Reading, Watching, Listening

Reading:

Two charity shop finds have entertained me this week. The first was my lover’s lover by Maggie O’Farrell.  We did The Vanishing Act of Esmee Lennox at the book group and enjoyed it so was happy to pick up another of hers. I actually loved the premise of this story – a woman seeing the ghost of her lover’s former lover all over the place. It was a book about emotions and jealousy and insecurity and half-truths with some exceptional writing.  The one thing that spoiled it for me was the ending so am reluctant to recommend it. No, that’s not fair – the rest of it is really good so go for it if you can bear a poor ending. Just make up your own like I did.

The second book was The Miracles of Santo Fico by D L Smith. This is a book about love and miracles and forgiveness set in a forgotten village in Tuscany.  Father Elio is having a spiritual crisis and Leo orchestrates a miracle to set things right. There is humour and a light touch to what would be great holiday reading.

Watching:

This week I have watched the first series of Black Books, the comedy series with Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig co-written with Graham Linehan (Father Ted). I had forgotten quite how funny this is so there has been much clutching of stitches. (And it was only £9.88 for the boxed set of 3 series so not to be missed.)

My sister loaned me a boxed set of The Lakes which was a series on BBC1 in the late 90s by Jimmy McGovern. I couldn’t understand why I had never even heard of this until I remembered that I didn’t watch TV from 1996-2000 which were my University years. Us oldies needed to study, study, study into the wee small hours. The series was set in the Lake District so beautiful views and back-drops but was very dark.  Murder, mayhem, sex and more sex, rape – it was all there by the bucketload. Good though.

Son #1 persuaded me to get The World’s Fastest Indian and we watched that one night. It stars Anthony Hopkins as a New Zealander (bad accent Anthony) who wants to enter the world speed record on a motorcycle – the Indian of the title. This is such a feel-good movie and really heartwarming. (Film group will see it soon!)

Also have watched the 1st series of Life on Mars which also passed me by. I was more than a little disappointed to find that I now have to watch the second series to find out if he gets back or not.  However, it was mildly amusing and passed an hour or so.

Listening:

Oh such joy since I discovered Spotify.  I’m sure it was one of the young people in the SEC who mentioned it in a blog or on Facebook and I’m so glad they did. Now I get to listen to all my favourite music on my computer without changing cds etc.  Found lots of my old vinyl on it which is probably unplayable now, having moved house a dozen times and they are still living in the garage. The ads are short and fairly unobtrusive too so bearable. Download it now! You won’t regret it.

And who have I been listening to?  Well since you ask… Bach, Dr Hook, Nick Drake, Faure, Barbra Streisand and Craig Armstrong.

 

This week’s meme

OK, I have a pile of work to do, my desk is hidden beneath a mountain of paperwork, and here I am playing at memes. Not going to bother naming anyone to do it next – but have a go if you like procrastinating…

4 jobs I’ve had

Bank clerk
Auxilliary nurse in Special Baby Care unit
Self employed graphic designer and signwriter
Communications Officer working with young homeless people

4 Movies to watch over and over again

Cabaret
Random Harvest (very old one)
Inside I’m Dancing
The Sound of Music

4 Places I’ve lived

Edinburgh
Perth
Linlithgow
Portobello

4 TV shows I watch

Casualty
ER (there’s a theme here so any medical progs whatsoever)
The Apprentice
CSI (any place)

4 Places I’ve been

Florence
Amalfi Coast
Madrid
Budapest

4 Favourite Foods

Lamb
Nase Goreng
Smoked Salmon
Rhubarb

It’s your turn now…

BB is back

Yes, I confess I am a Big Brother afficianado and I am delighted it is back. I got hooked on the very first one which was a social experiment and found it fascinating to watch the psychology unfold when a random selection of people are locked up for a long period. Now, of course, it is less of an experiment and more of a rates-puller or an experiment to see how far people will go for attention. But for all that, I still find it a joy to watch. And no, I would never consider going in myself. No doubt that is a great relief to my little flock who are embarrassed enough.

