Little Grey Doll

Moving Wonders: Keith Newstead

2012-02-14T09:43:00.001Z

Talking to Niece the other day about automata.

Yes ... another thing that I do love. Thought I'd check the web for info for her... she's a rare lady without a computer nor any form of digital communication. (Yes, such people do exist.)

Anyways I came across Keith Newstead Automata, a great site showing his work, his blog, and links to other automated treasures. Can't resist sharing this Newstead piece - an automaton collection box commissioned by John Rylands Library, Manchester.

You may not know it but Mrs D spent a lot of her working (ha-ha) life as a librarian.....

So we do understand the Dragon reference here.

Enjoy... and check out his site.

Graphic Passions: Being Literary with Auster

2012-02-13T12:44:00.002Z

So while we's being literary in the graphic novel department - let me mention "City of Glass".

It's an adaptation of Paul Auster's novella of same name... by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli and published in the UK by Faber. (Click here for link to Paul Gravett piece on Mazzucchelli.)

The Old Man gives this to me as a Christmas present and as I start to look at/read it... (Does one "read" a comix book/ graphic novel? Well I guess that I would argue that you can "read" a painting... so maybe "read" is OK.) ..as I be sayin ...

I begin the book and I realise that I did read Auster's original novella. Because I do occasionally read a work of literature you know, and Paul Auster be a writer I do read. So take that, all youse out there who do think I do nothing but watch telly and filch Mrs D's thrillers...

Anyway, anyway, what I want to say is that I really like it. It's a splendid adaptation with a visual, graphic structure that works well as a translation of the book. This edition has a forward by the revered Art Spiegelman explaining how the project came about.

And by the way... for those of you with access to BBC's podcasts you may want to download the broadcast of Radio 4's Book Club of Feb 5 2012.... in which Spiegelman talks about his major work "Maus", without which......

Eurocrime Sums it Up Nicely

2012-02-11T11:35:00.005Z

Karen, over on her Eurocrime blog, sums up nicely what's coming up for Brit fans of Eurocrime telly, now that Series 1 of Danish political drama "Borgen" has finished. (Yeah, I know... not crime... but well you know politics...)

Tonight we have the chance to see the Sicilian-set Montalbano crime series on BBC4 (again? not quite sure cos didn't catch it first time...).

And you can read details and explanations of more up and coming Telly Scandi-Delights by clicking through to her Post here.

The Old Man Makes Marmalade

2012-02-09T16:54:00.004Z

Yes indeed. His first ever marmalade.

Very good it is too. Good flavour. Good colour...

But I says to him:

"Howcome your strips of peel are about half inch wide and two inch long?"

He say:

"It said to cut the peel as thick as you like."

I say...fishing around in the jar what is like a bowl of pasta.... "Huh?"

The Old Man climbs onto his high horse....

"It's what one prefers to call Orange Preserve." Say he. Sniff.

Graphic Passions: "Robot"- Lem Inspired

2012-02-06T12:36:00.009Z

Just bought myself another "graphic novel".

Which is "Robot" by Danuta Schejbal and Andrzej Klimowski. Based on two of Stanislaw Lem's short stories. Published by SelfMade Hero in 2011.

For those of you who say they don't like sci-fi... well not sure you can really call Lem just sci-fi. Lord knows The Old Man was sniffy when I used to rave about Tarkovsky's 1972 film "Solaris" based on Lem's novel, but when persuaded by another friend that Lem was philosophy... he got very keen on a Lem story or two, and wanted me to read them. Mea Culpa I have not read any yet.

Yous may well know the film "Solaris". No, sorry... I don't mean the George Clooney one. Much as I like to watch George Clooney. (See my Post on "Good Night and Good Luck") No, I mean the Tarkovsky film.

Anyways I digress... the graphic novel is very short and maybe not sweet. Personally I loved the first story "Uranium Ears" but found the second, "The Sanatorium of Dr Vliperdius" a bridge further! I shall look and read again.

Mrs D Capers With Pleasure

2012-02-06T12:25:00.004Z

Oh yes she does...

What causes this celebration? A glass of red slopping about all over the place as she dances? She flings herself on her chaise longue and crunches another rice cracker.

Mmmn... it would appear that a publisher has placed a quote from one of her reviews for Eurocrime on their website. Being a simple soul, it doesn't take much to please her.

Particularly if her ego be involved.

Still and all. Let's be generous and raise our glasses to the capering Mrs D.

Small Theatres

2012-02-03T15:47:00.006Z

Scene: A dental practice's waiting room. Several people are seated on chairs.

A small child goes to each seated person in turn and proffers a small furry hat with bunny ears.

Solemnly each person places bunny hat on head.

OK. OK. I was first in the queue. You have to take theatre where you can get it.

Listening to Liz Green....

2012-01-30T11:51:00.005Z

or more precisely....Liz Green's latest album "O Devotion"
A dark and musical lady.... mmn... folk blues they all say? Don't know.
We's do love it.

Cassie Hester's Thaumatrope Necklace

2012-01-28T09:53:00.000Z

Still not sure how a thaumatrope works?

Thauma-Thauma-Thaumatropes

2012-01-26T15:41:00.003Z

Qu'est-ce que le thaumatrope?

Mmmn.... "Thauma" = Greek for "Magic"; "Trope" = "something that turns". Therefore it be a "magic turn" innit.

Or rather tis a Victorian toy made from a disc with an image on either side of it and a thread at each side. When you rub the thread between your fingers it turns the disc and the images combine to form the illusion of one combined image... owing to the "persistence of vision". And I been playin around making some. Cos I like wasting time like that. Mrs D would also tell you that they share this persistence of vision thing with the animation malarky.

And when I was a youthy girl at art college way back then in the late 1960s... I did rather like the "optical" approach to paintings. This made me be considered a bit of a freak by the self-expressionful tutors. And so I was shut into a small studio with the only other student in the college who made optical paintings or Op-Art as they used to call it.

My days at art college were largely ruined by the tutors.

But then, they did not share my persistence of vision.

Mrs D Makes Her Creations Jump

2012-01-23T09:18:00.001Z

So Mrs D has been playing with us "actors". Look at these poor fellas. Jumping for joy. Yeah. Right.

Mrs D is saying that she is still in search of a low tech "tie-down"...

And before this conjures up unsavoury images of Mrs D in black rubber...

...let me explain that this is a method of fixing an animation puppet to the "Set" base so that it stays put whilst it is animated.... and methods can range from wingnuts on threaded rods... to magnets...
Anyway Mrs D is always searching for some lazy way of doing it.

So this little display is a tester to see which of us can stay upright on one foot, paw, etc. Which is more than I can say for Mrs D after several glasses of red.

See she's finally added a Dog to the crew? It's very hairy.

January Blues

2012-01-22T10:46:00.002Z

Can't seem to get going on anything.
Add to this the appearance of a new wrinkle on the phyzog each day.... not to mention the whiskers on the chin.....

Despond and Sloth descends....

Animated discussion: Dot

2012-01-19T16:02:00.004Z

Mmn... talking of dream life. How about this "teeny-tiny animation" made by Aardman's Sumo Science for Nokia using CellScope technology and a Nokia N8?

Careful.... it's got sound.

Dreamlife: Moth and Mother

2012-01-17T08:14:00.001Z

Well I never....

I's dreaming of a huge day-flying moth, brightly coloured. What is its name think I?

Everything is very sunny and bright colours. (Makes a change.)

I lean out of an upstairs window in a row of terraced houses. Across the street is all green grass - like a park or common ground...

I can hear a voice coming from the house down there at the end of the row. It's the voice of my long dead mother.... tellin' someone off.

Hello Mum!

Shifting Sands: Guy Martin

2012-01-15T15:56:00.004Z

The Old Man and me goes off to Falmouth last Friday - to catch one of the last days of an exhibition of Guy Martin's photos of Egypt and Libya during the Arab Spring conflict. The exhibition was at The Poly there... and sorry it's already closed cos it was only on for a week!

Guy Martin is a young photographer who was seriously injured in the same rocket attack in Libya that killed his two companions, documentary maker and photographer Tim Hetherington, and US photographer Chris Hondros.

