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Thursday 20 November 2008
You Can Tell You're Getting Older....
.... when you can't even be bothered staying up for midnight on New Year's Eve.
We've had a quiet one in and having watched some crap TV, played on the Playstation, and eaten a very pleasant dinner, we're planning on being in bed before too long.
And I don't care at all. I've never quite seen the point of New Year - it always seems such an artificial thing to make a big deal of.
Oh well - have a great 2005.
Honoured
Oh dear - the New Year's Honours really do make it abundantly clear what a nonsensical and irrelevant institution the things are. Inevitable sportspeople and aging thesps aside, it's time to recognise the contribution of, for example, one of the civil servants who couldn't remember what had actually happened in the Blunkett/Visa affair.
Why on earth do they bother with this nonsense?
Marple II
Didn't watch the 4.50 From Paddington on Boxing Day, but really meant to mention that the week before's The Murder at the Vicarage had us in fits. We couldn't actually watch beyond the second ad break or so, because every time Janet McTeer came on screen we were so distracted by the work she's had done - huge lips and big staring eyes, all made the more obvious by the 1950s make up.
Really, seriously, what a very bad idea that was.
This coming Sunday is the last of the Agatha Christie: Marple programmes, and I do kind of look forward to it. A Murder Is Announced has always been my favourite Miss Marple. It's so fantastically over-blown: three murders, one attempted muder, and by the end of it no fewer than three separate residents of a small English village are revealed to be imposters. Happy times.
More Tsunami
I remarked to David earlier that the last news event I can remember which so totally dominated the news bulletins for so long was 11th September 2001. It's incredible that three days after the event you can still get a 30 minute news programme that reduces all other news to a couple of minutes at the end. But I think that just indicates the scale of what's happened, and what continues to be realised about it.
This evening's news had footage of some of the first landings on the closer in of some of the more remote island chains affected, and in many cases the devastation is total. It's like post-hurricane footage, and though common sense says that a tidal wave (or waves) could be as devastating, somehow it takes seeing scenes like this to make the actual force that can be generated real.
Donations from the UK are being co-ordinated through the Disasters Emergency Committee, through whose site you can also make donations yourself.
Jon and David's Big Day Out
In a desperate attempt not to spend the entire break slobbing around playing games and doing not much else, we went out for the day today. A drive to the coast - to Deal in fact - blew the cobwebs out, then we tried to give in to David's desire to explore a castle, only to discover that Dover Castle is (very selectively) 'Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in November, December and January'). With a view to seeing Battle Abbey we headed across Kent, only to get to Hastings late enough that there wasn't much light left, so we took a walk on the beach and ate chips instead. The beach did another good job on the cobwebs.
Now it's nice to be home and cosy.
Daggers Drawn
We went to see House of Flying Daggers last night, and I can safely say enjoyed it hugely. I think it benefits from us having seen Hero so relatively recently, because it's possible to appreciate the development in style of both storytelling and direction between the two. There are a few points of dissatisfaction, chief of which is that much of the latter half of the film builds up to a major confrontation between the Government forces and those of the House of Flying Daggers, which then isn't shown. Call me shallow if you will, but I really wanted to see the battling hoards. Fair enough it was a much more personal tale, and it's appropriate that the ending focuses on the personal, but I think it was a mistake to build up so much investment in that event and then not pay it off.
Otherwise though, pretty damn stunning.
Halo Again Again
Forgot to mention that having been introduced to the world of Halo when David bought Halo 2 on its release, and having decided to start over from the beginning of the first game in order to get used to it, I actually finished the second one the weekend before Christmas.
Yes, I know it took a while, but as previously established I'm not that much into shooty-shooty video games.
So Much For 'No News'
Just before the break I remarked that I wasn't talking much about the news at the moment, but today it's difficult not to. I spent most of the journey back into town listening to coverage of the Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami, and it's extremely sobering stuff. It sounds like at least nine or ten different countries, including several which are entirely comprised of islands which may not even be there any more, are directly affected. The reported figure for likely deaths is 13,000 at the moment, but I don't see how it can possibly be that low - the impact is so wide I'd expect that figure to grow by four or five times at least.
The largest earthquake for 40 years, and it's hard to imagine, from the point of view of simply the scale and complexity of the relief that will be needed, how it could possibly have happened in a worse location.
Outta Here
Right, I'm probably going to be offline for the next couple of days, so have a good break everyone, enjoy what time off you have, and don't eat too much turkey.
