Film: Suspiria (2018)

Last night, nothing on tv, and I wasn't quite ready to go to bed yet. So I decided to try Suspiria (2018), which is available on Amazon Prime. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much, after having watched the supposedly superior original. But I was curious.

Straight away, you notice the difference - for a start, there's a terrific Thom Yorke soundtrack. The action has moved to Berlin, some time when it was still divided - the school is right across the road from the wall. The American student is played by Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton is the school director - and, looking at the cast list, I see she also played the school founder (who, to be fair, is hardly ever seen, and heavily made up when she is) and, more impressively, she plays the psychiatrist who treats the expelled student, whose ravings gradually lead him to believe that something suspicious is going on behind the school's facade. Really versatile, that woman.

I said that the trailer led me to believe that the film is greyer - it is that. It is also a revelation. An hour longer than the original, it really is a remake - the American student falls more readily into the role they have prepared for her, and the story is generally more coherent. Oh, and they've completely changed the ending.. I absolutely loved this, it really appealed to my darker side.

Unfortunately, I was too tired afterwards to blog. TV was good enough today to keep me ticking over, and for Saturday, there's always the St. Patrick's Festival website to fall back on..

Film: Suspiria (1977)

Well, another dearth of programmes this afternoon. So I said I'd treat myself to Amazon Prime again. :-) Trawled through the list of horror films that are supposed to be on it - sadly, many actually aren't.. but then I came down to Suspiria (2018). Now, I remember when this was released - I was curious, but as with so many, never did get to see it. Then, when I checked further.. I saw that the original was also available! Supposed to be a classic. So I watched that instead..

An American student comes to a prestigious dance academy in Freiburg. She soon learns that there's something very odd about the place, as strange things start to happen, girls begin to disappear.. and what she eventually discovers is more horrible than she could have imagined.

Wow, this is weird. Right from the start, it's a riot of colour - predominantly red. Indeed, a lengthy introduction explains how they restored and remastered the original. I took some time to get the volume right - every time someone is killed, the soundtrack becomes a deafening cacophony; happily, it doesn't happen too often.

Several times, I thought about quitting it - but something made me stick with it. And ultimately, as it reaches its conclusion, it does become a little less surreal, a bit easier to get a grasp of. The soundtrack did also produce a little snippet of tune that became a hook for me. So, ultimately I found it watchable. However, I don't think I'll be hurrying back to it. A brief look at the remake tells me that there seems to be less colour - it seems to be a more serious affair. Well, might give it a try.

In the meantime, there's always the St. Patrick's Festival website to fall back on..

Quiz: The Great British Seaside!

Today, I had my reliable Cultureseekers quiz to fall back on - The Great British Seaside! Hey, I thought I might know something about it..

Up late last night, so it was a bit of a rush today. Mercifully, the demanding cat didn't make an appearance. I made it in good time, and tuned into the usual cacophony - people were chatting about their seaside experiences, but no-one could top the woman who informed us she was in Genoa. So then the talk turned to Italy.. when people diverted to politics, someone asked the host whether we couldn't start the quiz a bit early, so he did.

Yeah, I thought I might have a problem with these. Now, he didn't just whack up pictures and ask us to guess where they were - no, he had clues, such as something interesting to be found there, or gave us the name and asked us where it was near. For none of them did I have a clue. I mean, I'd know about Irish resorts - but why would I know about British ones? Not only am I not a beach person, but if I were, I wouldn't head to the beaches in the UK.. I was annoyed, mind you, not to get the resort where Fawlty Towers was set (Torquay - it's been too long since I saw the series): but the first one I did know was the resort where Dracula was set! (Whitby)

I did better with the seaside snacks and rides, which are mostly the same here. Ultimately, I got nine out of 25.. a new low, but as I say, to be expected. Ah, I would love to travel somewhere - well, I'm double-vaccinated now, so give it a fortnight and I can get out and about. In Ireland, anyway..

In the meantime, there's always the St. Patrick's Festival website to fallback on..

Films: Coherence & The House of the Devil

You know, a few days ago, the letters page in the paper included one from an irate woman, who wondered why they had to broadcast mediocre repeats on primetime tv, then save the good film for late at night. She was talking about tonight, and the film in question is Mississippi Burning - a good film indeed, but I've already seen it. And with the dross on telly, I went to bed early - and thought to myself, you know, I have this new tv that's set up for Amazon Prime, and I've never really used it..

