A bit of cultural fun...

Yesterday C* and I went to the symphony. We were given tickets to the MSO Pops's Cinema Paradiso for Christmas and I had a blast.

We'd both worked overnight on Saturday night so we were a tad tired, but for me at least the prospect of some John Williams music cranked out by an orchestra was a buzz waiting to happen. I wasn't dissapointed on that score, either... most of the second half was Williams, which is hardly surprising. If you're talking cinema scores for orchestras he's just about the most successful in history.

For the uninitiated, Williams has composed Jaws, Star Wars and everything in between. Name a Spielberg or Lucas film and he's your man. ET, Raiders, 1941, Close Encounters. Okay fan boy... settle down :)

The tickets were amazing; in the middle of the front row of the stalls, so we were literally looking up their skirts. Clive James was the host, which I wasn't expecting. He was great, but looking up his metaphorical skirt was far less enjoyable than the violinist two back in the second row :) (Don't worry, C had her favourite too!)

James was a little slow getting started. For the first little bit I thought he was going to be phoning it in all night, but by the time they played Superman for an encore he had one arm extended over his head (classic flying pose, if that description doesn't make sense), running around the stage, having a little mock collapse Kryptonite style and pretending to carry Lois over the city. A few frank admissions regarding why he liked Janet Leigh movies, a cracker of an orchestra goes without saying and all up an entertaining show.

Afterward we went out for dinner and ended up getting a hotel room in the city for the night. Which is not something we do very often. It's just that for the first time in a little while the money was there to do it and it just seemed like a good idea at the time. By the way, if you're looking for a vegetarian meal I wouldn't recommend a "ye olde englishe tavern" type venue. Their definition of vego was offal, as far as I can tell, but they came up with something and it was nice enough.

So, all up a pretty good night was had by all. Also, please don't take the above comment about money as gripeing or a lack of gratitude for my life of relative luxury. We do okay between us and we both have good prospects. It's just that there have been a lot of bills the last year or two, which will gradually become self explanatory, I guess.


* I haven't decided yet but for now 'C' will be code for my girl, fiancee, partner, gf, live-in lover, de facto wife. Pick the term which best suits your preference... I'll stick to 'C' :)