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Here's how they rated her when they looked back:
sometimes she did this, sometimes she did that.

[Adapted from Simon Armitage's 'Poem']


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Nov. 9th, 2004 @ 09:46 pm I could do this all day.
5 - 2



We're in the quarter-finals again :oD
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Nov. 8th, 2004 @ 11:14 am The Da Vinci Code
I finally finished the Da Vinci Code over the weekend. I say finally despite it taking under a week, because it felt like forever. I have never been more embarrassed about reading a book in my life: I am, hand on heart, an elitist. I like classical references. I like independent music. And yet, I had to see what all the fuss was about.

It was definitely a good story. I quickly forgave the bad grammar, because the pace of the storyline let me whizz through. This isn't The Name of the Rose - you don't need to read every little bit. I liked the effective intermingling of art and theology in true Da Vinci style, without it distracting too much from the fast-flowing plot. Starting in a hotel room in Paris, we're led through a bizarre murder aftermath: man takes a deadly shot and then crawls around the Louvre writing on paintings and floors, and then arranging himself naked on the floor with a painted pentagram. Madness, and yet intriguing madness.

Gallery of gorgeous characters including an albino monk, an old English gent, a Harvard professor and a French cryptologist educated at Royal Holloway. Nice details in the character development, even if it doesn't follow through into their speech (I get the feeling everyone speaks pretty much like the author). It does get a bit Cluedo-like at times: go here, find this clue and move on, but in doing so this Brown gives us concrete, easy to imagine locations. The cunning way of doing a cinematic story without having to bother excessively with description.

The theological discussion is interesting. I know way too much about sixteenth century theology to be considered the average reader (g_d help me), but it was still an interesting take. Jesus as the original feminist? Um, yeah. This book could have easily been titled 'Mary Magdalene: the woman behind the myth,' with all the reassurance that actually she was married to Jesus and their blood line made European royalty. Hmm. I don't think there's any evidence to be had about this marriage, but then Brown never insinuates there is: he merely states that if Jesus had remained single, this would be commentworthy. I find this unlikely, but at least it reintroduces people to the idea of Mary having a more prominent role in the Early Church. I haven't done enough Gospel history to know exactly why the Gospel of Mary has been forgotten, but I do at least know that there is one. I'd be happy to see the 'Da Vinci Code' urging people into finding out more about this, but I don't think there's enough declaration in the book about how narrow the perspective is (this isn't Aristotle, after all), particularly for the weaving of fact and fiction. But all of this shows just how good a storyteller Dan Brown is.

Overall, I think this book is the perfect medicine for commuting. A riveting story with concrete images to take you far, far away from the Hammersmith & City line, even if you do feel forced to hide the front cover ;o)
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Oct. 26th, 2004 @ 11:10 pm (no subject)
Damn!

Sheffield United 0 - 0 Watford

We won 4-2 on penalties. How the hell did that happen? Except for the brilliance of Richard Lee, obviously. Wish I'd seen that.

Watford beat Sheffied United in a penalty shoot-out to reach the Carling Cup fourth round.
Vaguely amused by the BBC's Sheffield typo tho. Maybe it's a new verb.
United, who had boss Neil Warnock sent off in the gmae, hit the post through a Nick Montgomery shot in the first half.
Somebody's trying to update too quickly for their fingers ;o)
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Oct. 26th, 2004 @ 01:39 pm Poetry International
Four internationally-renowned poets present a highly-charged evening of avant-garde spoken word.
I probably should have seen the warning signs when they called it "avant-garde". Aie. It was certainly a memorable evening, wasn't it? ;o)

Charlie Dark was actually pretty fab - not my kind of poetry admittedly (metaphors were few and far between), but there was good rhythm, and he had an enthusiastic stage presence. Allegedly a fusion of DJing and storytelling, the most important thing about it was that it was good fun.

