Saturday 29 August 2009

1790 Edward Kennedy, Volver and a working day

On this side of the Atlantic Edward Kennedy will always be regarded as the younger brother of an assassinated President and of a President in the making. He will also be remembered for the incident in which he left the scene of an accident in which the female passenger of his vehicle drowned. In the USA it is evident that he became of the most important politicians who stood the test of time, successfully championing many important social and economic developments in a bi partisan way: immigration, cancer research, health insurance, apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS care, civil rights, mental health benefits, children's health insurance, education and volunteering.

His partisanship over Irish Republicanism understandably had mixed reactions in the UK until it became evident that he was playing major role in the progress of the peace process and in this respect he should among the great men and women who have served the people from another land. The decision to award him an honorary knighthood seems small reward for some a significant contribution.

Having sorted out and got myself organised I had a good relaxed day on Thursday and this carried over to Friday as having gone to bed around midnight it was after 9 when I rose and 10.30 before I was ready to engage in activity. My inclination is to concentrate on catch up writing activity while paying some attention to Bryan Ferry on the Arts channel with a Roxy Music concert now, the 1982 Frejus concert with numbers such as Drug, Avalon and Dance away. This was Brian 27 years ago, followed just before with Dylanesque. I have seen the Frejus concert before but the Dylanesque I am not sure.

I have seen Bryan perform live twice and the Newcastle City Hall. A local man with aristocratic bearing and quirky mannerisms he hit the social big time and I enjoy a couple of his Long Play Records. I have not seen Dylanesque in which Bryan explains that when he heard Dylan on acoustic guitar while attending art school in Newcastle he decided it was not his kind of music and it was several years before he listened to Dylan on the electric guitar and went back to his original music and included Hard Rain on his first LP as a non political music experience. He then assembled a band and backing singers to create an album of Dylan music from a list of records made after listening to the Dylan catalogue. There was no plan about the order of the recordings on the nature of each recording except to cast the character of the song to suit his voice and musical approach. The third number, I forgot to note the opening to the programmes was Highway 61 revisited, not one of my favourites. Next is All I want to do and my reaction is that this is interesting Ferry, but does not work as Dylanesque, self indulgent and meriting greater thought and preparation. I change my mind a little with Times they are achanging. Gates of Eden followed. Missed the title of another. Watch Tower covered by Hendrix was next, I am not a Hendrix fan. Knocking on Heaven’s Door where I enjoyed the original and his take. As well as Simple Twist of Fate. I then got caught up with payments and accounts and did not note the finale songs before the programme ended.

The music will took priority over the Scotland Australian game which is being shown on BBC 2 in Scotland but which can also be watched on the Internet BBC sports site. I need coffee and then I must pay the credit card and assess finances for the coming months, a task which now means that I will have to say more no than yes or knew purchases do I do not want to do this.

I was given a DVD compilation of the series the 4400 which I have got around to viewing became engaged and completed the first disk only to find the second disk was a repeat of the first with only two disks covering the first years series and then three sets of four disks for the three annual series before the finale. I now have the information to see if a replacement can be obtained. Later I contacted the internet provider of the gift and they could not have been more helpful explaining the procedure to order a replacement and then return in the incomplete copy.

I also need to make enquiries and checks before deciding on a new printer even if the present one can be repaired. I need to consider if I should buy two so that if one goes wrong and cannot be repaired the other can then use the stock of cartridges.

I commenced work on the kitchen yesterday and sorted out what I needed to do get the wood compound floor back in place with needing to buy more material, although I may need finishing edging and glue.

The highlight of yesterday evening was Volver, the Almodovar and I much check to see where his latest with the gorgeous and talent Penelope Cruz is showing. I had wondered about Coco, the life of channel but with only early evening sowing I have given it a miss unless it is carry forward to a second week. I watched over lunch Herbie Goes bananas. And I have copied all the essential data and photos onto disk in case the machine does crash for good in the coming days and then ensure that I do so at least monthly intervals if not weekly. I have commenced to photograph the completed sets which not fill the floor of the front room- about 200 and over 4500 cards. Ten sets a day will take 20 days which is realistic but I will try and reduce this, although there is cricket from September 2nd and I need to undertake some fresh work. So now to money

It is 1.30 and I have made great progress. I was cheered up by the position of my bank account although this is no cause for not pursing the economy drive and restraint on new purchasers. The credit card site has had a make over and one is able to get a pie chart on expenditure for the month, quarter, half year and year and well as break down listing and suck like. This is helpful as part of the financial position review. The settlement of the outstanding credit card account for the month without incurring interest charges was quickly achieved but reminded for the problem of being with a printer having to make note of payment references and unable to printer out bank statements on line.

I therefore moved on to the printer. I thought for a moment it was OK but then the noise commenced and the warning of a paper blockage. I must check to see if it was purchased within a year in relation to the maker’s warranty. I believe it has expired but will have a further look later after lunch and doing some work on cutting the crucial piece to finish the kitchen flooring. I checked with IJT to see they had same printer in stock. Alas no. I then checked out cartridges and found that the system applies to a lot of Brother computers but none of these was available from Brother online. Amazon did not have one in stock and suggested another similar however I did another search and found a firm with one in stock where the price with VAT and Transit was £60 less than the original retail list price. However I had a problem with placing the order on the internet but after registering for an account managed to complete the purchase getting confirmation from both the office supplies company and the World Pay system. However I have received 4 confirmations from the supplier which is worrying although I only paid once!

