The Lion King

A few weeks ago I went to see The Lion King. Not sure how this one slipped by me for so long.

Anyway there's little you can say about it really. It is brilliant. And incredibly moving. I know Disney get a lot of shit from people for  presenting a candy coloured vision of the world. But you just get them on father children relationships and it quickly gets dark.

Look at Nemo, Peter Pan or Mary Poppins. In the Lion King Simba gets crushed under the weight of expectation there is for him following the footsteps of his father.

The resolution is satisfying but the scene that moves is the encounter with his father's ghost in the wilderness. I was pretty moved (man talk translation, I cried a little bit).

Hitch and Me

I was much saddened earlier in the week at the death of Christopher Hitchens. I've had a pretty troubled relationship with him over the last few years. For many years I described my faith position, for want of a better term, as being agnostic. In other words I didn't believe in God but wasn't totally convinced of his non existence either.

Then a few years ago I heard Christopher Hitchens on Fivelive being his usual rather beligerent self. The representative of the other side was at pains to be reasonable and not take offence at Christopher's non belief. Whereas Hitch had no problem in not accommodating the other person's beliefs at all. At the time I was cross at Hitchens' apalling rudeness and the agression of these atheists.

Fast forward a few years and the arrival of The God Delusion and I got even more irate with these 'New Atheists' bullying people who were doing them no harm in believing what they did. I had of course not read the book just decided I did not like it.

I think I now know what was going on. Although I called myself an agnostic I think I always knew that deep down I was an atheist. I was scared of reading a book that may strip away the last vestiges of my flimsy beliefs. I never set out to read The God Delusion. it just so happened that one day at the library the best audio book available happened to be it so I took it.

In truth as good a book as it was it didn't really tell me a fat lot I did not already really know in my heart. The lesson it did teach me undoubtedly was that there was no shame in being an atheist and that atheists are not to be feared. We are just people who happen not to believe in God.

For me personally the door is not totally closed on the thought there may be 'something other than' the physical world we see around us.This is based on nothing more than the fact that not existing makes more sense than actually existing. Something must have put the singularity there to start us off on our journey.

The other real joy that came from reading the book was the fun to be had watching videos of Hitch on Youtube being his beligerent, no quarter given and most importantly articulate best. I am truly sad at his passing. A great light has gone out.

Twilight Breaking Dawn

So I went to see Twilight Breaking Dawn last night. I'd seen all the other movies and thought they were ok. Nothing to get too excited about but mildly diverting. This is the first half of the last instalment. Its been panned by the critics, but as Mark Kermode said very succintly it wasn't made for them.

I also fall into the category of people the film was not made for. I am guessing as a 40 year old male I'm not exactly the target demographic. But I really loved the film. I'd actually say it was my favourite and to place a cherry on top I'd say I would go and see it again.

What I always forget about these films this how utterly charming the three leads are. Edward has the perect cheekbones for a vampire and a doomed charisma, Jacob is physically perfect for the role (if a 40 year old man can say that without wincing) and is cocky enough without being dislikably arrogant and Bella, well she may be the most perfectly cast actress ever. Together with a storyline that rattled along at a decent pace I was well satisfied. I particularly enjoyed the last shot of the film and I'm eager to see what comes next.

Now I'm off to install a countdown thingy on my facebook page counting down the hours until part two comes out.

We've lost the Empire you know

It's not been a good two weeks for the English. We've twice been reminded that we are not the big boys we once were.

First we had the embarrassment over the poppy scandal where we were outraged that the rest of the world don't see us as a completely peaceful nation. Heaven knows where such a notion could of come from.

Secondly we had bumbling Sepp Blatter spouting half baked nonsense about racism being a thing of the past. Now I'm the last person to deny that Sepp Blatter is an out of touch baffoon who runs a corrupt organisation. He is however a politician par excellence and last week he proved we were no match for him.

Unlike us he realises that the game is not run by the First World anymore and he has spent many years cultivating the support of wider footballing community. So we can stamp our feet and get as bitter as we like he's going nowhere.

The problem is there is still a significant portion of people in this country. Particularly those people in the press and the higher echelons of English sport have never really got over the fact that they don't run football any more.  Nowhere was this more hilariously proved than where we went into the world cup bidding process expecting that the other nations would be impressed we brought the heir to the throne to sway the vote. We were made to look like the naive fools we were. So when FIFA say no to them, or Sepp Blatter doesn't bow to our every whim we react with the impotent fury of an ineffective parent being told by their daughter she'll wear her skirt as short as she wants.

This is not to say by the way that there is not some things to be proud of. Even if it is driven by spite we can be proud of the fact we are the one body whose FA is resolutely saying that FIFA needs to stop all the bribery. I also rejoice at the fact that it is our press who have shown time and again how bent ther officials are. I just wish we'd do it all with a bit more dignity and a litle less screeching.

Killer of Sheep

I haven't been affected by a film like this for some time. It's a gritty looking film made in 1977 in Watts, LA. It gives a really compelling account of every day life for a depressed black man living in some poverty. These days he would be labelled as depressed but the film goes much deeper than that.

