Cardboard fish, realised.

*

Fish, above, made into cardboard manquettes from the designs of yesterday's doodle

.

The figurine is there to show how the pieces might scale as playground sculptures. The clean shapes have something of the quality of tin-plate toys, and the next thing might be to experiment with painting these in the sort of bright patterns that colour such tin-plate toys.

The trick is in treading that line between the mimetic and the fully abstract: if the fish are too realistic, like Britain's toys, then they lack a certain mystery, because they fail to engage the imagination. If they are wholly abstract, they simply become as building blocks, and would inspire only the most imaginative.

*

Doodle showing fish block sculpture idea

This is a doodle, again made thanks to the longeurs of teaching beginners' English lessons.

It depicts various fancy fish, which have the forms, I now realise, suggestive of pastry-cutters, and a definate de Chirico-esque quality. I suppose their appeal is to do with the way in which something flexible and fluid becomes something rigid and highly geometric.

They would be carved out of hardwood and left to lie about on a coffee table; or they might be very large, also carved from wood, and suitable for a playground or town square. I shall perhaps make some manquettes later tonight from card.

The Lady Says No (1952): review: 5/10

Priggish Dorinda Hatch writes a book advising women to abstain from relations with men. David Niven plays the oily journalist whose dubious charms overcome her principles.

Enjoyable because of Niven's charm, with a few good one-liners.

Citizen Ruth (1996): review: 7.5/10

A substance abuser becomes pregnant. She is advised to get an abortion by her attorney and thereby becomes an instrument for a Christian anti-abortion group.

Satirical film which plays itself out by the first hour: in that first hour it is very vivid and amusing, with wonderful acting.

Full Frontal (2002): review 1/10

Actors playing actors in Hollywood, including improvised sections. They are all very full of themselves.

Charmless, pretentious film which confirms that films about actors and film-making are generally to be avoided.

Black Swan (2010): review 9.5/10

A ballerina is chosen to play the lead in Swan's Lake: the film details her inner turbulence, the relations with other members of her company and her mother and with her predatory dance master.

Beautifully shot, superbly acted and intense.

Frailty (2001): review: 7/10

In Texas, a single parent father brings up two boys in Texas where he recieves messages from God demanding that he massacre some people. He co-opts the assistance of his sons: the elder is reluctant.

Lively and well made with good work from all the actors, but perhaps lacking a certain x-factor of humour.