b) and (d), but (a) would not surprise me.Leave a comment
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Doctor Who’s Viral Marketing
The BBC has been setting up tie-in websites as viral marketing for Doctor Who. I haven’t had time to explore them yet, but will try to do so sometime soon.And may I just say that the reinvented Doctor Who series has been simply wonderful. Christopher Eccleston was excellent, and David Tennant is already shaping up to match him in the eponymous role. It’s not simply that the production values of the new series are an order of magnitude better than the cardboard sets and characters of the original (fun, in a cheesy sort of way, though they were). It’s that the quality of the writing, and the strength of the acting of all the lead characters, knocks the series into a different class altogether. For example the scene in the swimming pool between David Tennant and Anthony Head in last week’s School Reunion was electrifying, and the dissection of the doctor’s character by his present and past assistants (Billie Piper and Elisabeth Sladen) was brilliant. In fact, the tying together of past and present in School Reunion made that episode for me one of the most satisfying I have ever seen, while The Doctor Dances remains as my number one favourite, with Boom Town as a close second, because of the scenes between Annette Badland and Christopher Eccleston..My only regret is that Martin does not share my enthusiasm for Doctor Who in any shape or form, so I’ve got no-one to discuss it face to face with. Perhaps I’ll just talk to the dog about it. At least he won’t get bored and go off to do something else.(hat-tip to Diamond Geezer of the tie-in websites link)4 responses to “Doctor Who’s Viral Marketing”
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Thanks for these links (noise of bookmarking) I just need to get around to watching the School Reunion – was out on Saturday, my attempt to tape it yesterday failed, have to wait until Friday!Not sure what’s happened to the formatting of your blog but starting with the first few lines of the film meme and upwards – in firefox at any rate – the lines are too long and overlap the right hand column – maybe it’s caused by the middle Kai photo which also sticks out rightwards..
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Robert, it may well be an artifact of how the various browsers handle HTML. In IE6 and IE7, the formatting is OK – although as you say, the middle Kai photo gets cut off by the right margin of the central blog column. However, that’s always been the case with photos of this size that I use in the blog, and nothing new. Try reading just the blog (the blog items then take up the entire page) and see if that helps.
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Can’t stand Ecclestone!! And now they are going to do the unthinkable and re-make ‘The Prisoner’ (as if!) AND they’re giving the Patrick Mc Whatsit part to Ecclestone!!!!
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Gelert, we will just have to agree to disagree. I think Eccleston is a fine actor. His Doctor Who grew in depth as the series progressed, and his acting in "Second Coming" was simply outstanding…
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Anthony Bourdain
Attention, Mike, over at Coffee Corner; there’s a great interview with Anthony Bourdain in today’s Observer that I think you’l enjoy.And for the rest of you, if you haven’t yet read Kitchen Confidential, you don’t know what you’re missing.4 responses to “Anthony Bourdain”
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I loved Kitchen Confidential, but shamefully have not yet thrown out my garlic press. Is there an internet link to the Observer interview? I only get the Sunday Times, and barely have time to read that!
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Ooops, yes, found it, thanks. hehe. a-hem.
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Ahem – I have also not yet thrown out my garlic press. Clearly we are both destined for some version of hell akin to the kitchen described in Gormenghast…
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Gah, I’m out of date in my blog reading. Blame it on the job. Thanks for the tip – that was a great interview. I do still have my garlic peeler, quietly serving as ballast in the gadget drawer.Gormenghast. God, I couldn’t slog through that even though I wanted to. I did read the kitchen parts, and know the hell you describe, but man. Very, very dense. I ought to give it a second chance someday.
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Koninginnedag Comes Early This Year
On the 30th April every year, the Dutch celebrate the late Queen Juliana’s birthday. This is Queen’s day (Koninginnedag). It’s really an excuse for a big party that will happen throughout the Netherlands. Because the 30th April falls on a Sunday this year, the celebrations are being brought forward to the 29th.Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’ll be cycling around part of a 44 kilometre circuit that takes in a series of art exhibitions in the locality. Then on Sunday we’ll be joining our new neighbours for the local Koninginnedag party, which, to confuse everyone, is actually being held on the 30th instead of the 29th. I’m sure it made sense to someone…One response to “Koninginnedag Comes Early This Year”
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HELLO OLD CHAPPY, ALTHOUGH NOT AS OLD AS I.
57
67
77
87
98…O NO THE PATTERN MESSED UP. I AM 97.
GOOD HOUSE.
DO YOU LIKE GERKINS?
I DO I DO I DO I DOO
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China Dispatches
Brian Sack (Banterist) is visiting China at the moment. His impressions of the country and its culture are being captured in a series of dispatches. Well worth reading – particularly the guidance for using the squat toilet. Brings back memories to me of a trip through some of France’s camping sites about 20 years ago…Leave a comment
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A Brisk Lesson
What with all the work involved in the move to the country, we’ve missed several weeks of The Apprentice. However, we were able to catch up with last night’s episode – a real humdinger involving Syed and Ruth fighting tooth and nail with each other. And they were on the same team. Nancy Bank-Smith’s review of the episode in today’s Guardian is worth reading. Watching Sir Alan deal with them was, as Bank-Smith says, a brisk lesson in elementary butchery. Lovely stuff.Leave a comment
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