Kate Middleton set to eclipse Diana’s celeb status: surely this is because there are so many more channels where we can talk (talk talk jibber jabber) inane bullshit.
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It’s been a while since real life has required enough of my attention that I haven’t been able to update my website quite as much. But it’s happened (at least temporarily). Hello, varied life! I’ve missed you.
Reviews → Any Human Heart
14 April 2011 · Comments Off
I absolutely adored the miniseries based on William Boyd’s novel. In fact, I now have a slight obsession with Matthew Macfadyen, who was so brilliant as Logan Mountstuart.
Now, I did not have super-high hopes for this. I read Restless and was thoroughly unimpressed, but then I also read that it was Boyd’s ‘commercial’ novel, and since I loved the series so much (enough to sit and wait for it to be broadcast on the teevee rather than watch it on 4od) I thought I’d give it a chance.
Why do we love diares and journals so much? If LMS (the acronym given to Logan Mountstuart in the footnotes of the book) were a real person and alive today, he’d blog. He would have met all the A-list (heh) bloggers at various conventions and been invited to the White House.
But anyway, back to the novel. I could hear, in turn, Sam Claflin, Macfadyen, and Jim Broadbent’s voices as I raced through the story (read while in Bali — what a great place for it). I’m happy to report that I was totally immersed and not tsking and feeling annoyed like I did with Restless.
In this case, the book and film complement each other perfectly (Boyd wrote the screenplay, too). I fell a little in love with Logan for his handsomeness on-screen and his candour on the page.
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Recycled billboard placemats are cool. Via GOOD.
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Yes, I’m not surprised that a trade show for publishers voted massively against the motion that publishers are becoming irrelevant. I think publishers will always be needed, as long as they can contribute usefully to the industry, rather than throwing up barriers to entry.
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I got a really rookie question wrong (paiseh), but otherwise I did better than the average atheist on this quiz: Are you smarter than an atheist?
Reviews → Full Dark, No Stars
10 April 2011 · Comments Off
First off, I’m not saying that Stephen King only writes horror. I just haven’t read his novels in a long time, and when I did, I was in my ‘I read horror novels’ phase of adolescence. He was a master of occult horror, and if Full Dark, No Stars is any guide, he’s simply a master of fiction.
While all the stories were good (‘1922’ was more a novella, it’s pretty long), I think my top two were Big Driver and A Good Marriage, the latter for obvious reasons. I liked his little note at the end that wasn’t too complimentary of overly ‘literary’ fiction — that stuff puts me to sleep with its desperation to be incomprehensibly cool (frankly, it’s just incomprehensible).
Top marks for a top book, perfectly dark and mind-boggling but completely readable.
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So cool — the History of Science Fiction, illustrated. If you email the artist via his website, you can request to be notified when and if there’s a poster available.
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Shop owners must love this: Shopping ‘may improve health’. Retailers on the high street happen to be suffering at the moment; I can’t wait for the ‘Come in and buy our shit, we’re good for your health’ posters.
Spot the kittehs
7 April 2011 · Comments Off
On the way to Newton hawker centre to meet everyone (we took up an entire row of tables!), Neil and I spotted a family of kittehs eating and playing:
Non-menstruating temple attendance
5 April 2011 · Comments Off
It wasn’t all swimming. We took in some culture by walking to the beach and checking out this temple.
There was a sign on the temple walls, forbidding any women who were menstruating from entering. Euan looked at me and asked, “What’s menstruation?”
*sigh*
I only chicken out when a child asks me where babies come from. That’s when I say, You should ask your mother. To answer young master Euan’s question, I said it was at that point when boys and girls — who are already different — become very different. Man, I’m so proud of that.
(Neil tried to explain the difference between analogue and digital to the kids. It was fun watching their eyes glaze over.)
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How tragic: we are less complex than peacocks when it comes to displays of status.
Reviews → Brooklyn
4 April 2011 · Comments Off
Someone must have been reading Brooklyn for a book club or some sort of discussion group, as the copy I borrowed was full of scribbled notes that reminded me of my English Literature teacher in school. I had to learn to ignore them (the scribbling, not my teacher).
Brooklyn is a few years in the life of Eilis Lacey, a young Irish girl who is living a quiet existence in Enniscorthy. Her mother is a widow, her sister Rose is confident, assured, and a dab hand at golf. She’s got three brothers who’ve gone off to England to work.
There is no work for Eilis, even though she’s studying to be a bookkeeper and accountant. She is given the opportunity to go to America (Brooklyn, where else) and start a new life and career there. And so she goes.
The storytelling is so evocative. Maybe it’s because my sister used to live in Brooklyn, but I did feel like I was on this great journey with our protagonist. I’ve never had a problem with living away from home and I’ve never felt homesick, but I could see Eilis’ pain through the words on the page. It’s amazing how times have changed so much, but the sense of duty and family does stay the same. If you have a close family, you’ll drop everything and go to them as soon as you can if something terrible happens.
I particularly liked Colm Tóibín’s descriptions of Eilis’ romantic relationships. They weren’t the all-encompassing, over-emotional ‘true love’-type scenarios, but perhaps more grounded in reality. I got her confusion and conflicting feelings. I’m not sure I’d have done what she did if I’d been in her shoes, but I totally understand how and why she ended up doing it.
This is one of those sweet and unpatronising holiday reads that you’d actually remember and recommend to friends after you’re done.
Private pool
3 April 2011 · Comments Off
I eventually took a break from swimming because swimming with kids equals entertaining kids the whole time. Here’s Neil taking a bit of a breather:
The photo’s a bit blurry because there was quite a bit of noise from the scan. I did what I could to clean it up.