See you in a few.
No News
It occurs to me that recently this has very much veered over the line into diary more than blog - I'm not linking much, I'm not commenting much on world affairs and news, and I'm dwelling very much on day-to-day life.
How dull must this be for you? I really need to find the time and energy to get things going properly again.
Anyway, a few phone calls and some dealing with emails apart, I've mostly been switching off from work today and heading into wind-down mode. I doubt there's much in the news I actually could be commenting on at the moment, apart from the almost inevitable analysis of the pre-Christmas shopping trends....
Drinking and Working
This evening I've been out with the London-based Millarworlders (and a few others from slightly further afield) for a couple of drinks. My participation was slightly curtailed, as I was late getting there due to work and had to leave before the gang went off to get food, as tomorrow's (hopefully) my last day in the office before the break. (Plus, I went through my 'going to the Wong Kei to enjoy the rude service' phase years ago).
Tomorrow promises to be fairly major, as not only do I have to try and get the decks cleared ahead of the break, but I'll be out for half the day at a big pitch. What kind of client gets you in to pitch two days before Christmas? Actually, a very big one.
If I do indeed get to be away from the office after tomorrow I'm planning on spending quite a large chunk of Thursday doing bugger all.
The 'Break' Starts Here
Well, I seem to be done with everything I can get finished with before the break - I'll no doubt be talking to the office tomorrow, and there's a part of me that thinks I should go in even if it's just for an hour or two to wrap up some admin, but I don't have a lot of enthusiasm for that. The pitch went well as far as I can tell, so we just have to wait and see what happens there.
Shopped
Ended up doing most of my shopping at Canary Wharf today, and it wasn't at all as bad as I was expecting - getting there early clearly helped: by the time we left, the car park was a good deal busier than when we arrived.
I was struck as I wandered in and out of shops that I don't really get a lot of pleasure from shopping these days. I used to like the process of going out looking for just the right thing for someone, having an idea and following it up, or looking around for inspiration, but none of that seems to have much appeal now. It's not that I don't enjoy giving gifts, but the pleasure in going looking seems to have faded in a major way.
Maybe it's an effect of having done so much shopping online in the last couple of years, or a result of what seems to be an ever-shrinking list of people I need to shop for. Whatever it is, it's yet another example of an area in which the fun seems to have gone out of Christmas.
Christmas Shopping
Ridiculously, because of being all over the place for the last few weeks, I'm going to have to do pretty much all of my Christmas shopping this weekend, which isn't ideal, obviously. Fortunately I don't have a huge number of people to buy for, but I can't help thinking every shopping centre in the city is going to be hell today and tomorrow.
You've Been Marple'd
Forgot to mention that we watched the first of the new ITV series on Sunday night. The inanely named Agatha Christie: Marple seems to be one of those badly-conceived, badly-realised pieces of nonsense that ITV has become so good at in recent years. The four stories that they're doing to kick the thing off have a combined cast list that reads like Who's Who in British Character Acting, and I think therein lies a large part of the problem: It's like they've all got together for a jolly fun romp, and they're having such a lark at it all that they seem not to be taking it very seriously. Add to that the fact they they appear to be messing with the plots, which is a cardinal sin as far as Christie is concerned, and you've got the makings of a bit of a mess.
I don't have very high hopes for the rest of them.
Post-Blunkett
My word but the news last night was entertaining. Blunkett appears to have set new records for self-serving hypocrisy, which is remarkable when you look at the high bar he'd set for himself previously.
The idea that anyone in a position of authority, never mind a Secretary of State, could pass an issue on to a subordinate and say "something needs to be done about things like this", while not expecting them to get on and facilitate it suggests a degree of naïveté that none but the most credulous could accept. Blunkett may be many things - a reactionary bigot chief among them - but I'm quite certain he's not that unsophisticated.
The way he played off the situation regarding his kid against the visa situtaion in his interview with Andrew Marr was little short of shameless.
Essentially, he's decided to show remorse now that he's been found out, and is somehow trying to take the moral high ground while doing so, while also trying to play for some sympathy.
Unreal.
Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
Words cannot describe my joy, delight, crazed happiness and satisfaction. Who cares if some of those are the same thing?
