Quick Seasonal Update

Image by givingnot@rocketmail.com via FlickrThis might be expanded at some point but as it is Christmas Eve, there are more pressing things to do. Still, I don't want to forget to put a couple of things in this diary: The Christmas Games Night and a very good day's birding. I should also mention that during the last minute Christmas shopping I managed to fit in two more films: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and "Puss in Boots".

 Games night (which had been shifted to Tuesday as the only day everyone could make) saw the whole gang arrive with games, hats and quantities of choc and other nibbles.













We played some raucous party and dexterity games including Word on the Street, Monty Python Fluxx, Ntropy, Cairo and Pass the Bomb. A good time was had by all I believe, certainly by me, although it will be a long time before I fully recover from Petra Pan's wholehearted interpretation of baracking the opposition in Word on the Street.

Birding was rather more successful than of late. Although we failed to find the Snow Bunting at Widewater again, we did see another Black Redstart along with the usual suspects (Sparrows, Teal, Little Egret, Mallards, Little Grebe, Swan...). We then returned to the Burpham area and this time found the wonderful Rough-legged Buzzard along with Grey Partridge, Kestrels and Common Buzzard. We then found Bewick Swans along with Canada and Greylag Geese and Deer at Amberley and finally had magnificent views of a hunting Short-Eared Owl skimming low over the fields near Rodmell as the shadows lengthened.

Enjoyed the last two films of the year and will shortly be issuing the shortlist for this years film of the year and other "Timbo" awards to interested parties. The award anouncements proper will be on New Years Eve.


If anyone other than me actually reads this "diary" may I wish you a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS or any other winter festivity or holiday you enjoy at this cold dark time of year (at least in this part of this hemisphere it is). ...and if no-one else is reading it: HAPPY CHRISTMAS, ME!

Julian Barnes' Booker-winning "A Sense of an Ending" - from my Goodreads comments

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes




I'm not sure I'm qualified to review this, as it has already been mused over by many real critics both because it is by Julian Barnes and because it was the winner of a slightly controversial "Booker". I think the controversy was more to do with the quality of the rest of the shortlist than any doubts of Barnes' worth though. I must admit I felt that it was perhaps a one-horse race given Barnes reputation for literary fiction against a genre shortlist of relative unknowns. Of the quality of those others, we shall see, but I am now convinced that this was a worthy winner, not just as a consolation for losing in previous years with better books.

I started reading him because I was intrigued by the title of Flaubert's Parrot, (having at the time just read Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education) but I went on to read several others. However, when History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters was stolen, with everything else I was carrying, in Amsterdam many years ago, I never replaced it and did not return to JB for some years.

Sense is a slim volume but actually took a while to read, not because the writing is difficult but because it is a thought-provoking. At least, it is certainly thought-provoking for someone of my age and sex because there are so many things here that resonate with my own experiences of life and love. It is full of observations which merit turning over in the mind, exploring and examining. Its themes are big ones: memory, guilt, redemption or its lack, desire for closure or absolution.

Beautifully written, it is a polished little gem of regret, melancholia and acceptance. It was a reminder to me of one of the powerful reasons for reading: Our strangely intimate, and sometimes supportive, relationship with the author, who may talk of things to us that we would not speak of to anyone else or of which we are perhaps no longer able to speak to the people who would understand.



View all my reviews

How do you pronounce Amyitis?

Image via WikipediaGames night saw most of the regulars involved in seasonal events elsewhere and it was just the Tuesday duo of myself and Crabro who sat down at the table.

We considered another game of Age of Empires, which we have been enjoying, and we also had a look at Steam which I'm sure we will want to play more than once, but eventually we decided to draw a line under the recent spate of plays of "The Works" bargain loot by playing the last unplayed game of the batch: Amyitis

Undaunted by the fact that neither of us knew how to pronounce its name we struggled for quite a while with learning the rules (at least a two cup of tea problem) but once the game was underway felt that at its core it wasn't actually all that complex. In fact any given turn for either player consists of deciding whether to move x steps on the Mesopotamia sub-board or to "Recruit" by turning one of six cards over. The only other option is a pass.

Naturally it is a bit more complex once you take into account the different destinations on the sub-board, the "planting" on the Gardens of Babylon board this can entail, and the specialisms of the "recruits", but essentially it comes down to two options or pass.

