alexist

It should NOT take 21 minutes to get from East Finchley to Woodside Park.

Today I was walking towards Leicester Square (just crossed Swiss Court) and some random, non-drunk guy comes up to me and says "I just have to tell you, you have a great aura, I saw you crossing the road and I just felt good". And then he walked off.

?!?!

I had a driving lesson this afternoon. Let's just say that part of it didn't go well, and I shall be spending the next one practising roundabouts. I did go on the A1 for the first time, though. First time in fifth gear!

Afterwards, I headed into town (Neil was playing bridge tonight). I made the mistake of stopping in Borders to see if the new issue of the New Yorker was in yet. It wasn't, but several really really good new books were out and I found myself buying them. Ooops. Oh well... no laptop, need reading material ;) (Although I do have a couple of unfinished ones on the pile...

From there, onto the cinema. I thought Volver was playing at the Curzon Soho at 17:40. It wasn't. It was 18:40. However, I also knew it was playing at the Cineworld Haymarket at 18:00--I prefer the Cineworld anyway but I was early and thought I'd save myself the extra walk. Cineworld failed to impress me on several counts:
- The ticket was £8.90
- The theatre wasn't opened to patrons until 17:55
- There were 30 minutes of ads and previews, which I thought was seriously excessive. It's no wonder people don't go to the cinema--prices are sky high and then they make you watch ads. I remember when US cinemas didn't even have pre-film ads, just the trailers.

The film, however, was fantastic. I didn't like Bad Education much at all and this really confirmed that Almodóvar is much better directing women than men. (Talk to Her is the exception--though even there, women are a big focus of the film). Penélope Cruz was fantastic--"lighting up the screen" is a cliché, but that's really how it felt (as I've said many times, she's a great actress in Spanish and only mediocre in English). For that matter, all the performances were good (though it was somewhat odd to see Carmen Maura so much older--I was watching Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown the other day).

yes, I've been quite the cinema-goer lately, and I expect I will next week too, as Neil's going to Athens for 5 days! Might as well amuse myself one evening.

After that, got some food and came home. I shall noiw curl up with the cat and the new Margaret Atwood.