Half a Century

To celebrate having reached the half-way point (hopefully), I went into town last week for my annual trip to the Design Museum, accompanied by some of my relatives.

It was a nice, bright shiny day in Old London Town:

The Design of the Year exhibition was on and there was a mix of the practical and strange:

On the left is a wall calendar made of Lego and, on the right, a giant-sized Twitter feed printer. There were cars and smartphone apps and chairs and dresses. There was also a rather nice, if expensive, folding bike:

and a new type of aircraft, similar to the Westland Pterodactyls of the 1930's:

More mundane, but perhaps just as significant, is Fairphone, from Holland. As the name implies, it's an ethically sourced smartphone.

True Detective

True Detective is now out on DVD in the U.K. Louisiana State Detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) are called to the scene of what looks like a ritual murder:

The series follows the case in flashback as the two detectives are interviewed many years after by their counterparts working a similar murder. A lot of fuss has been made of the series, preempting a cult following, but it is justified. McConaughey is hot property at the moment, after Mud and more recent films, and Cohle is a very suitable vehicle. Some of the weirder ideas that Cohle has (or purports to have: you're never quite sure if he's just playing games) would sound rubbish from a lesser actor, but he holds the attention perfectly. Harrelson's role is more solid and conventional, but it contrasts well with Cohle and is no less compelling. I honestly believe that you could just show the interviews without the flashback and it would still be good watching.

The direction and script are equally good and a third component, even a third actor really, is the atmospheric Louisiana countryside, part industrial (a strong feature being the refineries and chemical works supporting oil industry along the Gulf coast) and still very rural and religious.

Very, very recommended.

Jack the Giant Slayer

A retelling of the old fairy tale, Jack (Nicholas Hoult) takes his horse to the City market to sell, exchanging it for some mysterious beans and embroiling himself with the Princess (Eleanor Tomlinson) and the King's scheming advisor (Stanley Tucci).

An amiable story, well told, with a good supporting cast including Ewen Bremner, Eddie Marsan, Ian McShane and Ewan McGregor. More fun than you would think and very recommended.