Everyone spare a thought today for all those people who got married after having planned their big day months or even years in advance of the one wedding that hogged the limelight. I raise a glass of champagne for you all.
In other news don't forget that tomorrow I will be at Waterstone's in Chester signing copies of 'Bringing home the stars'!
Friday 29 April 2011
Friday 22 April 2011
When it rains it pours.
One of those curious things I find is that whenever I sneeze, I can smell beeswax polish for a few seconds immediately afterwards. This pretty much always happens, and is regardless of where I am or whatever I am around. I have no explanation for this phenomenon.
The car decided to pop late yesterday evening. Well, doesn't it just pick its moments leading into the Easter weekend where no-one anywhere seems to work). The bottom hose on the radiator was having a wee on the drive after I got back from picking my parents up from the airport. On closer inspection this appears to be caused by a crack in the mounting for the pipe right up against the radiator. Or to put it another way: the radiator which was fitted brand new less than six months ago is defective. That of course means it is a warrenty repair. However, can I actually get hold of the garage that did the work? No. It seems that they have decided to take Easter Friday off.
The legal beagles amongst you will therefore have come to a similar conclusion to me. Namely that I have taken every step to contact them to rectify the defect, and as they are unavailable I have no choice but to either hire a car for the weekend (it would need a towbar to allow for taking the boat up to Windermere, which had been initially planned for today) and let the garage pick up the hire cost. The other option would be to have the car repaired at another garage and pass on the cost, however the original garage would probably then argue that in not having seen the defect, they were challenging that it ever existed. So it looks like the hire option.
Trouble came in threes yesterday, including the fact that the contractors for the gas supplier had managed to maroon my boat behind a pile of Earth despite my frequent phone calls to their office and their assurances that it would be put right. They didn't, and I was left speaking to some poor bloke in Sheffield on the phone at 9:00pm who could not get hold of anyone because they had all disappeared home for Easter until Tuesday. First thing Tuesday morning though some bottoms are going to be kicked, because that's one big hole I have to fill in, and one heavy boat and trailer to drag out of the bushes and back onto the concrete yard surface. If I physically can on my own.
What was the third calamity I hear you ask? Well, that was mortgage related.
The car decided to pop late yesterday evening. Well, doesn't it just pick its moments leading into the Easter weekend where no-one anywhere seems to work). The bottom hose on the radiator was having a wee on the drive after I got back from picking my parents up from the airport. On closer inspection this appears to be caused by a crack in the mounting for the pipe right up against the radiator. Or to put it another way: the radiator which was fitted brand new less than six months ago is defective. That of course means it is a warrenty repair. However, can I actually get hold of the garage that did the work? No. It seems that they have decided to take Easter Friday off.
The legal beagles amongst you will therefore have come to a similar conclusion to me. Namely that I have taken every step to contact them to rectify the defect, and as they are unavailable I have no choice but to either hire a car for the weekend (it would need a towbar to allow for taking the boat up to Windermere, which had been initially planned for today) and let the garage pick up the hire cost. The other option would be to have the car repaired at another garage and pass on the cost, however the original garage would probably then argue that in not having seen the defect, they were challenging that it ever existed. So it looks like the hire option.
Trouble came in threes yesterday, including the fact that the contractors for the gas supplier had managed to maroon my boat behind a pile of Earth despite my frequent phone calls to their office and their assurances that it would be put right. They didn't, and I was left speaking to some poor bloke in Sheffield on the phone at 9:00pm who could not get hold of anyone because they had all disappeared home for Easter until Tuesday. First thing Tuesday morning though some bottoms are going to be kicked, because that's one big hole I have to fill in, and one heavy boat and trailer to drag out of the bushes and back onto the concrete yard surface. If I physically can on my own.
What was the third calamity I hear you ask? Well, that was mortgage related.
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Two more signing dates, and a review.
The signing tour gets longer with more dates added. Zoë confirmed to me today extra dates at new venues Stockport (Saturday 28th of May) and Knutsford (Sunday 5th of June). Both will be held at the branches of Waterstone's. It's certainly new ground as I've never actually been to the town centres in either of these places before.
