19.57 From Euston

On Saturday, this was doing the rounds on Twitter:



When I watched it, I thought ‘aw, that’s nice,’ posted it to Facebook and promptly forgot all about it.

This being the internet, a few people have reacted in a more considered way.

Natalie Dzerins (Forty Shades of Grey) finds it utterly cringeworthy, which is fair enough – but more than that, she thinks it is demeaning to women; a thought that never even crossed my mind until I read her post. The woman generally speaks a lot of sense so this prompted me to re-visit my initial reaction.

When I shared the vidjo on the book of face, I did so with the tagline “anybody remember the group ‘Disney Gave Me Unrealistic Expectations of Love?’ This guy clearly does, and said, ‘no more!’”

To explain, said group united those who had reached adulthood only to discover a distinct lack of perfectly coiffed prospective partners with freakishly straight teeth and talking animal pals. Where were the dragon slayers, the perky princesses, the lovers who unexpectedly burst into song at the drop of a hat?

Members bemoaned the fact love at first sight is not as common as Disney led them to believe, and that most people are pretty much the same – everyone gets a bit crabbit when they’ve not had enough sleep, wicked stepmothers are not especially prevalent, and most men don’t even own a cloak (excepting the more dedicated Noel Fielding fan, perhaps).

However, the occasional friend will find their own Prince Charming or Cinderella, you’ll be invited to a lovely wedding with a ceilidh and a bucket of stovies, and a collective sigh will go up for lo, there is romance in the world after all. Who doesn’t want a happy ever after in a castle full of talking crockery?

Well, I wouldn’t, to be fair. It’s one thing to enjoy a bit of schmaltz in a movie, quite another to deliberately inflict it on a loved one in a public space.

But I don’t speak for everyone, and I like to think there’s a possibility that the boyfriend in 19.57 from Euston made this ridiculously over the top gesture because they are madly in love, and he knew she’d appreciate it.

Dzerins concedes that it seems to have worked out for this pair, but: “all I can think when I watch it is "but what if she wanted to say no?"”

My instinctive my reply to that would be, she would have said no.

This sort of proposal puts a lot of pressure on the woman to comply, Dzerins argues, because it’s so public. Gangs of total strangers feel they have the right to stick their oar in and tell her to agree, and if she doesn’t he will become some kind of martyr for the romantic cause.

I take her point, but to be honest I’d have thought the emotional fallout between the couple is ultimately the same whether she rejects him in public or private. Yes, if you’re unlucky there is a possibility it goes viral for a week or two and people write some nasty comments about you on Youtube. But surely that’s the least of your worries when you’ve just discovered your partner knows sod all about you – for them to have misjudged your reaction so completely belies some serious communication problems.

My other query would be why is it only the woman is demeaned by this show of affection? The man has spent a load of time and money sorting it out solely to impress her – isn’t that flattering? Couldn’t it even be said he is demeaning himself by reducing his personality to 2-Dimensional cartoon prince purely to satisfy the romantic streak of the otherwise level-headed, educated woman he fell in love with?

The notion that this type of proposal is impersonal, or designed to make strangers think you’re cool, feels overly cynical to me. Yes, it’s cheesy, and no, of course you don’t need to make a massive song and dance over a proposal to make a marriage work - but who says that’s why he did it?

I like to think he was motivated by a sense that his fiancé’s feelings of joy and being special would outweigh the embarrassment either of them felt.

It wouldn’t work for me but that’s OK, because it’s not about me - or my feminist principles, or any other stranger from the internet.

It’s about two hopeless romantics on the 19.57 from Euston.

Long may they be sick-makingly sweet.

Bold Move From EIFF 2011

Questions are being asked this week about the decision of the Edinburgh International Film Festival not to screen any films this year.

According to recent press releases, this year’s event will steer clear of glitzy premiers and star studded parties in favour of a more organic approach.

The opening gala is to consist of gathering film enthusiasts at random around a laptop in Starbucks to watch the top YouTube videos of the week. They will then get to express their feelings by hitting the ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ buttons provided, neatly dispensing with any need for long winded, fatuous dissections of what has just been witnessed.

And instead of getting special deals for buying multiple tickets for film screenings, this year punters will get to be part of the film making process as extras in EIFF: The Movie.

