Veggielicious

Posted on 17/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

We’ve joined an organic vegetable box scheme which means every Thursday a wonderful box of fresh vegetables arrives. All are grown within the region, so nothing has to travel too far. This week our box contained potatoes, carrots, onions, a brussel sproutstalk, chard and parsnips. (We also ordered mushrooms and cherry tomatoes as extras.)

Getting sprouts on a stalk is quite something. It looks rather alien and more like an implement of destruction rather than something good to eat. Supposedly brussels still on a stalk will stay fresh longer.

This week we’ll be eating lots of soup and roast veggies. I’m also going to try my hand at sag aloo which sounds like it might be a great way to use up all the chard.

Current temperature: here 6C/43F, there 36F/2C

Posted in Sabbatical | 1 Comment

Lions for Lambs

Posted on 15/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

Thinky. This movie has many attributes to recommend it. Only six main characters who are interesting to watch. A short running time. Thought provoking. Straightforward yet not simplistic. And it’s going to irritate the hell out of the American neocons. What more could one ask?

For discussion on where the film’s title came from check out this wikipedia article.

Current temperature: here 7C/45F, there 28F/-2C

Posted in Film, Sabbatical | 2 Comments

Top Chef

Posted on 15/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

Saturday, the young’un and I indulged ourselves in a Top Chef marathon. When we left the States in August we were part the way through season three of Top Chef. Very kindly, a friend, recorded the rest of the episodes and sent us three discs worth of mayhem plus the reunion show. Well, I must say, it felt incredibly decadent to watch all those episodes one after another. We loved it! How any restaurant can organise itself to serve multiple sittings of people and serve high quality food never ceases to amaze me after watching shows like this. Clearly you can’t run a restaurant and be a slacker. Bring on season four.

PS Tom Colicchio rocks! Just so you know.

Current temperature: here 7c/45F, there 28F/-2C

Posted in Sabbatical, TV, What the heck? | 1 Comment

Times they are a changing

Posted on 14/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

I noticed a while back that my posts had really freaky time stamps on them. Well, um, my setting were still as if I was in Minnesota posting in the Central Standard Time zone. This has now been corrected. All times should be Greenwich Mean Time (GMT.) Not to be nationalistic or anything!

Current temperature: here 7C/45F, there 41F/5C

Posted in Sabbatical, Technology | Leave a comment

Pottery Update

Posted on 14/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

We are now two weeks in to our fifteen week pottery class. There are at least three times as many students and a different teacher so the whole dynamic has changed. I’m really glad I took the short class though because I think I gained enough insight and technical expertise from our original teacher so that I feel like I know what I’m doing. The new teacher is a lot more loosey goosey and go with the flow which is not the greatest way to pick up good technique but we are already making more pots and having the opportunity to be more expressive. Together the two of them could team teach a stupendous class!

The first week I made three pinch pots. One I turned into wide mouthed bowl, which is okay looking but nothing to write home about. The other two I joined together, which had me a little suspicious at first. It wasn’t clear if I could make anything the slightest bit interesting but as it has evolved this ‘pot’ has taken on a life of its own. It sort of has the feel of an Easter Island standing stone though I’ve cut holes in mine which freakily look like eyes. I’ve begun making marks in the surface that add to its strangeness. I suspect I’ll be using oxides rather that glaze for the finish but we’ll have to see how the burnishing goes.

Current temperature: here 7C/45F, there 43F/6C

Posted in Art, Sabbatical | 1 Comment

Advices and Queries, number 31

Posted on 11/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

We are called to live ‘in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars’. Do you faithfully maintain our testimony that war and the preparation for war are inconsistent with the spirit of Christ? Search out whatever in your own way of life may contain the seeds of war. Stand firm in our testimony, even when others commit or prepare to commit acts of violence, yet always remember that they too are children of God.

