You had plenty money 1922

Ah, it's that time of year again. Eyecandy and violence, aka Six Nations.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm hummina MMMMMMmmmmmmm Jonny Wilkinson. How does that man stay so pretty in a sport where 99% of the team have cauliflower ears and broken noses? But rather amused in the line-up for singing that his teammate completely eclipsed him. I know his position doesn't have to be big, but christ. if Jonny Wilkinson is small, how big are the rest?

Ireland/Italy. Good god, yawn much? Even the tries were boring. When it comes to awarding Man of the Match and one of the commentators goes 'Well, we had to award it to someone' you know it's bad.

England/Wales much more fun. Wales so tiny compared to England. Wales completely forget they're playing England and try a running game and screw up the first half. Seriously. Everyone knows England play a grinder game, objective #1 being 'Stop the other side moving at all'. Slightly peeved that I missed the Alun Wyn Jones stupidity and they didn't replay it. Second half, I will admit that that was a nice little run and try from Hook after his muppetness when it came to scoring penalties in the first half.

Sunday, didn't bother with Scotland/France. But considering since about midweek parents and I had had a gradually cautious ramping up of curiosity about Invictus, we went and saw it at 6pm. And yay, it is of the good. Usual spare gritty storytelling and camerawork from Clint Eastwood (I'd spent part of Friday explaining this style to Mum), brilliant performance from Morgan Freeman (who has apparently spent bloody years having tea with and observing Mandela), the only problem being that he didn't giggle enough and that you were always aware that it was Freeman *playing* Mandela (unlike, say, Helen Mirren as the Queen or Forest Whittaker as Idi Amin). Matt Damon was good as François Pienaar, as was everyone else. Many giggles came from the game scenes. Because against the actors playing the Springboks, he looks about the right size, and he'd be the right general size for the '95 team. However, come the game scenes where he was inserted into the scrums against current day players and he looks so tiny! The complete non-sensationalism style worked very well for the story, and watching Mandela latching onto how big a symbol the rugby could be was very well done. A good portion of the story is told from the POV of the security team, which really, really works. Great acting, good script with much wry humour, and no, the symbolism isn't overplayed because hello, that's how it was. Also, if you see any reviews complaining about too much rugby - no, there wasn't. Fit perfectly. And Bend It Like Beckham now has a rival for 'by the sainted boots of Bobby Robson, sport that looks engaging onscreen!' Oh, and they had them watching bits of other matches. I'd forgotten how funny Jonah Lomu trampling English players was. Also, heh on the bit in the tunnel where they're showing the Springboks going 'ohshitohshit Lomu'.

Would like to see other opinions, especially from any South Africans. need to go check on the american opinions to see how they took it. Not sure where the whining about not explaining the rules comes from, as they *do* explain bits, as the black half of the security team have no idea either. Will be amused if this film changes the 'rugby isn't so tough' perception some Americans have, since they show how beaten up you get.


snowing outside. eyeing it with caution as I didn't bring my leggings today and am not wearing the shitkicker boots.

After shopping for socks and superheroine undies (clearly a hit for topshop, considering how long they've been selling them - and you can now get a Wonder woman bra. Sadly, Topshop doesn't cater for those with big boobs or tiny backs.) Bumped into Adrian and gossed a bit - apparently neither of us knew the other lived in Reading. 'How long've you lived here?' :self makes gesture around waist level, which is true since I remember coming up to my dad's waist when I was 5: Failed in finding a boob tube or sleeveless bodice-type top. came home, curled up in front of Merlin and Strictly. merlin was fab, although sadly continuing this season's thing for giving Morgana bugger all lines, Charles Dance chewed scenery like a pro, and everyone in Strictly was upping their game. Except for Craig Kelly, who much as I love the boy, can't dance. And how adorable was Natalie commenting about how springy the floor in Blackpool was?

Meant to start writing after that, but lo, jaw ache of evil so I spent most of the evening curled up pressing that point and the point in the forehead that the pain spiked up to. Yay. Couldn't eat either. Also realised I really needed to plot a bit of the next scene out before i can get to act 2, so eked out a couple of bits of plotting for today.

New Sherlock Holmes trailer. In which there is not just fabulous explosions, Robert Downey Junior, Rachel McAdams, jude Law and Mark Strong, fabulous explosions and many jokes, but they're actively slashing themselves. MUST. SEE.

Stellan Skarsgaard's been cast in Thor but refuses to reveal his role. Who votes for him being cast as Odin? Still a bit peeved that Alexander didn't get Thor (I believe in casting Vikings as Vikings), but we can always dream what the father-son pairing would've been like onscreen.

oh, and reminds me - who do people reckon for Captain America out of the current pool of 20-30-something actors? (really. Cap is supposed to be in his early-mid twenties at most if we were going with a WW2 setting, and not much more if you were doing post-defrosting, and the MTV poll that got dogpiled by the Barrowman fans was ridiculous. No voting for actors who would've been great when younger. I want realistic *now*.) I'm not sure if you could get someone who could realistically play the undernourished suspiciously-looks-like-had-TB Steve *and* Cap. So, nominations for both appreciated.