Joan La Barbara was just weird. I still don't get it. The salespitch is that she "pushes the boundaries of the human voice," the truth is that she makes sounds while a cd of her already making unintelligible sounds plays along. So it's a duet of unintelligibility. Except for the occassional "mother/lover/under cover" and "zero" which could be analysed if anyone really wanted to be bothered. Apparently what she was actually doing was reading two poems superimposed on one another (one in light, the other in dark text) - which may look pretty, and sound like one of those forward thinking ideas but DO NOT MAKE IT YOUR WHOLE ACT. It actually scares me that she goes round the world spending hours of her life doing this. Thank goodness for the wine I'd had earlier.

Francesca Beard was gorgeously fab. Thankfully, most people returned after the Joancraziness, to play her game of how we'd prefer to die, and hear random songs about her childhood dog. Cool. I'd go see her again, particularly for a longer set. Apparently she's going to be doing her own one woman show - Chinese Whispers so will have to look out for that.

Japp Blonk was a crazy Dutchman, which fits right in with my current reading material, Tulip Fever about crazy Dutchmen (and women). He um, uses sounds to make music apparently, including a whole poem/song using different pronounciations of 'r'. There was also an exploration of stereo voice sounds with a cunning two microphone setup.

It was a good laugh, but I'm also a little upset that it made me rather scared of poetry readings. I thought I could trust the South Bank to be at least a little traditional. Tony Harrison, where have you gone?!

Edit: Aie
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Oct. 23rd, 2004 @ 12:26 pm "This is the thinking person's Fahrenheit 9/11: much more sophisticated, but just as angry."
Stuff Happens. I already knew David Hare's play was "the thing to see," given by how it's been booked out at the Olivier, but then there's a lot of that going around at the moment (see The History Boys). I was a bit wary of the subject matter: the whys and wherefores of the invasion of Iraq has been discussed to the hilt, and no-one's coming out with anything new. But then everyone kept talking about this play, and I did see a dramatisation of the Hutton report at the Tricycle theatre last year, and recently saw Greg Dyke talk at Cheltenham, so 'in for a penny, in for a pound' and all that.

At Cheltenham, Mark Ravenhill (of Shopping and Fucking) was talking about this new kind of docudrama that's in the theatres these days. His example was the one about Railtrack (also at the National), but Stuff Happens is also a prime example. Built out of quotes from interviews and televised speeches, there is very little new writing in this play: it's more of a general bringing together of all these snippets. Naturally, they're particularly chosen soundbites - either wonderfully humourous, or ever so dramatic - so don't look to David Hare for a neutral take on the whole affair, look to him for an enjoyable one.

Nick's directing is, of course, fabulous. He uses minimal staging, and lets the the stage itself sit still but there is an amazing amount of movement in this very political play. The beginning bit, when introductions take place as they all walk round a large table, almost as if they were on a merry-go-round, was particularly wonderfully produced. All the actors also have a large amount of stage presence: the delivery of all the information cannot be faulted.

All in all, it was a beautifully produced view of the story, and is very much part of the apparent national consensus that even if the government wants to move on and forget before the next election, they're not going to be allowed to. Just don't expect it to be a revelatory experience.

The title quote is by Max Hastings, from the Guardian article of Robin Cook et al reporting from the first night.
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Sep. 23rd, 2004 @ 01:22 pm don't wear black, silk, chiffon or spandex.
feeling kinda: mellow

Poll #354614 curtains
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Silk Curtains?

View Answers

the very exemplary of opulence
10 (32.3%) 10 (32.3%)

pretentious shite
3 (9.7%) 3 (9.7%)

s'okay
18 (58.1%) 18 (58.1%)

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Sep. 16th, 2004 @ 10:59 am And you wonder why folks don't vote.
feeling kinda: pleased

The Manchurian Candidate (the old one, not this 2004 one) is fabulous. It's been ages since a film gripped me from beginning to end (yes, you can now all laugh at me for not having seen it before :-p). Now, of course, I'm scared of watching the new one - is it going to be Solaris all over again?
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Sep. 15th, 2004 @ 04:55 pm You have no respect for me, or the job I perform.
feeling kinda: unimpressed

Men break into Commons during hunting debate.

