The List Gets Longer...

A Field in England - yet another thing that's critically acclaimed that I just can't even pretend to get.  It was flashy and gory, which I liked but I'm not sure I can say much more. Hmmm.

Lately there seems to be a lot of things that I'm adding to the list. Am I dumbing down?  Maybe.  It just seemed to me to be the kind of film that's played in a dark room in the corner of an art gallery: if that's where I'd seen it I wouldn't've lasted two minutes.

Next time I hear of it it will be top of all the films of 2013 lists...

One of the Main Ones

I saw my first Pinter play - Pinter's one of the main ones right? I didn't get it.  It was the Hothouse - The John Simm / Simon Russell Beale one, so about as high quality as a cast gets - didn't get it. Didn't get the point of it, didn't really get the plot (although I think that that perhaps is the point of it), didn't like any of the characters.  Can someone explain it please?  Or should I have just started with the Birthday Party, rather than being lured in by a starry, starry cast?

What I did get was the final part in the Cornetto Trilogy:  Three Colours Mint or whatever it's called.  There'll be reviews all over everywhere for it this weekend so I'll just say it was a lot of fun and leave it at that.

Talking of films, just seen the trailer for Ender's Game. I'm currently reading the novel. It's actual proper sci-fi. Not certain I've ever actually read proper deep space science fiction before (I tried - lots of people seem to rate William Gibson, Philip K Dick and Iain M Banks, didn't get more than 30 pages into any of them before I dismissed them), I was pretty embarrassed about reading it with its planets on the cover - had to hide it inside a copy of Fifty Shades - but I'm quite enjoying it and looking forward to the Hollywoodisation of it.  Guessing it will be a 12a, everything's a 12a nowadays, all the gritty edges taken off films so that the Man can sell more tickets. Boo.  Still holding out for an 18 cert for Catching Fire, think I might be out of luck.  Sadface.  

All My Basques in One Exit

I've just been to the Basque Country.  I tried blogging whilst I was away but my technical ineptness left me floundering so I spent my time drinking Rioja and eating pintxos instead.  So guess I'm just going to have to chat about rioja and pintxos:

We tried to get to La Rioja but made the mistake of trying to go from San Sebastian, a place which just isn't designed for the budget traveller.  Someone there thought that 245 Euros was an acceptable amount for a day trip to three vineyards. For the record it isn't. Not when the wine itself averages about 3 Euros a bottle and there were vineyards within walking distance of Zarautz, where we were staying for the bulk of the week. The vineyards were Tzakoli, a quasi-fizzy white wine, rather than tasty tasty Rioja, but they had pretty good views and enough grapes to tick a box. For the record, when we got to Bilbao we found a Rioja tour for 20 Euros, so if you're in the region...

Do you know what pintxos are? They're the mid-point between tapas and meals and just hang out at the bar all day, waiting to be munched.  When we first arrived they seemed like the greatest invention ever; by the end of the week the novelty had warn off somewhat.  Man cannot live on jamon Iberica alone.


So yeah, we based ourselves in Zarautz and bobbed along the Basque coast to a scattering of places (Deba, Getaria even San Sebastian) which, whilst superficially touristy, seemed off the Brits abroad radar.  We topped and tailed the trip in Bilbao and Guggenheimed it right up; Bilbao's a city that's better in the sun - I'll tell you that for free.