35mm
Posted: Mon 8 August, 2005 Filed under: News, Photography, Thoughts 1 Comment »I’m going to be slightly hypocritical on this, as I don’t use a 35mm camera myself, but I do think it’s pretty sad that Dixons has announced it is to stop stocking 35mm cameras once their current supplies run out. A lot of new photographers go straight to digital cameras now (I know, because that’s what I did) but that doesn’t mean there’s not still a large demand for 35mm cameras.
Many camera companies are having trouble at the moment with continuing to manufacture their 35mm range, and are all heading towards making only digital cameras. Maybe this is progress, the gradual removal of a film standard in favour of digital. Maybe it’ll just make 35mm cameras a more “professional” choice – but I know I’d hate to see them die out altogether.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Posted: Mon 8 August, 2005 Filed under: Reviews(ish) 1 Comment »Well, last night we finally got round to seeing “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory“. And loved it.
It sticks pretty closely to the book, the only real addition being that Willy Wonka now has a bit of a backstory showing why/how he became so interested in chocolate, and some of the motivations for it all. Which actually worked pretty well, it has to be said.
There are so many bits that stick in the mind, the squirrels are fantastic, the Oompa Loompa songs had me howling with the way they’re done (and how impressive is it that there’s only one guy playing all the Oompa Loompas?), the TV room referring to 2001:A space odyssey, the sheer beauty and accuracy of the portrayal of the Bucket household, and many others.
A couple of small points jarred, such as constantly referring to chocolate as candy, (the film seems to be set in the UK, but one assumes it needed a couple of points for american audiences to refer to) and the use of a ten-dollar bill for Charlie to buy the chocolate bar, which seemed like an odd piece of continuity error, but these are minor jars, nothing major.
Johnny Depp is fantastic as Wonka, with a role that must have been at least semi-influenced by Michael Jackson. I think that really Tim Burton was the only current director capable of making the entire thing seem as weird, dark and magical as it appeared – he has a vision that seems so in tune with Dahl’s original, always enjoying the multi-layered stories with a slight “adult” tinge while maintaining the child-friendly appeal of the main story.
But all the same, I do think the show-stealers were the squirrels and the Oompa-Loompas…
Magpie
Posted: Mon 8 August, 2005 Filed under: Animals 3 Comments »One small interesting event over the weekend – we had a magpie in the chimney. Luckily (for the magpie) we haven’t yet got round to properly blocking the chimney, so it came right down into the fire-space which luckily (for us) has a board over it to block draughts etc.
Of course, if we hadn’t had the board, either a) the magpie wouldn’t have fallen down the chimney in the first place, or b) we’d have come home to an insane magpie flapping about, a moronic (and slightly insane) Hound chasing it around, or c) home to a dead magpie and a very smug cat.
Instead we got home to a quiet house, with some weird noises coming from the fireplace. Taking the board out, lo and behold, there’s one dazed (and surprisingly placid – I think it’d gone to sleep, as it was dark) magpie. We put the board back, opened the patio doors so the cretinous corvine could fly out, locked Hound out of the room, and took the board out. Of course, the bird then flew the wrong way, bashing itself on the ceiling too, but then got the hint, and flew out of the open doors, and chuffed off just fine.
So all in all it went well, and was just odd. But it does make me wonder how a stupid bird can fall down a chimney in the first place.
Purchasing
Posted: Sun 7 August, 2005 Filed under: General, News, Thoughts 4 Comments »You know, we really shouldn’t go out sometimes. Yesterday’s plan was “a couple of plants for the new office” and “possibly a new bed for the Hound”. Oh dear, a plant-shop and a pet-shop. Cue lots of other things.
We ended up with :
New Hound bed, food bowl, collar, two toys, and a 30kg bag of food. Oh, and dog-shit bags. Lovely.
The office has a trio of passion-flowers in one pot, two spider plants (although they were an in-house transfer) a begonia, a polka-dot plant, and a leafy thing whose leaves turn all flame-coloured round the edges. There’s also a “rude plant”, (where the stamen just looks rude – photo to follow at some point) another polka-dot plant, a couple of leafy things with no name as yet, a money plant, and a gardenia that’s gone a little bit mental.
However, I’ve come to the conclusion (yet again) that I really shouldn’t be let out with a wallet sometimes.
Banksy
Posted: Sat 6 August, 2005 Filed under: Thoughts Leave a comment »I’ve written stuff about him before, but I do like a lot of the “art” stuff done by Banksy.
His latest escapade, painting on Israel’s “security wall” is typical of his stuff – making a point, but with a certain amount of humour. Well, it made me smile, anyway.
Abandonment
Posted: Fri 5 August, 2005 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »One of the regular “summer season” stories that get carried by the media are the “Home Alone” ones where children are left behind while their parents bugger off on cheap holidays. I’ve never been able to understand the thinking behind doing this – but then again, I don’t have kids, and if I did then perhaps I’d understand more. *grin*
All the same though, it’s just not something I can figure out. But even they pale a bit when you read about one selfish bastard loving parent who moved to Turkey, leaving her 15 year old daughter on her own in the UK. You just have to wonder about the mind-set that would allow anyone to do that, don’t you?
Lunchhour
Posted: Fri 5 August, 2005 Filed under: General 1 Comment »In the last hour while I’ve been on lunch, I’ve managed the following :
- Booking two places on part-time education courses for September
- Booking tickets to see Dan Cruickshank and Jo Brand (on different days, I should add)
- Ordered a new Switch card, as my current one is heading for Bendsville and Crack City
- Bought and eaten lunch (best to not forget that one)
- Bought two cards, one for Brother’s birthday and one as a good luck thing for a friend starting a new job on Monday
- read another 50 pages of my current book
and
Lazing on a Friday afternoon indeed.