Sunday 2/7/2017 - Cheese, Keys & This Week's Wristwatches.

Too many late nights begin to catch up on me after a while. Winter is well and truly underway, work is busy and this new cat of ours is keeping us all on our toes.
I had started this post on Friday night, but I ran out of steam early on.
Saturday was busy as I headed out to check out some cars. When I got home and tried to continue this post, the photos wouldn't load up properly. I decided to leave it all alone for the rest of the day.
Anyway, Sunday afternoon rolled around and I got back to it. So here it is.

We had pasta for dinner on Monday night. My wife and I later went for a quick walk while the kids cleared the table. Any unused cutlery was put away, as were the place-mats and a small bowl of grated parmesan cheese was put away in the fridge. 

Lady Teeritz and I got back from our walk a little later and I went to the kitchen to flick the kettle on. I looked down and saw a small shape on the floor under the table. It was about the size of a matchbox. Next to this were some scattered crumbs. I crouched down and saw that it was what was left of the soap-cake sized block of parmesan cheese that had been grated into the bowl before dinner. 

Our new friend had gotten his tiny fangs into it. Ate about two-thirds of it. After we all spent a few minutes of "Oh my God, that little..." and "This little furry creep eats anything!"  and "Where the hell is he?", we went looking for the little so-and-so, and found him huddled under a stool in the study.

My wife brought him into the lounge and parked him next to herself on the couch. Soon, he started shivering a little. 

I called the nearby animal hospital, not really looking forward to having to take him there unless absolutely necessary.

The nurse that I spoke to told me to keep an eye on him over the next few hours and if he got worse overnight, it might be wise to bring him to our vet the next morning. 

He stayed put on the couch and we later gave him some water. Shortly afterwards, we brought him to our daughter's room where he's been living since he got here. Then we opened the front door to let our older cat in. She still hasn't accepted this little guy. 

Early days.

I wore the Oris Diver SixtyFive. Regarding Batman - The Dark Knight Returns, I read this classic graphic novel (I still call 'em comics) back in 1989, prior to seeing the Tim Burton Batman film starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. 

This comic is much closer in feel and mood to the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale vision of Batman. 

In this story, we find Bruce Wayne in his early '50s, having hung up his cowl and cape years ago and now seemingly courting some kind of death wish as he engages in risky pursuits befitting a younger man. The Joker has just been released from Arkham Asylum, rehabilitated, and Superman works for the government. The streets of Gotham City are populated by gangs of vigilantes, neo-Nazi punks and mutant thugs and a thirteen year-old girl swings acrobatically across roof-tops at night in an effort to emulate Batman's off-sider Robin, who died years ago.

Written by Frank Miller, artwork by Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley, this was a seminal work when it was first released in 1986 and it almost single-handedly helped usher in a new breed of comic artists and writers who were intent on proving that comics could be more than just vertical rectangles, and could say more than "POW!" and "Kerrchannggg!!!"

If you ever only read one graphic novel in your lifetime, read this one. 

Tuesday morning, I had another dental appointment to have a new crown done. One more appointment in a month to get it fitted and that will, hopefully, do for the time being. 

I headed off to a late start at work and managed to lock my keys in the car. This was a hassle I didn't need. I was wearing the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean;

I walked in to the office and asked the accountant for his car keys, since he drives an old Mercedes-Benz and it has a similar double-sided key to my car. Took me a few goes, but I got there in the end. 

Basically, the boot (trunk) key of a 1983 Merc will open the driver's door of my 1993 Toyota Corolla hatchback. 

I got a theory that every kind of key has been cut by now, so sooner or later, you're gonna run into a key that's a double of one that you already have. 

Today was a busy one. I had a tonne of stuff to get done. Stayed back late writing an e-mail. Got home and had dinner and a glass of red. I was wearing the Omega Speedmaster Professional. Wore a tie in my never-ending battle against casual Fridays, but by the time I got home, it was time to take it off.

That glass of Cab Sav hit the spot. I was thinking of putting this watch on a leather strap and leaving it on for a couple of years until it falls apart. I have enough watch straps at the moment and I should start using them up.
Although, it's got such an iconic look on its bracelet that I sometimes think I should just leave it be.

Meanwhile, somebody sticks close to us all whenever we walk into the kitchen, and he's gotten very good at recognising the sound of a plastic lid being taken off a container.
Which is when he starts with an incessant and impatient meowing.
It's also pretty difficult to get a sharp photo of him because he rarely sits still.
Remember when we all had that much energy?

For his English Literature studies, my son has just reading Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and he's seen Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. We sat down last night to watch Coppola's 2001 re-cut version of this 1979 epic. Titled Apocalypse Now - Redux, this print adds 49 minutes to the original release.

Set in the Vietnam War, the story concerns Captain Willard's (Martin Sheen)  mission to travel deep upriver into the jungles of Cambodia to find and 'terminate with extreme prejudice' rogue Special Forces Colonel Walter Kurtz, who has reportedly gone mad. A small gunboat crew is assigned to take him on his journey and there is an increasing uneasiness among them as they are kept in the dark about Willard's true mission.
I haven't seen this film since the late 1980s, so I was curious to see what this extra footage would contain. There is a long scene where Willard and his crew meet a French family who have owned a rubber plantation in Vietnam for generations and, while it is an interesting scene which touches on colonialism and France's place in historic conflicts, I did feel that it was a very long scene that didn't really move the story forward. Still, it's Coppola's film and this is the version that he originally wanted to release back in '79.
The film holds up extremely well after all the years of hype and myth. It's often a good idea to watch a film years later, after all of the hullaballoo that surrounded its original release has died down. You develop a new appreciation for the film. Usually, anyway. It didn't work when I last sat through Tim Burton's Batman.  
That film hasn't aged well at all. 

Thanks for reading!