WeatherGirl’s Station

We went to see Brief Lives at the Mercury Theatre staring Roy Dotrice. It’s a one man performance based on the writings of John Aubrey. The reclusive antiquarian takes a nostalgic journey through history, telling tales, “including the bits the the history books leave out.”

It was a very enjoyable performance filled with humour and pathos.

Current temperature: here 6C/43F, there 30F/-1C

So we’re not the only people from our little berg on the lone prairie spending a sabbatical this side of the pond. Our friends, the Kildegaards, are having a fine time just across the Channel in Denmark. Since they were gadding about this side of the water we took the opportunity to meet at the Natural History Museum. A few moments after arriving in the grand entrance the museum was evacuated for ’security’ reasons. Just our luck! No matter, we crossed the street and hung out at the V&A instead.

Much conversation and a little wandering around later and we headed back across the road to visit The Darwin Centre, a new public research facility that is a part of the Natural History Museum. We were lucky enough to sign up for a tour and spent an educational hour exploring the museum’s wet specimen collection and learning about the facility. We even got to see items from Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle.

After the Kildegaards left on their journey back to Denmark we headed back to the V&A for dinner and the chance to view the exhibit, Out of the ordinary: Spectacular Craft.

Queen of the Night by Olu Amoda.

Olu Amoda is a sculptor, designer and teacher from Nigeria. He used materials salvaged from the scrap yards and streets of Lagos.

“Nails are used in my work as a metaphor. They have survived generations and remain one of the most ideal and enduring pieces of engineering.”

Topologies by Anne Wilson (below)

Anne Wilson lives and works in Chicago, USA. Traditional textile techniques such as lace making, crochet and knitting are integral to her practice.

“…More constant is my interest in material histories and issues that come out of the everyday as they relate to our human condition.”

As an embroiderer I find much of the modern art inspired by this noble and ancient art to be lacking in numerous ways. Young artists seem to have failed to grasp that poor and skill-less imitation is not flattering. (A notable exception is the work of Jess Larson.) This piece, by Anne Wilson, breaks the mould and demonstrates that the artist understands some of the underlying drives that make ’stitching’ so addictive and life enhancing.

Stunning. Another film of epic proportions that doesn’t drag for a single moment. Hauntingly beautiful, it just sucked me in. Elegiac for a past time and place, winding towards a predestined tragic end. A poem that tells how violence merely begets more violence. How this movie didn’t rack up the Oscar nominations is a complete mystery. The music and cinematography wove together intimately and evoked an aching melancholy.

(For reasons known only to them, our local cinema brought this movie back for two more screenings. I so glad they did it, it was spectacular.)

Current temperature: here 6C/43F, there 25F/-4C

So, about one am I could feel a definite tremble in the floor through my feet. Strange, thinks I, I’ve never noticed the trains causing vibrations before, I didn’t think we were that close to the railway line. Well, it wasn’t a train. It was, apparently, an earthquake. Who’d have thunk it! That’s number three for me; my first was in Morris, Minnesota, my second in Pasadena, California and now, my third while in Colchester, Essex.

The US Geological Survey is reporting it as of magnitude 4.7 in Lincolnshire. The USGS has a really cool web site where you can check out details of the latest tremors around the world and report your experience of the event. Which I did, yay me, doing my bit for science!

Current temperature: here 4C/39F, there 18F/-8C

Cool. This was a great little movie featuring a range of interesting quirky characters who I actually enjoyed spending time with. Ellen Page is one cool actress, it’s amazing to think she was the ‘little’ girl in Hard Candy. That’s quite a range for someone so young. I’m very pleased with the way the movie resolved the relationship between Juno and her baby’s prospective father. Initially, the script is written in such a way that he has your sympathy and you see his wife as a less lovable character. But as he develops a relationship with Juno things become creepier and creepier. Fortunately they bring things to a head before you think about deserting the cinema.

It was nice seeing Minnesota on the big screen though the film was clearly made on a tiny budget as the cinematography was not the greatest and the focus puller was having a rather hard time of things.

I laughed a lot and would watch this again.

Current temperature: here 12C/54F, there 19F/-7C

Harmless. So the young’un and I whiled away a few hours with this movie. Yes, the premise is rather odd as a father tells the story of how he met and married his daughter’s mother by anonymising his experiences with three women. And, yes, the male lead did not really have too much going for him in the way of personality, being of the vapid and bland variety. But I did enjoy watching Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher create two interesting fleshed out adult female characters. The third main female role, played by Elizabeth Banks, had so little to work with that she really made no impression at all.

Current temperature: here 12C/54F, there 19F/-7C

Holy moley! Never has a three hour movie flown by so fast. Wow. That was amazing. Epic on a gigantic scale. Daniel Day Lewis was incredible and mesmerising. And not for one single minute did I know how it was going to play out. Who was going to do what to whom? That is a very rare thing with movies today. Watching the danger and awfulness of conditions in the early days of drilling for oil it makes you wonder how they ever managed it. I especially enjoyed the score which definitely added to the tension I experienced. There are so many layers and insights to be seen that I’m still boggling at the enormity of the whole thing.

Current temperature: here 12C/54F, there 19F/-7C

Sweet. A rather old fashioned family film but enjoyable nonetheless. The water horse was a cutie and quite expressive. The ending was rather bittersweet and much better for it. People faced their fears and recognised their own failings. Nicely acted by all.

Current temperature: here -1C/30F, there 36F/2C

Disappointing. I was so looking forward to this movie. The advertising really whetted my appetite and I went into the cinema with great expectations. Sadly I discovered that the music just wasn’t up to the job. There are about two decent songs in the production and the rest just sounds like one long moan of sameness. The visuals reinforced this monotony thought there were moments that were quite stunning but certainly not enough to effectively engage my interest for more than momentary pleasure. The threat of falling asleep was ever present. I think Tim needs to look at finding some new line of exploration as this is merely more of the same and adding nothing new to things he’s already said.

Current temperature: here 5C/41F, there 5F/-15C

Stunning. This, right here, is why Phi and I go to the movies so often. So we can come out of the cinema and spend the entire walk home discussing what we just saw. There are so many parallels with Fargo here. An amazing landscape that the film makers seem to be in tune with. A slow steady pace that lets you cogitate on what happens but doesn’t go so slow it gets tedious. Dark, dark humour. A seriously cool lawman.

The presence of evil is soaked right through this movie, its effects and the the exercise there of, and I sort of got to thinking of the bad guy as the devil. May be that was not the intention of those involved but it was an easy leap for me to make. Also they didn’t pull any punches which led to some shocking scenes. Any other outcome would have completely trashed the endeavour.

The sight and sound of West Texas was pitch perfect. And as for Josh Brolin? He seems to be aging into a career.

Go, see, watch, think. Holy cow it’s good.

Current temperature: here 3C/37F, there -11F/-24C