I like the bit where it says... "...the council’s planning department has objected to the plans, saying that the red and white stripes would be “visually intrusive” and have a “harmful impact on the city’s skyline”. Excuse me? Albion Towers is visually intrusive enough. It shows a run down block of flats. I should know, I've laid new flooring in there in the last 10-15 years. Painting it red & white would certainly improve the look, though I suspect it would be just papering over the cracks. Yes, deliberately the wrong idiom because I couldn't think of the right one.
I watched 2001 at the cinema as a 9-10 year old and was absolutely bowled away by it. Visually it was stunning [Cinerama, no less]. The things I couldn't quite understand at the time I found that adults couldn't either, which was refreshing. If I said it was an eye-opener for a youngster, then I would be hugely underplaying the effect it had on me. I can still watch it, no problem. In fact, I did just before Christmas. If I'd have watched the film first as an adult I think it might not have had such an effect on me. The film explains nothing and shows everything. In a way it's perfect for kids. albeit ones with the attention span of yesteryear. The film is really based on A.C. Clarke's short story, The Sentinel. Clarke and Kubrick worked a screenplay from this, and the 2001 novel came out afterwards.
A couple of points to pick up I've highlighted. First stop making me feel old. I was a fully fledged adult with mortgage and first child at home when I saw it, you bugger. It did have a dramatic effect on me, ancient though I was! Secondly, you have struck my reactionary nerve - modern day attention span, or is it that it is now culturally acceptable to talk through a film? I went to see the Lady in the Van a couple of weeks back and a couple in their late 20's/early 30's just didn't stop talking throughout. You see this behaviour everywhere - comedy clubs, music gigs (classical included) and it drives me bonkers!!!! Thanks I feel better now. And 2001 is brilliant, but should only be watched on a massive screen.
Ah, I'm sorry Lambo. I'd like to see Lady in a Van. I've got an audio version of the play with Alan Bennett playing himself and Maggie Smith being Miss Shepherd, and that's brilliant too. As to the chattering, I must admit I've have heard it too. Occasionally, in recent years, when I've gone to the cinema with friends it's invariably me who has to lean across and say Shut Up, Pepys!. You need to reveal the power of SHUSH!
Have you ever wondered how many potatoes it takes to make a bag of crisps? Well, while I was cooking dinner this evening, which involved a lot of oven heat, I decided to use some of the left over to make some crisps. So I got the smallest of my roasting potatoes, cut it into a section whereby the potato peeler could take whole slivers off it and then spent a couple of minutes doing so. At the end I had enough shavings for about 2 bags. So I put them between two sheets of kitchen paper for a few minutes while I made a cup of tea, and then popped them in my roasting tray, which had some olive oil in it and did them for 15 minutes. Actually, that was a touch too long, but it was a first try. And they're great. That's the last time I buy ready-mades. Mine were definitely hand made. BTW. Roughly half an average roasting potato makes a standard bag of crisps. Experimental verification!
Jamie bleedin' Oliver. Thanks for this crispy tale, and I'll give it a whirl. The only problem is it needed a disastrous ending. All the best kitchen stories are about disasters - like when you made Spam and Marmalade fritters, for example. You haven't? And you call yourself a cook.
I'll give them a go if I can talk my mind round to accepting Spam. How about Corned beef? These days my eldest brother says I ought to have been a chef. Then again he says I should be a train driver, a pilot, an IT professional [he missed that career, I was one], a carpenter, a sailing instructor, a school teacher [tried that, absolute no-no] and various other skilled things. Basically, there are several things which I can put my hand to. I'm resourceful. On the flip side, as a child I wanted to be an astronaut [who didn't at my age], but I never had the mathematics. Needless to say though, I'd go out there in a heartbeat. That little paragraph brought me round to the main reason why I loved 2001.
My eldest daughter made scoffins once. Two pages stuck together, and she managed to combine scones with muffins...they were odd, but edible. She was just a kid though
It reminded me of an episode of friends, where Rachel managed to combine Shepherd's pie with Trifle. Joey had seconds and when asked about it said, what's not to like? custard? good. jam?good. meat? goooood
Knowing The Cult are playing a sold out Rock City show in Nottingham tonight and knowing we should be there too is intolerably depressing after the emotional whirlwind of the last few days
Don't do it. It's awful whatever you do. I was referring to the game we played at Uni. Come home worse for wear and look for food. Wow. Got a mouldy banana, some out of date curry (those really exotic Vesta ones) and some cornflakes. Oh yes .... What can you make with this? We used to have competitions. Spam and Marmalade converted me to vegetarianism.
My repast was always chilli broth. Didn't know what was in it, but it was hot and made sure that your bum took away some of the pain from your head in the morning.
My Americanised cousin tells me about Peanut Butter and Jelly [Jam, to ordinary mortals] on toast. I like both, but I don't like the idea of them together. If they work I see nothing wrong with corned beef and marmalade fritters.
