Talk: British Heroes and Villains

London Social Detours was back today, with another British Heroes and Villains talk. Well, I said I'd risk it - although I reserved the right to sign off again if that angry chipmunk started chirping!

Quite a few attendees - and an interesting talk, focusing on five celebrities, as usual.

• Elizabeth I got a generally positive rating - yes, she was ruthless and ordered several executions, but that was the nature of the times in which she lived, and gee, her father was worse!
• I had never heard of Rosalind Franklin, so this was instructive. Another general consensus, this time that she made an important contribution to scientific research, and the fact that she was hard to get on with was neither here nor there. And maybe they were just hostile to a woman in the field!
• Predictably, Ken Livingstone divided opinion. I wasn't living in the UK during his tenure, so didn't feel entitled to comment - although knowing he was on the opposite side to Thatcher naturally puts him on the side of the angels, in my estimation!
• Again, I'm pro-George Orwell. Sadly, I fell asleep as she started to talk about him - well, the afternoon was darkening, I was tired after another late night, and her voice is so soporific.. and so I completely missed the talk about Prince Charles. Well, I know as much as I need to about them both!

So, I generally agreed with opinions in the chat afterwards. As for the angry chipmunk - we could hardly see her, she had her screen angled to show mostly wall! She didn't contribute anything - when the organiser asked whether she was feeling ok, she confirmed that she'd had a "heavy" night. Well, may she she have many more!

Tomorrow, Up in the Cheap Seats has a couple of events, but I've already seen what they're watching. So, film again, and I still have a backlog of The Unbelievable Truth, Time (both on Amazon Prime), and Zero de Conduite, on the Internet Archive. I've actually started The Unbelievable Truth, there having been little on this afternoon before the talk. So, will hope to get that finished, and start another..

Film: Queen of Katwe & Who's Who in Stuart Britain - Online Talk

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!

Talk: British Heroes and Villains

I started my Christmas holidays today - and London Social Detours had another talk today, in their British Heroes and Villains series. So I tuned in. She's taking it directly from a book - and the book seems interesting. A selection of famous Brits is presented - for each, a portrait or photo is printed, along with a (frequently hilarious) caricature; accompanying these, for each character, is a short bio, a short essay from someone who thinks they're a "hero", and a short essay from someone who thinks they're a "villain". We covered six. She's doing a whole series of these - this is the third talk - but I haven't been able to get to the previous ones, what with working during the afternoons.

So, the talk was generally enjoyable - the host had prepared slides with either photographs of the caricatures etc. that she'd got online, or photographs she'd taken of the book itself. She read the text, as usual. I kind of tuned out when she was discussing Tracey Emin, due to my utter lack of interest in the kind of art installations for which she's famous. Otherwise, it was good - mind you, I don't know which was funnier: the caricatures, or the host trying to pronounce unfamiliar long words! I groaned so many times, it was a good thing I was on mute. And had video turned off (in case I wanted to nap - in my defence, I was up late last night).

As for the discussion afterwards.. Perhaps it was because there were so many of us, but this reminded me very much of the host's events that I've been to in person: a few people hogging the conversation, others completely silent (well, you always get those). It was unfortunate that we started with Princess Diana, who'd been the first celebrity covered. Someone drew a parallel with the Duchess of Sussex (as a rule breaker).. and that prompted a rather outspoken group member to go on a rant about her.

It was tiresome. On and on she went, spouting half-truths and rumours as if they were indisputable fact, bleating about how she couldn't understand how "everyone was taken in by her". Never mind disagreeing with what she was saying - I just found her insufferable! And could I (or anyone) get a word in edgeways? In fact, for the whole discussion, everything I said was completely ignored. I began to wonder whether I wasn't still on mute. As I say, very like this group's real-life meetings. I wonder whether others didn't feel the same, because the chat was unusually short. And was I ever glad to sign off.

Film again tomorrow, and I think I'll watch Sands Film's weekly offering, a documentary about the late, great Robert Fisk, entitled This Is Not a Movie.

On Sunday afternoon, the great storyteller Nick Hennessy has another livestream! Mustn't miss that.

And on Monday - an old friend has bought me a ticket to watch the livestream of A Christmas Carol from the Old Vic! He and the family will be watching simultaneously. Aww, how thoughtful..

Talk: Death, Disease & the Great Fire of London

Today, reliable London Social Detours (LSD) had another talk. This time, it was one hosted by the host's historian friend, which made a nice change - and it was about "Death, Disease & the Great Fire of London"!

I logged in far before time, just to be sure.. it was a couple of minutes before start time when we were all let in, and after a short delay to let others join, off we went.

I do like a discussion about the plague.. you don't hear as much about it as about the Great Fire. And it was interesting that she didn't restrict herself to 1665, but went back to its origins some hundreds of years before. Which led to an interesting discussion about trade routes:

I'm afraid I kind of nodded off during the final section, about the Great Fire, though! Never mind. The talk afterwards was predictably disease-centric, plenty of talk about Covid, and an intriguing suggestion from someone that we should bring back the wearing of the birdlike masks that plague doctors used to use, with the long beaks - that'd ensure a two-metre distance! Someone also mentioned that California had a recent outbreak - gee, I missed that..

On Saturday, I'll be back to film again. Hee-hee. I did actually try to catch up with some of my backlog today - with a woeful lack of stuff on tv before the talk, I tried to watch The Syrian Bride (new to Sands Films), which is a bit shorter than The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, on Amazon Prime. Predictably, I didn't even get that watched.. in fact, in over an hour and a half, I managed to watch exactly 41 minutes and 34 seconds of the showing (counting about 5.5 minutes of introduction), what with continual buffering, and having to refresh the page several times when it hung. I live in hope of finishing it - I am enjoying it. Also in the backlog, of course, is Snowden - and after that, I'm thinking of watching Time. Both also on Amazon Prime.

