Leonardo, Mona & the Boys

Thing 1 & Thing 2 in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre

(Not pictured: Hundreds of people jostling around trying to get their own photo.)

It's Art Week at school, so the boys have been learning all about, you guessed it, art. Thing One's class has been studying Picasso, Matisse and Mondriani. Thing Two's class studied the work of Leornardo da Vinci.

When Thing One told me they were looking at the work of Mondrian, I had momentary art amnesia so he had to tell me what sort of work he did. "It was black lines, squares and primary colours," he said, which is a spot-on description.

Thing Two is now absolutely fascinated by da Vinci. He also told me that while he was pleased that we saw the Mona Lisa, he was disappointed that he hadn't see The Last Supper yet. I told him we would put it on the list of Things To Do. He also taught me all about the Vitruvian Man. (In fact, I was disappointed that he wasn't here I was was writing this post, because I couldn't remember what he was called.)

In any case, I have posted the picture above for Thing Two, so that way he can prove to his class that he had seen the Mona Lisa, because some of his friends didn't believe him. The 7-year-olds need evidence, so here it is. They are a tough crowd.

Wimbledon!

Thing One & Thing Two at Centre Court last summer.

Big Surprise: It's raining.

Wimbledon has started, which is probably a good thing for English football fans because for the next two weeks they'll have something different to think about other than the current sad state of affairs on the England squad.

This is one of those times when I absolutely love to be in living in London. The BBC has all-day coverage, which might not be great for work productivity, but is great for all tennis fans. Our first year here, in 2009, we went over and queued up on the first day for grounds tickets and had an absolute blast. I followed up with a solo trip a few days later, because I figured my pregnant state meant it would be some time before I'd be able to get there easily. (As it happens, we won tickets in the lottery for Centre Court tickets in 2000, but we haven't been back since.)

This year we are planning to nip over to SW19 after school to see the tournament in action. I think this is the first year that both boys are old enough to go over after school and wait around, hoping we'll get a grounds pass. We're going to give it a try, anyway.

I'll be going over there in any case, since I was lucky in the lottery and got two tickets for Court No. 1. I learned an important lesson the day the tickets arrived in the post, too. They came in a non-descript envelope, so non-descript that I thought it was junk mail and almost recycled it without opening it. Luckily, curiosity got the better of me, so now we're off to the tournament.

The picture above was taken last summer when my old grad school flatmate Kavita came to visit with her family. She is a tennis fiend, so we went over to the Wimbledon museum and also got a tour of Centre Court. Appropriately enough, it started to rain while we were visiting, so we got the full Wimbledon experience.

World Cup Fever: Best Commercial

Nike, it can almost go without saying, wrote one of the best slogans in history: Just Do It.

They've got a new slogan for World Cup this year: Write The Future.

I love it. It tells you that your future is in your hands. They've taken this slogan and used it to set out two scenarios for some of the best footballers in the world. What will happen to them if they make a historic goal or what will happen to them if they miss he historic goal. (Look for cameos by other famous sporting legends, like Roger Federer.)

I don't know how many millions Nike spent on this commercial, but it was worth every penny. Fantastic.

World Cup 2010: England v. US, as portrayed in Lego

Maybe you've been stranded in the Indian Ocean for the last couple of days, (Abby Sunderland I'm talking to you), so you may have missed either the England v. US World Cup game on Saturday, or, even better, this Lego reenactment that was released a few days later, and is now an Internet phenomenon. If you've missed either or both, get up to speed by watching this clip, thanks to the Guardian.

Some Wow Words from the New York Times

The New York Times, one of my favourite papers in the world and one for whom I proudly worked (very briefly, in both time and content) published a list the other day of the words that most frequently stumped its readers. I found this list both life affirming and humbling, based on the words I use frequently, and the words I had to look up. I've provided a definition of the first 10 on the list, but I'm not going to tell you which ones I had to look up, and which ones I knew already.

The NY Times was able to compile this list because of an incredibly cool feature on NYTimes.com, which I only just learned about. If you're reading a story online and are stumped by a particular word, if you double click it, a question mark will appear. If you then click on the question mark, it will give you the definition.

