Saturday 29 June 2013

Love Is A Passion: Kneehigh's "Tristan And Yseult"

So we do go to see "Tristan and Yseult"  by Kneehigh Theatre and of course I do love it... cos I always do... with this company.

The audience enjoys it mightily... laughs, shocks, music and heartfelt emotions... The cast is... as always... talented and all round skilled.... a physical, music-making, dramatic company... and I do like that kind of theatre....

You must give them a go. All the cast is great  but I have to say a word for Penzance based Craig Johnson who plays both the King of Ireland and Yseult's maid Brangian... this last is a warm, funny and moving performance.

Last performance today for Hall for Cornwall... next stop is Bristol Old Vic 3rd July to 20th July.

Friday 28 June 2013

Yoga's Challenge....

My first Yogic challenge is .... how to learn some.
As has been said - by others to my furious little face...
"Of course you be not a group person... be you."
Perish the thought. Can you not see I be not a joining-in kind of gal?

Actually this be news to me..... but groups be groups..... frequently sharp of tooth and claw.... perhaps tongue also. And I do accept that a small person what do not drive is a useless thing in rural areas. Bus journeys do take longer than the events attended and may take one on to pastures new.... but not where one planned to be going always... (see subject tag "Transport")

So I take the cowards way out and get myself an MP3 download..... Maintenant, je yoga chaque jour with me earpieces in ..... peaceful as a thoughtful frog listening to birdsong.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Yoga Continued....

 Of course... suppleness is a thing to be admired... as is a strong spine that supports all the floppy bits of elderness.

Moi? I'd like to get those hips stretching a bit...... so I do not hobble down hill because, believe you me, ... there be plenty of downhill in Cornwall.

But more to the point.....

I do frighten myself in the mirror when I be trying on a summer frock in the dress shop.

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Drastic Measures

I decide that hips that refuse to work going downhill are a thing to be discouraged. Time to get supple....er.

Not to mention all the blood pressure raising that I be very good at these days... what with the jury's decisions at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.... which seem a bit over the top.....

.....and the general resurgent dog-whistling about baby boomers and their sapping of the hard-working tax payer.....

 (Alors! Moi je pay le tax aussi.)


So I do decide that something needs to be done about meself otherwise I do be following Mrs D down a road paved with empty bottles of red........ Voila!





Yoga.

Thursday 20 June 2013

We Be Watching "BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World"

Anyhoo. We now be much more polite in our telly-watching at the moment and will be eyes down for the week for the broadcasting of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World contest.

Indeed, these days are baby-boomer bums be so firmly attached to our telly-watching seats that the other evening The Old Man's favourite chair collapsed under the strain.

Never have so few been so panicked by events of so little consequence. But The Old Man do mend the chair in a trice. Who would have thought? Now I do sit in the mended one and The Old Man have taken over my habitual seating.
Why is that then?

 ...... Eyes down and feet up for the singing.

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Euro-Telly: Wallander

OK. So perhaps those not used to my diet of crime-watching may say... How can you describe "Sidetracked" as "comfort food"?

Sorry, sorry, sorry.... I say that kind of thing and then people look at me as if I am mad when they watch whatever it is and reel in shock at the end result.

... And I find that the Wallander is a repeat and naughty old BBC4 don't tell you that. All I can say is that they picked a very good one to repeat. I be always impressed by the central performance of Henrik Persson as the serial killing teen.... No I'm not giving anything away here, trust me. But about him I can find nothing else.

Anyway... I apologise if anyone got nightmares from my idea of "comfort" telly.

Friday 14 June 2013

More Euro-Telly Comfort Crime Food On UK Telly....

So if the French "revivified dead" (aka "The Returned" see previous posts) are not for you and you are grieving for your shot of Swedish crime thriller now that the Arne Dahl season on UK BBC4's Saturday slot has finished....
... be not despondent...

You have two Saturdays with Rolf Lassgard's "Wallander" in the two-parter "Sidetracked" coming up tomorrow evening at 21.00 hrs.

Thursday 13 June 2013

"The Returned" | Sundays | Channel 4

I Be Watching "The Returned" On Sunday Nights...

OK, so only one episode so far.... but I am intrigued with the cool French tone of this sub-titled serial concerning the Dead what have come back. And in true French elegance without rotting flesh, teeth and bits dropped off. Oh-la-la.

Give it a go, why don't you.  "The Returned" Channel 4  Sundays at 21.00 hrs. You can catch up on 4od aussi.

Even The Old Man do give it a go when I assure him there be none of the other  bits above.... bloody stumps, decay, grizzly teeth etc. Things what he do not like.....

Monday 10 June 2013

R.I.P. lain Banks

Sad to hear of the early death of writer Iain Banks.

