On Ceilings

I briefly mentioned Nora Ephron in my last post, and was looking back in my Evernote clippings and noted that the article from The Guardian on her mentions 'ceilings'.  She was addressing her Alma Mater at the time:  "Don't let the New York Times article about the brilliant success of Wellesley graduates in the business world fool you – there's still a glass ceiling. Don't let the number of women in the workforce trick you – there are still lots of magazines devoted almost exclusively to making perfect casseroles and turning various things into tents..."  I like that last bit because I came across an article on the Net yesterday suggesting the use of sheets of bubble-wrap as an insulator on windows.  In spite of the fact that we've actually insulated the house recently, under the floor and in the ceilings, the last few days have been particularly cold.  The heat pump has been working overtime, which doesn't bode well for the power bill, and it's still been less than comfortable in some living areas in the house.  I'm getting old, so the cold obviously affects me more than it used to, but...

Anyway, I don't know that we'll be putting bubble-wrap up on the windows at this point, though it may come to that in due course.  This morning I've left the curtains shut in two of the living areas to try and keep some heat in.  

When we were in Idaho at the beginning of the year, in what was their winter (it turned out to be more like our winter, which is often relatively mild), the house had a ceiling fan that spread the heat around the main (large) living area.  I guess that would help here too - it might stop the heat sitting up at ceiling level and keeping our feet cold.  Casablanca ceiling fans are one kind of model [see example to the right] but I'm sure there are others.

Amongst my clippings is a poem The Hinge Seasons, by Therese Lloyd.  It was highly commended in this year's Caselberg Awards.  Here's a 'ceiling' quote from the last few lines:

alive to the simple generosity
of that saucer of rainwater
sending up light to the ceiling.

Here's a line from the prospectus for the old cinema that became the London Opera Centre, where I did a year's course back in the sixties: Auditorium with rich Art Deco plaster work to walls, ceiling and proscenium; side walls include large panels of delicate ornamental grillwork and original lights. Large, enriched 3-tier ceiling fitting providing illumination and air conditioning outlets.

The cinema was built in the days when cinemas were next to palaces in design, though by the time I got there it had had additional rooms built in and walls shifted and all manner of odd redesigning done to it.  

Here's Seth Godin talking about the pricing of ebooks: Certainly less than $20 (a ‘moral’ ceiling related to the price of a paper copy) and probably more than $10 (which is the floor set by Amazon as the price of a bestseller on the Kindle).  He's not talking about 'ordinary' ebooks, but books with a 'provenance.'   Sometimes Godin strikes me as a bit of a snob, especially when it comes to the marketing of his own materials.  Anyway a 'moral ceiling' is a nice concept. 

Back in November 2011, there was an article in The Guardian (yes, I know I quote them a lot) about an overzealous cleaner unintentionally destroying an artwork called When It Starts Dripping From The Ceiling.[See right]  She mistook it for an eyesore that was badly in need of a clean.   Enough said, I think. 

In the light of what directors can do to a play, check out this extract from an article on modern theatre productions: Before I went I’d been warned by my agent, by at least two other writers and by one literary manager that I would hate it. They’ll wrap all the actors in cling film and swing them from the ceiling on meat hooks, take out all your text and add in new text by Michel Houellebecq they suggested to me. They were wrong.

Sebastian’s production blew my mind.

Simon Stephens goes on to say what they did do with the play - and he approved of it - but I'm not sure that every playwright has had such an enlightening experience with their work.  

And finally, an extract from a blog post by Jason Goroncy, in which the ideas of ceiling are introduced in relation to theology: When we enter a cathedral and we look up at the majestically-high ceiling, we are reminded that God is big, that God is far away, and that we are small. But in our modern multi-purpose entertainment centres, the ceiling feels almost within reach, and God is not so big, and we are not so small. This reflects a change in theology – both in our thinking about God and about ourselves. God used to be bigger and we used to smaller. But now God is not so big, and we are not so small! Or so modernity’s narrative goes.

Bluray

I mentioned in my last post about going to see The Help last night, and how the picture quality seemed not as sharp as it might have been.   I suspected it was something to do with the cinema's projection system, but perhaps that was the way it was meant to be.

Or perhaps my wife and I have been spoilt by having a digital TV (acquired two or three months ago because our old TV was struggling to keep up) and being able to see movies in sharp definition.  Certainly the digital picture quality is excellent, sometimes to the extent of your being able to see how much makeup some of the actors have on...

A friend of mine swears by bluray.   (Which always looks like blur-ay to me, and isn't at all indicative of its clarity!)   He watches all his movies this way, and delights in how well this presents the visual aspect.   As it happens I haven't seen any movies on bluray as yet, so I can't judge, and it's not likely we'll be getting a
bluray home theatre system anywhere in the near future, or perhaps in the future, full stop! 

A home theatre system might be a great way to view movies these days - certainly I'm much more comfortable on my own couch watching movies than I am on the seats at the cinemas, where I always wind up with a sore bum.  Don't know whether it's something to do with the cushioning of the seats, or the fact that they're all very wide - the arm rests being too far apart to lean on both sides at once - or what.   However, even in a relatively short movie like The Help I got uncomfortable before the credits began to roll (while Viola Davis seemed to walk for miles down a suburban street).   Maybe, of course, it's just old bones, and not enough padding on my rear end!

And while we're talking about video/movies etc.....here's a superb piece of puppetry from Sesame St - singing about the letter G.  

300

Sometimes you just can't resist giving a movie the mickey. I haven't seen the film, 300, and it seems unlikely now that I will. It arrived in a great hype with some people, barely scratched the surface of real cinemagoers, and has departed the scene. I don't even know who's in it. (Well, I could look it up, but I ain't gonna.)
But someone has seen it. She calls herself (I presume she's a she by the way she's written one or two other things) Saint Sally, and she's made a list of the ten things she's learned from watching 300. Check them out. They're a lot of fun.

Watch it at Home

Cinemas around the world are now providing lounge chair type seating for their customers, presumably for two reasons: firstly, their old style seating, where you were often jostling elbows with other customers wasn’t comfortable, and there was seldom enough room for people with long legs. Secondly, many people feel more comfortable in their own lounge at home, watching a DVD – even more so if they have surround sound and all the trappings such as a wide screen.
The problem for cinema owners is that it is more comfortable in your own home. You can stop the DVD any time you like and go to the loo, or make a cup of tea, or answer the phone. You can even keep your cellphone on. If the children fall asleep, you don’t have to miss half the movie; you can leave them where they are, or shuffle them off to bed and come back for the rest of the movie later. In line with the comfort aspect, some companies now make home theater seating, the sort of seating that even the luxury cinemas don’t provide. Full on armchairs, that can be swivelled to suit how you want to sit, and on top of these, a whole range of accessories for people who are mad enough to pay for things around the house, but not keen to pay ordinary cinema prices!