Pancake Party

[coalescent]

It turns out - who would've thought? - that half a dozen people eating several dozen pancakes in my tiny flat has much the same mess-creating effect as a small explosive charge, particularly when the pancakes are topped (although not all at once) with such delights as maple syrup, golden syrup, ice cream, chocolate sauce, sugar, lemon juice and wild berry jam (!). I've got an awful lot of cleaning up to do when I get home this evening. Still, it was lots of fun; I love me some pancakes.

Having sated our appetite for sweet things (and played more than a few rounds of Bomberman) we watched The Right Stuff, which really does drive home the message that the space program took utterly the wrong approach, for all the wrong reasons and with completely the wrong people in the hot seats - but damn, look at what they got done anyway. When I grow up, I want to ride a space rocket. And when everyone left, I did my usual trick of making sure they took media with them (although this time they asked! There was no coercion involved, swear to god): Milia got The Second Coming, Gary left with Heart of Darkness, Christina took a pile of Smallville CDs and Eliot borrowed Brave New World.

So now it's Lent, and if I was religious I might be considering giving something up until Easter. I did briefly think of taking veggiesu up on her challenge and going without SF, but discarded this idea when I realised that (a) I couldn't work out whether or not I'd be allowed to read Cloud Atlas and (b) I've still got to work through most of the BSFA shortlist. If anyone has any alternative suggestions, now's the time; I'll be happy to reject them out of hand consider them.

Coming up soon: A possible excursion to the Cheltenham spring weekend, in particular this and this. If anyone else is interested, give me a shout. Possibly also a visit to the Oxford festival, but there seems to be less of interest there.

Comments

[immortalradical.livejournal.com]

the Cheltenham spring weekend

Oo! Oo! Me! Me!

... Wait, you already know that. :P

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I do? *checks email* Oh, so I do. Good.

The Right Stuff

[applez.livejournal.com]

I remember only two scenes most vividly in that film ... the astronauts squat-running to the bathroom with tubes up their anuses; and the astronaut who argues for bladder relief, whereupon he relieves himself in his pressure suit - lighting up the control board in Mission Control.

Maybe watching that film when I was 8 had something to do with my bathroom-connected memory. ;-)

Re: The Right Stuff

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I should point out for the benefit of everyone else that those two scenes are really only a very small part of the film. Actually, my personal favourite bit was when they were running through the list of potential astronaut candidates (high-wire acrobats, drag racers...) and the test pilots were right down the bottom of the list. :)

Re: The Right Stuff

[scribeoflight.livejournal.com]

Those two Presidential Advisors are very funny.

Another good scene has the Astronaut-training intercut with Ape-Astronaut-training... And the wonderful argument where they secure themselves a viewing window in the spacecraft, as opposed to the "pod".

But my favorite shot from the film is probably that of Sam Shepard walking away from his crash, covered in soot nd grime.

(Yeager has pointed out that he actually broke the sound barrier on the fourth flight in the aircraft, not the first, as depicted in The Right Stuff. But he also seems to be quite pleased with Wolfe's energetic account...)

Shepard was also excellent in Black Hawk Down. It took me a few seconds to realise it was him, as he was wearing these huge aviator-shades and chewing gum and talking some sort of accented drawl...

But The Right Stuff is a wonderful film.

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

I did briefly think of taking veggiesu up on her challenge and going without SF

wuss

the Cheltenham spring weekend

Hee! A possible meet I don't have to travel to - no excuse for me this time :-) I'm glad you reminded me, I always manage to forget the spring weekend until the time, when I'm in town and notice all the banners and stuff. I'm hoping to get to a couple of things - different ones from you though :-) However, very happy to meet up at some point (unless I scared you enough last time round?)

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

wuss

Bah. I'll do it, um, in May. Wait, no, that's season finale time, so that's no good. June's out because I'll need to read the new Ian Macleod collection. July? I could skip Spiderman 2 if I had to, I guess. August brings a new Adam Roberts novel, so I can't take that month off. September is new Baxter...

July. Maybe.

I'm hoping to get to a couple of things - different ones from you though

Go on...Which ones?

However, very happy to meet up at some point (unless I scared you enough last time round?)

No, I'm always up for being scared some more. :-p

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

Which ones?

Well, possibly Rageh Omar, Lynne Truss, Judi Dench, and almost certainly Jasper Fforde.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Judi Dench! I missed that one. Although it is on a different day, hmm.

Jasper FForde I haven't read because I know I won't get any of the jokes. And also because, with one or two exceptions, comic novels aren't really my thing.