A fair bit of TV watching over the last two weeks, as well as the odd snippet of diary type entries. It's all just washed up on the beach of the blog, like flotsam and jetsam!
About half an hour spent trying to turn "Voice Assistant" off on my mobile phone. Once on, not only did it not respond to voice, it also was nearly impossible to get to settings to turn it off! Never again!
Just seen Casino Royale (1967) is on TV. The best review I ever read was by Roger Ebert:
At one time or another, "Casino Royale" undoubtedly had a shooting schedule, a script and a plot. If any one of the three ever turns up, it might be the making of a good movie.
In the meantime, the present version is a definitive example of what can happen when everybody working on a film goes simultaneously berserk.
And yet there is something strangely compelling about this terrible film.
Watched Dr Richard Miles - Archeology A Secret History. Amazing to think that for centuries people just didn't think about stone circles, dolmens, menhirs as ancient past, but just as "something they grew up with", and no spark of curiosity.
Watched the Australian TV version of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab". Gipping stuff, and lots of twist and turns before the satisfying conclusion. Great period drama, good acting, and a rival to the BBC historical drama.
Able to have coffee late afternoon at outside table on promenade in St Brelade's Bay. Making most of weather. Sunday is: Cloudy. Risk of a little patchy light rain or drizzle from mid-morning. Persistent and perhaps heavy rain from early afternoon with some mist and a risk of fog patches, clearing around midnight with fair periods developing.
Later - stormy foggy seas at Corbiere, but of course no fog horn. They decided not to replace it as a cost saving measure.
Nat West Cash Machine at Waitrose has been out of order for three weeks, with a sign saying it is "Temporarily Out of Order". I've half a mind to cross out "Temporarily" and replace with "Permanently". Apparently they are waiting for the bank. "We are what we do" is the advertising slogan for Nat West, and they don't do much here!
Watched Michael Palin in the Ripping Yarns story "Escape from Stalag Luft 112B". A brilliant piece of comedy, and still as funny today! Some people just have a gift for humour and Palin is one.
Watched final of last series of Upstart Crow about Romeo and Juliet. It's a delight! Glad a third series has started last Wednesday. The mixture of the historical and post-modern, and the high intellectual jokes with the down to earth baudy ones make this so compelling and funny. A literate sitcom from Ben Elton. I don't know whether we last had that mix since.... Shakespeare's plays.
Three solid hours and my "Astronomy in the News" presentation is finally complete, and I'm bunking off to watch some TV and have a well-earned snack! A nice variety of different and interesting stories.
Caught up with "Shut that Door: The Larry Grayson Story". It's always fascinating to get to know other people's life stories, and by all accounts he was a very nice man, and funny in a very idiosyncratic way. Something of a camp comic rather like Frankie Howerd, but actually a much nicer human being.
It was while he performed as Billy Breen at the New Pavilion Theatre Redcar (now the Regent Cinema) that he started using his familiar catchphrase "shut that door" when a side door had been left open causing a cold breeze to blow across the stage straight from the sea.
During this period, Grayson was briefly managed by Eve Taylor, who renamed him 'Larry Grayson' and she is credited with being the source of the phrase, as several of her clients revealed that whenever she wanted to discuss money or personal issues with her clients, she would always tell them to "shut that door"
Watched "Murdoch and the Temple of Death" - this time centred on the quest for the Holy Grail, with a rather nice homage to India Jones films. Canada does turn of the century period stuff very well too.
About half an hour spent trying to turn "Voice Assistant" off on my mobile phone. Once on, not only did it not respond to voice, it also was nearly impossible to get to settings to turn it off! Never again!
Just seen Casino Royale (1967) is on TV. The best review I ever read was by Roger Ebert:
At one time or another, "Casino Royale" undoubtedly had a shooting schedule, a script and a plot. If any one of the three ever turns up, it might be the making of a good movie.
In the meantime, the present version is a definitive example of what can happen when everybody working on a film goes simultaneously berserk.
And yet there is something strangely compelling about this terrible film.
Watched Dr Richard Miles - Archeology A Secret History. Amazing to think that for centuries people just didn't think about stone circles, dolmens, menhirs as ancient past, but just as "something they grew up with", and no spark of curiosity.
Watched the Australian TV version of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab". Gipping stuff, and lots of twist and turns before the satisfying conclusion. Great period drama, good acting, and a rival to the BBC historical drama.
Able to have coffee late afternoon at outside table on promenade in St Brelade's Bay. Making most of weather. Sunday is: Cloudy. Risk of a little patchy light rain or drizzle from mid-morning. Persistent and perhaps heavy rain from early afternoon with some mist and a risk of fog patches, clearing around midnight with fair periods developing.
Later - stormy foggy seas at Corbiere, but of course no fog horn. They decided not to replace it as a cost saving measure.
Nat West Cash Machine at Waitrose has been out of order for three weeks, with a sign saying it is "Temporarily Out of Order". I've half a mind to cross out "Temporarily" and replace with "Permanently". Apparently they are waiting for the bank. "We are what we do" is the advertising slogan for Nat West, and they don't do much here!
Watched Michael Palin in the Ripping Yarns story "Escape from Stalag Luft 112B". A brilliant piece of comedy, and still as funny today! Some people just have a gift for humour and Palin is one.
Watched final of last series of Upstart Crow about Romeo and Juliet. It's a delight! Glad a third series has started last Wednesday. The mixture of the historical and post-modern, and the high intellectual jokes with the down to earth baudy ones make this so compelling and funny. A literate sitcom from Ben Elton. I don't know whether we last had that mix since.... Shakespeare's plays.
Three solid hours and my "Astronomy in the News" presentation is finally complete, and I'm bunking off to watch some TV and have a well-earned snack! A nice variety of different and interesting stories.
Caught up with "Shut that Door: The Larry Grayson Story". It's always fascinating to get to know other people's life stories, and by all accounts he was a very nice man, and funny in a very idiosyncratic way. Something of a camp comic rather like Frankie Howerd, but actually a much nicer human being.
It was while he performed as Billy Breen at the New Pavilion Theatre Redcar (now the Regent Cinema) that he started using his familiar catchphrase "shut that door" when a side door had been left open causing a cold breeze to blow across the stage straight from the sea.
During this period, Grayson was briefly managed by Eve Taylor, who renamed him 'Larry Grayson' and she is credited with being the source of the phrase, as several of her clients revealed that whenever she wanted to discuss money or personal issues with her clients, she would always tell them to "shut that door"
Watched "Murdoch and the Temple of Death" - this time centred on the quest for the Holy Grail, with a rather nice homage to India Jones films. Canada does turn of the century period stuff very well too.
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