alter-ipse-amicus

Today's the day us Brits get to decide whether we stay in the EU or go it alone and float our little island out into the Atlantic. Had they held this ballot three or four years ago, I would have voted Leave, but having spent the last three years repenting and coming back to my senses after having my head turned by a sociopath, I've been to the polling station and voted for the Remain camp, as have all three of my sons. My husband has just set off, intending to make up his mind as the pencil hit the ballot paper. I'm pretty sure he will vote remain, but he likes to play his little game of 'maybe I did, maybe I didn't' so I'll never really know. It doesn't matter, 4:1 is good enough for me.

Lots of reasons why I chose remain, high up there being that I don't trust the far right of the Conservative party not to ruin our country utterly. Who needs the EU with Boris Johnson the liar and serial adultery, Michael Gove the education ruiner, Nigel Farage the gurning beer holder and Iain Duncan Smith the disabled-slayer jostling for power? As well as all the uncertainty over trade deals and so on. The British media are relentlessly anti-Europe, and BoJo has more than played his part in that over the decades since he wrote for The Times and set the tone that the media have followed ever since. I want to know more. I want to feel engaged in the European political process, and I wish our MEPs were too. Nigel Farage, our fisheries representative to the EU, only turned up for one debate out of 42 possible, and we wonder why such indifference results in our interests not being adequately represented. He would rather stand on a street corner with a pint in his hand, grinning like a fool. If we put in some effort, we could lead Europe and cut those striking French out of the loop.

Enough of that.

Last night my friends and I went to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie due to lack of anything more appealing in the cinema. We were the only ones in the cinema, which was a shame really as it was a load of fun, even though it was one of the daftest movies ever. It was very predictable, but an enjoyable romp nonetheless. I know a lot of people hate Michael Bay movies and my hopes were low, but in this one even Megan Fox was moderately entertaining.

Still can't wait for Suicide Squad. It won't be much longer.

I've bought a DSLR camera, so may well post some shots soon and I'm painting again too, which is good. Same old story, not enough hours in the day.

Update:  The world seems to have gone completely mad over the last week, especially here in the UK. Whilst I was against the whole idea of us leaving the EU, and don't think we should have been offered a referendum, I am nonetheless find it hilarious to watch the political classes running around in total disarray like an ants' nest that's been given a good kicking. In some ways I'm glad this has happened as it does at least give us a chance to reclaim our own political process back from the hands of those who have sold us down the river, but I'm not sure how that can happen.  Westminster is still full of public school PPE types with no clue about the realities of life across the UK for those who don't happen to have been born with advantages. I didn't want Boris Johnson to be PM but now that he's run off with his tail between his legs, I have zero respect for him. Having ruined the UK, he's taken the very first opportunity to do a bunk from the mess. Coward.

Went to see The Secret Life of Pets last night and that took my mind off the whole crazy hot mess of politics for a while, it was really funny and entertaining.

Well, it's been a while since I stopped by here to post stuff. I started painting my son's room back in September and since then have painted six rooms and laid five laminate floors, so it has been quite a busy few months of activity and quite a steep learning curve in the floor laying department. I hadn't done much around the house for a few years before that so there was a lot to do, and a lot of clearing out of accumulated detritus. I tore up the thirty year old carpets with great glee and gusto and now everything is looking swanky though I say it myself. Only the shower room and the downstairs loo to go, and I'm done. Then it's back to gardening.

The trouble with gardening, of course, is that no sooner do you clear one bit, it needs doing again. I got some help in last year and it looked beautiful, but now it's pretty much back to square one and I'm determined to do it all by myself this year so I'm contemplating a lot of hard work ahead. 

I haven't been able to do any art, but I'm planning on doing more this spring. I don't much like painting in the winter due to poor natural light, but that's changing already so will get back to it soon. I have some works planned and hope to get to them soon.

SO...... on the subject of Leo. We sat and watched the Oscars last night and I was really glad he finally got his gong, it was well deserved not just for The Revenant but for all his back catalogue of excellent movies that the Academy failed to reward. He has made some very entertaining movies and although some people don't rate him, I can't think of one of his movies that hasn't worked for me. Maybe The Beach. The Revenant was a stunning film made all the more interesting by the stories that kept coming out in the press during the location shooting, not least of Leo being raped by the CGI bear, and have lice in his beard. LOL, ok. I know the storyline was pretty simple, but it was based on a real story that was in some ways more interesting and involved than the movie could allow for. So, well done to him at long last. 

Also very pleased for Brie Larson winning best female for Room, which was one of my favourite movies of the year (and I've seen plenty). I was just sorry that Jacob Tremblay who played her son was not nominated, for a child so young he was incredible in that movie. He did really well to get up on stage and present one of the awards of the evening with great confidence.

Spotlight was fascinating in it's way, more of an exercise in straight up investigative journalism than an entertainment based on the abuse of young kids, which might have been distastefully exploitative. It could have been about anything, in some ways, but you can't help thinking that it was one of those movies that won Best Picture because of the challenging subject matter rather than its qualities as an entertainment experience. There was a piece in yesterday's Daily Mail in which Piers Morgan ranted about his belief that the Oscars shouldn't be a platform for the entertainment business to promote liberal values and preach about politically correct issues, but if no-one else in the US is openly challenging the status quo, maybe it's necessary, Piers, so shut it. 