I also received in the post today a copy of a magazine called 'The Bugle'. It's the magazine that gets sent out to people who used to go to the fee paying school that I went to between 1990 and 1995. It was a little surprise to flick through and see the review of my book in there! It was a very favourable review too, which is always nice for massaging the ego. I'll have to remember to add the magazine to my ever-growing press-cutting pile for future reference. The inclusion of the review may break a few people, on account of the fact that I was in the curious position of having gone to an all-boys (almost!) school. One of those little quirks of fate, that saw two girls in an otherwise all-boys environment. I wonder if any of the other 'old boys' will work that one out? (Probably in between wondering why they didn't make our acquittance more when we were there!)
I've also been told by Zoë that we have started receiving out of the blue invites for doing signings at Waterstone's branches more further afield. This we suspect is partly due to the increased sales, media coverage, and - last but not least - the fact that 'Bringing home the stars' has been taken into Waterstone's core catalogue list of sci-fi titles. At the end of this tour I think that I will have become an expert on cheap or free places to park a car all day on a Saturday and Sunday in far too many towns and cities in the UK!
I also received in the post today a copy of a magazine called 'The Bugle'. It's the magazine that gets sent out to people who used to go to the fee paying school that I went to between 1990 and 1995. It was a little surprise to flick through and see the review of my book in there! It was a very favourable review too, which is always nice for massaging the ego. I'll have to remember to add the magazine to my ever-growing press-cutting pile for future reference. The inclusion of the review may break a few people, on account of the fact that I was in the curious position of having gone to an all-boys (almost!) school. One of those little quirks of fate, that saw two girls in an otherwise all-boys environment. I wonder if any of the other 'old boys' will work that one out? (Probably in between wondering why they didn't make our acquittance more when we were there!)
I've also been told by Zoë that we have started receiving out of the blue invites for doing signings at Waterstone's branches more further afield. This we suspect is partly due to the increased sales, media coverage, and - last but not least - the fact that 'Bringing home the stars' has been taken into Waterstone's core catalogue list of sci-fi titles. At the end of this tour I think that I will have become an expert on cheap or free places to park a car all day on a Saturday and Sunday in far too many towns and cities in the UK!
Friday 15 April 2011
All over the house » Archive » iVant to suck your blood
One for the iPhone nerds out there (you know exactly who you are!)
Thursday 14 April 2011
Deep in thought
A picture taken recently whilst working in Brighton for a change. Zoë caught me unawares, so a rare natural pose!
Monday 11 April 2011
Anyone for a tacky tin of biscuits?
Has anyone else noticed the Royal wedding branded tins of McVities biscuits? I saw them for the first time in the local Co-op. Is it me, or do they look desperately tacky? If it were my wedding they are the very last thing that I would want doing the rounds. It also cheapened the picture a little that I noted it was exactly the same picture of the couple that was used on the front cover of one of the red-top tabloid newspapers.
Friday 8 April 2011
First time sailing
Zoë put up a short video on box-faced-tubester (Youtube) about our little sailing trip:
All aboard the RMS Jennïkins!
Yesterday I went up to Fell foot park at the south end of Lake Windermere in the Lake District. It's an easy enough place to get to from here, and it gave the opportunity to sail my boat under her own power for the first time since she underwent a full rebuild last year. It's wind power, but it all worked quite well. I took Zoë who has never sailed before, but really liked the idea and wanted to give it all a go.
On the first trip up the lake towards Bowness and back we nearly capsized. My Bosun is sail number 3 meaning that it is one of the prototypes built as evaluators to get the contract with the navy to supply a small sailing boat type. It won the contract and eventually their numbers now total more than 3500, and they are still available new. It's quite nice to have a slice of history with the oldest Bosun known to still exist. It also means that the sailing horse arrangements on the transom are somewhat primitive and took some time to get used to with the main sheets unable to change sides every time we tacked or gybed. Luckily I learnt PDQ when water started shipping over the side and I averted a capsize! It did mean that we got wet feet though.
Returning to the slipway the wind conditions are really challenging. The lake narrows between two wooded hills, and the wind can come from several different directions at the same time and change just like that. We had trouble getting to the jetty, but made it in the end.
