Move

From today his blog will be residing at 10 Downing. Just kidding! It will be here. Englishwithsubtitles.wordpress.com

Museum in Docklands

It may not sound like much to see, but it's quite a thrilling adventure that will take you through the abridged story of Londinium's development along the banks of Thames. Lots of actual records of cargo, hooks used by sailors, a model of the London Bridge when it had houses on it all the way through, Roman artefacts. In a word, fun fun fun. The mock dockside street of the 1700s is so realistic that it smells of pee in the dark corners. Small, badly lit shops, a cozy pub, a beached boat all make for a very compelling
And then you get to the London, Sugar and Slavery exhibition, which puts a damper on your day. You get to see the slave routes, the triangle - England, Africa, Caribbean - England, some spices they traded, records of slave trade, torture instruments, a chronicle of the abolition movement etc. The sugar seems to have been quite a rough commodity to harvest and handle (literally). And I used about 4 today, in my coffee only. What would I have done about my coffee and sugar and cocoa and vanilla if I actually had a conscience during those times?

Cool wall decorations

I've found these Stickers for the walls at Nouvelles Images. Unfortunately you can't buy them online. Sigh. Why do you have to make life so difficult?

The rise of the cool

I discovered Diablo Cody's blog, the chick who wrote the script to Juno, the most hyped up indie ever. Seriously, I heard and read so many good things about it, that I actually thought it got released here already, but it's only coming in February in the UK and this week in US. They do know their viral marketing!
PS: the coolest members of the Bluth family star in this flick. Hooooooot!

Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain

Mes amies et moi adorions Nino Quincampoix et son nez magnifique (ok, it was me adoring the nose).
I just saw this film again and it has not lost one bit of its magic, given it's only been about 6 years since our last encounter. I was grinning ear to ear the entire time, despite a rather horrible day I'd had, because it reminded me that there is a place in this world for dreamers too. It's called the cinema or the library!
There have been a few people that told me that I look like Amelie, but I believe it was just a vibe they got, because I've also reminded some of the Mona Lisa...
All in all she has the coolest apartment and the cutest cat, who was a supporting actor in itself (I wonder if it got a credit). Almost made me want to move to Paris, cause London has been lacking in the charm department lately (also known as the sun in the right nook).

Prime Meridian of the World

Got the date wrong. Apparently Greenwich is a week ahead the rest of the world (as this pic was taken on Dec 22, 2007). Talk about trapped in a time loop.

Baz Luhrmann' Romeo + Juliet - madness of young love

I was flipping through the channels and stumbled across this old favourite of mine last night. Yes, I was about 15 when it came out and I thought it the most brilliant piece of cinema and Leo to be the most beautiful man (young adult) that walked the Earth or the beaches of Venice. No wonder my love has sprung from the same waters of Greek godness... He'll know what I am talking about.
In the meantime, Leo has grown into a man who tries to hide his good looks with some extra pounds on his midriff and an unattractive goatee. Yet, kudos to him for picking and choosing interesting projects (well, Titanic was blue cheesy and Man in Iron Mask was not so good either) and collaborators and fighting against climate change in his spare time while managing to shack it up with runway models. I am not ashamed to admit that I needed a stiff drink after I saw him in flesh at the "Catch me if you can" premiere in London a few years ago.
Claire Danes, a talented actress without a doubt, has not managed to put herself on the greater map of starry skies. Her most remarkable feat was the love scandal involving Billy Cudrup, a man who left his 7-month pregnant gf for the younger Danes. Oh yes, she was in "Stardust" which came out like six weeks ago, playing a grumpy star that fall. Make that a grumpy starlet.
Anyway, back to the film, it still stands the test of time for originality of vision. Baz is truly a brilliant man, although sometimes he does fall into camp trap. The Mexican city that stands for "fair Verona" looks like a world of desolation, otherworldliness and heightened drama. I could still not stomach the Shakespeare verse, but everything else makes the film sublime.

