Afternoon tea with the mutants...

It's been a great week so far - a ton of quality, quality cinema. The Senna documentary (Americans, if it gets back to you, you must, must see it...astonishing footage and a legend, truly), Apocalypse Now anniversary edition (my heart, Martin Sheen, a piece of it is always yours), and X-Men: First Class.

It's an epic triple bill, truly. Apocalypse Now was probably the most important for me - and also, the first time I think I have ever been in a full cinema! I watched it a lot when I was growing up, and was captivated by its starkness and the lingering shots of faces, eyes, ears, details, amidst soundscapes of chaos. I find it such an important film, in the scheme of things, and to get that full-screen benefit of it, with swirling helicopter sounds and that vast, horrific final sequence so very much in your face...that was how you were meant to experience the film. It was worth waiting my entire life for it to come back to cinemas...

Senna, I remember the death of Ayrton Senna so clearly, like so many people. I was absolutely in love with him when I was a child, he was so charismatic and had beautiful eyes, and I had never seen a Brazilian person before. He seemed like something magical. And then that awful weekend in San Marino, and it was a good fifteen years before I could watch F1 again. I didn't realise, in a way, until I watched the documentary how affected I was by that footage, as a child. It's not surprising, of course. What surprised me the most, though, was the sense of calm that I took from the film with me. To watch a documentary about such a life, and to take away from it a man's smile, and passion, that's a feat of cinema, and a great piece of construction it is, too. I hope it finds itself in the Oscar nominations when they come around.

And then X-Men: First Class. I very much like Matthew Vaughn as a direector, I like Jane Goldman as a writer, I have a heightened interest for anything they work on, and in the snappy, quintessentially amusing dialogue and the sharp, well-proportioned action scenes I found good evidence of their work. Alas, in a way, it is alas, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are so perfectly perfect that everything else about the film paled into insignificance for me. I wanted so much more of their relationship. Basically, I wanted Charles and Erik: The Good Times, rather than all the other bits and pieces on top. Because there was good stuff there, the Cold War look was really quite appealing and interesting (although I did wonder what you'd be left with as an understanding of the Cold War, if you hadn't studied it to atomic levels of detail at school as I did), but all I wanted was more Charles and Erik. It appears I am not quite alone, either! Plus points to Jennifer Lawrence on the side though - she's beautiful and captivating, and yet for all that, I find her wonderfully understated. She hasn't been trained out of her skills, and I await The Hunger Games with eager anticipatino.

So, I think that's the best week of cinema I can remember. What on earth should I see next?!

Post-cinema yesterday, we decided to, at last, spend our voucher for free coffee and cake, given to us by a leading department store when they screwed up our washing machine delivery. It looked like this:

(That burger-sized thing at the back there is a macaron. Seriously. Phenomenal.)

Really good coffee, too. Coffee is one of those things I truly believe is better in Sweden, but at this place, they have coffee that is almost as good as in Sweden, and that makes me happy. Especially when it's free!

Getting more than you'd hoped for!

I love my dear Kindle (which is named Starbuck, out of interest - I name everything I own) deeply, but occasionally it leads me into unexpected waters. I downloaded the sample chapter of Rob Lowe's new book to have something to listen to whilst cleaning the bathroom (the glamour!) and then, once I'd finished that, as with every single sample chapter I have downloaded, I went and accidentally bought it, instead of going back to the home screen.

As it happens, I am more than pleased by this. One of my all-time favourite films is The Outsiders - not hugely surprising if you know me - and for the multiple chapters on the auditions and filming process of this alone I'm more than glad to have happened upon it! It's incredibly exciting and cheering to find that something you love was important enough to the people who made it that they remember, and are happy to detail, everything about it at any point. I hope he's going to talk about The West Wing this much! For a book I was really just 'passing by' I've certainly had far more than my money's worth already, with a good six hours of listening already under my belt, and half the book still to go. So that's today's joy really - the time when you unexpectedly happen upon something and it turns out to be exactly what you needed to fill in all the gaps in your knowledge, matches your interests perfectly, and makes your day!