Thursday 28 February 2013

Behold - The New Old Man

What feels like many weeks ago, Mrs D do be making a New Old Man. Remember? (You may refresh yourself with the last post on the subject here.)  And... finally... Mrs D do get herself in gear to add the spectacles and the hat and in so doing do make The New Old Man ready for action... ( A word we will not hear for some time...)

It's a development that The Original Old Man... and myself... and Mrs D... do all feel a bit strange about. Mrs D and myself do both feel fondness for The Original Old Man, as you would expect. And I am sure that The Original Old Man do feel mighty conflicted about it all. So.....
Can the Two Old Men live side by side? 
Will I... myself... The Original Little Grey Doll be replicated? 
How much more proliferation of beings shall we see? 
What will become of the Original Me?
 
Enough... today we must sally forth and make our wills. Hence the contemplation of mortality. All flesh is clay they say... some "flesh" would appear to have some wire and wadding involved also.

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Mrs D Ponders Crime And Espionage: Stuart Neville's "Ratlines"

Mrs D be gratified to find that Stuart Neville can switch period, place, and character with his latest book "Ratlines".... a factional thriller set in Ireland in 1963 where the murders of ex-Nazis and their fellow-travellers being investigated by Lietenant Albert Ryan of Military Intelligence.


You can read a review at Euro Crime here.

Saturday 23 February 2013

Chomet's THE ILLUSIONIST (2010) official trailer

Animated Discussions: When Tati Is Animated As "The Illusionist"

So having come so late to the films of  Jacques Tati... it may not be surprising that I do enjoy Sylvain Chomet's hand-drawn animated feature film "The Illusionist" less than his earlier film "Belleville Rendez-vous" (aka "The Triplets of Bellville"). But I do watch a clip again and see that not only is it based on a script by Tati - it be true homage to Tati. The portrayal of Tati as The Illusionist is wonderful.

You can read a Daily Telegraph interview (complete with film clip) with Chomet here.

And you can read my summary of the earlier "Belleville Rendez-vous" here.

Here endeth my discussion of Tati...

Thursday 21 February 2013

David Lynch on Tati's "Mon Oncle"



So it's all about the sound as well...Tati's deliberate use of snippets of conversation and his treatment of the human voice as though part of the ambient sound.

Watch the clip and see how Lynch's choice of extract from "Mon Oncle" looks like.... er...Lynch.....

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Travels With My Film Life: France... A Visit to "Mon Oncle"

Here I be in France.... 1958 and watching the half-mime world of Jacques Tati as he bumbles through his struggle with the modern world... on his bicycle... trailing his delighted "nephew" and a string of dogs and street characters. He be bewildered by his brother-in-law's modern house a la mode: all robotic, automated, geometric steel and plastic. And Bro-in-law is being chivvied by his wife to find her brother (Tati/Mon Oncle) a job in his plastic tubing factory. Tati's attempts at attending an interview and a day at work be much cause for Keatonesque mayhem.

I am a late convert to Tati and we do really enjoy this one. "Mon Oncle" is a satire on the craze for the modern and at the same time a fond farewell to a way of life disappearing under the bulldozers.

Jacques Tati's "Mon Oncle": Trailer

Sunday 17 February 2013

Hi-Ho...Hi-Ho... Tis Off To The Lemon Street Gallery We Go...

The other day I do take a ride of one and a half hours on the bus... I wouldn't mind but half of that journey-time is spent circling my nearest town's supermarkets .... to Truro. I goes to meet up with a friend and wander around the place for a few hours.

I do reel out of Truro Bus Station speechless from the journey... though it be all very interesting... looking down on the fields and chickens and short fat ponies and buzzards sat on hedges and so-o-o much mud and standing water on fields you would not believe...
and because I be so speechless... we do go and inhale some coffee.

Then we call in at Lemon Street Gallery which is currently running an exhibition of wooden reliefs, constructions, and drawings by Scottish sculptor Doug Cocker until March 9th 2013. I've not seen his work before and particularly like his "Geography" series -  a set of relief panels described as "stained and painted  hollow wood constructions"... and also his series of pencil drawings. There are a lot of pieces on show including wooden assemblage panels and "constructed monoprints". The exhibition fills the three floors of the gallery. Have a look if you are in the area.

After all of this I be speechless with unaccustomed chat and viewing and we do stagger off for more refreshment before I fall asleep. Innit dreadful when one has reached the age when tiredness causes huge chunks of one's vocabulary to disappear quicker than a coastal path after a rainstorm. All those "Erms" and "Whatsits" and "Can't think of their names..." I positively blush at my social unease.