After lunch and warming up Zoë's wet feet, we took her out for another trip up towards Bowness. However a fitting gave way that held the jib up and we were forced to turn back with only the main sail set. However the wind was energetic and despite this mishap we made good time. Not wishing to have such a hairy landing this time we moored to a buoy out in the marina and took down the sails then paddled back into the jetty.
All in all the boat's first trip out on the water in what could be quite a few years and her first since she has had a new keel, stem post, transom and gunwales as well as a lot of her rigging and a repaint was a great success. We're both looking forward to a repeat trip where hopefully we will be able to get a lot more sailing in as we gain experience with the boat.
On the first trip up the lake towards Bowness and back we nearly capsized. My Bosun is sail number 3 meaning that it is one of the prototypes built as evaluators to get the contract with the navy to supply a small sailing boat type. It won the contract and eventually their numbers now total more than 3500, and they are still available new. It's quite nice to have a slice of history with the oldest Bosun known to still exist. It also means that the sailing horse arrangements on the transom are somewhat primitive and took some time to get used to with the main sheets unable to change sides every time we tacked or gybed. Luckily I learnt PDQ when water started shipping over the side and I averted a capsize! It did mean that we got wet feet though.
Returning to the slipway the wind conditions are really challenging. The lake narrows between two wooded hills, and the wind can come from several different directions at the same time and change just like that. We had trouble getting to the jetty, but made it in the end.
After lunch and warming up Zoë's wet feet, we took her out for another trip up towards Bowness. However a fitting gave way that held the jib up and we were forced to turn back with only the main sail set. However the wind was energetic and despite this mishap we made good time. Not wishing to have such a hairy landing this time we moored to a buoy out in the marina and took down the sails then paddled back into the jetty.
All in all the boat's first trip out on the water in what could be quite a few years and her first since she has had a new keel, stem post, transom and gunwales as well as a lot of her rigging and a repaint was a great success. We're both looking forward to a repeat trip where hopefully we will be able to get a lot more sailing in as we gain experience with the boat.
Wednesday 6 April 2011
My own list of greatest 100 books.
It's been doing the rounds on the internet courtesy of the BBC. The only trouble is that I believe it misses off a lot of superb books at the expense of some dire books that everyone assumes are classics but no-one actually reads. Here is my list:
1. Dune - Frank Herbert
2. Silas Marner - George Elliott
3. Diary of a nobody - Weedon Grossmith
4. Lord of the rings - JRR Tolkien
5. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
6. The magic faraway tree - Enid Blyton
7. Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
8. Mission of Gravity - Hal Clement
9. I am Legend - Richard Matheson
10. Flow my tears, the Policeman said - Philip K. Dick
11. Ringworld - Larry Niven
12. The Railway children - Edith Nesbit
13. Nostromo - Joseph Conrad
14. Jingo - Terry Pratchett
15. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
16. The stars my destination - Alfred Bester
17. Pavane - Keith Roberts
18. The city and the stars - Arthur C. Clarke
19. Missee Lee - Arthur Ransome
20. Five dialogues - Plato
21. Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff
22. The fifth elephant - Terry Pratchett
23. The enchanted wood - Enid Blyton
24. Rogue Male - Geoffrey Household
25. Animal Farm - George Orwell
26. Redwall - Brian Jacques
27. Cannibal Adventure - Willard Price
28. Magic Kingdom for sale; sold! - Terry Brooks
29. Joe Millard - The good, the bad and the ugly
30. The thirty nine steps - John Buchan
31. Fanny hill - John Cleland
32. Heir to the empire - Timothy Zahn
33. Five go off to camp - Enid Blyton
34. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
35. Do androids dream of electric sheep? - Philip K. Dick
36. Mars - Ben Bova
37. Sphere - Michael Crichton
38. Christine - Stephen King
39. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
40. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
41. Magician - Raymond E. Feist
42. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
43. Coot Club - Arthur Ransome
44. Night watch - Terry Pratchett
45. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
46. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
47. Moonfleet - J. Meade Falkner
48. It - Stephen King
49. Red storm Rising - Tom Clancy
50. The Lion the witch and the wardrobe - CS Lewis
51. War of the worlds - HG Wells
52. Blood Music - Greg Bear
53. The Space Merchants - Frederick Pohl
54. 20,000 leagues under the sea - Jules Verne
55. 2010, Odyssey two - Arthur C. Clarke
56. Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
57. Hunt for red October - Tom Clancy
58. The ipcress file - Len Deighton
59. Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams
60. A tale of two cities - Charles Dickens
61. Voyage of the Dawntreader - CS Lewis
62. SS-GB - Len Deighton
63. The time machine - HG Wells
64. 1984 - George Orwell
65. Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare
66. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
67. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
68. And quiet flows the don - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
69. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
70. Wind in the willows - Kenneth Grahame
71. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
74. Green Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
75. Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
76. Orlando - Virginia Woolf
77. Heidi - Johanna Spyri
78. Around the world in 80 days - Jules Verne
79. Behold the man - Michael Moorcock
80. The man in the high castle - Philip K. Dick
81. Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome
82. Clear and present danger - Tom Clancy
83. Infinity welcomes careful drivers - Grant Naylor
84. Gulliver’s travels - Jonathan Swift
85. The adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
86. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
87. The box of delights - John Masefield
88. The silver chair - CS Lewis
89. We can remember it for you wholesale - Philip K. Dick
90. House Atreides - Brian Herbert
91. Mossflower - Brian Jacques
92. Duncton Wood - William Horwood
93. Volcano Adventure - Willard Price
94. Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard
95. Feet of clay - Terry Pratchett
96. Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
97. Dialogues concerning the natural history of religion - David Hume
98. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - Victor Hugo
99. Phantom of the opera - Gaston Leroux
100.Of mice and men - John Steinbeck
1. Dune - Frank Herbert
2. Silas Marner - George Elliott
3. Diary of a nobody - Weedon Grossmith
4. Lord of the rings - JRR Tolkien
5. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
6. The magic faraway tree - Enid Blyton
7. Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
8. Mission of Gravity - Hal Clement
9. I am Legend - Richard Matheson
10. Flow my tears, the Policeman said - Philip K. Dick
11. Ringworld - Larry Niven
12. The Railway children - Edith Nesbit
13. Nostromo - Joseph Conrad
14. Jingo - Terry Pratchett
15. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
16. The stars my destination - Alfred Bester
17. Pavane - Keith Roberts
18. The city and the stars - Arthur C. Clarke
19. Missee Lee - Arthur Ransome
20. Five dialogues - Plato
21. Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff
22. The fifth elephant - Terry Pratchett
23. The enchanted wood - Enid Blyton
24. Rogue Male - Geoffrey Household
25. Animal Farm - George Orwell
26. Redwall - Brian Jacques
27. Cannibal Adventure - Willard Price
28. Magic Kingdom for sale; sold! - Terry Brooks
29. Joe Millard - The good, the bad and the ugly
30. The thirty nine steps - John Buchan
31. Fanny hill - John Cleland
32. Heir to the empire - Timothy Zahn
33. Five go off to camp - Enid Blyton
34. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
35. Do androids dream of electric sheep? - Philip K. Dick
36. Mars - Ben Bova
37. Sphere - Michael Crichton
38. Christine - Stephen King
39. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
40. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
41. Magician - Raymond E. Feist
42. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
43. Coot Club - Arthur Ransome
44. Night watch - Terry Pratchett
45. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
46. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
47. Moonfleet - J. Meade Falkner
48. It - Stephen King
49. Red storm Rising - Tom Clancy
50. The Lion the witch and the wardrobe - CS Lewis
51. War of the worlds - HG Wells
52. Blood Music - Greg Bear
53. The Space Merchants - Frederick Pohl
54. 20,000 leagues under the sea - Jules Verne
55. 2010, Odyssey two - Arthur C. Clarke
56. Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
57. Hunt for red October - Tom Clancy
58. The ipcress file - Len Deighton
59. Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams
60. A tale of two cities - Charles Dickens
61. Voyage of the Dawntreader - CS Lewis
62. SS-GB - Len Deighton
63. The time machine - HG Wells
64. 1984 - George Orwell
65. Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare
66. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
67. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
68. And quiet flows the don - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
69. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
70. Wind in the willows - Kenneth Grahame
71. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
74. Green Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
75. Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
76. Orlando - Virginia Woolf
77. Heidi - Johanna Spyri
78. Around the world in 80 days - Jules Verne
79. Behold the man - Michael Moorcock
80. The man in the high castle - Philip K. Dick
81. Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome
82. Clear and present danger - Tom Clancy
83. Infinity welcomes careful drivers - Grant Naylor
84. Gulliver’s travels - Jonathan Swift
85. The adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
86. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
87. The box of delights - John Masefield
88. The silver chair - CS Lewis
89. We can remember it for you wholesale - Philip K. Dick
90. House Atreides - Brian Herbert
91. Mossflower - Brian Jacques
92. Duncton Wood - William Horwood
93. Volcano Adventure - Willard Price
94. Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard
95. Feet of clay - Terry Pratchett
96. Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
97. Dialogues concerning the natural history of religion - David Hume
98. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - Victor Hugo
99. Phantom of the opera - Gaston Leroux
100.Of mice and men - John Steinbeck
BHTS in WH Smiths
I have discovered that WH Smiths now stock my book. I must go and see if I can actually find a copy on the shelves...