Batman on Palace balcony

Aie. There's no respect anymore. People just wouldn't have dared do such things, and now we have warnings by the Met Police that people will be shot if they attempt to copycat the Fathers4Justice stunt.
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Sep. 13th, 2004 @ 11:27 am The grass is so green. The sky is so blue. Spectre is really great.
This looked like exactly my kind of film: a fantastical story of a man split between magic and his home life. Plus it’s just such a pretty film. But it has no backbone. None.

In some ways, ‘Big Fish’ did provide the promised storyline, but unapologetically mixed in with a love story, family drama, unrequited love and some hints of the Great Depression along the way. Normally I’m a great fan of things that try to subvert genres (Firefly included), but this was just a big ol’ mixed bag.

Fantasy is very much within the remit of the film, with Tim Burton at the helm we have giants and jumping spiders and a bit of Hotel California. But there just isn’t the darkness. Young Edward (Ewan) becomes a sort of American Odysseus, sent on from his town to achieve great things and yet instead of intelligence and cunning he has the superpower of (wait for it) likeability. He tames a giant and a werewolf by being nice (and you’re wondering why Buffy never tried it with Oz?).

I’m starting to wonder if another medium would have been better – a collection of short stories, for instance. They had a great cast, but all that swopping around with the present and flashbacks, didn’t give Ewan McGregor (or Albert Finney to a lesser extent) the space to develop their characters, and perhaps with that would have come at least some edginess. But as it is, there is nothing beneath the surface – even Helena Bonham Carter cannot break through wholemeal American family values.

So yeah, pretty but dull. I made a cup of tea during it.
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Sep. 7th, 2004 @ 10:01 pm Notes on 'The Reckoning'
feeling kinda: okay

Paul Bettany was fabulous, obviously. That man is so underrated: it doesn't matter what material (or lack of - see 'A Knight's Tale') you give him, he will find brilliance. Willem Dafoe appeared to be trying hard, but he was horribly out of place - travelling player does posh? I don't think so. Awfully cast. Actually I would have cast Defoe as Lord De Guise and made more of the part. Not that Vincent Cassel was bad or anything, he was just.... replaceable. Matthew MacFadyen scared me horribly by being the 'King's Justice' - he was exactly the same as he was in Spooks. There's no particular talent there, but he's still rather sweet and probably fairly well cast, although I can't help but think a greater man would have made the part really into something. Brian Cox was good, but in definite supporting actor type.

Overall it was an interesting european cast. I think we had English, Scottish, French and Spanish actors all performing fairly major roles. Must have been quite something to work on. It's a cute little mediation on justice, with a bit of whodunnit mixed in. I appreciated their non-sensationalist discussion of sin and free will, particularly by a priest gone wrong, but of course this kind of storyline is nothing new (re my jadedness over The Crime of Father Amaro).

So, this film won't tell you anything new, but it is more enjoyable that the average Hollywood trash. Although they do dig up a dead body which looks rather uh, alive to me...
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Sep. 3rd, 2004 @ 02:43 pm Just the juvenile delinquent I've been looking for.
feeling kinda: bored

Online healthy & safety training is doing my head in.

"Use of drugs may increase the risk of an early death"

But, hey, I can now identify a fire extinguisher.

Grr.
Aidan bought me cookies to ease my pain.

Also, if you want a gmail invite please let me know. Gmail is so eager for me to find six more people to invite that it's now blazoning it across my inbox.
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Sep. 3rd, 2004 @ 09:23 am while the mere fact of you wanting to check out a book would be grounds for a national holiday...
feeling kinda: contemplative

I really rather liked this article - 'What, no Harry Potter?: Ten books my ideal man should have on his shelf' I like the style it's written in, and the idea :oD

Rather struggling with coming up with mine tho - there'd have to be something to show a bit more independent thought tho, and some classics, and some poetry...
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Aug. 26th, 2004 @ 10:58 am Viajamos por viagar
feeling kinda: content

Right. “The Motorcycle Diaries.” I had much coveted preview tickets (there was a queue outside! Haven’t seen that since uh, Scary Movie 2…), but I have to say I had no idea what all the fuss was about before I walked in. I got the tickets because a) they were free, and b) the trailer promised images of Machu Picchu which I thought would be fun to see on film having visited there in February. But the film itself was more than enough reason to be there.

