BAIT and VERA

John Hurt is a powerful actor. He acts with his face, eyes and voice. We saw him last night in a made for TV movie with Sheila Hancock and Rachel Stirling - Bait. Watch it. It's what movies are all about - tension, surprise, an effective and powerful story. Simply filmed, but effective nonetheless.

We spent some time trying to remember where else we had seen Rachel Stirling, daughter of Dianna Rigg (of Avengers fame). Then it came to me. She was in Tipping the Velvet - where she played a lesbian who went on the stage.

Looking forward to seeing Vera Drake, out on video yesterday. Think we'll take this to Jamaica with us. It was Oscar nominated (Best Actress) and is a story of a back street abortionist in London in the 1950's. Imeldia Staunton, a very versatile actress (Shakespeare in Love, Cambridge Spies, The Singing Detective) plays the lead as Vera and the film is directed by Mike Leigh, one of the best and most creative in the world.

Speaking of versatile actors, saw an old TV series with Richard Griffiths (Pie in the Sky, Sleepy Hollow, Harry Potter, Guarding Tess, Gorky Park) in which he played a Savoy lunch politician and did so exceptionally well. His final scene in the series - the series is In the Red - was a brilliant political speech based on the statements made by a couple making love (its a long story). He's very talented and very large. I sat with him on a journey from Reading to the south coast on a First Great Western train. Believe me - he is VERY large.

We are just a week away from a vacation in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Looking forward to it. Never been before and this is a luxury job, courtesy of a friend.

Finished another Henning Mankell novel this week - almost read them all. This one not involving his Wallander character - Return of the Dancing Master. Very nicely written and a powerful and effective plot. He does character very well and takes the reader inside his characters with great effect.

Its possible we could have an election over Kyoto Protocol issues and carbon emissions, which might liven things up a bit. Canadian politics are so dull. So very very dull. Excrutiangly dull. With Mr Dithers ((the nick name for our Prime Minister) having some twenty issues, all of which are "his number one priority" and a cabinet full of light weights its not surprising that its dull. The problem is that Kyoto is such a dud deal in any case, its hardly worth fighting over. Ah well, we'll see.