The photos are good, the whole thing moving. I's struck by two photographs of Egyptian protestors racing through Cairo. In one - squares of paper briefing the protestors on the chants and slogans drift through the air around them. There are also some beautiful, almost abstract photos of the patterns left by fire... one a burnt out room with scorched filing cabinets, another the pattern of blast on the tarmac surface of a road after a Molotov cocktail has exploded.

The Old Man prefers a more narrative approach and is struck by a photo of three young man standing in front of a building: one peers round the corner, the next stands behind him holding a gun and almost touchingly out of place with his glasses and flip-flop sandals, finally another young man stands nervously behind both, studying them. There is another photo that The Old Man picks out with a young fighter crouching near the floor against the wall inside a building, he is looking up at a window, the light falling through it catches his eyes and lights them up.

Sorry that the exhibition was so brief and couldn't pass on the info earlier, but you can see some of Guy Martin's work at his own website here.

And speaking personally... I long for stuff to be exhibited down here that's national or international. It's all so Cornwall-centric......

I'll get told off for that won't I.

Don't Open That Cardboard Box

2012-01-10T15:53:00.004Z

Been helpin' Mrs D clear up her room to get things out the way for workmen putting in a new window.

One can't resist pokin' around in the boxes in the name of clearing out stuff. It's not a great idea. Comin' across pictures of a thinner younger self in earlier days.

See? Sunny days in the East End of London... meditatin' in the back garden. Woo-woo, light the old incense. Get ready to chill out wiv the friends... a bit of a film at the old Scala....

Nostalgia, nostalgia.... boo-hoo.

Happy New Procrastination

2012-01-09T08:44:00.000Z

That Mrs D is just sitting there today... kind of stunned.

It's post-Christmas. The sun has appeared briefly about two days out of the last sixty... and she doesn't know what to do first.

So... as I say... she be just sitting there staring into space, surrounded by crime books as per usual.

I think she be yearning to get them animation puppets out, and the webcam and the laptop.... But she says that the animation that she had roughed out was another Christmas one. (What is this thing with Mrs D and Christmas?)

Of course for me... work is work.. I don't care if it is another Christmas one or not - as long as I's the star... which she assures me I would be.

Then she says that...

A) She has to do something about the garden which is a sea of mud and brambles.

B) Workmen are coming to fit some new windows after one fell apart in her hands the other week. (Constant rain... rubbish wood...Hem-hem.. Not much maintenance, say I.)

C) She has to make room for things to be cleared away from in front of the windows...

D) It's January and she hasn't seen the sun for a lo-o-ong time.

Think she's got the January Blues.

The Woo-Woo of Jung's Synchronicity

2012-01-05T13:28:00.003Z

So here we are. I'se finally viewing my DVD of Czech animator Jan Svankmajer's film "Alice"... very weird and wonderful. Knowing full well that Mrs D is still trying to make out that she will be animating again soon.

And this, in turn, causes The Old Man to uncover my DVD of animations by the Brothers Quay, that enigmatic pair of identical animating and film-making twins who paid mucho homago to Svankmajer.

Now The Brothers Quay also made a live action film called "Institute Benjamenta" which was in turn inspired by a novel called "Jakob von Gunten" written by Swiss writer Robert Walser.

And Mrs D be struck all of a heap whilst reading a novel for review in which the lead character quotes details of The Institute Benjamenta from Walser's novel.

Meanwhile I is also reading my new graphic novel purchase: "Pyongyang" by Guy Delisle which turns out to be his account of working in North Korea as... as... an ANIMATOR!!

All roads currently lead to animation.

It's that Swiss thing innit? Carl Jung - Swiss psychiatrist and analyst.... with his theory of synchronicity.

Graphic Passions: RIP Ronald Searle 1920-2011

2012-01-03T15:28:00.007Z

For a girl like I... and of my particular generation... Ronald Searle was an all pervading influence on humour and drawing style.. And to all those younger things out there...which includes just about everybody... maybe you don't realise how far Searle's "Style and Zeitgeist" reached. I think that Searle fed into Scarfe, John Lennon, maybe into Monty Python even. In Britain, there was a generation who came through after WWII to create a surreal world of humour that fed the following generation (Think "The Goon Show" with Sellers, Milligan, Bentine, Secombe.. the wonderful Gerard Hoffnung with his own cartoons and anarchic music festival. Rowland Emett and his crazy kinetic sculptures.) A lot of this stuff caught fire and led into the anarchy and satire of 1960s humour, which has maybe blasted it's 1950s parent generation out of the fame it deserves.

Searle was a serious artist whose recording of his own experiences in a Japanese POW camp led to the doubtless forbidden act of drawing. That's just how necessary drawing was for Searle. But today everyone thinks of Searle and St Trinian's... (And I really could not begin to cope with the 2007 film of St Trinian's.... It's the 1950s you see, you just had to be there.) I was brought up with his boys' skool equivalent, St. Custard's - a collaboration with Geoffrey Willans. As I peer into my copy of "Down with Skool", I realise how much of everything I laughed at as a skool-girl was down to Searle and his generation of artists: my own doodles.. the line... the characters that look out from the page at you....

There's a Ronald Searle Tribute site here. Click through and acquaint yourself with more of Searle's work. His really was a great contribution to cartoons, drawing and illustration.

Whale Eating Fish

2012-01-02T09:44:00.000Z

Mmmn. I am a simple soul. If you haven't guessed this already. With the pure heart of a child. A-hem...

So one of my favourite gifts of the season, given to me by The Old Man, is a tin toy called "Whale Eating Fish".

Simple me thought that the name on the box meant that the toy represented that very thing... some kind of spunky little fish creature capable of swallowing a giant aquatic mammal aka "a whale".

Wow! That would be some toy.

But No. This Chinese-made toy has a name transformed in translation. It is in fact meant to be a whale that is eating a fish. In my defence, it has to be said that this whale looks mighty like a carp.

It is a hilarious toy for simple-minded souls like me. Hilarious and grim. You pull Small Fish out from Big Fish's mouth... on its cord.... and set them both down on a flat surface... Let go and ... Whoosh... Big Fish pursues Small Fish... and with grim inevitability ... swallows it up into its mouth... Where you found it in the first place.

This is a horribly circular story. Not least when... as pointed out by The Old Man... the engine of destruction for Small Fish is itself... Small Fish being the toy's motor that drags the momentous Big Fish behind it... leading to Small Fish's own inevitable and unhappy fate.

There must be a lesson in there for some of us.

The Weather Here...

2011-12-31T15:28:00.006Z

The midwinter darkness of Northern climes occurs because the sun barely gets above the horizon at this time of the year. That's what all these midwinter celebrations are about, ain't they?

But here... in Cornwall... in the far far west of England....

all is grey for another reason. I don't know when I last saw blue sky...

or the sun...

Greyness has just gone on for weeks.

Cloud cloud cloud. And rain.

I am growing moss.

Please... for The New Year. I would like to see.... the sun.

There's Still About 10 Days of Christmas...

2011-12-27T11:14:00.002Z

So as we do cope with the after effects of too much food and inactivity we continue to hope you have a good time.

Picture a hand gripped and a look towards the New Year......
Here we go again ....
This time it's called 2012...
All together now, jump.

Woo-Woo Solstice Greetings and a Very Merry Christmas Too

2011-12-22T15:56:00.004Z

Mmmn. I do hope some of you have taken a look at Mrs D's animation there, she got so temperamental making it. And as for The Old Man and me... it's tiring I tell you. 30 frames per second... with a little movement every 2 or 4 frames. Some tempers were frayed all round. And Mrs D used that mangy cat again. And come to think of it... The Old Man got a major share of the limelight there.

Whatever.... The Old Man is baking pannetone... I been making the Christmas cards and hanging up tinsel. The food is in... The greetings have been spread.... we's getting ready.

I do wish everyone a good time. Enough food. Enough warmth. Some love and some peace. Merry Christmas one and all.

Mrs D's "Christmas Dinner"

2011-12-19T11:29:00.000Z

So... it wobbles a bit. And maybe it's a bit .... Cute. What can you do.
Here it is. Merry Christmas.

That Christmas Animation Thing is ....

2011-12-17T09:30:00.000Z

Still from forthcoming "Christmas Dinner"

....Still coming soon. Mrs Doonuthin's Annual Animated Extravaganza.

