This was taken last time I was in Paris.
-
What’s eating Google?
What’s eating Google? Kottke has this to say:
Is this the best blog entry ever ? No, but it’s interesting. By the way, this is the best blog entry ever . And that’s a fact.
-
Flag it
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favour of a new flag, just not this one . It looks way too nineties/noughties. It is too stylised. It looks faddish. A flag needs to be classic.
To me this looks like a shitty corporate logo – it is bland, obvious and unimaginative. There is nothing about it that contains any character (like the Union Jack, the Stars and Stripes, and the French tricolour).
I know that I’m being overly critical, but this is important and we need to get it right. This attempt is not right. I’m glad that so much energy is being but into the effort of finding a new flag, but I’m concerned that people will rally behind this mediocre effort.
The design for a new flag will come to us in time. I would vehemently oppose this if it was suggested that we should adopt it.
-
Paris in the spring time
Was in Paris last weekend. Caught up with a good buddy, went to a great party in a lavish Parisian apartment, and visited the most excellent Centre Pompidou . Domino fans take note of the URL.
-
Family Guy to return
I found this post on Barbelith which confirms that The Family Guy is back in production and will be on the air in the US for spring next year.
-
Best in Show
The more i think about this one the more I laugh. It is a bloody funny film about a dog show and the lives of the owners and handlers of some of the dogs. A star performance from the director who also plays the odd ball owner of one of the dogs. Watch out for some comedy gold in deleted scenes too.
-
Recent flicks
Watching The Graduate for the umpteenth time. I just found out that the director, Mike Nichols, also directed the truly diabolical ‘Wolf’ (which from memory starred Jack Nicholson?). How the mighty fall – The Graduate must be one of the finest films ever made, Wolf, one of the worst?
The Last Party 2000 – a gripping doco that anyone with an interest in the 2000 US presidential election should watch. Hosted by that Seymour Hoffman dude, it features interviews with Noam Chomsky, Jesse Jackson, various democratic and republican senators and representatives, movie stars and musicians, and Michael Moore (who shouldn’t really be mentioned in the same sentence as the Chomster, but there you go). What can I say? This is a fantastic doco – go to the movie rental joint and rent it ASAP.
This is Spinal Tap – ha ha ha! Really funny. Now I see where David Brent comes from – The Office has pretty much ripped this idea off (and not that I have anything against The Office – I think that it is superb, but now I know whose shoulders it stands on).
And lastly, Jane Campions ‘In the Cut ‘. Beautifully made and acted, but it is none the less routine. It adds nothing to the genre (a ‘thriller ‘ which revolves are a serial killer preying on young woman. Yawn.) as not only is the obligatory twist rather predictable, but the characters aren’t especially likable. I’m not a Meg Ryan fan, but this must rate as one of her better performances. This is typically gritty sexual Campionesque drama, but not a shade on some of here previous work.
-
Birthdays and passing aways
Rach’s birthday on Sunday – we went out to Leeds Castle (that is actually in Kent) on Saturday. The beautiful grounds were even more spectacular with the spring flowers and blossoms. Sadly, my old buddies Peter Ustinov and Alistair Cooke both passed away in the last few days. There seems to be an appropriate symmetry in this.
-
Venice
I forgot to put this in so here is the tale of my trip to Venice, 20 days late.
What an amazing place. A small town but it easily rivals Rome or Paris in terms of atmosphere. Of course the unique geography of the place makes it stand-out. There are no cars and it was off season so it was tranquil when we were there (at the end of Feb). I’m not sure that I’d like to go there during the peak season – I can’t imagine how packed it would be or how pissed off the locals must get with the invasion.
It snowed while we were there, and apparently it hadn’t snowed for some time. We were in a place called Harry’s bar when it started. We took shelter there from a freezing wind – but I wasn’t expecting anything like snow. Harry’s, by the way, serves drinks in the smallest receptacles known to man, but he’s consistent at least, he also charges a small fortune for the privilege. Whenever I travel I spend plenty of time chowing down, and Venice was no exception. Great food.
We also met some girls that were in Switzerland at – get this – finishing school. Pretty far out I reckon. They were learning how to throw parties or some such….