My knowledge of Ernesto “Che” Guevara is lacking, aside from the little I read in guidebooks before going to Peru. I knew of him in the political sense, but nothing of him in the personal, and it’s the latter that this film deals with. This is no big political thriller: there’s no money, no power and certainly no armies. Instead it’s a romanticised tale of two medical students traipsing round Latin America from Argentina to Venezuela on what is now regarded as the usual student gap year. “Viajamos por viagar” says Che to some refugees, forced to flee from their family home because they’re Communist – “We travel to travel”. The first half of the film is essentially that, seeing the sites and towns as their one mode of transport, a constantly falling apart motorbike, takes them at a haphazard pace. In this sense it’s a typical road movie, very much after Kerouac, with the development of the characters as they go along, with light relief courtesy of Alberto Granado who gets generally accepted as Che’s chubby sidekick. But as the futility of that phrase appears, with that particular audience, the second half of the film is much more of a learning experience. Of a travel through injustices that the men (boys?) were formerly disconnected from; everyone they visit they touch with boyish enthusiasm and the effect of this is mesmerising.

It’s a simplistic film, there’s no denying that. It’s a very one-sided view of Che, who is shown as a serious and honest young man, overwhelmed by the injustice he finds on his trip. It’s a bit like my brother deciding to do ‘Development Studies’ while in China and Thailand. But the film isn’t trying to show Che the rebel leader, the master/victim of political intrigue; it’s trying to show the development of Che as a young man, and what led him to do the things he did.

It’s a beautiful film. Stunningly well shot, with the obligatory jittery camera movement at times for “realism”. South America looks as it felt while I was there – beautiful, relaxed and friendly, with everyone making the most of things (this is again probably a tourist’s view of things - [info]kikamer will probably tell you something very different). I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite its faults. I’m happy to accept sentimentality when it’s so obvious for what it is, and so gorgeously done.
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Aug. 3rd, 2004 @ 10:05 am ‘Take it, feel it and pass it on. Not for me, not for you but for someone, somewhere, one day.’
feeling kinda: content

Went to see The History Boys last night which was infinitely fab. For those who don't know, it's about a group of sixth form boys who are applying for Oxbridge and trials & tribulations as their headteacher desperately tries to get them there - "there's a gap....in the league tables". His wanting to get the school up alongside "Manchester Grammar and Haberdashers' Aske's" had me in stitches - [info]sa_ra_ra_ra! You must see it! NB this review is without plot spoilers.

I didn't realise Nick had directed it (should have stayed in better touch with him, d'oh), but it showed a lot of his characteristics including having little scenes going on while they moved the set. It possibly would have benefited from the moving stage of the Olivier, but it was done very well in the Lyttelton. Big screen above with school scenes shot at one of the sister schools to mine was rather fab, particularly with music from the Pet Shop Boys :oD

Frances de la Tour was absolutely amazing. Her mannerisms were very schoolmarmish, and yet she still retained an identiy. Her monologue comes very late in the play - "Up to this point I have not been allocated an inner voice" - but it's wonderful, and I wish I could remember more of it. "teaching five centuries of masculine ineptitude". I think a bit of script buying may be required.

Everyone's perfectly cast, particularly Richard Griffiths, although I did veer between thinking he was too loveable, and then thinking that that was the point.