At the end of the game Crabro worked out that the options we would optimally choose in our last turns would inevitably lead to an honourable draw. Unfortunately I noticed that this was not the case and my conscience would not allow me to ignore that a final scoring of the temples area of the Babylon board would decide the tie. I hadn't worked this through and when we did it decided it in favour of Crabro by one point. Had I known this I'm afraid I would still have felt it necessary to point out that we hadn't finished though, so I must grin and bear the loss. Crabro generously pointed to the fact it was a learning game and that the tie was fair but, as I have pointed out before, I am quite happy to lose (and do all the time especially with my Frankenstein's monster: the Goldstone Gamers) as long as I feel I have been a competitive part of the game.

On occasions I have been involved in a badly taught game where I have been one step behind the action all the time ignorant of nuances of the game which had been withheld and  I have found this a miserable experience. Losing a game that I have enjoyed and contested keenly though, is no problem at all. This one I definitely enjoyed and I'm pleased to say, that with three exceptions (Ming Dynasty, Ys and Royal Palace), we have got from "The Works" a solid stash of bargain games we enjoy and to which we will return. Not that those three could be said to be bad games either but we just didn't enjoy the experience of playing them ourselves.

Bike Encounter

Image via WikipediaNo birding this week. Rain stopped play and so it was time for another of the irregular meetings of the "Railway Film Club".

This time we started with something also dear to our hearts but shockingly with no steam trains in sight: A history of the Tour de France. Despite the extraordinary wooden delivery of the wonderful Sean Kelly which set me giggling every time he introduced a section, this was a gripping saga of extremes: both heroism and cheating - although "Le Dopage" in my view has to be put into the context of an almost unbelievably tough physical challenge and the problem that from the early days "everyone was doing it". I imagine that a sportsman at this level does not want to start the race knowing he has no chance of winning and if he believes everyone else is using performance enhancement..? One can perhaps understand a little but not condone: Everyone wants this, the biggest annual sporting event in the world, to be clean and nobody wants the result to be announced by a tribunal in Paris a month after the event.

Image via WikipediaThe whiff of scandal has always clung a little to the wheeltracks of the tour and as far back as the second race, there were allegations that the winner had been holding onto motor cars. Since the race continued overnight it must have been very difficult to police and there were a number of disqualifications including the winner (also winner of the very first, 1903, race, Garin). The Tour faltered, then as in more modern times a mixture of passionate competition and skullduggery, as it was said that some riders had been beaten up and others had traveled by train (ah at last a Railway Film Club connection). However, it was to survive these grueling early days of single-speed bicycles with wooden rimmed wheels which had to be repaired by the riders rather than the slick support teams following in fleets of cars that we know today.

Image via WikipediaOne of the greatest winners of them all, and a household name even amongst non-cycling fans, is Lance Armstrong and his return from battling Cancer to a record number of wins is legend. I was on the Champs Elysees for one of his triumphal arrivals but I also recall that the French never quite believed he was clean despite the fact that the amount of time he spent in the lead meant that he was probably the most tested rider ever.

Image via WikipediaThe closest Tour in my memory was decided on the "Champs" in favour of another American returning from adversity (Greg LeMond, who had been shot in a hunting accident) but there have been many memorable tours and some legendary characters and rivalries like that between "Maitre Jacques" Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor which divided France.  In recent years, following the vanquishing of Bernard "The Badger" Hinault, the French presence has has waned in favour of America, Spain, Italy and Germany. Happily with "G", Brad and "The Manx Missile" competing strongly, the British interest and successes have been greater than ever and this year we took the World Championship and the coveted Green Jersey. It was marvelous to look back over the history of this extraordinary race, and its larger than life characters especially with so much to look forward to in cycling in the coming Olympic year.

After lunch, the Railway Film Club returned to a more appropriate film, one steeped in steam and smoke and the roar of the passing boat train express: Brief Encounter.
 Brief Encounter (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)
This is of course a classic British film, full of repressed passion, stiff upper lips and making the best of things. Coming as it did, at the very end of the War it was still infused with the values of those dark years, of "we can take it" and "smiling through" and indeed the lights are on only because Carnforth (where it was shot) was far enough removed from London to be allowed to lift the blackout.