This list also reminds me of an incredibly vexing school assignment that my brother was given when he was in 7th grade. He was given a list with various Wow Words (though they didn't call it that). My parents took one look at the list and said, "Let's call Grandpa. He reads the New York Times every day. He's bound to find these words." I was able to find one word-- placid-- in a book I was reading at the time, but my contribution was immediately rejected by everyone because it came from a "Girl's Book."

So without further delay, here's some new words for you to add to your vocabulary. Drop them into a sentence at your next party to impress your friends!

Most Frequently Looked-up Words on NYTimes.com, 2010

Date Range: 1/1/2010 through 5/26/2010

1 inchoate (definition: undeveloped)

2 profligacy (definition: recklessly extravagent)

3 sui generis (definition: unique)

4 austerity (definition: The 2008-2010 Recession Aftermath. Kidding!)

5 profligate (definition: the adjective version of the noun found in No. 2)

6 baldenfreude (Fake Word, so don't bother getting out your dictionary)

7 opprobrium (definition: state of being abused)

8 apostates (definition: person who has abandoned religion, cause or political party)

9 solipsistic (definition: theory that only the self is the only thing that can be verified)

10 obduracy (definition: obstinate)

11 Internecine

12 soporific

13 Kristallnacht

14 peripatetic

15 nascent

16 desultory

17 redoubtable

18 hubris

19 mirabile dictu

20 crèches

21 apoplectic

22 overhaul

23 ersatz

24 obstreperous

25 jejune

26 omertà

27 putative

28 Manichean

29 canard

30 ubiquitous

31 atavistic

32 renminbi

33 sanguine

34 antediluvian

35 cynosure

36 alacrity

37 epistemic

38 egregious

39 incendiary

40 chimera

41 laconic

42 polemicist

43 comity

44 provenance

45 sclerotic

46 prescient

47 hegemony

48 verisimilitude

49 feckless

50 démarche

Thing Two Turns 7!

Thing Two turned 7 today. He wore the shirt above under duress, because his father and I thought it would make a hilarious photo, and we were right. At least I think I was right. We are now passing this shirt on to another worthy soon-to-be 6-year-old.

In preparation for this post, I went back and reread previous Thing Two birthday posts. It was funny and fascinating to see the more things change, the more things stay the same. So in the spirit of that idea, I present this list of things I love about Thing Two:

The more things change:

1. He married his girlfriend Esme this year, in the playground. She is the cleverest girl in the class, so I keep telling him that you want to marry someone clever. But she should also make you laugh. When I asked him what he liked best about her, he said, "I don't know. I just look at her, and she makes me happy."

2. He's got a "back-up girlfriend", Isabella, who is equally lovely. How does a 7-year-old manage to attract two fantastic girls? It must be his curly hair andd impish grin. Isabella showed her affection for Thing Two by presenting him with a picture of Abraham Lincoln. Either she was showing her affection, or she didn't know any other American boys. I'm going with the latter.

3. He loves math, and is very good at it, so he now has a new moniker: Mr. Math.

4. He learned to ride his bike without his training wheels/stabilisers this year. By doing so, he beat both his brother and his mother by at least a year on this skill.

The more things stay the same:

1. His sunny nature, disposition, and enthusiastic laughter.

2. He's still Mr. Movie. This year, he's become absolutely transfixed by the rating system, because he knows he won't be able to see a 12. And all 15s are absolutely "scary", straight out of the box.

3. He is still incapable of walking quietly down the stairs. He can only jump from stair to stair, making an enormous racket as he does so.

4. He's a great helper in the kitchen, and he's getting better at cooking all the time. I keep telling him this will attract the ladies later in life. I don't think he believes me.

5. How he sings to himself when he's happy.

Happy Birthday, Thing Two. May you have many more.

NYT A Moment In Time Project

We're putting the "G" into the GMT for the Moment in Time project. Thing One and Thing Two revive and enjoy the Victorian tradition of tumbling down Royal Observatory Hill at Greenwich Park, London, on the Prime Merdiain (0 degrees longtitude) on a gray and rainy Sunday.