So I thought, I wonder what horror-type stuff is available. And I looked up a list online. As usual, many of the films on the list aren't available on my Amazon Prime library - but searching the list, behold, I came across one that is. Coherence is a sci-fi, and can be considered a slow-burning horror.. Basically, a group of old friends meet for a dinner party, somewhere in L.A., but the evening takes a peculiar turn when a comet passes overhead, and strange things start to happen. Imagine the shock our friends feel when they realise that there's a group of people, in a house over the way, that look just like them..

Now, this is best enjoyed by people that are into quantum mechanics, simultaneously occurring states of existence, and probability and games. Ooh, just like me! So I really perked up when they started going on about this. The basic premise is that the comet has somehow acted as a catalyst to bring several simultaneous realities (think Schroedinger's cat) in contact with each other. So, eh, this means that there's more than one dinner party happening on this night, with the same people at each..

They have great fun with this, and there are some really clever scenes where we realise that the people we're looking at, who are dressed the same, and look and sound the same, as the people we thought a minute ago that we were looking at, are not actually them. There's a little mystery to solve, involving seemingly random numbers written on the backs of photographs. And there's an interesting sequence that plays with the idea of choosing your reality. But.. this is no Christopher Nolan film, and they just can't resolve the ideas. All possible outcomes to the film finally collapse to a single plot twist that doesn't logically make sense in the context of the film. But hey, it makes for an interesting, and somewhat comprehensible, ending. Felt to me like a cop-out, though.

Afterwards, with nothing unmissable on telly, I decided to continue. Took me a while to find another that was available locally, but I eventually hit on The House of the Devil. As you'd expect from the title, this is a more conventional horror - a surprise throwback, indeed, for one made so recently! And sure enough, it's also set in the bygone era of the 80s - cue those flimsy headsets, cassette walkmans, Farrah Fawcett hairdos, and, crucially, no mobile phones! So much easier to stage a horror when you're dependent on a landline that can be cut, and when someone not answering might just mean they're not in, and you can't check whether they've picked up their messages..

So, it's the classic story of a cash-strapped student who takes a babysitting job that turns out to be in a massive old mansion, out in the middle of nowhere. Not only that, but the job itself isn't as advertised. Her friend (Greta Gerwig), who drops her out there, quite rightly thinks she's out of her mind, but she does desperately need the money. So the friend drives off and leaves her there, promising to return just after midnight. Oh, and in a similarity to the other film, there's an astronomical event - in this case, a lunar eclipse. And this is the best place in the world to see it, wouldn't you know!

It's a reasonably conventional story, but the terror is very enjoyably built up, the soundtrack is good, and those of us who remember the 80s will experience a burst of nostalgia at the props. A very decent horror film!

Tomorrow, I have my reliable Cultureseekers quiz to fall back on - tomorrow, it's The Great British Seaside! Hey, I might know something about it.. so I'm calling it a night on Amazon Prime horrors..

Play: The Fatal Weakness

Well, I'd been wondering what happened to Thumbs Up Theatre Toronto, whom I hadn't seen advertise anything in a while. And lo, there they were again, advertising another late-night (for me) rescued play from the excellent Mint Theater Company, for Tuesday night. This was a drawing-room drama, called The Fatal Weakness - so, having no morning meetings on Wednesday, I was in! Very late notice, but really, how much did I need..

Joined them for a chat beforehand. Ah, it was nice to chat to a group again.. and share my news; I finally had a date for my second vaccination! (Friday morning, so I got to take the day off work. Ridiculously early, and I had a ridiculously long drive, as it'd been moved - but never mind, it was great news.) And I got a woo-hoo from the organiser, when I told them! And an interesting tale from the Californian who joined, who let us in on the secret that you can get a free Big Mac if you get the vaccine there.. She was rather perturbed to hear that there were concerns about AstraZeneca, which was the one she got.. Anyway, in due course, people dropped away to watch the play. And typically, almost every one of them seemed to need instructions - despite the instructions already being included on the event page!