“Films are ultimately pretty dull, aren’t they?” new festival director A.N. Orstralian told the media at EIFF’s launch.

“What’s really interesting for the public is the immediacy of the film making process. So rather than getting bogged down by the end product, this year we thought, ‘why not get people involved in the excitement of filming themselves?’”

“Ordinarily you have to wait for the DVD to come out with that disc of special extras before you can witness the magic of the crew marking up a set in different colours of leccy tape, or to find out that a particular sound effect was made using just a cheese grater and a baby rabbit. But with this year’s festival you get to live through the entire process, as an extra in the film of the film festival.”

If the director is to be believed, there are up to three other positives to this radical approach. One by-product is that in removing the need for the involvement of cinemas, the festival can branch out to countless other venues across the city – including Edinburgh University’s Teviot Building which, prior to this, was famous only for its disconcertingly sticky floor.

Teviot will host several art installations as part of the festival, including one entitled ‘a shelf of DVDs under a spotlight in an otherwise white and empty room.’

“It symbolizes the fact that in order to enjoy a film, yeah? You don’t actually have to watch a film?” artist Jason De Grunier has stated on his blog.

Sage words indeed.

But what of the public reaction to the changes?

“I think it’s a great idea,” gushed PR guru Crinoline McKendry, who cites her favourite film as Pokemon 5: Latios and Latias. “So innovative and now, y’know? I heard that on one of the days they’re going to use a twitter hashtag to write the script for a crime thriller which they’ll actually film as and when the lines come up on the feed. And they’re not using professional actors, because that wouldn’t feel authentic – they’re bussing in an amateur dramatics group from Auchtermuchty. Brilliant.”

Other film fans were less convinced.

“It’s going to be awful,” said Jimothy Ombudsman-Smythe, who uses the money he earns as a labourer on a building site to pay for his Cineworld movie card. “Nae films in a film festival? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Your FACE doesn’t make any sense,” the festival director replied, when we put this complaint to him.

Then he ran away, giggling like a schoolchild.

It seems that the jury is out, and at the end of the day when all is said and done, only time will tell whether the gamble will pay off at the end of the road when the chickens come home to roost.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day Twenty Nine

A song from your childhood.

I remember my mum playing Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings by John Prine in the kitchen quite a lot... And I particularly remember the song Ain't Hurtin' Nobody. So here it is.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day Twenty Four

A song you want to play at your funeral.

Well, that's a cheery one. There's nothing quite like being made to ponder one's own mortality, is there?

This is a tongue in cheek sort of a choice:

30 Day Song Challenge - Day Fourteen

A song that nobody would expect you to like.

Surely this ought to be posed to the general public, rather than me? I don't really know what people would expect me to like or dislike. My nu-metal past has been well documented, as have my punk, ska and indie leanings. Yesterday I posted a cheeky pop song and a couple of days before that admitted that I can't even find it in me to hate happy hardcore with the same vitriol of my teens. Last week I went to see Sonata Arctica, who are a power metal band. I honestly try to be open to anything.

With that in mind, I guess I'll have to show some love for 13 year old Rebecca Black, youtube sensation and songwriter extraordinaire. I actually wrote about her earlier in the week, here.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day Five

Day five is a song that reminds you of someone.

This didn't involve too much thought, to be honest - I chose Bat Out Of Hell, by Meat Loaf. It reminds me of the stars of this video.



Alternative picks includes Since You've Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel, and Drunken Driver by Ferlin Husky. I think the people involved all know who they are.

It's interesting how certain songs can bring to mind particular memories of particular people, even years later. Well, I say interesting - it's one of those things that makes you go 'hm' and then forget all about it.

Nonsense

Another video, because it makes me laugh. Not sure why, but it does. I defy you not to end up singing this in moments of quiet.

Vidjo

A friend posted this on Facebook and I felt the need to share.

Squirrels

Ages ago I asked you to identify where this picture was taken. The winner of the competition was Laura, and this is her fabulous prize - it's only a video of some squirrels! 'Mazing. Although according to Captain Tact's dad, if you've any moral conscience you're supposed to kill the grey ones on sight...



In other news I took a load of pictures of flowers, and joined flickr for want of something to do with them. My page is here.