I discovered his science fiction in particular ... which he wrote under the name Iain M Banks. To be precise I discovered his Culture Series. Grand Space Opera. OK... not always even.... but in these books Banks shows his ironic humour. His is an imagination to savour.

A detail from the series ... the ships' names. The space ships are AI beings and as such they are often characters in their own right with names that reflect their personalities. How can you resist craft with names like "Poke It With A Stick", "Charming But Irrational", "What Are The Civilian Applications?" and "Yawning Angel".....?

For an exhausting and exhaustive list of craft names from the Culture series... click here.

Sunday 9 June 2013

The Wish For A Moth

It's being wonderfully hot and we are given a cracking thunderstorm the other morning. Last night I do go to bed with the window a bit open because of the mugginess. Lie there listening to a recorded book for too long... not very sleepy. Suddenly aware of clatterings going on and look up to watch big blurry things (I got no spectacles on) flapping about the ceiling. Leap out of bed because I decide enough is enough. Put on glasses to discover I have... not moths as I had excitedly hoped... but three crane-flies dancing around the room. Takes me some time to find a method of getting them back out the window... during which time another one popped in to join the fun. Must be some mass emergence on the crane-fly front.

All in all I be thoroughly awake after all that dancing round the room at midnight. Seems like I didn't get back to sleep till after 3 a.m.... still disappointed that I do not get an exciting moth.

So....  I be tired this morning and grumpily go around the garden drawing back the mesh from my vegetable patch. (Necessary barrier against wind, rain, insects... maybe snails and slugs... and most importantly.... night-roaming cats who need to .... use the cats' bathroom that is my garden.) I have forgotten the cut-up T-shirt strips that I use to tie the mesh back for the day. I trudge back to the house and back down to the potato patch. And there it is....

... One huge moth. Like a piece of bark hanging on to the frame. He looks fresh and new and very big. I know it is a hawk moth but not sure which. I drag out The Old Man to get a look. He takes some pictures and is fairly impressed....But the reception temperature drops when I work out that it is as an Eyed Hawk Moth.

You see its caterpillars like to eat apple leaves if they can't get their preferred sallows and willows ... and the potato bed is down near the apple trees. It's not good to get between The Old Man and his beloved fruit crops.

Late afternoon now.... and the moth is where we left it... I'm going to have to leave that potato bed unmeshed tonight... Hope the moth decides to fly when it gets dark.


Friday 7 June 2013

Animated Discussions: A Softer Touch - "Ernest & Celestine"

Sometimes I like to watch animation of a softer kind. And so it is with hand-drawn "Ernest & Celestine".... a French/Belgian production from the same animation team as the hysterical stop-motion gem "A Town Called Panic". (See my Post about "..Panic..")

"Ernest & Celestine" is based on a Belgian children's book series about a bear (Ernest) and a mouse (Celestine). Never the twain should meet and co-exist but they do... and in this film they fight to stay together despite the horror of their respective communities.

So?  I do like a bit of heart-warming some time.... eh-hem... so what's embarrassing about that?

The screenplay and dialogue is by Daniel Pennac.
Pennac is a French writer that I do already like for his series of off-beat crime thrillers set in the Belleville district of Paris - The Malaussene Saga - which includes (in English translation)... The Scapegoat, The Fairy Gunmother and Write to Kill.
I see there is another book translation available - "Monsieur Malausenne". I'm off to find if I can get hold of that still... tout suite.

Animated Discussions: Ernest & Celestine - Trailer

Wednesday 5 June 2013

Animated Discussions: Miyazaki and Giraud (aka Moebius)

Two "Greats" talk and give us an insight into the meeting of the European and the Japanese worlds of imagination and film-making. The late Jean Giraud, French comic book artist and animator  and Hayao Miyazaki.... the "Man" of Japanese anime... discuss the influence of each others work in the (previous post) video.

Animated Discussions: YouTube Interview with Hayao Miyazaki and Jean Giraud (Moebius)

Monday 3 June 2013

Animated Discussions: Japanese Gods: Hayao Miyazaki & Princess Mononoke

So... I must be passing through a Japanese phase.

I'm listening to a Japanese crime story on my MP3 player.... and the other evening I turn to my comfort food - animation .... in this case "Princess Mononoke" by Hayao Miyazaki.

Released in 1997 it is one of Miyazaki's greats. Gods and men battle for ownership of the land.... or should I say the earth. I like the "foreign" quality of the spirit-world in Japanese anime. Westerners love to make their gods look like human kings and queens. Anime spirits are definitely "other".

I'll leave the critical discussion to this here video clip from New York Times.

Critics' Picks: 'Princess Mononoke' - NYTimes.com/Video