Sunday Summary

Warning: A quiet week does not an elaborate Sunday Summary make; expect padding and surplus photos. Thankyouplease.

This week, I have mostly been...

Reading

which I finished mid-week, passed onto Ma QB; I'm now reading this:

Watching

{Skins, Series 6}

...I now have a solar-powered flamingo (named Flappy, since you ask) 

whose acting skills trump some of the youffs in Series 5 and 6 but hey. Watching Skins just makes me grateful I was a prissy teenager living in Kent in the 1990s and not a damaged teenager living in Bristol in the 00s. Is all. :-)

Oh and more of this:

{Flight of the Conchords}

And finishing off with a soppy serving of this:

{via IMDB}

Spending quality time...

...especially with family and friends

Friday night looked like this...

as fabulous friends Natalie and Gaby descended (or, more accurately ascended) on QB Heights for a comparatively civilised evening of curry and catch-up (a long time coming with Gaby in residence).

However, there was also silliness, there were selfies, there were Sexy Soleros:

{Malibu + Mango Juice = Sexy Solero | Photo by Nats}

there were waffles and there were wigs. Natch.

{Photo by Nats}

And in the morning there was the obligatory restorative trip to the greasy spoon for sustenance.

{Getting my coffee fix ON | Photo by Nats}

As if that weren't enough...

Saturday night looked like this...

{Finding my inner rock chick "grrrr" courtesy
of Bonnie Tyler and Charlie | Photo by Jos,
which I siphoned liberally off Facebook...)

Yes, that would be a splendid night of karaoke, sausage rolls, Prosecco and Chambord a chez Jos and Ken, in the excellent company of, well, our hosts, natch, and the Song Club Collective: Charlie, Alun, Ali, Martin, Al, Paul, and later, Dan.

There were a good few 'comedy' numbers tackled for a change: The Ballad of Barry and Freda, anyone? Here's the original: (And yep, Jos and Charlie, it's a very fast song to sing...!)

Much respect also needed to be given for Alun's excellent rendition of 'Weird Al' Yankovic's 'eBay' parody:

I will need to be bribed not to share a snippet of Martin and Alun's superlative performance of So Macho at some point in the future. It was a treat. But you'll have to wait and see if it'll ever see the light of day...

I do however apologise to the Collective, as I've brazenly called it, for the shambolic vocal stylings during Avalon (I'll work on those...!) and for selecting Tragedy, which lived up to its name and a half.

But a top night nonetheless. Friends are indeed free therapists. 

(Wisdom courtesy of Pinterest, probably.)

Walking

Oh, you know you've missed my perambulation posts(!)

This very afternoon, friend Julie and I headed out for a two-hour-ish trot around the locale -- for me this was the first 'long' walk since that really epic long walk I did that I'm not sure I've mentioned on here since, oh, last weekend... 

And for Julie it was a warm-up for her week of undertaking the bulk of the Grand Union Canal walk.

We covered 6.7 miles (it was to be just over 7 miles but Julie flagged up a fabulous shortcut and the rest was history) and ended up in the Toby Carvery. Which is always a fitting post-perambulation pastime.

Pinterest Pin of the Week

Weekly Web Finds

• Bear Grylls tells kids to put their tablets away and explore outdoors
• Remy the flying dog is saved by his ears | on ITV (there are various other articles about him online!) | I worked with Remy's owner Suzanne years ago. She's fabulous. And Remy has his own Facebook page now. God bless the internet.
• My Own Social Media | via The Poke
• Chicken shaming is a thing | via The Poke | Ma QB, take note! Bwark...

{via here}

And finally... just because... here are some flamingos. Confused flamingos.

Stay groovy.

qb xx

Sunday Summary Monday Missive

Hello to you!

Yes, 'fraid your weekly dose of Bethy's Brain Deposits has been shunted back a day but good things come to those who wait, n'est-ce pas, especially if you've been observing Lent and yesterday was the first day in two months that chocolate has entered your digestive system...

Anyway.

This week (and a bit), I have mostly been...

Reading | The Trial (still)

The clue to the ease of reading of this novel is in the title...

