I dreamed of The Flaming Lips last night

August already – how did that happen? You realise that life goes fast, it’s hard to make the good things last.

I am writing this as a Word document for later c&p into Blogger because something calamitous has happened; the internet has collapsed! Well, not generally, obviously – you’d have heard. Not even at work, because everybody else is beavering away happily. Nope, it’s just on my computer. I can’t even access internal work networks, so there is literally nothing I can do. I’ve been here for a couple of hours already and I’ve cleared my drawers of crap, I’ve stuck up a few posters around the library and I’ve proof-read some new signage. Now I’m stuck. Maybe I’ll think of something to do by the end of typing this.*

M&I are very excited today because my Great Aunt Lorna and Uncle Allen have decided to come to Godzone in October with my dad. We can’t wait to have them. We’re much closer than most people are to their Great Aunt/Uncle on the husband’s side, and it will be grand for Beth to be able to spend time with them.

We had a busy weekend with people over on Friday and Saturday nights, plus I worked on Saturday and M was at a family party on Saturday afternoon and at a Korean Baths on Sunday morning. I reckon she got the better end of that deal. I get this Friday off though – I’m off to the dentist, ain’t life marvellous.

We’re still really enjoying Bleak House on the telly. We’re about halfway through – Johnny Vegas has blown up, Esther Summerson has a terrible case of acne, and I finally understand why everyone was saying “Shake me up, Judy!” when we were over last Easter. One criticism – in the book I was charmed by Skimpole until his vacuity became too obvious. In this adaptation, his charm is less clear, so John Jarndyce’s toleration of him becomes inexplicable.

There comes a moment when all the cables, leads, battery chargers and power adaptors we have ever owned gather together and assemble themselves around us and ask us the terrible question – “What has happened to your life?” – Leunig

*Erm…nope

Synopses

Arts Update

Okies! The Depression! Evil cops! The Grapes of Wrath

Car chases! Class A drugs! Witless sexism and homophobia! Vanishing Point

Postwar upheaval! Absurdly beautiful women! Spectacles! Ashes and Diamonds

Madwomen in attics! Fantastic storytelling! Reader I married him! Jane Eyre

You're not much of a muse, baby, and I'm not much of a poet

Tabernacle

Another weekend, another trip to Avoca. This time we were with Ness'n'Jem (Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy! Jeremy again!) and Nick'n'Lou. The start of the show, as usual, was Beth who delighted in showing off her latest skill: raspberry blowing. Food, beer, triv - all the usual excitement.

Arrived at this blog by accident? Wondering who the hell I am? All is revealed.

There is a light that never goes out.

xx

Yo! Blair!

Is six movies in one weekend overdoing it a bit? What if one of them is a gruelling Holocaust doco? And another is a four-hour silent biopic of Napoleon? And what if you then take a break on Sunday night by, er, watching lots of really good telly (Attenborough, Dickens)? Personally, I had a splendid time of it, and we didnae spend owt because it was all through the benevolence of the public library system. Use them kids, you never know what you’ll find.

I'm the Wienie King! Invented the Texas Wienie! Lay off 'em, you'll live longer.

Not David Stratton

Well, I finally finished Paradise Lost (15 years after I was supposed to have done it for uni) and it was worth it in the end. There’s a full review on my book blog, if you’re interested.

(As an aside, at one stage during Paradise Lost, I found myself reading 4 different books simultaneously. One was by my bed, one in my work bag and so on. I try and keep myself to one or two books at a time but a difficult read always makes it tempting to pick up something easier when you’re tired.)

We’ve watched lots of movies in the last few days. Here are my capsule reviews:

Superman Returns – Worthy return emphasising the Christ parallels. Routh is perfect as the guy in the tights, less convincing as the bumbling Clark Kent.

Giant – Classic old-school Hollywood epic featuring an unconvincingly aged Jimmy Dean

A Star Is Born – James Mason and Judy Garland are both great in a big weepie melodrama

Underground – Overlong Euro art-house, 1 part brilliance to 2 parts guff

Inherit The Wind – Scarily relevant movie about creationist fundamentalism, Frederic March is brilliant as the prosecuting lawyer

And featuring on human beatbox...

Bleurgh. I’m feeling a bit rubbish today, largely due to lack of sleep. World Cup, movies having to be watched before returning to the library, deadlines at work – none of this is helping. Maybe a quiet weekend will do the trick.

M&I had a Saturday night away from bubba, which made a nice change, and we took the opportunity to head into town to see a band; The Fiery Furnaces, no less. It was a strange gig; the small venue was only half-full and the keyboard-led band only had guitars onstage, lending a perverse Black Sabbath unplugged quality. Some of it didn’t work while some of it rawked, but then you don’t listen to the Furnaces if you want predictability.

Watched some movies, read some books. Hell, we even watched some telly thanks to the genius programme scheduler who put on Planet Earth and Bleak House one after t'other. I’ll post again when something interesting happens. Tata!

I was walking around the flower show like a leper
Coming down with some kind of nervous hysteria
When I saw you standing there, green eyes, black hair
Up against the pink and purple wisteria

Orang Utans are sceptical of changes in their cages

I'm having to force myself to write this blog because I'm feeling very drained mentally. M wasn't well over the weekend so I was looking after both her and Beth for large chunks of it whilst keeping up with the World Cup late nights and everything else that's going on. I am now plum exhausted, but we are hosting a get-together for State of Origin tonight and it's France v Portugal tomorrow at 5am and I couldn't miss Thierry Henry scoring a hatrick against the cursed Portugal could I?

I watched the inevitableEngland trudge to defeat on penalties at the obvious spot: a Jewish club in Bondi. Oh yes indeed. It was good to watch it with other England fans, but the sense of inevitability when penalties arrived was telling.


We also squeezed in a trip to the zoo, which has some spectacular views as you can see. More at the Flickr site.

It's just you and me, and maybe that's just as well/'Cos if there ain't no heaven maybe there ain't no hell