Saturday, 4 July 2009

1256 Music and Lyrics and Intrigue

I am in a mood of relaxed reflection which is just as well because this morning I found I had a dead car battery. The solution was to walk into town, first to the post office and then to Wilkinson where I acquired a compact battery charger. I could have called out the AA as I have Home Start but as I a making several trips by car later in the year I decided to get the charger and save embarrassment.. It was cold but I wrapped up well, including my Russian type hat, and although I disliked the outing and was anxious about its effects, the outcome was positive.

There was a time when I would never comment on any matter where I did not have sufficient and appropriate information. In relation to the death of my aunt I believed various aspects of what I am been told happened were accurate, because of knowing those who relayed the information to me, including my aunt. But even where I knew facts from first hand observation and experience, I knew how the set of circumstances or words can be interpreted indifferent ways in the hands of a skilled lawyer, for that it was lawyers do. Now I will engage in speculation and gossip from time to time but only if I have some basis. I cannot believe that the present owner of Newcastle United decided to dispense with the services of manager Sam Allardyce without being confident of securing a replacement who would do better and please the fans more. I mentioned that I was unhappy with the prospect of Harry Rednap who are bracketed with Sam whose reputation for being a good managers was not matched by achieving success with any Premiership team. Getting lower ranking teams up the table is an achievement but not getting one of the great clubs of the world into the position it should be in terms of league position and trophies. The insistence on an English manager is also curious given the situation at Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, and now at Manchester City. Yesterday Newcastle were humiliated at Manchester United. The score was 6.0 but in truth 12,0 would not have been a travesty on the balance of play,

Because of the illness and the wish to complete the second Volume of Rivera I have not followed the special edition of the Big Brother House as intently as I did the first, but I have managed to watch the nightly round up of the previous 24 hours, although this is usually not up to date, together with Big Brother Little Brother, which is an audience participation programme with guests aimed at the voting public and staunch supporters, but not as cringing as the second programme, made worse by is choice of presenters. This programme ranks alongside the worst kind of offering from USA TV where there is no redeeming feature. I have also managed the odd hour, never more during a day in order to obtain a better flavour of the live event although given the number of cameras and microphones the level of editing remains high. Against expectation the public voted out Jade the highly intelligent and full of life beauty queen, although the presentation as someone was happy was quickly exploded as she appeared to break into tears at the slightest criticism or failure to achieve an objective. The expectation was that Victor would get the heave ho as he was disliked by the an overwhelming number of contestants and it was expected that that the public would want to see how his sister behaved when he was not there. Against this their act depends on daily training together so it is difficult to see how one could survive without the other. Usually when an individual survives a public vote they are not nominated the following week and the programme appeared to do everything possible to switch the public in favour of both Victor and Jade by getting them to be nice to each other, which left the third nomination, the racing driver in the hot seat. There are some nice people as well as successful and ambitious young people and while sum groups have formed and individuals are playing different roles in the groups the overall impact has been to enhance their reputations and further the cause of raising the level of contestants in the regular series rather than pandering to the lowest instincts. Against my expectation, and due I suspect to her personality and that she is in a stable relationship, Amy the contemporary artist did not receive one nomination and along with John appear to be the most practical and down to earth of the participants, although I have not watched over periods to establish the kind of judgement which stands by own tests.

I have made goof progress with Rivera 2 with two volumes completed. Two pieces of text require amalgamation in a couple of instances. The master edition has three or four individual photograph sets to be completed and one the photos of Roker Park. I would have completed the printing yesterday which felt more like a Sunday than a Saturday excerpt for running into colour printing problems. I cannot undertake a prolonged run of printing without some problems emerging but although I shall watch the football at one thirty and have the roast dinner and lunchtime. I hope to have completed all aspects of the work by midday especially as it is still before six am today.

The reason for the post was to try and get a return of two more DVD's from my mail order internet package for the London trip where I am more likely to go than as not. But will continue to leave the decision until tomorrow. I watched the "extras" DVD on the second series of Lost in two sessions. It was not as good as that with the first which covered how the series came into being, the auditions and selection of the main characters and their perceptions. The second DVD, Music and Lyrics was a romantic comedy which obtained good reviews at the time although I would not have viewed in theatre when I had the monthly pass unless there had been nothing else to interest during the period of performance. The film features Hugh Grant who if you set to one side his good looks and tabloid involvement with Elizabeth Hurley and others. He is brilliant comic actor who can make script seem funny through his delivery and that combination of danger with vulnerability. Drew Barrymore also has good looks and charm but also convince as an actress and there is a good chemistry between the two which makes the story more convincing that otherwise could have been the situation. Grant plays the former less well known singer of a band where the lead went off to individual solo success, making full use of Grant ability to compose good tunes. However he is not a lyricist and although he continues to perform at nostalgia functions, including theme parks, he has become small time. His big opportunity comes when the teen star of the day, a cross between Madonna, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue, brilliantly played by first time actress in a Hollywood role, Haley Bennett liked his work when she was a seven year old and gives him the opportunity to compete for a duet number on her new album. Barrymore arrives at the flat as a stand in plant nurturer, that is someone who visit's the homes of those too busy to look after their own house plants, as a lyricist struggles to find a theme and phrases to get his blocked creativity going. Drew steps in and the rest is pure Hollywood but credible to a degree and highly enjoyable.

A different kind of film was Intrigue regarded a minor 1988 cold war spy film in which its star Scott Glenn goes behind the Iron Curtain to search for his former mentor who has defected, only to discover that he wishes to return home to die. The plot twist is conventional in that the Russians want to keep him and the Americans want him dead but not for the obvious reasons. The main interest for me was the journey from the Soviet into Yugoslavia and onto Venice which had a credibility as did the story overall. Had the main character been played by a Richard Burton, Gene Hackman or Robert Duvall then the film might have had greater recognition.
My appetite has returned so the test of determination about losing weight has begun. So far I am rating myself 8 out of 10 for effort. Given the usual kick start effects the aim is to get below 16 stone by mid February, under below 15.7 before the end of Summer. I had one more can of Pepsi Coke, three than the two being allowed a week. But the alcohol restriction was maintained and no snacks although I am having an afternoon tea which has been one slice of toast and 50 grams of smoked salmon. I had shell on prawns yesterday. I nearly had a pint of lager with the evening Tex Mex but had forgotten to take out o store to the fridge, so hat was a bonus.

After hesitant start I achieved 50 games without loss or draw at second level chess. I have decided on playing to enjoy games rather than the 101 target as part of my New Year approach to life

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