February's diversions
A grey and lacklustre month. I should have been achieving a great deal, catching up on all my paperwork and office jobs, but it just hasn't happened. The usual excuses, everything taking longer than expected, a lack of energy, and possibly too many evenings taken 'researching' Tumblr...
I have managed a few welcome detours.
Rust and Bone
Went to see 'Rust and Bone' with local friends. A powerful, gritty, and in places violent (French) film which we all appreciated - and not just because of the lead character's rugged looks. If I explained any of the plot, it might spoil too many of the surprises. It shared some of the family dynamics of 'Paris, Texas' (Man who has difficulty expressing his feelings, son, childless sister and brother in law, and the woman who drops into it all) but where that film was gentle and slow, this is feisty and brutal. Well shot, and worth seeing.
Johnny Cash
A couple I know in Oxford invited me over to see a Johnny Cash tribute band. I wasn't expecting too much, but the lead singer, despite his relatively slight frame, managed to keep the deep singing voice throughout, and along with the lively backing band, got everyone tapping along. Great fun.
Cotswolds
My friend S was planning for a walk he is leading in the Cotswolds this summer, and I joined him on one of the few sunny afternoons as he trialled the route. The River Coln had flooded the water meadows, and the paths were muddy in places, but still picturesque, with two small village churches (the oldest with Saxon elements) nestling in the valley. Good to see the snowdrops and winter aconites in bloom.
Calexico
Popped down to Bristol to see Calexico in concert. The Academy is a reasonable venue, in that you can get close enough to see the band clearly and feel a part of what is going on, without being entirely deafened. They played a lot from their recent 'Algiers' album, as well as some older classics, including their Mariachi-style cover of Love's 'Alone Again Or' - the song that first got me onto them. A very talented seven-piece band, headed up by Joey Burns' vocals, and between them playing electric, acoustic and slide guitars, accordion, trumpets, electric and upright bass, xylophone, keyboards, triangle, maracas and drums. It may have been tiring to stand throughout, but the atmospheric Tex-Mex-Americana sound was uplifting and the crowd responded suitably.
Wooden Churches of Russia
Of my local friends, one speaks some Russian, and another is a historian who loves old church buildings, so when an evening talk by Richard Davies was announced, they encouraged me to come along. Richard is an architectural photographer, and spent many vacations travelling in Russia's far north to catalogue the unique wooden churches with their onion domes built between the 1600-1800s. At one time there were thousands, but a combination of Stalinism, depopulation, disinterest, and damp have resulted in most disappearing, many rotting from the ground up. Perhaps 40 or 50 might remain, and many of them are in Davies dramatic collection of pictures, some have collapsed since he first visited, others burned by accident. He had a big impressive book to go with it, beyond impulse purchase price, and seemingly selling well since it had been reviewed in the New Yorker. Rather privileged to have seen the pictures in Stroud's little town hall with perhaps thirty others. I won't break any copyrights by posting the pictures here, but do follow the link above if you have five minutes spare.
History Month
Four of us took the train to to Bristol for a day, lunching with a couple who joined us on our trip to Croatia back in '09. M had been involved in putting together a history of gay life in Bristol over the past 50 years, and it was held in the impressive new M-Shed museum which I'd not been in before. The exhibit was just one tiny corner of the museum, and something of an eye opener, revealing how oppressive life had been back in the 50s. A testament to just how far things have moved in Britain, especially over the last ten years or so.
And then this week, to finish February off in more ways than one, the Wordpress blog that I'd added to my business site was hacked, with an increasing number of redirects to 'little blue tablet' sites. I spent most of today cleaning up the site and trying to beef up WP's frankly disturbing lack of security using my learn-as-you-go-along abilities. I hope I don't have to look at another .htaccess file in a long time, but suspect it may be sooner rather than later. Good old LJ seems to have fared somewhat better.
I have managed a few welcome detours.
Rust and Bone
Went to see 'Rust and Bone' with local friends. A powerful, gritty, and in places violent (French) film which we all appreciated - and not just because of the lead character's rugged looks. If I explained any of the plot, it might spoil too many of the surprises. It shared some of the family dynamics of 'Paris, Texas' (Man who has difficulty expressing his feelings, son, childless sister and brother in law, and the woman who drops into it all) but where that film was gentle and slow, this is feisty and brutal. Well shot, and worth seeing.
Johnny Cash
A couple I know in Oxford invited me over to see a Johnny Cash tribute band. I wasn't expecting too much, but the lead singer, despite his relatively slight frame, managed to keep the deep singing voice throughout, and along with the lively backing band, got everyone tapping along. Great fun.
Cotswolds
My friend S was planning for a walk he is leading in the Cotswolds this summer, and I joined him on one of the few sunny afternoons as he trialled the route. The River Coln had flooded the water meadows, and the paths were muddy in places, but still picturesque, with two small village churches (the oldest with Saxon elements) nestling in the valley. Good to see the snowdrops and winter aconites in bloom.
Calexico
Popped down to Bristol to see Calexico in concert. The Academy is a reasonable venue, in that you can get close enough to see the band clearly and feel a part of what is going on, without being entirely deafened. They played a lot from their recent 'Algiers' album, as well as some older classics, including their Mariachi-style cover of Love's 'Alone Again Or' - the song that first got me onto them. A very talented seven-piece band, headed up by Joey Burns' vocals, and between them playing electric, acoustic and slide guitars, accordion, trumpets, electric and upright bass, xylophone, keyboards, triangle, maracas and drums. It may have been tiring to stand throughout, but the atmospheric Tex-Mex-Americana sound was uplifting and the crowd responded suitably.
Wooden Churches of Russia
Of my local friends, one speaks some Russian, and another is a historian who loves old church buildings, so when an evening talk by Richard Davies was announced, they encouraged me to come along. Richard is an architectural photographer, and spent many vacations travelling in Russia's far north to catalogue the unique wooden churches with their onion domes built between the 1600-1800s. At one time there were thousands, but a combination of Stalinism, depopulation, disinterest, and damp have resulted in most disappearing, many rotting from the ground up. Perhaps 40 or 50 might remain, and many of them are in Davies dramatic collection of pictures, some have collapsed since he first visited, others burned by accident. He had a big impressive book to go with it, beyond impulse purchase price, and seemingly selling well since it had been reviewed in the New Yorker. Rather privileged to have seen the pictures in Stroud's little town hall with perhaps thirty others. I won't break any copyrights by posting the pictures here, but do follow the link above if you have five minutes spare.
History Month
Four of us took the train to to Bristol for a day, lunching with a couple who joined us on our trip to Croatia back in '09. M had been involved in putting together a history of gay life in Bristol over the past 50 years, and it was held in the impressive new M-Shed museum which I'd not been in before. The exhibit was just one tiny corner of the museum, and something of an eye opener, revealing how oppressive life had been back in the 50s. A testament to just how far things have moved in Britain, especially over the last ten years or so.
And then this week, to finish February off in more ways than one, the Wordpress blog that I'd added to my business site was hacked, with an increasing number of redirects to 'little blue tablet' sites. I spent most of today cleaning up the site and trying to beef up WP's frankly disturbing lack of security using my learn-as-you-go-along abilities. I hope I don't have to look at another .htaccess file in a long time, but suspect it may be sooner rather than later. Good old LJ seems to have fared somewhat better.