Smokey the Magnificent

1. What was your favourite moment in Star Wars? A New Hope, I mean, not the entire trilogy (or two trilogies, I could say, but if anyone’s favourite moment actually occurred in the new trilogy I’d have to ban you from the blog, and I’m not sure WordPress supports that function.)
2. Last night I started reading a library book, selected according to my new whatever-the-snortlepig-pulls-off-the-shelf method: Chocky, by John Wyndham. The synopsis on the back cover and Chapter 1 conspired to impart an ominous sense of dread - it’s about a boy communicating with an alien - and I spent a semi-sleepless night cosseting my heeby-jeebies. This afternoon under the light of the kindly sun I read the rest, only to discover it was positively benign. The alien ended up saying a poignant farewell to the boy and promising to give flashes of inspiration to future scientists in order to spur mankind on to achieving renewable energy sources. I mean, really.
3. I saw The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus the other night. Somewhat to my surprise, I liked it very much. Terry Gilliam is the accursed director of Tidelands, an arty and horrific film centred largely around human taxidermy which, with the possible exception of Salad Fingers*, is the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen. So I spent most of the film with my neuroses cocked, as it were, for the first signs of the grotesque. Fortunately it turned out to be more or less seemly. Still Gilliam, of course; bizarre; but by no means grotesque. And the visuals were stunning. Horrible phrase really, “stunning visuals”. To my mind it conjures up images of boringly greyish CGI armies, which wasn’t what Dr Parnassus was like at all. The wagon/caravan/theatre thing the crew travelled and performed in reminded me a little of Pan’s Labyrinth - the same texture and messiness - but more bohemian, theatrical and I can fondly imagine, just a tad steampunk.
4. The odd part, of course, was seeing Heath Ledger, especially as he made his first appearance being hanged. This affected me for a moment until I remembered that a) we watch dead actors onscreen all the time and b) I’m not really a fan of Heath Ledger. I mean, he’s good, certainly, but I don’t have a Thing about him. Not a faux-personal connection like I feel for my favourite actors - Cate Blanchett, for instance. So the film carried on. And just as I was thinking that Ledger’s performance had distinct shades of Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp came on to take his place. (For those not in the know, Heath Ledger died during filming and Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law came in to finish his scenes.) Props to the writers - if Heath Ledger hadn’t died, the film still would have worked with the substitutions. Fortunately he’d finished filming all his real-world scenes, so Gilliam picked a different actor for each time the character entered the fantasy world, and the changes were quite plausibly if vaguely explained away as having something to do with someone’s psyche.
5. Mention should also be made of Lily Cole, who played a convincingly not-quite-adult fifteen-year-old and had disturbing manga eyes. I liked her.
6. Mother has returned from London, with swole and beblistered feet from walking up on England’s golden shore. She brought back many gifties, including a teatowel for myself which advertises a particular brand of tea as a Cure for the Droops. I like it. And you know the wondrous thing? While in Oxford, quite by accident, she and my sister happened upon a steampunk exhibition!
7. The pig has taken to adding “y” to the ends of words. Like “eggy” or “moosey” or “horsey”. Until now, I had thought this was a tactic only adopted by older children.

* “Salad Fingers?”, I can hear you saying. “I haven’t heard of that. I wonder what it can be. I will naively Google it.” Gentle Reader: don’t. They will find you later skrivelling in a corner, attempting to pour Drano through a hole in your skull.