(no subject)
Le sigh.
I've managed to fail my UK driving test for the second time. It was another stupid mistake - right at the end of my test. Bah. It's frustrating as I know I'm a good driver (and my instructor has said as much - and rightly wouldn't let me take the test if I wasn't ready!). So, I have to pay ANOTHER fee for ANOTHER test. Much to my chagrin I have discovered the fee's been put up to £62 from £56. Well, I guess the Government has to find some way to get rid of all that public debt...My instructor has told me that the increased fee and difficulty for the practical test isn't the way to create better drivers. I think I could agree with that.
The Bank Holiday weekend was mostly quiet. There was a pub crawl on Friday, a trip to the DHL depot to collect a new, bigger budgie cage (there was an attempted delivery mid-week, but being at work I wasn't home), and bits and bobs around the house> There was also an attempt to see Let The Right One In at The Electric, which didn't go as planned (tickets sold out), so we hot footed it (well, cabbed it) over to the Cineworld on Broad Street to see Coraline in 3D. I quite enjoyed it (and I didn't realise it's based on a Neil Gaiman book!). In short, and without spoilers, it's a beautifully designed, rather scary answered-prayer story. There's some fantastic stop-motion animation and while the 3D component is mostly in the background, several big scenes explode with vivid color and utilize the technology in awesome ways. My only negative observation is it was a tad slow in parts and was a wee bit long. This is probably a contender for the Animation Oscar next year methinks. On Monday, I was meant to go to a picnic (which moved to an indoor venue due to the weather) but had an ill-timed nap instead. Poor form really.
I went to see Art Brut last week. It was quite fun. We missed the opening band entirely arriving about 10 minutes before the headline act. They opened with the new single Alcoholics Unanimous and proceeded to play a selection of tunes from their first and most recent albums. My Little Brother and Bad Weekend created instant mosh pits; Modern Art became an in-crowd monologue on the Van Gogh Museum. At one point, Eddie Argos decided to wander into the audience. I always find it amusing when performers break the fourth wall. People react very differently. In this instance, most of the crowd gave Eddie plenty of space and didn't impose on him. This isn't to say people didn't dance or have fun - they just, well, left him alone. He eventually found his way over towards our group at the back and sang directly to us before shuffling back towards the stage. (I've just finished reading a book about The Clash and the contrast in how kids behaved at those gigs to the Art Brut gigs is striking). Really, any show that has shout-alongs of "The record buying public shouldn't be voting" on a Tuesday night is worth the price of admission.
Now having finished the aforementioned book about The Clash, I had a visit to my local public library the other day. There seemed to be a fairly good selection of reading materials and I came away with Doris Lessing's Briefing for a Decent into Hell and Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building. joysilence,if you have any recommendations for gothic or supernatural novels I'd welcome them!
I plan to brush up on my knitting skillz in the next week or so as there's no way I'm turning down the opportunity in a few weeks time to knit with Kelley Deal!!
I've managed to fail my UK driving test for the second time. It was another stupid mistake - right at the end of my test. Bah. It's frustrating as I know I'm a good driver (and my instructor has said as much - and rightly wouldn't let me take the test if I wasn't ready!). So, I have to pay ANOTHER fee for ANOTHER test. Much to my chagrin I have discovered the fee's been put up to £62 from £56. Well, I guess the Government has to find some way to get rid of all that public debt...My instructor has told me that the increased fee and difficulty for the practical test isn't the way to create better drivers. I think I could agree with that.
The Bank Holiday weekend was mostly quiet. There was a pub crawl on Friday, a trip to the DHL depot to collect a new, bigger budgie cage (there was an attempted delivery mid-week, but being at work I wasn't home), and bits and bobs around the house> There was also an attempt to see Let The Right One In at The Electric, which didn't go as planned (tickets sold out), so we hot footed it (well, cabbed it) over to the Cineworld on Broad Street to see Coraline in 3D. I quite enjoyed it (and I didn't realise it's based on a Neil Gaiman book!). In short, and without spoilers, it's a beautifully designed, rather scary answered-prayer story. There's some fantastic stop-motion animation and while the 3D component is mostly in the background, several big scenes explode with vivid color and utilize the technology in awesome ways. My only negative observation is it was a tad slow in parts and was a wee bit long. This is probably a contender for the Animation Oscar next year methinks. On Monday, I was meant to go to a picnic (which moved to an indoor venue due to the weather) but had an ill-timed nap instead. Poor form really.
I went to see Art Brut last week. It was quite fun. We missed the opening band entirely arriving about 10 minutes before the headline act. They opened with the new single Alcoholics Unanimous and proceeded to play a selection of tunes from their first and most recent albums. My Little Brother and Bad Weekend created instant mosh pits; Modern Art became an in-crowd monologue on the Van Gogh Museum. At one point, Eddie Argos decided to wander into the audience. I always find it amusing when performers break the fourth wall. People react very differently. In this instance, most of the crowd gave Eddie plenty of space and didn't impose on him. This isn't to say people didn't dance or have fun - they just, well, left him alone. He eventually found his way over towards our group at the back and sang directly to us before shuffling back towards the stage. (I've just finished reading a book about The Clash and the contrast in how kids behaved at those gigs to the Art Brut gigs is striking). Really, any show that has shout-alongs of "The record buying public shouldn't be voting" on a Tuesday night is worth the price of admission.
Now having finished the aforementioned book about The Clash, I had a visit to my local public library the other day. There seemed to be a fairly good selection of reading materials and I came away with Doris Lessing's Briefing for a Decent into Hell and Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building. joysilence,if you have any recommendations for gothic or supernatural novels I'd welcome them!
I plan to brush up on my knitting skillz in the next week or so as there's no way I'm turning down the opportunity in a few weeks time to knit with Kelley Deal!!