It looks at his environment. living hand to mouth trying to make ends meet. Being drawn into criminality by friends but resisting. Being desired by his wife but to sad to respond and all the time he has his job. As a killer of sheep. The symbolism of his work in the slaughterhouse killing the defenceless animals cut with the kids from the ghetto leading directionless lies is a little heavy. But I like that. I don't want to work to understand my films.

The best compliment I can give it is it is it carries the feeling of a Mike Leigh film. We come in, we watch the characters for a while and then we leave. But you can feel the life of the characters going on after the final credits. One sad note is that despite it being a great film the two leads have really done little of note since. Which is a real shame because they are both marvellous actors. Anyway it's a film that deserves to be seen.

I'm not Racist but...

This may well be the first time in history that somebody has said this without following it up with something horribly racist.  A more apt (but less eye catching) title would be 'I'm not xenophobic but...' I really do not like the EU.

The reason I am saying this today is because there is a vote in the House of Commons proposing that there should be a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. MPs are being bullied by their whips into voting on party lines rather than with their conscience. A mistake I feel.

My opposition to the EU has nothing to do with a distaste for Johnny Foreigner. I like my European brethren just fine. I do feel uncomfortable at times being against the EU because there is a tendency to present anybody who is again the EU as little Englanders. A view not helped by dickheads like Nigel Farrange who never misses a chance to be insulting to people on the continent. Atheist groups have had gatherings for the past few years called Love Christmas, Hate Religion. I'd like there to be a campaign called 'Love Europe, hate the EU'.

My dislike of the EU is simple. Its unnecessary. The Europe Britain entered in the 70s was called the Common Market. That's what it was meant to be a common agreement between countries to trade freely. Then over the course of the next few decades there has been a slow creep towards turning it into a super-beaurocracy.

That is my objection. Britain already has an unwieldy beaurocracy of it's own. It's called the Civil Service. Why do we need a second even bigger one ? Beaurocracies are inefficient. I know I work for one in the council. And the bigger they are the more inefficient they are. We can never get back what we put into the EU which is the biggest beaurocracy in the world. And who does it benefit? Well there's the rub.

The people who benefit most from the EU are the political class of Europe. The EU is the gravy train that keeps on giving. Asking them to rid themselves of the EU is the perennial turkeys voting for christmas. So the status quo will continue. The EU will get larger, the political class will get fatter off the slush funds it provides and the people are voiceless.

Not Guilty

After watching Russel Grant's divine dance on Strictly Come Dancing she declared that he was her 'guilty pleasure'. Presumably because she thinks he is a bit crap but fun to watch anyway. I think somebody may have said it about one of the novelty acts (which ones aren't?) on X-Factor but I kept dropping off in it so I couldn't say for certain.


I absolutely loathe this whole notion of guilty pleasures. What is there to be guilty about, seriously ? We all know Westlife and Steps and (insert any other manufactured pop band since the 80s) are basically crap. But considering the ammount of music they put out it would be a little odd surely not to find one record with a decent tune to it. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day after all.

I can't help but feel that this whole guilty pleasure thing is the last resort of the feeble minded. Like people who support Man United then apologise about it and make some tenuous link with Manchester to justify it. I much preferred the attitude of an old friend of mine who said 'screw you, I'll support who I like.'

So for the record I love Flying without wings by Westlife, Don't stop moving by S Club 7 and I loved Kylie even before the Guardian gave us the nod that it was OK again. I don't like any Steps songs, but I hear they are reforming so...fingers crossed.

His Girl Friday

What a delight this film is. I watched it last night with a good friend. I've seen it a few times before and it has to be said its one that improves with repeated viewings. The reason being that the dialogue is so quick and sharp you can easily miss things when you have to follow the story.  My friend hadn't seen it before and he kept losing the plot. For me it was pure joy. Its a film that keeps on giving. there are so many jokes and wonderful characterisations in it you get something new every time.

The cast is universally brilliant from Grant and Russell in the leads to Bellamy playing the hapless Fiance to the character actors who make up the rest of this peerless ensemble. Its a joy from start to finish. njoy if you get the chance.

The Wizard of Oz

I'm not sure what else can be said about the Wizard of Oz. Other than I can't help but feel one of the main disadvantages of being dead, for me, will be I never get to see this film again.

Cousins

Once upon a time I used this blog to talk abbout films I'd seen rather than ranting incoherently. So I thought I'd remedy that.

I watched Cousins the other day. I've seen it before and remembered enjoying it. Of course it doesn't follow that I would enjoy it again. Many times I've rewatched films I loved years ago to find them to be pale imitations of what my memory told me.

Thankfully this film lived up to its expectations. This is due mainly to the utter charm of the leads. Isabella Rossellina is a truly beautiful creation and is ideally suited to this role. Add to that ted Danson not trying to act, but just be charming and its a heady mix. Their chemistry is wonderful and you are absolutely rooting for a happy ending for the two of them.

They are fantastically supported by Sean Young, who is pitch perfect as Danson's younger wife and William Petersen playing a character really without redeeming features very well.

Anyway if you haven't seen it. i wouldn't necessarily tell you to make a beeline for it but its worth watching out for on TV. Two hours very well spent.

Travelling, Rambling

I used to be homophobic. I think this was largely due to a naivety in myself. I didn’t knowingly know any gay people so they were an unknown to me. I knew a few people who were camp and I suspected of gayness. But nobody who just said it proudly. I remember with a degree of fondness how on the second week of my social work course having to suppress a childish giggle when our lecturer told us matter of factly that he was bisexual.