Marvel at The Old Man bringing in the Christmas Pud.

That Christmas Animation Thing

2011-12-15T09:30:00.000Z

Still from forthcoming "Christmas Dinner"

Comin soon.

Mrs Doonuthin's splendid production of "Christmas Dinner".

See the wonders of I myself .... decorating the tree.

Mrs Doonuthin is Doin Her Animation Thing

2011-12-13T15:55:00.001Z

Still from forthcoming "Christmas Dinner"

I do so apologise for not being in touch so to speak with my up to the minute posting. (Er-hem) But we's all a bit distracted here.

Mrs Doonuthin has decided to grasp the bull by the horns....or maybe that's.... the seasonal reindeer by the antlers.... and to make her Christmas animation.

Which at the rate that she works amounts to her Annual Animation.

This time it's us what be acting in it. Which makes for an awful lot of standing around on one foot, etc.... and movin' slower than Marcel Marceau. While the woman herself do go on and on in an artistic temperamental way. Much waving of arms and pullin of hair and shouting that she just can't do it!

She should try bein' one of the actors.

Red-Handed

2011-12-09T12:43:00.001Z

Who Done Eat That?

2011-12-08T16:43:00.001Z

Yesterday The Old Man comes out of the garage bearing a bunch of beetroot.
You think this sounds absurd?
Perish the thought.
The garage is cold and its where we keep our larder supplies of root vegetables and fruit.

Anyways he comes in with the beetroots and points out the little continent-shaped patches of raw flesh dotted around their skins.
"He's back." say he.
"Mmn. So I see." say I.

Somewhere.... there is a mouse with very pink jaws and feet.

Selling a Print - Three Years Later

2011-12-06T11:45:00.001Z

You may remember that once upon a time, long, long ago.... I wuz printmaking?

The other day I gets a phone call from a woman who bought one of my first series of lino-cuts. That was at an Open Studio three years ago.

She'd still got my card. Could she buy another one in the series?

Of course, say I.

I then panic and try to sort them all out in their nice little black boxes with tissue paper between the layers... and the mounts... and the frames.

A few days later she do come along to pick what she wants. It's a very nice meeting and chat. Though more of a case of a listen on her part. I'd remembered her well because the sale had meant a lot to me... being practically the first, like. And the print series was about childhood. And she had bought it for her boy. And now she wanted another, three years later, also for her boy. In the end she took two more.

And I be well-chuffed. For me it be about communicating something. And I can't tell you how pleased I be that this print meant stuff for both mother and her boy.
Evie Greydollsdottir will be proud of me.

The Vilification of the Public Sector

2011-12-05T14:31:00.001Z

You may remember my diatribes about being a "baby boomer" (Click here for Post 1 and here is Post 2).

Time was when people didn't mind that you worked as a librarian, a teacher, a civil servant, a fireman, for a council-whatever. It was considered quite a respectable line of work. You were of course looked down upon by those who worked in the Private Sector. Something a bit ploddy about opting for the Public Sector.

But not now. Oh No. With that Jeremy Clarkson geezer for instance. It isn't even the stupid remark about "executing strikers" that offends me. When I hear the clip repeated on the Radio... it's the tone of voice he uses when he is asked if he knows any public sector workers.
"What me?" squeaks he "Know a Public Servant? Good God. No." Or words to that effect.... He does justify himself by saying that he is invited on these shows to be funny, so... Buffoon it is then.

So yes. I did work in the Public Sector. I admit it. I think I may have to adopt a disguise when I go out now. I most certainly grow shifty and avoid people's eyes when they ask me what I did for a living. Perhaps I'll tell them that I worked as an investment banker or...or an estate agent. None of these jobs seem to get much stick these days.

A week or so ago.... buying cheese in a local-ish shop.... The Old Man and me falls to chattin' with the proprietor, as you do.
"What was your line of work?" say he
"Civil Servant and Librarian in a Public Library..." (to paraphrase)
"Oooh. Gold-plated pensions." he sneers.

Course I'm not good at instant come-backs in real-life.
Else I could have pointed out that that's how come I can afford to buy his cheese.

Travels With My Film-Life: Iceland: Cold Fever

2011-12-01T11:25:00.001Z

As I watch Mrs Doonuthin devourin her latest thriller (see previous post) then upendin herself over her box of cds trying to find the Bjork one....

I am reminded of an Icelandic film I have great affection for. It's Fridrik Thor Fridricksson's "Cold Fever" - a 1995 road movie set in Iceland following a young Japanese businessman who reluctantly travels to Iceland in order to perform a ritual ceremony for his parents who had died in an avalanche some years earlier. (Take the time to follow this Cold Fever link and watch the trailer on the International Movie Database...)

I just adore that film. Great photography. And as usual with me... off the wall characters. Add the naturally off the wall landscape of Iceland and it's just my cup of tea. I particularly loved the scene where the Japanese guy is desperate to get back to Reykjavik, hires a taxi and ... in the middle of nowhere there is an isolated building. The taxi driver asks him if he could just wait a moment and hops out of the taxi and into the building... After quite some time the Japanese guy gives up and staggers up to the building... inside he sees a full-scale nativity play going on with the taxi driver in pride of place...... I just love it.

If you get a chance, try to catch the film. And be prepared - there are an awful lot of deep-fried sheep's heads. And geysers. And elves. And black sand..........

The Wonders of Matronymics

2011-11-29T09:00:00.000Z

I's looking over Mrs Doonuthin's shoulder whilst she's reading her copy of Michael Ridpath's latest Icelandic set thriller "66 Degrees North". She's enjoyin it too. I can tell. She's slowin her crunchin on tortilla chips and the glass of red by her side is still practically full.

Anyways I am most impressed by the system of family names in Iceland. Sons take Father's first name +..."son" and daughters take Father or perhaps Mother's name + ..dottir.

I do rather fancy struttin around as Greydoll Cecilsdottir or Greydoll Sybilsdottir.

Whatever. Now my dear little parthenogenetic daughters have a proper family name courtesy of Icelandic custom - Aurelia Greydollsdottir, Beryl Greydollsdottir ..........

I am happy.

Down by the Old Levant Mine

2011-11-27T15:44:00.007Z

What youse lookin at? Well.... we'se lookin at this!

Lavant Mine

The Rook Scientific

2011-11-22T15:00:00.003Z

So I'm a bit late getting downstairs this mornin... Busy swabbing out the bathroom etc. And when I gets down, The Old Man says...

"So you missed Jim Al-Khalili then..."

"You what?"

"Jim Al-Khalili... The Life Scientific.... on Radio 4... just now..."

"Yes?"

"Today talking to a scientist, Nicky Clayton about her work with crows... says they can work out problems that human children can't..."

"Damn. I likes rooks and so on. I'll have to Listen Again as they do like to say on the Radio. Or download it as a Podcast...."

The Old Man Watches "The Killing 2" on BBC4

2011-11-20T15:58:00.008Z

So. There we have it. Saturday nights on the telly worked out.

As you may know The Old Man does have some problems with things like film or telly dramas... that facial recognition thing... (see Post for 6 Sept 2011)... So I's being all careful about it and says that as long as I can watch Episode 1 in real time... and Episode 2 is recorded for me to catch up with... then he's let off and we can watch something else at 10 pm. Cos I know he did manage most of the first series... much to my surprise.

He looks at me uneasy but says OK. And so we watch the first episode at the end of which The Old Man lets out a great sigh of relief. Then he says to me:

"Think I'd like to watch something else now. Rather than straight into the next episode."

"OK" say I, "I'll just pop out for a mo... be back in a minute..."

So I come back a few minutes later...

and The Old Man is sat there.... gripping the arms of his chair.... with the credits for Episode 2 of "The Killing 2" rolling up the screen.

"Hey! You..." yell I.... as I settle down on the sofa.... just in time...

Deadlines

2011-11-18T12:12:00.000Z

Reblogged from the group blog Drawn.....

which brings my attention to great little film on YouTube from KreativMagazin illustrating that deadlines can be a problem.... and creativity can take time to blossom.

Oh Yeah....

This Saturday - The Killing 2

2011-11-17T11:12:00.005Z

Just a little reminder.

This Saturday Nov 19th on BBC4 at 9pm. Sara's back on British TV in series 2 of Danish thriller "The Killing".

