Respite

I should really be re-writing an essay on neighbourhoods in Pompeii or doing the reading for my next one on Antigone (which I just found out should be pronounced An-tig-on-e rather than Anti-gone) but no I am spragged out on the sofa drinking a limb Starbucks latte and trying very hard to stay awake. Oh the joy of jet lag, but if I will nip across the Atlantic for a long weekend then I need to suck this up and my trip was v much worth it.

I had the sneaking suspicion that February/March were going to be tough months, and low and behold by the end of January I felt like I was having a having a mini-melt down.  So my trip to London came at just the right time. Who needs Prozac when you can have a few days at your mum’s being fed and water, and seeing some great theatre. Bliss. Now I feel ready to tackle the move, and get prepping for my exams in May.

Things on Tuesday

Good

• Set sail for London tomorrow
• Enjoying writing an essay on neighbourhoods in Pompeii but having to take MacBook to London to finish working on it
• Managed to acquire Bumble & Bumble surf spray in time for trip so that I can have that tousled surfer look
• Friday’s Caprica was excellent and I have the podcast to listen to

Not-so-good

• Still need to pack & my bag is very small but my warm clothes are very bulky
• Trying to stay awake so that I will be tired enough to sleep on my cramped economy seat tomorrow night
• ESSAYS. SEMINARS. AARRGGHHH

Things on Tuesday

FTW

• Been invited to a wedding in Miami in the fall
• Movers have been confirmed and they remembered me from 3 yrs ago
• Caprica
• Black & White cookies
• London in just over a week and lots of great theatre booked
• Lark Rise to Candleford is a bucolic roller-coaster. Am at the edge of my seat to find out what happens on the next DVD. Who knew tales about the Post Office at the turn of the 19th century would be so gripping
• Yoga tomorrow morning

Meh

• Too much juggling going on so not much time to stop and smell the caffeine
• Looks like trip to Atlanta is off since it’s the only weekend we have to pack up for the move
• Two essays still to be written before trip over the pond
• I find it hard to unravel Vitruvius
• How will my addiction to Words With Friends fare in London without 3G

Creation (Grade: A+)

Last night (after crepes) we went to see the 7:05pm showing of Creation at the Landmark Sunshine. We got there early because I imagined that it would be packed. It’s a film that struggled to get a US distributor because it is about Charles Darwin – surely that is a no brainer for a packed out art house cinema in the East Village. Apparently not, and I can only hope that word of mouth lifts the profile of this film. It is excellent. A thoughtful, layered drama about Charles Darwin’s struggle/journey to write On the Origin of the Species and deal with the death of his eldest child, Annie.

It quite brilliantly weaves in flashbacks of Darwin travels and observations as a natural philosopher as the story unfolds with his crisis of conscious over the lost of Annie and that his theory has discredited the teachings of the bible. This is not a heavy handed Richard Dawkins/Christopher Hitchins diatribe.  It’s a gentle yet brutal portrayal of Darwin as a man who has opened Pandora’s box. There is no return to a state of blind acceptance of Genesis when armed with evidence to the contrary. This is one of the best films that I have seen Paul Bettany in for a long time, and it worked well having Jennifer Connelly as his wife Emma (though she did remind me of Gina McKee who would have made a good Mrs Darwin as well).

Alex and I got quite indignant over Entertainment Weekly only giving it a C- and for it’s bitchy review.  I was actually relieved that this film didn’t focus on Darwin’s travels on the H.M.S. Beagle as I felt that was ground that has been adequately covered elsewhere, and it is naive to imagine that there was one  ‘ah-ha’ moment in Darwin’s studies and that it would be interesting enough for a film. Trust me I have a degree in geology and the scene with Darwin on the beach with his children learning about sedimentary rocks is about as rock ‘n’ roll as it gets (funnily enough geology is not like The Core or Volcano).  Also, to boil Darwin down to one single moment is to do a disservice to his lifetime of study. Darwin was a polymath, something that has sadly been lost (or perhaps discouraged) in our culture. It was his years of travels and observations that gave him the lens with which to view the natural world.  He didn’t wake up one morning with the idea fully formed. It took years and years (and many pigeon carcasses) to greenhouse it. Probably a good time to note that Sir Isaac Newton most likely had an inkling about gravity before the apple hit him on the head. If there ever was an apple, and it wasn’t just a dinner party anecdote.

This film is fascinating because it deals with the personal aftermath of Darwin’s theory. The toll it took on his health, his psyche and his family. The guilt that he had destroyed god (and perhaps with it civilisation) is a lot for one man to bear in the 19th century (look how Topher went loopy in the Dollhouse after his technology actually destroyed humanity).

TIDY!

I gave up the opportunity of drinks tonight so I could tidy the apartment. Saddo or what.  I have a huge laundry list of things to do this weekend (all related to Pompeii, essays and cooking Chinese food) so I wanted to make sure that I had a head start by kicking off the weekend with hoovered floors, clean bedding and all the usual random stuff tided away into neat piles. Oh it feels good. Though I am left with a dilemma for Friday night: go out to see Creation or skip opening weekend and chill out with the DVR. Fringe and Human Target sound good with some freshly baked peanut butter and chocolate-chip cookies. It’s been a busy few weeks so I think a time out is in order.  We’ve found a new apartment and will be moving at the end of February. Out of the blue Alex got a job offer so the traveling will come to a halt and I will actually get to see him on week days.