All in all, it's a great play and a great production. I thoroughly recommend it, particularly if you've been part of that Oxbridge desperation (or, of course, been to Habs!).
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Jul. 26th, 2004 @ 02:19 pm Meet Joe Black
I've just remembered that I was actually going to post about Meet Joe Black which I finally saw last night, after having first wanted to when it was actually at the cinema (several years ago). Laura & I talked over lots of it: any inconsistency seems to balk her completely, where as I'm content to like a film simply for the idea it projects. Anyway, I thought Brad Pitt was awful and that Nic Cage would have been a far better choice. The sex scene was vastly amusing (particularly the moment when the swimming pool morphs into a bed...editors?!), as was BP's car crash. But I did like the idea - let's face it, any human who has any interest in life at all likes the idea that our societies can "pique" the interest of age old immortals, but as L was saying, surely Death should know a bit about people's emotions, and hence shouldn't go around destroying people's lives? The scenes with Allison as the not the favourite daughter were class "you're my favourite" - in fact, her whole characterisation was fabulous, but Claire Forlani was drippy and irritating. Plus not at all stressed enough to be a doctor (L). Anthony Hopkins was good of course, although L would have been emotionally happier if they hadn't been killing him off so young, although I thought they might be saying something about the stresses of corporate America (probably not). The IRS play on 'death and taxes' was rather over-worked, but still good, while the whole everyone using everyone else's lines just got irritating (could they not write a long enough script?!).

Overall, I have a sneaky feeling that I like it more than I should since falling for Gaiman's characterisation of Death who, when it comes down to it, has a lot more character than Joe Black but does neatly fill in the film's gaps. I've rated it "watchable" on lovefilm, but really it's somewhere in between that and "liked it" - so 4.5 out of 7.
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Jun. 17th, 2004 @ 03:37 pm (no subject)
feeling kinda: curious

Alright, I'm intrigued.
( Comments malarkey )
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May. 1st, 2004 @ 12:39 pm from 'Jerusalem'
feeling kinda: nostalgic

Hampstead, Highgate, Finchley, Hendon, Muswell hill rage loud
Before Bromion's iron Tongs & glowing Poker reddening fierce;
Hertfordshire glows with fierce vegetation; in the Forests
The Oak frowns terrible, the Beech & Ash & Elm enroot
Among the Spiritual fires; loud the Corn-fields thunder along,
The Soldier's fife, the Harlot's shriek, the Virgin's dismal groan,
The Parent's fear, the Brother's jealousy, the Sister's curse,
Beneath the Storms of Theotormon, & the thund'ring Bellows
Heaves in the hand of Palamabron, who in London's darkness
Before the Anvil watches the bellowing flames: thundering
The Hammer loud rages in Rintrah's strong graps, swinging loud
Round from heaven to earth, down falling with heavy blow
Dead on the Anvil, where the red hot wedge groans in pain.
He quenches it in the black trough of his Forge: London's River
Feeds the dread Forge, trembling & shuddering along the Valleys.
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Apr. 16th, 2004 @ 03:59 pm Macho, macho, man! I want to be a macho man!
feeling kinda: amused

Best quote from a workmate yet:

"I'm a man - I can do two things at once!"
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Feb. 14th, 2004 @ 11:04 pm there are worse things than death, Angelus
feeling kinda: pissed off

Since I'm at home with a fever (there go my plans of breaking a few hearts this evening), and not only my friends page but also my phone is buzzing madly with people desperate to tell me that Angel's been cancelled, I figure there are worse things I could do than write my response.

I never liked David Boreanz. Let that be made damningly clear. I don't think he can act and I don't dream of dating him (or doing anything else like that to him :-p). In fact I think he's a leery, rather stupid bloke. However, Joss Whedon and all his fabulous cronies cast him in my favourite tv show, all those years ago, and let's be honest now - he clearly doesn't irritate me enough to make me turn off the set. So, I figured I was pretty much stuck with him, and yes I remain a B/A shipper largely because that was first, when things still made sense and when I most adored the programme.