Watched Pride and Prejudice. This of course required rewinding several scenes about three times. With the chant of '1, 2, 3, KNEE' during Bingley's proposal. I'm not sure if this means that I've watched this or the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility too much. It's one of them. Then, because I was feeling masochistic, I watched the US ending. and then went into catatonic 'AUGH' mode, rocking back and forth. Just so wrong. Wronger than I remember. Mind you, I'd forgotten how long the tracking shots are in this - some masterpieces of timing in this, since they move from room to room and all the characters move in and out of the shot. must track down some more Joe Wright films to see how much he does this. And to see if he ever defeats Serenity for ridiculously long tracking shot.

smear test went fine. They have replaced the giant metal thing that looks like a torture device with long thin thermometer-like things which amazingly go in really bloody easily. Thank the FSM for common sense.

Spent rest of day working from home. Which, before the smear test, involved half an hour of installing a new client program to connect to work. But once installed and re-booted, link was secure, fast, and easy to log into. Boring, a bit sleepy, the usual slow loading of pdfs, and... my boss sending me an email asking if he could filch the banana on my desk since he'd missed lunch. I poined out that he was taking his chances since it'd been green yesterday. Not sure why he couldn't just cross the road and go to the sandwich shops opposite.

Saw Trek last night. ( WHEEEEEEE! )

Wolverine : fabulously enjoyable tosh and worth the money for the cinema ticket. Explosions! nekkidness! fights! great deadpan humour! Slight peeved at what they did to my fave merc-with-a-mouth during the film (the beginning, no problem whatsoever. Ryan Reynolds, you're fabulous and we can provide portable Bea Arthur shrines for you. You can believe in him going 'Do I still think in those little yellow boxes? Why hello, little yellow boxes, what *fun* we shall have together'). *Very* cool title sequence. And my god, they managed to make an origin for wolverine and sabretooth that makes more sense than thirty years of cack-handed comics attempts. Liev Schreiber = finally, a Sabretooth that doesn't look like an overblown wrestler and/or act like a sodding panto villain. And hello, actually menacing and threatening. Though I preferred Brian Cox as Stryker in X2.

Yeah. I find it slightly disturbing when the films make more sense than the source material.

...My aunts have added me on facebook. No, really, parental units, you have no desire to see the stuff that we put on facebook. I'm quite sure you don't want to see your offspring collapsed in the corner of a nightclub.

New Trek trailer. And it is SHINY. slightly disturbed that I can now say that I fancy Kirk. I already fancied Chris Pine, but a strategically bruised and dirty action hero Chris Pine is actually even more dribble-worthy than snarky supercilious Chris Pine. Slightly annoyed that I've still yet to see Simon Pegg as Scotty. The last set of promo photos I saw, he was the out-of-focus one at the back of a group shot, and he's not in the trailer.

latest photos of the Wolverine film.. 'Most everyone looks fine, except...er... Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool? :is confused: Why's he even in Weapon X if he hasn't got cancer? Which, y'know, brings on the ugliness... And the description sounds horribly like early Liefeld generic 90s villain days. ICK. If he doesn't make at least one comment about the 4th wall, little yellow boxes, or fancying Bea Arthur, that ain't my merc-with-a-mouth.

Zorro last night. Everyone rather giggly. Sadly Matt Rawle was off and the Fight captain (insert name here, think it was Mark Powell) was playing Zorro - still great, not quite as polished, but sadly, lacking Matt Rawle's intrinsic disreputable and lecherous air. Also, much purer voice - less growly. I'd forgotten how bloody hysterical Lesli Margherita (Inez, Chief Gypsy)'s expressions were. Cathy nearly died during the Sergeant Garcia song. Lissy and Dario're making rather unsubtle hints about a Zorro costuming group. Everyone else : 'I can see the incredible difficulty of doing a gypsy costume, really I can.' cathy is busy squeeing because Adam Levy was in Tenth Kingdom (which I'd never clued).

Listening to the highly illegal recording (cursing that I didn't get it in August) and as usual, it's got a good several minutes at the beginning of each bit with my voice. Still can't quite get over that that *is* my voice, but I've now got to the point where if I hear it on a recording, I do automatically identify as mine.

To do list : get shirt, make the skirt. Debate on whether I'm going to go with shoes or boots. oh, and Clarks brought the black ankle biker boots (near perfect for the Cabaret outfit) down in the sale, but I just don't know if I want to shell out £35 for them.

biopic of Harvey Milk, first openly gay man elected to public office in the US. Sean Penn's nominated for best actor for it.

Goes from the point where he meets Scott Smith, his longtime boyfriend, through them moving to San Francisco, him getting politically aware, the long slog of running for Supervisor, then the Prop 6 stuff through to assassination.