Finishing | The End of Everything

An enjoyable yarn, though everything fell into place around Evie's disappearance much too easily; and Evie's family needn't have got the police involved at all because Evie's best friend Lizzie was apparently psychic enough to dream and sense Evie's fate and whereabouts. Or something. Still, I recommend The End of Everything as well as Dare Me, Abbott's catty cheerleader novel which reads a little like Bring it On Gone Bad. But in a good way.

Watching | Frozen

and Untouchable

Both very different films. Both superb. I don't need to roll out the plot intricacies of Frozen for your good selves, do I. ;-) It did remind me greatly of Return to Oz in parts -- the frozen landscapes, Sven the reindeer/the Gump, the lavishness of Elsa's/Mombi's palace..., Marshmallow/the Nome King...

And my heart belongs to Olaf the snowman. Sven's cute 'n' all, but Olaf won me over. (Closely followed by Oaken.)

Untouchable is something else. Based on a true story and a true friendship, it focuses on the unlikely friendship and mutual respect of two very different men: millionaire Philippe, paralysed in a skydiving accident, and his reluctant new live-in carer, Driss. It's French, subtitled, and its lead man, Francois Cluzet has more than a touch of Dustin Hoffman about him. It's also charming, funny, and has a delicious soundtrack by Ludovico Einaudi, one of my favourite contemporary composers. Win-win.

Also watching | Vimeo shorts

These ones caught my discerning, short-film-loving eye (those Vimeo staff have good taste):

 
Les Pyramides d'Égypte from Kheops Pyramides on Vimeo.



Still Life from ZANDRAK on Vimeo.


Returning | to Facebook

All right so maybe I did clock up my first live post in seven weeks at 8am on Easter Morning, as if I couldn't wait to break the Lenten fast. The post simply said Happy Easter -- I didn't try to encapsulate seven weeks in one post, don't you worry. What would be the point of that, eh?

And it was lovely to be welcomed back onto the platform! While my FB Fast may not have been the most enlightening move a person has ever made on a journey through Lent, it has given me some much-needed perspective. As has deleting every post and almost every photo I've posted in seven long FB years. I just don't need to be that present on Facebook any more.

And yes, admittedly, there is a dreg of truth in this meme:

but I see nothing excessively self-indulgent in making a pinboard of one's aesthetic pleasures. We're appreciating the inherent beauty and creativity in the world -- is how I justify spending hours poring over another 'Nostalgia from the 1980s' board that has somehow managed to unlock a gallon of suppressed memories. 

Some more welcome than others.

{Stuff of NIGHTMARES.}

And now... for your Weekly Weblinks

Following on from last week's post on 4WAAF {Four Weddings and a Funeral}, BBC Radio 4's 'The Reunion' programme focused on the film in this broadcast

Hesperus Press reveal plans for new-look Little Women 

University of Leeds' flummoxing restaurant signage

Baz Lurhmann's stage production of Strictly Ballroom opens in Sydney, as reported by a journalist who needs to work on their fact-checking skills... [I would still see this, especially to witness The Flying Doctors' own Robert Grubb as Barry Fife...]

The BBC's new adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn begins tonight -- here, and here (for a special BBC blog feature)

And finally...

I'm in love with Mini Moderns and their Dungeness-themed furnishings -- check out their Look Book here

C'est tout -- a la prochaine...

Sunday Summary

This week, I have mostly been...

Reminiscing | on Four Weddings...

Four Weddings and a Funeral was released... TWENTY YEARS AGO.

That is right.

Two whole decades have slipped by in the time we've taken to recover from those 15 weeks spent at the mercy of Love is All Around.

SCARY.

At the time the film was out I was a lank-haired, spotty, bespectacled 15-year-old, albeit one enjoying the heady freedom that came after sitting GCSEs.

Look upon my 15-year-old self and be bemused, friends:

I saw the film at least three times at the cinema and it truly was the most hilarious thing my friends and I had seen, at that time.

Hugh Grant was still a cute, posh, bumbling romantic back then (pre-*cough* Divine Brown *cough*) and we crushed on him for a while in the aftermath. (Or was that just me? Don't worry, I recovered. At least until About a Boy and Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason and then I had to wean myself off him again...)

It was hilarious that Fiona only ever wore black.