Things on Tuesday

FTW

• James Franco + Body Pillow + 30 Rock = BLISS!
• Silver nail polish
• Swedish detective novels
• Yoga tomorrow morning
• Taco trucks
• Weather is warming up

Meh

• Too much to do
• Puffy eyes put the kibosh on weekend plans
• Dollhouse descends into madness. So glad there are only 2 episodes left

Reaction

I am sat in bed with Benadryl smeared all over my eye lids, and I am thankful that tomorrow is a public holiday so I can wallow in the privacy of my own home. I appear to be having an allergic reaction to some generic make-up removing wipes I used earlier (note to self – don’t skimp on ANYTHING that touches skin). Who knew that your eye lids could swell up so much that they turn you into a Fringe style freak of the week. Yes, it really helped that we watched the latest episode of Fringe which featured people with facial deformities caused by military experiments.  The swelling is going down but I am still little miss puffy and I am hoping when I wake up the worse will be behind me.

PS. Is Benadryl meant to burn (at first) when you apply it?

**Update**

I am not sure if the Benadryl had any real effect but when I woke up this morning the swelling had gone down. What I’ve found most effective is damp teabag therapy. It reduced the puffiness and gave me some relief (v uncomfortable to blink with thick eyelids). The only downside is that it leaves a stain and I was walking around the apartment like a pirate as I could only apply one bag at a time because it is physically impossible for me to not potter about (so being immobile on the couch wasn’t an option).  What’s really weird is that some of the swelling dropped down to my cheekbone and the general puffiness really brings out the lines under my eyes. Ugh.

Things on Tuesday: Winter TV

The Good

• Returning favorites: Chuck, Burn Notice & Psych. I loved the last 3 episodes of Chuck, though could do with more Casey (though not sure why a Col. is still  in the field that would have never happened in The Unit or in Bands of Brother). Clever handling of Intersect 2.0 so we get an upgraded but flawed Chuck but still waiting to see how they work in Subway.
• Fresh blood: Human Target, Caprica, Pacific & Spartacus. I was impressed by the Caprica pilot; it has big shoes to fill after BSG but with the strong cast and writing I think it could turn into a worthy prequel.
• I stopped watching 24 a couple of seasons ago as it just got too tired and predicable but am tempted to tune in this weekend as Jack will be tearing up NYC and Starbuck will be working CTU. Perhaps she can teach Jack about air-locking since water boarding is so 2009

The not-so-good

• I quite like White Collar but I thought we’d find out more about the grafting side of cons and each episode leaves me a little disappointed
• NBC has managed to create a hit drama with the fallout over late night chat show spots. Surely the simplest way to solve it would be create a new Law & Order franchise to run in the 10pm slot with all 3 late night talk show hosts.  Leno and Fallon can make up the experience-rookie cop partnership, and Conan can be the sharp tongued DA that we all prefer. That would leave Sam Waterson free to take over the Tonight Show

Flowers or data backup?

Whenever I am involved in a discussion about flowers I always like to bring up an anecdote from my wedding. When Alex paid the bill for the flowers he indicated that since he had cough up the dough for three bouquets, several button holes and five table centerpieces (around GBP 600) that these flowers would be lasting me a long time, and seven years on he has almost stayed true to that promise (there was a relapse three or four years ago when he bought me flowers for Valentines). But then again he is the person that, three years ago, told me that since we were having to move out of our furnished sublet a month before Valentines that he’d have to spend the money he had been saving to buy me some jewelry on furniture.  I just loved that he told. I went from having absolutely no expectations of receiving anything to almost having some jewelery to it morphing into Ikea furniture.

Back to the flowers, so I think some people feel sorry for me because Alex hasn’t bought into the whole “flower” racket but as I like to point out he does regularly back-up my computer(s), makes sure that I have cool apps on my iPhone and that we have a perfectly balanced surround sound with our home cinema. Why is buying flowers seen as a more romantic gesture than backing up your partners data so that (s)he will never me in a position where (s)he has to rely on SpinRite (I should not even know what SpinRite is where it not for the SecurityNow podcast brainwashing that goes on in our apartment)?

Anyone can buy flowers but only a true romantic would surprise his wife by installing extra memory in her iMac so she can kept as many FireFox tabs open as her heart desires.

Things on Tuesday

Woo hoo

• I love it when my mum IMs me, especially when I am at work, to update me about random stuff.  It’s like a long distance hug and it keeps me sane
• Managed to find reasonably priced B&B for our trip to Montreal. This is quite an achievement as most places triple room rates over Grand Prix weekend
• Reading Scandinavian mystery novels in bed with a hot water bottle
• This weekend I have Daybreakers AND Q&A with Natalie Portman to look forward to

Meh

• Two days back and my blood pressure is already rising
• I shouldn’t complain about the cold as it is January after all but it is VERY cold and the apartment feels like a meat locker
• I need to book theatre tickets and flight for sneaky trip to London
• The day job is getting in the way of Words With Friends
• Apartment feels too empty without Alex
• I have two essays to start, and a seminar on the horizon