I saw Narnia yesterday, after rushing to catch it from this great Italian restaurant which serves stonebaked pizzas just-a like-a Mamma used to make-a them-a. I was really bowled over, and although the service was slow, we had reason to believe it was because of the huge party they were preparing for at the adjacent tables. If you guys are good to me, I might let slip the name of this Findus Superbus. Heck, I might even take you there myself, so I can have another go.

Narnia, then. I really enjoyed it, because I had read the book so many moons ago that I was half-expecting to see a white rabbit with watch pop up. That kept the suspense factor alive for me, while the story was just predictable enough for me to pretend to remember stuff from the book (Och, the devious bugger!). It is very engrossing and believable, and top marks for acting go to the little girl who plays Lucy, although good child actors always worry me, as I might have mentioned earlier. Ok, I see I haven’t mentioned it earlier. To summarise; a good actor has to be a good phony, and it doesn’t seem right that a child should know how to switch a smile on and off at will. Or perhaps it’s the precocity of the little nippers that unsettles me.
The film is quite sanitized though; even with the obligatory CGI battle scene that all movie-going audiences demand today, there was nary a drop of blood to be seen.

First off, congratulations to Scotland…. the WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!
“Eh?”, I hear you ask. Scotland has claimed top spot in the World Elephant Polo championship in Nepal for the second time running.
The captain says “To win this is a mammoth task” 🙂

And boohoo for United fans, as the Mancunians failed to even secure a place in the UEFA tournament. Shame!!!

Am reading Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s ‘Long way around’. I’ve seen some of the telly series, and the book really blends in seamlessly. Both avid motorcyclists, Charley describes the first time he rode on a racetrack with words somewhat like this:

“Suddenly I felt sad. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Unfortunately I was too old to do it”

He reminded me of how I used to feel as a kid when I saw bikes roar past, and why I was never able to throttle down if someone revved up next to me at the lights. Ah, Sweet Bitch-Goddess Adrenaline!! (To paraphrase D.H.Lawrence :P)
The book is amazing; I was reading it till 7:30 a.m. (but then, I have the luxury of being able to do so 😛 )

Other books I got were ‘A history of civilizations’ by Fernand Braudel and ‘African silences’ by Peter Matthiessen. I’m dabbling in both as well, so I’ll give you snippets as they come.

Peeves of the week:

I ordered a tub of Ben And Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie. The “tub” they brought me was a piddling little thing, a mouthful for a quail, a trifling affair. And they had the temerity to put the “spoon” (plastic mini-shovel) inside the “tub”, taking up more space!!!

On a more disconcerting note, I found out that our favourite ‘Champion for Freedom and Defender of the Free World’ nation America has 8 times more arms dealers than McDonald’s franchises. So I guess the term “McDonaldisation” must give way to a new one. Any suggestions?

I’m finally managing to chronicle the events of last weekend, after I vacuum-cleaned my house. I gets this call from Ana & Papitu, who were visiting their old stomping grounds in Manchester for 4 days from Valencia. I had to hook up with them. So I find myself at the Drop Inn (ha ha) at 8p.m on a Friday after a luxurious meal in Rusholme, greeting my old friends A & P as well as James & Louisa. Then, I noticed a couple of more Spanish faces, and soon the pub was bursting at the seams with Iberian comrades. Most of them were known to me through football, or more accurately through the auspices of A & P, who were like a cementing force in the Spanish community while they lived here. It was funny to note that a year had passed since I saw them, and yet nothing appeared more natural than for us to settle down in our old, familiar routines. Then followed a stint at Big Hands, which chucked us out at 2a.m. Not having had our fill, we decided to test Tony Blair’s new Britain by finding a 24 hour drinking hole. And find it we did. I crept home in the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday night was much of the same, only more so, if you know what I mean 😉 We ended up in a house party where the rules on Class As were a bit more relaxed, and I only made it home at 8 in t’morn’.

On Friday it was high jinks with me and my trusty, 1500-watt vacuum cleaner. I’m not quite sure whether the 1500 signifies the amount of electricity it’s using up, or whether it’s a measure of its suction power, but being a man I couldn’t possibly go for the 1300 or, heaven forbid, 1000 watt option. It has served me well, despite its run-in with a hot iron. But then, I don’t like to use it that often! It has special switches that allow me to vary the suction, from full down to twenty percent with four stops along the way. Now, the purpose of this switch has always baffled me. Is there any conceivable situation when you want less than full force? Like, say, when you’re picking up the baby? Or for those intimate moments when a gentle loving touch is the ticket? (I’m no expert, never, ever having tried this myself, but anecdotal evidence tells me there must be quite a few members of the ‘Love Thy Dyson Society’. It’s like women with their electric toothbrushes, I’m told). As it is, I need all the power I can get because it has to suck through a dustbag that’s bursting full. It’s not that I’m too stingy to buy new ones, I just get attached to them over time.

Once more, I must take my hat off to Autology; it is a blog which I really enjoy reading and (if allowed, which isn’t often) commenting on. I have been lax in my surfing for a while, so all of a sudden I find myself having to catch up on all these interesting things. Go take a look, even if not being allowed to have your tuppence worth does infuriate you :p

I know, I know, I have been away for some time now. This is due to my redoubled efforts at finding myself gainful employment so that I can finally begin contributing to the economy in a meaningful way. These efforts have been mostly in the form of lying on my back, and dreaming of spending the money I am sure to get when I am, by some miracle, employed.

I was always advised to work the crowd with a good joke at the beginning, so they get into the mood. Here’s how Homer accuses Marge of being selfish when she’s not too enthusiastic about his plan for renting her womb to childless parents to make money:-
“It’s uter-US, not uter-YOU!!”
Guaranteed to put a smile on any face.

I watched Amores Perros and Nueve Reinas on DVD, I loved both of them! Amores perros (Love’s a bitch) is very gritty, where as Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens) is a twisting story about two con men in Argentina struggling to make a profit against a backdrop of criminals everywhere. Highlight of both films? They re-united me with some phrases that my South American friends used to use in Moscow, i.e.
chinga tu madre,
joder,
pendejo, etc.

We have our graduation packs. We are invited to take part in a ceremony that honours our acheivements, yet curiously we have to pay for our clothes, which are prescribed to us!! At the cost of £37!! (I’m a notorius tight-ass on this subject, refer to my Chinese Year for info)

I was watching Peep Show yesterday, I like such off-the-wall humour, and the funny camera angles. As usual, right on time comes a quote

“I guess doing things you hate is just part of what you do to avoid loneliness”

He means in particular going round on the rides in an amusement park, but I think this more broadly applies to quite a few things we might hate doing 😛 (Oh, the stories I could tell!!)

Jessy and I, like the rest of the EX-students that are still in Manchester, regularly nip into our old Uni, MBS, to use the computers. I especially do this a lot because I’m jobless, the idea being that I can use the Internet to more efficiently find a high-paying job. This is what one of this year’s new students says to us.
I quote almost verbatim

“You guys have finished, right? If I had finished, I wouldn’t be able to come back here. It would be a shame for me to come here”

The sub-text for this quote evidently runs somewhat like this:- “What a bunch of losers you are!”