For those who haven't heard about this, the New York Times asked people around the world to take pictures on Sunday at 11 a.m. UTC, or 4 p.m. London time. This was my submission and caption. For more on the project, and to see some other early submissions, go to the New York Times photo blog here.

Happy Birthday to Shakespeare

Thing Two has been on a Shakespeare kick of late. It started with his class production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream" and has continued from there, including a recent request for "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" -- all 752 pages of it. (And yes, dear reader, I did buy it, since it was only £3 at the local bargain bookstore).

The Globe Theatre in London celebrated Shakespeare's 446th birthday last weekend by opening its doors and having workshops throughout the day. Thing Two was incredibly excited about the prospect of seeing the theatre, and spent most of the weekend talking about how much fun it would be.

Thing One was less than impressed that he had to go as well. He offered up several alternatives to his time: rock climbing, bike riding, football, running around in the park. No. No. No. No. We all had to go, we told him. He had a bit of a pre-teen sulk, made it clear that he wasn't happy about our trip to the Globe-- despite the fact that his brother was ecstatic-- and off we went.

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, and we had a great time walking along the Thames before getting to the Globe. After mistakenly sitting through a 45-minute lecture on Shakespeare play "Henry VIII," we got to see the theatre itself. We happened upon an audience participation play, with a "Dating Game" featuring Henry VIII and three wives. (He picked all three, natch.) The actors then looked for a willing volunteer to be an executioner. I enthusiastically pointed to Thing Two next to me, who also had his hand raised. But guess who they picked? Thing One, of course.

Thing One performed with aplomb, if I do say so myself. He looked nasty when directed to, swung the heavy axe when told to do so, and even waved to his adoring public when departing stage left.

Cue bitter disappointment, tears of frustration and sadness and wails of protest from Thing Two. He was not happy. You could say that it was a Tragedy of Shakespearean Proportions that he didn't get picked, given that his brother didn't even want to go in the first place, but that's overstating it a bit. It did, much like many of Shakespeare's plays, provide a useful life lesson: You don't always get what you want.

It seemed all the more appropriate that this dramatic lesson would be taught at the Globe.

Thing One demonstrating his "Evil Face" as executioner.

The Best of the Volcanic Sunset Photos

This amazing photo was taken by my friend Kirstin on Friday night when we happened to run into them at Greenwich Park for the meeting of the Volcanic Sunset Appreciation Society, Greenwich chapter. Thing One is on the left, closest to the Observatory.

A Beautiful Volcanic Sunset (which may or may not be lavender)

Thanks to our friends in Iceland and the volcanic ash spewing into the air, those of us in England got a few presents:

• All airports closed and flights cancelled at least until Friday night;

• Volcanic ash in the air, albeit not on a Pompeii-like scale. Just enough to get T-shirts that say, "I've sucked in volcanic air, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt"; and

• The promise of a "Lavender Sunset" tonight.

Thing One and I dutifully walked up to the top of Greenwich Park to see the "Lavender Sunset" for ourselves. The clouds were of a lavender hue, the sun was enormous and it wasn't quite what I expected, but it was absolutely spectacular just the same.

Thing One took the fantastic photo above, and I have to say that all of his photos were much better than mine. This one is his best shot. We were joined at the top of the hill by about dozen other photographers and probably a dozen more specatators.

Lavender sunset? Probably not. But for a once-in-a-lifetime event, it certainly was something.

One for the Grandmas: Daffodils 2010

Our annual tradition. Enjoy.

Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 15*

To my 15-year-old self:

Please listen to this advice . I know some of it sounds crazy, but I know what I’m talking about here. You’ll thank me later.

• Don’t believe your hairdresser when she tells you that a perm would be a good idea. It’s not.

• In two years, a company called Microsoft will have its IPO, with shares selling at $21. Buy some.

• Grandma is right when she says you ought to have a Plan B for both boyfriends and life. This advice will serve you well.

• You may think these are the best days of your life, but they’re not. (But they are the best days of the star quarterback’s life. He becomes an appliance salesman.)

• Wear a bikini every day. Even in snow.

