We, that is Mrs L & I, went to see “The New Statesman, Episode 2006”, staring Rik Mayall as Alan B’stard on Saturday. Marsha Fitzalan also reprises her role as his wife Sarah. Sadly, no new jokes, its the same old B’stard, using politics to make money, and have as much, if a bit too fast sex as possible. He’s joined New Labour and works in No. 9 Downing St now. …
I spent the weekend in Amsterdam, and reported it on my sun/oracle blog. It’s just a travelog, and so I have made this pointer article much shorter. I have posted a full set slide show on this page though, the original only has two photos but catalogues places I and Mrs L. visited. …
On my way down from Edinburgh, I finished “Watching the English” by Kate Fox. This was recommended to me by Geoff Arnold. The book is bloody funny and so true. Its written by one of Britain’s leading social anthropologists, using her science to observe the English. She has the grace to start her book with a discourse on the “Participant Observer” paradox and manages to be funny about this as well. The book covers manners, class, the pub, queuing, language and dress, together with some other issues that I can’t remember, but always returns to our humour. …
I started to watch the Fantastic 4 on the flight home, but fell asleep. That good!! 😯 …
I’ve just re-seen Batman Begins
. Its on the plane, the sound track is piss poor, the screen is tiny but these limitations only enhance the quality of the script & the drama of the story. This is what super-hero fiction is really about. As argued by the Captain, all the predecessor Batman stories remain cartoons (well they would be wouldn’t they) and we’ve been waiting for this story. …
There’s no Dr. Who this week, so we popped out to the pictures to watch “Batman Begins”. …
The final episode of the series was shown over the last weekend and IMO, its not as good as the penultimate episode. I’d been questioning whether the change from four part (30 minute) episodes to what seemed like single or double 45 minute episodes worked and had just come to the conclusion that they did, so imagine my surprise when they brought all the threads crashing together in the penultimate episode. There seemed so little to do to finish the stories, only 1/2 million Daleks to destroy and billions of humans to save. All in a day’s work for the Doctor. …
During the recent election campaign, and one of the small left wing acts I took was to re-install “L’Internationale” on my phone. Its been the revolutionary anthem of European socialists since the Paris Commune, and is the more likely song to have been played at the Finland Station as Lenin arrived. (What? See also here…). …
I went to see the Hitch Hiker’s Guide and reviewed it on my sun/oracle blog. I wasn’t impressed. …
A mind game for journey’s. Define a category for which there are many answers, such as States of the USA, non-members of the UN, Schwarzenegger (or Streep) films and then each player bids as to how many answers they can name. The highest bidder, (the last bid after everyone else has passed) starts and seeks to meet his or her bid. If they succeed, they win, if they fail (you’d best agree a time limit) the other players get to offer answers. There’s to be no repetition and the last player (again best agree a time limit) to state an answer wins. …