Black holes and revels

Tenseworld is a bit of a cultural desert, save for an occasional attendance at a rock or folk gig. As I'm not a keen theatre goer, Our Lass loses out a bit in this regard. Whilst in Milton Keynes, the situation was mitigated to good effect by Second Born, who would regularly take her mum to the local multiplex cinema to see a film.

Since moving to Orkney, this solution has proved somewhat unfeasible, with the result that movie-going duties have fallen to me. Through the Winter, we have visited the small cinema, located in the local leisure centre in Kirkwall, at least once a month and enjoyed some excellent films.

Last night, there was a 'Meal and a movie' offer in place for St Valentine's Day, so we availed ourselves of the opportunity, together with a free glass of bubbly with our meal and a free glass of wine with the movie.

Fittingly, the film was The Theory of Everything, an adaptation of Jane Wilde Hawking's memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen. Though I did read A Brief History of Time years ago, I'm more familiar with another facet of Professor Hawking's work, a sample of his voice used on Pink Floyd's Keep Talking, from their 1994 Division Bell album, and more recently in Talkin' Hawkin' on The Endless River album. There's another connection here, now that I think about it, Hawking's thesis for his doctorate was Time, which is one of the more famous Floyd tracks.

It was an enjoyable movie and, as this blog purports to be wildlife-based, I can say that it seemed accurate as far as birdsong was concerned. I don't think I need to trigger a spoiler alert before I mention the Swifts heard screaming around the university buildings in Cambridge, the Blackbird (and possibly more, I wasn't paying proper birding attention) singing in Stephen's parents' garden, or the Tawny Owl calling in a wooded French camp site. They weren't involved in the twists of the plot, but certainly didn't detract by being out of place or time. Rather appropriate, then.