The Prof has a
heavy cold man flu.
He is presently resting the Roger Moore eyebrows and is lying weakly in bed.
" what would you like for breakfast?" I called up from the kitchen this morning" Something light?"
He thought about this between wracking coughs
and eventually answered in a weak voice
" A three egg omlette with smoked salmon and a cup of tea"
I think he'll pull through.
Last night, as the Prof lay prostrate on the couch, I watched the Norwegian disaster movie
Bolgen.
Bolgen literally means " The Wave" in Norwegian, so it will come as no surprise that the wave in question is in fact a tsunami, but a tsunami caused by an unstable mountain crashing into the head of a fjord.
Apparantly the Scandinavians are well prepared for such eventualities and like the Japanese have robust warning systems to alert the populations clustered in picturesque towns further down the valleys.
Bolgen does not swerve away from true disaster movie protocol. Kristian ( Kristopher Joner) is a scientist studying the stability of a local mountains. He realises ( like you do) that the mountain overlooking his hometown is about to collapse. When it does in spectacular style, he has only a ten minute window in which to warn the population of the town down the valley, the town in which his family is sheltering.
It's a popcorn movie, nothing more, but having the Norweigan twist makes for a bit more interesting a ride. Kristian's partner ( a feisty Ane Dahl Torp) has more spunk than the average disaster movie heroine and proves it by not being adverse to a bit of murder in order to protect her family ( oh err), there are several very dark set pieces like when Kristian comes across a drowned tourist bus and the special effects are rather impressive and more realistic than we have gotten used to of late.
A good try 7/10.
Now I have only just realised just why, I am slightly obsessed with disaster movies and such tv shows such as
The Walking Dead......it is a geeky childhood thing that has never been exorcised- an itch that has never fully been properly scratched
Last night, I caught a rerun of an American show from 1968. I watched it around 1970-1971 every Friday afternoon and although, even then, I could spot a shitty script from a hundred feet, I was totally excited by the general narative which had a group of strangers brought together by peril or disaster. That tv Show was
The Land Of The Giants .
Throughout the seventies disaster movies such as
The Poseidon Adventure the format of " strangers working together as a team" and " who will die first" continued to box office delight and even now,
The Walking Dead, ( which is literally the same plot but substitues the undead for tidal waves) has me on the edge of my seat....
Geeky kids grow up into geeky adults I guess.
Have to go. The Prof calls from the sick bed.
He's requested battered calamari rings with accompanying mayonnaise for lunch!
