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I'm still catching my breath from this weekend, which was unusually jam-packed by my standards, and the fact that every researcher in my faculty seems to have decided they need (individual, time-consuming, and complex) help from me this week specifically isn't helping matters. So that's why there was no weekend catch up post, and why I haven't felt able to give the comments section in Friday open thread posts the attention they deserve.
However, I do have a brief moment to write a little bit about all the various things I did over the weekend.
On Saturday, I needed to be in Cambridge for several errands. Whenever this happens, Matthias and I always go in for the day to try out new restaurants or go to old favourites, and just generally enjoy the wider range of stuff that's available in a slightly larger town. This time, we were also able to see a museum exhibition covering the material culture of Crete, Cyprus and Sardinia from prehistoric to Roman times. The exhibits ranged from prosaic day-to-day objects such as cooking and drinking vessels to elaborate sculptures and gold jewellery, and the emphasis was very much on the importance of the sea (as an avenue for trade, travel, political change, and the exchange of ideas) to these regions.
We returned home with enough time to watch a film — a rather ridiculous Michelle Yeoh martial arts movie called Reign of Assassins. It had a cardboard-thin plot (various individuals, gangs, or pairs of mentors and students team up or double cross each other to gain control of a MacGuffin which will supposedly give them mystical kung fu abilities) which is basically an excuse for lots of elaborately choreographed fight scenes.
On Sunday, I'd been invited (with a plus one) to the soft launch of a new food venue run by the owners of the bagel bar, and the best coffee roasters/cafe-which-is-actually-an-outdoor-rig in town. (To be clear, these two places are already run by the same people.) They've now got a permanent spot which incorporates a bar selling cocktails, beer and wine, a coffee cart, a kitchen serving hot food (mainly burgers and rotisserie with lots of vegan options), and another kitchen serving baked goods. All these back onto an outdoor seating area (with some tables indoors), and the idea is that you can pick and choose between all the various options and put together a meal to suit your own needs. (And obviously groups in which some people want to eat, some only want coffee, some drink alcohol and some don't can all sit together without any weirdness.) As is often the case with these launch events, they'd possibly invited too many people, leading to some hiccoughs and problems, but I can see this is going to be a good addition to the food scene here and I really hope it succeeds because it's very much my kind of thing.
We finished up at the launch with just enough time to grab dinner and head down to the community theatre to watch Tár, a film about a (female, lesbian) orchestra conductor slowly self destructing as various revelations about her emotionally and sexually abusive behaviour come to light. Cate Blanchett is amazing in the lead role (I'd never have thought I'd find a nearly three-hour-long film about abuse from the perspective of the abuser compelling) and the film makes the sensible choice not to show the abuse, but rather her increasingly desperate attempts to deny it and escape its consequences, and the bonfire it makes of her life in the process. Viewed in a vaccuum, the film is fantastic, although some components of its wider context are troubling, and I think Hollywood in general has a hard time telling honest stories about the abusive behaviour of people it's decided are 'artistic geniuses.'
So that's what I've been up to, when I haven't been working, these past few days.
However, I do have a brief moment to write a little bit about all the various things I did over the weekend.
On Saturday, I needed to be in Cambridge for several errands. Whenever this happens, Matthias and I always go in for the day to try out new restaurants or go to old favourites, and just generally enjoy the wider range of stuff that's available in a slightly larger town. This time, we were also able to see a museum exhibition covering the material culture of Crete, Cyprus and Sardinia from prehistoric to Roman times. The exhibits ranged from prosaic day-to-day objects such as cooking and drinking vessels to elaborate sculptures and gold jewellery, and the emphasis was very much on the importance of the sea (as an avenue for trade, travel, political change, and the exchange of ideas) to these regions.
We returned home with enough time to watch a film — a rather ridiculous Michelle Yeoh martial arts movie called Reign of Assassins. It had a cardboard-thin plot (various individuals, gangs, or pairs of mentors and students team up or double cross each other to gain control of a MacGuffin which will supposedly give them mystical kung fu abilities) which is basically an excuse for lots of elaborately choreographed fight scenes.
On Sunday, I'd been invited (with a plus one) to the soft launch of a new food venue run by the owners of the bagel bar, and the best coffee roasters/cafe-which-is-actually-an-outdoor-rig in town. (To be clear, these two places are already run by the same people.) They've now got a permanent spot which incorporates a bar selling cocktails, beer and wine, a coffee cart, a kitchen serving hot food (mainly burgers and rotisserie with lots of vegan options), and another kitchen serving baked goods. All these back onto an outdoor seating area (with some tables indoors), and the idea is that you can pick and choose between all the various options and put together a meal to suit your own needs. (And obviously groups in which some people want to eat, some only want coffee, some drink alcohol and some don't can all sit together without any weirdness.) As is often the case with these launch events, they'd possibly invited too many people, leading to some hiccoughs and problems, but I can see this is going to be a good addition to the food scene here and I really hope it succeeds because it's very much my kind of thing.
We finished up at the launch with just enough time to grab dinner and head down to the community theatre to watch Tár, a film about a (female, lesbian) orchestra conductor slowly self destructing as various revelations about her emotionally and sexually abusive behaviour come to light. Cate Blanchett is amazing in the lead role (I'd never have thought I'd find a nearly three-hour-long film about abuse from the perspective of the abuser compelling) and the film makes the sensible choice not to show the abuse, but rather her increasingly desperate attempts to deny it and escape its consequences, and the bonfire it makes of her life in the process. Viewed in a vaccuum, the film is fantastic, although some components of its wider context are troubling, and I think Hollywood in general has a hard time telling honest stories about the abusive behaviour of people it's decided are 'artistic geniuses.'
So that's what I've been up to, when I haven't been working, these past few days.