Films and stuff

Still catching up on films I haven’t had time to watch. Yesterday it was Kingdom of Heaven. A good old knight’s tale. And Orlando Bloom was seriously cute in it.

Also watched the new series of CSI. No mention of the bedroom scene which finished the last series. We want to know!

Sort of missing Celebrity Big Brother in a kind of car-crash voyeurism sort of way. I do love watching people and of course all the big stories were in this series. Still not sure that there was any more bullying or bitchiness in this one than there has been in the past. The only difference this time was the race question and the media rottweilers chewing it all up. But sadly a reflection of real life.

Enjoyed the new episode of ‘celebrities’ working as Auxiliary Nurses. I did that for a few years in Simpsons Maternity Hospital and all I got to do was clean incubators, run around with blood samples, empty bins and answer the phone. I certainly did not get to bath babies or indeed help to deliver them. Guess you have to be a ‘celebrity’ to do that.

All very enjoyable but I’d still rather be able to read. And get back to work.

Weakest Link

So who appeared on Weakest Link last night? Why! It was Fr Gordon and he made it to Round 6. I loved his reasoning for being an Anglican (sic) priest – cos the clothes are more glamourous. And thank goodness he got the religious question correct. That would always be my fear if I were to take part in a quiz – what if you got the religious question wrong?

What am I watching?

What have I been watching with my one good-ish eye, I hear you cry. Well, as the television is my only source of amusement these days I have been catching up on some movies which I recorded and haven’t had time to watch. So far I have seen:

The Hours.
Not quite what I expected and I didnt ‘get it’ till near the end and felt like such a twit that I hadn’t got it sooner. Depressing.

Mrs Henderson Presents.
Amusing and short. Lovely singing by Will Young and great performances by Judi Dench and whatsisname. Nice story.

Ray.
Shan’t complain about my lack of sight after this. A bit too long but great music and wonderful performances.

And I am slowly catching up on umpteen episodes of Ballykissangel which was repeated a few months ago. We need more series like this.

Today might be a Father Ted day. After I have made a long-overdue visit to Papa.

ER is back

Watched the first episode of the new series of ER last night, followed by Holby City. Frankly there was no comparison. However, we make do with what we have.

Easy to see that all is quiet at this time of year clergywise. Although I should be preparing for our Vestry Day next week. We are off to luxuriate in fabulous surroundings and get to know one another better, scoff food, and plan for the future. I’ve got ideas about the planning bit but would appreciate any ideas for getting to know one another?! Keep it clean.

What have I been watching?

Reading is getting too hard with the old eyes these days so I have taken to watching DVDs and films instead. Managed to pick up a bug of some sort which necessitated a few days indoors so this is what I’ve been watching:

The March of the Penguins. Not really sure why everyone raved about it so much. It was informative, short and sad in bits. But not enough comedy for my liking. A few more penguins slipping on the ice would have helped.

Regeneration. Loved the Pat Barker books when they came out but this somehow didn’t quite live up to them. However, in this month of Remembrance, it was good to be reminded of the horrors of war.

The Royle Family : Queen of Sheba. On TV last night and really very good indeed. It had it all – laughs (the sofa bits, the emptying of the catheter bag, the laminating, and nana’s famous last words), and pathos (the naming of the baby, nana in the lounge and her demise). Great writing.

The Convent

Watched new programme on TV last night – The Convent. (Like The Monastery or The Abbey or whatever it was called, but with more tears.) Four women go to live with the Poor Clares for 40 days. Poor Clares indeed. Never mind the poverty thing, these poor nuns had to put up with four women who seemed to care little for the routine and order of the convent. It all kicked off with a little story telling as they all told their innermost stories. Thank goodness the nuns decided to do theirs too because I suspect that none of the four would have taken to time to ask about anyone else, they were so wrapped up in themselves.

However it was compelling viewing and I look forward to the next episode. Reminded me that I’ve not had a retreat this year…

Gay Muslims

I watched Gay Muslims last night on TV and my heart went out to them. My goodness, gay Christians may have a hard time but who’d be a gay Muslim? And again it seems to come down to interpretation, in this case of the Koran. Their stories will stay with me for a long time.