I’ve come a long way since then and posted a few weeks ago about how infuriating I find people’s attitudes to sexuality. So I consider myself a pretty open minded person whose attitude could be summed up in the motto ‘live and let live’.

Then we come to travellers.

And I cannot deny in this case I am prejudiced. It’s an uncomfortable feeling for me because I genuinely don’t want to be that kind of person. I’ve spent much of the last couple of days ruminating on this to try and get to the bottom of it.

I’ve come to the point where I realise I don’t hate the travellers. I don’t really hate anyone. Even when people do horrific things I can understand that there are forces beyond their control that lead them there so its not hate. Its not that I want them to live a conventional life like us squares. I’m irritated that there seems to be a fundamental hypocrisy in the arguments put forward by those who advocate on their behalf.

There have been a lot of vocal accusations from some people suggesting that the site clearance at Dale farm is ‘ethnic cleansing’. Now let’s take a moment to look at this because if you use words like that then you have to defend them. Ethnic cleansing refers to the systematic murder of one group of people by another in power. No trial, no judicial process. We want the land you live on so we will murder you to get it.

Now let’s look at what has happened in Basildon. Planning permission was given for some homes and then another group of families decided they would live there as well. The authorities told them they couldn’t and following that we have had several years of legal argument to remove them. They have been to the highest court in the land and it has found against them. To compare this with ethnic cleansing is obscene.

The fact is that in law they are on that land illegally and have to leave it. This is the thing that causes me most annoyance; the feeling that somehow they do not have to abide by the law of the land. They have had their day in court and lost. They think they are being prejudiced against…well quite honestly tough luck. If I build something illegally then it will be torn down. Why does that law apply to me and not to the travellers ?

The hypocrisy for me comes in terms of the argument that on one hand travellers’ advocates will tell us that they want to make a valid contribution to society. In that case settle in permanent accommodation then, get jobs, pay tax. That’s how the rest of us contribute. But the argument comes back. Settling down would mean death to us, we can’t be restricted like that.

Well make your minds up. You either wish to be part of our society or you don’t. British society is not a nomadic one where we all move around. There are traveller sites around the country. I realise they are not always where the travellers want them. Well I’d like to live closer to my daughter’s school but I can’t, so that’s life unfortunately. Why do we have to bend all the time to accommodate this lifestyle choice? Especially at a time when we are being asked to bend so far anyway. Job losses, pay freezes, higher fuel bills and all set to get worse as the cuts begin to bite.

My final point comes from a respected peer of mine who said that 18 million or whatever the final cost to evict the squatters is a high price to pay. Well, having had time to consider it, this is a daft argument. The reason the cost is so high is because the squatters are refusing to obey the law of the land they live in. If they obeyed the law the cost would be lower. Are we saying we shouldn’t evict them because it will cost too much? That’s not a great precedent to set. The rule of law has to be enforced whatever the cost. I say that for the travellers just as I say it for the police pursuing News international executives.

So to sum up I don’t hate travellers. I dislike their hypocrisy, I loathe the professional protesters rushing to stick their beaks in and push the costs of this sorry operation up and I’m disappointed in myself that, for all my rationalisation, it is at heart a prejudice that is driving my uncharitable thoughts.

Our JFK Moment

I posted something similar to this on my defunct blog probably on the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. There's little more to say about it really. This is the definitive 'you know where you were' moment of my generation in the way JFK's assasination was for my parent's generation. Mine is too tedious to relay but I remember every detail of it.

We're Number One !

It's a great time to be an English cricket fan. And speaking as hardy types who endured a time when it was considered a good idea to make Chris Cowdrey England captain (did that actually happen or have we invented it as an apocryphal story ?, no just checked Wikipedia it did happen.) I think we deserve to enjoy it.

I don't think its fanciful to compare them with the Aussie team of the 90s and early 2000s. In terms of batting if a couple of players fail somebody always comes good. And the bowlers are a proper unit who hunt in packs. But most of all they have that 'fuck you' bullying attitude that the Aussies had. So even if the opposition show some resistance they're patient then bang ! One out three out.

Cynicism Overload (why my wife hates watching the X-Factor with me)

After last week's righteous cynicism on the preening popinjays who run our country its now time to be cynical about something more frivolous. Yes X-Factor has returned and with it has my capacity to find different ways to get furious about the blatant manipulation of the audience. It's really not fair that my wife bears the full brunt of my cynicism as she tries to watch the programme. So I've decided to share my bile with yourselves. So here are my three favourite reasons to be cynical about this week's show.

3. George, The Reformed Character 

The most blatant pantomime villain ever foisted on reality TV. He came on telling us he was a reformed character and at this point I knew this was going one of two ways. He was either going to be good and we could all go aww, tough guys can change. Or as it happened he would turn out to be a crap singer and then act like a tool. 

In case you missed it, it was the latter. This gave Tulisa the chance to act self righteous   and a bit street and for Dermot to act like Mr. Darcy protecting the ladies' honour. I've no doubt George is a tool and that Dermot's outrage at the way he was talking about the women was genuine. What I also have no doubt about is that the producers knew exactly how he was going to act and maybe somebody mentioned what good TV it is when contestants kick off.