The Big Short was another that was very good, how on earth did they manage to make a comedy about the financial meltdown of 2008? But they did, and it was most entertaining.

It was a shame that Suffragette didn't even get any nominations, it was a story that needed telling and I thought that telling it through the story of one woman's experience against the backdrop of the wider political movement was the way to go. It didn't get much recognition at all, which was disappointing but not surprising in this day and age of covert discrimination. Props to the black movement for making so much noise, hoping it will change something but not holding out much hope.

On the whole, it's been a year of really excellent movies, and it's a shame that more of them couldn't win. The Martian was brilliant, I loved that and was sorry those guys didn't win anything. Wasn't all that struck on Mad Max Fury Road which we watched on the TV last week. I think it would have been better to watch it on the big screen, where you have to pay attention and can't get away. I find chase movies a bit tedious on the whole, although I can certainly see how it won for the style and technical awards, the whole feel of it was amazing.

Looking forward to seeing The Hateful Eight, which I missed when it was in the cinema. I don't know how, as I'm there every week, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I enjoy Tarrantino's anarchic ultra-violence, there's something joyously uproarious about it, and I love snow, so what's not to love? I might try and find it somewhere in the cinema just for the experience, I know it's on in Northampton on Friday but I'm out every other night this week so I will be longing for a night in by then.

What's coming up in the next few months, apart from Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, I'm not sure. Perhaps the movie makers have exhausted themselves this last year and will have a bit of a rest. We'll see.

Edit 17th March : Excitement in our village as the local equestrian centre was recently put to use in testing part of the rig to be used in the Wonder Woman movie currently being filmed, part of the DC Universe including Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad. WW appears in B v S, so that will ensure me going to see all three.  We were hoping to see some actual filming but they were just testing and as suddenly as they had arrived, they were gone. To Italy, I believe.

Not even a day or two after I had been moaning about James Bond in my last journal, up pops Daniel Craig on the Daily Mail to slag off his own alter ego, which was an amusing synchronicity. Even James Bond himself thinks that James Bond is a bore. Or should I say, a boor. That's rich, biting the hand that feeds him even thought I do agree that Bond is portrayed as misogynist, sexist and very lonely, not to mention a throwback to different times. He is a touchstone for the kind of brutish hyper masculinity that exists as a man trap of insensitivity and aggression. Is he suave and sophisticated? Or just a brutish fighting machine? Of course, the Mail being the Mail had to fight back by saying that Daniel Craig himself is a hypocrite when it comes to criticising Bond for his womanizing ways, given his own track record with women, and that's a good point. Also a flimsy leftie bore who is not seeing Bond in his true historical context. 

I don't often agree with Quentin Letts, but he's right about that. Bond was written during the Cold War, and perhaps should always be portrayed during that period in order to maintain the cultural integrity of the piece. I know the point of bringing him up to date is to keep him apace with the times and bring in all kinds of different enemies and tech gizmos, but the character of Bond just doesn't sit right in the cultural paradigm of today. I went to see The Man From Uncle this week, which is set firmly in the 1960s and was very well put together to recreate the look and feel of the time. I'd heard the critics didn't like it much, but found it hard to see why, to me it was an enjoyable if unchallenging romp down memory lane, and the lead characters played their parts well, especially Henry Cavill who nicely captured the memory of Robert Vaughn in his mannerisms and style of speech. As a period piece it was a delight, and if more are made, which I think is very likely, I'll certainly go and see them.

Not a big fan of the whole 'comic books brought to the big screen' trend that we're living through interminably, I do, however, have a thing about Batman and the whole bat-universe, so I am beyond excited about Suicide Squad. The Mail (god bless it - not) has been showing location shots from the movie for months now, and I heard with deep disappointment the other day that it's not even due for release for another YEAR! Argh! I'm so going to love that movie no matter what, purely for the fact that it's got Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and Will Smith in it, what's not to love? I first saw Margot Robbie in Wolf of Wall Street and didn't pay much attention to her, although she is pretty eye catching. She was in Focus earlier this year with Will Smith, as a con woman, and was very watchable in that. She has an amazing face, and seems to have an impish, dark sense of humour that resonates with me. She's a perfect choice for Harley Quinn. Jared was fantastic in Dallas Buyer's Club. We don't yet see much of his Joker but maybe he'll blow Heath Ledger's version out of the water. Jared totally deserved his Oscar and is a beautiful looking man, as is Will Smith, so there's your eye candy, ladeez.

The first trailer was released the other day, talk about pre-publicity! Is that heavy publicity effort a sign that the movie is crap? Will we all be sick to death of it by the time it comes out? Hmm...... the trailer was awesome and set me spine a'tingling, so I'm thinking probably not. Can't wait.

"..........but I couldn't see........
that the joke was on me"


Here are a few things I found on Facebook that touched me. If anyone who made them objects to me posting them here, let me know and I'll take them down. I never had time for Facebook when I was putting so much effort into trying to be friends with someone who wasn't really interested. Now I spend a lot of time on there and have learned so much about me and human nature in general.