It was made by the team of writer/producer Noel Coward and director David Lean, who had previously collaborated on wartime morale boosters "In Which We Serve" and "This Happy Breed" along with actress Celia Johnson. The story has its origins in a short play by Coward "Still Life" and while the film takes us home with Laura to meet her kind but unexciting husband and her almost invisible children as well as out into the town, it is the single location of the tea room on the station that is the stage for most of the drama and a little humour and side plot courtesy of Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey.

David Lean (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)The luminous black and white photography with its atmospheric steam, and train lights flashing in the darkness, is photographed by distinguished cinematographer Robert Krasker (Henry V, Third Man etc) and no matter how alien the clipped speech and restrictive moral values have become one still gets caught up in the world of the film and moved and even shocked by the agonies that essentially decent Laura goes through as she is torn apart by her love for and duty to her family and her passion for the handsome doctor.

Howard is agelessly ruggedly good looking and I could happily believe he was for example forty but in fact he was just 29 when this was made while Celia Johnston was eight years older. In contrast to the mild persona on screen in real life Howard was a bit of a hell-raiser and famous toper.

The film really belongs to Johnson as she has so much to do with so little, the unforgiving camera often on her face for long periods as she has to re-invent the techniques of silent cinema, with her own voice-over providing the commentary while she mentally confesses the whole story to her husband.

Both actors were products of RADA and Johnston most experienced as a stage actress. Howard would apparently come to the set not knowing his lines but learning them as he went through rehearsals.

However it was achieved, the result is a masterpiece totally of its time but still with an enormous emotional power. No matter how many times it is copied and parodied, when you watch the original and, like poor Laura, are storm-tossed by the passionate power of rushing steam and soaring Rachmaninoff, it takes you over and you can only judge it on its own terms as an extraordinary piece of intense emotional cinema. One testimony to its enduring legacy was a scene I saw just a few days ago when Laura's moment of despair and madness was mirrored exactly in "The Deep Blue Sea". Homage to Lean from Trevor Davies.

Lean, of course went on to make his name in enormous colourful epics like Zhivago and Lawrence but should also be revered for this earlier little black and white gem.

End of Term

Headed to my hometown again today for what may be the final films of the year (at least in cinemas). They were both films of whimsical old-fashioned charm and were both set in France.

I first saw Romantics Anonymous, at the Duke of Yorks, and it was a very nice, sweet little film. It won't be troubling the jury for my film of the year I'm sure but I had a happy smile on my face for most of the film. I felt it tapered off a bit at the end and could perhaps have been trimmed slightly but I shall be recommending it to relatives and friends who like an enchanting "romcom" without too much fear they will miss out on a happy ending.

It looks nice too, especially all those lovely chocolates filmed in a couple of genuine chocolatiers. Not often you get a film confection as charming as this without it being compromised by the heavy-footed formulaic writing of someone like Richard Curtis or a Hollywood studio making it overly contrived and saccharin.

I followed Romantics (after some failed Christmas shopping around Brighton and a long and rather damp walk), with Hugo, which has similarities: It's set in France and it has an old-fashioned charm.

Hugo was directed by Marty Scorcese, a bit of a departure for him as it is a family film (but not just a children's film). It was also a bit of a surprise to find him making it in 3d and singing the praises of the technology. Mark Kermode makes some interesting points about why he likes the 3d in Hugo although he detests it elsewhere (and says so whenever he gets the slightest chance). Anyway I can't comment on the 3d version as I haven't seen it. Purely because of timing in this case, I watched the 2d version.

The film looks good and is certainly an elegy to cinema itself but I wasn't so wholly overwhelmed as some people seem to have been. Sacha-Baron Cohen's turn as a damaged policeman (actually the "station inspector", but dressed like a gendarme) is truly weird and there was a little side plot with Frances de la Tour and Richard Griffiths that didn't seem to add anything or go anywhere. The look of it, with all its attention to the inner clockwork is striking and there's no doubting it's the work of a top director but...why am I not completely blown away? Perhaps because I didn't see it in 3d as Marty says I should. Also there didn't seem to be an awful lot of going on, most of the time which struck me as odd for a family film. Will children have the attention span to cope with the slow development of a plot about the early history of film?