I have not recorded food recently except for a reduction in weight. I particular enjoyed some spicy chicken wings last night which I had to cook for 35 mins so were hot hot. I also have some inexpensive smoked salmon bits to replace the prawns although I do have some prawn packs in store which I am using at one a week. The previous evening I enjoyed three lamb chops having bought three packs of 4 for £10 which works out at £2.50 for 3 and a four week supply, have 4 packs of the chicken, two others from Asda where the special offer worked out at £2 a pack and two others from M and S also part of a three for the price of two offer. While checking on this I made a little progress with hand sawing the last piece of kitchen flooring long ways. After a medium size portion of cereal for a late breakfast I was not hungry and therefore finished the portion of smoked salmon on pepper crackers followed in a moment by a cup of tea. However my late afternoon I also enjoyed a cup of soup and a small mackerel salad, celebrating the cutting of the wood and finishing the principal laying. Now there is the surround and some additional gluing of three areas of surface tares.

I saw Volver in theatre soon after it was released and decided it was the best Almodovar experienced so finding that it was being shown on Film Four on Thursday evening I could not. The film has its dark side than previously appreciated although it is rightly branded as a comedy noir. I also enjoyed more of the one liners especially one at the beginning when Penelope and her daughter visit their aunt in the home village. The pay respects at the grave her mother who dies with her father in a fire and mother explains to the daughter that it is the custom in the village to buy a plot for themselves and then tender the spot weekly throughout their lives as if it was a weekend country cottage.

The darkness is the basic story. Penelope regrets that did not have closer contact with her mother before her death having broken relations when she married and moved to Madrid. The reason is that she was raped (effectively) by her father and pregnant had married had severed relations blaming her mother for more realising what had been happening to her. At the beginning the film, unknowing of this background Penelope’s daughter accidentally kills her step father for attempting to sexually her.

Given that the aunt is nearly blind and is suffering from severe memory, Penelope is surprise how the woman is coping although she has the support of a neighbour who has been wrestling with cancer over recent years and whose mother disappeared on the same day as the parents died in the fire. She and her sister have the wish to know what to their mother four years ago. The other sister works for a TV company and in order for the other sister to be sent to the USA for a treatment possible cure she ahs to agree to appear on a programme and reveal the scandal that the husband killed in the fire was a notorious ladies man and that this was an important aspects of the parental disappearance. I cannot remember if she was aware that her mother had been having an affair with the man.

Back in Madrid Penelope has been asked to keep an eye on the restaurant which a neighbour has decided to sell because of the lack of business. Penelope hides her husbands body in the freezer until she can arrange its disposal. Meanwhile a film company is shooting nearby and the crew manager asks if the restaurant can provide refreshment during the day for a two week period which Penelope obliges with the help of friends and this is a great success so much so that Penelope decides to continue with the restaurant negotiating a deal on rent with the owner. She hires a van and with the help of a friend, an illegal immigrant who works as a prostitute she buries her husband in the freezer close to a river which he loved about 180 Kilometres from where she now lives.

The commitment to the business not she has become a single parent prevents her from attending the unreal of her aunt when she dies. But she is represented by her sister who works illegally as a hairdresser from her apartment home. While at the funeral she hears rumours that her mother’s ghost has been appearing and taking care of her aunt and when in the aunt’s house she thinks she has seen her mother who then hitches a ride in the boot of her car giving her a great shock when she arrives back and realises it is not a ghost.

The true story emerges that the mother finding out that her mothers was having an affair and that he had fathered a child by his daughter, causes the fire which kills him and his lover. She then spends the next four years caring for her sister who because of her disease accepts her sister as if she has never been away from the former family home and although she keeps to the house neighbours have heard one sister talking the other and some have seen her from outside the property. Although she is not know where her daughter lives she is passed to the customers as a refugee from Russia who cannot speak Spanish. The grand daughter is the next to meet the deceased woman after being required to be looked after by her mother overnight when she buries her husband. Finally she meets up with her mother and they re reconciled. They return to the village, stopping at the place where the husband is buried and a favourite family picnic spot.

Earlier the woman with cancer has asked Penelope that if she encounters the ghost of her mother to ask her if she knows what happened to her mother and under pressure she decides not raise the matter at the TV show losing the opportunity to go to the Houston USA for a cure. She has an operation in Spain which fails and has only short time to live. Penelope’s mother decides to stay in village and look after the daughter of the woman she burnt to death with her husband.

This is a film where women are the hero’s doing what has to be done to survive and protect their own. The script it witty and sharp, The camera work delicious especially on Penelope.

Just a little word about Herbie goes bananas. Herbie is the Volkswagen Beetle with attitude and a fighting spirit as well as romantic inclinations. It was the fourth and last of the original series until twenty five years later the concept as resurrected in 2005 and short lived. It is aimed at a children family audience but these days the age limit should be five years or over seventies!.

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