 

It's been quite a while since I wrote about the movies I've seen. Not sure why I stopped, other than being busy doing other things and not really being bothered about dA very much. It was necessary for a while, but things change, different directions, other interests, etc. Trying to make a mark here seemed like a lot of work for not very much return, and I don't have time for that right now.

We went to Ireland and it was very wet most of the time. No kidding, I hear you say. It's Ireland, what do you expect? We went the Giant's Causeway, and to be honest I was underwhelmed. You have to walk a long way to get to it, and when you get there, it's just a pile of stones by the sea. On the way there, we took a little random detour to a tiny harbour which had been a location in Game of Thrones (when Theon Greyjoy returns to his father's home), and that was more exciting to us than the G's C.

So anyway, we went to the Titanic exhibition in Belfast, which was awesome and I would recommend it. Drove up the Falls Road, which frightened the kids. Went to a few lovely beaches, but it was cold and windy, not exactly beach weather. Went to Dublin on the way back, had Guinness in a pub on Friday night, of course, had a good time all in all, but were glad to be back home. Ireland was fascinating and I would like to go again, but further south now that we've done the North.

This week I was persuaded to see Mission Impossible Rogue Nation, and didn't expect much from it. I had wanted to see Hot Pursuit but my cinema mates had gone while I was away (cheek!) so it had to be Mission Impossible. I've never seen the earlier ones, amazingly, so I was just expecting a straightforward action flick, which isn't my genre of choice, but sometimes the best gems are the ones that are unexpected. It was funny and pacey and I really enjoyed it. As spy movies go, it was sharp, intelligent and exciting, and beat that dullard sociopath James Bond hands down. At least MI knows and acknowledges its own absurdity in a joyful way. No doubt I'll be dragged along to see Spectre, but I'm not a big fan of Bond in general and Daniel Craig in particular. I much prefer the Bonds who play it with a knowing, tongue in cheek humour, like Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore, not the meatheads like Craig and Connery, who sap all the humour out of it. But the plots are laughably formulaic and the women mostly disposable set decoration/f*ckware, which is depressing in this day and age.  In MI, the female lead was instrumental in the story, had a lot of screen time, and was kickass without losing her femininity. I liked her. It was a dizzying exercise to try and keep up with where her true loyalties lay. Tom Cruise was surprisingly watchable and still in good shape in spite of his advanced age. The villain could have been a bit more sinister, but all in all, a thumbs up from me.

So, very soon we will be heading off across the see to Ireland on our annual vacation.

I'm excited about this because it's somewhere that's always been on the list of places I want to visit, but have never got around to it. We will be visiting Belfast, Dublin, the Giant's Causeway and other places, hopefully including Game of Thrones location sites. They are filming at the moment, so maybe we will be lucky enough to see that happening, but no doubt they keep it under wraps so not counting on it. Wet weather gear will be packed, along with all the laptops, ipads and game consoles that we can't appear to live without.

We are a bit smug as we were originally thinking of going to Holland and Germany, and would have had to run the gauntlet of the insanity around the Channel tunnel round about now, but decided against it some weeks ago, thank goodness. We won't be sitting in a five mile queue for ten hours cooped up in a stuffy car with three hungry, whinging young adult offspring this year at any rate. Maybe this will be our last family holiday, but at 22, 19 and 17, they show no signs of wanting to go off with their mates to Ibiza or wherever it is the young congregate these days, but I'm not really bothered. They are good company, except when trapped in non-moving traffic. I only dream of the day when they start paying their way, that's not happening any time soon either. Someone please give my eldest son a proper job, he's got a good degree, and all his own teeth.

It's been a while since I posted any artwork, but will be sticking up some more botanical studies in a day or two. I started a piece back in November and just got bogged down with it. It was a hummingbird which just didn't excite me in any way, and I put down my brushes. Since then, Christmas got in the way and after that I started with my garden, which distracted me completely as there was such a lot to do to bring it back from several years of neglect caused by knee-breaking, ankle spraining and cake baking. It's looking fab now, I've worked really hard, but the workload has eased and the paintbrush has been re-engaged. I don't know if there is any market for this kind of work, but I would like to sell it if I can, just need to find the right outlet.

Casting an eye over my last journal entry, I should really delete it as it is too personal a thing to put on a site like this, but I can't bring myself to do it. It stands as a reminder to be very careful who I put my trust in, and never to ignore red flags. When you've been in a friendship that you thought was sincere and genuine, and after twelve years the other person says to you that none of it was real and it was all just a joke, it's impossible not to deeply question your own judgement about people, and it's taking a lot of hard work to come to terms with the emotional impact of that disaster. It's a pity there's no way of erasing memories, I'd delete him in a heartbeat, just to stop the angry bees buzzing in my head whenever something triggers a memory of him, which is all too often unfortunately.

I test INFP on the Myers Briggs personality hoopla. This here list is something I relate to a lot, and i wish I could show it to him, it might help him to understand. Not that he ever wanted to, but still. www.buzzfeed.com/ccarlson92/33…