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( Sherlock )This reminds me: On the whole, I like Caitlin Moran's writing immensely - her TV reviews are funny and unabashedly fannish, and her columns are warm and wise. I'd been a wee bit wary of her book, How to be a woman, having heard it described on – I want to say Newsnight Review, but that can't be right – as a bit share-y. Newsnight Review or not, I think I must be paraphrasing. Anyway! I can't agree with every single thing she writes, and now and again it feels like the motivation slips into shock-factor, but mostly it is just gloriously sensible and I nodded like the Churchill dog all the way through. Since its cast list is essentially a convention of my TV crushes, I had been daydreaming The Hobbit into the prettiest film ever. Links to the trailer popped up all over my friends list, and I clicked in a flutter of anticipation. I had sort of forgotten that they would all be hobbits and dwarves and animated dragons. ;) /shallow. Tags: sherlock
Current Mood:  sleepy
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I happen to own the world's least flattering pair of grey tracksuit bottoms, and on chilly, dark evenings when I know I am done going out for the day, I retreat into them like a toad slinking into hibernation. Today was bright and warm and beautiful, but here I am, grey-legged and toad-like. Autumn's in the ai-ir, as we used to sing at school. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) avrelia, thank you so much for the puppy! I hope your birthday was wonderful. I had a crazy, busy summer that I will come back to at some point, and pretty pictures a-plenty, Wales and Cambridge and Bath, which I shall save for a rainy day. In plants news, the chard was ravaged by slugs, went without water for a month and then without sun for another, and (as you all reassured me) is doing absolutely fine and has yielded me a whole summer's worth of rainbow-stemmed salad. My pepper harvest is also looking hopeful at this point, so much so that I dare to commit as much to print even with frost poking its fingers round the corner. I can't explain what it is about birds of prey, but they mesmerise me. I think it's larks that collectively are an exaltation, but the sweeping of kites, the swooping of falcons, the soaring of eagles, the circling of vultures – I make these nothing short of an exultation. My birthday outing this year was to the Hawk Conservancy which was very much like having a fairy godmother and a genie. I spent my day as wide-eyed and spellbound as any of the children there. (Not-very-eagle-eyed small boy near me, watching vultures ripping chicks apart: "These vultures eat grass, not people!") ( Vultures and eagles and owls, oh my! )To finish: I love – have always loved – rockpooling. Browsing through my friendslist lately has been a little bit like a spuffy rockpooling excursion. Every now and again I come across a reference to a pincered beast that might be lurking in the shadows, or something sharp underfoot, but it barely registers because all around is a sleeping world come to life, glinting, gleaming, glittering with unexpected treasures. There are posts big and small that make my spuffy heart sing, and it is deeply, delightfully good to sit and bask in our ship again. Now I am mixing my seaside metaphors, and why not? :)
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The day was beautiful and the way was beautiful. Ha! You have to have a certain kind of misspent youth to know where that comes from. But Spring! I'm writing this in one of those rare moments where the sunlight hits my bedroom wall, watching a bumblebee meandering through the blossom. A blue-tit is feasting on the fat ball that hangs from my window, all fluffy and yellow in the evening sunshine. I have become an anxious plant mother, hurrying home from work each day to check on the progress of my seedlings. I am not a hundred per cent sure that some of them aren't in fact weedlings, but really, anything green and shoot-like is in. My two shows are back, back-to-back, which is like, a starter and dessert. Or olives and a cheese course, with superior crackers. ( Ashes to Ashes )( Doctor Who ) Last week I went to see the spring flowers in Cambridge, which were everything they should be, and on the way home went to see Wicked, which I adored. At last, a musical where the girls have all the best songs! Louise Dearman, who I loved in Guys and Dolls, was a gleaming, glimmering, glorious Glinda, and Rachel Tucker, who I didn't warm to in I'd Do Anything was sensational as Elphaba. She powers right through all those great big lines not just with strength but with a wonderful richness, and she is a mesmerising, effervescent stage presence, and she won me over completely. Eleven-style, I am finishing this an age after I began. I have to run, as I am leaving for Durham in half an hour, but just wanted to squeeze in a late but nonetheless resounding Happy Birthday to mistakency! The peppers have grown new leaves in your honour. And Happy Birthdays to dear poshcat and moscow_watcher tomorrow! I must run! I'll be back in "five minutes". :) Tags: ashes to ashes, doctor who
