Dogs
This morning I received an email from a lady with the cracking name of Beatrice Fickle.
She asked me to post a few photos of the dogs ( she noted wryly that the blog was slightly Bulldog biased)
So find "enclosed" a quick video of the dogs this morning. As usual Constance commanded centre stage
Caligula in Hot Pants
And you'd be right
This short ballet, structured in five acts to the slightly incongruous music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, did have some innovative male led pieces but the slightly pretentious and confusing "pantomimes" in between acts bored me rigid and at one moment Chris had to wake me up to stop me snoring.
hey ho
At least he enjoyed this live performance of Le Ballet de l'Opera de Paris........
Old Lady power
Does anyone here remember THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN?
I particularly refer to the sequence when the poor Mexicans are galvanised into protecting their village by the bravery of seven men!
This much seen video shows just how the bravery of one old lady galvanised a group of passers into action.....funny how it was only her that took on the 6 robbers initially
I love you, Mr coffee
I am such a hypocrite.
Yesterday, there was a me waxing lyrically about good matters and unacceptable bad temper,
and this morning I could quite easily strangle a moose with my bare hands.
The problem,, as always, is my post waking "fugue" state
Chris needing to get to the railway station before dawn,woke me up with his usual loud "Bonne amie" and even before my spinal cord and central nervous system had registered that it was indeed Tuesday let alone that it was freezing, I had driven him the two miles down a 1 in 4 hill to Prestatyn.
After a decade of uncommunicative early mornings, Chris STILL insists in trying to engage me in inane pre coffee conversations. Actually he still INSISTS on asking me a question that in his mind needs a verbal reply and cannot quite cope with a nod or at the best a low grunt!
So the usual in car interaction is left with him demanding " AN ANSWER!!!!" and me plotting violent death and destruction.
I just don't do waking good humour!
And so this morning, after my vomit inducing "Rebecca of SunnyBrook Farm" post of last night, All I can think of killing "KILL" KILL KILL THEM ALL"!!!!"
Mind you.........my saving grace is my New York coffee cup full of lovely silent coffee
Sitting here, in a quiet peaceful and dark kitchen....we are having our moment together...
In twenty minutes I will be human again
x
Yesterday, there was a me waxing lyrically about good matters and unacceptable bad temper,
and this morning I could quite easily strangle a moose with my bare hands.
The problem,, as always, is my post waking "fugue" state
Chris needing to get to the railway station before dawn,woke me up with his usual loud "Bonne amie" and even before my spinal cord and central nervous system had registered that it was indeed Tuesday let alone that it was freezing, I had driven him the two miles down a 1 in 4 hill to Prestatyn.
After a decade of uncommunicative early mornings, Chris STILL insists in trying to engage me in inane pre coffee conversations. Actually he still INSISTS on asking me a question that in his mind needs a verbal reply and cannot quite cope with a nod or at the best a low grunt!
So the usual in car interaction is left with him demanding " AN ANSWER!!!!" and me plotting violent death and destruction.
I just don't do waking good humour!
And so this morning, after my vomit inducing "Rebecca of SunnyBrook Farm" post of last night, All I can think of killing "KILL" KILL KILL THEM ALL"!!!!"
Mind you.........my saving grace is my New York coffee cup full of lovely silent coffee
Sitting here, in a quiet peaceful and dark kitchen....we are having our moment together...
In twenty minutes I will be human again
x
Eric Hoffer was right
The internet is often used as a forum for hate and anger, I have noticed this fact recently when I have read some "professional" political blogs as well as some opinionated rants and moans elsewhere on the net.
Anonymous people often find rudeness easy on line, of course there is no comeback when you hide behind a pseudonym or a character, and harsh words can be fired easily when no one knows or can see the "shooter!"
My mother had a saying
"If you can't say anything good about someone, say nothing"
This amused me somewhat seeing that my mother was an expert moaner about EVERYONE!
But I kind of agree with her general sentiments- badmouthing someone can make you look somewhat mean and ever so, well, bitter.
Or As Eric Hoffer once said "Rudeness is a weak man's weapon"
Perhaps there should be several pre agreed rules before anyone should blog
1. Never blog when you have just had a row
2. Never blog when you are pissed ( sorry US readers I mean drunk)
3. and never blog when you are pissed AND angry!
Anonymous people often find rudeness easy on line, of course there is no comeback when you hide behind a pseudonym or a character, and harsh words can be fired easily when no one knows or can see the "shooter!"
My mother had a saying
"If you can't say anything good about someone, say nothing"
This amused me somewhat seeing that my mother was an expert moaner about EVERYONE!
But I kind of agree with her general sentiments- badmouthing someone can make you look somewhat mean and ever so, well, bitter.
Or As Eric Hoffer once said "Rudeness is a weak man's weapon"
Perhaps there should be several pre agreed rules before anyone should blog
1. Never blog when you have just had a row
2. Never blog when you are pissed ( sorry US readers I mean drunk)
3. and never blog when you are pissed AND angry!
Stormy Weather
I know it is lazy blogging of sorts but I took the following video this morning at dawn when I went to sort the animals out, and believe me the wind had dropped from the gales we had on Friday!
A little act of cruelty
Chris has not been well today, and has spent most of the day on the sofa with a stomach bug and the duvet.
I made him breakfast and left him in peace and quiet to take the dogs up to my brother's house way up in the hills. There I let them run themselves silly in their garden and pond, and spent a hour or two with my sister in law. My brother remains very fatigued at the moment and was asleep when I was there. I will catch him later in the week.
