Film: William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

While I'm not working, I want to post at least brief reviews of the stuff I'm doing / seeing / hearing instead. It's only the 12th and I'm already behind!

Last Friday we went to see William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. At least that's what it said on the film certificate, though it's more like Al Pacino's Merchant of Venice. ( Read more... )

Lush Redeem'd

That's more like it.

Just after Christmas, I had an unpleasant experience with a Lush product. It was Coalface soap, and it had sharp bits in it, and I ended up with a long scratch on my face.

I went into the Covent Garden branch to complain, and they weren't very helpful: gave me a tiny sliver of a different product -- "we can't really give you more, as you're returning such a small bit of the soap" -- and told me I shouldn't have used it directly on my face. Well, duh, I'd worked that out very quickly post-scratch: but it is a facial product. (Apparently the sharp bits were slivers of charcoal. I did suggest that they might put a warning to this effect on the product description.)

However, they did (after I refused to let it drop) give me a complaint form to fill in, and I have just received a fulsome letter of apology, and a voucher for £5. More Blue Skies, I think.

Theatre Review: Aladdin, Old Vic, 11th January

A quick review here, just really a placeholder: I enjoyed the show very much indeed, but I don't seem to have a coherent view of, memory of it in my head: just little glittery fragments. Which I suppose is pantomime all over.

Things I do remember:
- lots of references to David Blunkett
- and a couple to Lord of the Rings
- Ian McKellen is no spring chicken, but has excellent legs, and was clearly enjoying himself very much indeed.
- Maureen Lipman is a very polished performer. And must also have pretty good legs, considering how hard she had to work.
- Roger Allam makes a charismatically wicked villain. If this is Evil, I'm all for it.
- tartan YPTs are ever so much more fetching than the traditional pyjama-style costume
- for the first time ever, I spotted a quote that was neither textual nor musical. One of the dance routines was pretty much the Tai Chi form. I feel ever so pleased with myself for spotting this.