Clicky on the link.
Clicky on the link.
Tuesday 5 April 2011
The Ikea maze.
Dear Ikea,
As much as I appreciate the thought that must have gone into making all of your stores a labyrinth-like maze, I know what I want and I just want to get to where I pay for it. No matter how hard you try, I will not be impulse buying duvets or cutlery canteens. In future, I shall happily use the fire exits to reach the tills rather than be trapped like a lab rat looking for its next food pellet.
Really your store design is infuriating, and you might want to put consideration into giving an option for people who know what they want to just bloody well go straight to the till/warehouse area and buy it. Do not presume that directing me on a two mile walk through three floors of random stuff with no visible means of escape will enthuse me in any way.
Yours, Jenny
As much as I appreciate the thought that must have gone into making all of your stores a labyrinth-like maze, I know what I want and I just want to get to where I pay for it. No matter how hard you try, I will not be impulse buying duvets or cutlery canteens. In future, I shall happily use the fire exits to reach the tills rather than be trapped like a lab rat looking for its next food pellet.
Really your store design is infuriating, and you might want to put consideration into giving an option for people who know what they want to just bloody well go straight to the till/warehouse area and buy it. Do not presume that directing me on a two mile walk through three floors of random stuff with no visible means of escape will enthuse me in any way.
Yours, Jenny
Monday 4 April 2011
BBC/2 Entertain poor judgement
An open letter to the BBC/2 Entertain after I discovered their attempts to package a new Doctor Who release exclusively in a box set with a prior release, thus trying to rip-off fans making them buy two copies of the same DVD.
I was deeply disappointed to learn that in a crass money-grubbing move, the BBC/2 Entertain has packaged the forthcoming Doctor Who release 'Terror of the Autons' with a duplicate copy of 'Spearhead from Space' in this box set. As a long time Doctor Who fan I resent this blatant attempt to charge me for a second copy of 'Spearhead from space' that I am not interested in. Enhanced extras are never worth buying a DVD twice and I, along no doubt with many other fans, will not be buying this release on a point of principal. Judging by the comments appearing on internet sites across the internet, I am not alone in not appreciating this attempt to rip-off fans. I would therefore strongly urge you to release 'Terror of the Autons' separately from a priorly released title.
The fans are not amused.
I was deeply disappointed to learn that in a crass money-grubbing move, the BBC/2 Entertain has packaged the forthcoming Doctor Who release 'Terror of the Autons' with a duplicate copy of 'Spearhead from Space' in this box set. As a long time Doctor Who fan I resent this blatant attempt to charge me for a second copy of 'Spearhead from space' that I am not interested in. Enhanced extras are never worth buying a DVD twice and I, along no doubt with many other fans, will not be buying this release on a point of principal. Judging by the comments appearing on internet sites across the internet, I am not alone in not appreciating this attempt to rip-off fans. I would therefore strongly urge you to release 'Terror of the Autons' separately from a priorly released title.
The fans are not amused.
All over the house » Archive » Changing the clocks
I usually forget about the clocks, and have been known to still be on BST for a few days into GMT. I find the idea of an MP having to creep into the commons to avoid waking the snoozing politicians quite fun (Looking at you, Ken Clarke...)