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It's not everybody's friend, but I love snow. By now I am starting to get the hang of walking on ice, and I like how alive a nip in the air makes you feel, and there is something good for the soul about walking through a magical world. I could get used to living in a Christmas card. I am forever trying not to make my horizons wonky, but my fingers were numb. In the middle of this ten-minute photo shoot I had to pop home and put my camera batteries on the boiler to get it working again. ( Snow )I did watch both Whos on New Year's Day, and had lots to say at the time. Then I beat my thumping heart into submission making a cake (almond and orange blossom) and was left chuckling instead. ( The End of Time )I am torn between catching up on yesterday's Being Human or watching the second episode of Glee. Exquisite werewolf angst or song-based silliness? It is too hard. And here's a guilty pleasure: Jamie Cullum's Don't Stop the Music. Tags: doctor who, picspam
Current Mood:  cheerful
Current Music: Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
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I have been feasting on iced snowflakes, a triple treat courtesy of three lovely ladies, dtissagirl, caliente_uk and tkid_firefly. I am very slow here, but thank you so much! Thank you too to ![[info]](http://l-files.livejournal.net/userhead/146?v=1320917197) elisi, spikefan, pfeifferpack and monanotlisa for your festive wishes! I am all behind this year, but I hope everyone is enjoying a happy holiday season, and send you all the very best of wishes for the New Year. Question: am I eating the Twiglets, or are the Twiglets eating me? I am coming to the conclusion that the main reason I go to work is to fill up time that would otherwise be spent eating snacks. I videoed Doctor Who and am gathering the will power to watch it. Reindeer sending the TARDIS circling through the snow is about my limit at this point. Once upon a time though, I did watch ( The Waters of Mars )Mmm, stilton wafers. Last week was all minor league battling with the elements. This week I fall at the first cheese-based hurdle. Other TV highlights over the last month or so have included Charlestons on Strictly, Tom Hollander in Gracie, and the Doctor Who themed Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Bernard Cribbins is a legend. (You see, I'm watching round it. I'm not just quite getting there.) In other news, my TV guide reviewed New Moon thus: "If you want to see a vampire in a cardigan and the slushiest cliffhanger in history, this is for you." Ha! Way to lure me in. And now for something different. I wrote nearly all of this after the third episode of Emma, and it has taken me until now to post it. I have no idea who spends their New Year's Eve reading Austen analysis, but I am determined to post it this year! ( On Emma )I must stop there, but before I go I must wish belated birthday wishes to two dear LJ friends, swsa and _jems_, and a Happy Birthday tomorrow to circe_tigana! Tags: doctor who, emma
Current Mood:  busy
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This Saturday I celebrated my birthday (belatedly) with a trio of treats. Firstly I went to the BP Portrait Award exhibition. My favourite picture was this one, which seemed to me to have love for its subject etched into every line. I went to Ikea. (Should it be capital letters, like a TARDIS? I feel as if it should.) I don't know what I'd imagined an IKEA would be like, exactly, but I was thinking along the lines of DIY store. And instead it was like a giant toy shop, with Poängs and cake. And refillable hot drinks! It was like climbing to the top of the Faraway Tree (four escalators. Four!) and discovering a land where tea fountains slosheth over. I had a birthday tea of winter vegetable soup, accompanied by a lovely cup of Earl Grey without which I would never have made it through the daim cake. I first came across a Daim bar on holiday in Norway many, many years ago, and its wrapper sits proudly in my holiday scrapbook, along with the fjords and the stave churches and the Viking ships. Daim bar + cake = heaven, which is good, since Daim bar + cake = almost certain death by dessert. There are two moments in film that never fail to make my world a sunnier place. One is Gene Kelly dancing in the puddles with a smile on his face, singing in spite of the rain. The other is Julie Andrews' rendition of "I have confidence", which is far from the best song in the film, even, but just gathers me up in a small ball and sends me soaring into the sky. The Sound of Music is my favourite film by an arm and a leg. I won't extol its virtues here. Do you have a week? You're either in or you're out, and I'm in, all in, hook, line and wimple, and really, what more is there to say? The Sound of Music stage production is on tour, and Saturday night I went to see it. It was delightful from beautiful beginning to glorious end. Connie Fisher's Maria really is a triumph – warm and funny and with a voice you could listen to all day. The children were wonderful, and the ländler exquisite, and Maggie Preece's "Climb every mountain" so roof-raisingly beyond spine-tingling it took me half the interval to compose myself enough to go and buy ice cream. So it was a good day. Yesterday evening's Emma had two Edmunds from Mansfield Park, a Daniel Deronda reunion and a relentless supply of good weather. I am inclined to agree with all the points made by this reviewer, but I've also seen enough to be fairly sure that by the end of Week Two I will be casting all my reservations aside and counting down the days until Week Three. In other TV news, my last five Tuesday nights have been spent revelling in sheer joy, thanks to the third series of The Choir. It is a thousand times better than the X Factor, for this reason, among others. :) Current Mood: happy
Current Music: yo-de-lay-ee-yo-de-lay...
