Posts

Posted on

Be careful

A friend was telling me the other day about something unpleasant that had happened to her.

She had gone for a coffee and cake at some place, and paid by card.

A while later, when she was out shopping, she realised she was getting lots of texts from her bank. Suspicious activity on the account, transactions blocked etc.

She checked her cards. The wallet and all the cards had gone. Also driving licence, work security card and everything.

They had been kept in her zip up bag she carried on her back. the guess was that someone had seen her use her credit card, followed her into the crowded streets, opened the bag and removed the lot hidden by the jostling crowds.

She lost a bit of cash, and all the cards. A visit to the police was required and that’s not fun. There was palaver and cost and inconvenience replacing all the stuff. It didn’t feel nice.

So, a reminder especially as Xmas is here and places are busy. Be aware, be secure, only take out what you really need, make sure you have details of cards and apps from your bank or whoever.

Posted on

Being Frank

This is the time of year for the London Film Festival.

One of the things they had every year was Live Cinema, or Thames Silents, or Channel 4 Silents.

With orchestral accompaniment conducted by and/or written by Carl Davis, we saw some great ‘silent’ films like The Big Parade, The General, City Lights and Napoleon.

Live Cinema continues around the world, and, of course, in London. Wilton’s Music Hall has some, as does Cadogan Hall, near Sloane Square.

This Sunday sees the 1931 Frankenstein, with a new score played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. There are two performances, afternoon and evening, a bit more than one hour though no doubt there will be chat. There are still some tickets available.

We’ll be there, so do say hi!

This actual film is, of course, not silent but this event follows a popular trend of taking a talkie, removing the recorded music and playing it live. The first we ever saw was 2001 at the Royal Festival Hall, when it was a novelty, but now it is something done very often, even for modern films.

Posted on

The Kubrick Kollection Kash Grab

The Criterion Collection releases a number of films, some well-known some obscure, on physical media. Often, they are well-produced and worth having.

A new one, for Xmas, is the Kubrick Collection aka The Complete Kubrick.

It’s a 30 disc set in a red and black box. Here is a link to one YouTube video where someone goes through the contents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPUuEXu8lvY

The list price is nearly $600 in the USA, though it’s not available yet (at the time of writing) and is already discounted (and Amazon UK have a used one for sale already). It’s not clear what the price is elsewhere, but we guess similar. It’s not even clear it will be released in the UK, at the time of writing.

It endeavours to bring together all the work by director Stanley Kubrick in 4K format in a fancy box. There are also lots of documentaries, many of which have been seen before but some are new.

Pages: 1 2 3