13 Sunday May 2007
Posted in culture, home, life stuff, music, sevilla
. . . and especially where I live it.
All afternoon this small acoustic musical group – about six guys – has been playing Cuban style music under my balcony (in fact they are at the bar across the street). A lot of the songs I recall from Buena Vista Social Club albums, along with other traditional tunes. So far it’s been about a three-hour free concert.
Fabulous background music for my lovely and lazy Sunday afternoon at home (this would never happen in Trawnna or Bristow) . . .
10 Thursday May 2007
Has there ever been a good one?
Inspired by reading this post over on Polonius’s blog, I started to wonder about the worst ever movie remakes. I haven’t seen many myself, but the worst that stands out in recent memory is the Cohn Bros. totally dire version of The Ladykillers.
Perhaps we should limit this to original screenplays as ‘remakes’ of Shakespeare, Dickens & Austen abound and it’s a personal choice as to which is the ‘definitive’ version. And of course The Bunny Remakes are all fabulous. 
So, what is the worst remake you’ve ever seen?
And which film would you hate to see made again?
30 Monday Apr 2007
Need a catchy name for new translation/teaching website.
As some of you may know, Nog and I just finished a rather lucrative translation & correction job for a medical journal and so we thought it would be a good idea to incorporate this into our present teaching work.
The idea is to set up a website that combines what we offer in terms of English classes (for all levels), including special full and half-day intensive weekend courses, with this latest translation/editing/correction service.
But neither of us can think of a great name for this. Any ideas?
19 Thursday Apr 2007
Posted in culture, life stuff, miscellany, music, philosophy, video
An oldie but a goodie . . .
Once attributed to the late Kurt Vonnegut, though in fact written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997, I was reminded of this when I recently advised Nog to do one thing every day that scared him (and no, living with me doesn’t count 😉 ).
Then today I found this rather nice video of the Baz Luhrmann version.
17 Tuesday Apr 2007
Posted in books & writing, culture, health & happiness, life stuff, media
Waterstone’s now has a “Painful Lives” shelf which features the newest such examples; Borders has a “Real Lives” section.
What lies behind the speedy rise of the “misery memoir”? Is the popularity of these books a healthy sign that Britons are shaking off their stiff upper lips and finally talking out loud about painful events? Or is there an element of voyeurism, even salaciousness, in the snapping up of such memoirs?
I’m of two minds about this new ‘misery lit’ phenomenon. First of all, I do believe it can help people who have been abused to read about others who have gone through similar experiences – reading Alice Miller’s Drama of the Gifted Child when I was in my 20’s helped turn my life around at that time.
But having a section in a bookshop called “Painful Lives”??? Is it just me or is that more than somewhat cringemaking? And beyond the suggested elements of voyeurism or salaciousness involved in buying these books, what about the author’s ‘jumping on the abuse victim bandwagon and laughing all the way to the bank’ element?
