superinjunctions

So the worst kept secret of the internet is fnally out after John Hemming blew the joint in the commons this afternoon.  While I couldn't give a stuff about this sort of tittle tattle, the instinctive sympathy I had for Ryan Giggs disappeared once his lawyers tried getting the details of people essentially just sharing gossip on the internet, and 100% true gossip.

I'm no legal expert, but I think the end of these superinjunctions, which as far as I can gather appear to constitute a privacy law for the extremely wealthy law being made up on the hoof by judges, can only be a good thing, particularly after the Trafigura case from a couple of years ago.

I'm sorry Ryan, but in the absence of any new privacy legislation, if you want to keep these things out of the papers you're going to have to wait for the Great British Public to grow up a bit and stop caring about who's sleeping with who, but I wouldn't hold my breathe.

january reviews

it's been a quiet month this month, but here's a brief review of the stuff I've read/watched

books

A Season with Verona - Tim Parks
Highbrow novelist spends a season following Hellas Verona home & away, slumming it with the brigate & jacking off over their racist chanting.  Well written as you'd expect and genuinely interesting in parts, particularly when talking about how the various cities/sets of fans see each other.  Liked the song about the serial killer.  Looking forward to the sequel, presumably set in Burnley.


films

McKenna's Gold
An all star cast (Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Kojak, Eli Wallach, Lee J Cobb, the Penguin, Anthony Quayle, Edward G Robinson, Lurch from the Addams Family) in Western romp go in search of a shedload of Apache gold.  That's as much plot as I'm prepared to waste my time typing.  Most of the aforementioned actors get killed within 10 mins of them being introduced without adding much to the story, value for money obviously not being top priority during filming.  Filmed in 1968, the requisite long-haired englishman & psychadelic scene were suitably shoehorned in.  Was also filmed before people realised that rather than increasing the sense of action, speeding up sections of film puts the viewer more in mind of a Woody Allen (or Benny Hill if you prefer) farce.  There are a couple of cardboard female roles & a twist at the end you could see coming before the film even starts.  Fun though, rubbish but fun.

The Princess Bride
An old favourite of mine.  Very funny family comedy adventure I look forward to watching with the boy for years to come, although I think he'd be a bit scared by it at the moment, bless him, and I doubt he'll be that impressed when I point out Nigel Tufnell every few minutes.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex
Proof that...
a - Olden days actors were prone to really hamming it up
b - Hollywood's appalling record at depicting historical events is not a recent phenomenon

Will not be watching again.

Bouillon

I bloody love Bouillon.


Take some skanky old veg from the bottom of the cupboard/fridge/discount aisle
Soften in butter/oil,
Chuck in some water & bouillon
Bring to boil
Leave to simmer for 30 mins
Blend


Result = tasty tasty soup

I bloody love Bouillon.

Except the vegan stuff, horrible glaring colour, suspect it contains radium, wouldn't touch it with yours.

My first ever blog post

So here it is, my first tentative step into the blogosphere.

New Year hangover gone and I'm looking for something new to do.  Not a resolution as such, but an excuse to stop me pootling around on the same old websites once the curtains are drawn, the boy's gone to bed & my better half is watching reruns of Sex & The City.

My intention is to post about once a week or so, it'll start off as a bit of a mish-mash of various thoughts/experiences/rants I want to share, but I'm sure it'll develop it's own flavour as time passes.


Thanks for reading,
Richard.