All over the house » Archive » Changing the clocks
Preston debrief
The signing at Preston Waterstones went really well and it was a good job that I took with me a load of extra books as the shop ran out of stock by early afternoon. We used more than half of the ones that I brought. Top tip for authors doing signings: take extra books with you, because there will be more than one occasion where they come in handy! I was also informed whilst there that the books have been selling pretty well in the time since the last signing back in January. It looks like Preston is a good outlet for my books! By the time I next go back there I'm hoping it might be in the first few weeks of release of the next book and that momentum will have built even more.
After the signing I headed over to some friends' house and chilled out for the evening. It was only walking distance from the Waterstones. It made a change to not have to get the hell out of Dodge right after a signing. I got to finally watch for the first time ever the film 'Predator 2' which is another of those oft talked about films that I seem to have missed until now. It wasn't as good as the first film, but I still enjoyed it. We ended up having quite a fun evening and didn't get to bed until the early hours of the morning.
Sunday allowed a leisurely return trip to Bolton at around lunchtime. I would like to say that I used the afternoon to do something really fun, but instead I cleaned the house from top to bottom. It isn't that the house is grotty - it is not. Those who know me know that I can be a bit of a neat freak. However we have some nice Firemen coming around this afternoon in their fire engine (no this is not a Hen party related afternoon...). The reason is that they will be fitting smoke alarms in Jenny towers. I just don't want them to think that we live in a tip. Gosh, I feel like my Mother now!
After the signing I headed over to some friends' house and chilled out for the evening. It was only walking distance from the Waterstones. It made a change to not have to get the hell out of Dodge right after a signing. I got to finally watch for the first time ever the film 'Predator 2' which is another of those oft talked about films that I seem to have missed until now. It wasn't as good as the first film, but I still enjoyed it. We ended up having quite a fun evening and didn't get to bed until the early hours of the morning.
Sunday allowed a leisurely return trip to Bolton at around lunchtime. I would like to say that I used the afternoon to do something really fun, but instead I cleaned the house from top to bottom. It isn't that the house is grotty - it is not. Those who know me know that I can be a bit of a neat freak. However we have some nice Firemen coming around this afternoon in their fire engine (no this is not a Hen party related afternoon...). The reason is that they will be fitting smoke alarms in Jenny towers. I just don't want them to think that we live in a tip. Gosh, I feel like my Mother now!
Friday 1 April 2011
The Neverending story
Despite having been old enough to have appreciated it the first time around back in the mid 1980s this film was one that I have never seen. I don't know why exactly I missed this one, because I both saw and loved the film 'Labyrinth' in 1986. Today I redressed the balance and settled down to watch 'The Neverending story' for the first time.
I'm 32 now, and I have to say that I found this film boring, long-winded, and fairly transparent in its plot. It actually left me feeling that I have not been missing anything at all in the last two and a half decades. I've talked with Zoë about this and can only come to the conclusion (because she loved this film) that this effect is a product of the age at which we both first watched it. Maybe if I had watched this aged 5 I would have loved it too? Unless that time machine that Tomorrow's World kept promising turns up I guess I'll never know exactly what my 5 year old incarnation would have made of it. I do know that I loved some pretty dire stuff back then which has failed to rekindle the same excitement and love when rewatched more recently.
It made me wonder what I would actually make of 'Labyrinth' if I were to have come to that film for the first time today? Actually, I can't remember the last time that I watched it - maybe it will have lost a lot of its magic if I ever sit down and watch it again?
I'm 32 now, and I have to say that I found this film boring, long-winded, and fairly transparent in its plot. It actually left me feeling that I have not been missing anything at all in the last two and a half decades. I've talked with Zoë about this and can only come to the conclusion (because she loved this film) that this effect is a product of the age at which we both first watched it. Maybe if I had watched this aged 5 I would have loved it too? Unless that time machine that Tomorrow's World kept promising turns up I guess I'll never know exactly what my 5 year old incarnation would have made of it. I do know that I loved some pretty dire stuff back then which has failed to rekindle the same excitement and love when rewatched more recently.
It made me wonder what I would actually make of 'Labyrinth' if I were to have come to that film for the first time today? Actually, I can't remember the last time that I watched it - maybe it will have lost a lot of its magic if I ever sit down and watch it again?
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