IMS_Blog

Pretty obviously first off headed north, to see the Pixie (still stuck up there with cats and house—we’re hoping to get that sorted at some point!). Arrived on the 23rd so just about had time for a few last minute shopping bits christmas eve (the only time to shop!).

Christmas day my dad came over and Jan and I actually cooked christmas dinner. Given this was a first for either of us I think we did quite well. What we ended up with certainly looked dinner like and nobody got poisoned, so pretty good all round. Dad went home just in time for the obvious highlight of christmas, Doctor Who.

Christmas dinner does feel like about all we cooked though—seem to have eaten out a lot, while doing post christmas shopping (the pixie got me a coat, and a jacket) or just wandering around. All that stress had taken the desire to try our own hand in the kitchen out of us.

One of the things we finally got round to seeing The Turner Prize at the Baltic. I have to say something about the Baltic’s organisation of this, which seemed a bit chaotic. The queue for the Turner was directed outside, down the side of the building (which on a very windy day such as when we visited was no fun—we struggled to actually make the entrance). We were intercepted and directed there by the solitary member of staff on duty for such things, but there didn’t seem to be even the simplest of signage (well, I didn’t notice any; and if it is noticeable, it’s a bit pointless). Once in the right place there was a steady trickle of people arriving from inside the other areas of the Baltic, obviously unaware of the arrangements (and why not; they might want to see the rest. Also, I had to move the rope barriers for some of them to come and join the queue as the staff seemed to be ignoring them—pretty poor!) Further, there was no warning of the further, long, queue one could expect once up the dedicated lift. I can understand the need for some crowd control but given how much of a flagship event this was for Baltic the overall impression was pretty bad :-(. The exhibition itself was hit and miss, though Jan and I agreed George Shaw’s paintings were good; an almost surreal photographic quality.

In a different artistic mode we also saw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. We agreed it was OK, though a little obvious and too long (it seems that story needs some serious editing—there was a half hour at the end that had nothing to do with the main movie and you’d think the whole thing could be a bit tighter). Probably good enough to see the next one if they can keep the running time down (as an aside, how complicated can a self-service ticket machine at a cinema be?? The Odeon at the Metrocentre seemed to ask about six million questions when all I wanted was two tickets—that’s after I’d traversed figuring out what to press for a particular film and time and day).

Not a lot else happened to be honest. Spent New Year’s Eve in the traditional manner of watching Jools Holland while drinking Southern Comfort/Jack Daniels. Cleared out a wardrobe of clothes. Tickled the cats. Came back to work.

Happy 2012!