Movie Review - The Prestige
The Prestige is a curious mix of thriller, puzzle and morality play and fails to impress as any of them, however it is a really well presented yarn with a great cast. Sadly it failed the Mrs Stuffy test and she dropped off for a little snooze in the middle. The frustration with that is of course the inevitable conversation on the way home. "why did he?", "who was the man in the hat?", "why did she do that?".
Still it does foster conversation unlike most television which, (for us at least) only generates dialogue along the line of "why are you watching that load of old pony"
Nature's way of telling you ...
The Saturday morning bike ride was challenging this weekend, I am suffering from a man cold, the 'light showers' predicted by the Met Office had turned most tracks into quagmires, the roads into lakes and the bridle path into a torrent, the heavy going really saps the energy and about halfway round I started to feel (in addition to the continual desperate gasping and wheezing which 
accompanies most exercise) a noticeable tightness around the chest.
You may have seen the recent series of posters warning of the symptons of a heart attack, I arrived home feeling a little concerned. Luckily I took my heart rate monitor chest strap off before I called the ambulance.
The customer, right? sometimes right? always right ?
An excursion yesterday to buy footwear for ChaCha, (she grows out of stuff very quickly), the delightfully intimidatable young man in the shoe shop, (which will not, in the spirit of fair play, be identified as Russ*l and Broml*y) was very specific that they had a sacred duty to ensure that only shoes with sufficient growing space, sensible support and appropriate fastenings were sold to my dear daughter, who will of course grow out of them in a fortnight, kick them off without undoing laces and wouldn't dream of wearing anything uncomfortable .
Of course whilst this holier than thou, "we're entrusted with the safety and security of generations of feet yet to come", purist attitude pertains in the kiddy section, amble downstairs to the debauched salon of the ladies and they'll sell a block of 
plastic and leather, festooned with sequins and diamante, as practical and comfortable as putting your feet in a box of glass shards, for the price of a small African country, to women who should know better.
These allegedly intelligent women will quite happily shell out for something that, they, I and the hypocritical vendors of footwear-related fantasy are all well aware are totally pointless, impractical and in most cases unwearable, (for much longer than the time it takes to say "ooooh yes, I'll take them, do you have the same size covered in the skins of pigmy ocelots ?"
I blame Cinderella for setting unreasonable expectations of our shoe shop assistants...
I'm a joy to shop with...
Movie review - Casino Royale
Mrs Stuffy and I have just returned from viewing the new James Bond movie, opening tonight across the land, very different from the tongue-in-cheekness we've come to expect. I predict Mr Craig will be a real winner in the role and that the new grittier approach will sell well. Two concerns for me though, No gadgets (although the Aston Martin DBS is very pretty) and a truly rubbish theme song.
I commend it to those of you who like a good action movie and those ladies whose hearts need to be set a flutter.
English as a foreign Language
Whilst wending my way merrily along the M4 this morning, I was passed by a large white van bearing the following advertising logo...
Sutton, Partnering your facility !
a number of questions spring to my mind
- What the hell does that mean ?
- When someone suggested that as a slogan/tagline for whatever business owns the van did no-one ask question 1?
Answers please on a postcard to
'Responding your inquisiteness'
22 Domiciling my habitat
Locationing ones geographicness
someplaceness
Random Thoughts on a musty autumn morning
Thought 1
There's a brass plaque in a prominent position in the High Street of a Surrey town, (which will remain anonymous) which states, simply, "Eric Parker said 'Guildford is a beautiful town'. Let us keep it so"
My reaction was obviously
- Who is/was Eric Parker
- What a pathetic quote, it's hardly "come friendly bombs and fall on Slough" is it ?
- Note the quotes, he didn't even say 'let us keep it so' that's an addition designed to turn the bland observation into an inclusive exhortation.
- Would it affect the propensity of potential litterers, which I suspect is the intention of the plaque, that some long forgotten author of a book about the roads of Surrey thought Guildford attractive in 1905?(obviously i've now done some research)
- What a strange word 'plaque' is when written down.
Thought 2Again on the lines of being told to be good citizens, I noticed a Home Office funded poster advising young folk to conceal their ipod ownership and thus avoid tempting others to steal. Presumably the thieves will be those who've failed through carelessness or illiteracy to read the posters telling them that stealing an ipod from another person is a bad thing. I find myself more and more incensed by a state of government which seems to find it hard to accept that people should be responsible for the way they operate in society and that the consequences of failing to accord with the majority view should be punishment, not education, and definitely not targeted advertising.
Thought 3Why would the woman driving along the road swerve to avoid the pigeon collecting his breakfast from the middle of the carriageway and drive directly towards the ageing (but still strangely attractive) gentleman crossing the road.
- Have you ever seen a pigeon not get out of the way?
- She doesn't know me, obviously, but but surely in any life or death decision I, a reasonably well functioning example of the top of the known food chain must rank a little higher than a feathered rat.
- Think of the comparative paperwork, as I recall from my Plod days, getting called out to a birdstrike would not normally create a significant workload, grumpy old gits wrapped around a Corsa bumper however are a very different matter.
Thought 4I've just discovered there's a reasonably workable text-helpful editor in blogger, I've been using the html editor by default, life just got easier.
Thought 5Wagamama salad dressing is a tremendous thing...