Episode 1 at 9pm and episode 2 follows at 10pm. The Old Man will complain that he can't possibly sustain two hours on the trot.... wimp! But hey.. what are HDDr gizmos for, or "catchup" on the Internet.

And... And... for those of you Sara fans who are also knitaholics... Radio Times (19th - 25th Nov issue) has a knitting pattern for the new red sweater. Yes. The new one. Well they certainly hope to boost sales.

Mrs Doonuthin Comes to Tea

2011-11-14T09:00:00.003Z

Will you just look at the state of her?

Some elder-folk just never grow up.

Maybe all that red wine and all those tortilla chips finally destroyed whatever was left of her sense of propriety.

She says she's goin' to a fancy-dress party. But I just do not believe her. I know her too well.
I think it's her "new look".

Graphic Passions: Norwegian Ink: Comics Artist Jason

2011-11-13T11:34:00.008Z

And just in case you think it's purely a question of Scandinavian Crime Writing... Consider the possibilities of Scandinavian Comic artists...

My eyes were drawn (by the group blog Drawn!!) to an interview with Norwegian comic artist Jason by Dan Wagstaff on his book culture blog "The Casual Optimist"... which is great.

I borrowed Jason's "The Living and the Dead" from my local library some time ago. (Good choice!) And very much enjoyed it.... Zombies as Krazy Kat. (If you don't realise my tastes by now...) So for me this was a happy reminder of the intriguing work of another comic artist which I'd like to see more of.

Oh and comic artists in Norway? Well let's just say that Jason decided to base himself in France for more work opportunities. Bande-dessinee and all that.

"The Strand" & a Short Interview With Jussi Adler-Olsen

2011-11-12T11:45:00.003Z

Lyin' around listenin to BBC World Service as I do. I catch their arts programme "The Strand" which includes a short interview with Danish crime writer Jussi Adler-Olsen on the popularity of Scandinavian Crime Fiction. Check out these links to find out more and "listen again".

And...and..and...
.....following on from yesterday's post about BBC4's Scandinavian Crime shows there is a Stop Press for Wallander portrayed by Rolf Lassgard. BBC 4 is showing a feature-length Wallander story "The Pyramid" starring Rolf Lassgard tonight, Saturday 12 Nov, at 9pm... repeated November Fri 18 at 01:30 am)

Mrs Doonuthin reckons you should know about all this stuff.

More Scandinavian Crime Comes to the Telly

2011-11-11T09:30:00.001Z

I meant to say....
that the Independent mentions several Scandinavian treats coming to BBC4 in 2012.

One is a Danish/Swedish co-production titled "The Bridge" - because the body of a woman is indeed found bang in the middle of the Oresund Bridge that connects Danish Copenhagen and Swedish Malmo - which means that a two-country police team has to be assembled in order to investigate the crime.

Another is "Sebastian Bergman" - two 90 minute films starring Rolf Lassgard (last seen by us as Kurt Wallander in a feature length version of "The Man Who Smiled") as a detective investigating the death of a 15 year old boy. You can read a bit more about both of these here.

There is also a Danish political series "Borgen" from the same production company as "The Killing".

Meanwhile... and for something a bit more Gallic... anybody got any news on the fourth series of French crime serial "Spiral" aka "Engrenages"?

Harvesting My Squashes...

2011-11-10T12:36:00.000Z

All two of them! But there you are.

They's a good size each so worth it if they ripen off and store well.
One's a Crown Prince, bless him. The other is a Musquee de Provence which should turn orange when ripe. I've never eaten one of those.

Ooops! Not in front of the children.....

Red Sweater Day: "The Killing 2" is Coming

2011-11-07T16:58:00.004Z

Hang on to your nicotine chewing gum, Sara's back.

And this time the sweater is red.

Yup! Splendid Danish crime serial "Forbrydelsen" returns to BBC 4 with Series 2, starting Saturday Nov 19th. You can read the Independent's article and their interview with lead actress Sofie Grabol here.

But meanwhile make sure you clear the calendar, set up the HDR or ... whatever it takes to make sure that you see "The Killing 2" from the very start.

Me? I'm sittin' in front of the telly right now... and I ain't movin till I seen it....

Driving Home

2011-11-05T09:52:00.000Z

And this is us goin' home to Cornwall. Sounds like The Old Man feels surprisingly refreshed.

Time to Go Home....

2011-11-04T10:13:00.000Z

We walk on the moors and wait to see the starlings which don't quite arrive when we hope but hey I reckon we's too early in the season. But we do see lots of cormorants hanging their wings out to dry instead.

I do feed the farm goat with carrots in order to discourage it from eating my clothes - whilst I'm in them.

We buy stuff in Glastonbury from the biggest eco-organic supermarket that I've ever come across. And we queue up and eat good veggie grub from Glastonbury's Rainbow's End Cafe.

We get a visit from old friends Photo-Girl and Hubbie from Bath. We share lunch and a good chat and a moory-reedy walk with them.

I see the places that The Old Man lived in when he's growin' up.

And I have to say ... last but not least... I do love my stay at MapleLeaf Middlewick Cottages in the wooden cabin with it's garden and view of old orchard fields, horses, hungry goat, chickens... and The Tor.

But..... it time to go home.

A Beautiful Morning in Somerset

2011-11-03T10:38:00.000Z

Mist rising up from King's Sedgemoor below this hill.

You can see the checquer board effect of the rhynes, narrow drainage channels, running through King's Sedgemoor below.

"Wow..." I did say. As did several others standing on the hill.

My Own Little House on The Levels

2011-11-02T10:05:00.000Z

Oooh ain't she sweet? A Shepherd's Hut all for me to sleep in.

Wake up in the mornin', open the blind and stare out at The Tor.

I do love it.

We Did Go on Holiday!

2011-11-01T06:55:00.000Z

We goes to Somerset ... land of The Old man's upbringing and land of my very first student years all those decades ago.

Like the faded hippie that I be... I chose a place right next to Glastonbury.

Here you can see us standing in the garden of the wooden cabin what we stay in....next to a little orchard ... with Glastonbury Tor right behind us.

Oh I always wanted to stay in a wooden cabin. It were nice.

F is for Freda....

2011-10-30T14:43:00.000Z

This is my sixth born, Freda...
although she insists upon being called Freddy.

She is learning "body-building" and spends quite some time in front of the mirror drawing a moustache onto her upper lip with my eyebrow pencil.

I'm not sure which direction she is going in.....

E is for Evie

2011-10-28T10:37:00.000+01:00

Bless her, this is my fifth born... Evie.

Evie is the motherly type. She sweeps, cleans, and wraps up pine cones and puts them to bed... with lullabies.

She tells me that she wants to find a good husband and have lots and lots of babies.

I tell her that she needn't worry about the good husband bit and explain about parthenogenesis.

She bursts into tears.

D is for Dorothy

2011-10-26T10:31:00.001+01:00

This is Dorothy.

I don't know where I went wrong here. Dorothy is always angry.

And most of all...

She's angry with me...

...Says I have ruined her life and that there is nothing for it but for her to enter therapy.

...She says she hopes I am "proud of myself".

Sometimes I think that is the kind of thing I am supposed to say to her.

C is for...

2011-10-24T12:14:00.000+01:00

My third born I called Catherine.

But she calls herself Candy.

She has turned out to be a bit of a party girl.

She watches Skins and True Blood.

I never know where she is.

I don't think much good will come of this.

B is for Beryl

2011-10-22T12:04:00.002+01:00

My second born is Beryl.

Beryl loves reading.

She had considered a career in librarianship. But she has it on first hand knowledge that this is a shrinking career field. Most librarians that she knows are redundant - in fact, if not in nature.

She is instead contemplating studying linguistics.

She informs me that she is particularly interested in the field of linguistic typology.

I don't know what she is talking about.

A is for Aurelia

2011-10-20T11:38:00.007+01:00

The children are ready to go out in the world.

This is my first born, Aurelia.

She is very musical.

Her schoolteacher, Mr Dorchester, wanted her to take up the trombone. But Aurelia tells me that she would rather study the cello. When she is not listening to Schubert lieder - she listens to Rostropovich. Her most recent favourites are Britten's Cello suites.

