Oh
Deer
In a break from kittens, here is a very poor photo I took the other evening of a deer on our patio. We live on a hill, and there is some National Trust land at the top of the hill, and deer occasionally wander down, through the back gardens without high fencing, to nibble at foliage and take fright whenever they hear anything that might constitute a human. They are beautiful, elegant creatures, who can jump over low fences from a standing start. This one, we think, is the female, and she looks as though she's with child. Over the previous two years we've seen her with assorted Bambis, who soon grew as large as their mother, and eventually moved on. (Perhaps they went to college.) One of the more glorious sights since moving out to the sticks has been to see the mother deer relaxing under the willow tree on a summer's day. Anyway, it was quite a shock on Sunday evening when, whilst making homemade beefburgers, I looked out of the kitchen window and saw her deery ears. It's rare that they venture up onto the patio, but she was clearly enjoying whatever climbing vine grows without our intervention in the flower beds. I tiptoed upstairs to get a shot of her (better than a shot at her), but the moment you open a window to avoid flashback, she exits, pursued by nothing at all. I managed to get this shot through the glass, but it's not going to be winning any wildlife photography awards. Thought you might like to see it anyway. And be filled with mercy that I didn't headline this entry, D'oe!
It's there to make you read my review of Krakatoa: The Last Days, which was on BBC1 on Sunday evening.
Now, the very words drama-documentary generally chill my blood. They speak of Crimewatch reconstructions, a pernicious influence on modern telly if you ask me. Give me drama, or give me documentary. I'm a huge fan of both. But don't give me six of one, and half a dozen of the other. I was drawn to this mostly because it's a disaster movie, isn't it? A real-life event, the 1883 eruption of the Indonesian volcano of the same name, situated west of Java (as any fule kno), which brought forth six cubic miles of ash, pumice and shit, killing over 36,000 people, and whose explosion was the loudest ever recorded in history (they could hear it in Perth). The BBC promised, and delivered, excellent special effects. Clearly nothing to have the eggheads at Industrial Light & Magic leaping out windows, but much better than the equivalent one about Pompeii, and, as far as I could tell, based more reliably on factual account.
Also, it starred Rupert Penry-Jones (who has his own handsome, Adam Rickitt-style website), star of our beloved Spooks and the underrated North Square, whose chiselled, blonde good looks made him a shoo-in for a Dutch colonialist who came good under pressure. Normally, these drama-docs are cast from the lower tiers of thespian talent, but, alongside Olivia Williams, who's been in Hollywood films and everything, Penry-Jones indicated that this production was a cut above. And it was.
Well-structured over 90 minutes, with a number of eyewitness accounts woven together, but not too many. Four, in fact. The dialogue might not have been award-winning (first time writers, as far as I can make out), but it told the story well, and the money shots were dramatic indeed, not least the one where the steamboat rode out the tidal wave. There was something lacking, but not as much as I've come to expect from this hybrid genre, and the final scenes, with the survivors blackened and burned in a less-than-cosmetic way, made a mockery of the film Volcano where a light dusting of ash made all the black people and the white people and the Hispanic people of Los Angeles look the same colour, for a stupid point about all ethnic divisions being rubbed out by catastrophe (thus making the people of Hollywood feel great about themselves). No such hijacking here. This ended fairly badly for all concerned, and the shellshock was tangible. Well done, the BBC. But don't do it again. Dramatise, or documentarise, please. And give the special effects team the rest of the day off.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 6:01 PM
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14 Comments:
You are indeed very lucky to have deer in your garden Andrew. My mum has something similar in her garden but no dear in mine I'm afraid. We do get foxes though and the odd hedgehog. How are the bird feeders coming along? I have recently installed a bird table with various hanging feeders but no birds seem to want to partake yet - well not when I am watching anyway...
Bird feeders doing fine. The siskins have migrated, but have been replaced, as last year, with parrots. You'll know that they have thrived in Surrey, the rose-ringed parakeet. Nosiy blighters, but such gorgeous flashes of green. You have to be patient with new feeders. Give the birds time to find them. (Also, worth sticking sunflower hearts in there, rather than mixed seed, slightly more expensive, but Bill Oddie turned me on to them, via the telly, and the birds love them, especially tits and finches and . . . squirrels. Oh well. Can't pick and choose who feeds and who doesn't.
