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Although the story in this episode was tragic, it was good to see Bobby being clever and funny.

And handsome.


RIght eyebrow. Left eyelashes.


Just look at the set of that jaw.

FYI

Just so you know, the reason the NFT showed The Newton Boys was 'cos they were having a gangster movie season. It's subject matter is a link between cowboys and gangsters.

I kind of noticed the other posters, but only registered that none of them was of the Boys. I wonder why?

Art

As the first episode in which we find out how clever Bobby is, this one has a special place in my heart.

I love the vocalisation that goes with this image.


The eyebrow is great - I love the snippet in general, with Bobby raising his eyes at Lange paying Eames a compliment.


I love the little curl at the back, but it's the neck I'm most interested in here.


I still recall how my dvd froze towards the end of this episode, and I have never got round to completing the set, which is a shame, 'cos I love it when he paces round the perp in the studio, and when he arrests Lange.

Anti-Thesis

This was a difficult one to narrow down, but I managed to limit myself to just three. Slideshows.

Daily Motion Interview

I just logged on to send an email to the suppliers of the (wrong) part to fix my loo, and read the Google Alerts, including this interview (subtitled in French) of Vincent talking about Staten Island. My first thought was to save it, my second was to share it with those who hadn't yet seen it.

Fourth Plinth

As the fourth (empty) plinth in Trafalgar Square (btw, what's so funny about the word plinth?) is right outside the National Gallery, I got to see what was on it twice during the course of Tuesday. The first was pretty boring - some guy completely still standing in a white body stocking. Then I read Fuzzytweetie's post (http://wildaboutvinny.blogspot.com/) in a letter supposedly from me to Max, and it all fit so well. Except that this man was no Vincent, as you can see.


As we appraoched it from the other side of the Square, my friend thought the exhibit was an Egyptioan funerary boat. Then I realised that what did, admittedly look rather reed boat like, was the safety net. I didn't get a picture of that particualr effect.

Now if that were Vincent in a body condom, I'd be up there on that plinth, fear of heights or no, ravishing him in public, and wild horses wouldn't get me down.

On the way out, the exhibit was being taken down. I had no idea what it was till I looked up the website that had been displayed on the plinth - clapa.com. It's the Cleft Lip And Palate Association.

Time to make Amends

Anyone remember the trailer for this with Eames saying, "This isn't one of your puzzles, Bobby. This is my life"? I always wondered what happened to the second part of that when the episode aired - it wasn't in the finished episode.

A picture with everything - especially neck!


I just love Bobby's wide-eyed expression in this picture.


As for standing to attention in dress blues - well, I can certainly think of one part of him I'd love to see standing to attention.

A Sunny Day In London Town

Yesterday, I met up with my friend to paint the town. Well, we looked at some paintings in the town. From Corot to Monet at the National Gallery showed me I really don't like Corot much, but found a great painter called Daubigny that I hadn't been familiar with before. The one painting that stood out though was a Turner. Once you've seen him, even Monet looks a bit bland. Well I think so, anyway.

Then we walked across one of the Jubilee bridges to the South Bank, where some genius has decided to stunt the mature trees by wrapping them in red fabric with white spots on, secured with very tight ties, just at the height of the growing season, and just when the mindless tourist can amuse itself by signing the white spots.

After a delicious meal at the National Film Theatre it was into the cinema to see The Newton Boys. (I'd been hoping Ann could join us, but a swift phone call later I found she was just home from a meeting, boohoo.)

I've never yet capped this film, so many thanks, Eliza, for the pictures. Seeing Dock's manhood waving at us from the big screen was a memorable experience.

The audience was very appreciative. At the NFT it's customary to applaud when the film has finished. After the film, I heard a man behind us say, "I can't believe they never released this." I couldn't resist turning to him and saying, "Vincent D'Onofrio's in it, they never release his films."

On the way home, I saw a young man perched on a bicycle rack texting. It was one of the more isolated places in my walk home. When I saw his dog in the shadows, I couldn't help myself. I didn't take a detour. I didn't run. I said, "That's not walking the dog, that's sitting with the dog." He laughed.

One day I'll say something genuinely funny and people will split their sides.

All In

Let's concentrate on expression this time.

Denoting humour.


Looking serious, and perhaps a bit of concern thrown in.


A bit of frustration in there, maybe?

Albatross

I really love this hand shot. I just have to try to focus out the blood.


I loved his hair in this episode, but it was very difficult to find a picture that showed it in all its glory, and was sufficiently close up.


Strength, sensitivity, humour and knockout eyelashes. What more could a girl want in a man?

Her Majesty's plans for the week

Aside from getting a leaky toilet fitting fixed, my main plan for tomorrow is to get my brain fixed. I am going to the hypnotherapist who got me off food-bingeing fifteen years ago, with a view to losing my (many) extra inches and pounds over a sensible period that won't leave me with more baggy skin than necessary.