Pity I was so tired - things have been hectic lately. Indeed, I missed a few of the cues in the first act. But I made myself wake up thereafter, and wow, what a great play! So, it's a comedy - set in the late 1940s, among the upper classes. A housewife fears her husband is playing away - now, she just happens to have a friend, who has a friend, who has her own car and a nose for gossip and sleuthing. So this friend volunteers her friend, whom the husband doesn't know, to follow him.. Meantime, the housewife with the philandering husband also has a grown-up daughter, whose own marriage is going through a rocky patch, not least because of her modern ideas.

It is hilarious - witty, sharp as a tack, the banter is relentless. The ladies go at this detective business with a vengeance, the maid is constantly eavesdropping, the daughter thinks she knows it all, and is rather scornful of everyone else's opinion. But more than this, it's an observation on marriage, as the wife mulls over the state of her marriage - and analyses her daughter's. And seen at a remove of some 74 years, it's interesting to see how things have changed, and which things haven't changed so much. And you have to wonder - if you plonked a few modern characters in there, how would they react to events..?

This is a joy to watch! not least for the gorgeous costumes. Mint Theater productions are available to watch until Sunday, for free - highly recommended. It baffles me why these productions were left on the scrapheap.. Apparently, they found the ending of this one too depressing. Sadly, I was too tired to join the group for a chat afterwards. Maybe next time.

Well, that made a nice change - and ongoing, and while I'm still stuck indoors, I'll be checking out the St. Patrick's Festival website again. Apologies for the late publish - I'd actually forgotten to publish this, and of course, I'm not publishing every day now, so I didn't check!

St. Patrick's Festival: Music

TV not as bad today, but reliably, the scheduling gave way in due course, and I came back to the St. Patrick's Festival website. Where the next up was Songs from the Aran Islands with Pádraig Jack. Sure enough, this features a chap called Pádraig Jack, whose parents apparently have a pub on the island, playing his guitar and singing his own brand of folk, in Irish and English, on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands, where he grew up. Moody seascapes abound, as he includes aerial drone shots of the island on a suitably gloomy day - himself, he's well wrapped up in a winter coat and scarf. Well, it was March, after all! So, you can get a view of the island as you watch.

Afterwards, still lacking decent programming, I turned to Moxie - which is apparently the name of a young trad fusion group. Don't be fooled by the boiler suits in the publicity shot - they have a really unusual sound, blending trad music first with something middle-Eastern sounding, then with a track that's more rock. A more interesting sound than Pádraig Jack on Inis Mór, if less scenic - although we do accompany them around the house, to introduce the other band members. Crikey, there's an interesting music scene just now!

Now about 2/3 way through that site..

St. Patrick's Festival: Trad Music

For today, Cultureseekers had another online quiz - but honestly, it was about artists' self-portraits, and I'd be useless.So, of course, my plan was to come back to the St. Patrick's Festival website. I was tired last night, and there wasn't much on telly - so I went to bed and woke early, and unfortunately, morning tv tends to be terrible at the weekends. And so I started early with the website! 

Back to The Cobblestone Sessions, with musicians from the Cobblestone Pub performing at a converted factory, now The Complex arts centre. Between this morning, and the dearth of non-sport programming in the afternoon, I've now watched all of those, and can testify that they're very enjoyable. Except for Episode 4 - the singer featured in this episode sounded very po-faced, to my ears..

Next up after that was Lifting the Latch, which features a pair of beardy fellows performing their own compositions. Which were absolutely fine. Unfortunately, the music is accompanied by one of those highly arty films, which is itself accompanied by an extensive blurb on the page. Well, the kindest thing I can say is that it's different..

And so to the Varo Sessions, featuring Varo, a duo - one French, one Italian - who perform an interesting fusion of trad, classical, and folk. They travel from the Cobblestone to Walsh's, both known on the trad music circuit, and perform with other trad musicians - and this is really excellent! Varo have a really different sound - this was the longest piece I watched today, and I'm delighted to say it was by far the best!

And yes, there's plenty more on the website for tomorrow..

St. Patrick's Festival: trad music

Same gap in tv watching today - sport or soaps or kids' stuff or cookery or Amazing Animal Births.. and so I came back to the St. Patrick's Festival website. And today, it was a feast of trad music.