Zut Alors! Le Vieil Cuisine des Beignets....

2011-10-16T11:05:00.004+01:00

Most excellent little doughnuts too.

.... a personal response to Andrew Lansley's attempt to cut the NHS expenses further... by announcing we should all eat less.

Marie Antoinette comes to mind. And most deliciously in this case.

Beelzebub! Where Are All These Flies...?

2011-10-15T14:51:00.005+01:00

It is like one of the circles of Dante's Hell round here.

Swathed in mist and cloud for days on end.....
And now?

....My bedroom is full of flies when I go up last thing at night, I swat and flap and sweep... and so does The Old Man....

It makes me wonder if something has deceased in the roof space... But I don't smell anything... And with all these flies... Could a horse have crept up there to die?

I could also feel guilty about my house-keeping. But the other day we visit a friend along the road... Her kitchen is festooned with flypapers...

She says to me...
"All these flies. Where are they coming from?"

In Which I do Contemplate......

2011-10-13T16:53:00.004+01:00

Parthenogenesis.

....on account Old Man and me had passing discussion on stick insects and greenfly. As you do.

Travels With my Film-Life: USA, CBS newsroom, 1953

2011-10-10T16:08:00.010+01:00

Here I am with my beads and handbag, taking a back seat and watching the action as journalist and TV newsman Ed Morrow goes into battle with Senator (Blacklist) McCarthy.

We's watchin "Good Night and Good Luck" a 2005 release George Clooney film for Warner Brothers - with the delicious Mr Clooney as Morrow's co-producer Fred Friendly. The film is set during the time CBS News, or rather the Ed Morrow team, took on the communist-fixated senator who was twisting America up tight and getting everyone looking over their shoulder.... and decided to bring him down.

The film plays in black & white and looks pretty good as a recreation of the 1950s (I should know). It incorporates actual news footage from the time, such as sequences from the McCarthy hearings. According to Wikipedia - one audience member at the initial showings of the film commented that they thought that the Senator McCarthy performance was over the top.... not realising that it was in fact the real McCoy McCarthy, if you get my drift.

When I see films like this... I wonder what I would do? Would I stand up and be counted? I suppose I just thank my lucky stars that this was another time, another place.....

Yeah.... right.....

Strolling Down the Highway: Bert Jansch 1943 - 2011

2011-10-07T14:31:00.005+01:00

Moody teenagers.... 1965... me and me school friend Ros obsessively listening to her LP of Bert Jansch on the old portable record player in the bedroom: Angie, Needle of Death, Courting Blues...

There's already been the sacred Bob in our lives with "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", and "The Times They Are a-Changin". (Of course one dutifully marvelled at the purity of Saint Joan Baez.) But I don't remember anyone else with near the same punch as sacred Bob

... except for Bert Jansch.

It's probably around this time I decides to walk about with no shoes on.... I mean walk to St. Ives, walk around school.... surely they didn't let me do that? St. Ives already warming up to beads, candles and the clanging of hippy bells... Me stopping walking around with no shoes on... after that foot infection. Slouching into folk clubs... but twas all very traditional there... Brenda Wootton and John the Fish.

No, after a while we had to slump by the harbour and stare at the water - contemplatin' getting back to the grittiness and miraculous guitar-playing of Bert Jansch.

The Old Man Gets His Arm Back

2011-10-07T14:06:00.003+01:00

To those of you concerned as to the outcome of The Old Man's Hi-Fi dilemma and related queasiness - described in previous posts.

Let me assure you that The Old Man grasps the nettle of The Invoice for Arm Repair. He rings up The Arm People who explain that they offer not so much a service as a Rebuild. So he gulps and says yes to the procedure.

Quick as you like... the Arm wings its way back to The Old Man. He declares it pristine and practically unrecognisable... and promptly ditches all other plans for the day in order to settle down by The Deck to reattach The Arm.

Some time later.... records are being played, The Old Man is smiling sweetly and all appears to be well.

As I waft past on the way to start making supper... a slight frown appears on The Old Man's phyzog.

"Of course... there is now the question of The Cartridge....." say he.

Patrick McHale's "Fall Guy"

2011-10-05T16:25:00.000+01:00

And whilst we are being both animated AND thriller minded....Watch this most excellent "animation noir" by Patrick McHale. For those of nervous disposition... there is sound on this one.

Mrs Doonuthin is sitting and weeping....

Mrs Doonuthin's Animating Conscience Nags Her...

2011-10-04T16:18:00.000+01:00

Sicilian Crime Euro-Telly on BBC4

2011-10-03T14:21:00.001+01:00

Mrs Doonuthin says... if you ain't seen it yet... you may like to catch up with a little bit of Euro-Telly crime drama: "Montalbano's Croquettes" - showing on Wed 5 Oct 2011 23:20 on BBC Four.

(It's a repeat showing from last year.. and we missed it on Saturday didn't we... that Mrs D is usually so zonked on her Little Glass of Red by that time of a Saturday night that she's snoring her way through telly....)

The drama is an Inspector Montalbano tale based on the books by Andrea Camilleri and featuring said Sicilian police detective.

Find out more by clicking through here with the added possibility of watching it on iPlayer over the next 9 days or so.

Hot October Day

2011-10-02T13:57:00.005+01:00

Blimey but it is hot and sunny here. How's it with you?

This morning we go for the beach walk. Pearly, hazy light over a shiny flat sea.... well ... as flat as Cornwall can have a go at.
Wheatears (birds!) on the granite rocks at the top of the beach. Dogs and people splashing about in the briny.

Phew, mop the brow.

The Old Man Feels Queasy

2011-10-02T13:35:00.004+01:00

So... you may remember that The Old Man is having some problems with his beloved Hi-Fi? (See 28 Sept Post.)

He be greatly comforted when the Arm Man tells him that he can send his non-tracking Arm back home.... and they will take great care of it and make it a-a-a-all better. This he does....

.... and Friday he gets the pre-pay invoice for the servicing of The Arm...

Around lunchtime The Old Man reports he be feeling sick. As usual, we anxiously consider possible causes. Has he eaten something that's upsetting him? But.... we decide that it is the size of the pre-pay invoice that is turning his stomach!

A Beautiful Day up the Creek

2011-09-29T19:44:00.003+01:00

The ole Riverside at Devoran. The Old Man examining the places of his forefathers.

Me admiring the late September sun, the mud.... and best of all listening to the curlews. Love them babies.

The Old Man's Hi-Fi

2011-09-28T09:53:00.002+01:00

Alors!
The Old Man makes a phone call to the makers' of his Beloved Arm (hi-fi equipment - see previous post). His voice drops from petrified treble to relaxed baritone as he exchanges "woof-tweet-arm" talk with person on other end of phone. Formidable! They will look at the poor mal-functioning arm.

Voila!
Il est un homme transforme.

The Woof and Tweet of it All

2011-09-26T11:54:00.006+01:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, you may not know this.... but The Old Man is a bit of a Woof and Tweet merchant. No, no... he has neither Dog nor Twitter account. (How times and the vernacular have changed.) No.... The Old Man is a hi-fi buff.

And I mean really....he would not know what to do with an iPod or an MP3 player, he is barely on speaking terms with a CD.

No.... he lerves "Vinyl".
And I don't mean he frequents S&M clubs (nor M&S for that matter but that's another subject). Blimey, how fugitive is the patois of hobbies and passions.

The Old Man lerves his speakers, his amp, his pre-amp, his cartridge, his stylus and his arm. He loves them all with obsession and parental tenderness.

People like moi who cohabit with Hi-Fi People will resonate more than said woofers and tweeters with the familiarity of such scenarios as ..... the day the three-piece suite leaves the sitting room in order to accommodate the wardrobe sized speakers; the hours that the whole house vibrates to the tedious range of sounds and chunks of bad music that is - "The Hi-Fi Test Record"; the evenings of mummified hostessing when Hi-Fi fans get together... obsessively comparing and evaluating the qualities of their favoured cartridge.

And last but by no means least, the fact that I have not played any of my once beloved scratched LPs for years, nay decades even.... because I will not go near The Old Man's set-up which sports a stylus (commonly referred to as a "prickle" .... nuff said) that required a small mortgage.