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Oh little urn, it's nice to have you back. This series may not have been the epic tussle of 2005, but the Freddie/Harmy hug at the end kind of undid me. An Ashes summer has a sheen that sets it just a little bit apart, and it's a glow that stays with you even after it's over. I won tickets to the fourth day of the Headingley test, which England lost in three days. I think this is fair compensation. :) Sunday was my Grandma's birthday and we went to see her by the seaside, where she and my Grandad live. As we were walking along the seafront, the Red Arrows flew past, which I think makes my Grandma royalty. Driving home after sunset we passed New Forest ponies grazing in the mist, which was rolling off the ground in great swathes and was positively magical. I had most of last week off work, and went up to London and then on to see elisi, which I shall come to a minute. I've wanted to see Adam Cooper dance ever since his six seconds at the end of Billy Elliott. I almost didn't, a chapter of mishaps meaning I didn't make it to see Shall We Dance until the interval. It was his wife Sarah Wildor who made my evening though, a dancer of mesmerising loveliness. This was followed by sticky-rice-and-mango in Thai Square, a near-mythical dessert that had been off the menu on my previous mission to find it (although green tea and coconut ice cream served me well in its place). Next day I caught my train bright and early, and it was on time! ( Further adventures )In other news, the Times lists its top ten sexiest vampires. There's a reason I'm linking to this. Obviously. :) I am away camping for the bank holiday, and must go and pack. But I'll leave you with a recent ( visitor to my garden )And before I go, the happiest of birthdays to two lovely ladies, estepheia and the best pocket-provider in all the world, sweet_ali. {{{hugs}}} Current Mood: thankful
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Once upon a time I wrote a wee bit of fic in which Spike was among the crew of the first moon landing. Imagine my surprise when one night on holiday I turned on the TV to discover someone had kindly filmed it for me. Hee! My only complaint is that they showed it in the dead of night, and when JM started worrying that, "I don't look as good on camera as the rest of you guys," and Neil Armstrong reassured him that, "They could probably do something with the lighting," (Seriously! I think that line was in my fic) I had to give up all hope of remaining focused, and chuckled myself to sleep instead. "The camera hates me" isn't high on the list of things I'd ever expected JM to be given to say. ;) So the week before last I spent in the Lake District. A week is just long enough to never want to leave, and not nearly long enough to visit all the pretty, pretty places. When I've had time to sort out my photos properly I will come back and tell you all about it, but in the mean time, here's just a peek: ( Waterhead )Earlier this week I was puppy-sitting in a world of Other TV Channels, and finally saw an episode of ( Dollhouse )In other news, Geocities may be closing in October, but when I looked it had gobbled up half my sites already. It was the perfect excuse to update properly, and although I am not quite done I am getting there. I love html formatting. It's oddly therapeutic. Anyway, it's all here, and while it is not exactly a work of genius it makes me happy. Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: go - sparklehorse with the flaming lips
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