Changeling

From the trailers, I thought that Changeling looked like a rather silly conspiracy thriller. I was prepared for dodginess and even a supernatural element. I didn't realise that it was directed by Clint Eastwood.

Instead of a silly thriller, it was nearly a biopic, based on a missing child case and the resultant scandal about LAPD corruption in 1930s Los Angeles. I didn't even realise there was, for example, John Malkovich in a major role; Angelina was the only one I really noticed from the trailer and promos. All the major roles were well-acted, all the major plots chased down. It was really a highly pleasant surprise - not that I wasn't prepared and happy to watch a silly thriller, but I much preferred a non-silly sorta-thriller.

The Duchess is finally out here next week, on February 6. Finally!

bureaucracy fail

So, the deal with my daycare position is this:

Boss Lady can't quite afford to add an additional full-time employee to her staff, but she kind of needs one ( due to Laws & Stuff )

. However, I'm new to the field, and thus eligible for Preparatory Training for Working Life where I'd be technically unemployed, and receive a salary from the state and not from the place where I'd be working.

So Boss Lady tells me I'll need my passport and work permit and any diplomas I might have, and that I need to be registered as an unemployed job-seeker and then see somebody for an appointment about setting the contract up. She warned me that she'd talked to some people with a not-so-good attitude and to try if I could get the one lady who made sense in a sea of badness, but Positive Attitude Lady wasn't in today - I saw her office shut and darkened when I was there, and the lady at the desk said that I can come back on March 6 with my papers, because they don't have any appointment slots available until then. o_O Are you fucking kidding me. The unemployment office doesn't have any appointments for SETTING UP EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS for ONE MONTH?

[Choose one: laugh, cry]

I called for Boss Lady and ended up venting to Chav Girl, and we're going to try phone call badgering from both ends, but honestly what the fucking fuck!

Meanwhile, they're having to hire a non-native-speaker substitute to fill my job. Yeah. Nice.

pure ceylon with mango - omnom

This shit is really, really good.

20's pop music of the day - Ooh, Maybe It's You

In honour of last week's two separate instances of Roma-related Race Fail, have some silly 20's music featuring a gypsy fortune teller!

Ooh, Maybe Its You - Ben Selvin & His Orchestra

Of course I'm referring to the Criminal Minds Episode of Ultimate Fail, "Bloodlines (aka Gypsies Steal Babies)" (summarised thoroughly at the link by brown_betty), and then this Yes You Did Actually Hear That conversation from RL.