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Welcome to the world of the Vincent D'Onofrio obsessed - and a bit of real life thrown in.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Any ideas...

...who else in showbiz could have convincingly played an American footballer, or picked up this stuff and thrown it out of the window? And would we care?



How about Tom Cruise? (Collapses in hysterics at the idea of the great Action Hero, who is the size of Action Man, really doing anything more taxing than raising his mascara wand.)

Friday, November 11, 2011

Two by Two

I've uploaded the lion cub videos without making them into a movie.

The darlings have grown so much in just two weeks! One of them has found the best ever toy in her sister's tail (apparently they are both female, which is good for the future of the breeding programme).





There were two women hogging the front of viewing area with huge telephoto lenses. At first they were taking quick-fire photos with motorised drives, with quick-fire flash, too, till I pointed out to them that flash wasn't allowed. I just hate it when people don't consider the animals, seeing them as just something for their selfish amusement. For me, the comfort and will of the animals comes first.

This should be lion cubs

Sadly, neither YouTube nor Blogger can seem to upload the latest video, despite the fact that it's been made in exactly the same way as the last one. I'll keep working on it.

Meanwhile, we have dear Raika the female Sumatran tiger, posing for the camera.




Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Thrilled!

Never before have the originals of these two paintings hung in the same gallery. On the left is the National Gallery, London's version of Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of The Virgin of the Rocks; on the left is the earlier version, that usually hangs in the Louvre. Some say the London one is not by Leonardo, others, that there is simply a stong contribution by his students.

I've seen both in their individual museums, and they fascinate me. I did a course in Italian Renaissance Studies at university, and learned quite a lot about the Masters of the 15th and 16th centuries. I even saw the Mona Lisa before they enclosed her behind glass. Even further back, I went to the house in France where he died, and where there was an exhibition of models made from his drawings, of things like armoured tanks and helicopters.

From today there is a Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery that unites these paintings in one room. Sadly, they don't appear to have had the imagination to hang them side by side, but facing one another. In between there will be hundreds, even thousands, of people, because the exhibition is already well on the way to selling out.

I spent some time online yesterday trying to book tickets, but using the iPad I just kept going round in circles. As soon as I chose a day and time, it was sold out.

Today I've managed to book a ticket, but it isn't till the end of January. Not sure I can wait that long, maybe there will be a chance to pick up a return if I turn up at the door.


Not Dying Young Enough

If the dweeb had died sooner, maybe ditsy Roberts would have had more sense and would have chosen Mr Wonderful (Oh, wait that's another movie with a dimwit female lead)



















Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Mr Wonderful Mark 1

I think most of you know that I am a H-U-G-E Beatles fan, and that George was my favourite Beatle. When I saw a couple of weeks ago that Martin Scorsese had made a film about him, Living in the Material World, I longed to see it. It didn't seem to be showing anywhere, and though the dvd seemed to be available, it was very expensive.

Now I have discovered that it's on TV next weekend, over two nights on BBC2, soon to be on my dvd recorder!


This is the trailer for the movie:


Counterfire

What a pretty pyromaniac.

























Monday, November 07, 2011

Deliver me from temptation

Yesterday I donated my hen coop and run to a good cause. I contacted the British Hens Welfare Trust, the charity that rescued Poppy and the other two hens I started off with, to see if they knew anyone who could use them, and they told me they had someone who was going to start caring for "poorlies", rescue hens not yet fit to be rehomed.

And so it was that the last remnants of my lovely girls disappeared from my garden, and with them the temptation to try again. In exchange they gave me half a dozen of their hens' eggs. Yum!

The Horizontal Tango

If only.
Vincent's neck is in evidence a lot in this episode. His groin isn't exactly shy, either.









































Sunday, November 06, 2011

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