First up was the most traditional piece I've heard in a while - The Shandrum Céilí Band, playing in the sumptuous surrounds of Doneraile House. Followed by the more modern Sin a Deir Sí, with The Galway Girls providing hard-shoe dance accompaniment on wooden boards, in strappy tops. And last up was the first of The Cobblestone Sessions, at the Cobblestone Pub. With five more to go in that series, I won't be wanting! All very enjoyable.

For Saturday, Cultureseekers has another online quiz - but honestly, it's about artists' self-portraits, and I'd be useless. But I still have plenty to check out on that St. Patrick's website..! 

St. Patrick's Festival Music

Funnily enough, a gap in tv watching today - sport or soaps or kids' stuff or cookery or Amazing Animal Births.. and so I came back to the St. Patrick's Festival website. After yesterday's manic, full-on work schedule, it's a sheer joy to have time to myself today, and I made the most of it by watching a couple of musical shorts, about 15 minutes each - enough time for two songs each.

First up, I have to say, is a spectacular performance filmed on the shoreline of Corca Dhuibhne, by a local couple. He plays the most curious instrument - adapted, apparently, from a Turkish one - which, as she explains, he spent lockdown constructing in the shed. They do spent a good deal of time explaining the background to each song, but I think it's worth it. First up is Port na bPúcaí (Song of the Fairies), about a woman who has been taken by them and warns others not to follow. Apparently from the area, and as she says, truly ethereal..

The second piece is the Pádraig Pearse version of Oró Sé do Bheatha 'bhaile, a rousing rebel song using the imagery of Granuaile, the Western Irish pirate queen. Again, with the husband playing and wife singing, the backdrop of crashing waves lends the whole scene an otherworldly air. Don't worry that they're both in Irish - just absorb the sound and visuals, which are stunning - the Skellings even make an appearance, although they're actually a bit further south! This is well worth 15 minutes of your day - absolutely recommended.

The next 15-minute slot was a performance, again of two songs, by a fellow who calls himself Arrivalists. Sitting in his living room in a guitar, he was never going to match the scenic splendour of the first video. Nor is the music, original folk this time, quite so memorable - but still very enjoyable, and the ode to Dublin City is wistful.

For Saturday, I guess Cultureseekers will be posting another online quiz - but they haven't just yet. But I still have plenty to check out on that St. Patrick's website..! Which I just mentioned to my new boss, who thinks her friend, who's big into music history, would love!

St. Patrick's Festival: Concert - Kíla

Sport or repeats or.. and so I came back to the St. Patrick's Festival website today - where the next thing up was a concert by Kíla! I've seen them live - they're a madcap mashup of trad Irish music, and I love them. And I thought that'd be just the thing to display on my new, bigger-screen, smart tv!

Unfortunately, I guess my tv browser hasn't the memory to deal with this packed website - it kept crashing, so I gave up and played it on my laptop instead. (I don't have the cable to connect it to the telly.) Never mind, it's a foot-stamping, head-bopping, madcap rush of a thing - as expected. At under an hour long, it doesn't outstay its welcome. Highly recommended - don't worry about the dialogue and lyrics in Irish, just lose yourself in the chaotic music. Kíla never disappoints..

For Saturday, I guess Cultureseekers will be posting another online quiz - but they haven't just yet. But I still have plenty to check out on that St. Patrick's website..!

Films: Crazy Rich Asians & I, Daniel Blake

Crazy Rich Asians was tonight's tv movie. A romcom, reminiscent of the old musical style. Awesome, sounded great, and this was another I hadn't seen.. being stuck in Ireland for the pandemic is at least helping me get through my film list..

Aw man, it's great! What a feelgood movie - and the time just flew, as we watched a young Chinese-American woman navigate her way through her boyfriend's well-to-do family, based in Singapore (which they, apparently, basically own). Invited to accompany him to his friend's wedding there, she goes to the trouble of learning Chinese, which isn't her native tongue, really tries to fit in - but all she gets is hostility: from his ex, the ex's bitchy friends, and his mother, for whom she just isn't good enough. Thank goodness an ex-college buddy of hers lives there too! so she gets some support. Meantime, we get crazy super-rich lifestyles, song and dance numbers - terrific entertainment! Even my mother liked it, and she's hard to please - why, it even inspired her to unload about her own experience with her disapproving mother-in-law.

