The Illusionist~such a beautiful film

I was so impressed with the animation, the story, the characters and the settings in this film. It's one of those films that leaves you with a sense of warmth inside.

Singapore~A Beautiful City

Singapore is one of my favourite cities and this captures the essential vibrancy of its people. This year they are celebrating the Youth Olympics.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11083336

Blowing Bubbles ^^

Pure Colour

This is beautiful and is the reason why I prefer painting to photography for capturing the essential mood just as a writer attempts to draw out the soul of a character.

A Good Read

I've just started this novel and I'm impressed. I like the way that the story evolves from the characters' minds so the author keeps herself at a distance. The tense atmosphere of the setting too helps to create a three dimensional view of Leningrad in the former Soviet Union. The author has done her research too as there is an extensive bibliography at the back of the novel; how often do you see that nowadays? So it's a definite recommendation. It also seems to be a very domestic novel almost like a Vermeer painting with its intense focus on the domestic setting of the growing family so it's quite an education too for me. 
Anyway it's time for lunch and then the cinema to see The Illusionist a French animation that so many people are talking about now.  

Bank Holiday Weekend

It's great to have a long weekend; an ideal opportunity to tidy up the flat. This seems to be an ongoing task with me as work and research take up so much time. I guess that's the problem when you live in a world of books and learning, other things can be neglected. Perhaps these are more important too as time is continuing on. Anyway it's time to have lunch and enjoy the rest of the day.

Blank & Jones - Le Grand Bleu (Ambient Mix)

Wonderful Chill Out Music by Blank & Jones - Loneliness

Sunday night chill out ^^

It's good to be going back to work tomorrow~I'm looking forward to seeing everybody and seeing what the day brings. I realise that not many people enjoy their jobs but I know I've found my niche in teaching. In fact the thought of becoming a head of department or a line manager just leaves me cold; I don't relish the prospect of sitting behind a computer screen all day so no thanks. Even worse is the prospect of becoming an examiner or assessor. “In examinations, the foolish ask questions the wise cannot answer.” (Oscar Wilde) I've often thought about what Confucious once said: "if you enjoy your job you never need to work a day in your life" so I think he was right there. 
Anyway it's great to chill out on a Sunday night especially after a Pilates class. I was there earlier on and it just frees your mind completely as you focus on the positions; apparently it's all about strength, mobility and balance so all good stuff and a definite recommendation for anyone. Time to log off now and listen to some good music and unwind.  

Harmony

This picture seems to say so much about what really matters today~

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10913479

On Writing and the film "Finding Forrester"

It's amazing how certain images from films, novels,poems or paintings stay with you. I remember seeing the film "Finding Forrester" where a former prize winning author helps a young basketball player and aspiring writer to escape from his life in the Bronx, New York. The former author watches the young man at the typewriter and he's just sitting there waiting for inspiration. "What are you doing man, the first rule of writing is to write. First you write from your heart then you write with your head." So he taps away at the typewriter just putting in his immediate thoughts as they come to him and after he can proofread or amend if necessary. It's the problem with some writing nowadays as the writer has intellectually poured over every word the finished article is in danger of becoming artificial and stilted or even worse: unreadable.

So thanks for the prompt from the filmaker(s) of  "Finding Forrester." I'm going to check now to see if the film was based on a novel. 

Thoughts about Work

It's amazing how important work is today. I remember someone once saying to me "I need structure in my life" after returning from a holiday at home or "staycation" as some are calling it nowadays. I know what he means now as having just had my holiday I fell into the old routine of non existent mornings and staying up until 4 or 5am so I'm actually looking forward to returning to work on Monday and getting back into the work routine again. I wouldn't mind so much but I ended up watching old TV boxset DVDs that I've seen time and time again. I had all these grand illusions of waking up at 8am then reading for a while and still having the whole day to get things done but anyway I guess it's human nature and sometimes it's good to gear down. Anyway the books are still waiting so  time to go...

A 4 hour drive

This is Kazan in Russia ~ a beautiful city and a 4 hour drive away from the town where I was working. The town was the place in which I met many warm and welcoming people.

