January 2010

Loose Change

• Papyrus
  

  Tom at Ornery World notices something awry in the world of Avatar:

  Not only are the subtitles not in a sensible, unobtrusive font so you can read them and get back to the movie, they are in The Teenage Witch's Choice of fonts, Papyrus!

• Barry Lyndon
  

  Lars Von Trier on Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (via Kottke and Gruber):

  I saw the film when it came out. I was in my early twenties. The first time I saw it, I slept.

  Nothing wrong with sleeping through a film. I slept through The Matrix at the Embassy once.

  By the way, of all the films I haven't seen Barry Lyndon is the one I want to see first.

• I can't wear those trousers
  

  The redoubtable Bill Nighy interviewed in The Guardian:

  The absence of classical work in my repertoire is due to the fact I can't wear those trousers," he says. "It makes me sound very shallow but I've done some really serious plays in a decent lounge suit."

• Murdoch's flagship paper steals from blogger
  

  And not just any blogger. Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright's moving memorial to Edward Woodward was lifted without so much as a by-your-leave by The Times for it's obituary page:

  They just lifted it from my blog without asking?…?I'm not talking about quotes. Am talking about the entire article. But with edits they made that make me look ill informed and unfeeling.

  And if Rupert Murdoch had his way, Edgar would have had to pay to find out he'd been robbed. [HT to @edgarwright on Twitter]

• Nomads and imports
  

  Andy Bull (good British name) talking about English cricket's nomads and imports in The Spin:

  There is no need to mark a dividing line between those who arrived as children and those who made the decision later in life, just as there is no need to draw distinctions between players who have moved from Test-playing nations and those who haven't. The point is that they decided to come at all. That is sufficient commitment in itself.

  That sentiment is true for all walks of life, not just sport.