Wednesday 13 February 2013

A Garden Is A Lovely Thing...

Just heard that a fourth household in the lane is trying for planning permission to build in their garden. There's only eight or nine households in all.

Hey-ho. A garden is a lovely thing but not as profitable as a building plot.

Sunday 10 February 2013

The Old Man Grows Philosophical About Bagel-Filling

Sunday breakfast is bagel breakfast.
As I do sit and hoh-hum a bit... The Old Man do ask what the problem is.
I do say that I never know what to put in my bagel.
"No... we do not have any Gestalt Fish," he do muse.
"Er... Gefilte Fish?" ask I.




Hmmmn... but what be "gefilte fish" if it be not "a whole greater than the sum of its parts"?

Saturday 9 February 2013

Mrs D Ponders Espionage: Dan Fesperman's "The Double Game"

Mrs D be reading again....
and this time it is a spy thriller set in the US and Europe and....
is itself a history of spy literature.

She do enjoy it and recommends it and thinks maybe she should read more Dan Fesperman.

You'll find a Euro Crime review here.

Friday 8 February 2013

The New Old Man Expresses Himself

Mrs D do still work on The New Old Man. She is making some "faces" for him out of Fimo with small beads for eyes. She has developed her own method of making these expression-changes..... (Typical)... which be not ideal.

But they be what she do.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Mrs D Gets Beside And Above Herself

I do wait patiently for some action on the part of  Mrs D as far as animating goes... But "No".

She be too busy reading and writing reviews of crime fiction.

Now she will be insufferable. Her Euro Crime review for Stuart Neville's excellent thriller "Stolen Souls"  be quoted  on the back of the paperback edition.

I ain't never gonna get any animating out of her.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

A February Walk: Birds Do Fly

Today the wind do blow and rain do spatter. I do wake up in the night to hear something skitter down the roof above. I do think.... "Ooh dear. Is that a roof tile?" But this morning there is nothing to be seen. The Old Man wonders if it be a small piece of tree or bush.

The other day we do take a wet, windy walk down from our village towards Hendra near Praa Sands. Never walked that way before. Big bare fields with the remnants of cauliflower ("broccoli" in Cornwall) and cut maize stalks. Water run-off like a small stream at the side of the single lane road.

Coming back, about 3.30 in the afternoon, we do stop to look at the flocks of birds flying in the sky. Big groups in formation. I be very pleased to spot the blunt ended wings and floppy flight of Lapwing. I love these birds and have not seen much of them in recent years. Then I do realise that there is another large flock of birds, flying higher above the lapwings. These are smaller and sharper. The two groups interweave like some kind of winter "tweed" of birds and sky. Later... The Old Man reminds me that Golden Plover do mix with Lapwing and they are said to fly higher. Perhaps that's it.Anyway it be beautiful to watch and I be happy to see such a large group of the birds.

Looking around the web I do find this recent article in The Guardian about the flocks rising.

Monday 4 February 2013

The Parting Of The Recordings

So us euro-telly watchers in the UK who do favour BBC4 on a Saturday night... wave bye-bye for now (we hope it's just for now) to "Borgen" and all that Danish drama and politicking.

The Old Man do watch this alongside me.. in real-time broadcasting... but do occasionally get confused and asks me when is "the crime" coming in. I do remind him that this be a series about politics not crime... though......come to think of it....

Good news for me is that the slot will be filled by the new series of the French Flic crime buster "Spiral"... what I do like and what The Old Man do not. Too violent he do say. So I will not be able to partake in real-time broadcasting.. but will have to insist that it be recorded for me to catch up with.

I can see that The Old Man is getting tetchy with "Ripper Street" as well... what I do thoroughly enjoy despite some slightly sniffy press. That may end up being recorded and all.

Then there's the return of "Being Human".... vampires, werewolves and ghosts... not The Old Man's kinda thing at all....

But then.... he be on his own when we get those documentaries about "early steam power" or "Hitler" so...

to each his own.... and praise be for recording technology. (No. I don't have an iPhone.)

Saturday 2 February 2013

The Old Man's Avatar Gets A Head of Hair... And Clothes

Mrs D do give The New Old Man a set of clothes and a head of hair.

"Real-life Old Man" frequently likes to get ahead of his hair... and has been known to favour a "surprised" hairstyle reminiscent of Einstein....
 
So Mrs D do equip The New Old Man with same hairstyle... only to find that Real-life Old Man have immediately changed his hairstyle to something more tame...

Of course that may be something to do with "next door" enquiring if he do stick his finger in the electric socket.