Highly recommended, a real mood-lifter.

So, to balance that, right afterwards they showed I, Daniel Blake - in which Ken Loach takes us through the story of a builder, middle-aged now, who has a heart attack on the job, in Newcastle. His medics are adamant that he's unfit to work - but for some inconceivable reason, the benefits office decides that he's ineligible for disability benefits. He applies for an appeal, but hears nothing - and in the meantime, has no income whatsoever. So he goes on the dole. They make him take a cv-writing course, which goes right over his head - he has no computer skills. So, in short, he ends up handwriting a cv - in pencil - which he touts around the building sites. The benefits people decide he's not making an effort, and sanction him, cutting off his money. When he gets a phone call about his appeal, he explains that he's gone back on the dole to get benefits - whereupon the guy on the phone calls him a scrounger and hangs up on him.

He befriends a young woman with two kids - they're homeless, she had to flee an abusive relationship. They're from London, but it was too expensive to house them there, so - they move them to.. Newcastle..?! She gets lost on the way to her benefits appointment, is late, gets her benefits cut off. At the food bank, she's so desperately hungry (having directed any food she got to the kids) that she wolfs down a cold tin of beans, which of course she gags on, so then she's embarrassed, having spilled food down herself. She gets caught shoplifting sanitary products (because nobody donates those to food banks), and ends up on the game.

I know these are fictional stories - but they're so realistic. And this film was made just five years ago. I can believe it all - and even if you get benefits, they're substantially lower in the UK than in the rest of western Europe, and I really don't know how anyone survives on them. As Daniel Blake says, all he wants is to maintain his dignity as a human being. As the general saying goes, a society can be judged by how it treats its poorest citizens. There but for the grace of God go we all..

Well, if I feel the need for a filler during gaps in tv tomorrow (there's certainly enough sport on!), I'll be back to the St. Patrick's Festival website - where the next thing up is a concert by Kíla! I've seen them live - they're a madcap mashup of trad Irish music, and I love them. And wouldn't that be just the thing to display on my new, bigger-screen, smart tv?!

[ONLINE] Cultureseekers Quiz - Guess the Author or Novel from the Cover! & Film: That's Entertainment Part Two

Today, reliable Cultureseekers had another quiz, advertised late, as ever. This time, it was Guess the Author or Novel from the Cover! So, I signed on at the usual time. Far fewer participants than usual - probably due to the terrific weather! We didn't even have 20..

As ever, a well-thought-out quiz. Mostly classic novels - you could use the cover illustration to guess, sometimes, and he gave the original year of publication of each. The bits we were supposed to guess were blanked out, of course.The first 10, we had to guess the author, given the title - the next 10, we were given the author and had to guess the title. And for the last five - we had to guess both! I managed for two of those - Frankenstein was pretty OK, given the year of publication, and The Lord of the Rings, well.. I mean, the ring was on the cover.. With one point for each of author and title for the last one, in all, I got 14 out of a possible 30.. well, it was fun.

I didn't bother to hang around for the scores, though.

Afterwards, just in time for That's Entertainment, Part Two on TV- now just finished. Narrated by Fred Astaire, new sequences directed by Gene Kelly, who also appears, it's a madcap recap of snippets of years and years of MGM classics. Mostly song and dance numbers - and don't they look lovely on my nice, big, new telly! I watched the first part last week, and watched both years ago, too - but they're always good to, well, entertain!

And Crazy Rich Asians is tonight's tv movie. A romcom, apparently shot in the old musical style. Awesome, sounds great, and this is another I haven't seen.. being stuck in Ireland for the pandemic is at least helping me get through my film list..

Film: Hail, Caesar!

