Decision To Leave

 

The director Park Chan-Wook must have loved Hitchcock’s Vertigo for he has used the old master’s basic idea of a Policeman idolising a Femme fatale and has turned it into a classy, character led mystery film noir which is part elegant romance part psychological whodunnit.

It’s a class act.

Here the murder detective Hay-joon  (Park Hae-il), a somber, insomniac of a character investigates the seemingly obvious suicide of a man who keeps the photos of his beaten wife on his phone. 

The wife, Saoare ( a stunning Tang Wei) is interviewed by Joon who is instantly captivated by her enigmatic personality and efforts to understand the  Korean language ( she is Chinese) and the film through a succession of complicated twists and turns follows their relationship, subsequent other murders and Joon’s relationship with his bemused wife

I’ve over simplified things here for the director and actors have crafted a real work of art in this movie that I can’t quite articulate adequately. Both Hae-il and Wei have a strength and an amazing presence in front of the camera and their relationship dances in front of the audience with all of the subtlety and delicacy of the beautiful and expensive sushi the pair share quietly in one pivotal scene.

It’s a cracking movie 

People Watching

 Last nite was all a bit of a drama . 

Thankfully it's all settled down and there's been no more shinnagains . 

I've worked on a presentation for college this morning . Then gave Trendy Carol ( who was wearing something formal in denim ) a lift to.pick her car.up.from the garage.

I'm.in the storyhouse cafe " people watching" before going to see a Korean.movie 

I like this place. The atmosphere. The music..The feeling of the place. It feels.like a traditional forum 

Review later

Trick or Treat

 One little zombie knocked on the door tonight and I had nothing for her, not even a pound coin.

I didn’t recognise her from the village but told her to come back for a treat.

She said she would 

Last night’s egging of the cottage has grown a little more menacing as I found later today that Bluebell was targeted too and four solar garden lights and a planter fully of fading geraniums were stolen .

Tonight the planters on the garden wall were pushed over, smashing two and with the dogs barking I was out quick sticks but saw nothing. 

I’ve had four home phone calls too, all hang ups with no numbers available 

It’s all feeling a bit personal now

Egging

 I’ve collected the last of the garden flowers this morning and placed them in a small vase on the window ledge.

Someone egged the kitchen windows and the back of the cottage last night. With five or six eggs all told 

It was around ten pm. I heard the dogs barking in the kitchen thought it was the stray cat trying to be through the cat flap again

Most had hit the cottage render rather than the windows but it was a devil to get off the glass

I wonder why it was done, no trick or treaters around

And the car has been egged too, I’ve just noticed …and several of my solar lights in the back garden are missing

Bros

 Gay Rom Com Mainstream American movies are as rare as hens teeth

Rom coms are sanitized by the nature of the beast so a Rom com that features all aspects of the LGBTQ+ rainbow, which includes throuples, grindr sex, and the like seems a bit of a challenge.

The Rom com itself centres upon Bobby  a loud, brittle but generally self reliant gay history museum curator ( played by Billy Eichner ) he meets shirtless beefcake lawyer Aaron ( Luke Macfarland) and the usual boy finds boy, boy looses boy, boy finds boy formula starts against a backdrop of a sassy script, sharp observations of the modern gay lifestyle and a pride of what’s gone on in the past. 

The comedy is sweet enough ( ultimately a little too sentimental) which is a surprise given the drug taking, sex filled, and shallow lives the leads are shown to live. 

But Eichner and Macfarland do have a nice chemistry on screen and by the end I was shedding a tear, not only when the two finally get together to agree to “date monogamously  “ but when friends of the couple , each, not surprisingly,  representing each part of the LGBTQ+ community ( and obligatory straight best friend) joyously dance together at a museum party,

A lovely scene of inclusivity 

Sunday

 

Look closely and you can see the remains of the nest

The weather has changed and everyone’s heating is on today. 

The wind is from the South West and has been strong enough to loosen the rook’s nest in the last remaining living ash in the graveyard. 

Parts of it, we watched fall during a quick walk.

Incidentally I found parts of my blue plastic earphones in Roger’s poo

I wondered where they had gone.

I’ve done little in 24 hours, only going out to the garage to buy my tearful neighbour a pick me up bag of treats, a few flowers, ice cream, chocolate raisins and 2 gossip magazines.

We all need a treat when we are fed up.

I’ve watched this weeks Bake off and this week’s Walking Dead and needing a bit of company texted a friend to see if they wanted to see the gay rom com BROS later today 

They will……hurrah 

I popped into my Ruth/Ben/John messenger group earlier after I heard the tragic news from Seoul. Ben lives there with his family and a few virtual hugs were shared as they told us that they are all ok. 

I miss working with them both 

The Goonies is playing on sky , but I couldn’t watch it…far too much shouting for my liking.

Older

 

I woke around 3.15 pm yesterday afternoon, which was far too early.

I heard the tinkle of water and for a moment lay in bed with Dorothy’s fat face smiling at me.

I rolled over and looked at the floor to see Roger merrily peeing inside one of my work shoes.

Beyond caring I rolled back over and slept until after 4 pm when I had to get up. 

I’m not an elastic band any more

We are all getting older 

That little nugget of philosophy seeped into my head soon after when I was chatting to a villager with a poorly spouse. Dorothy as usual was playing up as my friend was shedding a tear of worry and remained a pain when she actually snapped the chewed bit off her lead in sheer boredom when unfortunately poorly Meirion showed up so wanting to share his exciting news of a forthcoming  cholecystectomy. 

Some like Animal Helper Pat and Mrs Trellis have a sort of eternal youth about them, but as they pass the cottage, battling wind and rain and energetic dogs , some others are now looking their age and are slowing up or looking more bowed or grey.

Village Elder Islwyn still wears his yellow workman’s gear around the village but isn’t seen with his spade in hand as much as he was, and Mr Poznan cannot be viewed stilling straight on the village green as often as he once was, sat with hands resting on the top of his stick like Gandalf the Wizard.

I was a slimmer brunette when when I came to Bwthyn y Llan .

Now I kind of waddle and have my father’s hair. 

I have blogged for over sixteen years now and I’m worrying that I could have heard the last from The Weaver of Grass who was with me at the start of my journey here as she has been at the start of many such journals.

Let The Right One In

 

My fugue state of yesterday irritated me greatly

It was time for a bra strap hike

And so I took advantage of a friend’s insomnia and a quiet hour at work and arranged for us to meet in a couple of weeks time in Manchester. I’ve booked us a good deal in a hotel , a nice table at Mowgli and tickets to see Let The Right One In at the Royal Exchange . ( a theatre production of the hit Swedish film of the same name ) a play which has excellent reviews on line.

Something to look forward to, even though I can’t really afford it.

But we will go Dutch.

That’s the ticket.

Blogland has not heard from The Weaver Of Grass for a week or so. And messages are slowly starting to build on her blog asking if all is well. I hope it is . My thoughts are with her.