Amsterdam'd
Quiet for the last few days because I've been in Amsterdam and made a conscious decision to avoid being online. Good trip, if more than a little wild, but absolutely shattering - there's something fundamentally wrong about already being on the road at the time of the morning when Radio Four picks up from the World Service and you get five minutes of Rule Britannia and and the like, which is how I started Friday.
From there it was pretty full-on, and let's face facts, I'm not as young as I was.
Still, back now, with real life happening all around me, and the last mad rush towards Christmas now well under way.
A One-Off, I Promise
For certainly the first time, and almost certainly the only one if I have anything to do with it, I'm going to post in admiration of Michael Howard.
Listening to Yesterday In Parliament this morning as he recounted the criticisms of practically the entire cabinet which appear in David Blunkett's new biography was an unalloyed joy. The BBC cover it here, and inevitably Simon Hoggart covers it in his Guardian Sketch.
"It is said Mr Blunkett has been ringing round his "friends" to explain or perhaps even apologise for his intemperate words."
Blunkett must surely now be seen as the biggest liability any government could possibly be saddled with. The man needs taking out and shooting.
China In The News
The business news this morning is full of IBM's decision to sell its home computer business to Chinese firm Linovo. The reasons, as outlined by IBM and various analysts, lie in the fact that PC manufacture is increasingly low-margin, and as I know from personal experience, IBM have been repositioning themselves as a services business for some while. In China of course the margin can be lower, because costs are commensurately lower too, which will give Lenovo the ability to make money where IBM couldn't. By paying less and working people harder in other words.
In the meantime, the foundation of China's economic growth is its coal industry, and as the BBC reports, that industry killed 15 miners a day in the first nine months of this year because of safety shortfalls and lack of regulation.
The relentless move to expand trade with China is frequently supported by claims that it will force China to open up more and then by extension somehow decide to give up totalitarianism out of the goodness of its heart. I can't, surely, be the only one who sees this as just pouring apparently limitless amounts of money into China with no actual incentive provided to encourage them to change?
Incredible
Saw The Incredibles last night after a couple of weeks of meaning to, and I'm sorry we delayed. That's a cracking film - great as a super hero film in its own right, great as a James Bond pastiche, and technically astonishing as a piece of animation - the quality of some of the images was mind-blowing. It also works on a number of levels - plenty of gags that adults will get while the kids laugh at the slapstick and the super-powered children.
It's a while since I've been in a position to give an unashamed rave to a film, but The Incredibles gets one. Go see it.
Coincidentally
I was going to mention that tickets went on sale yesterday for Acorn Antiques - The Musical, and that we're currently in paroxysms of confusion over whether we want to see a Victoria Wood performance or a Julie Walters one. They're sharing the part of Mrs Overall it seems. Current thinking is a Victoria performance.
And curiously, someone with a view to promoting it has decided to do so via the last posting I did which mentioned it, which currently has my most recent comment
Terror! Terror!
Last week, in a mad rush of blood to the head, David and I watched the ITN News and saw them 'exclusively reveal' that the authorities had foiled a plot to fly planes into Canary Wharf tower.
It was by far the most ridiculous piece of reportage I think either of us had seen in a very long time. There were no facts at all presented, just a lot of "we've been told by the authorities" guff, and the whole thing looked unbelievebly spurious.
Somehow though I'd missed the fact that it might in fact have been totally ficticious.
December Already
This year - which has been a momentous one on many levels, has passed so quickly that it's hard to conceive that we're now in its final month.
Today represents five months since I first set eyes on David (barring fleetingly being in the same place but not introduced about eight years ago), and that's clearly the *most* momentous change, but it's also been a year in which I've tried to re-establish myself after the knocks to my self-confidence that the end of last year inflicted, and develop a generally more positive outlook.
It's been an odd year in many respects (and clearly it's not over yet), but not unpleasantly so.
Not Linking But Thinking
So here we are on another World AIDS Day, and the Link And Think initiative which I took part in in 2003, 2002 and 2001 seems not to be running this year, which is a pity, as it inevitably proved useful and thought-provoking.
On the other hand, to my own great annoyance, I haven't found the time to do enough research to have linked anything in particular anyway, beyond the usual organisations. The news this morning was full of the fact that too many of the generic drugs targeted at the world's poorest sufferers are failing quality standards and so not getting to the people who need them.
I have found myself thinking about AIDS and HIV afresh this year - new relationship and all that, and if I find the time to do the subject justice I'll get somethoughts down on that subject in the next few days.
Sorry for being so rubbish.