Everybody dies.

Man, I have truckloads to do today, so just a few thoughts on the weekend. And probably no photos... although we'll see.

Saw several movies in the weekend. Old movies. We don't get out as much as we used to. Although we were all hyped to go see Brad & Angelina in Mr & Mrs Smith until we realised it doesn't start till Thursday.

Hero:

Zhang Yimou's... what would you call this? Ode to swords & colour schemes perhaps. I really liked it! T fell asleep. Just sumptuous to look at. And do Maggie Cheung & Tony Leung appear on People's Most Beautiful lists? If not, they're being robbed. By all means check out Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love for further confirmation. Jet Li meanwhile, doesn't sing, but apparently can dance a little.

Anyway, Hero, it's kind of similar to Kaige Chen's The Emperor & the Assassin in that it concerns a planned assassination of the first emperor of China, the King of Qin. Except where Chen's film is based on historical fact, Hero immerses itself in colour coded mythology. It's brilliant! Looking forward to House of Flying Daggers now.

And while we're on the subject of Maggie Cheung, the Hong Kong film industry has always struck me for its lack of pretension. Cheung can appear as the dizzy female airhead in martial arts slapstick like The Iceman Cometh and also worthy fare like In the Mood for Love. Do also check out Irma Vep.

Garden State:

Zach Braff from Scrubs returns home for the funeral of his mother. Meets up with old school friends. Resumes troubled relationship with his father. And makes the acquaintance of Queen Amidala.

Good fun actually. There's a lovely bit where Braff & Natalie Portman go meet a dodgy old friend of his, and they agree that if she starts to pull at her ear, it's the code that she wants out - right away. This plan works well. Much later, Braff is accosted in a supermarket by an ultra creepy old friend & within about 30 seconds Portman's tugging at her ear. Very funny.

What else? Oh yeah, Housekeeper:

This one's got a deceptive cover blurb. It is not an outrageous comedy about a divorced man who gets himself an incompetent hottie for a housekeeper. She's not incompetent. It's more of an amusing drama about a lonely divorced man called Jacques who decides to get his act together & hires a housekeeper to put his flat literally in order. It all works well. Then Laura, the housekeeper, breaks up with her boyfriend & needs a place to stay. Before too long, they're sharing the bed.

Jacques initially regards this relationship as just sex, and doesn't expect or plan for the arrangement to last very long. But it's clear that Laura's attention is very good for his self esteem. When his ex wife appears on the scene, looking to reconcile, Jacques flees the city & Laura persuades him to take along.

When, during the "holiday", Laura declares that she wants a "husband and wife" kind of relationship with Jacques, his self reserve starts to cave in. However, Laura is much, much younger, prone to easy distraction, and very quick to bestow her affection.

The film ends rather precipitously, but you get the feeling everyone is going to be OK. If you've ever had a relationship with someone a lot younger (or maybe a lot older) , you might consider that this film rings true.

We weren't in front of a screen all weekend though. For starters... no netball! And so we slept in till 8.30. That must be a sign of getting old actually, 8.30? Jesus... in the old days it wasn't a real sleepin if it was still morning...

We did visit SunnyO, briefly, to check on the sheep, retrieve a pick (which would be needed in town Sunday & Monday), loll in front of an open fire & enjoy a marvelous moroccan meal consisting of chicken, olives & preserved lemons. Fantastic!

We also decided, since it looked overcast, not to take the camera with us on the dog walk along the beach. And so I do not have photos of what was possibly, the most impressive sunset & red sky I have ever seen up there. Wouldn't have been half as impressive if I'd had the camera...

Slept in the next day till 8.45....

Sunday & Monday were spent digging a vast trench. I ache very badly today. T meanwhile, painted skirting boards & doors. The old place is starting to scrub up nicely. Aside from the front yard, which we agree seems to be getting worse, before it gets better. Eyesore probably does not come close.

The plumber should be back sometime this week to move our water pressure down a few settings from Riot Quelling, through Barnacle Lifting, Paint Stripping, Moss Removing and Skin Flaying, to something in between Bracing and Sensual Massage.

Oh... and the subject line refers to one of the movies we saw. Guess which one.