Celestial Oscars

For wearing dresses that fit: Kate Winslet, Halle Berry
Worst dress: Renee Zellweger for looking like skeletor. RZ's sexiest hour was certainly Bridget Jones.
Worst dress twice: Beyonce
Weirdest: Melanie Griffith
Sexiest: Johnny Depp
Best musical performance:cello music

Prime names

If you turn all the letters in the following names into a number (a=1, b=2, z=26, etc) and then add them together, you get prime numbers: Scooby Doo, Jesus Christ, Sherlock Holmes. I found that out from the book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". It is narrated by a boy with Asperger's Syndrome. He makes a great narrator because he is freakishly observant--tiny details about people's shoes, their voices, smells, etc. He also explains a really interesting maths puzzle called The Monty Hall Problem and the history of how when it was published in a magazine thousands of maths professors wrote in and said it was wrong (even thought it wasn't) because it is so uncomfortably unintuitive. The book is set in Swindon and it still managed to make me homesick for the UK. No offence oh Swindonites but when tales of Swindon can make me homesick, it's a sign I need to go home.

Olive Oyl is anorexic

At the Oscars, this is what Robin Williams's speech should have read: "Pinocchio's had his nose done! Sleeping Beauty is popping pills!/ The Three Little Pigs ain't kosher! Betty Boop works Beverly Hills! Fred Flintstone is dyslexic, Jessica Rabbit is really a man, Olive Oyl is really anorexic, and Casper is in the Ku Klux Klan!" But he was silenced--too un-pc. What a shame. He still did a good job. Oh and: "The Road Runner's hooked on speed Pocahontas is addicted to craps."

Sloth Rewarded

The story of how we got to see Gates anyway...This morning, as we built our own Gates and thought regretfully of how we could have been in NYC and seen the real thing, I decided that at least we would see the Somerville Gates. So I emailed the artist himself, offering him a place on our trip to the World Cup in Germany next year in return for a chance to view his tiny orange Gates. He emailed straight back with an invitation to have a private, personalised viewing of The Gates. All we had to do was turn up at the coffee shop where he was meeting a friend anyway. Excited beyond belief, eager to salvage the day, the three of us threw on orange clothing and ran down the street to the S----- Cafe. And there was Hargo, immediately obvious in a bright Orange Holland football shirt, spooning down a cup of--you guessed it--orange carrot soup. He pulled out a narrow briefcase, and out popped 11 of the original 13 gates, neat little structures made of bright orange cardboard and glue. He arranged them carefully on the table...and well it was art. He said he was surprised but not averse to the fame his little "toys" had brought him. Click here to see us with Hargo. How glad glad glad we are that we didn't go to New York. Next time I will make a point of meeting Christo.

The Real Somerville Gates

We have outdone Geoff "Hargo" Hargadon, the man who built the Somerville Gates in his attic (see last blog post). It all was born out of boredom and laziness. My two best friends and I planned to go to New York today to see Christo's Gates. But getting up early and facing the traffic was too much and at the last minute we chickened out. We found ourselves bored in the kitchen eating waffles and orange. We started hanging orange peel on a small piece of string on our bookshelves. Then we added an orange teabag, an orange pair of panties, some orange candy. Pretty soon we had our very own arches. But is it art? Make up your own mind. Go take a look.

The Somerville Gates

In the hip Massachusetts town of Somerville (where I just happen to live) someone has made their own version of Christo's gates. The Somerville Gates cost just $3.50 and span the attic, but some believe these are just as artistic.