Despite a couple of social events going on this weekend, silenttex, who shares my rather reclusive tendencies, and I elected to stay home and see nobody. And a fine time we had too ( Read more... )

I've a sneaking suspicion you might be too late, but if you're in London, can get tickets and fancy seeing a brilliant, if emotionally traumatic, play then go see BentIt is entirely possible that I may have wept like a girl last night. I claim mitigating circumstances as a) I am a girl and b) it's a heart-wrenching and very sad play (while at the ( Read more... )

Finances. *mutter* *mutter* I'm going to have to cut back a bit on expenses for the next couple of months. I've a couple fairly big ticket unexpected expenses coming through and money was already on the tight side ( Read more... )

( Falling in love with a supermarket )

From this week's EconomistIF YOU have ever sat alone in a bar, depressed by how good-looking everybody else seems to be, take comfort-it may be evolution playing a trick on you. A study just published in Evolution and Human Behavior by Sarah Hill, a psychologist at the University of Texas, Austin, shows that people of both sexes reckon the sexual ( Read more... )

Phillippe Noiret, who starred in over 125 films, but is probably best remembered over here for Cinema Paradiso has died aged 76, after a long battle with cancer.

BBC obit here

The BBC obituary contains this rather odd paragraph which can only be described as damning with faint praise: "Famed for his flexibility, he was able to play roles as ( Read more... )

Robert Altman, director of M*A*S*H, Short Cuts, Gosford Park and many other great films, has died aged 81.

To be fair, he has made his share of dross (Pret-a-Porter anyone?) but when he was on top of his game he made some of the greatest films in the history of film making. To my mind, M*A*S*H alone guarantees him a spot in any list of greatest ( Read more... )

With the Central line completely down this morning, commuters were a tad tetchy as they tried to make their way across London. If only they'd read this timely guide from CNN...

How to get a seat at rush hour

"As Andrew Martin, expert on London Tube manners, writes: "When the doors of a bus, Tube or train open, you must of course allow time for ( Read more... )

Economist and libertarian Milton Friedman has died, aged 94.

BBC obituary here.

Among many other achievements, apparently he's responsible for the phrase "there's no such thing as a free lunch".

I'm not on LJ much these days. I try and catch up when I can but, to be honest, I'm doing little more than skimming so if I've apparently ignored any heartfelt posts crying for sympathy or hugs or whatever, that I haven't replied is more likely because I haven't read it than because I'm heartless and just don't care (although that too ( Read more... )