I’ve been rather avoiding this given its status as the film which prompted Dreamworks to can their deal with Aardman.
Rather than the usual Aardman claymation, this is CGI (for reasons of scale/cost). But it boasts a cracking cast: Ian McKellen, Kate Winslett and Bill Nighy. It’s never quite sure whether it’s a comedy or an action movie, and the opening’s a little weak, but once our hero (a pet mouse voiced by Hugh Jackman) gets flushed down into the sewers, the jokes start coming faster.
You can tell it’s Aardman by the amount of expression they manage to give the slugs (“Give me five. Oh.”) They are worth the price of admission alone, but for me it is Jean Reno as Le Frog, a French amphibian hitman, who steals the picture.
Makes me glad the Sony deal means we’ll get more Aardman features (so long as it’s not a choice between this and Shaun).
The “unleashing” of Transition Town Lewes was rather an inspiring event. There were about 400 people in Lewes Town hall, and when I arrived, there was standing room only.
The highlight of the evening was a talk from Rob Hopkins, who gave an account of Peak Oil. I learned that global discovery peaked in 1965; apparently production usually peaks 20-30 years after discovery!
Chris Johnstone gave an interesting session on change (climaxing in the use of a harmonica as an alternative energy source…) a choice which recognised that much of the audience already has the motivation, and reflects the importance of taking action.
What impressed me most about Hopkin’s response (and I haven’t been impressed by responses before) was the focus creating a vision of an abundant post-oil economy. Most commentators seem to focus on the negatives, which leaves the consequences and the alternatives wide open: great if you want to sign people up to your theory, but useless if you want people to cooperate to move things forward.
I liked:
trying to visualise a positive vision of an abundant, low energy future (it is possible)
starting from where we are now, planning the transition to realise it
setting a realistic timeframe: 10 years to adapt
capturing local knowledge of the pre-oil (boom) economy
engaging the challenge as a community: avoiding “them and us”
This last includes engagement in the political process (there’s a planning group for liaison with the council) without being constrained by it: the only way change will happen is if, as a community, we make it happen. Being positive is not about looking forward to the oil running out (some do: Soil Association director Patrick Holden admitted to feeling smug before he met Hopkins, whilst the BNP are ready to make political hay). It’s about being creative and constructive; and making positive choices.
A couple of years ago I saw a film about Peak Oil, screened by the Green Party here in Lewes, followed by a discussion. I was not impressed. I said it was preaching to the converted. I cited the Jevons Paradox in explaining that individual efficiencies could make the problem worse rather than better. I concluded that the only solution was to lobby for government action.
Tomorrow Transition Town Lewes is unleashed.
I only heard about transition towns on the Welsh local news at Easter when Lampeter held its first meeting. Once again the focus is on individual collective action, but this time the focus is on preparing for the peak – essentially being ready to live without oil. Promoting the local economy, communal allotments and solar panels are amongst the first projects; and seem worthwhile in their own right. Totnes, another transition town, has its own currency to promote the local economy. I don’t know how effective any of this will actually be to wean us off our oil dependency, but if the pessimists are right about the oil peak, being it a bit prepared will surely be better than not being prepared at all.
So here’s another film, screening right here at Little Storping, and it’s very Lewes. Where else could you wear a woolly orange hat and still hope to be taken seriously?
When I dug my pond, a couple of years back, a friend told me you could grow watercress just by throwing it in the pond. So I got a bunch out of the fridge and threw it in. They were right, it completely took over!
But I’ve never eaten my watercress, for fear of the danger. No cows or sheep live by my pond (it’s a town garden) so there’s little danger of the deadly liver fluke. My garden is also free from industrial or agricultural pollution. All the same, watercress is supposed to grow in free running water, and (although a solar pump cyles it) the water in my pond isn’t really fresh.
Then I ran across a post at The Cottage Smallholder, which described how you could grow watercress in pots, from seed. I also found this description of growing it in a plastic paddling pool! So if you can do that, maybe my watercress is alright after all?
Now I’ve harvested a few stems, soaked them in brine, and left them in fresh water overnight. My friend (who knows about these things) and I have consumed them.
If I don’t survive, I’ve asked for a warning to be appended to this post, so others may learn from our foolishness. But it was delicious.
With my pond, pear tree, roses, fruit and herbs, there’s not really room for pototatoes. But fresh (I mean really fresh, hours old) potatoes are delicious. So when I saw a potato patio starter kit I decided to give it a go, and it’s just arrived.
The kit contains three large planter buckets
and 15 seed potatoes, five each of Maris Piper, Red Duke of York and Charlotte, which are now chitting on my windowsill.
A regular reader of this blog is so fanatical about avoiding “spoilers” that he will not only avoid reviews but won’t read the blurb on DVDs or books (he’ll be squinting at this post through his fingers – don’t worry, I’m using Leong Wai Kai’s excellent Simple Spoiler).
The Guardian’s Charlie Brooker has been trying, Likely Lads style, to avoid hearing about the ending of… a recently concluded popular TV series. I’m refraining from naming it there, because I find that even knowing there’s a big twist to come can affect how I view a film – it’s a spoiler in itself. He won’t be reading the comments he’s getting, of course, in fear that someone’s posted the ending, but there’s an interesting discussion going on.
