Ah, lovely busy day today! First off, tv played another blinder in ticking off yet another film on my list - this one was Queen of Katwe, which has been on my list for years. The true story of a Ugandan chess champion from the slums, it stars David Oyelowo as her chess coach, and Lupita Nyong'o as her embattled mother, whose husband has died, and who is trying to raise a large family on her own.
A fascinating watch, this. The young girl that plays the chess champion is a delight to watch, Oyelowo is inspiring as the youth outreach worker who starts a chess club and finds champions, and Lupita Nyong'o is moving as the mother, with little income until her chess-playing daughter starts to bring it in, but suspicious about what she's getting involved in, and whether it's sustainable. And wow, is it inspiring - through chess, she gets to go to school, which they couldn't afford before: to travel: to buy a house for them! A family's life is completely transformed - what a difference a little money makes. Keep watching for the credits, where actors appear with the real-life people they portrayed; the captions that are displayed beside them, explaining what's happened to them since (this was made in 2016) are hard to see, however.
That, conveniently, just finished in time for my latest online talk: Who's Who in Stuart Britain. A London Social Detours (LSD) online reading again, with plenty of attendees; as the organiser remarked to me before the start, must be the effect of the lockdown!
And it was very interesting! We just covered James I in this talk - and it was an interesting tale of him believing his own press, gradually becoming more and more unpopular. He was a curious character, of that there's no doubt. It was quite a short talk though, and we soon moved to the social chat afterwards - which mainly concerned itself with one elderly lady, who was worried because a workman she'd had over had just told her that his entire family was laid low with Covid, his wife in hospital! Lots of advice from people..
I hadn't thought that unpleasant person was on the call, until I saw her screen at the bottom - she must have joined last. Sure enough, she waited until she had something unpleasant to say before chiming in. Honestly, I agree with her that he was out of order to visit this lady while not wearing a mask - but listening to the other one shrilly exclaiming that he should be reported was a step too far! I signed off the call, and was delighted to be finished so early. Pity we couldn't have spent any time actually discussing the talk we'd just had..
Probably film tomorrow, if I get a chance. And I'm going to have great fun removing from my film list everything I've seen over the last while! That list could do with a trim. And yes, I haven't forgotten about my film backlog of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Snowden, The Unbelievable Truth, Time (all on Amazon Prime), and Zero de Conduite, on the Internet Archive. Watch this space.. as ever..
And LSD is back on Friday, with another British Heroes and Villains talk. Well, I'll risk it - although I reserve the right to sign off again if that angry chipmunk starts chirping!
No comments:
Post a Comment