Thread 12 - TalkLair: “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 11).

The days are gradually growing longer, but the worst of the winter weather is not yet behind us. In the TalkLair, we remain hunkered down keeping cosy and warm. The hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

I'm almost certainly going to watch Saltburn but I'm just not currently in the right headspace for it. It's Potter thrown down tonight so I'll definitely be watching that for the tears and nice pots.

I've just been watching The Truth, with Catherine Deneuve, on iPlayer. I stopped because MrPSD is a big fan of the co-star, Juliette Binoche, so we will watch it together later. I've only watched a bit of it, but it's very French, lovely to look at, and apparently is good.

I only recently realised that in only following GPTD on Max, I am now a year behind since the last series they're showing is the 2022 series. So today I fired up the VPN and watched the first episode of the 2023 series and when I've finished that I'll start on 2024. No spoilers please!

I've been doing some ceramics classes for hand-building in clay, which has been fun. There's a poster on the wall that says "Be brave enough to suck at something new", which I find quite inspirational. I do suck, actually - it's much harder than it looks on the telly!

I love watching them, Brit and I promise, no spoilers! It doesn't look even a little bit easy to me. You basically have to have at least a little artistic talent, an understanding of space and size, be able to see something on paper in 3D and do some maths in your head! I've no doubt I'd suck but I think it's important to do things that you suck at. Maybe one day you'll suck less and then less and less until you're half decent. Or maybe you'll always suck but enjoy it anyway. I have a friend who loves the show. She's currently in India so I'm looking forward to her getting home and catching up so we can chat about it and I'm going to suggest we give a class a go. I'm quite happy to suck enormously!

I did pottery classes years ago and was pretty bad at it but I love Throw Down and am mostly watching it at the right time this year rather than spotting it on All4 after the event and binge watching.

This was the only decent thing I made in the first set of classes, and I quite like it. The fish tail thing was purely accidental - we were doing a soft slab thing where you wrap it around a container (which was an almost triangular jug in my case). I'd pressed some wire mesh into the surface to give it some texture, but I didn't roll the slab big enough to wrap it fully so it ended up not quite meeting at the top and bottom. I suddenly realised the texture looked a bit like fish scales so I cut a tail from the leftover bits and applied it. It actually works well as a vase but the deep V on one side means I have to be careful not to overfill it and the flowers tend to sag out of that bit! I did try to carve a couple of eyes into it near the pointed bit at the front, but they are not obvious at all.

That's lovely, Brit!

That's an excellent accidental scale effect.

BTW, I meant to ask, has anyone heard from Mavis? Is she lost to us?

That's a lovely vase @Britinme! It's exactly the sort of colour that always attracts me, as is the organic form - if I saw that in a shop I'd be right over to inspect it.

@duc748 IIRC Mavis got banned from MN, we urged her to email MNHQ to request reinstatement, but I don't think she ever did. She's gone back to the Old Place, I presume?

I don't know, Kuc, I don't look in there any more. Shame, anyway.

I think Mavis may be on Twix, but can't remember her name there.

Think it was @MouseMinge who asked about Chinese New Year decorations in Malaysia?

Here's a section in a suburban neighbourhood convenience store, selling Chinese New Year decorations. Very typical. Bit garish. Wasn't tempted.

OTOH, the shopping malls around KL have some stunningly beautiful themed displays, which I will upload later.

Very garish but kind of glorious!

@Britinme that is really beautiful. I absolutely love the glaze!

@Britinme that's so pretty! I love the colours.

@Kucinghitam looking forward to seeing the shopping mall displays.

@Britinme love the fishy vase!

@Kucinghitam I would be very tempted by those decorations (but then I do have a soft spot for garish tat). I’d love to see the more stylish display though.

And I wish Mavis could find a way back here.

This mall has gone with a “historic” Chinese street scene of fake houses and trees. The colour combinations, although they may seem a bit mad, were commonly found in the ceramics and fabrics of wealthy 19th-century Chinese tycoons throughout SE Asia.

That’s beautiful! I love the colours, especially the green/gold/red combination (which is what I’ve tried to do in my flat).

This one is opulently red-and-gold and wants you to be really really aware that it’s the Year of the Dragon. Despite the garish colours, I think it manages to be both traditional and stylish.

Ooh I love it! Especially the tree and the lanterns. It reminds me of the game Journey:

I love those pictures! When I brought my 11 year old DGD to London in the autumn, we went to Soho for a Chinese meal and she enjoyed the autumn festival decorations there - I don't think they do those anywhere near where she lives in New Jersey (though obviously they do in New York city).

Those are stunning @Kucinghitam - love the richness of the colour schemes.

That's a lot of dragon! I like the historic street one a lot.

They're beautiful, @Kucinghitam especially the fake houses and trees. I'd wander around their all day happy to be a part of it. I love the colours.