Anyhoo. The Old Man now looks very glum indeed. I can't have a conversation with him. His eyes glaze over. His thoughts are elsewhere.....

The "Arm" is refusing to "Track".....
Translation: the sacred hardware will not play a record.

Blue Flowers and Red Dragonflies

2011-09-23T14:57:00.000+01:00

A day or so ago.

Another walk by the river near the woods. Find tiny "meadows" which are full of blue flowers. I think they might be Devil's Bit Scabious but not sure.

Further away - in a sheltered spot full of heather grown mine-waste ... and a shallow pool.

Red dragonflies. (Maybe Common Darter.)

"The Killing is Killing Me"

2011-09-20T13:03:00.007+01:00

Gotta another mail the other day from my insomniac "Forbrydelsen-fan" friend. Now she is lying awake worrying about some plot points that are puzzling her. She did send me a whole list to clear up. But I says: "Don't look at me. You need Mrs Doonuthin for this."

So I has a go at passing some of the questions over to Mrs Doonuthin... like
"Was Nanna killed at the flat or in the woods?"
"Who cut the wire to the stairwell light outside Lund's flat"
"Why did the powers that be want to cover up the link between Nanna's and Mette's murders?"
... and many more.

Mrs Doonuthin, ever helpful, looks up at me with bleary eyes, hiccups, and says: "I dunno... didn't spot them dyscreppersies meself... I just thought it was a jolly good telly-thing, me."

Sorry, dear friend - despite her cutting edge critical faculties, Mrs Doonuthin is of no use whatsoever. Meanwhile, I can assure you that you only have to Google "Forbrydelsen Nanna..." to get plenty of blogospheric discussion links on the matter of plot points.

But I shall step over Mrs Doonuthin's snoozing form, ponder on your questions - and get back to you.

It Really is Autumn

2011-09-19T15:37:00.004+01:00

See? Just come back from a bit of a local walk.

The Old Man says these be Horse Mushrooms. Dunno, me. But they look splendid.

Mind you we did leave them there... partly cos they do look so splendid. And partly cos we don't know for sure what they be.... so better safe than... poisoned.

Ruining Your Friends' Sleeping Habits: Telly

2011-09-17T15:00:00.005+01:00

I got mail the other day... from a friend who's complaining that she's not sleepin well... cos she's lyin there trying to anticipate the plots of both versions of The Killing. And this is also because she's stayin up half the night watchin both versions. She blames me totally for this. (see my recent post bout this here).

I am sorry, babe. Oh! but don't tell me the outcome for the US version cos I haven't caught up with that myself!! Good job I didn't tell you to catch up on BBC4's "Spiral" at the same time though.

Oh where would we be without BBC4's foreign crime serials?

Well don't hold your breath. We may be able to find out soon. Remember those cut announcements are due soon. (See this post.)

Mrs Doonuthin Says Take a Look at This...

2011-09-11T16:56:00.003+01:00

...."Nosy Bear -Making of" a video posted on Drawn from You Tube.

It's a generous insight into "animating from a sketch book" by Fran Krause.

Mrs Doonuthin says that she'd hoped that it would inspire her to "play" rather than get all po-faced about animation. She said she'd posted it on her own blog .... but in all seriousness I think she is going to take her blog down!!!
She says she thought it was a good idea at the time, that she'd hoped it would be like a sketch book for her own puny animation efforts. But (sigh) she has just found it depressing and earnest and another source of guilt.

Oh-Oh... I do believe she has sloped off to open another bottle of red....

That Lack of Facial Recognition Thing - and Literature

2011-09-06T15:58:00.005+01:00

We's havin' one of our literary conversations... The Old Man and me. This is because Mrs Doonuthin has taken up a new obsession which be reviewing crime books.

Honest. She's not just leaning out the window and pontificating on the state of the thrilling art to any unfortunate passer-by. She be reviewing books for the website Eurocrime. (Under another name of course.) And the place be littered with books now; chairs and tables stacked with crime, murder and mayhem; the floor knee-deep in discarded notes and review attempts.

Anyway, The Old Man is explaining to me why he doesn't read such stuff.

I have always taken this as hauteur on his part and a looking-down-his-nose at my (and Mrs Doonuthin's) literary tastes. But you see, I hadn't put two and two together had I?

I have long accepted that he can't follow crime series on the telly - cos he can't tell one person from another. Well in the main that is. I mean he seems to have a peculiar set of priorities when it comes to facial pattern recognition on screen. And as for the cosmetically polished world of Hollywood or even Telly phyzogs, well that's an infinitely slippery pole for him to slide down. And so, not being able to tell one character from another in a drama just about guarantees that he will never know whodunit, if you take my drift.

Well, he explains how it's a bit the same with reading. He can't remember one name from another, nor sometimes one character from another... And this, The Old Man explains to me with a beatific smile...

is why he likes to read Beckett .

He has a point. If there's only one character on the stage or in the novel.... it's harder to forget who they are.

Animated Discussions: Persepolis

2011-09-04T13:08:00.000+01:00

Monday evening 5th Sept 11pm (2300 hrs). Marjane Satrapi's animation feature film based on her own graphic novel or rather memoir - "Persepolis".

I love the book. I love this film. Have posted about it before. Its her own story as a young girl growing up in Iran before and during the Iranian Revolution. She has to leave Iran but doesn't manage so well adrift in Europe either.

Animated in the same deceptively simple black & white drawing style of her book. It's moving, tragic and funny. Love it, love it, try and see it.

Animated Discussions: My Dog Tulip

2011-09-03T13:45:00.000+01:00

So we sits down and watches a DVD of "My Dog Tulip"which The Old Man is most insistant gets purchased.

"My Dog Tulip", released earlier this year in UK, is an animated tale based on J.R. Ackerley's memoir of his long relationship with his German Shepherd, Queenie (Tulip). It took Paul Fierlinger & Sandra Fierlinger six years to animate using what they call "paperless" animation (drawn and painted straight into the computer.)

I love it. Laughing out loud and really enjoying The Fierlingers' chosen style which reminds me of magazine caricature of the period (1950s). But in some sequences, usually when Ackerley (voiced by Christopher Plummer) is musing on Tulip's inner life, this morphs into animated line drawings depicting Tulip as a dog -headed human in a dress. Sucker for that touch, me.

Be warned that this is not a cute film about a cute dog. Although in her own way Tulip is cute, she is most certainly DOG. And it is this that seems to divide critical opinion. It seems that Tulip is just too basic in her vital expressions, pee, crap, reproduction, etc - and that J.R. Ackerly appears to be too fascinated by her habits to be quite respectable.

But I think it's a truthful, loving, detailed observation of the dog and her solitary human companion. So I say... bravo for "My Dog Tulip".... not a dry eye in the house... thoroughly moved I be. See it if you can.

Mrs Doonuthin Cuts the Grass - Again

2011-09-02T14:33:00.004+01:00

She's off again. Doing her garden duty. Dragging around the grass with the mower. At the moment she's going even slower, announcing her dangerous presence to all critters living in the plot laughingly know as "The Garden".

Scything away slowly and cautiously, she frightens all sorts of wildlife into springing out into the open.

On this occasion - umpteen grasshoppers, two small frogs and a young slow-worm.

The Dead Hand of Re-Organisation: BBC4

2011-08-30T11:47:00.004+01:00

So you know how I be a fan of what I like to call Euro-telly? I post about such programmes sometimes - like Denmark's "The Killing", Iceland's "The Night-Shift"... then there's all those lovely "Wallander" and"Spiral" crime stuff.

Well I find these excellent things on BBC4. As well as comedy like "Getting On" and arts, music and documentaries.

So if you be at all like-minded... watch out. The BBC is implementing cuts and these will be announced on Sept 22, I think. And there is talk of changes for BBC4.

Have a read of this: Stand up for BBC4 | Radio Times.

And maybe this thread on Digitalspy.

Let us be blunt. I think that interesting telly is shrinking.

BBC4 is what BBC2 once was. BBC2 is what BBC1 once was. And I don't really watch BBC1 anymore.... except for Dr Who....

The ice floes of entertainment are melting once more. (Sigh) Radio 6Music was rescued. (Or was it all a cunning plot?) But now it's time to stand by your bunks to protect BBC4.