• You think you know everything. Trust me, you don’t. And believe me about the bikini.

You’re welcome.

*This is my winning entry in a recent writing competition sponsored by Spread the Word, a U.K. writing organisation, where I recently attended a workshop. I was limited to only 150 words, thus the short length. If I had to write down everything I didn't know at 15, it would be a VERY long list. The prize was a gold chocolate bunny (much happiness from the family), and a book, "How to be an Artist" (must happiness from me). I hope you like it.

My Mother's Day Present: Learning to Ride a Bike

Five days later, he's still talking about it. I don't blame him. As someone who it took an entire summer to learn how to ride a bike (and picked up seven stitches on the way), I know how hard it is. Well done to Thing Two.

World Book Day 2010

King Midas (Thing One) and the Mad Hatter (Thing Two) celebrate World Book Day 2010.

Oscars: 4:37 a.m.

OK. In the final stretch now. I feel like I should win an Oscar for being up to stay up so late and resist the chocolate tart.

Looks like Sean Penn just parachuted in to present the Best Actress award. Lucky him. He didn't have to sit through the interpretative dance routine.

Sandra Bullock wins, as expected. "The Blind Side" hasn't been released here yet. She's doing a nice shout out to all the other nominees. She forgot to thank her husband, though. She'll pay for that later.

Kathryn Bigelow wins for "The Hurt Locker." The camera cut away before I could see if she got a hug and a kiss from her competitor and ex-husband James Cameron. THAT would have been worth waiting up for. James Cameron seems to be smiling graciously, but maybe he's an actor too.

Finally! Best Picture! Might get to bed before 5 a.m.! Indeed I am, because Tom Hanks didn't mess about: he just did it.

Kathryn Bigelow looks like she's about to hyperventilate, have a heart attack or both. I don't blame her. She's got an Oscar for each hand.

Until next year...

Oscars: 3:50 a.m.

Doing a large dance sequence for the Best Original Score award is not a bad idea IN THEORY, but it only makes me want to break down and finally have a piece of chocolate tart. I resist, though.

Glad that "Up" won again, if nothing else because I finally got to see the Ellie Badges that the entire "Up" team is wearing. I want one of those.

Now I know why Matt Damon had to stick around: he was presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature. Cunning move No. 2, Oscar organisers.

Shabby editing tonight. I keep spotting seat warmers, when I've never noticed them before.

I believe that the hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have changed their tuxes, but the fact that I noticed speaks volumes about the quality of this show (read: not very exciting).

Minor upset: Neither "The White Ribbon" or "A Prophet" win Best Foreign Film, instead it goes to "A Secret in Their Eyes". You would think if they're going to cut off the Argentinian because his speech is too long, the orchestra should play some sort of Spanish tango.

Had to think for a moment about the connection Kathy Bates has to "Avatar" but then came up with it: She played Molly Brown in "Titanic", another bad James Cameron film that made bazillions of dollars.

Finally, a big one: Best Actor! I really hope The Dude wins, even though we haven't seen the film yet (it either just opened here, or will open next week). Colin Firth sure is dreamy, and he was terrific too. He's been in Greenwich now three times for filming, and I STILL haven't met them. It has to happen some day. It's meant to be.

I like these personal introductions for the main awards, though it does add to the length.

Jeff Bridges wins! Now have to wait for a Dude reference. It's bound to come. He gave props to his mom and dad, though, which is nice. Several "man" interlocutations, which seems very Dude like.

Oscars: 3:16 a.m.

Kristen Stewart is there to introduce the Horror Movie montage. Hey, Kirsten, it's the Oscars, would it kill you smile? Would it kill you to smile EVER??

Morgan Freeman is teaching me all about Sound Editing, which is actually interesting, but isn't going to get me into bed any earlier. They're showing scenes from "A Dark Knight." Do you think this is the Academy's way of apologising that it wasn't a nominee for Best Picture last year?

Kathryn Bigelow just stood to congratulate the winner of Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. Every time I see her, I think, "Really? You're almost 6o? Could I please have the name of plastic surgeon or your oxygen chamber supplier?"

(Note to self: Really must go see "The Hurt Locker." Should probably see, "Inglorious Basterds" too.)