Then on on Tuesday, My friend and I are going to the National Gallery to see a landscape exhibition From Corot to Monet. While there we hope to take in a few of the exhibits on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

This plinth has been empty ever since it was built in the yeat dot. There has been much debate over who/what should go there - Nelson Mandela? The Queen? John Lennon?


Recently there have been some temporary exhibits on the plinth, such as this colourful perspex - thing...



...and Alison Lapper Pregnant. (She's a real life Venus de Milo, only she never had arms to lose, being a Thalidomide baby.)

Now Anthony Gormley has been given permission to put on a different exhibit every hour for some months. Thousands of people applied, giving their plans for their hour, and he has made his selections. Randomly off the internet I have chosen this man made up to be a Roman statue:

This man with an anti-smoking message:

And this:

Whatever it is.

After our arty pursuits, comes a meal and then - Tara! - The Newton Boys. Hopefully with no one between us and the, er, oilrig scene, with that giant...well, rig.

Plan A for Acts of Contrition

I've decided to do a new A-Z, choosing just 3 pictures from each episode. And I mean to stick to it. Honestly I do.

I still can't believe I got nearly 20 pictures out of a piece of film that lasts only a couple of seconds.


Bobby has his luscious lips parted and ready to receive my kiss.


The corners of his mouth are turned down, yet there's just a suggestion of a smile.Such a clever actor.


There were lots of temptations along the way, including the scene where Bobby "lights up" but I wanted to restrict myself. Couldn't help the ball bearing though...

First Henry, Now Harry

Just a week after Henry Allingham died, the Last Fighting Tommy, Harry Patch, has died, aged 111.

Harry didn't speak of his experiences till he was 100 years old, and since then, this amazing character has become a modest but compelling celebrity. I couldn't stop crying when the news was announced.

There is surprisingly little on YouTube, but this short clip includes his opinion on war - one he is not alone in holding.

Great Suggestion

In answer to Macca's question in this number, No reason at all.

A Germ of an Idea

But I'm not letting on yet.

So here's the penultimate A-Z video instead.

All In

I could have posted the entire album, but I chose just a few, and here are the reasons for my choices.

I chose this one for the stray hairs sticking up.


I chose this one for the neck.


I chose this one for the biceps.


I chose this one for the smile, grainy though the picture is.


I chose this for the sun-squint.


I chose this one for the double-Bobby view.


I chose this one for the devil eyes.


I chose this one for the hands.


I chose this one for the clever white beard saying "USA" growing on his chin!

Still Not All In

Thanks to the wonderful Eliza, I have All In, and I've watched it, but to cap it I need my good old Cyberlink PowerDVD 7. I'm on my new pink computer, so I have to download everything anew. I have an email from when I upgraded telling me I could access the download any time I needed.

It has no link to the download site. They are now on Version 9. I don't want their newfangled version, I like the older one. So now I have to wait for them to answer my query.

This is better than McAfee, though, who sent me an email in May confirming payment for my renewal, but my account says I've been 68 days unprotected through lack of renewal.

At least Sky finally helped me fix my connection. They were supposed to phone back within 72 hours, which of course they did not. The person I got when I phoned today said that her predecessor had been following the wrong list of actions. As a result, the techies tested the line and found it not wanting, and cancelled my callback. Nice. Efficient. I need some Bobby.



And if anyone's wondering where my banner has gone - I have no idea.

Looking for New Ideas

I'm getting perilously close to the end of my store of videos, so it's just as well that we broke up from school today. I don't have to teach my ALD student tomorrow as his brother has suspected swine flu. If my student gets it, that will be really serious.

I do have some time to breathe now, but I wish him well (or as well as he's ever going to be, poor thing).

Meanwhile, here's the second part of my LOCI A-Z.

If only

Another recycled movie "b Val". No smart comments necessary.

OK, if you can think of one, go ahead.

Time to revisit

my LOCI alphabet.



I have spent hours trying to put my new computer online. And it was there - except that the ISP didn't recognise that it was there, and wouldn't let me finish off the process. Thanks to the helpline, I have now fiddled with the new machine's code so much it will probably never work again.

In the end, I could wait for a more expert advisor to become free, or have them phone me back within (swift intake of breath) 72 hours.

My head was hurting before I began my quest, so reluctantly I had to settle for option 2.

It didn't seem to occur to the woman on the phone that if I could get on to Internet Explorer, the fiddling she was trying was just not going to work.

No doubt she thought I was the stupid one.

Revolting

The spoilt rich people portrayed in Criminal Intent are truly revolting, and make me wish the US would have a revolution to bring about the equality the constitution boasts of.