So don't forget to sign the petition at savebbcfour.com

Bank Holiday Sunday: But This is not a Dahlia

2011-08-28T17:06:00.006+01:00

Mmmm... We do mean to see a field full of dahlias over towards Penzance. But there be a notice to say "Open Day Postponed..." because the Spring drought made everything start too late for there to be a good showing.

(Dejected sigh. Fancied some dahlia viewing.)

Meander all over the place trying to get a bit of a place to park and go for a walk.... on an August Bank Holiday Sunday.

Eventually find this old stomping ground. The coastal path on the north side, just past Godrevy and looking up coast towards Newquay.

A nice little spot just near Hells Mouth.

The Seasons Turn

2011-08-24T14:36:00.005+01:00

I likes this time of year. Just the start of autumn coming. Dahlias in a jug on the the table.

The Old Man walks through the house leaving trails of seasonal hints; wet grass, bags for collecting blackberries... and this morning?

A dead wasp.

The Natural Life: The Great Green Bush Cricket.

2011-08-23T09:28:00.002+01:00

And what is this? First spotted munching in my marigolds? Then it goes jump hop hop, to sit placidly clinging to the house wall.

It's Madam Great Green Bush Cricket.

I find one in the garden or thereabouts most years, but not all. The first time I see one is down on the nearby cliffs, when we first move here.

They be big, about 5 centimetres. And this one so calm, maybe newly moulted? Cleaning its feet and antennae. When I first spot it on the marigold stems, I can see the jaw parts working. Science fiction time. Beautiful vivid green creature.

I turn away to carry on dead-heading the marigolds. Turn back. And she be gone. Hop!

The Old Man's Health Report

2011-08-22T10:45:00.000+01:00

So I just want to say for those followers that get concerned over The Old Man. His health, I mean. The rest is just The Old Man.

We's been a little stressed recently cos he does feel a bit ropey. After many discussions he decides that it is one of the many drugs he takes that is making matters worse for him, headaches, muscle pains.

So he mentions it to his heart doctor on the rare occasion that he gets a check up with him. The doctor sets in motion changing the beta-blocker.

Finally he has a supply and has started the new drug a few days ago.

Whether out of relief or what, I don't know, but he is sleeping better, looking a bit better, and is generally jollier.

Then he turns to me with a worried look and says:

"It might make me too cheerful."

That's my boy.

"The Killing": That Sweater. She's Back.

2011-08-21T15:20:00.004+01:00

Sara's back. A series of repeat showings of "Forbrydelsen" - the original Danish crime series known as The Killing, starts tonight on BBC 4 at 10pm. Be warned, if you haven't seen it before, it's a long old series. But I's been hooked.

Channel 4 is still showing the U.S. remake on Thursdays at 9pm. I will now admit to starting to lose interest in this version. Though I think the lead actress, Mireille Enos, is very good. But for me... I dunno... times like these I realise that I feel at home with... European!

So, if you haven't seen the Danish original. And crime telly is your thing. Turn off the phone. Get out the popcorn.... or nicotine gum... and settle in for the duration. Cos then. Mmmn. Series 2 starts in the autumn.

The Old Man's Words - Don't Panic

2011-08-20T14:15:00.004+01:00

So we sit in the kitchen discussing Anthony Blunt and the spy thing and the art history thing... following on from a BBC Radio 4 "Reunion" programme.

(Eh-Em.. I would like to point out that decades ago I do myself attend an interview for a place studying art history at The Courtauld Institute (where Blunt taught). That would be a thing, if he had been on the interviewing panel. Of course I am not accepted. I do not "have the languages".)

So, like I say, we's be discussing such things as study and research...

"Of Course...." say Old Man: " there has to be sigorous research."

Silence descends on kitchen.

"Sigorous?" say I.

"Sigorous." say bit less confident Old Man.

"What you mean... SIGOROUS!" say panicked me.

Dear Reader, you may now wonder why I have such a dramatic reaction to The Old Man mangling his words these days. Well, he does report to his nurse and GP the incident where he cannot remember a word no matter how hard he try to say it.... (see this July post). And they both say that if such a thing do happen again we must dial 999 for Ambulance for it may be a mini-stroke or TIA thingy. But what they do not know is that The Old Man's speech is frequently sprinkled with malapropisms and spoonerisms. This latest instruction from the medics simply creates an almost permanent state of alarm and alert.

Seriously, one does not sleep so well for fear that he will literally mis-speak; and if he does we both have to jump on chairs and scream....

"Aargh! Argh! Don't panic...don't panic... "

Anyway this time we decide that this is The Old Man's usual cavalier way with words and settle on the theory that he was trying to say RIGOROUS.

As himself says: "That's next in line in the alphabet isn't it? Rigorous. Sigorous."

Yeah! True. Rigorous, shigorous, schmigorous.

"And then there's VIGOROUS..." say Old Man.

We live to fight another day.

Kneehigh Theatre's "The Wild Bride"

2011-08-18T11:22:00.004+01:00

So we's sitting in a big tent in the middle of a Cornish field, somewhere between Blackwater and St. Agnes. The lights have just gone out. It's pitch black. And everyone around us is hollerin and shouting and clappin - including me and The Old Man.

We've just reached the end of Kneehigh's "The Wild Bride" at their big tent venue, The Asylum.

Oh I'm a little choked. And when the lights go up again, the performance space is still strewn with leaves and big red flowers and the performers are being roundly applauded.

It's a fairy/moral tale in which a pure soul attracts the vengeful fury of the devil. In this case, a devil with a guitar. It's gruesome; it's funny; it's moving; it's full of music. There is also a fair amount of mud, blood, smoke, lights, dance and a little puppetry. In short - it has everything I need in theatre.

The performers and performances are great.... sharp, tight and very skilled. The set is minimal but ingenious. Bravo! I'm happy. You can tell I's a fan.

Mrs Doonuthin's Dilemma: Part Two

2011-08-16T20:11:00.005+01:00

So.... Mrs Doonuthin would still appear to be on the horns of a dilemma. (See here for previous related post.) She be more distracted than usual which is saying something. The bottle of red wine be ever at her side and these days she's not that worried about the accompanying tortilla chips. Finally she sidles up to me:

"I want to ask you a favour."

"Mmmmn?"

"Can I write about me learning to make animations.... on your blog?"

"(Sharp intake of breath)!"

"I know, I know... but you see I started my own blog about it but I just can't manage everything anymore; the animating;....."

"What animating?" ask I pointedly.

".... the blog; then helping you with your blog...."

"Say what?"

"And now.... er... well now I'm doing some reading and writing for another website...."

"(Mighty Gasp!!!)"

"So I was thinking.... as you are so insightful and amusing when you write about animation and films and your all-encompassing world view......"

"You're not buttering me up, are you?"

"Er... No. Definitely not. I absolutely mean every thing I say."

"Mmm.... This wouldn't be because no-one visits your blog but they do come to mine, Mmmmmn?"

"...I thought... No of course not.... I thought that maybe I could just slip the odd post onto your blog about... er... you know... learning to animate."

" (Mucho Silencio.)"

"Please?"

"(Todavia mucho silencio.)"

Graphic Passions: Craig Thompson's Habibi

2011-08-14T09:59:00.005+01:00

Oh! Oh! Oh! Take a look at this post from DRAWN. And follow their link to Habibi Process gallery. And in my case, marvel and despair.
This looks wonderful and six years or so in the making.

Due out 22 Sept 2011, published by Faber in the UK and Pantheon in US. Here's an extract from from Faber's synopsis/blurb:

"Habibi, based on a Middle Eastern fable, tells the story of Dodola, who escapes being sold into slavery and rescues an abandoned baby she names Zam. At heart .... a profound love story.... it also functions as a parable about the environment and the state of the world. Set in the place where Christianity and Islam began, it explores the fundamental connection between these religions, and also the relationship between the first and the third world...."

Oh and here's the link to Craig Thompson's own site.

I Do Get so Fed Up With....

2011-08-11T14:34:00.006+01:00

Mr Smooth-Face and his Cronies. He reluctantly comes back from his holiday in Tuscany and reconvenes his parliament... Yes George that means you too... Put down that Disneyland ice-cream, wipe your hands and come here. And up he steps with outraged pompous empty words about "sick" parts of Broken Britain and what he will or will not tolerate.