Reflections at Night

Strange how sometimes you lie awake at nights thinking about times past. Last night or rather earlier on this morning I was thinking about a situation I was once in when working in Russia. I met a woman working for the same company and we became friends, then I had to return to the UK and we kept in contact. The second time the company sent me out there was when we met again and she was still there. So of course we met a few times for coffee and chats. I was really surprised when she asked me to stay and to move in with her parents and it seemed her grandparents as she was still living with her family. She lived in a small but friendly Russian town near the Ural Mountains and there were only a handful of foreigners and even fewer Brits like myself there. The nearest capital city was a 6 to 7 hour bus ride so I thought do I really want to do this;I couldn't. I suppose then looking back I guess it's essential to feel comfortable and not too self-conscious in the environment you're living in.

Sign of the Times

I came across an article earlier on basically criticizing Windows Vista for being too slow on start up. Apparently it takes 3 minutes not that I've ever checked and this is considered to be too slow compared to Windows 7 at 2 minutes ~ Is it me or is 1 minute so long to wait? I use Windows Vista and it's been ideal for me; not that my opinion is going to buck any trends but anyway I just thought I would give the thumbs up for Vista.

Let's have a little more relaxation and reflection ~

Finding my way and my trip to Russia.

This is a great thing to do and is becoming quite a habit now. I'm just looking around at my flat and things need sorting out so it's time for a well overdue spring-clean albeit in August. Oh well it's typical with me ~ reading and painting first then do the other things later. I'm learning Russian too as I've worked over there; 5 ice rinks in one city and -25c with a metre of snow, wonderful.
(The photos were taken in Kazan)

Daily Food for Thought

This is great website ~ ideas for living

http://www.theschooloflife.typepad.com/

 

A Brit’s take on American English | Macmillan

Here's a post from the Macmillan blog which is always worth looking at.

A Brit’s take on American English

Posted by Vicki Hollett on July 17, 2010

"As part of American English month, we return to Philadephia, where blogger and EFL teacher & author Vicki Hollett discusses the hazards of a Brit speaking ‘merican. Thank you to Vicki for another great guest post!

_________

The US is a hazardous place for Brits. Since moving to Philadelphia, I’ve inadvertently commented on my hostess’s homely (=ugly) home; I’ve offended my gay neighbours by mentioning their fairy (=holiday) lights and I’ve even described the deceased at a funeral as having a wicked (=nasty – but not in Boston, where I might have been understood) sense of humour.
But there are lots of mistakes I’ve avoided. I’ve understood that batteries don’t go flat here (they die instead) and at the hardware store I’ve learnt how to ask for rawl plugs (=anchors) to put in the plasterboard (=sheet rock) along with some polyfilla (=spackle). I can now dress myself in trousers (=pants) with turn ups (=cuffs) and a jumper (=sweater – take it from me, ’merican jumpers are not a fashion item you’d ever want to wear). So I like to think I’ve had a lot of successes here. When I’ve written something wrongly, I’ve avoided asking my co-workers to lend me a rubber (=contraceptive). And when I’ve forgotten my alarm clock, I’ve never asked my travelling companions to knock me up (=get me pregnant) in the morning.
But whenever I open my mouth here, I’m conscious that it’s always a bit of an experiment. People think we speak the same language and they reason I know what I’m saying, but I don’t. The lexical differences are fun, but they’re actually small fry. Learning how to structure my thoughts ’merican-style is the biggest challenge for me.
The different styles of politeness are tricky. Putting it crudely, I come from a culture where politeness is mostly about not getting in anyone’s way, but in the US it’s more about awarding esteem. I have to remember to show approval, warmth and friendliness, and that’s tough for a Brit. If you think about it, the stereotypical Brit is aloof, standoffish and reserved. Our customs dictate we should leave people alone so they can go about their business without us getting in their way. Meanwhile the stereotype of the American is friendly and garrulous – someone who gives you a run-down of their entire life history within five minutes of meeting them. It’s just not polite to hold back, so I’ve had to learn to show more solidarity, share and be open.
It’s not that one form of politeness is good or bad, but they are different. Have you had any similar experiences with British/American differences? If so, please do share. And in my best British, I do hope I haven’t gone on too long and reading this hasn’t been a bother. And in my best ’merican, y’all come back sometime and set awhile, ye hear?"

Here's the link or just go to:

http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/

A Brit’s take on American English Macmillan

Holiday Time

I seem to be doing a lot more reading and artwork lately. It's great to be off work for a while though;ideal opportunity to chill out and catch up... I also seem to be living like a bat by staying up until the early hours and getting up at... best not say...need to go to the gym tomorrow and then onto Pilates. Anyway back to the reading...

Just a few photos of Cambridge ~ lovely city

Welcome To My Blog

Welcome to my blog~

I'm new to all this so just finding my way round at the moment.