meg ryan is a helicopter pilot*

apropos of absolutely nothing other than this made me laugh. a lot.

few things make me chuckle more than mark kermode in rant mode, when he can barely keep up with himself. the billboard ads for bride wars made me want to claw my own eyes out. the trailer left me not far short of apoplectic. kermode and i agree on the brilliance of the wicker man, don't look now and mary poppins but firmly disagree on casino royale. i'm never sure what he's going to like, but i enjoy his reviews regardless and find his energy infectious. although i was pretty sure we'd be singing from the same hymn sheet when i came across this review yesterday. he did not disappoint.

"Everyone will tell you this is a 'chick flick'. It is. Only insomuch that if it was ground up and fed to battery hens it might be better served than running through a projector."

- Mark Kermode, reviewing Bride Wars, Jan '09

* see also, kermode reviews, marley and me

savagely entertaining.

LB

harsh and delicate

from Sunday: Will and Stox discuss the CFC legacy on the Northern Irish music scene with Stewart Bailey on Sunday Sequence. surreal way to start one's Sunday. were it not for the listen again button i'd have thought i'd dreamt this conversation while dozing. (see the highlight from latest programme Hidden Sermons...)

::

from today:
bravo to Vermont. another significant step in the right direction for gay rights in the US. let's hope 2009 proves to be the year that Ireland achieves marriage equality for all its citizens.

(might as well celebrate something good, since news today is now shifted from the tragic scenes in Italy to be dominated by the brutal emergency budget. the next couple of years will be lean. as if on cue, the weather has turned brutish and we're being blasted into the night by driving wind and rain. just to add to the mood. it's being called the toughest budget in the history of the Irish state. but will the government fall? time will tell.)

another welcome thing: nathan phillips has sent me a lovely gift of his new cd, Postcard. (couple of tracks at that link). i'm gonna curl up under the duvet for the first listen and pore over the lyrics. i think nathan's voice is like dandelion clocks in slow motion. aaron & whitni roche and julie lee feature. it's gonna be good.

you are giving it up
to the one in the rough
of the Cyclamen, violets and thorns
there is life to be won
there are things to be sung
so you pull down the guard
and lift up your voice
to know your not all alone

high on the hill
where you are in the sun
peace comes to you
where you are in its beams
through the sky, over the trees
leaps in patches along the leaves

- where you are, nathan phillips, on Postcard

LB

ever get the feeling...

that you're just not living?

certainly can't be said of this man:
George Moyse, a few days shy of his 98th birthday.

brilliant.

LB

everything was beautiful & nothing hurt*

2 pieces of video...

first, the footage of a girl being flogged by Taliban fighters in Pakistan, which left me this morning in horror and feeling speechless. i had no idea what words to respond with and still don't now. and certainly not any that are non-violent in spirit right at this moment.

second is this, over at the daily dish. andrew sullivan is bringing up to the minute coverage today of the extremely important iowa and vermont rulings on gay marriage. but this video stands out, as does his commentary.

it's all got something to do with rights and human dignity and justice. but the world keeps turning...

:: and so it goes :: *

LB

*slaughterhouse-five tattoos