When I got home, I was making Chris some lunch when there was a knock at the kitchen window which faces the lane. Thinking it was an egg customer I ambled outside to find a neighbour from down the road. She hurriedly explained that she had witnessed a guy walking past one the tame st Trinian hens who had escaped into the lane. She told me that he had actively allowed his two dogs a free run on their extended leads to corner and attack the single hen, and that they had ripped out a large number of feathers before the hen had somehow escaped
I ran out to find the guy long gone and the somewhat fraught and battered hen safely back in the field. She didnt "look" injured or shocked to I decided to leave her well alone, but I was incredibly angry if this guy had indeed purposely allowed the attack to happen.
The darker side of human nature never ceases to surprise me. The moral code which keeps you and I in check for most of the time does not apply to some, who allow themselves to inflict little acts of cruelty on the weak without a second thought or guilt.....I wonder just how this happens so very easily?...........This nastier part of human motivation saddens me greatly
I made him breakfast and left him in peace and quiet to take the dogs up to my brother's house way up in the hills. There I let them run themselves silly in their garden and pond, and spent a hour or two with my sister in law. My brother remains very fatigued at the moment and was asleep when I was there. I will catch him later in the week.
When I got home, I was making Chris some lunch when there was a knock at the kitchen window which faces the lane. Thinking it was an egg customer I ambled outside to find a neighbour from down the road. She hurriedly explained that she had witnessed a guy walking past one the tame st Trinian hens who had escaped into the lane. She told me that he had actively allowed his two dogs a free run on their extended leads to corner and attack the single hen, and that they had ripped out a large number of feathers before the hen had somehow escaped
 |
| One of the tame St Trinians walking in the lane |
The darker side of human nature never ceases to surprise me. The moral code which keeps you and I in check for most of the time does not apply to some, who allow themselves to inflict little acts of cruelty on the weak without a second thought or guilt.....I wonder just how this happens so very easily?...........This nastier part of human motivation saddens me greatly
Black Swan
Well from my previous and rather bad home movie to something a little more sublime
Black Swan is not a particularly original movie. We have seen its themes of cultural obsession, mental illness and the fight for artistic perfection many times before in such movies as The Red Shoes, Amadeus, Repulsion and Magic and I must admit that the movie's use of such iconic and to many, hackneyed ballet movie stereotypes ( the faded star, the young ingenue battling for the prima ballerina role, the predatory director and The Swan Lake ballet itself) could have failed miserably in their repetition......but in Black Swan, for the most part, all of these stereotypes work (including the old face in the mirror), thanks primarily to some great performances and dazzlingly creative cinematography.
The story centres around Nina (Natalie Portman), an emotionally fragile and sexually immature ballerina who coverts the role of Swan Queen in a new production of Swan Lake. When she is finally given the role over aging prima ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder) the stresses of the new production, coupled with the worries of her role being stolen by a more vivacious and sexually confident Lily (Mila Kunis ) and separation issues with her delicate mother (Barbara Hershey ), Nina descends into madness.
Portman is rather impressive in the very difficult role of Nina. Her character is unsympathetic, abrasive and rather unlikable, but she holds the audience' attention throughout, and perfectly captures Nina's brittleness, fear and latent destructive streak. Hershey is fine as her intense and delicate mom, and the cameo by Ryder reminds a new movie going audience just why she was a big BIG name in the 1990s. However, the real star of the movie is the stunning cinematic treat that is the ballet sequences. With the camera never really leaving Portman's angst face, we are totally immersed in the innovative new ballet production, with it's artistic swoops, and turns and all at the same time we are witnessing the devastating disintegration of a delicate, and flawed personality
Black Swan is not a easy watch, the subject matter is too uneven for that, but I gave the whole thing a compulsive, slightly campy and enjoyable 8/10
Black Swan is not a particularly original movie. We have seen its themes of cultural obsession, mental illness and the fight for artistic perfection many times before in such movies as The Red Shoes, Amadeus, Repulsion and Magic and I must admit that the movie's use of such iconic and to many, hackneyed ballet movie stereotypes ( the faded star, the young ingenue battling for the prima ballerina role, the predatory director and The Swan Lake ballet itself) could have failed miserably in their repetition......but in Black Swan, for the most part, all of these stereotypes work (including the old face in the mirror), thanks primarily to some great performances and dazzlingly creative cinematography.
The story centres around Nina (Natalie Portman), an emotionally fragile and sexually immature ballerina who coverts the role of Swan Queen in a new production of Swan Lake. When she is finally given the role over aging prima ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder) the stresses of the new production, coupled with the worries of her role being stolen by a more vivacious and sexually confident Lily (Mila Kunis ) and separation issues with her delicate mother (Barbara Hershey ), Nina descends into madness.
Portman is rather impressive in the very difficult role of Nina. Her character is unsympathetic, abrasive and rather unlikable, but she holds the audience' attention throughout, and perfectly captures Nina's brittleness, fear and latent destructive streak. Hershey is fine as her intense and delicate mom, and the cameo by Ryder reminds a new movie going audience just why she was a big BIG name in the 1990s. However, the real star of the movie is the stunning cinematic treat that is the ballet sequences. With the camera never really leaving Portman's angst face, we are totally immersed in the innovative new ballet production, with it's artistic swoops, and turns and all at the same time we are witnessing the devastating disintegration of a delicate, and flawed personality
Black Swan is not a easy watch, the subject matter is too uneven for that, but I gave the whole thing a compulsive, slightly campy and enjoyable 8/10
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