2. Gary is charismatic honest !

For all that Simon Cowell is a nobhead there is no denying he has a certain presence. But his skills in terms of what he brings to the music industry are essentially zero. He is an entertainment phenomena not a music one.

Gary Barlow has achieved more in the music industry than Simon Cowell could ever achieve. He has wrote songs that will genuinely outlive him and entertained millions. I like a lot of Take that songs myself. None of this makes Gary Barlow an interesting person to watch. He is a charisma vacuum and he did not say one thing that bordered on interesting in the entire show. 

He reminds me of the old days of football punditry where they would sometimes get brilliant ex footballers in who couldn't string a sentence together. I don't blame Gary for this he is the engine room of the band, the charisma rests in the songs he writes combined with a nostalgia that thirty and forty somethings have for their youth.

His lack of presence  was clearly apparent to the producers as well. Because we were treated to a couple of minute segway of Gary being 'mean' to contestants. To emphasise the point we 'overheard' a conversation between Kelly and Louis discussing how mean he was.

Please don't patronise us. Gary Barlow is a huge star. he's achieved a great deal in his life and he deserves a try at this but quit trying to tell us we should be entertained by him. He's dull.

1. The Irish Girl 

Don't know her name, sure I am going to learn it over the next few weeks in any case. Firstly Dermot finds her in the crowd. How did that happen i guess Dermot was just walking along saw here and thought to himself 'She looks shy I'll go give her a pep talk.' Remarkable insight of Dermot (who I do like but worry about the price of his soul in this nonsense) there.

Next we get a VT scene showing her playing the guitar in her bedroom. Now even the meanest rube knows that she is going through because why would the production company do that otherwise. 

She says she comes from a small town and nothing much happens there. Then she walks on stage perfecting her best Princess Di to Martin Bashir look. Remarkably Kelly picks up on how shy she is and tells her to relax blah, blah, blah. She tells them she is going to sing Your Song and from that point on I certainly know where this is going. Gary says 'wow' and just stops himself saying 'big song' because he doesn't want to blow all his cliches in one night.

Then she basically does a very competent karaoke version of Ellie Goulding's version of Your Song. And the judges fall over themselves to say how brilliant she is and I wonder, if I didn't know they were being deliberately dim, if anybody else has heard Ellie Goulding's version of this song. Louis chimes in with a five star Cliche and an old favourite of mine 'You don't know how good you are.' 

Then we have to wait while they vote. And even though we know she is going through because of the VT and the fact that the first three judges have said yes we still get a dramatic pause before Gary says yes.


Having said all this and moaned to high heaven I dare say I will keep watching. If my wife will let me. Maybe I'll come here every week and whine about a programme I loath but keep watching.

Finally it would be churlish of me not to mention two good things about the show. I like Kelly Rowland a lot. She is very charismatic also on the Extra Factor we have the marvellous Caroline Flack who makes me laugh a lot.

The Riots

I apologise for the rambling nature of this but it's just a number of the thoughts I've had over the last few turbulent days.

The first day when the riots were in London alone I barely noticed. London's a funny place and shit like that happens there. I paid slightly more notice than when it happens in Ulster because it does seem to be part of the culture of that region.

The second day was when it really hit home. This was the day when the country truly did seem to become a lawless, anarchist state. There was a lot of criticism of the Police. Which seemed unfair because it was obvious to anyone with sense and without an agenda that there was no way the police could cope with all the hotspots at once.

I was as furious as everybody else at what i was seeing. People who didn't give a hoot about the community in which they lived taking what they wanted and setting it alight. Particularly as they were attacking small businesses. Which showed the absurdity of those who were trying to claim it was a political riot up. This anger lasted through the night and most of the next day until I heard a woman on Fivelive her name is Camila_Batmanghelidjh. 

She gave a different point of view on the riots and what was happening. She made no effort to excuse the behaviour of the criminals involved the previous night. She just tried to offer an explanation that there is a generation of young men who simply have no hope. Their families who should be their safety net are often the people who put them in most danger and the services that are there are not interested. So you have people with no hope, no networks. And people without hope have nothing to lose and someone with nothing to lose is a dangerous thing.

This is when the rational side of my brain began to re-awaken. I was still angry about the lawlessness that I was seeing. But I also began to see that this anger was pointless if I didn't at least try to understand what was really happening. It goes without saying that she got a barrage of stick from the audience calling her a bleeding heart. I don't know what it is that stops people from understanding that looking for explanations as to what happens is not the same as offering excuses. Surely what separates us from animals is our ability to wonder. it's a bit of a shame if we don't use this capacity.

By this time the true villain of the piece had arrived back to save us all. Our prime minister. There has never been a more sickening sight than watching this jumped up gobshite puffing out his chest and letting us all know how bad he is and how he's gonna set things straight. He has gone out of his way to portray himself as the hero of the hour. Making outrageous claims about how he personally did this and ordered that. Sir Hugh Orde has made it clear that the politicians jetting in made not a jot of difference to the way Police organised their response.

So whose version should we believe ? Sir Hugh Orde. Former Chief Constable of the Northern Ireland Police force. A man who dealt with riots year in and year out for...well years. Or an empty shirt like Cameron...well quite. But worse was to come. Parliament was recalled so all the other strutting peacocks could puff out their chests and fight to be the most comically self righteous. It was a sickening display.