I’ve suffered spoilers and I don’t like it. Brooker advocates criminalising the revealing of spoilers (by the chopping off of a finger). The worst spoiler for me was Show ▼
the first season of 24, when I’d watched up to about tea time, and someone in the common room announced, loudly, that Nina was the mole. I’d happily have chopped her finger off. However, I’m also probably the only person in the country to be surprised by the ending of The Sixth Sense.
However, we do watch films where we know the ending (one wag commented on Brooker’s article “The ending of ‘Titanic’ was spoiled for me by an exhibition in the Liverpool Maritime Museum.”) Even films with a twist I will enjoy re-watching (if they’re good) even though I’ll already know the ending. Indeed, I’ve got several on DVD: Show ▼
Abre Los Ochos
Memento
The Others
Seven
The Usual Suspects
And that’s not just because I’ve got such a lousy memory I forgot how they ended.
We will go and see plays we’ve seen before (the “classics”) sometimes many times (eg. Shakespeare) or re-read novels; we’ll get something new each time, and the more complex and multilayered a work, the more satisfaction can be had. And what about adaptations or remakes? I still watched Show ▼
Fight Club even though I’d already read it, and both the original and the remake of The Quiet American.
I won’t avoid reviews or summaries either; I find a little context often increases my understanding and enjoyment. All the same, for films with a “twist”, giving away the ending to someone is, basically robbing them of the enjoyment of the surprise. Perhaps on repeated viewings what I’m enjoying is the memory of that first time…
And if you don’t like spoilers, just let me say this: don’t go anywhere they sell the Radio Times this week.
If funny things start to appear on the site this afternoon, it’s because I’m (finally) upgrading to Wordpress 2.1 “Ella”. Bear with me, normal service will resume as soon as possible.
Here goes.
Update, 13.18: All seems to be working, but please post any issues!
A superb small-scale episode, written to perfectly fit the 45 minutes slot, nicely paced, with a great sense of atmosphere, building to a satisfying conclusion. And at the same time developing the Martha/Doctor relationship and giving the fans some nice continuity (recurring monsters, the Doctor repeating Susan’s description of Gallifrey), not to mention the final message of the Face of Boe.
The only (very minor) flaws were, conversely, where things were scaled up: did they really have to take 6 years to cover 10 miles? Convert it to months and it has just as much impact… And the macra have grown as well as devolved. It now looks like a single macra could snap a car in half in once pincer; but half a dozen old-size macra clinging onto the car and trying to prise it open would have been just as scary, and the getaway might have been more credible. But that’s just nitpicking.
The visuals do deserve special mention: they were terrific. The detail of the costumes and the car interiors (the cardigans, lampshades, suits -both pin-stripe and birthday) was a delight, with some great visual jokes (favourite: “meet the kids”). The CGI was exceedingly well used for once; that view from the creepy senate room onto the sun rising behind New New New New etc. York was fantastic.
The opener benefited from being told from the viewpoint of another character (ie not the Doctor). This has been done before, in Rose and, taken to the extreme, in Love and Monster and it’s a nice opportunity to get to know the players in a story and leave us guessing at the Doc’s agenda.
While the plot was fairly insubstantial there were some nice ideas (raining upwards, galactic jurisdictions) and some tasty graphics (the hospital balcony in the Earthlight). It all felt a bit lightweight, perhaps because Dinner Ladies’ Anne Reid wasn’t quite enough of a threat.
Of course the main thing was the introduction of Martha Jones (who, as gridman at the Lone Locust points out, has a nice line in pointing out plot holes) and so we welcome her in her dual role as companion and script editor. She certainly seems smart enough to do both.
And I’m glad the Doctor’s back in the brown suit…
The Infinite Quest
Martha’s second appearance is a bit of a strange performance in part 1 of the animated series showing in Totally Doctor Who. I was disappointed by this, after the animations in The Invasion. The graphics seem fussy and complicated, and the audio performances high pitched, and it all seemed so overly talky there didn’t seem much point in the visuals anyway. In 3.5 minutes there didn’t seem to be any introduction so as to give time for a cliffhanger that was rather feeble anyway. Hope it gets better before the 7 minute mark.
The Shakespeare Code
Apparently the most expensive episode so far, the now traditional “celebrity historical”. This is enjoyable enough, though not as good as either The Unquiet Dead or Tooth and Claw; nice to see the Globe and get into the whole Love’s Labour’s Won mystery. A pity it all has to boil down to another Alien Invasion of Earth story. Why, just for once, can’t we have a genuine (ie non sci-fi) historical?
The fanboy part of me, if I’m honest, was also a bit disappointed not to have a continuity reference with Shakespeare (for example, in relation to the 4th Doc claiming to have helped write Hamlet…) I know it gets a bit complicated in that this would be Shakespeare’s first meeting with the Doctor (ignoring the Big Finish Audios) but not the Doctor’s first meeting with Shakespeare, but since this was exactly what they did with Queen Elizabeth, what would the problem have been?
And whilst old series continuity is ignored, why risk alienating new viewers with unnecessary new series continuity, ie. the Doctor banging on about Rose every episode?