And next Sunday - would you believe it, Up in the Cheap Seats finally has something at a time I can manage! It's another read play - this time, it's Time Stands Still, starring Laura Linney. And again, it's from TodayTix, with a minimum donation of $5. Delighted I can join them for something, for once. And it's just too bad that LSD also announced today that they were going to do another history talk the same day - they could choose Saturday, for once!

Talk: Who's Who in Tudor England - Elizabeth's Fixers: Hatton - Gresham & Dr. John Dee!

I'm taking this week off, yay! And Monday and Tuesday were supposed to be film - but tv got in the way. I'll try to catch up. Anyway, yesterday's event was one I had to sign up for, so I actually ended up doing it - London Social Detours (LSD) does a talk every Wednesday afternoon, and as I have the week off, I got to go, for once! This was "Who's Who in Tudor England - Elizabeth's Fixers: Hatton - Gresham & Dr. John Dee!"

Minor panic ensued when the Meetup site wouldn't work - now, the link was for Zoom, but the problem was getting it! I hadn't bothered to copy it to my calendar - luckily, the app was (partly) working - it hasn't displayed notifications for ages, even when you ask it to - and I got the link from that, and typed it carefully into my laptop. Not something I fancy doing often - but it worked, and I joined the chorus of people telling the organiser about the problem, which had apparently just started 15 minutes before the meeting. Meetup later blamed it on AWS.

Anyway, most people seemed to have managed it, and we proceeded. Have to say, I wasn't terribly interested - she seemed to be reading straight from her go-to book about the Tudors, referenced in the title of the talk. Which would be fine, except she hadn't read ahead (said she didn't want to spoil the surprise for herself), and so was equally agog at every little factoid, described in a terribly sensationalist manner. Frankly, the long descriptions of the business of government nearly put me to sleep (again). Decent slideshow, though. I did perk up a bit when the talk got around to John Dee - who, after all, was an occultist, alchemist, and kind of jack-of-all trades. But then there wasn't enough about him. Hey-ho, she's running the same talk tomorrow (Friday), if you're interested - on account of the technical difficulties. And she might remember the correct pronunciations for that one.

The chat afterwards was five-star though - we covered the usual topics: Covid, Brexit - and then on to Scottish independence, and she HAD to ask me, the only non-Brit on the call, what I thought about it. So, you know, I happened to mention that Scotland had voted against Brexit - cue a (small) rant from the pro-Brexit person on the call, about how people shouldn't say that Scotland had voted against it, it was an all-UK vote, and that kind of thing annoyed her. And, by the way - she said - that independence referendum should have been all-UK as well, as it affected them all! Cue a tirade of voices against her. Ah, they say you should never bring politics to a discussion, but it does make things more interesting..

You never know, I might get back to film tomorrow. I now have a backlog of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, on Amazon Prime: The Syrian Bride, new to Sands Films: The Warren, a short film on Reel Palestine: and Snowden, also on Amazon Prime. The last of which I'm most interested in - so naturally, it comes last of the four!

On Saturday evening, Up in the Cheap Seats are doing a couple of things - one is a musical called Fiver, about the journey of a five-pound note through the city. Livestreamed from Southwark Playhouse, so you have to watch it at set times over the next two days. I love a musical, and the story sounds interesting.. of course, I can't do it in the evening, but there is a matinee that day, which I've booked for. Full price, for once, and my ongoing discount doesn't apply, but I'm delighted to help the theatre.

And on Sunday, reliable LSD has another talk. This time, it's one hosted by the host's historian friend, which makes a nice change - and it's about "Death, Disease & the Great Fire of London"!

Talk: Spies, Lies & Espionage

So, just now was my first Meetup of the month! London Social Detours, naturally, with a virtual themed tour "Spies, Lies & Espionage". Decently interesting, although this isn't a special interest of mine.. we got a nice slideshow to match some script she was reading:

(That's the interior of Brompton Oratory, apparently a favoured venue for spy meetups!)

She also showed us a short interview clip with an uncovered spy. I've heard lots of spy stuff about London before, but the talk was well-delivered.. still, with the sky darkening, I found myself falling asleep, as usual. Her delivery is just so monotonous - and I wasn't the only one, as I discovered during the chat afterwards, when I saw a couple fast asleep, heads on each other's shoulders, who'd forgotten to turn off their camera!

The chat itself was heavily given over to spy stuff.. one told us how she'd undergone security checks for work, and still had a high level of security clearance. Couldn't tell us exactly what it was she was doing, of course! The American on the call sounded as though she'd have to choose between spending Thanksgiving alone, or with relatives who weren't as careful about Covid as she is herself. And for whatever reason, everyone dropped off quicker than usual. And so I have my evening to myself. Good to have a window on the world, though.

I'm taking this week off, yay! And tomorrow's film will probably be The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, being next alphabetically at this level in my list!

Talk on the Tudors

For yesterday, jeez, London Social Detours finally had an afternoon Meetup again! She was reading from one of her Tudor books again - this time, it was a talk about Edward VI, Queen Jane, and Mary I. Well, it'd been ages since I was at a Meetup - it'd make a nice change, so I signed up.

And it was actually very informative! We learned such things as that Edward, whom we'd always thought was a sickly boy, was actually quite healthy until his last few years. We learned that Jane wanted to marry someone else - and we learned that Mary might actually have been quite a good ruler, had she stayed alive long enough. All of that didn't stop the narrator's voice nearly putting me to sleep again, mind. (Funnily enough, during the chat afterwards, she mentioned that - embarrassingly - someone had once fallen asleep during one of her talks! Not just me, then.) A couple of minor glitches saw her first forget to start the slideshow, then forget which slide she was on. Nothing major, though.

