Thursday, March 27, 2008

What I'm Doing 20:

What I'm listening to:

Never Be Lonely by the Feeling. This is a particularly weird video - not as disturbing as their one for SEWN - and I don't think it quite works, although I like the sentiment, and having seen it don't think I shall see the tube (especially in the rush-hour) in the same way again.

What I'm reading:

ADMIT ONE by Emmett James - an hilarious book which I am enjoying very much indeed. More on this later - including an interview, I hope.







What I watched last:

THE ILLUSIONIST

Neither of us could remember why we got this, though Hodmandod Senior thinks it might be because the film track was composed by Philip Glass. Anyway, a good film, quite unusual - about a mysterious man who turns up on stage somewhere in the Holy Roman Empire of the nineteenth century. I loved the close-to-mythological flash back at the start and the way it developed into something close to Sherlock Homes fare. To me it seemed to be 'about' the power of myth.

Unfortunately, it was a film rented from Amazon and because it was slightly damaged, and kept stopping, we missed small parts. We have not had much luck with Amazon DVDs recently. The last one was cracked and unplayable, and the one before that was not the film we ordered. Of course it's great when it works, and most times it does, but irritating when it doesn't.

What I'm Doing Next:

Not quite sure. Everything I've started recently has snagged to a halt due to one reason or another - but the magnolia buds are unfurling in the garden outside my window, and the sun is shining - and just because of this I am, this morning, feeling unreasonably optimistic.

6 Comments:

Blogger Susanna said...

your so positive, I think I shall have to be positive this morning!

Thu Mar 27, 12:32:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hard though, sometimes, isn't it, S?

Thu Mar 27, 12:52:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Everybody here was a fan of "The Illusionist." I hardly ever get to see a plain old movie for all the anime flying in the door on wings of Netflix--though there has been a great spate of Horatio Hornblower and Robin Hood (Praed/Connery/Trott, etc.)

I need a funny book... Some time why don't you list your favorite funny books?

Thu Mar 27, 03:08:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"anime flying in the door on wings of Netflix-" I'm afraid you've lost me a bit there, Marly! Maybe a bit of a trans Atlantic culture gap?

I'm afraid I can't think of that many funny books - there's this one I spoke of today: ADMIT ONE by Emmett James, but the only other funny ones I can think of are 64 CLARKE by Andrew Holmes, Mr PHILIPS by John Lanchester, anything by Bill Bryson makes people laugh, I think, THE YOUNG VISITERS by Daisy Ashford, LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE by Nancy Mitford, COLD COMFORT FARM by Stella Gibbons...though humour to my mind ages quite rapidly and I think you're better off reading a satirical magazine or website such as http://newsbiscuit.com/ - though even that is sometimes hit and miss too. Most humour depends on a person's culture, I guess.

Thu Mar 27, 07:02:00 pm  
Blogger jem said...

Without sounding like I'm advertising again, we use the dvd rental club 'Lovefilm' and finding their quality very good. I think in 3 years we've only ever had one dud.

Interruptions to service can be very distracting. Yesterday I started reading 'The Cloudspotter's Guide' and was thoroughly engaged only to find that pages 30 and 31 were not printed. Now I can't help but wonder if they were the MOST important pages in the whole book!

Fri Mar 28, 09:22:00 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Jem - I'm going to look into 'LoveFilm' now. We're enjoying our Saturday nights in front of a DVD these days since the TV channels seem to be offering such poor pickings.

Fri Mar 28, 09:45:00 am  

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