Well it seems to be doing well so hopefully I'm wrong about that and whole families will adore it. It's an enchanting film in many ways and there's a great deal to enjoy. It's set in 20s/30s Paris and I believe I spotted James Joyce at one point and certainly saw the celebrated gypsy guitarist with the maimed hand, Django Reinhardt.

Two charming films anyway: Not bad for one day.

Prawn Crackers but not Animal Crackers

SPOILERS AHEAD

Possibly the last film night of the year and we decided to include a meal as we used to on our earlier fish and chip film Fridays.

This time we decided to opt for a Chinese take-away but, following a less-than-clever decision about transport, arrived at the restaurant as the rain came on again and so decided on the rather more expensive option of dining in. This made a pleasant change though and it was relaxing to nibble prawn crackers, sip a Tiger and reminisce about the more colourful characters amongst our ex-colleagues.

After a good meal we had to venture out in the rain again and our brief but hurried journey saw us very soggy, although Arthur's constant chastising of himself for not taking the car kept me amused. Once back and warmed up we cued up the first film of the evening and our second Marx Brothers effort.

Horse Feathers (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)This time it was the College-based mayhem of Horse Feathers. In this, Groucho's Quincy Adams Wagstaff is for some inexplicable reason made president of Huxley college where his son (Zeppo!) has taken up permanent residence as an amorous student wooing the "College widow". The plot, such as it is, revolves around the need for Huxley to do better at football (clearly much more important than education) and the kidnapping, spying and skullduggery that beating rival Darwin necessitates. Along the way a case of mistaken identity only Groucho could fall prey to, sees speakeazy bootlegger Chico and dog-catcher Harpo recruited to the team. No Margaret Dumont in this one but several musical numbers which see Zeppo crooning, Harpo harping, Chico playing the piano and Groucho the guitar. The climax is a very unlikely football match and along the way includes the classic "password scene" so Arthur now knows why, whenever I pressed the intercom button to buzz his flat I used to say "Swordfish".

The first of the main features was another Western. We are still mining the gold of Arthur's Brighton Essoldo memories and this time we watched the classic "Day of the Outlaw".

Neither of us have seen it many times before and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a tense and claustrophobic film which initially seems to be revolving round Robert Ryan's villain in a confrontation about the coming of barbed wire fences to the formerly open range. In this typical showdown between cattlemen and farmers it doesn't hurt Blaise Starrett (Ryan) that he is about to make a widow of the woman he desires. This plot is suddenly swept to one side by the arrival of a desperate band of deserters and renegades just about being kept under control by "Captain" Buhn, memorably played by the larger than life Burl Ives. Buhn is wounded and if he dies the tenuous hold he has over these rapists, looters and sadists is going to be gone. One incredible scene has these animals dancing with the town's women, the simmering tensions and hatreds almost tangible. The denouement allows the redemption of some of the main characters and involves some extraordinary scenes in the Wintery wilderness surrounding the backwater town at the end of the trail as the gang try to make their escape with the proceeds of their earlier villainy with a troop of cavalry on their trail. An unusual and very well-made western. The cinematography was by Russell Harlan who was involved in several other of my favourite films including To Kill a Mockingbird and Rio Bravo. It was directed by Andre de Toth.

The final film of the evening was another of Arthur's Essoldo memories, this time from 1960: Who was that Lady. This is a screwball comedy with a highly unlikely premise but a likeable cast. A young-looking Tony Curtis and Dean Martin (who occasionally bursts into song, having released the title-song on record as noted in the credits) play opposite the ditsy Janet Leigh. Martin, who writes TV shows, concocts an alibi for Curtis (a chemistry professor!) who has been caught kissing a student by his wife. Unfortunately the lengths Martin goes to, to substantiate the fib that Curtis is FBI does not go unnoticed by the real Bureau and subsequently also the CIA.

Chaos ensues but somehow they get away with it. I can't help feeling that Curtis' cheating deserved more punishment but aside from some murky sixties morality it is fluffy fun. Directed by George Sidney, who has a long list of well-known musicals on his C.V. The original music was by Andre Previn and there are some good character turns by others in the cast notably James Whitmore as a long-suffering FBI agent and Larry Storch as an inept foreign spy attempting to interrogate Curtis.

