LED

Panic, Panic, Panic. It's a long time since the approach of midnight caused me to suddenly realise that I was blipless and to run around in a state of panic looking for something to blip.

That's what happened tonight, thanks to being engrossed in the magnificent Der Untergang (Downfall). Strange, that we should have seen another (woeful) Bunker movie so recently. What isn't strange is that this German masterpiece utterly involved me from beginning to end even though this was my third time watching it. Bruno Ganz is magnificent, of course, but his performance, outstanding as it is, is just part of a remarkable cinematic achievement. Watching it made me all the more determined to catch Das weisse Band (The White Ribbon), which is currently showing in town. I've heard nothing but glowing reports about that. German cinema seems to be in a healthy condition.

So, back to the blip. Nothing special (very ordinary, in fact). It's a little something I got in Ikea: a neat little LED light which plugs into the mains and switches on and off automatically depending on the level of ambient light. I have it at the foot of the stairs to give some light in the hall in case of bulb blow-out. Not one of my better blips, but at least I managed to catch something before the midnight cut-off.