Hogfather

London. Christmas Day Eve. TV on. Crap on every channel.
London. Christmas Day. TV on. Crap on every channel. Oh, wait, repeats from "X-factor" auditions. You gotta love the way people make asses of themselves and finally reveal to the world how crazy they are.
"The Hogfather" distinguished itself from the herd with its (I can't believe I am writing this cliche) playful banter a la Terry Pratchett. Those who dig his books and his Discworld may have found it a bit disappointing and slow, but I, who only know it from a few chapters, savoured it thoroughly because it was witty (in truth his books spit out at least a dozen funny liners a page).
Death, the main character here and not the Hogfather (a hoggish version of Santa), is funny by saying things like "Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom." Death actually tries to save Hogfather from disappearing from children's collective minds and on its way there manages to make itself endearing along with its hopeless assistant. Add a psychopatic assasin, and you got yourself a thriller.

Golden Compass

My friend who saw it before I did asked me "Is it wrong I find the actress that plays Lyra hot?" Yes, you perv! But on deeper reflection (about 3 feet deep)the sexual inuendos in the script may have something to do with his forbidden attraction. In a world ruled by an organization that "tells people what to do because most people do not know what's best for them," each human has an accompanying animal daemon of the opposite gender that completes them. They say it's their soul, but children who are kidnapped by the Magesterium and whose pet is severed from them turn into zombies before they die.
Lyra, a feisty orphan girl living among the scholars of Jordan College in Oxford, embarks on an unexpected journey to the North where her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig looking dashingly intellectual, but not doing much) went on a trip to find the Dust that creates bridges among parallel worlds but is vehemently denied by the ruling power. She is taken under the wing of Mrs. Coulter (a strangely puffy Nicole Kidman) who tries to cajole out of Lyra a Golden Compass given to her by the College master who tells the truth about anything to the one person who can read it. Of course, Lyra is the One.
Although the visuals are fairly stunning, the acting and the entire vision seems stable enough, there's always a feeling that events are rushed through and not enough explanations are offered. All good and dandy for those who read the "His Dark Material" books and understand the concepts of his world, but those who just went to the film without any prior knowledge are left in the Polar Night where it's not pretty nor easy.
One cringe-worthy moment arises when Coulter cofronts Lyra with a painful truth, a sentence that launched a thousand punch lines.
Worth seeing for the majesty of it, the cuteness of the daemons,(most of them anyway, Nicole's monkey is unconvincingly orange ugly) and pure joy of the story. All religions need apply. The entire Christian scandal that partly led to its flopping in the US has absolutely no grounds for saying it's anti-religion. It is anti-authoritarian establishment that thinks people are servile idiots, but again the film does not show much along the way in which people are being manipulated.
If they don't film the sequel, I am probably better of reading the trilogy... Uuuuuu! Unconventional.

Mimi New York is back

Since May and I only noticed now. She had promised not to return to this blog, but I guess she missed it. The persona, the public... So she wrote a comment that embodies exactly how I feel about living in the Big (Rotten) Apple. Spot on!

This train terminates at

Morden, says the lady voice on the Northern Line, Bank branch. I always think MORDOR. This train will terminate at Mordor. The trip does seem like a journey to orcland sometimes.

Sleeping and Dreaming

How often do you wonder why one needs to sleep and what is the meaning of one's dreams? Although we sleep roughly a third of our lives, scientists have not discovered the full extent of sleep's functions and mechanisms. And dreams are an even more complex matter altogether.
The Wellcome Collection in London organized an exhibition that tries to uncover some of the mysteries behind sleep. Set up in five distinct parts, it looks at sleep deprivation, sleep disorders, dreaming, elusive sleep (and drugs that put people to bed or keep them awake) and sleep biorhythms. Or something like that. It combines historical documents, scientific material, multimedia, films, archive recordings, art.
We go through some of the world record setters at staying awake. A funny film made in the 60's in Prague shows a few subjects that managed to stay awake for about 5 days in a row. By the last one, they were hallucinating and quite irritable (one was sleeping hanging from a door, he was that tired). The ultimate record set by a guy in the 60's again was about 201 hours with the help of stimulants. Don't try it at home, it will cause havoc in your life!
A very sad case of a guy with a rare genetic disease who stayed awake for 6 months (he just could not fall asleep, his brain would not switch to sleep state even when the man appeared to be dozing off) and then died.
Some amusing films include patients who are sleepwalkers, eaters and talkers.
I also took a test to check out my natural circadian rhythm, athough I know I am the owl and not the lark (try to awake me early in the morning and you will know the true meaning of nightmare). Fantastic stuff!
Check it out until March!