Apologies for the brevity of last night's post, but I was very tired and very desperate re: watching that X-Files ep, even if it turned out to be rather dissapointing as season finale's good (although not bad by any stretch of the imagination). Anyway I will now endeavour to make up for this sin by fleshing out as many of yesterday's details as I can, although if you really care about flat viewing details pelase see the Green One's blog as all I'd be doing would eb repeating his words. "They were all very nice. When can we move in?".
After the flat viewing however (well technically during) I received a mysterious phonecall I believed to be from a part of the University office telling me that someone had handed in my wallet and asking, could I collect it today? I, of course, said yes and as soon as we were done with the flat viewing I made my way, with the Green One in tow, to the University to retrieve said wallet.
At the student reception I informed them that I was told my wallet had been handed in. I was asked, by a male receptionist, whether it had been handed in at the recption or another department. Since I had assumed it would be connected with the Estates department who I had visited the day before I told him so and he told me to go see them. Five minutes later I arrive at Estates and my question is greeted by a sea of blank faces.
"No, no one's handed in a wallet and we certainly didn't ring you. Where was it found, try there!"
Puzzled, because I was pretty sure it had been the office that rang, I left and visited the computer building (another 5 mins away) where the wallet had been both lost and found. I told them my story and more blank faces followed.
"No idea. Have you tried Security?"
Security was only about a minute or two away, and after realising I was there and stopping their lunchtime conversations (which took a while...) they informed me that they hadn't seen it and no one there had rung me.
So, uncertainly, I tried the student reception again. Had it been handed in there? The female recptionist who greeted me checked all around the office, polled all her colleagues and returned shaking her head dissapointedly.
"I'm sorry but it's not here..."
"I guess I'll try the computer building's porters office then...", I replied, utterly bemused by the proceedings thus far.
The porter's office was, as it had been the day before closed, and I was left wondering where else there was to go. Finalyl I decided as a last ditch effort, I would visit the Student's Association reception and see what they thought.
They were confused. I explained the situation, gave them my name and then suddenly the number that had rung before (private so that I couldn't have rung it back to "trace" it) rang me back.
"Hi, I'm the one you were speaking to before at the reception. Turns out it was here after all. really sorry."
I rushed back adn the female receptionsit explaiend that it ahd been hidden behind one of the reception computers, the on being used by the male receptionist from before who hadn't even bothered to try and check my details to see if it was mine which he should have done 25 minutes earlier, the moment I mentioned the keyword for the day, 'Wallet'. The female receptionist was very apologetic and I just laughed it off. It had been a strange little quest, but I had got my wallet back (minus money and with all the cards scattered about it's back pockets) and you had to laugh really, right?
The other event of interest for the day was the watching of th Da Vinci Code. I give you a mini review.
Ok, I had been filled in on what all the reviews had to say, so i wasn't expecting too much from the film. I have never read the book, and to be honest, although I was itnerested to see what it would be like, this was very much Eruntane's cinema trip (just as the Silent Hill trip was in favour of moi). Still the film turned out not to be as dreaful as the reviews suggested. It was far from perfect, sitting slightly awkwardly on the 'average' mark, and for a film with such hype I guess that's a dreadful failing in and of itself, but it wasn't really a wasted trip.
The opening frustrated me. It was hard to feel comfortable with what you were watching at least partly because it felt rushed and partly because Tom Hanks was producing dire dialogue at a snails pace and I was developing an unusual urge to shoot him and get it over with, however as the film went along it began to improve. Once Ian McKellan's character apepars on the scene it actually takes a turn towards good, despite his long exposition which, just the the nature of the way he told it, raised more interesting (and flaw highlighting) questions than the film was trying to answer.
Even so the puzzles were getting more complicated and clever, the locations were beautifully shot and and the plot was starting to intrigue. Then a succession of twists left me annoyed, due to their predictable and shoddily constructed nature, then another beautiful location and clever puzzle won me over, and so on.
By the end of the film I was generally quite content, but I still couldn't quite shake the moments that had annoyed me. The film was well directed and well shot, the score was brilliant the actors (with the exception of Hanks and Reno who were painfully stiff) put in great performances, but the dialogue and plotting left alot to be desired in many places, things which could be laid at the feet of Dan Brown and Akiva Goldsman. in contrast the one thing which stood out as good in the film was the puzzles, which were fantastically clever and made me realise why a writer of such poor quality as Dan Brown could have made a such a succesfuly book. I don't think it is just the controversy (although that would certainly have been a factor), it's the clever tieing togetehr of a number of factors to create these complex puzzles and clues that, whilst a little too compelx to be truly believable, did leave me feeling inspired.
Also the very last scene was set in a beautiful location, was beautifull shot, ahd a great piece of music accompanying it and left my soul on a soaringly beautiful note. I'm not sure the plot deserved such a finish, but I'm thankful that Ron Howard did it that way.
Oh and U-O's back online again and thus I have added a new link to it accordingly.
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