i refuse to admit that i am devoid of inspiration...
i was thinking about inheritances because mike is serialising his mother's early memories.
when my grandmother died, my mother inherited a lot of jewelry. for various reasons involving both insurance companies and my mother's sadness, the jewelry is kept in a bank near king's cross. it has been there since the 70s.
growing up, my mother would occasionally refer to the jewelry in the bank - golden swizzle sticks for champagne (for removing the bubbles - popular in the 30s); inexpensive costume jewelry; my grandmother's pearls. even now, she'll sometimes look at an outfit and say oh i used to have a pair of earrings that would go really well with that, but they're in the bank.
i used to love hearing about the jewelry, imagining a room similar to harry potter's vault at gringott's, filled with gold and jewels. she would always say that we would go and 'visit the jewelry'. we still haven't.
of course the reality is much more prosaic, and it seems to me that the stories of the jewelry are actually a better inheritance than the jewelry itself - really who needs a golden swizzle stick? and pearls (tragically) tend to crack if not worn regularly.... the jewelry of my imagination is almost certainly more exciting than what i'd find in a bank near king's cross.
on the other hand, what's the point of having jewelry if you never wear it?
What kind of pirate am I? You decide!
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proper postage soon, maybe even tomorrow. aren't you lucky?
i had a very filmic weekend, by which i mean that i saw a lot of films. three, to be exact. it was a diverse selection, seen in three very different cinemas. there was a documentary about an indie rock band, seen in a fifty-seat art-house; an italian classic of the 1950s seen in a large cinema (which was half-full), with steeply banked rows of seats; and a hollywood popcorn blockbuster, seen at the local multiplex.
drive well, sleep carefully follows death cab as they tour america with transatlanticism. it's not your standard band film, in that it features performances from a number of different gigs, rather than just the one, and the performances are interspersed with interviews with the band. it's obviously not a substitute for seeing the band live, and the live performances sound curiously sterile, presumably due to post-production. the band members come across as hard-working, and passionate, if a little bit too clean living for a rock and roll band - something like an american coldplay.
i saw it at the ica, as part of a plexi film music-film season that's going on at the moment.
i first saw la strada (the road) as part of the italian film course i took at york. to see it in a proper cinema was great. giulietta masina, who plays the lead, gelsomina, has such an incredibly expressive face that a television doesn't really do it justice. it's a heartwrenching film, though, which i had remembered, but certain moments took me by surprise.
i saw it at the barbican, where it was showing in a double bill with roma, città aperta, which i missed because i was taking my ibook to be fixed.
i've been looking forward to serenity for ages - since i watched the firefly dvds last summer. i wasn't disappointed with what i eventually saw, if anything, it left me wanting more because certain mysteries from the show weren't cleared up at all. mmmm, big damn trilogy (that's the technical term). i saw it at my local multiplex, which doesn't deserve a plug. serenity, however, definitely does.
also, downloading tv is the new rock and roll. i finally got my gilmore girls fix. rory needs to grow the heck up.
mmmm atp looking really good next year. maybe i'll make it to a festival next year. anyone want to share a chalet?
i'm still being a lazy get - at the moment that is - i've got something exciting coming up later in the month. so television has been my close companion. i'm particularly loving veronica mars on living (recommended by alice), it's really helping with the post-gilmore girls cravings. i'm really considering doing the whole file-sharing thing, just so i can keep up with rory and lorelei. and maybe the first few episodes of season 3 of the oc. i know it's mostly mental chewing-gum, but if i'm giving up alcohol, i should be allowed to retain my other addictions.
the not-drinking is going surprisingly well, actually. it's easier than i thought it would be. though i've not been out in the evening yet, which may be the testing point of my sobriety. i did go to the rota afternoon on saturday in notting hill with alice, and stuck to tomato juice. i felt very virtuous.
in other news, i chipped a tooth on friday morning, and i have no idea how. in fact i didn't even realise until friday evening. it's not very noticable, but annoying nonetheless. oh yes, my thrilling life. also on friday, i had a good conversation with a three year old about how good monsters inc is.
also but i'm a cheerleader: the musical. i may have just died from excitement. really.
