UP is a very clever man. In his wisdom he decided that if he was to see The Artist he would see it at the Barbican Arts Centre cinema, on the basis that you would get a more discerning audience with fewer of the normal cinema distractions. He was right. We went to see it at the Stratford Vue (that's the one in the new shopping centre near the Olympic stadium, not Shakespeare's home town). We knew it wasn't going well when we sat down and from a few rows back we heard one girl turn to her friend and say "Is this in English, I heard it was made by the French", then a couple of seats to our left two girls arrived, one with a large coke and popcorn, the other with two cartons of popcorn - their chewing was as much an accompaniment as the film's soundtrack. Finally, in the seat next to me, half way through the film, there was a sound of a text message arriving. I glared at the woman next to me, but she just smiled in the same way that she always does when she's done something naughty....
Apart from that, it was a fabulous film...a novelty yes, but beautifully put together and with some lovely conceits. Unlike Spielberg's War Horse. I struggle to understand how a stage production with puppets could reduce me to tears with its powerful emotions, whilst on the silver screen all that was completely lost. Yes it was big and glossy, but the tissues remained firmly in my pocket. A travesty.
Matilda, which we went to see last weekend, on the other hand is an amazing stage production and highly recommended for children of all ages from five through to eighty five. I hadn't realised what a great talent Tim Minchin is before, and going forwards I'll pay him much more attention.
I meant to mention, but forgot, and now will, although it would have fitted better in the Meryl Streep post. A friend works for a big accountancy business in London. They have had a presentation from a very senior person in the Metropolitan Police about how to manage people working this year. By way of introduction he said that the Police faced three major public event challenges this year. Obviously The Queen's Jubilee. Obviously The Olympics. But then without missing a beat added 'Margaret Thatchers state funeral'. I wonder if anyone has told the woman that this is THE year. I did a bit of Googling, and it seems it was Gordon Brown who agreed with The Queen that she deserves a state funeral. I'm not going to comment, but I guess everyone will have an opinion. And a strong one at that.
This is evidently my 666th post. That's a lot of writing. I'd say each one takes about half an hour, so 333 hours of my life given over to writing. That's two whole weeks of doing nothing but tapping out the usual drivel. Equally it's two weeks of sheer joy and pleasure. Nappy Valley persuaded me to start, and I'm still absolutely delighted she did. I don't write as well as her, but in my own little way, I'm delighted. I think when I started I wasn't sure "Why?", but I realised pretty quickly that it will be great in years to come back and look at the things we've been doing marking the changes in our lives...the good and the bad. Plus, Grandma in Cyprus gets to know what we're up to...and I think she likes that. As does The Brother. And of course writing this has opened up the blogosphere to me...and reading everyone else's efforts is a real delight.