So, a film that I hadn't seen made it to the Friday night film schedule! Or, maybe I had, but didn't remember a thing about it. Anyhoo, I watched Hail, Caesar!, a Coen brothers film, set in Hollywood's golden age, in the 50s. It follows Josh Brolin - a film studio fixer - as he runs around putting out fires. Tilda Swinton plays identical twin gossip columnists, each perpetually harassing him for a story. During the film, he has three problems to fix:

• A major actor, George Clooney, is kidnapped from the very set of his latest movie, in the middle of filming!
• A major actress, Scarlett Johansson, falls pregnant outside of wedlock. With marriage not an option, the studio lawyer, Jonah Hill, is brought in to provide a solution.
• The hapless director, Ralph Fiennes, of a society drama, is lumbered with a leading man who's better known as a Western hero, performing stunts on horseback. An unrecognisable Frances McDormand has a cameo for this story, as the projectionist who shows the fixer some footage of the newcomer.

Firstly - it was an utter joy to watch the big-budget movie snippets that pepper the film, and were typical of the time. Particularly as I was watching it on my new, larger-screened, smart tv! (Not a frivolous purchase - my old one broke down, finally, on Wednesday night: which was great timing, as I was due to take my mother to town the following day. So I got the tv on that trip.)

Oh, I love the Coen brothers. And George, as usual, does a terrific comic turn in a truly surreal twist on the role of a kidnap victim. You really feel for the poor director, forced to compromise his work of art to accommodate the studio's wishes. And in general, in short, this is a delight to watch.. even when they nearly kill Frances..

Tomorrow, reliable Cultureseekers has another quiz, advertised late, as ever. This time, it's Guess the Author or Novel from the Cover! Worth a go - he often gives very helpful hints..

And Crazy Rich Asians is tomorrow night's tv movie. Awesome, another I hadn't seen.. being stuck in Ireland for the pandemic is at least helping me get through my film list..

Musical Performance: The Show Must Go On

Well, my mother finally got sick of the same old stories on the current affairs programmes tonight. Now, on Sunday - Thumbs Up Theatre Toronto watched a live stream from the Palace Theatre London! It was the swansong for The Shows Must Go On - a medley of songs from the famous musicals. Sadly, of course, I was stuck watching tv with my mother, as usual. But YESSSS - IT'S STILL AVAILABLE! For a week afterwards, it seems - so, until Sunday night, I guess. So I whacked it on my phone..

Oh man, it's awesome. I don't know how many times I broke down, just to see live musical theatre back. And the nostalgia of all the shows I'd seen - & Juliet, Hamilton, Mamma Mia!, The Book of Mormon, Come From Away, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera. The shows I'd booked, which got cancelled - Dear Evan Hansen and Tina. And all the others: SIX, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Pretty Woman, Back to the Future (jeez, I didn't even know there was a musical of that!), Matilda, Wicked, and The Prince of Egypt!

Songs were introduced in pairs - one from each musical - and belted out with gusto. Even my mother listened to most of it - and decided that the singer of Bring Him Home from Les Misérables wasn't as good as Colm Wilkinson. She came with me to Dublin to see that - Phantom, we saw in London when I was a kid. I can't fault John Owen Jones' powerful performance, though. But the standout performance for me was Aisha Jawando - practically channelling Tina Turner in an explosive performance of We Don't Need Another Hero, from Tina. Oh, I MUST book for that again.

Peppered throughout the show are ads for Theatre Support Fund, where you can donate, or buy merchandise. I have my eye on the t-shirt, personally.. might wait until I'm back, though, and it's cheaper: and the whole spectacle finishes with a speech by Sadiq Khan (interesting to watch the chat at this point, where people wondered what he was going to sing), and a thrilling version of The Show Must Go On, performed by the whole company! Ah, if you love musical theatre, you just have to watch this..

They're advertising Crazy Rich Asians as the Saturday night movie. Awesome, another I hadn't seen.. being stuck in Ireland for the pandemic is at least helping me get through my film list..

Film: Yesterday

Was delighted for my tv-watching today - it's a bank holiday here, and as the bank holiday movie, they showed Yesterday, a Danny Boyle comedy about a young musician and big Beatles fan. He's in an accident, and when he comes to, he finds himself in a world where nobody's heard of them! So, what's a lad to do, except.. pass all their hits off as his own.. Ed Sheeran also makes an appearance, as himself, having heard the lad, and offering him a position as his support act.