This whole spectacle was made all the worse by the utter spinelessness of Ed Milliband who just tried to out tough cameron. Sod actually saying 'maybe we should think why this is happening'. No if cameron wants to give them two years I think we should give them five years. I really cannot find the words to summon up my utter contempt for the Labour party. At least you know where you are with the Tories. They're eveil and they don't pretend to be anything else.

Today we have reached a new low. With the pathetic Eric Pickles telling us that yobs will be evicted from social housing. He just says they'll have to find private housing and telling them it's their fault. That might just avoid being brain numbingly stupid if you're evicting a single bloke. But in many cases you are going to evicting families. What happens to those children ? It strikes me if you don't want to raise another generation of angry young people making them homeless for the sins of their parents isn't a good starting place.

Now obviously I don't live on the kind of estate where such people live. So it could be argued I don't know what I am talking about. I admit this is a possibility. But the truth is these people will need to go somewhere. Its all very well saying they will have to get private housing but where is that going to be ? Clue it's not going to be in Eric pickles' neighborhood. Its going to be on exactly the same estates where they lost their tenancy. For all that such measures feel right they defy logic.

I feel at the end of this protracted monologue I should have answers. But I don't have any really. The truth is from my job i know there are some people who are beyond helping. All the input in the world will not help them get their life on track. But good services, designed by people who know the area they are working with, do help. They don't help everybody and they won't, in themselves, prevent a riot. What they do give is opportunities for the people who have aspirations within demonised communities.

Those services need to be supported. The government will say there is no money. Which is bullshit because they seem to be able to find money to prop up a broken fiscal system whenever it is needed. Just not the broken society Dave is so fond of talking of.

If you have the time I thoroughly recommend reading this and this they are brilliant

Citizen Kane

So it comes to me as it does all film fans my time write a review on Citizen Kane. I watched it again last night. With the added thrill of seeing it with someone who has never seen it before so did not know about the glorious pay off of the final scene.

Of course up until that point, at first viewing, it's not impossible to think 'well a good script, good acting and the use of light is good, but the best film ever ? Really ?' Once you have seen it once and you realise what the film is about it really is the gift that keeps on giving. It's a film that deserves many repeated viewings. Last night was about the seventh time I have seen it and I noticed a few things last night that I had not noticed before. Little nuances in conversation that had escaped me the first few times.

Is it the best film ever ? Its difficult to argue that looked on from a historical perspective it changed cinema in a way few other films ever have since. Much as I love the technical innovations (do you know it was about the first film that featured rooms where you could see the ceiling) that came from Kane my true love of the film comes from the three things Hitchcock said you needed to make a great film. A good script, a good script and a good script. The acting is also marvellous from the youthful Orson Welles to the wonderfully aged Joseph Cotton.

Be nice to yourself and see it.

Why I love Baking

Public Sector Myths

There seems to be a lot of misinformation in the media at the moment about life in the public sector so I thought I would take 5 minutes to answer a few of these.

1. Public Sector Pensions are Non Contributory - Not true. Don't know the exact figure but I am guessing we pay about 3% of our wages. I've no doubt that our pensions may be better than in the private sector but it seems to me we have this argument the wrong way around.

Shouldn't we be talking about how to make private sector pensions better. The notion of governments trying to improve the lives of the people who elect them seems to be gone forever. Which is a bit of a shame I think. Anyway on to myth number 2.

2. Public Sector Workers don't pay Council/Income tax - It seems incredible somebody would think that but it has been said to me in the past. Let's be clear. We do, exactly as everybody else does.

3. The Public Sector is Inefficient/workers are Lazy etc. - The truth is in all large organisations there is inefficiency. Increasingly the public sector is run on a pretty ruthless business model complete with call centres and vehicle trackers.

I've no doubt there are cushy areas of the organisations. But again this is true of big organisations as a whole. I guarantee there are corners of ICI and Monsanto where the employees are on a good screw. All I am saying is in both cases this is the exception and by no means the rule.

The final myth comes in the way public sector workers are portrayed as being 'other' than people in the private sector. We aren't. It's mostly a matter of accident which of us work in the public sector and which the private.

We're ordinary people the same as everyone else. Not radical left wing militants. Just people going to work, paying taxes and trying to get on with our lives. 

We're also not the people who caused the deficit, despite all the government propaganda blaming us. We accept we have a role in bringing it down. And a pay freeze for a few years is a price I'm willing to pay. we can only bend so far before we say enough. That's what we're doing now.

Five People I'm Happy to be Sharing the Planet With

This post is a result of a Facebook update where i said that David Simon is one of the premiere artists in this world. I then went on to say that Danny Baker was a genius and I am glad I am alive at the same time as him and this set me to thinking which five people I am glad to be alive at the same moment as them. So here is my list.

David Simon

For those who don't know him David Simon is the creator of The Wire. In my opinion, and many other people's, the greatest TV show ever. This itself would secure him a place on my list. But to add to this I have started watching Treme. A drama about post Katrina New Orleans. It is not overstating it to say that Treme is almost as good as The Wire.