It was nice to see everyone again - and as I was the only participant from Ireland, they were keen to find out what the lockdown was like over here. Frustrating, is the answer - I need a battery in one watch and a strap on another, but the nearest place I can get that done is well over the 5km limit that's been imposed on us, and it wouldn't be classified as an "essential purpose". Actually, the jeweller's must be closed anyway. Ditto, I need to activate a new bank card, but need to go that far for the right bank's ATM. But I never thought it was so ridiculous as when I heard this evening that newsagents, while still open, are being banned from selling greeting cards and flowers!  Jeez, just as well I squeezed in the purchase of a card for my mother's birthday, then! Not to mention that you'd better not run out of underwear, because that's not essential either. The sheer obstinacy of the politician explaining that to us on a current affairs programme this evening.. all I can say is, they ain't being re-elected..

Anyway, I digress. Frequently. Back to the chat, which went rapidly downhill when someone mentioned that she'd bitten the bullet and joined an online dating service. Several people chipped in with anecdotes and advice, and as for those who didn't - I've never seen so many people drop off a call so fast. Including me - first time I've done that, but my back hurt, I couldn't change position because of the position of the light, and I was bored out of my tree. Ah well, at least the talk itself was interesting.

Now, today was supposed to be film again. I decided to check out the Raindance site - this is an annual film festival in London, which this year has gone partly online. What's available seems to be in the short film categories, and is free. And it's taken me this long to go through the offerings and see what's worth seeing! Most aren't yet rated on IMDB, but I'm happy to have a look at what's there - when I get a moment. Not tonight, I think. Some are very highly rated. Check it out.. runs till the 7th.

Or indeed, what I might do - perhaps tomorrow, if I have an opening - is watch the concert we were reminded of at the last minute, courtesy of the World Music Meetup, which took place this evening at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. A sell-out, apparently, and now available at several different links.

Tomorrow, the annual Dublin Bram Stoker Festival goes virtual. Whoopee! Several events happening over the next three days - and most seem to be free. One, I've booked for tomorrow evening - called Eternal, it's an immersive audio experience, designed for someone lying in bed, alone, with headphones on and the lights off. Woohoo, looking forward to that! Something to do with how far you'd go to achieve eternal life, it seems. I have to borrow my mother's headphones - didn't have room to pack my own, when I moved back. I'll check out what else to go to, over the duration of the festival.

Another spooky thing you could do for Hallowe'en is Paranormal Researchers Ireland's livestream from Loftus Hall, advertised as Ireland's most haunted building. €9.99 covers you for the weekend, it seems.. I am curious! Again, won't start tonight. Or there's Alternative Dublin, which is running virtual walking tours over the next two days.. evenings only, at a time that doesn't work for me, sadly.

And after all that, on Monday, wooo.. the Crick Crack Club is celebrating the Day of the Dead with a livestreamed show featuring just about everybody! I booked my ticket weeks ago.. it's listed as Tuesday on the site, which is a misprint. I think it's being broadcast from Bristol. They still have to send me my Zoom link, mind..

Talk: Pathology, Plague, & Pestilence in Old London Town

Today, London Social Detours was finally meeting in the afternoon again! So this time, it was a virtual tour of pathology, plague, & pestilence in old London Town - v topical.

Well, one might think so. What it actually was, was a talk with slides and short films, replicating a guided walk. We started with a couple of guildhalls, leading us on to hospitals and their attendant horrors. The connection wasn't clearly stated - the point of the guildhalls mentioned was that they were associated with the trades that eventually gave rise to the medical professions. Anyway, beautiful buildings! And our guide did her best to show us photos that indicated what we might have seen on a walk that covered this material.

Unfortunately, I already knew most of this, so I tended to drift off - actually fell asleep towards the end. Well, her presentation was about two hours long! As someone pointed out in the chat at the end, we covered more today than we would have in a guided walk. She saw this as a virtue. I saw it as too damn long - so I didn't join in the gushing admiration uttered in the chat. Jeez, it baffles me - these people obviously can't have experienced anything better. Now, I appreciate the effort she put in - but as I say, it was way too long; she could easily have found a break point and said, "you know, I think I'll break this into two parts". As it was, she gave us far too much information to process. Of course, part of why it took so long was her constant fiddling when she had to switch between photos and video clips, and we all metaphorically drummed our fingers while she thumped away at the keyboard and tried to figure out what she was doing.

There were several videos - the most interesting of which, for me, was the (silent) virtual tour of the Museum of the Order of St. John. I've never been inside, and it's a beautiful building. She narrated over it, so it all worked fine. As I say, I didn't take much from the rest - but felt massively nostalgic at the photo of the Museum of London, just up from my office..

Afterwards, enough people stayed on to have a chat - the lady from Florida who comes to London every winter is looking forward to her trip, in two weeks or so: just worried about the logistics of the trip, and particularly the use of the toilets on the plane. Mind you, as there are only 26 people on her flight (she checked), I think she should be ok!

On Saturday, back to film again for me.. it's about time I watched Milk, which is now coming up on my list. Stars Sean Penn in the true story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. Available on Amazon Prime.

Talk on the Shelleys & Film: Jallikattu

The film I was due to watch yesterday - but didn't get around to because of the other films I had to watch - was Jallikattu, in which an Indian village goes berserk after a buffalo gets loose. Hey-ho! On Amazon Prime, this one.

Of course, I didn't get around to it before my Meetup with London Social Detours (LSD), for a talk about Percy Shelley and his wife, Mary.. I managed to be the first on, and we had a nice chat about bad weather while we waited for everyone to join. The talk was interesting, I must say - he'd led an extraordinary life, and our host included a YouTube compilation from some film or other, highlighting his and Mary's relationship. Our host also decided that a recitation of a couple of his poems would be in order, before showing us another video - this time of Mick Jagger reciting Shelley's poetry, back in 1969. She found it amusing. I found her reaction amusing, considering that he did a much better job than she did.. Apart from the mispronunciation of all the foreign or unfamiliar words, someone should really tell her that it's simply incorrect to break at the end of every line, in the absence of punctuation..

