I was at a loose end recently (relative to when I wrote this in 2011!) so I decided to take myself off to the cinema. I was looking for something heartfelt and uplifting so I chose "Contagion", a documentary about how Greece defaulted on its national debt which lead to the rest of the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, 'already gone' and Spain) going down the pan, taking the global economy with it and sending man back to the days of exchanging spears for fire-sticks. Of course I'm kidding, Contagion is a movie about a virus (with a "pig" strain ironically) that devastates mankind and threatens to send him back to the dark ages.
Moving stuff.
When it comes to the movies I prefer absolute silence; my hearing is about as sensitive as a fruit bat navigating an orchard and I can detect any crinkle of sweet wrappers, crackle of popcorn or slurping of sodas. My favourite is cinema-goers who prefer to have their conversations while the film is in progress. One must be cautious though these days about reprimanding people you don’t know; next thing you’re mid-munch and all of a sudden you have a knife at your throat. That’s London for you! I was fortunate that distractions were at a minimum on this particular occasion; bar my broken seat and the gentleman next to me who went to sleep, started snoring, was woken by his mobile – and promptly answered it! Again - that’s London for you!
“Contagion” certainly got me thinking about my personal hygiene habits although evading this particular virus would have required humans to vacuum pack themselves into large freezer bags with redundant oxygen supplies. The movie’s advice was stay at home –and better still, if you have the virus stay at home – and die. Um – not sure about that, but it’s just a movie. The man with the hacking cough behind me certainly added a sense of realism to the movie in the way these new 4th dimension movie houses now emit smells etc to go along with action. So that was a nice “touch”.
All-in-all run-of-the-mill stuff, but any aspiring Al Qaeda recruits would have been sitting up and taking notice; mix some bat pooh with pork ribs and hey presto, 350 million people foaming at the mouth and keeling over dead. A happy, happy thought!
Out.