Previously: we were excited to see if the forthcoming Surrey Weekender would be a good opportunity for us to organise an OFU members’ reunion. The schedule has now been announced and booking is open. With regret, I’m no longer recommending that this would be the ideal opportunity for us to get together. This is because: […]
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More on the Surrey Weekender
This post is obsolete. See also: The university Alumni Office has now published an outline of plans for the Surrey Weekender. The schedule includes a barbecue, quiz, drinks reception, dinner, big night out in the Students’ Union and more. It’s not absolutely clear to what extent these are all tied together, or whether participants can […]
This post is obsolete. In a recent email, the University announced that it would be running a weekend reunion event for alumni on Friday 16th to Sunday 18th June 2023. The last comparable event was in July 2012. A number of former OFU members attended. We messed about on campus and then had a very […]
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Film exhibition is not doing well
I have been a small-time shareholder in Cineworld for a while. It’s mostly seemed like a good investment. It’s been a growing business that, until relatively recently, paid dividends. It is also heavily in debt, and a failed attempt to buy a large chain in Canada has led to catastrophic lawsuit. And, of course, it […]
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A journey
On this day, 25 years ago … … A boy stepped out of his student accommodation, alone, about to start the biggest journey of his life. He had left behind the warm conviviality of his brand new housemates. They had already started to split into factions – social scientists vs computing and engineering. They all […]
The Slow Mo Guys is a YouTube channel dedicated to showing how things work in slow motion. They use high frame-rate cameras to show, for example, bullets passing through water or fireworks exploding. I’ve been a fan for a while – they have a great deal of respect for, and interest in, the phenomena they […]
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Why it’s hard to be a critic
Update, 29/01/2021: The day after I wrote this post, the role of the critic was suddenly thrust into the news due to Carey Mulligan’s allegations of misogyny levelled against a Variety reviewer and the associated responses. My headline is not meant to be a reflection of, nor cast an opinion on, those issues, except insofar […]
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Life and limb
Watching films must surely rate as of the most risk-free hobbies possible. But actually running a film society could be hazardous in all sorts of ways. I’ve previously mentioned that we had a relaxed attitude to health and safety – that is, we ignored it entirely, other than to follow some very specific rules handed […]
There’s been more reaction to Cineworld’s announcement of its closure of 663 UK and US cinemas. In The Guardian, Guy Lodge paints an especially gloomy picture: By the time the studios are ready to release their movies, they may have nowhere for them to play. Tenet didn’t save cinema, that’s for sure – but there’s […]
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Cineworld shuts 663 cinemas
Cineworld has announced that it is “temporarily closing” all of its UK and US cinemas until 2021. 663 sites, some 8,000 screens, and most importantly 45,000 staff are affected by the closure. Cineworld doesn’t blame Covid-19 per se – having reopened most sites in the summer with social distancing measures in place. Rather, the issue […]