Halfpom

The Men who Stare at Goats - what is point......?

Okay, I realise this header could potentially lead us down a totally different path to what was originally intended.....ahem...back to the straight & narrow please...

It is a bank holiday in the UK today so that meant I got a day off when most Saffers are working.....normally it's the other way around as South Africa gets loads more public holidays than the UK so I enjoyed the novelty....off to Tanzania on Saturday so spent most of the day preparing for the trip...but decided to go to the movies in the afternoon.

At first I thought I would be the only one in the theatre...yippppeee...but then...drat, two more people pitched...late....then proceeded to hoover their way noisily through 'supersize me' boxes of popcorn (okay -I'm stretching the truth with the popcorn...but it has been known to happen).

When I worked in the hospitality industry, you either worked an early (07h00 to 15h00) or a late (15h00 to 23h00) shift....if it was a late shift MB & I would often go to the movies around noon-ish which would get us up to the hotel in time for work. That was my initiation to the joys of having a movie theatre all to yourself.....a private viewing....so decadent....love it! Occasionally other people would pitch up & it would drive MB absolutely wild when, having the seating of the ENTIRE cinema to choose from, they would invariably sit right next to him. Normally he is a very polite guy but that just used to make him flip - he would actually get up & move to an empty row just to make a point. What is wrong with people...give each other some space, for goodness sake!! Grumpy old woman in training...don't get me started...it's a slippery slope.  

I opted to see the movie 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' as the quirky title appealed to me & it stars George Clooney (normally a surefire winner) & with that title the movie had huge potential. Not this time....I really could not see point of this movie at all...maybe I'm just being thick? Sorry George....but I think your time would have been better spent at Como or trying to find Malibongwe Drive (I'm trying to point him in the right direction, Helen....). BTW, really did enjoy 'Up in the Air' - that one I got totally!! 

So while it had a few laughs it was, sadly, not a winner for me...here are some other reviews on Rotten Tomatoes in case you think I'm being too mean to George.
 

An Education....

This last Saturday it was hot, hot, hot in Cape Town.....36 degrees Celsius in the shade so I decided to go to a movie.....nice, air-conditioned Cinema Noveau and one of the options of offer was 'An Education'. A pefect movie on a Saturday afternoon.....here is the Telegraph's review of the book. Please go and see it if you can....& I've added the book on to my wishlist.

   

Books, glorious books...

One of my New Year's resolutions was to try & live a simpler, greener life and to this end I've taken to haunting secondhand book stalls to indulge one of my great pleasures in life.....READING....Actually who am I kidding...I've always been drawn to any trestle table loaded with books....I came across this lot at the Country Craft Market which takes place every alternate Saturday in Somerset West. The Lions club run the book stall and it is a veritable treasure trove...Evelyn Waugh (never read anything of his before that I can recall), Joy Packer (an old South African author rediscovered) as well as Nevil Shute(an Australian author best known for his book 'A Town like Alice').

I've spent many happy hours reading all of them - the only one left is Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind' - I never realised it was such a thick book.....One thing that has struck me is how relevant the stories still are today given that the average publishing date of the lot above is circa 1950's. And another thing....there is just nothing like the smell of old books....don't get me wrong, new ones have an irresistible allure all of their own but nothing like the rich aroma (& the odd stowaway fish moth) of the old stuff!