Thanks to Grandma, who is really enjoying spending time with Jon, we’ve been able to get out to a couple of movies. Moreover, we’re going to real grown-up movies, not lighter fare. It’s been a long while (probably not since Jon’s diagnosis and shortly thereafter we went to see The English Patient, which was quite a fluid-leaking little catharsis, may I say).

Thursday evening we saw Pan’s Labyrinth, which has been getting lots of buzz but it didn’t quite click with us. Not that it was bad, but afterward we kept visiting what we think were missed opportunities. It wasn’t especially subtle, and it just didn’t get under our skin.

However, this may be because the week before we saw one of the best pieces of celluloid that’s been produced this decade. Children of Men is a powerful, powerful piece of cinema by Alfonso Cuarà³n, and both of us recommend it very highly. That night, both Laura and I had trouble sleeping, and each woke up for an hour independantly as our brains percolated through the thoughts and feelings the film had generated. It wasn’t even specific scenes, though there are several memorable long moments that are unforgettable.

Don’t go watch the trailer; the less you know about it the better. And we highly recommend seeing it in a theatre where, frankly, you’re trapped. It is a visceral piece that is truly for adults.

Those of you who felt safe in the knowledge that we’d never post an Old Spice ad on our blog must feel stunned and betrayed right now…

At right is an example of actual bus and subway posters around London, UK that have been posted around the city since 2002. The artwork looks like something out of 1940s Soviet propaganda, while the subject matter seems more Cold War. At first I thought it was an snide Orwellian spoof or some anti-government lobbying group, but no, it was put up by the London authorities themselves. I guess government bureaucrats just have no sense of irony, history or humour.