Less is More

I

I jammed in Everything, Everywhere All At Once this afternoon, in between essay writing and the pre TCA launch meeting at The Velvet voiced Linda’s home. The film was what I expected to be honest, a full one, in your face , frenetic romp of movie with lots to say, even more to see and a cast that was clearly enjoying every bleeding moment of their time on screen.

It’s just not for me .

A conventional story started at a cracking pace. Blink and you’d miss half of what was going on. Evelyn ( Michelle Yeoh) is a frazzled owner of a busy laundromat. She is swamped with difficult customers, a mounting tax bill, a lesbian daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) who wants and needs validation, a smiling  cheerful husband ( Ke Hue Quan) who wants a divorce and a demanding , negative father ( James Hong) visiting from Hong Kong 

The family meet up with the IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre ( a hilarious Jamie Lee Curtis) in an effort to sort out their failing business and this is where everything is turned on it’s head and present day characters become superhero alter egos in a parallel existence 

Fart and you’d miss something as the off beat comedy drama suddenly became surreal, absurd, a fantasy based martial art dream like time busting bit of anarchy. 

And that’s when I left it .

Now I know I wasn’t suited to this kind of genre, I placed the above less-is-more clip from Pride and Prejudice as an example of just why I didn’t enjoy it, but I did pick on the films main theme, namely Evelyn being trapped in a life she can’t control or even wished for. 

Michelle Yeoh is a beautiful actress and much of this theme was shared by her to the audience in just a few telling expressions and glances in the very first reel. That would have done me.

She was sublime

But the film took its own narrative path and for some that was challenging, exciting and innovative .

It just sort of bored me . 

I did love the performances though. Quan is genuinely sweet as Evelyn’s hopeful/ superhero husband. 

Jamie Lee Curtis clearly enjoyed herself as the baddie of the piece and Yeoh has that amazing ability to move you with a  mere glance. 

She has an old soul that woman

I did walk out eventually , and I’m sorry but it was necessary , it was a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes for me

I did so want to love it . But I didn’t 

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Spoons

A rattail teaspoon

It is Mrs Pudding's birthday this week. I had a brilliant idea to buy her a voucher for the massage of her choice. However,  when I  asked if there was anything she wanted for her birthday she told me she would like some new teaspoons.

Several years ago and at some expense we bought a full set of Sheffield-made cutlery in the famous rattail design.  Only three of the original eight teaspoons have survived. Who knows what happened to the other five - probably accidentally tossed into the kitchen waste bin or taken out of the house in lunchboxes - never to return.

Anyway, over in the Hillsborough suburb of the city there's a business called The Sheffield Cutlery Shop. They have a website - see here. This morning I phoned them. Though they normally sell their goods through online orders, the respondent at the other end checked his spoon stock and said that they did have six rattail spoons in and I could come over to buy them directly.

As I drove over there in Clint, my luxury South Korean automobile, I expected to soon be standing at a shop counter, whipping my bank card out and simply paying for the six spoons. But it wasn't like that.

First of all, there was no actual shop. It was a workplace dedicated to cutlery with machines, lathes, boxes, polishing instruments and different types of cutlery at different stages of preparation all over the place. The owner was a man of around fifty called Lee. His father and grandfather had owned the business before him.

Lee made a very positive impression upon me. He was infectiously passionate about cutlery and very much a hands-on boss. In half an hour I learnt so much more about making and finishing cutlery as Lee whizzed me around the premises randomly pointing things out including packages containing knives and boxes of  cutlery that were about to be dispatched around the world.

He told me that he has recently taken an order to make six thousand serrated table knives to be sent to Irish embassies and consulates around the globe. He also showed me an antler bone handled carving set to be sent to a customer in Minneapolis. Wistfully, I told him that I had been there and thought of it as a beautiful city with its lakes and spacious suburbs. Maybe George Floyd saw it differently.

You might say that the work environment was chaotic but everything had its place. In one room, Lee showed me boxes of antlers - some from Scotland, some from the Woburn Abbey estate in Bedfordshire and some from Scandinavia. I wished I had taken my camera but the last thing I was expecting was a guided tour. It was utterly fascinating and I would have happily spent the rest of the day there.

One of the rattail spoons had not been "stamped" so Lee did it there and then using an amazing laser machine. I reminded him that I needed to pay for the teaspoons and he said I could do it online when I got home. He didn't even know my name  but he trusted me to do the honest thing which of course I did this very afternoon.

Oh and shhhh! Please don't tell Shirley that I have bought her spoons as requested. Being the perfect husband can be quite demanding I find.

Inside R&R Polishing Ltd premises at Jericho Works, Malin Bridge.

This was the only picture of the place I could find online.

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Stay

 I saw something on Instagram about discipline is more important than motivation. It’s true for me. PT is all about discipline. Some days I’ve lacked motivation to keep the new way of life going, but discipline keeps me going. For the first time, I’ve loving my body enough to fight for it. Do I look better?  Yes. More importantly, I’m feeling better. I never trusted that my body could work for me, if I worked for it. Let me honest.  This is the first time, I’ve truly worked for it. I just expected my body to hold up. Sustaining means working. I still don’t like working. I’m doing it nonetheless. My body deserves it. I’m finding when I take care of my body, my mind follows. My problems don’t cease, but I no longer let the problems stop me. Love you all. 

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Home I’m Darling

 

Jonny ( Neil McDermott) and Judy (Jessica Ransom) are 1950s enthusiasts. They love the style and the decor and thought of Judy being a 24/7 housewife and so when the chance arises , Judy gives up her job to look after the home full time in a sort of freewheeling social experiment. 

When money becomes tight , and when questioned by Judy’s  somewhat bemused commune living mother ( Diane Keen) cracks in this idealised lifestyle begin to show.

Home I’m Darling is an interesting , crackingly paced play which has a great deal to say about almost everything. Unfortunately , despite a great and rather moving performance by Ransom , we don’t quite understand Judy’s desperate need to live a life her mother finally describes as being  “ A Cartoon!”  as from the get go, once the housework is done , she sits down at the kitchen table in her Princess Grace pleated skirt and gets out her laptop.

Of course Home I’m Darling’s humour comes modern day gender politics. It looks at the fantasy lives my parents could of and turns that on it’s head when Judy’s mother finally looses her temper with her daughter and lists all that was wrong with the 1950s. 

This is a clever, witty and at times rather sad play. Fantastically staged and boldly acted.

An enjoyable night out.

Ps

Photos taken 2 minutes ago (11am)

Albert scoffing his dinner

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