The chat afterwards ran on for so long that it grew dark around me, and I had to turn on the light, then change my angle so it wasn't behind me. Lots about Covid - and all the Brits and Americans on the call (so, everyone but me) was dead jealous of Ireland's response, with our severity level system. The lady from Florida who comes to London every winter is still coming.. despite others' warnings about the increased Covid rate in Europe, she enlightened us to the fact that in Florida, it has become illegal to enforce any security measures at all! So, you know, she's safer over this way..

Well, my nightly bout of tv followed, but there was another lull in the schedule, so I finally caught up with Jallikattu tonight. My word, but I've never seen anything quite like this - apart from my brief description above, there really isn't any plot to speak of. The villagers are just waiting for something to set them off, breaking the veneer of civilisation that they've built up. And pretty much the entire film is manic, from beginning to end - brief moments of humour provide a slight distraction. Watch for the final sequence, when the message is made clear - the villagers and the buffalo have more in common than they'd care to admit. I'll say this for the film, it's a real antidote to whatever else might be bothering you..

And so, back to work, I guess. On Saturday, with LSD meeting in the evening again, I'm back to film - next along is Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme - a rap documentary. Amazon Prime again.

And next Sunday, LSD is meeting earlier again! So this time, it's a virtual tour of pathology, plague, & pestilence in old London Town - v topical.

Reading: The Little Book of the Tudors & Film: Lady Vengeance

I was planning to see a film yesterday - and Lady Vengeance was the most interesting thing topping my list: a Korean film about a young woman, unjustly imprisoned, who on release, well, seeks vengeance. I didn't have time in the end, but hoped to get to it at some point today. Amazon Prime again.

Meantime, back to Meetup today - London Social Detours had Part Six of her reading of The Little Book of the Tudors. My first Meetup in over two weeks.. and the first of this series I've been able to attend, midweek as they are. Well, I might not enjoy her reading style - but I am interested in the Tudors! Free, for once - probably because most attendees were also logging into her second event, later in the evening, and paying for that. Donations were suggested though - I passed.

It had to happen - as I logged on (admittedly without trouble), it was to a small panic that she couldn't get her slideshow to display. There's always something. But she got it working in the end, and despite her internet freezing a couple of times, and kicking her out of screen sharing the second time, we got it done. This was quite a short chapter she was reading - which turned out to be a good thing, as about half the group wanted to drop out early to see what was going to be said in the UK government's press conference. They needn't have bothered, of course - it was as vague and wishy-washy as ever.

Can't say it was a terribly interesting chapter - this one was about buildings of the era, and she had some illustrations to show us, and some words about how the new style of building had larger windows, with more glass, what with there being less warfare. In fact, it seems that Henry VII - ever paranoid about threats to his authority - banned the building of fortifications, and granted very few licences for renovations of old ones. He'd grown up in an era of private armies, so you could hardly blame him! Seemed to work, at any rate - there was to be little internal warfare from then on.

The chat afterwards was, necessarily, brief - even those of us who had no interest in the press conference were cut off, as she said she had to consult with her pal, who was giving this evening's talk. But it was, as ever, good to talk to people from Meetup - they have very few meetings that I can make, now.

And so to tonight, when - with a gap in decent tv programming - I finally caught up with Lady Vengeance. You know, I'll never forget my first foray into Korean cinema, which was with the horror film, Two Sisters. It was - to me - completely original, and despite the subject matter, quite delightful. And you'll never guess - I certainly couldn't have anticipated it - but Lady Vengeance struck me in much the same way.

It looks absolutely beautiful - in the midst of some very bleak storytelling, you'll suddenly be presented with a quietly beautiful image. The soundtrack, predominantly classical but with exquisite original compositions, is divine. (As someone muses in the comments, why is Vivaldi so perfect for a revenge theme..?) It's speckled with some very black humour, particularly in the prison sequences - don't miss it. And overall, it's gorgeously surreal - think Fargo in tone, but with more style. I'm not going to go into it in much detail - but dump all your standard ideas of revenge. This particular formula for revenge is just so perfect. And once it's revealed - actually, it seems to occur to her halfway through - I was just riveted.. Seriously, I can't remember when I last saw a film this good.. quite stunning.

Well, let's hope my run of luck with film continues! Back to film tomorrow - and I think I'll try La Chienne. This time, it's on the Sands Films playlist.

Talk on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle & Film: Larry Crowne

Today, I was free to be back with London Social Detours again - this time, it was a talk about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - always interesting.

So, I logged on a bit early - nearly everyone signed up, which was a decent number. And again, it was the organiser's colleague doing the presentation - thankfully. She had put together a very professional talk, as someone later remarked, which included some childhood photos. She then explained how he'd gone to medical school, and how someone there, with excellent powers of observation, had proved the inspiration for his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes. 

Particularly interesting was an old piece of video footage in which the man himself was interviewed. Only about 10 minutes long, it featured him speaking first about the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, and how he used him as a device to demonstrate logical ways of solving mysteries, which were never generally used before that. He'd said he'd continue afterwards to talk about spiritualism - however, she stopped the video before that point. Which I thought was very bad form - regardless of the content, it would have been interesting to see how he presented it: and it was only another five minutes.

Sure enough, when the group was discussing it afterwards, the talk centred first on spiritualism - until one old fuddy-duddy said, "why are we concentrating on this rubbish when we could be talking about something interesting?" So we switched to talking about Sherlock Holmes, his various incarnations, and indeed other detectives. And when we'd exhausted that, we were back to spiritualism - and the complainer had nothing to say; I guess he was satisfied. Finished, as usual, with a chat about Covid, and one American lady complaining about the tofu shortage..