Meanwhile, the Hallmark trailer for the episode Privilege shows an unsuspected deep understanding by that channel of the immense talents of our hero. He does not speak, we only see him use his face and body to act. It's superb.

Goodbye Henry

Henry Allingham, veteran of WWI and oldest man in the world, has died. He was 113.

A founder member of what was to become the Royal Air Force, Henry witnessed the Battle of Jutland as a member of the Royal Naval Air Service.

Like so many veterans of that terrible conflict, he did not speak of his experiences until much later in his life. Fortunately for the world, he was persuaded to begin telling his story, and the archives will carry it through to future generations.


Asked for the secret of his longevity, Henry once joked, "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women".

In a more serious moment he said, "How have I lived so long? I never worried. In the 20s there were millions of men out of work. You couldn't get a job anywhere. I wasn't worried. I'm not worried now."

There remain Claude Choules, 108, a British seaman who emigrated to Australia, and Harry Patch, the last survivor of the trenches. He is 111.

Back to Nowhere

Like I've said before, The Beatles have a song to suit any occasion.

Far be it from me...

...to disagree with the amazing Vincent D'Onofrio, but if he looks like shit whatever episode of the show you look at:







then brother, are the rest of you men in trouble.

Hooray!

I have struggled valiantly with my Toshiba Shit Series laptop, bought as an emergency replacement when my HP went into hospital last year. I use it about once every 3 months at most.

When I bought it, I had wanted a Sony, but they were out of stock in the department store I had chosen (because of its 2-year free guarantees - joke).

Today I bought a better model than the one I wanted back then, with oodles of memory, and it's

VERY PINK

Just today it was reduced by £100, and I got it from a different store (Marks and Spencer for those who know it, renowned for good customer service) again with a free 2-year guarantee.

As for the Toshiba, I'm going to remaster it (like I was forced to do when it was all of 4 days old and lost half its programmes for no reason) and give it, sticky keys and all, to my friend, in the hope that she will finally get a broadband connection. As the offending item cost a massive £800 only just over a year ago - and still has many months of useless guarantee left - I hope that she will make better use of it than I have.

My Life Has Changed

In oh so many ways.



Mssrs Lennon and McCartney, how true.

You had something to say for every occasion.

Get Over Me

Please. Bobby. Vincent. Both of you.

Preferably your leg.

Groovy Paradise

Anywhere with Vincent is paradise, and that would be groovy.

Big and Bad

That's what he is in The Irishman. And in case you haven't been over to TheReel, here are the production photos they have posted over there.














He does know how to dwarf people, doesn't he?

Remember when our Sun returned?

We had all those months to wait between Untethered and Purgatory, and even though it was a pretty grim episode for poor Bobby, at last we got him back.



This George Harrison number is one of my all-time favourite Beatles songs. Sweet simplicity.

A Question of Size

So let's suppose that Vincent was just 6'2". Pretty tall still, and with everything appropriately scaled, quite a hunk. At 6' he'd still tower over me, and I'm sure he'd attract me. At 5'10" he'd become more run-of-the-mill and ordinary. At 5'8" I'd have to look up at the little shrimp, but it wouldn't feel like it. The bulk that's spread over all that huge frame would be squashed into something altogether more compact, and even if he was scaled down, there's not so much height to spread it over, so he might look like an egg on legs.

But he's 6'4" and hefty. With big feet, hands and...he's a prime example of an Alpha Male, which is what attracted us to him in the first place.

Are we shallow?

I do hope so!

No Secret

Not only is it not a secret among us, but if you are anything like me, you can't keep it from those who know you in the "real" world either - we're in love with Vincent!

Two-and-half minutes, Mr Welles

This time it's The Hollies, not The Beatles. There would have been one with Fleetwood Mac, but it's been removed for copyright reasons.

Better stick with the Fab Four, then.

Well, I would

Who wouldn't?

Remembering 7/7

In Hyde Park in London today, The Prince of Wales unveiled the memorial to the victims of the London bombings in 2005.

The steel stelae - 52 of them - represent those who died in the attacks. They are named on a plaque nearby. The columns themselves are engraved only with the date and place of the attacks, because the randomness of the bombs meant that absolutely anyone travelling on London Transport that day could have been killed.


The relatives and survivors were consulted by the artist Carmody Groarke, and are said to be delighted with the sculpture, which apparently looks wonderful with the sun glinting off it.

Sadly, not much of that today.

If Not For Vincent

Ah, my two favourite men again, the gorgeous Vincent accompanied by My Sweet George.

Chains

On reflection I should have included Hotel Paradise in this one.

Remember Jazzy's Challenge?

Last year, Jazzy set us a video challenge. This was my offering:



This is also a good chance to remember the wonderful George Harrison, whose death passed without even a tiny fraction of the attention Michael Jackson's got, despite his having been a member of the most important group of popular musicians ever.

No, I am NOT biased!