Webslinger

I didn't make the Linklater film, so popped along to watch Sam Raimi's Spiderman 2, which was cracking good fun, and unlike its predecessor, had a decent enough ending. The funny thing about both films is that I've enjoyed the Peter Parker bits much more than the Spidey action. It was nice to see Alfred Molina as a villain - I've liked him ever since seeing Prick Up Your Ears and a TV drama called (I think) The Accountant, all about a Jewish accountant getting mixed up with the mafia. I didn't think too much to his performance in Chocolat, but he's popped up here there and everywhere in some entertaining performances. (I've got Frida on video to watch, so we'll see what he's like in that)

Taming of the Shrew

Severine and I went to see our friend Candice in The Taming of the Shrew in Glasgow Botanical Gardens (Bard in the Botanics) along with our Friend Tanya. The play was good fun - this from someone who is generally resistant to Shakespeare's comedies (I like a good tragedy, me) - although the weather was bitterly cold. Outdoor theatre is all very well, but the British )(and more specifically, Scottish) climate is not always appropriate for such diversions.

Linklater Rocks!

I'm really looking forward to seeing Before Sunset. I loved the first film (and never understood the Lost In Translation fuss, when this film had done it so much better nearly ten years previous), as well as Slacker, Dazed and Confused and School of Rock (which made me feel ten again).  From what I've read of the critics, it won't let me down...

Stepford Wives Remake

I was reading The Guide in The Guardian this morning, and it said that:

"The Stepford Wives continues the long and hallowed tradition of taking movies that were not particularly good in the first place and remaking them into films that are atrocious."

Now, I'm no fan of Nanette Newman (anyone remember the Fairy adverts?), and of course there are better Ira Levin novels and adaptations, notably Rosemary's Baby, but I really like The Stepford Wives (original) - just in the same way that I like Coma. Of course the follow-up The Stepford Children was unmitigated pap, but I - for one - am a fan of the original. Mind you, from the look of the trailer, The Guide was spot on about the remake - ...and another thing, what's with the sudden reverence for Nicole Kidman? She's on a roll at the moment, but I've never found her particularly versatile. To Die For was good Kidman, Malice was bad, Cold Mountain was good, (I can't stand Moulin Rouge so I can't comment) Eyes Wide Shut was bad, and I can't remember what she's like in Flirting, the first film I saw her in (with Thandie Newton, I think). She's sometimes good, but is she really great? Or is it down to the whole Cruise-Kidman divorce thang?

Silly games

Via my mate Gary Waterston, here's a link to some daft Flash games, that have probably been doing the rounds for centuries, but which I've only just discovered. I like Pingu Extreme, but find the Bunny Breeder infuriating.

What's a wobble, and why's it semantic?

This blog is going to be for anything that I fee like writing that doesn't fit on my slightly more formal Information Blog which has been running for a while now, and talks about information-related matters.

Hopefully this blog will be about books, films, food, Glasgow and other things I like, as well as anything that irritates the beejesus out of me. Anyway, as a sort of Colophon, "Semantic Wobble" is just about words, because they are as wobbly and difficult to get hold of and understand as jelly. And, as anyone who remembers the glorious "Fist of Fun" radio and TV series from the BBC, "I love green jelly!". Oh and as an addition to the Colophon, I was too lazy to sit down and CSS this (just as I was with my other blog!), so ripped off one of the excellent new skins by the great gurus of the box model - I think this one's by Dan Cederholm.