Big mistake by Sandra Bullock, who looks as nervous as all get out. She says, "And the winner is..." rather than the now encouraged "The Oscar goes to..." (because EVERYONE is a winner, after all).

Now for the "I See Dead People" montage: one way to get around the clap-0-meter to see who was the best linked is to have James Taylor sing. Cunning. How does Michael Jackson get in there? I know he was an International Superstar, but he was hardly Oscar material.

Oscars: 3:06 a.m.

Avatar finally wins an Oscar. Honesly, though, if it wins Best Picture I will have to boycott next year's ceremony, because I thought that film was TERRIBLE. I know millions of people disagree with me, but hey, I still think it was a bad movie.

Oh! Fashion faux-pas! Sarah Jessica Parker in Chanel Couture presenting alongside Tom Ford. Surely she knew this ahead of time and should have asked him to throw something together for her?

Sandy Powell, winner for Best Costume Design for "Young Victoria" is wearing a fetching hat. A woman after my own heart. I think she was also helped by the fact that it was partly filmed in Greenwich, but she didn't mention that in her speech.

Charlize Theron presenting for "Precious." OK. I can't think of ANY connections AT ALL between her and the movie. As I cast listlessly about for a connection, I guess I'll just have to look at the Look At My Boobs dress.

Oscars: 2:47 a.m.

Oh! There's Matt Damon!! I read on my Twitter feed he was going home after he lost in the Best Supporting Actor category. I guess he changed his mind.

A really good speech from Mo'Nique, who wins, as predicted, for Best Supporting Actress in Precious.

Can someone please tell me what Colin Firth's connection to "An Education" is? Or did they think, "Oh, he's British. They all know each other over there, don't they?" OK. Just thought of a tenous link: He starred in "Fever Pitch", based on the book by Nick Hornby, who adapted "An Education". (You're welcome, my American friends.)

Oscars: 2:29 a.m.

Seems slightly inappropriate that Carey Mulligan and Zoe Salanda enter to the tune of, "Thank Heavens for Little Girls." I think both should get an Oscar for navigating those stairs with those shoes and those trains. Any time they saved by not singing all of the Oscar songs has now evaporated due to the over-long introduction to the Animated Shorts Oscar award.

Oh no! Wallace and Gromit lose! This is terrible. More long faces at the breakfast table tomorrow morning.

Ben Stiller as Avatar. Are they ever going to let that poor man come to the Oscars in a tux? He is funny. Ironic that he's doing the Best Makeup award in makeup for a movie not nominated for it.

Time for a Dodgeball reference, just because I can: "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

Oscars: 2:02 a.m.

Sweet merciful God: it looks as though we're not going to have to listen to all of the Best Song nominees in their entirety this year. Maybe we will finish up before 5 a.m. this morning. I REALLY would like to get to bed before Mr. MarathonMum gets up at 5:10 a.m.

T-Bone Burnett just wins, which has got to be the greatest name of a winner ever, though not the best name of a winning song. That honour would go to: "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" (2006).

Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. are pretty funny. Man, I wish "30 Rock" was on a regular time on a regular channel, rather than channel 129 at 10 p.m. on random days.

Hurt Locker wins its first award, and I'm cheered to hear that the writer who won is a former journalist who wrote

I just thought, "Who is that with Matthew Broderick." Oh! Molly Ringwald, and they're both doing a nice tribute to John Hughes. I'm sure this is making all of us Children of the 80s choked up

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off": Definitely in my Top 10 favourite movies of all time. "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Now a nice assemblage of the Class of John Hughes (Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hal, Matthew Broderick, Mac Culkin and Judd Nelson). It has to be said: Judd Nelson hasn't aged well.

Oscars: 1:46 a.m.

OK. Best supporting actor is out of the way, but we're already on to the only category this family cares about: Best Animated Feature.

We all voted for Fantastic Mr. Fox. Don't get me wrong, Up was great, and I won't be disappointed if it wins, but I thought Mr. Fox was, well, Fantastic. I've seen it three times now in theatres, and it holds up: it's clever, it's hilarious, it's inventive and it's faithful to the book.

