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I walked over to the Botanic Gardens, and meandered through some nicely manicured lawns and ignored signs telling me to find out about our potato ancestors. I went into a room which was rather grandly described as an aquarium, and got very worried about an albino frog. It was in a tank, all puffed up and entirely immobile. I thought it might be dead, and wondered if I ought to mention it to someone, but then I couldn't decide if maybe it was some sort of statue and I would look silly.
I mostly went to see some Louise Bourgeouise works. They're called "Nature Study", and done in thick strokes of shades of red. I really liked them, all about birth and motherhood. There was a series of two figures, one with a foetus in, and another with a penis, and the one with the foetus had a lot of vagueyl rounded lengths that could have been arms and breasts, only there were five of them. It was quite comforting-looking. The building was a bit odd. Rather than the galleries being open, you can to open doors to get into things, and this isn't a laziness qualm, it was just that everything was painted very white, and it seemed like at any moment you might stumble into someone's private office. In the lift someone had not only corrected a misspelling in biro, but written "shame on you!" above it.
On the way back out I went to the "aquarium" again, and the frog wasn't where it was. The surface of the tank hadn't been disturbed, so it couldn't have been taken out. Then I noticed what seemed to be an albino grenouille sticking out beind a rock at the back, so probaly it's okay, unless the tiny little fish ganged together to drag it to a more dignified resting place.
It started to rain, so I bussed up to the National Portrait Gallery, and went to see the Vanity Fair portraits. Having read Jezebel, it was quite sad to see that, yes, all the hollywood women covers on display had all the women of colour on the inside folds. And after a while I got very bored of all the women lying down and naked. I did like Raquel Welch's picture, which was her looking gleeful, with the naked bodies of the USA men's swim team naked behind her. (Just because it seemed like a change from sportswomen always having to get their kit off, and she was older by quite some years and just looked really cool.) I also went to look at the twentieth century gallery (I rarely look any further back in portrait galleries because I rarely know who anyone is, and the styles all look the same to my uneducated eyes, so it's not so interesting). There was a very nice portrait of Stephen Hendry, with the cue ball as a globe.
Last week I was in a charity shop and bought The Vampire Game, which I never had when I was little, and always yearned for. I can't quite remember the specifics, but the main point is that there's a vampire figure, and the top hat comes off and it's a red ink stamp in the shape of a bat. A disadvantage of living alone is that I have no-one to play it with.
I watched 8 out of 10 Cats, and Claudia Winkelman and Gaby Logan were both on it, being adorable at each other. Several shots of Gaby staring lovingly at Claudia, as well she might. Mostly though, I have been watching Dead Like Me, which I really like. ( The most minor of spoilers. )
I went to see Gone Baby Gone, which was excellent.
I mostly went to see some Louise Bourgeouise works. They're called "Nature Study", and done in thick strokes of shades of red. I really liked them, all about birth and motherhood. There was a series of two figures, one with a foetus in, and another with a penis, and the one with the foetus had a lot of vagueyl rounded lengths that could have been arms and breasts, only there were five of them. It was quite comforting-looking. The building was a bit odd. Rather than the galleries being open, you can to open doors to get into things, and this isn't a laziness qualm, it was just that everything was painted very white, and it seemed like at any moment you might stumble into someone's private office. In the lift someone had not only corrected a misspelling in biro, but written "shame on you!" above it.
On the way back out I went to the "aquarium" again, and the frog wasn't where it was. The surface of the tank hadn't been disturbed, so it couldn't have been taken out. Then I noticed what seemed to be an albino grenouille sticking out beind a rock at the back, so probaly it's okay, unless the tiny little fish ganged together to drag it to a more dignified resting place.
It started to rain, so I bussed up to the National Portrait Gallery, and went to see the Vanity Fair portraits. Having read Jezebel, it was quite sad to see that, yes, all the hollywood women covers on display had all the women of colour on the inside folds. And after a while I got very bored of all the women lying down and naked. I did like Raquel Welch's picture, which was her looking gleeful, with the naked bodies of the USA men's swim team naked behind her. (Just because it seemed like a change from sportswomen always having to get their kit off, and she was older by quite some years and just looked really cool.) I also went to look at the twentieth century gallery (I rarely look any further back in portrait galleries because I rarely know who anyone is, and the styles all look the same to my uneducated eyes, so it's not so interesting). There was a very nice portrait of Stephen Hendry, with the cue ball as a globe.
Last week I was in a charity shop and bought The Vampire Game, which I never had when I was little, and always yearned for. I can't quite remember the specifics, but the main point is that there's a vampire figure, and the top hat comes off and it's a red ink stamp in the shape of a bat. A disadvantage of living alone is that I have no-one to play it with.
I watched 8 out of 10 Cats, and Claudia Winkelman and Gaby Logan were both on it, being adorable at each other. Several shots of Gaby staring lovingly at Claudia, as well she might. Mostly though, I have been watching Dead Like Me, which I really like. ( The most minor of spoilers. )
I went to see Gone Baby Gone, which was excellent.
