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/2611/2002 Archived Entry: ""

I've had work to do. What a bloody cheek! That's not why I come to ... er... work.

I had a really good weekend beforehand, though. It was very busy and extremely intellectual and stuff like that.
Friday evening, I went to the Screen on the Green to see Bowling for Columbine. It was an amazing film, fascinating, chilling, funny - in a kind of disbelieving, if you don't laugh, you'll cry kind of a way - and fairly emotionally draining. Essentially, it is about gun control in the US, but there is so much more to it than that. It opens up to examine the psyche of a country that has over 11000 gun-related deaths every year. It is a brilliant mix of library footage (for example, security camera footage of the Columbine massacre) and original documentary film (Michael Moore taking two of the survivors of Columbine to K-Mart HQ to return bullets - that were bought from there - still lodged inside their bodies).
After that we needed sustenance. So, we went two doors up from there to a little restaurant called Tartuf which is a place that specialises in 'tarte flambee' which is essentially a French pizza, with a really thin base (Candy likens it to matzo) instead of a tomato sauce, it is covered in yogurt and onion and whatever else - bacon, asparagus, chorizo etc. The sweet version doesn't have the onion on it. Obviously.
On Saturday, Jean and Roger were in town. I went with them to the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibition of photos of crime writers, one of whom was the estimable Mr Brenchley. I also finally got up to the very top floor and saw all the really old portraits, including Jean and Chaz's fave Richard III. There was also a really good one, which was essentially a comic strip, telling the life of someone or other. Unfortunately, I can't remember who it was, so I can't add a link. Which is a bit crap. Maybe Jean'll read this and be able to tell me. Jean?
Saturday night, Becca and Pat came over and we watched The Muppet Show. As you do...
Sunday morning, Becca, Pat and I went to the Bodyworlds exhibition. Which was fascinating. It wasn't at all gory or bloodthirsty. It was extremely educational, dry almost. It was nice seeing children walking around - "That was where you broke your wrist..." If I had any problems with it, it was in the posed (basketball player, polevaulter, 'mystical') bodies. These were a bit sensationalistic - the posters showing them almost put me off going - and tended to merely repeat what I had already seen elsewhere in the exhibition, and usually with more information and better views of the parts. They were, however, a relatively small proportion of the whole thing. One thing that I discovered that I didn't know before was the thickness of nerves. I sort of thought that they were all tiny little thread-like things, but lots of them were really thick ropes. This is, of course, because it was lots of nerves all wrapped together (which is, come to think of it, how a rope is made from lots of threads...) but it just had never hit me before that they were like that. Another thing was that it brought home strongly how many different ailments there are that can kill you. It's a miracle that we're all still alive! And I'm ever so glad I don't smoke, after seeing several black (literally) lungs. Although I don't suppose breathing this what-Londoner's-laughably-call air doesn't help a lot, either...
The Fantasy Centre got back to me yesterday, saying that they didn't want the books I wanted to sell them. Bastards.
After work (in half an hour) I have to go and get the DVD's I ordered from Amazon. Hoorah! Lots of good stuff to watch. Or is that yet more...?

Posted by Roger Cornwell @ 11/27/2002 12:34 PM GMT

The portrait wasn't of anyone particularly famous; I think his name was Henry Dunton.

Why do museums and galleries never have a postcard of the one thing I really want a postcard of?

Posted by Jean @ 11/27/2002 09:41 AM GMT