Thanksgiving weekend in America. I don’t tend to care (not being in America nor an American). But my sister and Davidson came to visit. Yay!
We went to see Mary King’s Close and Edinburgh Castle. We ate at Cafe Marlayne and Turkish Kitchen.
We got food poisoning from Turkish Kitchen. When I say ‘we’ I mean everyone but my sister, who wisely did not eat the baklava. I was greedy, Neil was greedy, we talked Davidson into it.
Saturday involved us staying in all day, taking turns to spew orange liquid into the toilet (from both ends — of the body, not the toilet). We were supposed to meet my cousin and his family for dinner at Lazy Lohan’s, but Neil couldn’t even get out of bed. So my cousin and his family came over. His wife proceeded to commandeer our kitchen to make fresh chicken soup and macaroni.
Chicken macaroni soup one of the most wonderful things in the world when you’re poorly. She made so much that we’ve only just finished the soup and chicken meat, and will be finishing what’s left of the macaroni tomorrow.
She also shooed me out of the kitchen and did the washing up.
My guts continue to be rumbly and weird but at least implosions are no longer occurring on a semi-regular basis.
(This was also the weekend of The Living End concert. It was magnificent and I loved Chris Cheney’s shoes. It was fucking amazing to finally see them live after too many years bereft of The Living End. Too bad I couldn’t really get carried away In Case Of Implosion Leading To Explosion. I may have to try to get Neil to move to Australia just so I can see them more often.)
The moral of the story? The family that shits together makes the bathroom very smelly.
We were all about the acting (watching other people do it) this weekend.
Eastern Promises and A History of Violence — thank Deity Viggo Mortensen is no longer simply that bloke who plays Aragorn. He is stunningly good in Eastern Promises and pretty damn good in A History of Violence. Note to self: research any future tattoo ideas to make sure they aren’t also Russian prison tattoos. I don’t need anything chopped off.
We saw the final matinee of Confessions of a Justified Sinner at the Lyceum. I make no secret of being a fan of the book, so it was nice to see it on stage. A decent adaptation of a book that was difficult to adapt — the captioning certainly made it easier for people to understand Gil-Martin’s ability to ‘take on’ the looks of other characters.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas — oh, *sniff*. I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time, and now I’m not sure if I want to at all, it’s so sad. Great performances by both boys.
An aborted attempt to watch Infernal Affairs — damn you, scratched rental DVD!
The Lives of Others — I picked this because 1) the name was familiar, and 2) it’s work-related. What a good film. I’m not convinced of the ease at which Wiesler formed an emotional bond with Dreyman (he’s an experienced Stasi captain, after all), but the depiction of the oppression and self-censorship spoke volumes. Go watch it if you haven’t yet.
This weekend we shall be eating smelly cheese with my cousin.
And I’d like to unclutter my wardrobe (as should Neil, who has been promising he’ll do it “this weekend”, every weekend).
And there is also that scarf that is being crocheted far, far too slowly — it needs to be finished and embellished, and then sent off.
(Oh, and W starts its UK run today.)