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Helena Bonham Carter from The Guardian

The Guardian has published an interview and photoshoot with Helena Bonham Carter. I guess we’re building up for Alice in Wonderland. I love these photos, and the work she has been doing the past several years, she seems more alive and vibrant than ever. While discussing her relationship with her husband Tim Burton, she says “He likes to simplify things, I complicate them. I think we can do this or this or this, optionitis, then I get frozen because I don’t know which one.” Optionitis, boy, can I relate to that.

Photos:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/gallery/2010/feb/06/helena-bonham-carter-photographs

Interview:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/feb/06/helena-bonham-carter-interview

iPhone worship, (image from wired.com)

I received my monthly bill for my iPhone from O2, and I actually looked at it this month because it had a special notice attached to it. They were kind enough to tell me that they were no longer going to send me a paper bill each month to “save paper”. I usually choose electronic options anyway, but I like the “option” part of this and the false sense of power in having the ability to make a decision, so I felt a bit robbed to hear that I didn’t even have a choice in this anymore.

After feeling slightly diminished at having yet another physical aspect of my existence sent into cyberspace, I took a moment to read my bill. It revealed what I pretty much expected anyway, I don’t use my iPhone as an actual phone very often; I use iPhone as a mobile computer, and this is exactly why the iPad is aimed at people like me.

Out of my allocated 600 monthly minutes of phone use, I used 14. Out of my 500 monthly text messages, I used 12. That means I’m calling and talking less than 30 seconds a day on the phone, unless it’s February. We don’t have a landline either, so my talking minutes aren’t going there either. I’d like to think that I’m not an anti-social chap, friendly even to a fault in an “American” sort of way. Perhaps other people call me? I don’t even know if that would show up on my bill as minutes? It’s even more distressing if they do, it’s likely that the conversations I initiated, being fair to estimate at 50%, would now be less than 15 seconds a day. When you consider that we are billed for the entire minute of only partial use, it’s possible that I spoke only a total of 14 seconds over 14 separate one second calls on the phone last month, but was billed for the full minute in each of those cases.

It’s probably for the best that I don’t get the physical bills each month. I’d like to think of myself as environmentally friendly and I don’t really need the reminder that I’m not much of a phone-talker anyway. I can see myself leaving the world of “phones”, and switching to entirely data-based communication soon enough, my mobile phone going the way of my landline. Of course, I’ll still end up paying O2, or some other telecommunications giant for the ability to connect with a data plan, but maybe the deal like the one offered for the iPad with AT&T for a limited amount of data each month for $14.99 would be a much better route for me in the future? I feel another shift coming on, I’m not sure how it’s going to work out, but I suspect that even a year from now those 14 seconds a month when I communicate with others is going to be somehow very different.

I grew about sixty roses when I lived in California, I’ve lost exact count, but I’m sure I had at least that many. I knew that leaving the garden I spent several years creating would be one of the hardest things for me, just slightly less painful than leaving our many dear friends. I think of both very often, and now in the dead of winter, I’m dreaming of roses.

In the year and a half we’ve been in England, I’ve managed to pick up a few bushes, but we’re very limited as to what we can plant. Most of the back yard of our rented flat is paved with bricks, and in the middle of the garden is an enormous ash tree that from May onwards shades 80% of the garden; impossible for roses. There is a raised bed which you can see in the following picture, taken in June last year, that gets enough sun to grow roses and herbs as it is just out of reach of the shade for enough hours during the day.

You can get a real sense of the size of the ash tree by this image taken a few weeks ago during the big snow. I’m terrible with estimating height, but I think it must be at least 80 feet tall :

So we have very limited space to grow roses, and on top of that, we’re on a budget while I’m back at school, so there will be not great garden creation here like in California. I’m hoping that I might be able to buy a few bare root roses in the next few months, as the time to order and plant them is February and March.

So far, these are the roses that we do have in the garden, (I’ve not taken my own photos of most of these so I’ll use images from David Austin’s site for this group):

Alan Titchmarsh & Gentle Hermione

Scepter’d Isle & Sharifa Asma

Spirit of Freedom & Strawberry Hill

The Ingenious Mr Fairchild

I love all of them, especially The Ingenious Mr Fairchild and Scepter’d Isle which both bloom a lot and have intense fragrances. In fact, fragrance has become an utter necessity for me when choosing roses, I simply won’t buy another one that has a light or no scent. I want the added pleasure of not only looking at the rose but breathing in the heady scents, in all the varieties that roses produce. It’s like developing a taste for wine.

So I’ve been dreaming of roses, and dreaming of the garden that I would create if I had the resources. I’ve made this post as a sort of therapy that, hopefully, will allow me to indulge myself a bit and give some sense of satisfaction just by going through the process. So, here are some roses that I’d love to order this year, and hopefully, I might even be able to get a couple of them!

Jubilee Celebration

(This photo from Soho Rose Farm in Australia, all of the rest following are mine)
This one is a surprise to me. If you look at my collection so far, I’ve only ordered pinks, and I usually never like roses with strong colours or mixed colours, and here I am looking at one of the brightest and most mixed of all of David Austin’s roses. What changed it for me was visiting his gardens last year and seeing it in person. The scent is absolutely unbelievable. Strong, fruity, sweet, powerful. And there was something about the colour as well that gave it a faded and old-fashioned look.

I kept walking away thinking “No way, it is way off colour for your garden”, but I kept walking back, smelling it, and falling deeper in love.

Princess Alexandra of Kent
Another rose that I am surprised that I want so much. This one is clearly pink, but also a bit “brighter” than I would usually choose. However, seeing it in person made all of the difference:

Wow! Every bush that we saw of it at David Austin’s garden was covered with blooms. Huge, fragrant blooms that I could smell from feet away. The flowers are really incredible, majestic and impressive.