The winner is: Up.

OK, that's all fine, but I still think that Fantastic Mr. Fox was better, and I say this as a HUGE Pixar fan. (Note to self: Does this mean that our "Up" art book, signed by director Pete Doctor and another name we can't decipher, is now actually worth more?)

Maybe this is why George Clooney seems grumpy: he knows he'll be losing out on all of the awards that he's up for tonight.

Sadness at the breakfast table tomorrow, I have to say.

Oscars: 1:03 a.m.

It's time for the Main Event. Sky just warned us that this program, "May contain sparkly diamonds and flashing images." Funny.

But 30 minutes later, I'm still waiting for things to start. Really, they should warn people of this so we could use the time to do something useful, like make coffee or have a piece of chocolate tart. Hooray! Finally starting!

Nice new touch: lining up all the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees. Might as well have them up first thing since we won't see them for another five hours anyway.

Look! There's Doogie Harris, M.D. Obviously trying to recapture the lightening-in-a-bottle success of Hugh Jackman singing and dancing last year. Only one big problem: I can't hear him. This broadcast will not be winning anything for sound, it looks like.

Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin descend from a large crystal ball. If only I could make an entrance like that...

Vera Farmiga gets to sit next to George Clooney all night long. Lucky woman. But it looks as though George is in a bad mood, and he certainly isn't enjoying the jokes directed toward him.

Wow. A reference to "The Jerk." Now one from me: "The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!"

Poor Sandra Bullock. She looks SO nervous.

Finally. The first award of the night, only 45 minutes in. THIS is why I will be up until 5 a.m.

Oscars: Red Carpet Coverage (Part III)

George Clooney, always charming, looks awfully tired but is being very charming with the innane SkyOne interviewer. But he did say he hopes Jeff Bridges wins for "Crazy Heart." Classy.

Serendipity! Here's Jeff Bridges now, also being interviewed on SkyOne. Even though I haven't seen Crazy Heart, I hope he wins because he's awesome in everything he's ever been in. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury I submit to you: The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Fisher King, The Big Lebowski, even Fearless (seen by about six people, including me and Mr. MarathonMum). George Clooney was fantastic in "Up in the Air," so Jeff Bridges must be pretty good to beat George. We'll see. Bonus Points if he works in a reference to "The Big Lebowski" in his speech if he does win.

Kate Winslet looks very pretty, but I also worry that she seems to be disappearing. Are they letting her eat these days?

Charlize Theron: Big Mistake with the "Look At My Boobs!" dress. This will not go over well, I predict.

Cameron Diaz just waltzed in at the last minute, but finally, after years of wearing really kooky dresses to Oscar night, looks like the former model that she is. Maybe she fired her former stylist.

Wow. I can't believe it. The pre-game show is over, and it's on to the Main Event. I haven't even had a coffee yet. Might be time to do that now before things kick off.

Oscars: Red Carpet Coverage (Part II)

Just got my first look at Sandra Bullock, who looks like might win Best Actress tonight. She looks, at a very brief first glance, that she's impersonating a little gold Oscar herself in her gold dress. We might have to file this dress under the "Hillary Swank 2005" dress, where it would only looked good from the back, i.e. if she had to go up to the stage and collect the Oscar

Diane Kruger, usually impeccably dressed, is not so much tonight. It's some sort of odd pink-silk-pleating dress with a black neck and touches. Oh, goodness, no. Big mistake.

Ryan Seacrest is now talking to Quinton Aaron, the star of "The Blind Side" who was working security before be got the call to be the star on the movie. Tim McGraw has the best line of the night so far when he says, "People don't know how good an actor this guy is because he's actually a 5'8" white guy."

Nick Hornby is being interviewed on Sky-- you have to know that Ryan Seacrest wouldn't even know who he is, let alone stop him for an interview. He is living my dream, because let's face, it, the only way I'd ever get to Oscar night would be for writing, as it certainly won't be for my acting.

Wow. Sarah Jessica Parker, who's wearing Chanel, has A LOT of hair. Her dress actually looks quite comfortable, but I have to say her face looks a little tight. Maybe she's had some work done?