I also admire him for the statement he made following the arrest of Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson, the brilliant but troubled star of The Wire. The statement here proves what an exceptional man he is.

Danny Baker


People saying 'the word genius is banded about too much' has become a cliche in it's own right but in Danny's case it is true. His wonderful style of broadcasting is a gift few are touched with. He mixes the wonderfully absurd with a depth of knowledge and understanding of what is funny that is simply breathtaking every week. I've included one of his finest moments here but just put Danny baker into Youtube, take your pick and you'll get a winner every time.



Stephen Fry


Where to begin. The most articulate, witty raconteur of his generation. He is one of the people who whenever I see he is on something I think 'brilliant'. He is always interesting and challenging and wonderful. The wonderful thing about being alive at the same time as him is to hear his comments on things that drive me to distraction hence the clip here of him calling out the journalists on the expenses brouhaha



Shane Warne

I adore cricket. There have been many great batsmen in the times I've watched cricket. I've seen Brian Lara, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Andy Moles in that time. I've also seen Curtley Ambrose, Allan Donald and Tim Munton. But as good as these players were none of them could compare with the genius of Shane Warne. He did things that I did not know could exist in cricket before he came along. He was also good value off the field to.

My Dad

He's brilliant.

I love Reddit

Reddit is a really cool site where all the cool stuff on the internet is gathered. Every day there are at least a dozen things on there that make me laugh out loud. Perhaps my favourite ones are the rage comics. Examples of which are below.

Incidentally the caption for the last image in the last comic is 'Seriously?'

Anyway if you like them there are tons more here

Hypocrite

I was getting a little fed up the other day about a radio phone in where people were taking delight in public sector workers losing their jobs. I thought that it was downright unpleasant of people to take joy in another's misfortune.

Then two days later Cheryl Cole got dropped from the American X-Factor and  laughed like a drain. Of course Cheryl is hardly going to lose her house but relatively speaking it's no doubt a big blow to her and I am a hypocrite for enjoy ing it. That's all.

Death of a Thousand Cuts

This week the country has mainly been getting it's knickers in a twist over what football player Imogen Thomas had been shagging. It was Ryan Giggs. Now let's be clear Ryan has been a prat for cheating on his wife. But that is basically him and his wife's business and none of mine or anybody elses really. He has been a colossal prat in the fact that he took out a super injunction. Which has blown a story that would have lasted a week into the stratosphere.

I'm sure with hindsight he realises this. My only hope is he does not sell out further and give his side of the story to the papers. My guess is he won't. he's never really sought the limelight. He didn't sell his wedding to the highest bidder for magazine money and his media profile has always been pretty low. If he does do this and just ignores the papers then it's a shoo in that this story will disappear pretty quickly as the press are like small children, easily distracted.

The truly delicious part of this whole story has been the mounting frustration of the tabloid media who had been prevented from naming Giggs as we all merrily discussed it on the Internet. This has what all their outrage has been about. This story has proved, once again, how totally irrelevant they are. With Twitter, Facebook and Google we don't need papers any longer. The fun could have lasted even longer were it not for rent a quote gobshite MP John Hemming cowardly revealing Giggs name in the house of commons where he was exempt from prosecution. Quite the man of principle.

I'd be interested to know what the age demographic on buying newspapers is. I suspect the average age of people who buy newspapers is going up year on year. I honestly cannot see how they are going to survive another twenty years. They are already trying to outdo each other now competing to be most vile and hysterically scaremongering. Is that going to continue ? One would hope there would come a point where the British public would say enough. Here's hoping it's not a slow death and they go quickly.

I'm Irrationally Irritated by Gay Men

It's not there problem it's mine. I just can't understand why in the 21st century anybody gives a shit about this. I mean what kind of moronic knuckle dragging fuckwit gives a shit about this any more ? Where do I take this irritation ? 

It should be to the myopic idiots who haven't evolved enough to realise who a person falls in love with is nobody's business but their own or were unfortunate enough to be brought up by parents filled with the irrational fear of homosexuality that they couldn't help but pass on to their offspring.

It should be them I'm angry at for sustaining this as an issue when most of us are way past giving a shit. But I can't hate them. I think all I can do is pity them. So I find myself getting irritated that Gay men and lesbians are identified as separate, when I feel no need to identify myself as heterosexual. I absolutely understand the reason for doing this. It is great that Gay and Lesbian people live in a society where they can express pride in their sexuality. 

Incidentally what set me off thinking of this was an Oprah show on Mike Sisco

Ypu can read more  here and the link to the shows are here and here 

The Multi Layered Jim Davidson

I've been sitting on this post for the last couple of weeks.  I was pissed of the other week by this twitter user. He reports on the vagaries of the press. How they lie and distort etc. For the record he does a very good job of it.

He posted a tweet suggesting that anybody who reads the Daily Star must have the intelligence of a slug. I took umbrage and replied that my dad reads the Star and he's no idiot. I received a pretty dismissive response. But I didn't know where to go with the blog so I just put it to one side.


Then I listened to Jim Davidson yesterday on Fivelive with Richard Bacon. I was going to turn off but decided to give him a hearing. I was quietly impressed. He said that people have a perception of him and he realises there is nothing he can do about that. People assume he is racist and homophobic and he said really there is little he can do to change that perception of him because people had made their mind up before they got to know him.


