Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012)

Better than expected, really. Fairly good, rather enjoyable.

Quirky and a little reserved, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is nonetheless a charming little romantic drama sold by some strong central performances.

 McGregor's accent is rather quirky. Scott Thomas's character was quite the caricature, and weakened the film, if anything.

The prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Bravo Dame Maggie. Do not believe that I had seen the film before, and I am glad to have seen it now.


1968. 1969. A tour de force performance which deservedly won an Oscar and launched a career. A surprise is that Pamela Franklin, who also turned in a stirring performance, did not have a successful career; her wikibio has it that she became typecast in horror films.

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

Found this one on the shelf, purely by chance, as I grabbed some films to have for the long weekend upstate. Didn't watch it in Chichester; brought it back with everything else when I returned yesterday. As I had left Chichester early, to avoid complications from snow (a small storm had beset us in Saturday night into Sunday, with very powerful winds, some gusts forceful enough to snap a pine tree in our yard) and traffic. Watched it yesterday afternoon, at 3.30 (I'd left Chichester a bit after 11, and after stops both in Phoenicia and in Kingston to check the air in Subaru's tires, made excellent time in my ride). Was awed, moved, pleased. Very nice acting. A character-driven plot that works. Very nice, indeed.

Inside of the film reference is made to the film Brief Encounter; Mrs. Palfrey tells Luda of having seen it with her husband back may years ago.

Began watching the director's/producer's commentary version. One interesting piece of trivia is that on eof the actresses, who plays the character Mrs. Arbuthnot is Anna Massey, daughter of Raymond Massey.

Another is that the Claremont Hotel is a real hotel, though not named the Claremont, but the Averard Hotel.

American on purpose

Ferguson, Craig. (2009). American on purpose: the improbable adventures of an unlikely patriot. New York: Harper.













Craig Ferguson isn’t kidding. That’s what struck me as I turned the pages of the Scottish late-night comedian’s memoir, “American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot.” Almost every time Ferguson has a chance to go for a cheap, easy laugh — the mother’s milk of late-night comedy — he runs in the opposite direction. Take the opening scene in which he meets George W. Bush at a reception before the 2008 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where Ferguson, a newly minted American citizen, is to be the entertainment. He recognizes that making fun of Bush near the end of his catastrophic presidency would be like shooting fish in a barrel, so what does he do instead? He bonds with Bush as a fellow recovering alcoholic, clinking glasses of sparkling water with him as the president makes an earnest toast to America. I repeat: this is the opening scene of a book by a comedian. That’s what we in the comedy business call courage, and it pretty much sets the tone for the rest of this memoir, in which Ferguson admirably avoids wisecracks and instead goes for something like wisdom.





Craig Ferguson at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in 2008.