Later tonight, after what I was watching on tv ended, I was channel-surfing.. there were things I definitely wasn't interested in, and there were two films in progress: not much to choose between them, both rom-coms, one with Eva Longoria, one with Tom Hanks. Ah well now, I really like Tom Hanks - so I ended up watching Larry Crowne - happily, the tv schedule was wrong, as usual, and it had only just started, so I got to see most of it.

This was, it seems, quite the vanity project for him - he produced, directed, co-wrote, and starred in it! It's a coming-of-age story for the middle-aged, where he plays a guy who's recently lost his job (and, it seems, his family) and decides to go back to college. George Takei shows up as his economics professor, Julia Roberts as his professor for some kind of public speaking class. Bryan Cranston is the overgrown kid she's married to. (You can see where this is going..) Rami Malek is one of his classmates.

And it's really feelgood. Well, with Tom Hanks involved, and no major disasters, it'd have to be.. Case in point was the inspired inclusion of Runnin' Down a Dream on the soundtrack. Man, it's so long since I heard that - and what a great driving song! Otherwise, nothing major really happens, but it is very watchable.

Tomorrow - back to Amazon Prime, where the next most interesting film is one I hadn't looked at before, because I thought I didn't have it. "Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey" gives no results, but "Dirtbag" on its own gives exactly that film! Anyway, it's about a climber - and I always like climbing films.

World Cinema Film Festival, Talk on Darwin, & Film: The Post

For Saturday, I was thinking film again. Next most interesting on my list, at the same rating, is Black Book - the story of a Jewish singer who infiltrates the Gestapo during WWII. Now, I've already seen something along these lines - but having watched the trailer for this, it isn't familiar, so I'm willing to give it a shot. However, I was suddenly presented with an alternative - Experience London Events, Concerts & Parties advertised the World Cinema Film Festival, which was online this year, and streaming for free over the weekend. Tickets from Eventbrite. I couldn't get many details of the programme, but it started on Saturday, and consisted of talks and short films. So I booked a ticket.

And that is indeed what I watched. The ticket included the link to the festival page - this is still available until Sunday, I believe, so with or without a ticket, you should still be able to watch, if you're interested. Very little information on the page, mind, just a couple of videos, and the names of the filmmakers and people questioned in the 1-1 Q&As. Each video runs for about 2.5 hours, and covers that day's entire content - annoyingly, although the filmmakers' names are given, as I say, no film names or durations are given, and no timings. Me, I skipped through all the Q&As, by the simple means of watching for long enough to see what the interviewee looked like, then clicking ahead, 10 minutes or so every time, until they weren't there any more. At which point I'd click back a little, catch the very end of their interview to make sure I wasn't missing anything, then just keep watching for the film.

Of the first day's films, honestly, the only one I felt was worth the effort was the very first, which was an interesting series of snippets from Caribbean immigrants to the UK. The younger ones' poetry and music mixed nicely with the older ones' stories of how they were discriminated against ("No blacks, no Irish, no dogs" on boarding house windows, for instance). They had tales to tell of the educational system - some had come over as children, but far from the UK system being superior, as one man tells it, it is designed only to educate the top 20%. As blacks, they were automatically lumped into remedial classes. One woman, who came as an adult and had trained as a postmistress, applied for a job in a post office when she arrived. So she left the hospital where she was initially housed, full of expectations. When she arrived at the post office, however, they showed her where the cleaning equipment was.. Naturally enough, she immediately quit, and returned to the hospital, quite upset. When the nun in charge heard what had happened, she said, "Well, if you're just going to be offered work as a cleaner, then you might as well work here!" Happily, they paid better, at least.

The second piece is about an Italian drum maker. I found the musical snippets more interesting than the actual description of drum making, personally. The third piece has yet more immigrants - in this case, all from Jamaica. And for the last piece, it's just as well I listened to the continuity announcer (despite her impenetrable accent!). Because she informed us that the last film dealt with sexual abuse following a party. Just as well - the film itself is an equally impenetrable piece of art school drivel, all animated paper cut-outs, and I couldn't make any sense of it at all. Finally, I should add that the entire video is captioned, and I didn't seem able to turn the captions off!

I actually only finished the first video on Sunday afternoon. (Ironically, I had to use my mother's old laptop to watch it, as my work laptop wouldn't stream the videos - firewall, perhaps.) Unfortunately, I stayed on that laptop for the next call - which meant the reception was so bad, I had to turn off my video! Can't win.

Later that afternoon, London Social Detours (LSD) was hosting a "virtual visit to the Galapagos", complete with a chat about Charles Darwin. So, off I went again with them. A decent presentation included a couple of short films, and a slideshow - one of the group had been there a few years ago, and could elaborate on what it was like - sadly, another couple on the call had been supposed to go there this year, until Covid scuppered their plans! We can only hope that we can all get travelling again one day. Anyway, the quiz afterwards was fun, with the fastest person to type the answer getting the point. (I only managed once to be first.) There were quite a few prizes, although the winner elected to take a tote bag rather than a book, having too many already! The runner-up also got to choose a prize - the rest of us, I'm afraid, had to make do. As for the chat that finished the session - as usual, it ended with one topic dominating discussion; this time, it was, of all things, Morris dancing. The American on the call was intrigued..

That night, tv scored a hit with the Sunday night film - they showed The Post. Directed by Steven Spielberg, this tells the true story of the "Washington Papers" - documents leaked during the Vietnam War that showed that the US government had known for years it was unwinnable, but had been sending over troops to save face. The film follows the story of the Washington Post, which watches jealously as the New York Times (NYT) publishes extracts.. Meryl Streep is the publisher of The Post, Tom Hanks the editor, but jeez, they just cannot get a scoop like that! Readership is falling, the paper is in trouble - until Nixon slaps an injunction on the NYT, preventing them from publication! When somebody slips into The Post's offices with a box that just happens to contain some of the papers.. well, what would you do?!

