The Woman In Black: ghoulies and ghosties and things that scream in a blood-curdling way, in the night … !

Hmmm …

Yes, Daniel Radcliffe’s seems to have caught your attention …

Unless it hasn’t … ?

No … ?

NEVER mind …

I have to admit, I think this week’s been one of those over filmic weekends, what with watching Mulholland Drive and Hellraiser over the past few days.

What with there being really not enough TV — and WAY too much football — to justify me watching much of it.

But … ?

Well, you can possibly guess I only been and gone and watched another film …

And you’ve POSSIBLY already guessed which one …

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The Daily Teaser — 24-06-2012

Hmmm … 

That’s … strangely weird … 

I think … 

I mentioned, yesterday, that I’d started a course of treatment for an underactive thyroid gland … ?

This is going to sound odd, but despite the iffy night’s sleep, today is the first time I can recall not feeling too grotty, afterwards.

Actually … ?

I have to admit, it’s ALSO the first time I can recall my throat not feeling swollen.

And actually feeling rampagingly hungry in the morning … !!!

On the second day of a course of treatment … ?   That’s fairly good, I think.

Let’s get moving on, shall we … ?

☱☲☴☲☱

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi putting in her answers: along with being thankful for the invention of both computers and the Internet*º, also bagging 4 out of 5.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video … 

Q1) 24th June, 1947, saw Kenneth Arnold make the first widely reported sighting of a UFO: what does UFO stand for … ?

Q2) More to the point, in which US state was this … ?

Q3) 24th June, 1916, saw who become the first woman to sign a $1, 000, 000 Hollywood contract … ?

Q4) 24th June, 2010 saw John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut at the conclusion of their sport’s longest profession match.   What WAS their sport … ?

Q5) 24th June, 972, saw which country win the Battle of Cedynia?

Q6) And finally … 24th June, 1974, saw Britain’s government admit to having tested what … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 23rd June, 1912, saw the birth of Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer.   During World War 2, he worked at Britain’s code-breaking centre, in Bletchley Park: what was that centre’s formal name … ?

A1) The Government Code and Cypher School.

Q2) More to the point, name either of the German cipher machines which he helped crack … ?

A2) The Enigma Machine — in part, broken with the device called the Bombe — and the Lorenz cipher machine: broken with the aid of the Heath Robinson and Colossus machines.

Q3) 23rd June, 79 AD, saw who become Roman Emperor … ?

A3) Titus.   (Or Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, if you want it in full … !)

Q4) 23rd June, 1868 saw Christopher L. Sholes patent the first commercially successful typewriter.   Yes or No: did he himself use it?

A4) No.

Q5) And finally … 23rd June, 1943, saw the birth of computer scientist, Vint Cerf: one of the men known as the father of what … ?

A5) The Internet.

Enjoy those, everyone.

As the rain’s decided to stop at Brentwood on its World Tour of south-east England, birthday boy Jeff Beck has an ideal tune … 

*        Actually, Debbi, I think we need to thank Paul Baran and Donald Davies.   They’re the scientists  who — completely independently of each other — came up with packet-switching, the underlying communication method the ’net uses.   I’m thinking cucumber sandwiches are practically mandatory … !

º        Actually, Debbi, did I ever tell you I’m following Storm Constantine on Facebook … ?   She’s a noted fantasy/sci-fi writer, here in the UK: she might be able to help on that front!   (It’s backgrounds that can be the killer … !   I’m also aware of reading a Terry Pratchett interview, years ago, where he said he kept notes.   Just to make sure that, if he said in one novel that a trip from ⓐ to ⓑ took a week by carriage, that he didn’t say it took half an hour in the next … !   Fans get REALLY geeky about things like thatª.)

ª        No, seriously … !   We’re talking about a variety of people who, for example, have set up the Klingon Language Institute: and have been arguing about whether the Klingons have a word meaning ‘mercy’ for years†.

†        It’s been holding up the Klingon version of the King James Bible for a while.   (Old testament, with tons of sex and smiting?   No problem, not an issue.   The New testament, where mercy gets a mention?   FLAMING row … !)

Mulholland Drive: Weird Scenes Inside A SURREAL Goldmine …

You know, I HAVE to admit, two movies, this week … ?

Is possibly overdoing it.

Possibly … !

Although given there’s little on telly, tonight, I might just drag something else out of the collection.

At ANY rate … ?

At any rate, I have to admit that, with little else to do, last night … ?

I managed to catch the 2001, David Lynch film, Mulholland Drive: on a dimly remembered favourable mention from both Debbi Mack and long-time reader, Kaiju.

And I’m not sure what’s just hit me … 

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Mulholland Drive opens with a montage of the central character, Betty (Naomi Watts), watching a dance contest.   We then see the mysterious Rita — Laura Herring — losing her memory, after being involved in a car accident on the eponymous road, suffering amnesia as a result, and ending up in the apartment used by Betty: who, it seems is an aspiring Hollywood actress.

The result … ?

The result being that the girls decide to try and find out more about Rita’s background.

A search that — this IS a David Lynch film, after all — goes in some very STRANGE directions.

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Now, I said I wasn’t sure what hit me … ?

Too right … !

