Jen and I have just returned from our annual jaunt to Anglesey. While we were there, we took the opportunity to recreate the haunting final shot from one of our very favourite films.
Compare and contrast:
The view from the headland at Bull Bay, Anglesey last Monday.
The closing shot from Master & Commander: the Far Side of the World (2003).
We shall beat to quarters! Quick's the word and sharp's the action! Never mind the manoeuvres, just go straight at 'em! etc.
Compare and contrast:
An illustration of a pair of Spirifer hawkinsii brachiopod fossils collected by Charles Darwin in the Falkland Islands during the Beagle voyage on 22nd March, 1833.
A pair of Spirifer hawkinsii brachiopod fossils being held by Stense at the Natural History Museum in London last week.
Full story on the Friends of Charles Darwin website.
(Thanks, Stense!)
Move over, Jesus, it's time to make way for BRUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!
Compare and contrast:
An artsy B&W photo I took of some silver birch bark yesterday.
Bruce Springsteen.
I hope you'll understand why I can't reveal the precise location of the holy silver birch. We don't want middle-aged stadium rock fans turning up and hanging their bandannas from its branches in tribute to the Boss.
When I spotted the following headline last night, I let out a little wee in excitement:
E! Online: Matt Damon Confirms He's Reprising His Role as Jason Bourne
Jen and I are massive fans of the Bourne films. We re-watch them several times a year. They're fantastic. If you haven't seen them yet, you should. (Yes, Bill, I'm talking to you!)
[Warning: Potential minor spoilers follow.]
One of the reasons I like the Bourne films so much (other than the fact that they're totally bloody fantastic, I mean), is that certain elements of the ongoing tale of an amnesiac CIA assassin trying to re-discover his past were clearly based on events in my own life.
In the first film, The Bourne Identity, for example, our hero discovers an electronic device buried in his hip that reveals to him the details of his Swiss bank account. He also takes part in a spectacular car-chase through the streets of Paris in a battered old mini. Well, I also have a bank account, and have driven a battered old mini.
In the second film, The Bourne Supremacy, Bourne arrives in Naples by ship. He also takes part in a spectacular car-chase through a tunnel in Moscow. I have also arrived in Naples by ship, and used to commute daily through one of the Mersey road tunnels.
In the third film, The Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne travels to St Pancras Station via the Channel Tunnel. He also takes part in a spectacular roof-top chase in Tangier. I have also travelled to St Pancras Station via the Channel Tunnel, and am rather partial to a tangerine.
As to the fourth film, The Bourne Legacy, Jason Bourne isn't in it—and neither am I.
Oh, yes, and while I'm at it, compare and contrast:
Yours Truly (L) and Jason Bourne (R).
I could probably sue—or, at the very least, insist on a mention in the opening credits of the next movie—but I don't care. The Bourne films are fab, and it looks as if they're finally going to make another one.
I am one happy bunny.
Detail from Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit, c.1620–5
Sir Nathaniel Bacon.
Compare and contrast:
Satoshi Nakamoto, alleged inventor of Bitcoin.
Nigel Farage: alleged non-xenophobe.
We have a right to know.
Long-term readers of Gruts might remember that my mate Bill is something of a sausage artist.
Well, compare and contrast this:
Bill's sausage art: A Congregation of Hoodies (2009)
(sausage grease and charcoal on paper plate)
with this:
Mural spotted by Bill on Robben Island, Sith Ifrica, January 2014.
I have advised Bill to sue their robben isses orf.