musings

Mark’s tedious weblog

Gmail search tip

If you use Gmail, you will know all about organising conversations using labels. To find all conversations with a specific label, select ‘Show search options’ and choose the label you want from the dropdown list called ‘Search’. Easy.

But what if you want to find conversations with multiple labels? For example you are interested only in messages labelled ‘Sales region 2′ and ‘Quarter 3 2010′.

Instead of going into ‘Show search options’ simply type your search into the search box at the top of the Gmail screen thus:

label:sales-region-2 label:quarter-3-2010

and click Search Mail. This will return a list of conversations containing both labels. Note that the label names are case insensitive, but you must replace spaces with a hyphen.

What if you are interested in messages with either label? Then you would use:

label:sales-region-2 OR label:quarter-3-2010

The OR operator must be uppercase. Alternatively you can use the pipe operator ‘|’ (shift+backslash on your keyboard) like this:

label:sales-region-2 | label:quarter-3-2010

You are probably three steps ahead of me here, and wondering about other compound searches. In fact you can choose from a long list of “query words” to build up a very specific search. In Gmail see Help articles › Using advanced search for the (almost) endless possibilities!

Final curtain call at the Library Theatre

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest was Manchester Library Theatre’s first ever production in 1952. And it will be the last – in its current home at least. The building is closing for renovation, and the theatre will not have a new permanent home for three or four years.

Unlike the Royal Exchange’s flaccid Blithe Spirit at Christmas, this Library company production is a cracker, bringing alive Wilde’s witty social observations with pace, timing and verve.

It runs until 3 July and tickets are selling out fast.

You could make it up - but it wouldn't be as funny

I am taking Jamie to a drumming exam tomorrow. “Make sure you aren’t late – they start bang on time” his mum said to me in all innocence.

Shmorganic

What’s the definition of ‘organic’? Ten years ago it meant shrivelled spotty vegetables you wouldn’t choose to buy even if they were the last ones in the shop. Not least because they were 50% more expensive.

Now everything in the supermarket has its ‘organic’ alternative. Still more expensive, but within range of those people who are not on a tight budget and are keen to save the planet whilst eating healthy food.

But who defines what is organic and what is not? Shoppers who assume it means food grown without pesticides or fertilizers need to do a bit of checking if they are not to be misled.

Here’s an example: Morrison’s Organic Corn Flakes. On the box it says

Organic standards prohibit the use of genetically modified ingredients and seek to avoid routine use of artificial pesticides and fertilizers.

Such weasely phraseology would make a home-flipping MP blush.

Ron Mueck's astounding work

Want to know where you can be amazed, amused, disturbed, delighted and confused at the same time with no cost to yourself? Make sure you get on down to Manchester Art Gallery and catch Ron Mueck’s sculptures before Sunday 11 April 2010.

They are so astonishingly lifelike that you almost wonder

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Underwhelmed in Wonderland

I went to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland last night at Cineworld. The reek of ripoff popcorn fills the nostrils as you walk in. The magic of cinema weaves its spell before you have taken your seat, for you feel instantly transported to an airport departure hall right there in the foyer. A cavernous carpeted barn full of queuing people.

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Nowhere Boy

Sam Taylor Wood’s first full-length feature film tells the story of John Lennon’s teenage years. The events took place only a kilometre from my home at the time, so they hold a special fascination for me. But whether or not you were alive in the 1950′s, and regardless of where in the world you may be living now, Lennon’s childhood experiences have – indirectly – affected you.

The film ends as he is preparing to go to Hamburg, and The Beatles are not mentioned by name, but they were about to shake the world in ways which nobody at the time could have foreseen. The credits soundtrack is Lennon’s Mother, an anguished elegy for his mum Julia. Her virtual abandonment of him caused so much pain, undoubtedly shaped his personality and – crucially – influenced his writing and his music. Perhaps this was the grit in the oyster, helping to produce the pearls which are the songs of Lennon and McCartney.

Of course it’s impossible to imagine how the world would look now if it hadn’t been for the impact of The Beatles. But whether you listen to their music or not, they were prime movers in a post-war revolution which changed Western society and the way we think about ourselves.

The film contained one or two anachronisms. Too much cigarette smoking, even for the 1950′s. Modern beer glasses, the word ‘band’ instead of ‘group’, and I don’t think ‘gig’ was in common usage. Also, before the sexual revolution, girls didn’t fuck boys, boys fucked girls. Some characters are completely omitted from the story.

However, Nowhere Boy does not try to be a completely faithful historical account. The actors are not made up to be look-alikes, and the locations are sympathetic rather than accurate replicas. This is an intelligent approach which works well, and avoids over-detailing which is inevitably distracting.

There are so many pitfalls when making a biopic, but Nowhere Boy avoids all of them. It’s incredibly moving, with an accomplished performance by Aaron Johnson as Lennon, and Kristin Scott Thomas as his somewhat repressed aunt Mimi. Anne-Marie Duff’s portrayal of the histrionic Julia Lennon, and David Morrissey’s Bobby Dykins are note-perfect too. A little gem of a film.

A licence to print money

Did you know that your UK driving licence, which is valid until you are 70, must be renewed every ten years? Apparently it’s because the ravages of time have to be faithfully recorded on this little bit of plastic which you don’t even need to carry when you are driving.

So every decade you have to spend £4 on some more photos and send one in with £20 in the supplied envelope (which isn’t even pre-paid) to avoid a Dorian Gray-type mismatch between your actual face and the one on your licence in the drawer at home.

And beware of sending off the renewal application sooner than you need because the new licence expires ten years from the date of issue, not ten years from the expiry of the old one.

Grimm Tales - Manchester Library Theatre

I had my doubts when we booked tickets for the matinee performance on New Year’s Day. Not doubts about the show per se – the Library is consistently good – but about the actors’ ability to turn up for work after partying the night away.

So when the Tannoy in the foyer announced that the show would start half an hour late due to ‘technical difficulties’ I was not completely surprised. That would be the technical difficulty of ringing one or more absent cast members and persuading them that with enough strong coffee and paracetamol they would be able to get through the performance, and that remaining in bed would be a career-limiting decision.

Once it started, some 45 minutes late, the show was a gem. The multi-talented cast were all bright-eyed and the clever set looked like an illustration from a children’s fairy tale book. The production was pacy, fun and imaginative.

The Library Theatre is moving this year after nearly half a century located in the basement of the library. I just hope that they manage to keep doing what they do with the same sparkle in their new venue.

Avatar IMAX 3D

I had thought that a running time of 162 minutes would prove to be too much, but James Cameron’s new film is awesome and spellbinding from the first to last moment.

The story line is an uncomplicated allegory, but its simplicity is more than made up for in the incredible visual detail and chest-thumping soundtrack which draw the audience into a quality and richness of experience which is delightful, exciting, at times moving, and stunning throughout.

Who could reasonably ask for more in a movie? A 10/10 rating from me.

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