Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Stormy weather

Tonight I am going to see Twelfth Night, outside, at one of the colleges in Cambridge. Guess what the weather is doing. Can I just say The Tempest might be more appropriate! I think it is a constant reminder of the triumph of hope over experience when you consider the amount of things there are to do outside in a British summer. Festivals all over the country and outdoor theatre at the very least. In this week alone, I have the outdoor theatre, an outdoor party and a treasure hunt!Wwish me luck.
On another note my colleague Andrew was drooling over the Apple Website when he came across this description of what the Apple i phone can do:
"Its advanced backside illumination sensor delivers great-looking video in both bright and low-light settings. And in dark environments, you can brighten the scene with the built-in LED light. "
Not sure anyone would appreciate my backside being illuminated! Teehee! (I'm getting hysterical about the weather now and had better sign off)

Sunday, August 08, 2010

3D or not 3D

Hollywood has gone 3D mad. Ever since Avatar was made films have been reengineered to be 3D and others have been made from 3D at the outset. I suspect the joke doing the rounds at Comiccon “If you can’t make it good, make it 3-D.” may have an element of truth. Until yesterday I had never seen one.
Like many people reading this blog I have a lazy eye or amblyopia to give it it's correct name. Apparently a person with Amblyopia does not see in 3D. Now I think I do see in 3D but obviously I have never looked through somebody elses eyes so how would I know?
Thus I have a bit of a resistance to 3D movies. I feel a bit excluded from the club. Erin and I have had moany conversations about bloody 3D for several months now. To be honest, there have been very few films so far that I would have wanted to see. I tend to like films that were made for a shilling, with no special effects and preferably not in English. However that is not always the case. I would put the Star Wars films among my favourites and there is nothing Arty about them.
So Toy Story 3 has come out. I saw the first when my children were children and have enjoyed the previous 2 very much. I was very keen to finish the trilogy off. Here's the thing. There are only two cinemas locally I am prepared to frequent. The Arts Picture House in Cambridge and our local, volunteer run Saffron Screen. I knew that when it arrives at the latter it would be a matinee and I really did want to see it with mostly kids. The former meant donning the glasses. So with some trepidation I bought the tickets (plus a supplement for the glasses and another supplement for the priviledge of the 3D experience).
So it's a great film but to me it looked the same as any other film. But the good thing was it didn't make me feel sick or force me to shut one eye as I had feared. Trev said it was clever but the 3D didn't really add that much to it. So I shall be able to see the new Harry Potter in 3D safely and we have now purchased our glasses. Who knows how long and how far this will go as a trend. To be honest, I think Inception which was made in 2D was a much more cinematic film. You would be fine watching Toy Story 3 on DVD.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Cuts close to home

The first cuts are hitting close to home.

Adam works in a specialist hospital for spinal injuries and similar long term patients called Rookwood. It is in old buildings but has a special atmosphere just because so many of the patients are there for months at a time. However it has been announced that the hospital is to be closed.

Hopefully that doesn't mean that Adam's job is under threat, but it does mean he will be moved to one of the other hospitals in the area, and the patients will be scattered around as well. It is a shame for everyone concerned.

For Adam he may end up at a more commuting convenient hospital, but it won't be as friendly or supportive as Rookwood. The domestics in Rookwood are part of the team, not interchangeable minions and some of the bigger hospitals won't see the domestic staff in the same way.

Fingers crossed that it works out ok. It is a real shame.