It was hilarious that Scarlett rocked this look as a bridesmaid:

{Screengrab from DVD}

It was also very cute hearing her explain 'bonking' to a young bridesmaid.

It was hilarious that Rowan Atkinson's trainee priest Gerald couldn't pronounce 'St John'. Sijjun... Sijjun... 

{In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spigot...}

And even now I can't go to a wedding and keep a straight face whenever the 1 Corinthians 13 reading is given:

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

Good point. I also anticipate the reading to be followed directly by a folk duet murdering Can't Smile Without You...

Anyway. I digress. In honour of this dubious anniversary I decided to revisit 4WAAF. These days I tend to emit a wry knowing smile at the moments above, rather than a 15-year-old's guffaw of naive laughter.

But over the last twenty years, and maybe in the last two of those years in fact the film has taken on new resonance.

It's flawed -- of course it is. For one thing it plays up to the myth of British film identity that we Brits are all very well off and very posh (and all Caucasian for that matter...) and we all live in grand houses and can afford to marry in cathedrals and invite the mayor along.

For another thing, the more I watch the more it seems Carrie's dialogue was not written for an American actress -- some phrases cloy a little. Or maybe that's just the fault of A MacD's static delivery. (Miaow.)

But, that aside...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Gareth's funeral is The Very, Very Sad Part. But only now can I appreciate that it is handled with great empathy not just towards Gareth, but towards Matthew, even if the vicar at the funeral refers to him only as 'Gareth's closest friend' -- even in 'progressive' 1994 acknowledging Matthew directly as Gareth's partner or lover seems to have been a step too far...

{The adorable John Hannah., making grown men and women everywhere cry...}

It also occurred to me watching the film yesterday that while I labour under the potential misconception that most wedding films portray a bride (and often groom) in the flushes of 'youth' in their 20s, as if this is the prime time in which to conjugate, Charles, Carrie, Fiona, Matthew, Tom, and certainly Gareth, are all in, or past their 30s. 

Actually, their ages are never referenced, but I'm going on the ages of the actors at the time: John Hannah was 32, Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas were 34, Andie MacDowell was 36, James Fleet as the ever-hopeful dolt Tom was 40 (all according to IMDb anyway!).

And while the focus of the film is Charles' reluctance to commit to marriage until he meets Carrie, neither he, nor Carrie, nor Fiona or Tom for that matter, are shown to be excessively pressured into marriage because they're a certain age. It's irrelevant. What's shown to matter is that this group of friends are looking for that one true love.

And that for me, now, twenty years on, is refreshing.

I will never, however, favour Carrie for Charles over Fiona. C'mon. She's insipid. She's ruthless. She's a tease. I'm Team Fifi all the way. This fleeting moment of vulnerability after Fiona admits her love for Charles? Just... g'argh. So many feels, as the young folk say.

(Never let it be said that I can't overanalyse a rom-com...)

Reading | two books on the go again...

I'm keeping this brief this time (for your sake, Alun!):

My commute read:

My (slightly less cerebral) bath-and-bedtime read:

Watching | George and Jason's villa and cabin on t'telly!

Yes -- at last, my friends Georgina and Jason's most excellent Chulilla villa (which only slightly rhymes, sorry, Evie!) was featured on BBC2's Escape to the Continent last week, presented by Anita Rani (who favoured G & J's property over the others -- rightfully!). And the house and grounds look terrific. If my previous photos and George's previous short feature weren't enough to tempt you (and why the heck not?), do watch the programme on BBC iPlayer here.

{Been there! Screengrab via here}

{Swum in there! Screengrab via here}

{Slept in there! Screengrab via here}

The prospecting couple also favoured the property over the others they were shown ... yet it didn't meet their exacting requirements. Hmm.

Keep up the good fight, guys, the right buyer will come along.


And now... for Stuff Found on the World Wide Web

Tracey Emin to design a Collector's Edition 'Books Are My Bag' bag

Gillian Anderson reads Katharine Hepburn's letter to Spencer Tracy (have the tissues ready)

Behold: a whole book full of photos of cute sloths

I want a go on this waterfall swing!

And finally...

Hedgehogs with funny faces

{Nuff said.}

Have good weeks, friends!