Overkill
I just went through an airport security search behind a man who had three laptops, two mobile phones and a BlackBerry.
It just felt worthy of comment.
It’s Another World…
...the South West. While we were down there last week we picked up the local arts and events guide which was supplied in our cottage and sat in stunned amazement at some of the stuff that was listed, especially in the Theatre section.
I may regale you with the bonkers plot of a farce that was listed later this week, but for sheer jaw-dropping "no, they couldn't!" effect, I give you the summary of Imagine This, a production running from the 6th to 21st July (still time to get down there and check it out) at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth. I swear, this is a direct quotation:
"Imagine This" is a heart-warming and inspiring new musical. A story of how love knows no boundaries, and how the human spirit can rise against all adversity. Set in Warsaw, 1942, the trapped residents of the ghetto gather in a small theatre with [sic] a company of actors are presenting the epic story of Masada. Food supplies have all but disappeared, whispers of strange labour camps echo around, the SS wait in the wings... yet love still finds a way.
That's right; a combination of starvation in the Warsaw Ghetto with a dramatic representation of mass suicide. And it's a musical.
Potter 5
Saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Mrs went so far as to say it was the best of the bunch to date. I hold on to a certain fondness for The Prisoner of Azkaban, but would put number five right behind it. It was also the first one The Mrs had seen without even trying to read the book, and several reviews had predicted that people in his situation would be lost, but such was not the case.
Things that worked:
Cutting out so much of the 'Harry Potter as unbearable teenage hormonal git' stuff that made the book all but unreadable.
Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, whose routine initially looks like it's going to get old very quickly, but actually tempers the twee with an unbelievable degree of malevolence.
The wizard duel at the end, which is stunning.
The look of the whole thing, which is beautiful. David Yates has been given the next one to direct, and on the strength of this that bodes very well.
The structure, which has a proper beginning, middle and end, with just the right of incident at each point along the way. More than can be said for some of the earlier films.
The merciful brevity of the Harry/Cho romance.
Things that didn't work so well:
The fact that the Weasley twins appear to have turned 35 between films.
The loss of some of Neville's story.
Grawp, who was the weakest effect of the film by an absolutely massive margin.
On the whole - recommended.
This Queen Thing
While away and sitting watching the TV as the lovely Cornish rain came down, we all (and I should clarify that The Mrs and I were accompanied by a friend on this holiday) became increasingly annoyed by the whole fiasco around the BBC's appalling misrepresentation of the Queen. (I should clarify, in the absence of sarcasm tags, that we don't actually think the Corporation has anything to apologise for.)
Let's look at the sequence of events: Peter Fincham shows a bunch of print journos some trailer footage for a number of upcoming programmes. It includes some clips of the Queen doco, including two which are actually in a different order than they appear in the full programme. Programme makers do this all the time - look at the trailer at the end of any episode of Doctor Who; I guarantee there's not a straight linear presentation of the clips in every instance. The print journos then go out and splash the shocking behaviour of the Queen all over their front pages, and the next thing that happens is that the BBC is pushed into an apology.
Now, I could be wrong, but I haven't seen any evidence that the BBC produced a Press Pack that said "See shocking scenes of Her Maj in a bit of a huff! Gasp as she storms out of a photo session like a C-List celeb with delusions of significance!" What I have seen is a lot of newspapers leaping to conclusions and then blaming the Beeb for their own lack of journalistic rigor.
The blame for any offence caused in this whole piece of non-news seems to lie squarely at the doorstep of the print hacks and their editors as far as I can see, and I think the Beeb should be ashamed of having rolled over about the whole affair.
A Holiday Obsession
Established readers will know that late last year I tried to get a Call of Cthulhu role-playing game campaign off the ground, but it faltered due to conflicting commitments. (But one day, dammit...)
Anyway, in the interests of at least getting me a taste of the horror, a few weeks ago I picked up a copy of the Arkham Horror boardgame, which by all accounts manages to retain some of the flavour of the RPG but in more bite-sized chunks. My thinking was that we could take in away with us and try to get in a session or two if the weather wasn't great or during the evenings.