The evening was rounded off by my showing a clip of the World Cinema awards featuring the career of Isabelle Huppert, an actress we both hugely admire. In her speech she mentioned one of the occasions when I saw her in the flesh: As Mary Queen of Scots in the Schiller play at the National.

Three for two

Age of Empires III for two players again that is.
Crabro and I had another very enjoyable game of the so-called "Glen Drover's Empires: The Age of Discovery" and for some reason found it very satisfying.

I'm not sure what it is about this type of game (worker-placement) that I like, but happily Crabro feels the same way. In my case, the warmth I feel for this box of goodies is probably helped by the fact that I haven't lost to Crabro yet and this time it was quite a convincing winning margin.

After lunch, things went a little downhill as Crabro had brought with him a game he has been waiting for for some time: Ys. Unfortunately, just as we have both taken whole-heartedly to AoE3, we were equally unanimous in finding Ys a chore that we weren't going to wish to undertake again.




It's hard to say why we took such an instant dislike: It comes with little bags full of coloured gems and has an unusual an interesting mechanism involving coloured wooden cylinders with a number ranging from 0-4 on one end. These are placed as bids, some face down, some face up, in various areas of a pie-chart city map. It is unavoidable that board games (other than pure story-telling or party games) are going to have to have a foundation of mathematics. In some ways my enjoyment seems to depend on how well this is concealed beneath the theme and novel mechanisms. In this case the maths was showing perhaps a bit too much.

In the two-player game, a dummy player is added (we tend to call these Dirk after the dummy in Dirk Henn's Alhambra). In this case Dirk gave us a sound thrashing but to my surprise I came a clear second when my impression had been that Crabro was placing his pieces much more wisely.

A very good morning but an afternoon which, while still pleasant, could perhaps have been better spent with a different game. Ys it seems is destined to move on from Crabro's collection very quickly.

Rooftrouser's Festive Film Fun

Image via WikipediaIn this day and age we are not shackled to the schedules of the Beeb and ITV, we've all got DVD players and the internet haven't we?

So, given the freedom to pick pretty much any film that didn't spontaneously combust in its can in 1919 what are the best seasonal films for the Christmas cinephile? 

Well, while a finely honed critical sense is a treasurable asset in most circumstances, Christmas might be time to lay that aside for a bit and go with the glow. Whether you are religious or not, the spirit of Christmas is something worth cherishing and seeking out in films, some of which might otherwise be quite rightly dismissed as schmaltz.




Jack Frost (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)So far this year, the television has provided me with the surprisingly good Bill Murray vehicle "Scrooged", the violent sadistic streak of "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and the frankly risible Michael Keaton film "Jack Frost" in which dead dad returns to life as a rather unconvincing snowman and changes his son's life by teaching him an ice hockey trick-shot. OK I admit I enjoyed it on some yuletide level having had no expectations of it in the first place and using it as background to Christmas card writing.











The essential duo, which I watch most years are "Die Hard" and "It's a Wonderful Life" and they are both worth a re-visit if you haven't seen them for a while. You might be surprised at just how much Christmas is interwoven into the very fabric of Die Hard and just how dark a film "It's a Wonderful Life" is, as Jimmy Stewart faces up to responsibility and the inevitable compromises of adult life while letting his young dreams slip away. It's a fine example of a film that found a following despite initial reactions (Like another favourite of mine "Blade Runner") but in this case the flop killed the career of its director and the production company.
Image via Wikipedia
It's a wonderful film, as is pretty much universally acknowledged now. Perhaps a film about bankers is not ideal viewing in this day and age though.

Scrooged (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

Before I get on to family films I would also like to add Billy-Bob Thornton's despicable "Bad Santa" to my watch list. Well worth a look if you aren't too easily offended.

One annual treat from the childhood of my siblings and I, was the showing of "Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol". Unlikely to be shown this year but last time I looked was available on YouTube albeit in several separate sections. While Magoo remains his myopic and grumpy self, with some typical slapstick at either end of the film, the main section, a performance of a musical version of the tale with Magoo as Ebenezer, is a surprisingly faithful interpretation of the book.

I confess to liking the Henson version, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" , as well but according to Dr K that clashes with "Gremlins" for which I'm afraid I also have a soft spot, so that is going to be a difficult recording decision.

