WeatherGirl’s Station

Yes, the experiments continue, adventures with the bottle (dye that is) are amusing the locals. I must say I enjoyed being a blonde but it was pretty hard work keeping up with the colour creep. Redying so frequently costs time and money. So I thought I’d try the other end of the colour spectrum this time. Now, I have black hair. One of the consequences is it has to be cut a little shorter to look ‘right’. (As a blonde it needed to be longer so the look was softer around the face.) Now the colour creep is must less noticeable as I have naturally dark brown hair so I can wait longer between touch ups. A good thing with the up coming extravaganza of overseas sabbaticalness.

Current temperature: 68F/20C

Oddity. It was great to watch a movie, for once, where the main protagonists were women. While I found some of the personalities irritating from time to time it was still interesting to follow the lives of these women. Joan Allen is wonderful, both brittle and strong at the same time. There’s a strong current of humour but it’s rather bittersweet, like a good dark chocolate, so it may not suit all tastes. Kevin Costner puts in another workman like performance as … Kevin Costner.

Current temperature 68F/2oC

On Friday 13th July the exhibit Horizontal Grandeur opens at the local history museum hosted by the Stevens County Historical Society. Both Phi and I have had pieces accepted. Top/left: the only trees were wavy lines, top/right: Silo are mine. Bottom/left: Fighting Back (Tilting at Windmills?), bottom/right: Waiting are Phi’s

The title of the show comes from a piece written by Bill Holm that you can find here

I wrote descriptions for each of my pieces plus a short artist statement that I’m including here.

the only trees were wavy lines

All the Dutch elm beetle left us on its trek westwards was this stump. Yet the remains are still beautiful and infinitely fascinating.

Silo

Seasons change and sunlight captures different moods in the metal. The plastic refuse caught in the structure flaps in the wind like a celebratory banner.

Artist Statement for Horizontal Grandeur

I took my first photograph when I was 7 or 8 years old. It was of my Gran by the amusements near Ventnor pier on the Isle of Wight, UK. Some how I managed to miss my Gran completely; all you can see are pleasure boats floating in a shallow pool. When I look at the photograph all I remember is my Gran smiling, waiting patiently for me to take her picture.

As I continue to take photographs I’m always looking for a different point of view, an unexpected subject, and a way to remember a moment in time.

Opening reception is 6.30pm - 8.30pm.

Current temperature: 81F/27C

The Tour started this weekend with two stages in the UK! Reporting suggests over one million people lined the prologue route in London and two million were on the streets for stage 1 from London to Canterbury. Yee ha! It was a shame not to have been there but we could not have left the US early enough. Any way it looked fantastic on tv and Phil and Paul sure sounded thrilled to be commentating from home territory. Both stages even had thrilling endings.

To find grand tour live coverage where ever you are in the world check out cyclingfans.com

Current temperature: 81F/27C

It’s after 5pm and I just cycled to return dvd rentals to the Movie Gallery. The heat is horrendous. There is no breeze. I’m now headed back upstairs to collapse in a sweaty heap in front of the a/c and watch today’s stage of the Tour de France which I TiVoed this morning. Thank goodness for modern technology.

Current temperature: 97F/36C

Well, now we really do have to leave the country.

Renters have been found.

Phi has his paper work all sorted. In like 5 days flat. I must say I’m amazed that they could process it that quickly. The visa cost an arm and a leg but at least they didn’t make us wait 3 months for it. (Young’un and I were already covered, he due to dual national status, me with my green card — which is, in fact, white.)

Plane tickets have been acquired. Boy did that make the bank account squeal.

Not sure where we’ll be living for the next year but we’ll be turning up on my mum’s doorstep so we aren’t immediately contemplating cardboard boxes on street corners.

Current temperature: 73F/23C

Cool. One scary movie that looses its way towards the end but still rocks hard enough that it is worth seeing. Not my usual type of movie viewing but the good doctor (aka Mark Kermode) raved about it when it was first released in the UK, so I checked it out.

I love the fact that the six main protagonists are all women and that they don’t always conform to some movie stereotype. They are real people reacting honestly to an escalatingly scary situation. And boy is it scary. The tension is awful (in a really good way) and I sat glued to the screen willing them to survive the horrific situation they find themselves in.

My main problem with the movie is when we finally get to see the ‘big bad’ that threatens our intrepid heroines. I had a seriously deflating wtf moment. It irritated me enough that I wasn’t able to just ‘go with it’ as you sometimes need to do with movies like this. Despite that I recommend you check this movie out as it is seriously scary and where else are you going to see a group of women being portrayed as honestly.

Note: Get the unrated version. The original American release had an alternate ending that did not do justice to the material.

Current temperature: 75F/24C

Fun. Harmless romcom that I rather enjoyed though I will admit Hugh Grant is getting a little old to star in this kind of material these days. I heard some savage reviews by middle aged men but, hell, what do they know about the female audience member pov? Kristen Johnston, as the sister, has all the best lines. She’s wicked!

Current temperature: 63F/17C

Brilliant. I loved this movie. Yes it’s disturbing because the hero is the bad guy but it’s done with such panache and great performances that I went with it. What I especially liked was that I didn’t know how they were going to end it. I did manage to work out a couple of the twists along the way but I still had the pleasure of knowing the ending, at the end.

Kevin Costner and William Hurt were fabulous. The whole movie depends on you believing in their relationship and accepting the techniques used to portray it. There were a couple of scenes that gave me chills, especially in the car when both laugh at something in exactly the same way at exactly the same time. Oh, wow, that was creepy and so well done.

At least one critic has roasted Demi Moore’s performance but I enjoyed it. I like that she was an older woman who had a quirky personality. Female characters can be more than mothers or sex objects. Nice to also see Mr Costner with an appropriately aged partner. Yeah, Marg Helgenberger is hot, and not your average middle aged woman, but she brought experience to the table and I do so hate to see older men paired with almost teenager-like girls. It may massage the ego of middle aged male movie stars but that’s just creepy.

Current temperature: 82F/28C

Scared silly. You may not be but I was. Not a bad retelling of Rear Window, with a number of shocks along the way to its inevitable conclusion. Attractive cast, wonderfully creepy bad guy (David Morse) and an interesting mum (Carrie-Anne Moss) who we could do with more of.

Problems? There were a few. The sound boom put in a couple of appearances in the open scenes. As for the adolescent boy voyeuristic tendencies they assumed of the audience, well that deserves a smacking. They spend significant screen time with the main character and his friend ogling the half naked teenage girl neighbour. Then a minute or so of dialogue trying to suggest his interest was more than purile. Sorry guys you don’t get to have it both ways.

Current temperature: 82F/28C