Colin Firth is being interviewed by SkyOne, but what I really want to know is what his wife, Livia is wearing. She's been trying to wear ethical fashion all awards season, which she's calling the "Green Carpet Challenge" for Vogue. Her dress is actually made from offcuts from other designers, and is unbeliveable, especially since it is, in essence, recycled. Now being interviewed by Ryan Seacrest, he made Colin Firth show the label on his tux to prove that he's wearing Tom Ford. He is, but like I said, I think Tom Ford makes a better tux than a movie.

Oscars: Red Carpet Coverage

Vera Farmiga, who was fantastic in "Up in the Air," is here and just said she's wearing Marchesa in magenta and looks great. She just plugged Kathryn Bigelow to win Best Director for "The Hurt Locker", and then realized she should have said Jason Reitman, who was the director in, um, THE MOVIE SHE WAS IN. I feel bad for her.

Ryan Reynolds is here now but where is his wife, Scarlett Johansson? Why are they never pictured anywhere together? Or pehaps, in the grand tradition of Hollywood marriages, they've already broekn up, 16 months after they married?

There's now a traffic jam of people waiting to talk to Ryan Seacrest: James Cameron, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elizabeth Banks and Sigorney Weaver. Only on Oscar Night.

I'm now toggling between E! Live from the Red Carpet with Ryan Seacrest, Jay Manuel and some annoying woman, and Sky One coverage, who has someone neither you nor I have ever heard of trying to get whoever she can to stop and talk to her on the Red Carpet. It's painful, but I have to go somewhere during the commercial breaks.

Hate to say, but it's back-to-back dresses I don't like: Maggie Gyllenhaal's dress is too busy-- prints on Oscar night could be daring, but it doesn't work-- and Elizabeth Bank's dress, while beautiful, is also gray. Gray! On Oscar Night! Are you kidding me?

Tom Ford, director/writer/producer of "A Single Man", who also happens to be a fashion designer. I think he should stick to fashion: the movie felt like the first offering of a film school student, though Colin Firth was fantastic. Get this: Tom Ford just said he is wearing Tom Ford!

Oscar Night 2010

After a hiatus of one year, live Oscar coverage on MarathonMum is back! Welcome back, all two of my readers!!

Oscars 2010: Will it be the year of "Avatar"? (Hope not). Will Sandra Bullock beat Meryl Streep? (Looks like it.) Will "Fantastic Mr. Fox" pull an upset over "Up"? (Probably not, but everyone at our dinner table hopes so.)

We're only 15 minutes into Red Carpet coverage, so it's still minor stars-- supporting actresses (Anna Kendrick), people who won the Fame Lottery this year (Sam Worthington, star of Avatar) and Zac Efron.

Oh goodness. Ryan Seacrest is interviewing the mayor of Los Angeles, and they said Nicole Richie and Joel Madden up next (talk about punching above your weight). We really ARE in the early minutes of Red Carpet coverage.

Roll on, Oscar night!

Bocca di Lupo: Our Best Lunch Ever

The alchemy of a fantastic meal is difficult, but not impossible, to define. Is it the anticipation? Is it the company? Is it the surroundings? Is it the service? Is it the food? Likely it is a combination of all of these things, but the formula is never the same. But when you have a truly memorable, astounding meal, the joy of the experience will last several days.

Our recent lunch at Bocca di Lupo left me so full of good food that I was happy for two days afterward. It was that good.

To get there, we traversed Leicester Square and walked past Chinatown, and took a left to get to this small restaurant on a side street in Soho. We were greeted warmly and enthusiastically, which helped enormously on a cold day in February. Unlike Locanda Locatelli, where it seems as though you have to take a Hipness Test just to secure a table, there is no attitude at Bocca di Lupo.

As we could only get a reservation at the counter, they asked us if we would like to be close to the chef. We thought that would be great fun, so we said "Please." When we got to our seats, I thought it would be terrible, because we were on the end where all of the waiters go to pick up the food. How wrong I was. They were the Best Seats in the House.