Well, we managed to do that all right, in fact, rather more than that. I think we first played it on Monday night and then out came the box every following day of the trip. It's a great game, and in the mould where the early stages are all about preparing the players for the big confrontation at the end where everyone works together - a model I've always quite liked. Anyway, the three of us became quietly obsessed by it, and The Mrs has returned slightly more loudly obsessed. He's thinking of ordering one or more expansions, he's spending time trawling the game site to glean every possible detail and nuance of play, and yesterday afternoon he badgered me to play again now we're home.
Should I be worried?
Just Call Me “Two Gigs”
Two gigs in a week that was. First there was the previously-mentioned Tori Amos do in Hammersmith, and then the actual motivator for our week in Cornwall, a Rufus Wainwright event which was part of The Eden Project's Eden Sessions 2007 last Tuesday night. Thank the lord the weather stayed more or less okay, as it was all outdoor and uncovered. But it was fine enough to sit on the grass, and the whole thing was made the more entertaining by Mr Wainwright's clear feeling of "W(here)TF?" at even being at Eden. Loved his request to the audience; "Next time, could you all please bring a black friend", and the performance itself was pretty good. There's still an occasional tendency to dirge which makes me want to slit my wrists, but when he's rockier he's very good indeed.
Ticket price included access to the Eden facilities on either the day of the gig or the day after, so we combined it with a half day at The Lost Gardens of Heligan. General view among the three of us was that Heligan is a lot more inspiring than the artificiality of Eden.
Back Then
Well, it's been a nice break, though slightly annoyingly the two best days weather-wise were last Saturday as we drove down to Cornwall and today as we drove back, but we've relaxed and had a very chilled time. I'll post about a few specifics tomorrow. but as a quick house update:
FINALLY completed on the sale of my flat on Friday, and I can now never have to deal with The Most Useless Solicitor In The World, Ever, ever again. This also means that my current bank balance is slightly silly... It won't last, because:
Survey on the new new house happened on Thursday - I'm hoping to have the report early next week, and if all goes well we could be on course for the fastest property purchase in living memory. I'll keep you posted.
Lucked Out
So considering we found the place we're staying in this week via a random trawl of the interweb, we couldn't possibly have done better. It's a stone barn conversion in a tiny little place (I think 'hamlet' is the right word) of around five houses, and it's stunning. The barn and the house to which it's attached have the most amazing garden, and the barn itself has been converted and fitted out to an unbelievable standard. We're talking Sony Bravia widescreen, flat screen TV and accompanying DVD player with surround sound standard. And the attention to detail as far as the other little touches around the place is a world apart from the usual holiday cottage rental.
As The Mrs summed it up - it's done out like a hotel, and a good hotel at that.
Like A Phoenix…
... New (ie different) house seen (by The Mrs, not by me), and fallen in love with. To the extent that we've made an offer on it and it's been accepted. Yes, that's right. Before I've even seen it in anything but photos on a website. How trusting/brave/foolhardy (delete as applicable) am I? Seeing it first thing in the morning before we set off on the trip, then I guess more of the holiday than would otherwise be the case will be spent on the phone getting things sorted, but at this point I don't mind. Based on the reaction it got from himself, this could be a major winner.
It's more (but managably more) expensive than the other place, but wouldn't need anything like the work doing on it (in fact, it doesn't need any work doing on it), so in the long run I think we'll be winners. And best of all, it was on with two estate agents, the same firm as the house we lost, and another. It was through the other that the viewing was arranged, and when the first lot called to say that they were sorry we couldn't see the house after all because the owner had sold it through another agent, The Mrs had the inestimable joy of saying "Yes. To me."
So we're off for a week, but the laptop is going with us, so there will be some degree of blogging. And when we get back I may actually be able to post on other subjects than housebuying.
Well it could happen.
Lost The House
Looking for alternatives. Have actually got over it curiously quickly - I think being as fucked off with the vendor as I've become helps.
Weirdly, this might all turn out for the best - now we have the cash from my flat and an agreed mortgage ready to go. Picking ourselves up, The Mrs is going to see some new places in the same area tomorrow. Who knows? A few weeks from now we might have a new home after all.