Now, I’ve said it before — and will no doubt say it again, at some point — that I feel David Lynch is a genius.   If for no other reason that any of his films that I’ve seen are some of the most beautifully shot  I’ve ever seen.

In fact, if I remember rightly, I think I saw or read David Lynch saying that he’d originally trained up as a cinema lighting man.

Don’t quote me on that.

But it would explain the depth of colour that his films seem to me to have: including the black and white ones like Eraserhead  or The Elephant Man*.

That’s one thing Mulholland Drive shares with the films in Lynch’s œuvre: that sheer beauty.

There’s another … !

You notice I use the word ‘surreal’ in the title of the post … ?

That’s justified, I think.

In common with other Lynch films I’ve seen, I think we can definitely say Mulholland Drive is a touch surreal: with twists, characters and dreamy scenes floating across your sight in a way that — of any other director I know of — only Peter Greenaway could catch.

And again, much like Eraserhead, the original series of The Prisoner and any three paintings by Salvador Dali, I’m also thinking something else.

I’m thinking that Mulholland Drive has a very slippery sense of meaning.

I’ll tell you what.

I’ll leave you seeing stars.

I’ll let you tell me what you think

Mulholland Drive
★★★★

*        Personally … ?   I happen to think that The Elephant Man is the high point of the Lynch films I’ve seen.

The Daily Teaser — 23-6-2012

Hmmm … 

You know, I’ve got to admit, I was at my doctor’s, yesterday.

Seemingly … ?

Seemingly, and after several blood tests, it seems I’ve got a mildly underactive thyroid gland.

Which makes sense of a FEW things, going by the symptom list, I know that: especially the stress related ones.

Actually, MOST of them make some sort of sense.

Bar the mention of abnormal menstrual cycle.

It’d be a STRANGE universe if I’ve a problem, THERE … !

At ANY rate, let’s get moving on, shall we?   While I remind you it’s Alan Turing’s birthday: as he was a keen amateur runner, go for a jog to celebrate … 

‹‹·››

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi putting in her answers: along with commenting on her potential usage of the word ‘knackered’*, also bagged 6 out of 6.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we?   Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video … 

Q1) 23rd June, 1912, saw the birth of Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer.   During World War 2, he worked at Britain’s code-breaking centre, in Bletchley Park: what was that centre’s formal name … ?

Q2) More to the point, name either of the German cipher machines which he helped crack … ?

Q3) 23rd June, 79 AD, saw who become Roman Emperor … ?

Q4) 23rd June, 1868 saw Christopher L. Sholes patent the first commercially successful typewriter.   Yes or No: did he himself use it?

Q5) And finally … 23rd June, 1943, saw the birth of computer scientist, Vint Cerf: one of the men known as the father of what … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 22nd June, 1911, saw which George crowned as King of the UK: George 5th, George 6th or Edward 8th … ?

A1) George 5th.

Q2) More to the point, who was his queen … ?

A2) Mary of Teck.

Q3) 22nd June, 2003, saw the world’s largest hailstone hit WHICH Nebraska town … ?

A3) Aurora.

Q4) 22nd June, 1984, saw which airline make its first commercial flight … ?

A4) Virgin Atlantic.

Q5) 22nd June, 1978, saw the discovery of Charon, the moon of Pluto.   The Greek mythological figure it’s named after is what: a three headed dog, a ferryman or a river … ?

A5) A ferryman.

Q6) And finally … 22nd June, 2009, saw Eastman Kodak announce they were to stops selling what: cameras, film or printers.

A6) Film: or their bestselling brand of colour film, to be accurate …

Enjoy those, everyone.

As the late Dr Turingº shares his birthday with Adam Faith, I’ll leave you with Poor Me … 

*        Oh, go ahead, Debbi: if you get funny looks, you can tell people I said it was ok … ! :D   But on a more SERIOUS note … ?   It turns out Wikipedia has a whole entry on British slang, which is nice.   And rather eye-popping: It’s only now I’ve found out what ‘berk’ª is actually short for … !

ª        It’s a bit like ‘aris’ as a term for one s backside: ‘Aris’ is short for ‘Aristotle’, which rhymes with ‘bottle’, from the rhyming slang phrase ‘Bottle and Glass’.   I’ll let you fill in the last bit, shall I , Debbi … ?

º        As a final note … ?   It’s generally accepted that Alan Turing’s work during the war helped shorten it by two years.   I still personally feel he should get SOME sort of medal for that.   On top of that … ?   I would not be posting this — and you would not be reading it — without his work on computers.   THAT deserves a reward: not the undignified death he eventually faced … 

Hellraiser: A Box of Delights …

22nd June, 2012.

You know, if you see yourself as vaguely patriotic — but NOT a fan of the world’s most popular sport — those times when England’s playing — and, it seems, winning — can be a real pain.

Hmmm …

Mind you, by the sound of it, the Ukrainian hosts aren’t going to shut up about that debatable Marko Devic goal.

Score another point for the Goal-line Technology argument …

At ANY rate … ?

At ANY rate, it sounds like England are through to the quarter finals: which means I’m personally going to be seeing what ELSE I have in my movie collection.

Because, as you might have guessed … ?

I spent today in the company of an old favourite, the original — and some would argue, best — entry in the franchise, Hellraiser.

☕☕☕☕☕