Cyrano

My wife and I went out for a date last night. I had wanted to watch Cyrano because I loved the Gérard Depardieu version of Cyrano de Bergerac. We were surprised to find out that this is a muscial, but despite that, I think that it was a good film. Sadly though, it did not match up to my memories of what to me is the original version (I have not watched the other versions though). I am glad that I watched it, I loved the adaptation, but I do not think that I would watch it again. It has made me hunger to watch the version that I had watched second (I had watched Roxanne before).

Watching it while Ukraine is being invaded was made more poignant in a scene before a battle.  Watching fiction when in reality people are dying and thinking the same thoughts before heading into battle was surreal.  Also there is the link to it with Gérard Depardieu now being a Russian citizen.  

I do need to try and improve by vocabulary, I am not as eloquent as my wife and watching it with her reminded me how lucky I am to have her in my life.

Well that was an interesting PMQ's. Keir Starmer asked questions about Roman Abramovich which Boris Johnson did not answer and the same happened when Starmer queried why a new register of property ownership would not apply to existing owners for eighteen months. I know that there are many within and outside Labour who do not like Keir Starmer, but one party leader acted like the statesman our nation needs, and it was not Boris Johnson.

Dobble champion

I am the dobble champion of the house! My daughter, to be fair is normally the best at it and I agreed to play a game before I went to work. She caught be dealing her more cards than I had so we dealt everything fairly and my son joined us to play. I was playing for second place and all three of us were suprised when I won! Needless to say, I have no plans to play this again!

The Hunt

I had seen a few seconds of this film, and it intrigued me. So I watched it. It is a fun filled gore fest that does look at the idiocy that has become cancel culture and the Twitter wars between the left and the right. It is not a film for those who like a complicated plot or intelligent dialogue. It is a very well made gore fest which I would gladly watch again. I would have been happy to pay to watch it in a cinema, but I do not think that there would be anyone in the house who would be willing to watch it with me!

It is not the fault of Putin that he is invading Ukraine

As predicted, Ukraine, when surrounded by the Russian army, has "started" a war. Despite facing overwhelming odds, they have attacked and Russia has had "no choice" but to respond. As in 1939 when "Poland attacked Germany" in similar circumstances, the response has been swift and overwhelming. Officially, I understand that Ukraine provoked this by attacking the Donbass republics that Putin had recently recognised. At the time of typing this Chernobyl may fall to the Russians who appear have attacked from neutral Belarus.  This of course in addition to being attacked from its borders with Russia and the Donbass region itself. 

When it comes to the expressed intent of Russia which is denazification, that will mean that regime change is required.  And that means the end of Ukraine being a democracy as I doubt any leader imposed by Putin would have the support of a population that has been attacked by Russia.  

I do wonder if Ukraine would be facing this invasion, if it had kept its nuclear weapons as it had disarmed in the past, just as I do wonder if it would have kept Crimea and the Donbass if it had retained its deterrent.  If Ukraine had kept its nuclear weapons, may be it would be safe from being part (or bits of it being part) of a greater Russia. 

The Pacific

First of all, my wife and I went out for a meal. I was busy working from home today and Leia found this annoying as she wanted to get into the garden and attack the birds that she felt were destroying the garden. Needless to day, I was working so could not attend to her desires as often as she needed. She has got her mojo back and if anything, has more energy than she had before she had her operation. Normally, this settles dogs down, but it has had the opposite effect with her. When it came to dinner, we got a takeaway for the children and as my daughter did not want the smell of curry in the house, my wife and I went out for a meal. It was nice to get away again and while not as posh a place as it had been before, Curry Leaves served us great food. My wife was grateful that I had booked out the whole restaurant for her! 

 

When it comes to The Pacific, I have now finished watching the series, though I have to decide which of the bonus features I am to watch. It was a good series to watch, not as good as Band of Brothers, but more educational. I was aware of aspects of the war against Japan in World War II, but this taught me a lot, including a portrayal of how horrific war is. Hopefully this will not be an issue in Ukraine. Anyway, it was a great series to watch and I am glad my mother got it as a box set for me.

It is not the fault of Putin that he has had to invade Ukraine

I have listened to many people on the radio explain that the reason Putin has invaded Ukraine is because of the USA and the UK. They state all sorts of things, that NATO are to have a base there, that NATO wants to start a war but basically, NATO has no interest in defending Ukraine using military force.  Just like NATO did not defend Georgia when it had a conflict with Georgia which resulted in Georgia losing Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Member nations are happy to back Ukraine with sanctions and providing weapons but that is it. 

What has happened in Eastern Europe is akin to the UK invading Calais because France might join an alliance of its choice.  Or re-invading Eire for the same reason.  And then annexing it. 

I hear lots of excuses like this, notably with domestic violence. It is not the fault of the abuser that they are carrying out abuse. It is the fault of the victim. Or someone else. The abuser claims that they were forced to do what they did, that they had no choice. But they did.

So remember, it is not the fault of Putin that Russia had a conflict with Georgia in 2008, or that it invaded Crimea in 2014, and also I am sure that it is not his fault that so many of those against him die prematurely.