Miracle on 34th Street (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)I've never been a huge fan of "Miracle on 34th Street" but watched the Attenborough version again last year. Actually I suppose I do like it and, unlike Mark Kermode, like the older version even more, but with my flashing, music-playing reindeer-antlered hat on, the end is a little too subtle for my mince pie-stuffed seasonal sensibilities.

For once I don't want hints, I want his reindeer to suddenly whisk him up into the sky with a "Ho ho ho" that rocks the rooftops.





White Christmas, the song, is one I never tire of and so I would have to include "White Christmas" the film (although I am aware that isn't where the song originated). The final scene is a Christmas classic although the film is probably an example of the "down the sherry and leave your critical senses outside" Christmas film. It's the same age as me so it's bound to creak a bit.

Die Hard (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

Speaking of age, if you are old enough to remember the "Likely Lads", there's a seasonal special and another Christmas sketch which can be found on YouTube as part of a Christmas compilation hosted by dear old Dixon (Jack Warner).
 
The Muppet Christmas Carol (Image via RottenTomatoes.comAnother film I may watch again this Christmas, but because it has Christmas connotations for me rather than as its theme, is "Guys and Dolls". I love the Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando version and have done ever since I first saw it, late one Boxing Day night with my Dad, as, full to bursting with good food, we settled contentedly in front of the box with some strange cocktails of our own devising.

The film has some great dialogue in the style of Runyon's Broadway and some terrific songs. The cast is perfect for me. I know it has its critics but they should sip some Williams and Humbert's Walnut Brown first and lighten up.

Speaking of lightening up, "The Apartment" goes in the opposite direction but is a superb Billy Wilder film with Jack Lemmon on top form.

"Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" has little do with Christmas (apart from the title) until the final scene, if my memory serves, but it does have some haunting Ryuchi Sakamoto music which makes gives it a character of its own whether or not you like David Bowie's performance (I do, so there).

"Trading Places", is a prime seasonal offering from the days when Eddie Murphy was a top box office draw and infectiously seemed to be really enjoying himself. Good cast to back him up too, including fellow SNL star Dan Ackroyd and the late great Denholm Elliot.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" probably belongs higher up this list and is one of the few films I've seen (again) in 3d and thought it added something worthwhile. One of the only musicals of recent years with a song that sticks in my mind. Mischevious, novel and inventive: It is typical of the dark, gothic imagination of Tim Burton...except that it isn't dark at all really: It is fun and it has heart.

I wasn't expecting to like "The Grinch" but I mostly did. Although Jim Carey definitely outstayed his welcome in my cinema-going life he can be very good and while I never really took to Seuss as the Americans seem to, it's colourful Christmas fun nevertheless.

"The Man Who Came to Dinner" I remember as a wonderful film with a top cast (Bette Davis and Jimmy Durante!) and relish-able dialogue. Unfortunately I don't have a copy and it never seems to be broadcast these days. I would love to see that one again. 

Finally, a fun family film which, although it isn't about Christmas, embodies the pantomime spirit of magic, fun, witches and romance: "Stardust". Written by Jane Goldman, the ferret-loving missus of TV demon Jonathan Ross, it has some big stars giving memorable panto performances including Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Image via WikipediaStill playing in cinemas at the moment is of course "Arthur Christmas", an atypical Aardman offering which I've written about elsewhere. Of course any of the previous Aardman or Pixar animations would make for happy family viewing at Christmas as would some of the classic Disney fantasies amongst which I would happily include the recent "Tangled" and the live action plus animation "Enchanted".

Older fantasies like "Labyrinth" and "Neverending Story" and big, over the top, adventures like "King Kong", "Star Wars", "Back to the Future", "Big" or "Lord of the Rings" would also be fine accompaniments to a postprandial sherry and choc or two as far as I was concerned and I have to say that as "Serenity" is on over Christmas that gets my vote as film of the season. Despite what you may have thought of Cowboys and Aliens the combination of western and science fiction is an idea of genius... Well, if you are me that is. It's not really Christmas family viewing I suppose.

The Long Kiss Goodnight (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

I have mostly kept my films of this year out of this list as like Dr K I will be making that announcement in a week or two, and in any case some are not yet available on DVD.