As Head Chef Jacob Kenedy wasn't there, we could see the handiwork of David Cook, the second chef, up close. We could see him discard a dish because it had too much parsley on it. We learned as soon as he did that they had run out of the brioche dessert. We saw him yell at one waiter that he was rushing the diners, and then he told us he was talking about us. We could ask him questions about certain ingredients. We could see what dishes were the most popular-- Cream of Langoustine Risotto went through the pass several times-- and the ones that were hardly ever ordered-- Coda all Vaccinara (braised oxtail).

Bocca di Lupo could be described as Italian tapas, because you can order either the small sized dish or the large dish. We ordered seven small dishes shared between the two of us, and that satisfied us until breakfast the next day. The highlights were the Spaghetti & Parmesan Frittata (fresh eggs + careful preparation = gorgeous dish) and the Crescentini (fried bread) with finocchiona, speck and squacquerone (a fresh runny cheese with a big salt kick=delicious).

When we return, and you better believe we'll be back, we'll probably sit at the counter again just for the Food Theatre. The chef never measured anuthing with a measuring cup, he did it all by handfuls, tastes and smells. When we asked about the squacquerone, we agreed that it was sublime but probably also not very healthy."If you're going to pick your poison," I said, "I want it to taste good."

We finished off with a build-your-own Cannoli and a Bombe Calde (freshly fried donut with a chocolate cream filling). By then we were very fully, very satisfied and very happy.

Once we recognized during the meal that this was going to be one for the record books, we took a trip a down memory lane ranking our favourite meals out. In the Top 5 were the Connaught Hotel with Angela Hartnett for our 10th anniversary in 2005, a place in Dijon we went to on our honeymoon in 1995 and will never find again, any night at Pastafina in Chicago (our local when we were courting and beyond (1991-1998), grilled halibut fresh off the docks in Homer, Alaska (1996), and Bocca di Lupo (2010).

The science of alchemy is a mystery, just like the variables at work in our Top 5 Favourite Meals of All Time. But when you get it right, it's pure gold.

Bocca di Lupo, 12 Archer Street, Soho, London W1D 7BB. 020.7734.2223.

Why I Think Gordon Brown Is Not a Bully

Occasionally, there are news stories here in the U.K. that just go on and on and on for no discernible reason. This week that story is "Gordon Brown is a Bully."

Gordon Brown, you see, is our prime minister. A new book has come out by the Observer's political editor that recounts some scenes that show that our prime minister has a bit of a temper. Shocker! Someone with one of the most stressful jobs in the world gets angry from time to time. Stop the presses! This is big news!

Soon after the book's excerpts were printed in the Sunday Observer, Christine Pratt, the head of the National Bullying Helpline, claimed that her charity had received several calls from staff at Downing Street. She then made appearances on every major news show in the U.K. to recount the claims. Ms. Pratt, it would seem, got her 15 minutes of fame.

However, I don't think this story passes the smell test.

First, think about people who are lucky enough to work at Downing Street. Surely they must appreciate the stress the prime minister is under, and he may get angry from time to time. I get angry from time to time and I don't even have to worry about running a country. Surely they wouldn't have felt the need to get support from a helpline? A helpline, incidentally, that is only open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Secondly, the charity is incredibly small. That's not to say that people wouldn't have called it, but surely if people had concerns about being bullied at work, they would have used better known avenues to vent their frustration and concerns. According to the Charity Commission website, the charity only had revenues of £1,818 in 2007, and the accounts for 2008 are 209 days overdue.

In fact, if you Google "Bullying at Work," the charity's website doesn't appear in the first 100 search results, or the first 10 search results pages, though it does top the list in news results.

Finally, even if they did call the helpline, isn't that an egregious breach of confidentiality? Wouldn't Ms. Pratt's claims make future clients reluctant to call the helpline, for fear that their information would be shared in the national media?

I don't doubt that the charity did good work, albeit on a small scale. But I just don't believe that they got the calls. The helpline has been suspended, as most of its patrons have now resigned, and it needs to figure out what to do next.

Please, U.K. news media, can we move to another story now?

For my friends under a blanket of snow...

p.s. At the moment, it's coming down in London, too!