It's an enjoyable film. Plenty of Beatles music, of course - and I surprised myself with how much I remembered! Interesting question - if you were to pass yourself off as the writer of the music of some artist you love, how much of their stuff could you remember, assuming you could no longer look it up anywhere? It's also interesting to note the other few things that are missing in this alternate reality. I don't think he ever comes out of it.. Anyway, in the course of his meteoric rise to fame, he discovers, as you'd expect, what's really important. In other words, the love interest (Lily James, looking winsome). Intermittently hilarious (look out for the scene where his family asks him to play them something, then all get completely distracted), it's a feelgood movie. V worth watching if you're a fan of the music.

And they just advertised Crazy Rich Asians as the Saturday night movie. Awesome, another I hadn't seen.. being stuck in Ireland for the pandemic is really helping me get through my film list..

St. Patrick's Festival: Clare Youth Trad Orchestra Online Performance

Today - Thumbs Up Theatre Toronto is watching a live stream from the Palace Theatre London! It's the swansong for The Shows Must Go On - a medley of songs from the famous musicals. Sadly, of course, I'll be stuck watching tv with my mother, as usual - enjoy, if you decide to watch! I'd love to join you, but there's no way, and I don't think it's being re-broadcast. As for me, having come across a gap in my tv-watching in the afternoon, I caught up with the ever-excellent St. Patrick's Day website, long may it last!

Well sure and begorrah, didn't I come across an online performance from the relatively recently formed Clare Youth Trad Orchestra (whom I'd never heard of)! The blurb to the side explains their history - but mainly, check out their terrific video! Rather short, but well worth watching, it shows three pieces, composed and performed online. Lovely to listen to - but also fascinating for someone who knows Co. Clare, as each little individual window displays the performer in a different location around Clare. Plonked in fields, on roadsides, in a church, in sundry living rooms.. one sits in a cowshed to play her pieces, the cows munching away contentedly behind her. It was interesting to try and spot locations - sometimes, they helpfully stand or sit beside signs: Lahinch, Ennistymon, Ennis Station, Barefield, Feakle - and Tulla, the closest to me. Sometimes, I had to guess - Bunratty Castle and the Old Ground Hotel (with the ivy) are obvious, someone sat in the statue of hands outside Ennis Cathedral, and Quin Abbey was the location for one or two, I think. And one lady sits plucking at her banjo in the Burren.Excellent stuff, cleverly edited - go see!

Excited for my tv-watching tomorrow - it's a bank holiday here, and as the bank holiday movie, they're showing Yesterday, a Danny Boyle comedy about a young musician and big Beatles fan. He's in an accident, and when he comes to, he finds himself in a world where nobody's heard of them! So, what's a lad to do, except.. pass all their hits off as his own.. Ed Sheeran also makes an appearance.

And they just advertised Crazy Rich Asians as the Saturday night movie. Awesome, another I hadn't seen.. being stuck in Ireland for the pandemic is really helping me get through my film list..

Cultureseekers Quiz - Guess the Ladybird Book Cover!

Today, reliable Cultureseekers had another quiz: this time, name the Ladybird book whose cover I'm showing you! Well, I figured I mightn't be able to identify them - but they're delightful to look at!

Overslept, grabbed brunch - but I knew it'd be ok, they always start late. As it turned out, I was just in time. And wouldn't you know it, just as I was trying to get ready, I got another unsolicited Meetup message - a week on from the last, and again, from a self-professed lonely young man. At least this one was in London. Again, an annoying barrage of messages - and I try to be polite, because you never know, they might be genuine. Anyway, I got a merciful reprieve with this one - he seemed to lose interest as soon as I wouldn't share my phone number. Huh.

Back to the quiz. It was really well thought out - the first 10 questions on fairytales, the next five from the "How it Works" series, then five on professions, and the final five a more modern set. The pictures on the covers were, indeed, gorgeous - I have all of them, and wouldn't you know, the only one of these I didn't recognise was The Elves and the Shoemaker! Even though I can guarantee I have it somewhere. Well, there's a blast from the past..

Again, only one wrong in the "How it Works" section. I got all the professions right - and none of the modern ones! I mean, really..

 

Although they look interesting! I do love what they've done with the modern range - strictly tongue in cheek.

