Gwyneth's personal blog

Wednesday 5th February, chilly and blustery, a bright and broken sky all morning, beginning to get gloomier now. Welcome to the Year of the Green Yang Wood Yin Fire Horse, a combustible mix, apparently. The Horse is the most yang (male) of the animal signs. This is likely to be a year of confidence, volcanic eruptions, aggression, opportunities seized and civil unrest (you don't say); unstable markets (never!). Metals will be affected. People will be sticking to their principles, and best to avoid banging in nails; or disturbing activities in the north. The guy at cryominute (where I got that splendid green horse), isn't confused, he knows exactly what's going on, but is it me, and not that I'm complaining btw; or are Chinese, Chinese Horoscopes getting more intriguingly weird? Used to be "dragons will be lucky in love, rabbits should avoid moving house", now it's like I Ching hexagram commentaries. Presumably no longer dumbed down so much for Westerners. Anyway, sit with your back to the south, and avoid flying stars in your home life. Flying stars are bad.

The Scientist and the water cannons

After I put that no water cannons for UK police petition in my last blog entry, I found an article on the very subject in NS, telling us not to worry, as water cannon are cumbersome, difficult to deploy effectively against a flash mob, and definitely not lethal.The writer does not get it. Water cannon are not for killing people (really don't think that's a plan, no matter how far from wonderful our police have become). Water cannon are for chilling people; and not just literally. They're massive things, like tanks, they are big and menacing, they're meant to intimidate not to create martyrs, Sold to us as the answer to an anticipated steep rise in trouble on the streets, they should also, and not at all coincidentally, help to put people off the idea of any form of legitimate protest.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/met-police-will-have-water-cannon-by-this-summer-if-boris-johnson-has-his-way-9046812.html


https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/deny-use-of-water-canons-by-police-in-the-uk

Going to the Pictures

American Hustle. Nah, this is a luvvies movie. Megastars, ingenuously dressed up to look "tawdry", and loving themselves in the mirror. The best bit, the very best bit, was Jennifer Lawrence and the science oven. I'll stick with The Sting. Which I assure you is more authentically "Seventies".

Inside Llewyn Davis Really nice, well-judged central performance, very well-crafted movie, very limited folksong repertoire (the scraps left over from O Brother?); very mean-spirited. I spent this movie thinking those Coens have seriously got it in for this Llewyn Davis character, whoever he's meant to represent. . . And the moral of the story, Hollywood Scruffs, is do not abuse the Coens' couch. You may pay a terrible price!

Looking forward to seeing Only Lovers Left Alive next Friday week.


The latest storm moved in, while I was writing that post, it's wild outside my window, even here in sheltered Brighton, but the goldfinches keep on feeding, it's amazing the way they keep on, there are two of them out there now, clinging to the feeder as the wind flings it about, pecking away. They have such a will to live, those vivid little birds, such insouciant persistence, they put me to shame.