& two nights running. Hold the phone.

& I'm just back from going to the cinema. I've heard tell that there's a movie called The Dark Knight doing the rounds, not to mention a little film called Mamma Mia! and I do want to see both of them, honestly (although possibly not in that order, oy). No, today, I saw Summer Hours, and I'm not sure what I thought of it. Not much happens which, in itself, isn't a flaw. The plot, such that it is, revolves around a family of three grown-up children and their mother's estate. There's an element of intrigue, involving the relationship between their recently-deceased mother and her uncle, a renowned painter but it's really just alluded to.

The acting was rather good - Juliette Binoche and Charles Berling were impressive, as was Isabelle Sadoyen, as the elderly housekeeper. It's the biggest role in which I've seen Jérémie Renier and he was convincing as the youngest brother. I'm debating as to whether to mention that he's exceptionally good-looking but that might make me seem superficial.

Hey. Wait.


Nevertheless, I left the movie feeling unfulfilled. I'm not entirely sure what sort of point the movie was trying to make. There's a scene, towards the end, when the youngest generation have a party in the old house and it felt a little bit like the party scene in Love in Thoughts, but generations and leagues away.

& it just occurred to me that I'm wearing Blogger hoodie while typing this. Ooh. See what I did there?

& I just ate half a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream. The one with the ickle white chocolate polar bears in it? The environmentally friendly sort? The sort that's going to make me fat if I continue to imbibe it at this rate.

& I watched Stardust (2007) yesterday. I love that movie and not least because it's based on a novel by one of my very favourite authors, Neil Gaiman. It has some scenery-chewing turns by the likes of Robert De Niro, Peter O'Toole and Michelle Pfeiffer, a Who's Who? of British television actors (Julian Rhind-Tutt, Nathaniel Parker, Mark Williams, David Walliams, Ricky Gervais), our very own David Kelly, as well as some beautiful young things, Ben Barnes, Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Henry Cavill and Sienna Miller (all of whom also act). It's a charming movie, based on a charming book, with a Take That song on the soundtrack and I am easily pleased. Watching it, though, I couldn't help but notice that every fantasy looks a little bit Lord of the Rings. At first, I just assumed it was because everyone's decided to start filming in New Zealand, but apparently not? (Who knew that Hertfordshire could look so vast?). Looking back on it, even The Princess Bride (1987) looks a little bit LotR and it was filmed in the Burren. King Arthur (2004) is another impressive-looking movie but, to the best of my knowledge, Wicklow doesn't actually look like that in real life (with neither the snow or the women wearing strips of leather and blue face paint).

& I still don't know what the hell I'm doing here but I'm off to an OK start.

[shuffling feet]

-if patroklos was a popstar? (A line from some writing that meant something once and means something else now)

& yet another attempt to indulge in a spot of grown-up blogging. Hopefully, this one won't be like those diaries I tried to keep as a youngster. There would be a flurry of activity. I would be obsessive in my writing for a month (or more, or less) and my interest would gradually wane. The only long-term commitment I've ever had to a diary has been my secure, not-open-to-the-public LiveJournal but that is a story for another time.

& I have half an idea that I'll blog about books I've read (except I have no time to read) or movies that I've seen (but I've an appalling taste in films) or music that I like. I may even write about writing (it's one of those things I pretend I don't do).

& it will be watch this space.