This is really, really brilliant. It's gentle. it doesn't preach, it's nonjudgmental (and specifically uses tv clips and archive footage of several of the anti-gay campaigners of the time, rather than try to cast them, which really reinforces the impact as well as the look and feel - it's how the people of the time saw most of these people, through tv screens). It's funny and moving and everyone's so very, very human - faults, tics, irritating stuff, and never tries to explain or apologise - perfect example of 'show not tell', with added bonus of never trying to shock you or belabour a point. All actors great, though special mention to James Franco as Scott Smith for maturing so well with his gentle exasperation with Harvey (and finally becoming fanciable in my eyes) and really, please strip off more often (and even pulls off the facial hair). Your public needs you to.
( ending )
In conclusion : everyone left grinning. It is sweet and adorable and funny and you MUST SEE. And Sean Penn really, really deserves the oscar, dammit, even though he's not going to get it... (time always outs on these - simply a matter of 'okay, who do you remember from that year?')

Also, you know those little 'post-scripts of what happened to everyone' they always do at the end of biopics? In this one, they do a bit of video of the actor, which fades into a pic or video of the person - and it's really impressive how much they got the actors to look like the people they were portraying. Admittedly filmmakers helped in this because all the main lot hung out in a camera shop...

Watched Kinky Boots last night with mum, a film i'd been meaning to see for ages. (Mum did her usual lurking by the door for about ten minutes and then caving and sitting on the sofa once she's got involved) It is way, way too much fun. Funny, observant, not mawkish, just the right length, well-edited so no scene or subject goes on for too long, and about SHOES. Mother is the Imelda Marcos of sensible shoes. I adore the things, I've just got awkward feet and my calves are too big for high street boots. and will often persuade myself out of buying them. Mother is now fully converted to the cult of Chiwetel Ejiofor, as all people of sense and taste should be. (still muttering about missing him in Othello) she thinks he is fabulous and Lola was *utterly* fabulous.

*Lola's rant about burgundy*
Mum : YES. RED. SCARLET.
Me : what's wrong with burgundy and claret and so on?
Mum : It's not RED. SCARLET IS GLORIOUS AND LOLA SAYS SO.
(guess who suits what versions. I can carry off bright red without a problem, it's just that I suit wine and the darker ones better.)

*first set of proper boots comes off the line, Lola does look of lust and covetousness familiar to all Manolo Blahnik assistants everywhere...*
Mum : It is perfect. That is *acting*. And proper shoe-worship.

*Girlie does rant in office about why doesn't he get into niche marketing*
Me : chances they're together by the end of the film?
Mum : 100%.

*Jemima Rooper comes on-screen*
Mum : Her! Austen!
Me : Yes, Mum, I said, *earlier*, when you came in....

But it is a glorious, glorious film, and Rahila and me had a nice little Kinky Boots squee which diverged into SHOES talk when Alicia poked her head in.

Watched Enchanted last night. HEE. Warm fuzzies and glee. The sheer amount of references I'd forgotten (and I'd probably missed most of them)! The cuteness of *everyone*! The Central Park bit is more fabulous than I remember, and oh, the Ball... the sheer heartbreak in Nancy (Idina Menzel) and Edward (James Marsden)'s eyes as they watch the other two fall in love. :sniffle: We love Chip. and James Marsden playing so unbelievably dim. Nancy and Edward deciding 'fuck it' and making a go of it together in Andalasia! Fair maiden rescuing the prince! Wolf being chased by Red Riding Hood with an axe around his grandma's house! 'Well, Red tells it a little differently.' And I'm *still* in love with the fact that they make a point of her dressmaking skills (the bit where she's checking out the cloth in the background at Nancy's office) and have her setting up her own business. Though I bet she regularly gets hired by the corporate entertainment and Central Park people because you do not let someone with skills like that go to waste.

Small question for those who have the region 2 dvd : did you have to actively turn off the subtitles and audio description track? I pressed play, the audio description came on, turned *that* off, hit play again... and the subtitles came on.

Fuck. I've had the headache-induced nausea since about 10am. (for those who don't know me, my headaches have a tendency to start in my jaw ever since I fucked it up due to work stress during uni. Problem being that because the pain starts right by my ear, this creates nausea and and slight wooziness.) Office atmosphere of hot + no moving air does not help. Don't dare take pills in case that's the trigger that makes me throw up, so I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping it'll subside soon-ish. I've had the 'go home!' poking and I'm going 'er, no, you think I want to add the Tube and motion sickness to this?' it's starting to get better, so am seeking out ginger biccits to see if that takes off the main edge. And maybe *then* I can take the nurofen.

ETA : I think I've just done desperation tactic supreme. No biscuits and no ginger beer in tescos. Wave of nausea hit. Found the ginger root, rooted in there for smallest scrap possible and started chewing on it. Only it was the horrible stringy bit, so you can imagine what that felt like in my mouth once the immediate nausea had passed...
Newsagent #3 had ginger beer. now sipping that.