Current temperature: here 8C/46F, there 37F/3C

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Eastern Promises

Posted on 9/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

Engrossing. Apparently, despite the 18 rating and the quite explicit advertising, customers at the theatre we attend, had been complaining over the content of this movie. It’s a Russian mob movie. Do you expect peaches and cream? There were several hiding behind my hands moments, most especially when the knives and razors come out. The violence was mainly explosive and fleeting with the exception of the bath house scene which lasted for several minutes. That scene in particular had a very overt sexual dynamic. The homoeroticism was effectively used to exaggerate the vulnerability of Viggo’s character at the same time as threatening the machismo of the clothed assassins. This isn’t a movie I’d say I ‘enjoyed’ but I found certain performances compelling and the meandering way the tale is told with flashes of extreme violence sucked me right in.

Viggo Mortensen was so scary yet there was an under current of warmth and human affection running under the surface that it was quite a surprise to think about just how nuanced a character he was playing. Armin Mueller-Stahl was disgustingly good as the fatherly mob boss who is really utterly evil. Naomi Watts had the most thankless role in the movie but acquitted herself well. As for Vincent Cassel, isn’t this baffoonish drunken lout he continually plays becoming a bit trite? The sexual tension between Cassel and Mortensen was well leveraged to great effect and watching them prowl around, each manipulating the other just by their mere physical presence, in an attempt to get what they need, kept me engaged.

Current temperature: here 3C/37F, there 39F/4C

Posted in Film, Sabbatical | 1 Comment

Miami Vice, The Movie!

Posted on 6/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

Diverting. So we didn’t see this on its initial release for some reason so I rented the dvd to see if Michael Mann had captured some of the spirit of the original and to see how Foxx and Farrell measured up.

I had enjoyed watching the original tv series when it first aired. My parents thought I was only just old enough to watch it so it was quite something for that to happen given how adult the material was. On rewatching recently, with a more critical and experienced eye, it certain was a show where style won out over substance though I found the Sonny becomes his alter ego story line held up well. I’m just a junkie for all that angst.

So the movie provides quite a big bang for your buck and I loved the style of the piece and the set pieces. I didn’t feel very emotionally engaged but it certainly was not wasted time looking at the pretty.

Current Temperature: here 7C/45F, there 25F/-4C

Posted in Film, Sabbatical, TV | 1 Comment

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Posted on 6/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

Underwhelming. This was so disappointing. They managed to make a pretty exciting and riveting story hugely boring. I had a hard time staying awake. There were some stunningly beautiful images but they did not make up for the complete lack of life in this piece.

Current temperature: here 5C/41F, there 32F/0c

Posted in Film, Sabbatical | 1 Comment

Coriolanus

Posted on 5/11/2007 by WeatherGrrrl

What a spectacular production! The experience was surprisingly cinematic. The combination of visuals, soundtrack and on stage costume changes gave the whole production an epic sweep. The cast made the text completely accessible and there was never any point at which it dragged or was incomprehensible. The fight scenes were frighteningly violent and the actors conveyed the idea that they could actually wield real weapons and defend themselves well. There were only ten actors in the cast so everyone but the lead played multiple parts which I rather enjoyed as you had the opportunity to see different aspects of each of them.

With an all male cast I wasn’t sure what to expect with the female roles but they were played seamlessly. Nigel Gore as Volumnia (Coriolanus’ mum) was the stand out. The power and emotional depth he brought to the part was incredible.

A number of memorable moments

    Coriolanus is seen alive for the first time after the ferocious battle, mainly back lit, in a door way that reached the full height of the stage and covered in blood. This gave me goose bumps.

    Cominius trying to persuade the proletariat that they should accept Coriolanus as consul. He does what Coriolanus has baulked at. Hugely powerful.

    Aufidius and Coriolanus’s reconciliation played in such a homoeroticly charged way that you completely buy them turning from enemies to allies.

Wow, this was just mind blowingly good. Can’t wait for Julius Caesar.

Current temperature: here 8C/46F, there 34F/1C

Posted in Live Performance, Sabbatical | Leave a comment