A Bug's Life

So, is Cloverfield "a real stinker"?

My opinion: it doesn't exactly have the subtle complexities of truffles or fine wine, but neither does it smell like Pot Noodle :-)

Along with the spectacle - giant lizards! tanks on 5th Avenue! and destruction of Statue of Liberty! - there were some genuinely scary moments and laugh-out-loud lines. The humour comes from the characters, perfectly ordinary people (for slightly shiny New Yorkers) trying to cope with the situation and not spontaneously turning into Hollywood action heroes à la Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise. A somewhat geeky chap 'takes the camera' for much of this mock documentary; you see things through his eyes in a way that is usually invisible with a 'professional' filmmaker (ah, I love frames, and frames within frames). I wonder how much of the complicated relationships he catches on camera is as visible to him as it is obvious to most of the audience? A lot is said without words.

In summary, I did have an enjoyable evening (though I admit I do sometimes like Pot Noodle)

I don't believe the above contains spoilers, though any comments may do.

I'm making brownies; I turned the oven on to pre-heat, came downstairs to start a-mixin', and found the oven's fan whirring busily away but no actual heat. The top oven seems happier, but the brownies won't have cooled by 6pm. They might not have cooked. The mix came out much drier and stiffer than previous batches, perhaps because I added dried banana chips which are highly anisotropic and do not assist the consistency of a grainy batter. On the other hand, my last few batches were cooked for a long time and still raw in the middle. So maybe everything will turn out okay! EDIT: Yummy chocolatey success! :-)

I did something stupid. I bought some salami and ham on an offer. Which ham to get? Parma? No, that's not in the offer. Any of these other smoked ready-to-eat meats in the display? I went for the smoked pancetta. And ate a slice this afternoon, thought it tasted a bit flabby, looked at the packet, and saw "This product must be cooked before use." And on the front of the packet it's been cooked to a tasty crisp, instead of what I ate which was basically raw bacon. I hope the only aftereffect of this is that I check labels more carefully in future. Grr. Everything else on that display was ready-to-eat!