His remedies? Prison; eviction from social housing;...

What? You got room in the prisons?

(Suggest redeploy scrapped naval ships e.g. Ark Royal as Prison Hulks.)

You want more kids on the street?

Got no brief for trashing and robbin'... but let's just review the progress of these past few years?

Bankers who cause economic crashes with their greedy practices.

Do they suffer? No.

Greedy Media Moguls get sloppy with their in-house ethics.

Do they suffer? No.

Policemen get sloppy over who they bang-up, beat-up, shoot, or get jobs with when they retire.

Do they suffer? No.

How do you expect the ordinary people to engage in society when nothing they say or do matters? The power groups continue to get their own way... and their representatives in government blame society's decline on the criminally "sick".......

Oh never mind... just a rant. What do you expect from a soft, bleeding-heart, baby-boomer, liberal?

Read this Independent article by Camila Batmanghelidjh instead.

An Observation Upon the Relevance of Science-Fiction

2011-08-11T14:00:00.006+01:00

People often dismiss sci-fi as fantastic gobbledygook. If it's not their cup of tea, that is. But I am still impressed at the rate at which ideas from the realm of science fiction prove prophetic.

Many years ago I read a novella by Larry Niven in which the invention of teleportation, instant travel from one place to another in the time honoured "Star Trek" manner, leads to unforeseen social consequences. The novella is called "Flash Crowd". And the unforeseen consequences are that as soon as trouble "kicks off"... to use the current parlance.... mobs and criminals teleport into the site of the incident and the whole thing becomes a Flash Riot.

Of course we haven't managed teleporatation yet. But we do have mobile phones and instant messaging.

You get my drift?

Stranger than fiction... shmiction.

Kneehigh Theatre at the Asylum: The Wild Bride

2011-08-08T11:16:00.000+01:00

Yes, Yes, Going with The Old Man to see "The Wild Bride" next week.
Luverly!

The Wonders of Wild Life: Doves in the Rain

2011-08-07T15:20:00.004+01:00

Have you ever seen doves in the rain?

They like to take a shower.

They sit there in the really, really, heavy rain. I mean, pouring down. They sit there and they turn towards the rain and slowly lift up a wing; hold it for awhile then lower the wing; swivel - and extend the other wing for a good old underarm dowse.

Seen wood pigeons do it too.

Every other bird takes shelter - doves and pigeons take a shower.

Mrs Doonuthin's Dilemma

2011-08-04T13:06:00.003+01:00

What is that woman doing now?

I's waitin' for that animated film life. And it's not just me.

The Old Man is now waitin' for that animated film life also. He be so impatient with that waiting, he be photographing himself and pestering Mrs Doonuthin to do something with the photos.

So what be Mrs Doonuthin doing now?

She be head down in the pages of a crime novel and making scribblin' notes in a bright green notebook.

Which way she going now?

That Aspergery Thing: Words

2011-08-01T14:10:00.004+01:00

So today, walking along a rather drizzly beach, we fall to discussing Renaissance paintings. As you do.

The Old Man says: "... so for years I thought that God appeared in an ordinary tungsten bulb. You know... like you have in the kitchen..."

"Huh?" say I.

"You know... He appears in a light, like from the ceiling."

"You mean a light bulb?"

"Yes. Exactly. But of course it would have been an oil lamp, wouldn't it."

"??"

"The Light. That God appeared in... Would have been an oil lamp in those days."

The penny drops at last.

"God appeared in a Light..." say I "... like a beam of light with a Dove painted in it... Not a light as in lamp."

"O-O-o-o-h.... I see. I was being a bit literal there, wasn't I."

Going For a Walk

2011-07-31T13:08:00.002+01:00

Yesterday is a beautiful, hot, sunny day.

And we go walking up the hill behind the village. Heather, gorse, butterflies, a view that goes on for miles.

Down on this bony tip of England, the land is so narrow that you get up this high and you can see both coasts at once.

This is Tregonning Hill. Where William Cookworthy first found china clay. Before everybody got excited by St. Austell for clay.

Get home hot and tired and drink china tea.

Balwest

2011-07-31T13:05:00.002+01:00

That's the "village" of Balwest behind there.

So small it's just a few houses and small farms and a chapel.

And Now I'm Listenin' To...

2011-07-30T17:15:00.005+01:00

A goldfinch singing, bees buzzing, crickets and grasshoppers rattling.

It's a hot day in late July.

Anybody ever see Jonathan Miller's "Alice in Wonderland"?

I loved it when I saw it on the telly way back then in the 60s.

I remember the opening as a vivid sound portrait of a summer day. Listen to and watch this clip on YouTube.

Listening to.....

2011-07-25T14:49:00.003+01:00

..... The Old Man's copy of Amy Winehouse' first CD -"Frank".

Family Life

2011-07-21T11:21:00.008+01:00

It gives one a great joy to see the little ones take flight. Off into the wide world. One is of course anxious for their safety and prosperity. But also, it has to be admitted, relieved that one is not left with a small, timorous, stay-at-home.

I can't really compare notes with other parents and grandparents. I am merely a Grey Doll. But I am satisfied that, this year alone, The Old Man and I successfully "rear" at least three broods of Sparrows and two broods of Great Tits in our humble (not in the Murdochian sense) ... yard.

The Great Tits (two separate families) fledge successfully from Hammill's Villas. These are lovingly crafted nooks and holes in our rebuilt granite yard wall. Great Tits nested in this wall in previous years, before it showed signs of imminent collapse. Our friendly re-builders provided integral nesting holes as requested when the wall was rebuilt. (These have been very successful, boys.)

The House Sparrows choose their regular "under the eaves slot" and opt for at least two of the compartments in the sparrow house. We put up the sparrow box in order to lure the sparrows away from the eaves, a ruse which - naturally - has not worked.

Several years ago a traumatic fledging occurred when the youngsters jumped the wrong way and ended up inside the tiny roof space above the bathroom. This did cause a few fraught days - with the bathroom's window and its loft hatch left open. Creeping into the room in order to perform the necessities - always meant an initial moment of relief at the quiet above - soon dashed by the patter of tiny feet across the ceiling.

Surprisingly, helped by Dad Sparrow's persistent calling outside the nest, these arrangements worked. The fledglings took the long route to freedom. I know. Because occasionally I would enter the bathroom, there would be a blur of movement... and Dad would be seen feeding a quivering fledgling ball in a nearby hedge - three times.

So it is that - as I peer out of of my kitchen porch window this morning - I see the naked branches of our drought-struck, yard tree festooned (as if for Christmas) with small round fluffy chick-balls. Bewildered and wing fluttering, they stand in the branches blinking in the daylight: an assortment of baby House Sparrows and Blue Tits.

Hang on. Blue Tits? Where d'they come from?

The Old Man's Words - Again

2011-07-19T12:53:00.003+01:00

A week ago or so.... The Old Man did another heart-stopping health trick.

In the kitchen, he starts to tell me that there is another bottle of...

"v....blop.... er.... va....kupfick.... er.... in the fridge... another kind of... va... vo....."

I tell him to shut up and sit down. And we both stare at each other for a while, wondering if this is another stroke thingy.

When it is safe to speak he tells me he knows he is frightening me. I think we both be a bit shook up.

Maybe the first time this happened was before I wuz bloggin. It was way back before the heart operation last year. Then... we were sitting opposite each other at the supper table and suddenly The Old Man starts to speak more rubbish than usual.

That time I also tell him to shut up.

This is my knee-jerk reaction. If he doesn't speak at all - it won't be happening. Eventually he'll manage a straight sentence.

On this occasion he is diagnosed as having had a mini- stroke, no lasting damage, one of the problems associated with dodgy heart valves, dodgy heart rhythmns.... The Old Man is put on Warfarin to thin the blood... And for The Old Man it is part of the decision taken to have the heart-valve operation.

So - back to the other day. When we stare at each other and wonder... why he is doing it again?

When we calm down we discuss it. The Old Man says the two incidents are different. Before - he thought he was saying the right word. This time - he knows the word he wants to say but can't find it.

We decide it is a combination of summer heat, baking bread with hot oven, tiredness, and of course.... THE DRUGS.

But it's the kind of thing that shakes up the both of us. Just when you think you might be getting over it all.....