This is a great, tense, political / journalistic thriller, which of course resonates with today's presidency. And you just have to love the final scene, with a security guard reporting a burglary at the Watergate Hotel.. "the next instalment", you might say!

Monday was a UK bank holiday, which I took as such, even in Ireland. Helen was good enough to suggest a video call - it's been ages since we saw each other, of course, and yes, it was so good to see each other again! With all the platforms available to us, we chose Google Meet - which was fine (especially since I was on my work laptop). Differs from Zoom - which I seem to use most - in that your own video, while visible, only displays as a thumbnail at the top! So we had a lovely, long natter - Zoom would have kicked us out after 40 minutes.

Afterwards, I finally caught up with the second World Cinema Film Festival video. Again, no film names, no timings, and no indication of where anything starts in the video. However, on the whole, this is far better than the first day's fare! Interestingly, in this one, no captions are displayed - and yes, I did try to turn them on and couldn't. The presenter's accent is, as mentioned above, impenetrable, so I could have done with them here.

Anyway, we start with Hush, about a young girl with an impossible family. By not speaking for a day, she manages to bring them together in a surprising way! The second film is the least successful - a photoshoot with a North Korean defector to South Korea, she tells us (in what I assume is Korean) about her experience. However, half the subtitles seem to be missing - I can only assume that this is deliberate on the filmmaker's part, designed to show how we're not getting the whole narrative. Very weird to watch, though.

The third film, Roots, in contrast, has no dialogue at all - we see an (Indian?) immigrant couple change their image to fit in. Quite striking. And the last, Carla's Room, is again without dialogue - we see a series of snippets of life from a girl's bedroom, which summarise her story, and her relationship with her mother. Works well. As for this Meetup group - it was my first time with them, and it's obviously one of those that just exist to advertise events. 

So, I was pretty busy over the long weekend, and decided to wait until I'd finished watching the film festival to blog. Then I was busy yesterday, and tired at the end of it - so here we are, at last. Hello again.

This coming Saturday.. tan ta ra! The Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And coming up next is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing from today to Saturday, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I can make is the Saturday matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They're supposed to send me a Zoom link tomorrow - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott.. Postponed from weeks ago, as he's been in hospital (neither serious nor Covid-related, we're assured!). At last..

Wouldn't you know it, it's clashing with the next weekend LSD Meetup. Can't be helped - I'm not missing Andrew Scott for that..

Talk on Catherine of Aragón

Today, London Social Detours had a talk, by someone from the National Gallery, about Catherine of Aragón! I was the first to sign up - nice to be kept busy again. Pity they're the only group running online events I can make, though - at least someone else gave today's lecture, rather than our breathy organiser.

I've attended at least one other talk by this presenter - and apart from a few small gaffes, she did extremely well. The only tech glitch - would you believe - arose when someone else accidentally started to share their screen, clashing with the slideshow! Anyway, I do like to hear about periods of history that are less well-discussed - such as Henry VIII's and his first wife's youth. And kudos - she highlighted things I didn't know, or had forgotten: such as Catherine's poverty after her first husband's death, with both her father and father-in-law thinking the other should look after her. I also loved the paintings - and sculpture - of them that I hadn't seen; these really help to get a feeling for the period, and the characters.

Afterwards, the chat was - for me - more interesting than yesterday's. They started with what was, for me, a very interesting discussion of the history of the time, then moved to non-historical topics. And while, again, the discussion got sidetracked - this time, the topic was of much greater interest to me, as our American attendee gave her thoughts (well, she had been asked) about the upcoming presidential election. Obviously something she feels passionately about, this took up most of the talk - which, nonetheless, was a lot shorter than yesterday's. Still, would you believe, she later apologised to the group for monopolising the discussion! Nonsense, as I told her, it's unusual to hear an American perspective on it - apart from the odd news report, where they manage to grab a rabid Trump supporter for a soundbite. (I can think of others that could apologise for one-track discussions, of course, but I held my tongue.)

With nothing online on Meetup for Saturday - apart from something on the BBC iPlayer, which I can't access here - I'm thinking film again. And now, my film list is throwing up The Legend of the Ugly King, a documentary about a groundbreaking Turkish film director. Available, as usual, on Amazon Prime.

And next Sunday, today's group is hosting a "virtual visit to the Galapagos", complete with a chat about Charles Darwin. So, off I go again. Includes a quiz, apparently, for which the prize is one of the millions of books the organiser says her house is full of. Hmm..

Talk on Ancient Rome & Films: Mother's Day & Campus Caller

This weekend is all about London Social Detours. Today, they did another "time-travel" - Ancient Rome this time, complete with a short film again.

The usual technological difficulties surfaced - but she's learning, everything displayed in due course. The short films were ok - the first purely informative, the second a more "jokey" one she'd chosen to lighten things up. Good idea, but a weird video - the presenter broke off in the course of it to quiz us on what the biggest stadium in the world is! And a couple of us found the background music intrusive - still, it was passable. The slideshow in between was, I'm afraid, a bit dry.. each accompanied by a spiel from the organiser, who also insisted on checking whether there were curator's notes for that slide, and reading them to us verbatim if there were! Yawn. The usual breathy delivery - combined with her atrocious pronunciation of both Latin and French words and phrases - made for slightly irritating listening. Ah well.

The chat afterwards was a long one.. she has this habit, which surfaced today, of getting stuck on a particular topic and beating it to death. This time, it was books - no particular book, mind, but just that she has a surplus of books around the house, and with so many charity shops closed, needs somewhere to dispose of them! So, someone mentioned she has a book club.. and then another foreign attendee said she'd be interested.. and on and on it went, and me bored to tears and wanting to leave, but couldn't get an opening where I wouldn't have looked rude. 90 minutes, it was - 45 solid minutes of which was taken up with this single subject. Oy ve. Reminds me why I didn't attend more of her live events!