Tomorrow - Thumbs Up Theatre Toronto is watching a live stream from the Palace Theatre London! It's the swansong for The Shows Must Go On - a medley of songs from the famous musicals. Sadly, of course, I'll be stuck watching tv with my mother, as usual - enjoy, if you decide to watch! I'd love to join you, but there's no way, and I don't think it's being re-broadcast. As for me, I'll spend any gaps in my tv-watching in the afternoon catching up with the ever-excellent St. Patrick's Day website, long may it last!

POP CULTURE QUIZ ... all new trivia about theatre, TV, music, etc.

Tonight, Thumbs Up Theatre Toronto had another of those quizzes on, so I signed up again.

Really tired tonight, after a long and tiring day - but I made it. And this time, so did most of the participants - turned out that there was a mix-up with the Zoom link last time, and two different ones got sent out. Lordy though, talk about many cooks spoiling the broth.. isn't it insane how people can't do something as simple as follow instructions?

We were given the link for Kahoot, which about half of the participants didn't know what to do with. We had people who didn't know where the address bar was, people who thought they couldn't type over what was already there, people who didn't know where the internet was on their phone.. people with weird problems they didn't know how to describe - it was like trying to troubleshoot my mother's internet issues over the phone! At least we had video, so could see what they were doing. But it just took the biscuit when the host tried several times to share her screen, not realising that there were different things you could share, and kept showing us the whiteboard instead of the screen with the game PIN on it..

Fifteen minutes after scheduled start time, we were off. And I started ok - until she started putting up questions that weren't multiple choice. TV shows I had some chance with, got a couple. But, to add insult to injury, the last several were on Canadian / American brands. I hadn't a hope - stuck it out until the last question, just out of curiosity, and signed out. Well, my highest score tonight was sixth. And everyone complained about the non-multiple-choice: the host remarked that the feedback was useful, but for heaven's sake, who wouldn't prefer multiple choice! And it was fun, with a lot of banter - a number of people compared it favourably with another quiz they'd been doing, which was more rushed and a lot less fun. True, and I'd attend again..

On Saturday, reliable Cultureseekers has a quiz of their own: this time, name the Ladybird book whose cover I'm showing you! Well, I mightn't be able to identify them - but they're delightful to look at!

Play: A Picture of Autumn

Well, I wasn't sure whether I'd attend tonight's offering from Thumbs Up Theatre Toronto - but (as so often) I'm glad I did. So, we were watching a free, online recording of a 50s English play called A Picture of Autumn, staged at the Palace Theatre, and broadcast by Mint Theater. The host explained, afterwards, that they offer "rescued" plays, that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day again.

As usual, very few attended the pre-show chat - and to be honest, there were some awkward silences. People just don't have much to say, these days. We don't get out much. Anyway, we all started watching a little early. Name and email address required, but as I say, free to watch, and available until the 27th. The play centres around an elderly trio, living in a decrepit country manor - the Lord and Lady of the manor, and his brother. Coming to visit are the Lord's and Lady's sons, along with the elder son's wife and stepdaughter - the elder son, wife, and stepdaughter just back from living in Somaliland. It's set in the 50s.

And it's absolutely charming. The genteel, slow pace of life at the manor, matched by the genteel manners of the three elderly people, is in sharp contrast to the officiousness of the elder son, who breezes in and immediately starts to try and fix things. Comic relief is provided by the family jokers - the younger brothers, one from each generation - who are the charmers, the dreamers. And, of course, there's the comical old retainer, deaf as a post and doing things her way.

The times, however, are a' changin'.. or are they? How far will these people allow themselves to be tugged from their familiar, old lives? A clever, well-written play, with appealing characters - it's strange that it's sunk with hardly a trace. But then, as the host suggested afterwards, perhaps the topic was a bit sensitive at the time of its release, when it would have struck close to home for people who were seeing their old worlds disintegrating. Anyway, well worth a look - highly recommended. And that theatre has another couple of offerings this month, too..

Afterwards, only a couple of people logged on to chat, apart from myself and the host - and gee, it wasn't nearly as late in the evening for them! But I'm delighted to have come across this group, it's really giving me something of a social life. Nice to be reminded how a proper conversation works.

Tomorrow night, the same group has another of those quizzes on, so I've signed up for that as well..

And on Saturday, reliable Cultureseekers has a quiz of their own: this time, name the Ladybird book whose cover I'm showing you! Well, I mightn't be able to identify them - but they're delightful to look at!