He said he regretted doing Chalky White, the crude stereotypical Jamaican he did in the 70s. He refused to apologise for it. But again his reasoning was sound. It was the 70s and essentially he knew no better. He was being told to do it and nobody around him considered what he was doing at all out of the ordinary. 


He did make the regular rant about political correctness but was open to the notion that it was what Richard Bacon described as institutionalised politeness. And again made a good point in saying that if somebody is so ignorant to call a black person a nigger then telling them they should call them black is an exercise in futility. Only generational change is going to affect that. A good friend of mine put it right years ago when he said 'My dad is less racist than his dad, I'm less racist than him, and my son will be less racist than me.' but I digress.


He was happy to say that he was going to mock 'fat women on the dole' and frankly he could not care less if they objected. As the interview neared its end I think I could feel the mask slipping slightly as he became irritated by the constant questioning of his ideologies.


It sounds like I am Jim Davidson's cheerleader and I'm not at all. I just think listening to him is a good lesson in how wrong it is to prejudge a person. He probably isn't the nicest person you are ever going to meet but he is also nowhere near as one dimensional as we would have been led to believe. Nobody is really.


And that is why I took umbrage at the suggestion that Daily Star readers are morons, or that anybody who likes Jim Davidson or Chubby Brown is a misogynist racist. This is only one aspect of the person. Sitting here I can think of a dozen people who I know would love Chubby Brown or read the Star or the Mail. But that doesn't define them. 


When we (left and centre left types) dismiss people in this manner we do run the risk of being as bigoted and myopic as the people we are rushing to condemn.

Butterfly Effect

I was reflecting on one of the many butterfly effect moments today of my life today. I am on a course at the moment with other social workers and as usual we were whining. We discussed reorganisations and I remembered that in one of these reorganisations I was one of two workers in the borough given my third choice of team to go to. And thanks heavens I was.


Due to that I met my very good friends Lorraine Thompson, Emily Rouse, Becky Thompson, The boy Dave etc. But most importantly I met Angela Fletcher. I say this not to denigrate my colleagues mentioned previously. But Angela introduced me to Phoenix Theatre Company. 


Without Angela I would not know the redoubtable Michael, Emma and Sean, the elfish sprites Hannah and Jodie  and the truly, truly unique Jessica Hackett (if you've never met her your life thus far has been but a rehearsal). I would probably never have wrote Sleeping Beauty as I would have had no-one to write it for. 


And the thing is I would not have really felt the poorer because I would never have known. I would have walked past them in the street having no idea that I was missing out on some of the best people in the world. I don't grieve now for the people I never met or the paths my life would have taken if I had been sent to West Bromwich as I had asked. How can I ?


It makes my head ache a little thinking about all this. In the time I have wrote this I have thought about other such butterfly moments that came and went without me realising it. 

Books

Quick round up of books I have read recently.


Songbird


I think Sebastien Faulks is close to be my favourite author ever. In a quick space of time I have read three of his books and they have all been brilliant. Songbird is supposedly his masterpiece. I liked it a lot. The story was cleverly constructed jumping forwards and backwards in time; between the pre war idyll, the hell of the war and the nearer present day where the suffering of the trenches has already become ancient history.


The relentless day to day horrific reality is brought home perfectly. However much you read it it is still completely unimaginable the horror of knowing the certain death that awaited you on the blow of a whistle. It also beautifully tells us the story of what witnessing such carnage does to a man. 


I was particularly moved by the scene where one of the soldiers returns to England and is staggered to find how normal life is there. How he wishes for bombs to come and kill them all. Having said all this as much as I enjoyed it I like Engleby more.


The News Where You Are


This is the second book by Catherine O'Flynn. Her first book was What was Lost which I truly enjoyed, a good story with great internal dialogue from people out shopping at a shopping centre. It had a good storyline and kept me guessing all the way.


The News Where You Are is a less surprising in terms of the fact I worked out where it was going fairly early. However the journey was superb. Once again she has populated the story with interesting, instantly likeable characters. It is also a book about decay and death which appeal to a maudlin fucker like me.


The final thing I love about the book is the fact it is set in Birmingham ! So few books/films/tv shows are its a delight to find one that is. And she clearly loves and 'gets' Birmingham in a way only Brummies can.


Notes on a Scandal


Loved the film and on a lot of reflection I decide that I like the film slightly more. The Cate Blanchett character is less worldly in the novel and she fails to break free of Barbara's clutches in the book, becoming dependent on her in the end. The ending fits the books characters perfectly. 


Ultimately the film wins out in my affection simply for the performance of Judi Dench. What an actress that woman is.


The Invisible Man


A great classic book and well worth the read. I love the writing of this era with HG Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle, whose  Lost World I also read recently. They are well worth the investment in time.

Why Channel 4 is the new Daily Mail

Stephen Fry wrote in one of his newspaper columns years ago that the Daily mail was the very worse of the papers. Because while the Sun may be more offensive at times at least it was honest about what it was. A tabloid; where as the Mail left room to pretend it was a serious paper. It seems to me that the same thing has happened with Channel 4. They have become a channel for barely disguised freak shows. Five do this also but at least they know they are trash.

I wrote previously here about my deep and abiding love for Big Brother. So I am not somebody queueing up to slag them off on that score. The programme that has provoked my ire is Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.