Lots of films on telly for the weekend - tonight I watched two back to back. The first, I'd heard of - Mother's Day is a family-oriented comedy, with Julia Roberts as the career woman who's forsaken family life, Jennifer Aniston as the divorcée with two little boys, Kate Hudson as the young woman who doesn't get on with her mother, and Jennifer Garner as the ex-wife of  a dishy divorcé - he's the one bringing up their two little girls, so you can tell he's going to be the one the film focuses on.

Quite enjoyable, if completely predictable - I dropped out for nearly an hour, to watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on another channel. Turned out to be the repeat of an episode I'd seen before (always a problem, when you watch so much telly, and it repeats so often) and so I left it before the end and returned to the film - where I'd obviously missed some events, but as I say, it is so predictable that I could just drop straight back in and enjoy the rest! Kudos to the gentle prod at racial profiling - with a group of characters in trouble with the police, it's the dark-skinned one who's ordered to lie on the ground! Happily, one of the cops recognises him as her doctor, so he doesn't get shot.

Right afterwards came Campus Caller, where a detective investigates her college student daughter's disappearance. Girl power! All the major players in this - apart from the bad guy - are female. Kudos to them for a completely unpredictable motive for the disappearance - we find out quite quickly there's been foul play, but it takes ages before we get told the full details! The film also includes some interesting tech details, when the (female) hacker manages to get into the missing girl's devices - not to mention accessing her deleted social media profiles! Decent little film, nobody famous in it.

And tomorrow, that group has a talk, by someone from the National Gallery, about Catherine of Aragon! I was the first to sign up - nice to be kept busy again. Pity they're the only group running online events I can make, though - at least someone else is giving tomorrow's lecture.

Talk about Islington

Today - why, London Social Detours had something on again at a time I could make! Specifically, a slideshow about the history of Islington - where I used to live, and which is still just up the road from me (in London). Cool - I signed up.

I signed on to Zoom at the appointed time - she's gradually come around to the idea that people can arrive late, and now checks regularly until everyone has arrived - which is a relief. And so we launched into a well-researched slideshow - starting with Islington's rural history, a couple of hundred years ago, when they used to stable cattle there to fatten them up again, after the long walk from wherever they were bred. The advent of trains gave farmers a way to transport them without using up all their fat, and the area gradually lost this rural connection, and was absorbed by the expanding city. As she mentioned, it's ironic that this is now the London borough with the least green space!

A personal highlight of the talk was the bit about the Hope and Anchor, a longtime music venue - she even had an old photo of U2 performing there! I had to grit my teeth when she mispronounced "Bono", mind.. The other main highlight of the talk was how George Orwell used to live there, and we had some shots of the block of flats where he lived, and a nice one of him and his son. She made an interesting point about how it's hard to judge how long a walk will take when you're doing it online! On the plus side, there isn't any gap between information pieces, to allow people to walk between the locations. I still hate her breathy delivery, which could also be described as twee.. She's not someone whose walks I make a habit of going on. 

The talk afterwards, with a variety of topics, centred on travel (we wish..), on politics, and finally on Covid, predictably. Oh, and we taught her how to maximise her slides on screen - she can use that in future. It was good to have some practice chatting live to someone other than my mother..

On Saturday, they're doing another "time-travel" - Ancient Rome this time, complete with a short film again.

And next Sunday, they have a talk, by someone from the National Gallery, about Catherine of Aragon! I was the first to sign up - nice to be kept busy again.

Talk about Elizabethan Times & Film: A Mighty Wind

 I was very excited about today - the Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And coming up next is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing from Wednesday to Saturday, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I can make is the Saturday matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They're supposed to send me a Zoom link, shortly beforehand - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott.. 

Sadly, he had to go to hospital (neither serious nor Covid-related, we're assured!). So it was rescheduled to this week - but they then informed us that it's now postponed to an unspecified date, as he's still not feeling well. Watch this space.. blast. At least it freed me up for Meetups - so I booked my first meeting in months with London Social Detours. This one was a chat about Elizabethan times, along with a short film. A small charge, but what the hey.

I decided to use my work computer, to ensure a smoother performance - I could have used my phone, but the whole event was supposed to last two hours, which is a bit too long to hold it! Happily, my work computer worked just fine. I logged in about five minutes early, as instructed - and was the first there. But within a couple of minutes of the scheduled start time, most people had arrived - sadly, one forgot all about it until it was nearly over, as she messaged us after.

It's become rather amusing to see the host's continuing struggles with technology - today, it ranged from not being able to broadcast sound with the video she was showing, to not being able to share her screen at all. Never mind - she tends to get there in the end. She actually showed two short films, both available on YouTube - and despite everything I've seen on this period, these were well worth a look, with a new, engaging narrative, and some clever visuals to recreate the Elizabethan town over the modern-day facade. Now, she was supposed to share with us at least the links to the other videos in that playlist - nothing at all yet, though.

In between, she had prepared a slideshow of interesting things to look at from the period, each complete with accompanying narrative. And I really do have to commend her thoroughness - even though I still don't like her breathy, gasping reading style. And even I learned new stuff - we spoke about how rats have been somewhat let off the hook for spreading the plague, and the second video had a very interesting sequence about the development of the ruff. The chat afterwards was a relief - I don't get to chat to enough people from the outside world these days. Even if, as the host bemoaned, just like every talk, it did work its way around to Covid!

After a slew of films on telly that I'd already seen, late tonight finally threw up one I hadn't. A Mighty Wind is a mockumentary about the reunion of a (massive) folk group, in memory of a recently deceased concert promoter. Written and directed by, and starring, Christopher Guest as one of the musicians, it stars Eugene Levy as another, who turns in a wonderful, half-crazy performance as someone that seems to have just left a home for the bewildered. All in all, this is a lovely, daft, ensemble piece with a sustained, wry humour. Recommended.