So, when he left BtVS (in that cloud of uh, bus fumes?) I was sad for dear old Buffy, but I wasn't screaming "No! They can't do that! Bring him back nooooooow!" at the idiot box. I also didn't start watching A:tS (although admittedly, you could well blame British scheduling for that as much as DB, remember kids - I don't have Sky). It's only been since I started my fabulous pay-monthly-to-rent-dvds-straight-to-your-door that I've started backtracking thru Angel (aside from d/ling a few eps that carried stories thru from BtVS like the Gem of Amarra thingumy). But here again, it was largely our darling Charisma that kept me watching.

I'm clearly taking a roundabout route on this one, aren't I? So, to get back to the point. I think Joss made a bit of an error (god forbid) when he declared that IOHEFY made him realise that DB could act (what? he gets a little teary eyed and we should start throwing Oscars at him?!) and"carry a show". As much as IOHEFY is one of my favourite eps this is because it's a fascinating storyline (particularly the gender swop when we get to Angel/Buffy) not because I suddenly cast aside my lack of faith in DB to wallow in his um, capabilities.

The point? Oh yes. That right now, even I am glued to the development of A:tS' fifth season. This is because it has matured into a decent ensemble show, with interesting storylines (I'm not going to go into them here because I think I'm ahead of Brits (even those blessed with Sky) and behind Americans so I wouldn't really be able to work out filtering). It doesn't matter that DB can't carry a show anymore (except when he's evil) - because damn, we have a genius at the helm again. Guh, will people stop cancelling Joss Whedon's shows? I know geniuses (sp?) aren't supposed to be appreciated during their lifetime, but it's kinda starting to bother me.

So I'm not upset to see the end of DB. What I am upset/annoyed/generally pissed off and still searching for the right words....is that this is the end of the Buffyverse which I think is a really sad thing. Given to what extent BtVS has actually been acknowledged as a really great show (it was even featured in the holy Radio Times y'know) - why is WB so keen to send its sister (uh, brother?) show to an early grave when it was just finding its footing?

Love
-
Pissed Off of Londinum

From Joss:
When Buffy ended, I was tapped out and ready to send it off. When Firefly got the axe, I went into a state of denial so huge it may very well cause a movie. But Angel... we really were starting to feel like we were on top, hitting our stride -- and then we strode right into the Pit of Snakes 'n' Lava. I'm so into these characters, these actors, the situations we're building... you wanna know how I feel? Watch the first act of "The Body."
(Courtesy of [info]airiddh1)

Feeling proactive? Want to help? This looks like a good and easy start. Kudos to [info]sisabet for the link.
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Jan. 25th, 2004 @ 06:10 pm Notes from Peru
feeling kinda: relaxed

Greetings from Peru! In a village thing caleçled Umberumo or something. Apologies if there are weird characters = can´t quite work this keyboard! In a cybercafe (Ruth wanted to check her email, not me, amnotageekamnot). Seeing IE in Spanish is very strange.

Anyway, Peru is glorious, a real country of contrasts. I am rather sunflushed, but not really subjected to altitude sickness thanks to the fantastic cocoa tea that is available everywhere for free! Have been to many markets up here in the Andes, and everyone is terribly sweet. Lima was also good, although not as gorgeous as it is up here. Had dinners in some really rather fantastic halls, and everything is affordable, ançlthough it´s taking some getting used to work in two currencies (they´re usually happy to accept their own or dollars). Bought my mother a really rather cute teddybear made of lama fur, but it is so soft that I may have difficulty giving it up! Have also seen dancing horses (specially bred Peruvian ones), some amazing landscapes, ooh and I went swimming this afternoon in sight of a glacier which was rather exciting. I took a photo but I think it´ll come out rather looking like a cloud which is a shame. Camera is fab, and investing in a big memory card was certainly worth it!

I hope my parents are okay in Kenya, as I haven´t heard from them at all since they phoned me from Nairobi when I was still at Heathrow.

Anyway, all is good as long as I remember to do everything slowly as the high altitude results in head rushes really rather easily! Machu Picchu tomorrow (getting the train up from here). Hope all is well with everyone (was certainly cool getting an email from Debi in Vietnam here!).
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