The producers of the show would have you believe that this is a show whose aim is to promote a better understanding of the Traveller community. That's a phrase you hear a lot on the programme, 'The Travelling Community' as though they are one homogeneous bunch who all strictly adhere to the same norms and behaviours. Bollocks. I'm part of the English community but I have my own views on things. I imagine Travellers are exactly the same.

What the show really does promote is the chance for us to voyeurs on the lives of the people. You can almost hear the producers giggling in the background in evident delight at the next curious , you our eyes, thing that one of the participants does. They should drop the pretence and get Dave Lamb (to those who don't know the acerbic commentator of Come Dine With Me) to narrate it.

And the poor taste does not end there for Channel 4. There is the show about the exploration of modern myths about self image. This is another shitfest involving putting shallow, fame hungry young women with people with facial disfigurements. Again this is presented as some kind of hard hitting exploration of the vacuousness of our society and its obsession with beauty. When what it really is is a chance to watch pretty girls feel uncomfortable around people with facial disfigurements. I just hope they drop the final pretence and in the last scene have the people who are disfigured stand around the pretty girl chanting 'one of us, one of us, one of us...'

Science

I have been thinking a great deal about Science of late. I got an audio book from the Library recently called 'Why e=mc2 (and why we should care)' by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw. It's a wonderful book. Unfortunately though I only truly enjoyed the first two and a half of the six discs. I understood, for the first time, concepts like there being no such thing as absolute motion and what the speed of light being constant really means. These are by no means minor achievements for me.

But eventually we moved on to space time and though I could understand some of the concepts I couldn't pretend that I really understood it in the way that I did in the previous chapters. I think I may have to accept that I have reached my limit of understanding of this subject. 

This is not something that depresses me really. I have enjoyed the journey to get to the point where I understand a lot more of the universe than I did. The wonderful thing about science is that it opens your eyes to the world you live in. It may sound odd but at times when I feel low I look around and remind myself that everything I see and cannot see is made of atoms. The air, the trees, my fingernails, the bus and for reasons I can't truly fathom this remarkable fact seems to cheer me up. Just how wonderful the world is I guess. Science opens that knowledge up to me in a way I think few other things can.

So what if I don't understand space time. Science is hard but worth the journey. I love the quote from Niels Bohr which goes 'that a person who wasn't outraged on first hearing about quantum theory didn't understand what had been said to them.' Its nice to know that Science has the power to confuse bewilder and inspire even Nobel Prize winners.

Anyway enough science. I have final rehearsals for a panto tonight and need to apply some Newtonian laws to some custard pies into the faces of my fellow actors.

Black Swan

When I first started writing this blog I had decided I would write pieces about all the films I saw. But I thought fuck that. An earlier entry was about a run of the mill Chris Rock film. So I decided to focus on films that genuinely moved me.

The Black Swan certainly falls in that category. The story itself is fairly formulaic. It is of an obsessive dancer trying to achieve perfection and slowly being driven mad in the process. Nut that is all I would say was clichéd about it. The camera work was a little annoying at first but I quickly got used to it and the grainy film quality enhanced it perfectly.

It has a great supporting cast with Vincent Cassel as the sleazy but brilliant director and Barbara Hershey as the stifling mom. But overall this is undoubtedly Portman's film. As I sit here and think about it there were no scenes where she was absent. Quite honestly she is fantastic. She displays her characters subtle descent into  madness brilliantly without resorting to ticks and tricks often employed. You can see her genuine confusion about whether she is becoming mad and it is gripping.

It is simply a wonderful film and if you miss it you are missing out.

Dinosaurs

The press have been getting themselves into overdrive this week again and have managed to royally fuck it up again. Even when they get outraged for the right reasons they still end up making things worse.

I am referring to the situation with Richard Keys and Andy Gray. Last weekend they were caught on mic making some very sexist remarks about women and in particular their role in football. Quite frankly they made the pair of them look like complete fucking idiots, buffoons even.

They then compounded things by taking too long to apologise. The press smelt blood and when The Sun joined in the attack they must have known they were done for as no Murdoch paper is going to break ranks and attack another part of that empire without getting the green light first.

This is a classic example of the press running away with themselves in their own merry way. Not bothering to think about the consequences just wanting to get their man.

The outrage they were so busy trying to whip up was supposedly to do with offence they caused women. What bollocks. As if the Sun or the Daily Mail ever gave a shit about that particular cause. The Sun will still continue to sexualise young women on a daily basis as will the Mail with its mock outrage about Christina Aguilera’s X-Factor appearance while publishing all the titillating photos.

And what of Keys and Gray ? Many will say sod them but I can’t help but have a degree of sympathy for them. They were idiots but was the degree of outrage directed at them justified ? Of course not. They were expressing views that too many men in this country feel are perfectly ok. I find this pretty reprehensible but I hardly think that placing these two on the sacrificial alter is going to help address any of those issues.

They spent the first half of the week looking like fools, then moral pariahs and where are they now. I suspect the role they fulfil now is that of martyrs to the cause of PC gone mad. And it’s a role that the Daily Mail will have absolutely no problem unblushingly exploiting the next time they want to write a hateful piece about uppity women demanding to be treated fairly.