Lilac Rose

This rose has been around for a few decades, and I never hear much about it. I suspect that it’s probably unpopular for a good reason, and I have never given it a second thought. However, when I saw it in person, even with just a few blooms left on the only plant of it in the garden, I fell in love. I can’t think of any other word for this rose than “Victorian”. It has wonderfully ruffled edges and a powdery lilac colour with many shades fading at the edges, as shown in this close-up:

Lilac Rose also has a strong, old-fashioned rose scent to match. I find it charming and wistful.

The Wedgewood Rose

The Wedgewood Rose is one of the New Roses for 2009, and even if I wanted it I wouldn’t be able to order it until next season, it sold out immediately upon its release. But since this is my fantasy garden with my fantasy purchases, I’ll go ahead and add it in. This is another rose with rather tattered edges, but with a very soft shell pink colour and very large blooms which nod on the branches. It is gorgeous.

Of course, The Wedgewood Rose also has a very good scent. Utterly elegant and sophisticated, I think it will be a huge success for David Austin.

Jude the Obscure

This is the only rose on my list that I grew in California that I absolutely have to have again right away. There are other David Austin roses that I grew that I would love to grow again… William Shakespeare 2000, St Cecilia, Eglantyne, Sister Elizabeth, The Prince, Evelyn… all shown on this page of my California roses: http://www.robertmealing.com/2010/01/roses-from-my-old-garden/

But Jude is something special:

I love the huge, globular flowers on this rose, and the soft, faded golden yellow; but it is the scent that drives me wild. Jude the Obscure smells like sweet wine left in a jug infused with fruit on a summer’s day, and it is powerful and intoxicating.

It’s one of the few roses that I grew several bushes of in California, and it’s one that I just can’t live without for too much longer. It was heaven smelling that perfume once again when we visited David Austin’s garden.

Young Lycidas

Another surprise for me. I love the two-tone colour of this rose. Deep, rich, powerful. It reminds me of a fuschia. Of course, Young Lycidas also has a great scent.

Lady Emma Hamilton

I’m not sure what has happened to my tastes. Have they become more sophisticated and willing to accept complex combinations of colour? Have they become less refined and willing to allow gaudy combinations of colour? Detail:

Garrett loved this rose too, and I think that a big part of the attraction is the incredibly rich colour of the foliage. Deep reds and browns predominate, with shocking buds that look like flames, and then open up into beautiful, deeply scented blooms; fairly similar to Jude the Obscure in both shape and fragrance.

Well, that’s it. The top roses that I’d love to order this year, I think the one thing they all have in common is their very powerful scents. There are others that I’d add to the list as well… Pretty Jessica, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Brother Cadfael, Harlow Caarr, Claire Austin, Munstead Wood… but these are at the top of my list and the ones that I’d really love to try growing. Well, I can dream can’t I?

David Austin Roses: http://www.davidaustinroses.com/

Yesterday was the big day, and after literally years of anticipation, Apple finally launched it’s tablet computer called the iPad. Garrett and I have been talking about this for years, in fact, he’s been so anxious for a tablet computer from Apple that he’s put off buying a new laptop for several generations of releases now. I’ve been excited too, having used Apple computers for almost 20 years now, I’m a fanboy through and through. I followed the event on my computer as bloggers updated their sites with pictures and details, this was the very first image of the iPad that I saw:

In many ways, it’s just about what I expected it would be. I might have hoped that it would run OS X, but that would have been unlikely. I might have hoped for some incredible way of interacting with it that would blow us all away, such as I felt when the iPhone was announced a three years ago. And as Steve went through all of the features, I found myself certainly filled with desire for the iPad, but not salivating with excitement.

Apple released a video for the iPad that covers all of its features:

And within 24 hours, there was already a “Hitler” take on the iPad, pointing out many of the flaws and being just plain hysterical:

Right. No multitasking. No camera. No phone. Surely each of these will be addressed in the upcoming software and hardware versions, but none of them are deal-breakers for me.

I’ve read a lot of reviews and discussions on the iPad, and while it seems that there are not a lot of people out there that think they can understand where or why they would use this tablet, it makes perfect sense to me, I know exactly how I would use it… I would use it as very, very much like I use my iphone now… mostly as a portable computer for internet connectivity, email, music and video, and occasionally taking notes. Most of the time at home, I don’t sit behind a desktop to surf the web, I usually sit on the couch, curled up with my laptop, surfing. Or in bed. When I’m out, I use my iphone for the same purpose, when sitting at the coffeehouse, or in one of the Oxford libraries, I use my phone to look things up. For me, this is a perfect solution. The iphone is too small, and the lap top is too clumsy and awkward, the iPad is exactly the right size and shape for me.

I was delighted to see that they have a version of Pages as well for the iPad. I stopped using Word years ago, and I love Pages. It is clean, simple, fast, perfect for all my needs when writing essays. I doubt that I’ll do much typing using the onscreen keyboard, I can’t imagine taking the iPad to class instead of my laptop, but who knows, maybe I’ll find it works alright for that as well?

That I can watch my favourite shows and movies, listen to music, and play games will also be nice, and when I’m lucky enough to get one, I’ll surely use it for that as well.

As Steven Fry explains when discussing the iPad on his weblog, it’s important to remember that this is version 1.0, and that it the iPad will grow and improve over the next few years.

But even as it is right now, as I’ve reflected on it the past 24 hours, I’ve noticed an excess of saliva building in my mouth after all, and sure enough, the fanboy is drooling.