I still can't believe how many frames I got out of the ball-bearing clip - which lasted only a couple of seconds at normal speed!
Saturday, August 06, 2011
Friday, August 05, 2011
A Tribute to Rowan Atkinson
This is a McClaren F1 car. A bit (putting it mildly) ostentatious. An indulgence, especially for those of us with an eye on the environmental impact of superfast gas-guzzling cars.
Well, clowning as Mr Bean has obviously seen Rowan Atkinson well. He has one of these cars. And not for the first time, he has crashed it - collided with a tree and a lamppost. He injured his shoulder and had to stay in hospital overnight. Diddums.
Well, clowning as Mr Bean has obviously seen Rowan Atkinson well. He has one of these cars. And not for the first time, he has crashed it - collided with a tree and a lamppost. He injured his shoulder and had to stay in hospital overnight. Diddums.
I've gone off him now.
Meanwhile, our d'elicious Mr D'Onofrio's encounter with another iconic car had us all salivating.
It also left him sulking like a baby!
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Sorry to Pry
The more I watch American TV programmes and read books by American authors, the more baffled I become at the apparent separation of meaning of two similar words: pry and prise.
In UK English (sorry, US Vixens, but I think of it as "proper" English!) the word prise means, for example, to lever off a lid; pry is to be nosey.
Yet time after time, on TV and in print, I find that US speakers of English use pry to mean the same as prise means in the UK.
If that's so, what on earth do you use for being nosey? (And don't say, "to be nosey"!)
As for "proper English", I remember a story I heard a British broadcaster tell about an experience he had talking to a woman from the American South. I can't remember where whe was from, but let's say Kentucky. It began with an expression of surprise from her:
"Oh, you speak English! I didn't know y'all spoke English in England." He assured her it was so. She then asked:
"How long y'all spoke English in England?"
The man thought for a moment, considering the history of the language, right back to Chaucer in the 14th century, and replied:
"For about 600 years."
"Oh," said the wise southern woman, "we've always spoke English in Kentucky."
He decided he couldn't argue with that!
In UK English (sorry, US Vixens, but I think of it as "proper" English!) the word prise means, for example, to lever off a lid; pry is to be nosey.
Yet time after time, on TV and in print, I find that US speakers of English use pry to mean the same as prise means in the UK.
If that's so, what on earth do you use for being nosey? (And don't say, "to be nosey"!)
As for "proper English", I remember a story I heard a British broadcaster tell about an experience he had talking to a woman from the American South. I can't remember where whe was from, but let's say Kentucky. It began with an expression of surprise from her:
"Oh, you speak English! I didn't know y'all spoke English in England." He assured her it was so. She then asked:
"How long y'all spoke English in England?"
The man thought for a moment, considering the history of the language, right back to Chaucer in the 14th century, and replied:
"For about 600 years."
"Oh," said the wise southern woman, "we've always spoke English in Kentucky."
He decided he couldn't argue with that!
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Cuba, Anyone?
Just think, when they made this episode, Fidel was still President of Cuba.
Oh, the neck
That look
The tongue
The ickle bitty nose
The eyebrow
What about that look?
The lap
The finger
The head tilt
The best of a perfect bunch
That look
The tongue
The ickle bitty nose
The eyebrow
What about that look?
The lap
The finger
The head tilt
The best of a perfect bunch
Monday, August 01, 2011
What we did for Goren -
- let's do for Peter James:
Remember a few weeks ago I posted the video of Peter being salvaged from Shoreham Harbour in a white van, as part of a promotion for his latest book?
He's also one of the authors of a recent book called No rest For The Dead, which is a collaboration of 26 authors, each writing at least one chapter, all for charity. Other authors include Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, Kathy Reichs and Faye Kellerman.
Peter has been nominated for the ITV3 People’s Bestseller Dagger Award, and has asked his fans to vote for him. As one of the few authors around who actually bothers with his fans, as well as being an excellent crime writer, I'd really like to see him win. We can't really do a Goren, where we all voted 50 times a day, because they record who you are when you vote, but I promised Peter I'd try to drum him up some extra votes for this prestigious award, which will be televised on October 7th.
If you don't mind spending a few moments on a worthy cause, please go to http://www.itv.com/crimethrillerawards/ (sorry, it won't do the link as a click, only copy and paste) and vote for Peter. And if you want a real treat, get yourself some of his books.
If you don't mind spending a few moments on a worthy cause, please go to http://www.itv.com/crimethrillerawards/ (sorry, it won't do the link as a click, only copy and paste) and vote for Peter. And if you want a real treat, get yourself some of his books.
