Hello all. I hope you are ok. We are sitting here in the middle of some sort of storm and all the lights in Plymouth have just flickered apparently. I say apparently, obviously I can't speak for all the houses in Plymouth but the online version of the old Plymouth Herald, perhaps unwisely, asked its readers if they had a flickering light and the comments section is now chock a block with people wanting to share their light-flickering experiences. This evening, it occurred to HOH and me that we are all electric here so if we were one of those poor families who have just been told that their electricity will be off for the next ten days, we would be struggling a bit. No shower, no cooker, no lights. Bit worrying. We could buy candles I suppose.
I have just finished a week's leave from work. It has rained most of the week but we were grimly determined to enjoy ourselves. We have been rolling holidays on into the next leave year since the pandemic so I thought it was time to take some leave and try and catch up a bit with a luxury week off in February. We have been to Tavistock (top notch charity shops) and to Exeter (we wanted to visit the cathedral but there was a funeral on so it was closed for three hours. Three hours! I think we saw the Queen off quicker than that. It serves them right that I went to Zara instead.)
As the weather wasn't particularly helpful, we went to the pictures a couple of times and I was asked to review the Bob Dylan film - A Complete Unknown. Firstly, I have to make clear that I am not really the biggest fan of Mr Dylan. I haven't taken against him or anything but I don't know much about him and I can't think of a time when I have ever said "I think I'll just put a bit of Bob Dylan on." I'm certainly not invested enough to understand why people got so worked up when he swapped to an electric guitar from basic folk so that people shouted "Judas" at his concerts and literally threw things at him. Having said that, I really enjoyed the film. It's not a film to go to of you are after loads of explanatory dialogue. He seems to burst into song every ten minutes. Timothée Chalamet is terrific. He sings like Dylan, he looks like him, he behaves very badly as people said Dylan did. Oscars are annoying but he certainly seems to deserve one. (Most people think it will go to Adrian Brody in the long and boring The Brutalist.) Also, a shout out for Edward Norton playing Peter Seeger. rather excellently. I would say that it is an excellent film and I wouldn't let knowing nothing about Dylan stop you from going.
We also went to see Maria with Angelina Jolie playing Maria Callas. For me, not as successful. It was a bit odd but it was meant to be. It was set at the end of Callas's life when she was usually knee deep in drugs so there was a lot of hallucinating alongside a lot of singing. I think, if you like opera, you will like it a lot. The music is gorgeous. I'm assuming the voice is Callas. Ms Jolie did say something about learning to sing for the role but I think that must have been for the times when her voice was going and she was coughing a lot. there's a lot of her wandering around Paris (which looks beautiful) in 1970s sunglasses and pretending to talk to her drugs. Angelia is obviously beautiful - if a bit gaunt - and when it flips to Callas, you do notice the difference - she looks a bit beaky. But blimey, she could hold a tune.
While I'm doing bit of reviewing, I just wanted to draw your attention to my favourite book of last year. Shy Creatures by Claire Chambers is a great book. I really enjoyed her previous book Small Pleasures and I think this is even better. It's about Helen Hansford is an Art Therapist in a psychiatric hospital in the 60s. She starts to work with William Tapping, a mute with waist length hair. It turns out that he has lived most of his life with elderly aunts, off grid and initially we have no idea why. Helen, who has problems of her own begins to look into William's background and what might have made him live like this. This is a beautiful story, beautifully written. I don't know if you have ever read a book and when you finish it - you close the book and sigh at how brilliant it was? For me, this was one of those books. Highly recommended but don't blame me if you don't like it.
Right then. Onward and upward. Back to work next week and after schlopping about in less than savoury old jeans for a week, it's time to do some ironing and make myself a bit more presentable for the good people of Access Plymouth. Have a good week all and if you see any of the films or read the book - please let me know what you think. Have a good week.
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