Rant the first

I thought I'd start a blog properly instead of posting things randomly on facebook. I'm falling a bit out of love with facebook. It is too much of a big thing, which obviously means I am an "exclusivist" at heart...

I went to see Elizabeth: the Golden Age which even the gloriousness of Cate Blanchett could not redeem. There did not seem to be a point which the movie was really moving towards. Now I know there are many films in which are beautiful and special precisely because nothing happens but this was not that kind of movie. There was a lot of action but I found the coherency lacking. My least favourite scene was when Elizabeth was shown to be a typical emotional woman who basically loses it in front of everyone because one of her waiting women is pregnant with Raleigh's child who Elizabeth is supposedly having a sort of "thing" with (Raleigh, not the foetus, obviously). I am sure there are scenes where male rulers do the same but none spring to mind. They usually are portrayed as stoic workaholics. I have other historical grips as well but my main complaint was that the movie was not compelling. This was despite the solid presences of Geoffrey Rush , Clive Owen and (relative) newbie Abby Cornish.

In my usual daily/hourly browse of BBC News I came across an article entitled "Dinosaurs breathed like penguins". I've never been that enthralled by dinosaurs (and me a geologist tut tut), however the image of a dinosaur actually being a penguin on the inside (as it were) is like Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare in Stardust. Stardust is a film I definitely recommend. It has similarities to the Princess Bride but is slightly less bizarre.