Now, tomorrow has no online Meetups that I can see. However, the London Chamber Music group is attending a classical concert, live in Highbury. I can't go, of course - and it's sold out anyway. But as they've published the programme - I can recreate it for myself. A popular set, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven - just the thing for whenever there's a black hole in the tv listings! I can't have the setting - but it can't be helped.

Talk on Richard III

Today, back with London Social Detours for an NPG talk on Richard III.. specifically, on what a famous portrait of him can tell us about his true character. Well, that's how it was advertised anyway.

Signed on roughly on time - happily, we didn't have the tech problems of previously. Not with logging on, at least - although it proved a lesson in screensharing for both host and speaker. (Yes, the host has to stop sharing in order for anyone else to start.. and the speaker had to get help to start her slideshow!)

The slides were well-chosen, albeit with rather spidery calligraphy for the titles. And we opened with that famous portrait - where we learned that his action of putting a ring on (or taking it off, it's not clear which) refers to his being free to marry, following his wife's death. It's an action repeated in several portraits of him, and it's interesting to speculate why. Not that we did in this talk, mind. But it's not her fault that I didn't learn anything else new in this talk - well, apart from the fact that, when they were digging up that car park in Leicester where he was buried, they happened to start at the section labelled "R" - and that was where they found him! Oh, and his skeleton showed signs of scoliosis..

All the rest I already knew - and indeed, must commend her on her summary of the Wars of the Roses. As she mentioned afterwards, it's kind of necessary to give the background, as it would have shaped Richard's personality so much. And I knew all that stuff, what happened to his brothers, the rumours about the validity of his brother, Edward IV's, marriage.. Gotta commend her, also, on her accuracy; I've known several guides and speakers get their facts wrong. And yes, if you ever want an expert on royalty, you could do worse than consult me.. I've never come across a tv quiz question on royalty that I didn't know. What can I say - it's a hobby! ;-)

Well, I'm thinking film for tomorrow. Had the same thought a couple of nights ago, actually - but being sick to the teeth of nature documentaries, I thought I'd finally avail of my Mubi membership. Three months' free trial, and I hadn't availed of it yet! Still haven't, really - highest rated on it at the moment is Kurosawa's last epic (as advertised) - Ran. The Japanese version of King Lear, really. So, I tried to watch it. Twice. The first time, I gave up after about 10 minutes - there was so much buffering, I'd got through under 3 minutes' worth of material. The second time, I did a bit better - managed 26 mins worth of material in just over an hour. Both times, I got tired and gave up. Third time lucky..?

What I can say about the first 26 minutes is - it's quite shouty, the (16th Century) costumes are really weird, and the scenery is spectacular. Dunno what the problem with Mubi is - I don't have the same issue with YouTube, or any of the theatre websites. Watch this space..

Play: Sea Wall & Online Hangman

Early yesterday afternoon, Up in the Cheap Seats were seeing - ooh - Andrew Scott, in Sea Wall. Wouldn't you know it, this is the one - written specifically for him - that I missed, back in 2018! By minutes! Because of moving into my new flat, and I'd bought an expensive ticket 'n' all. Two minutes over, and they wouldn't let me into the Old Vic, and had nowhere for me to watch on screen. Tsk. Well, another I finally got to see.. and was really looking forward to. And I had just as good a view as I would have had on that occasion!

Started a little early, as usual - though apart from a couple of buffering issues at the start, it worked fine. It's a one-man show - in the film version, Andrew Scott starts the camera and starts chatting to you. Uneasily. The play is directed straight at the audience. And it meanders pleasantly, as you try to figure out what it's about.. he launches straight into a heap of anecdotes, without context or explanation.

You just know something is coming. So it's not entirely a surprise when it hits - what is surprising is the way it completely blindsides you. Make no mistake, the shortness of the play has no effect on the power of the message - and the aftereffects creep up on you so slowly that it's no wonder that several of us were crying on the call afterwards.

Beautifully written, beautifully acted. Natural speech, natural delivery - you have no warning of what's going to happen, or when - just as the narrator doesn't. Absolutely devastating. What a combo of things to watch this weekend.. although it was supposed to stop free streaming this evening, I think, it's now viewable until 9pm (BST) next Monday - because it's proved so popular. And for a review, check out the excellent Q+A with the playwright and Andrew Scott, which took place during its brief showing at the Old Vic. But make sure you've seen the play first, as - of course - there are spoilers. Seems to be based on the writer's personal experiences - intensely reworked. Fascinating to hear what Andrew Scott says about the connection between this and Hamlet. Also interesting to hear that this brief run was the longest it had anywhere..

See this. Oh, and you can pay $6 and download it..

The Jitsi call afterwards worked ok for me, although some had problems. And we were almost all blown away by the sheer power of the piece. As someone remarked, the silences spoke louder than the words..

Later that afternoon, London Social Detours (LSD) had an online game of hangman! Well-known play or book titles, which we had to suggest. So we learned to use Zoom's whiteboard feature - we'll all be tech wizards after this. And although we could all have annotated, the host did it all herself - entering the spaces for letters, with instruction from us, and drawing the hangman. I only got two, but hey. And I provided the only unguessable  book title of the day - after which we ended the call - with Wolf Hall! which, you see, lacks many common letters..

Had to be up early this morning for a meeting - the week is chock-full of them. And what with watching supplementary videos about the play, it's taken forever to do this blog.

We've been given another round of the London Literary Walks quiz - well actually, its companion quiz. Which I've about half answered - will take another look when I get a chance.

And on Saturday, back with LSD for an NPG talk on Richard III.. specifically, on what a famous portrait of him can tell us about his true character..