Caboose

Another rental from Heffer’s, this time the DVD of Angela’s Ashes. I missed the whole fuss when the book came out due to being at the other end of the world but I read it not long after I got back and loved the way it showed the joy in life despite misery all around.

There’s a link with last week’s film, Emily Watson. In fact I thought she was better in Angela’s Ashes than Breaking the Waves. She does an excellent job of looking crushed and miserable but then occasionally there’s a tiny smile like sunshine after rain. She’s a fantastic actress and beautiful too.

I was also amused to see Pauline McLynn as Aunt Aggie, whenever I see her I still think of Mrs Doyle.

Now I can play my favourite old Spectrum games on my PDA (a Sony Clié T625) withZX-Pilot. Ahh, nostalgia!

The Gazetteer for Scotland and especially its Stirling section are full of interesting information.

Some of the details seem slightly confused, the reference to Torbrex High School is one example (surely they mean Stirling High School?).

I had never thought that the Drip Road might actually lead to a place called Drip.

Update: aargh! I had used “it’s” when I meant “its”.

A couple of old nursery rhymes have been going annoying me recently. It’s one of those weird things where you don’t think about something for years, forget it even exists and then suddenly it’s in your head and won’t leave.

Links are here and here.

I was wandering into town this afternoon when I realised that the only conversation I’d had today was with the cat. That’s more than slightly scary.

I’ve been renting quite a few videos from Heffers recently, this weekend’s was Breaking the Waves. I had heard lots of good things about it but missed it when it first came out and had never got round to seeing it. Maybe I was expecting too much.

I’ve liked the other Lars von Trier films I’ve seen but Breaking the Waves was just dull. I didn’t feel any involvement with the characters, most of whom were utterly two-dimensional. After watching quite a lot of european co-productions I can handle the random foreign actors, but none of the cast seemed to be trying very hard.

The photography was also very intrusive, the hand-held shakycam work grated after a while and the poor lighting made some scenes look like somebody’s home video. This may have been deliberately using natural light but there’s nothing natural about films, the film medium doesn’t have the same range as the human eye, you need extra light.

I actually got up halfway through the film to hang up my washing, that’s how much the film grabbed me. I amused myself by trying to guess when the film was supposed to be set but never did work it out (70’s cars but 80’s ticket machine on the bus, how geeky is that?).

Don’t Link to Us! lists web sites with bizarre restrictions on their usage that attempt to prevent other sites linking to them.

Many of them seem to think that by just looking at the site you’re accepting their terms and conditions. That would be interesting if applied to other things, pay-per-view advertising billboards being one of the more extreme ideas I’ve thought of.

On Monday night I met up with Dugly to go and see Beth Orton again, this time at the Royal Albert Hall.

The concert was good, although the atmosphere was probably better in Cambridge the acoustics are much better at the Albert Hall. It’s also a very impressive building, especially when you’re seated in the very top row of seats. As Dugly commented, it was like watching the concert from a helicopter.

Beth didn’t come up with any jokes this time but still seemed very nervous on stage.

The Guardian has a review on its site. Like them I thought the encores were the best bit of the concert.

Test posting by WAP. This is a quick test of posting via wapblogger.

Notes: The title is generated automatically by taking the first five words, it would be better if it had stopped at the period. Here’s the link for wapblogger.

12:25 (nr Alexandra Palace) It would be difficult to overstate just how horrible this train is. The grotty rolling stock, the old man snorting and gargling in his sleep, the slightly odd-looking twitchy guy who decided to sit next to me — with his collection of tatty carrier bags — in a mostly empty carriage.

The oddest part were a couple who got on just before we left Kings Cross. A tall, well dressed man and your typical drunken wee Scotsman, as found throughout London. The tall man seemed determined to wind up the Scot, insulting him and accusing him of making threats, all the time calling him sir and speaking oddly polite and uninflected English. This strange argument continued until the wee man got off at Finsbury Park.

Now everything has gone quiet, apart from the snorer. I’ve reached the point where I wish he’d either just roll over or choke on his own phlegm.

1:08 (nr Ashwell & Morden) Great. Somebody’s throwing up on the floor.