Oh and the Harry Potter saga, including the most recent and final effort, would also make excellent family viewing over the season of course.

Kermode's Christmas Television Film Picks

Agitating

Last Saturday games night of the year with the Goldstone Gamers and a couple of shorter lighter games instead of one bigger one.

This time we played Airships and Maori, two conveniently small and attractively blue boxes that I wish I'd known we were playing so I didn't have to lug the bigger heavier La Citta on the bus.


Never mind, when its my turn to supply the games I like to give a bit of choice and I was happy to play any of these recent bargain purchases from "The Works"

We started with Airships and some typical complaints about randomness from the non-gamegeek lady of the house. She likes to provide a shaker for any dice used and some way into the game went to get a larger one in order to "agitate the dice more".

I still can't get my brain round why more agitation should favour higher scores but inevitably we had a sequence of high rolls after this which she felt supported her theories.



I managed a number of failures to obtain the target cards but thought I could at least equal the leader Paultro if I built the final part of the Hindenburg, after I had twice failed in this, Paultro succeeded, finishing the game and giving him a big lead. If I had taken it I would have score a respectable double-figure (17) total but as it was it pushed Paultro's score up to 25 while I languished in third (I think) on a dismal 9. The dice-bucket lady had meanwhile accumulated a reasonable 14 with a number of VPs on her improvements as well as from smaller airships.

We then moved on to Maori and my having played it before proved a distinct advantage this time it seemed. I had two completed leis, the greatest number of boats and was well furnished with island huts for a total in the 60s. The others were nowhere near but they had learned from this initial game and the second game was much closer. In fact I was very surprised to learn that I had won it...by a single point.


Another very enjoyable games night and one with the huge advantage of coming with lots of wonderful home cooked food. I look forward to the restart of Saturday gaming in the New Year.

Singing No-owl, No-owl

Well it is the season for it.

Today our birding expedition took us to part of the South Downs Way and the banks of the Ouse but the main focus in the afternoon was the Short-Eared Owls which had been seen in the area.

Perhaps we were too early or too late, perhaps the concentrated group there had wiped out the local vole population so they had to move on to larders new... at any rate they were not to be seen.

The day was far from a failure though: In fact the weather was so glorious that the spirits could not be lowered from where they floated in the cloudless blue...which was shared by a hunting Kestrel.

We climbed up from Rodmell, and the home of Virginia Woolf, onto the ridge of the Downs and part of the 90 mile South Downs Way. Before long we descended again by a farm where the cows were advancing on some poor defenseless brassicas in a long front like a relentless army pushing their line forward. Sharing part of the field with the cows were some Red-legged Partridges.

Eventually we arrived at the little round-towered 12th century church of St Peter at Southease, which had kindly been left open, unlike so many these days, and I was able to polish up memories of my youth when I frequently visited little country churches while cycling round the Sussex countryside.

Unfortunately there were no little guides to add to my collection but there was a useful visitor's aid explaining the main points of interest of this fascinating little church. It has a distinctive look, being one of only three round-towered churches in Sussex, another being Piddinghoe further down the valley and which I certainly did explore in the long ago on my faithful Rudge.

Sadly there hadn't been an awful lot of birdlife to hold our interest on the way (Jackdaws, a pair of Cormorant flying over, the Kestrel and some common smaller birds) so we arrived rather early for lunch.

The benches outside the church were such an inviting place to stop that we moved lunch forward however, and sat looking over a curious row of very red trees which my bird-guide believed to be a species of Willow. The weather was very bright and sunny and at that stage of the day quite mild which made sitting outside the church chatting amiably over a fairly large picnic quite idyllic.

It did get colder later though and as we strolled down to the river and along the bank at the place where the Virginia Woolf eventually took her own life the wind was more noticeable and decidedly chilling.

There we saw a Little Egret (we had seen another earlier), a Grey Heron, his odd-looking colouring perhaps marking him out as a juvenile, in the background we also saw a Pheasant and some Guinea Fowl just as we had when we saw a Purple Heron on that same spot earlier in the year. As we walked back towards the car, we saw a number of smaller birds: Fieldfares, Skylarks, a Stonechat and others.

Finally we arrived in the area where we should have seen our Owls but there was little to be seen but a lot of horses and corvids. Never mind, it had been a glorious and uplifting walk.