Alice is bewailing the possibility of ever catching up. She's not been Underground again, as she fears you might think. Quite the opposite: since emerging into the light of day around the end of April, she's been so busy she can hardly keep up with herself - or get enough sleep. Tut, tut. But she has taken plenty of photos. I said, just put them in, with a word of two of explanation. You don't have to have all these erudite allusions and links. But that's what she really likes doing, I'm afraid. So, here goes...
[You have to click on the photos to see them bigger, then on the white X top right to come back here. Opening in a new window or tab will give you full size for the largest ones.]
That surprise trip
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| Three Eggs 1975-1982 by Nam June Paik |
We never got round to telling you about this, although we promised to do so back in March. Alice had a birthday with a nought on the end, and her son gave her a wonderful treat. Here I am on one of the new trams, on the way to the airport. To go to London.
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| Bakelite Robot by Paik |
And some lovely Barbara Hepworth, one of Alice's favourite sculptors. Don't you just want to touch them! There will be more of her soon, so more photos, we hope. Keep a look-out on our future posts.
We got exhausted, so had to sit on the floor for a bit. It was a relief to dump the rucksacks at our hotel and go for Peruvian tapas. One sip of Pisco Sour made me all warm and sleepy... | ||||
| The Mouse, the Moon and the Mosquito |
Next morning saw us at the Natural History Museum for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 exhibition. Beautiful images, projected through glass. We liked this one best, by Alexander Badyaev.
In the afternoon, after some hassles with a non-working Tube line, we made our way to the highlight of the trip. Yes! the Game of Thrones Exhibition at the O2. A treat indeed.
It's hard to know what to include: there was so very much to see. Here's just a selection. Scarey bits first: Alice was "turned" by a White Walker; and we both got burned by dragon fire. Valar Morghulis. 
The armour on display was fabulous. It all appeared so real, and though I doubt the blades were actually sharp, I bet they were the right weight for the actors to look convincing in fights. Right click for more detail.Jorah Mormont's sword, one of the most decorative, is to the left. [Spoiler Alert: Don't follow this link unless you've seen all of Season Four.] That crossbow is to the right.
There were plenty of costumes to see, like these belonging to siblings Jaime and Cersei. Melisandre's bright red dress was there as well, and Arya's rags.There were crowns too, a Dornish serpent box, and this "gold" false hand. You could even pose for photos on a replica of HBO's Iron Throne. GRRM describes his own version elswhere.
Of course, there was a dragon flying overhead. Alice spent ages removing the pole he was attached to from the picture. What is she like!Best of all, was the amazing ride up the Wall with an Oculus Rift 4D virtual reality head set.
It was very convincing indeed! Well worth the long wait in a queue. Take a look at these videos by the BBC; Forbes, and Griffin.
What an altogether wonderful Birthday present for Alice, equally enjoyed by all three of us.
Stuff is blooming and growing in the windowboxes again, including some pretty Marigolds. Hurrah!Look at this. No, not my big out-of-focus face . .
I had to get up close and have a proper look.Being careful not to squash the young trailing Lobelia, of course.My technical assistant went to a lot of trouble to make it perfectly clear. See!
The Nasturtium seeds are germinating - and they can be most tricky, requiring soaking, scoring, chilling etc. Watch this space (pun totally intentional).
Alice's new toy
It's not a toy! Alice exclaimed. Well, she did spend hours and hours getting the thing set up how she wanted. I must admit it's a pretty cool little item. And it was second hand, so not too expensive.
We've got the same beautiful Orion nebula wallpaper, and a cunningly hidden task bar as the screen is pretty tiny.
We're going away soon; on an Arvon Writers' Retreat no less (more photos later I hope) so this will be something of a necessity. Yes, our Alice is a writer of more than just bits of this blog or personal film reviews, she's a Real Poet, and once had a "slim volume" published.
On screen to the right is the title page for Spooks from Letterboxd. We went to see it - great stuff!
See our previous blog on here for philosophical stuff about the Matrix screensaver.
We've seen quite a lot of films recently. Maybe we'll find time to tell you about them later on. Maybe.
Film Festival coming up
Here we are, outside Edinburgh's wonderful Filmhouse. And inside, to pick up our brochure for the exciting Edinburgh International Film Festival!The brochure is fun to look at, but actually it's much easier to browse the online version a "strand" at a time.
Alice, I have to admit, was very smart and logged all her wished-for movies online in advance, then actually bought the tickets with a few clicks and entering her card details, on the first day booking opened.
Apparently there is a film about how he tried to make a film of Frank Herbert's Dune, a remarkable Sci-fi classic in itself, which Alice re-reads every few years. The film is called Jodorowsky's Dune would you believe! We've never had the chance to see that one, as it's not yet been released in the UK . . .
We'll get to see it in English, but there's a trailer here in Welsh.
Aaahhh, the lilting language, the gorgeous images . . .