Hi Andrew
Your deer looks smashing. I live out in the countryside, near St Andrews, and get a fair amount of wildlife in my garden, but I think you've played your joker with that photo! Hope she brings the youngster back with her when it's born. Wonder what Paddy will make of them??
Recorded, but haven't yet watched, Krakatoa, but don't feel I've spoiled things for myself by reading your review. In the same way that letting slip that the ship sinks during Titanic, wouldn't (or certainly shouldn't!) spoil the movie. On the subject of disaster movies (bear with me), what are your thoughts on the upcoming remake of your beloved Poseidon Adventure? I certainly have an uneasy feeling about it.
Doug
Most enviable; amazing that she should come up so close to the house. A duck invited itself into our sitting room last year but, well, not quite so classy. I did have a breathtakingly close encounter with 3 deer this winter while running across a field; from nowhere they came gliding up alongside, overtook me just enough to swing across my path and leap a huge distance across a very wide ditch seperating fields. Unforgettable. But wasn't in the back garden.
Yeah, I liked Krakatoa too. And I had only watched it because my girlfriend was watching it because 'man-from-Spooks' was in it.
Amazing to think that people really didn't know what to expect back then. Mind you, I guess we could say the same about the Asian Tsunami, in modern times. I suppose the problem with those kinds of natural disastors is that they don't happen often enough to become embedded within a culture's folklore.
After seeing this and the Asian Tsunami news footage though, if I ever see the tides suddenly receeding at the beach, I'm pegging it straight away...
Despite living in a semi-rural area, I've not seen much in the way of wildlife here, other than that which the cats bring in. I'm told it's a great honour if the presents are brought to you live but having chased frogs round the living room; had a young wood pigeon emerge confused (but otherwise unscathed)from behind the sofa and had numerous mice making temporary homes under the cooker, I'd prefer they didn't.
I did see five foxes in one night while driving through Nottingham, urban living seems to suit them. Nothing in the back garden though, other than cats. Oh, and loads of frogs.
I loved North Square, yes very underrated. The few shows which have turned up since then, especially that BBC thing with Ian McShane and Robson Green, seem like poor imitations. Like Ultraviolet before, it was the victim of poor marketing and scheduling. I do hope a dvd release is forthcoming.
Randomly, what did you think of NY-LON?
Grass needs cutting !
Doug: filled with trepidation and excitement about the Poseidon Adventure remake (out first week of June, I think). I've just been asked to write about the original for Empire, so at least I was able to celebrate it in print.
Stuart: I didn't watch NY-LON. Didn't fancy it one bit. Also, I didn't buy the concept. It says nothing to me about my life!
Anonymous: got the lawnmower out after hibernation last week and when I started it, smoke came out where smoke didn't use to come out, so I turned it off again. The man on the lawnmower helpline told me to take out the spark plug and clean it, which I will do. Grass will be cut on Monday.
Like the deer. It really is time I left Camden... Don't even have a balcony to clean, let alone grass to cut.
NY-LON was a bit of a let-down, but then I didn't give it much of a chance. (Andrew: you could start a game where you embed a Smiths/Morrissey lyric into your posts and see if we can find it. Or do you do that already, and I've failed to notice it?)
More kitten photos please! :-)
By the way, Andrew, have you ever come across this website? http://kittenwar.com/
You should enter Paddy and Pepper.
Px
How f***in' big is your garden? You can't hide money!!!
Anyway, the double ending theory for "The Apprentice" seems very plausible because Michelle wasn't exactly thrilled to pieces, was she?
I hear that there may be a celebrity one for Comic Relief (go on Andrew, you know you want to) and that two Apprentice contestants (one from this series and one from the first) were elected as Tories at the recent council elections. Not sure what that says about the state of the country.
Paul Johnston
Dunfermline
P.S We've just bought our first composting bin - I feel so...grown-up!
Ah, the composting bin. I can also recommend a wormery. We've had ours for years now, and they're still in there, wriggling away, turning out old banana skins and eggshells into compost. Something to show the nieces and nephews when they come round!
Re; the parakeets. Aren't you concerned that they have replaced the siskins? I've been watching the spread of the parakeets where i live in West London and am concerned that although they don't seem to attack smaller birds, the green ones are pilfering their nesting space and food- and parakeets are indestructible! I am a bit concerned that they are threatening our native wildlife... think we should ask Bill Oddie about this!
CM, Chiswick
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