The greatest moment of the entire Olympic celebration occurred this morning when 13 year old Eleanor Simmonds who now lives in Wales and who suffers from dwarfism, won a gold medal at her first attempt in the 100 metre freestyle. There had been hopes that she might win a medal although he main aim was to give her experience prior to the 2012 games. She was trailing the field at the beginning and appeared to be competing for a bronze as the race was ending but somehow as others tired she found the strength to push herself into a personal best time by two seconds and won the gold by 100th of a second.
Whereas Andy Murray finds it difficult to impossible to accept that he is part of Great Britain as well as being a proud Scotsman, Eleanor had Union Jack on her back and red white and blue fingernails. It was her interview afterwards which led to my hoping the media will take her up and that she will win the Sports personality of the year. I am pleased to say that she did make to the national news along with one of most amazing escapes of all time.
A young family Mark Baxter and his wife Beverley were walking at Durham River Chester Le Street, the park land and children's playground next to the cricket ground, with their two daughters Leona aged 3 years and older sister about five years and the family dog splashing about the water left after the rain storm. Suddenly the three year old and her dog disappeared having been sucked into an uncovered and unmarked storm drain. Her father attempted to get her out but he had disappeared. Then in a moment of extraordinary inspiration he worked out that the drain would go straight to river and rushed off to its bank some seventy metres away and was able to see her coat being swept along then realising that it was his daughter face down, he jumped in, started to get the water out of her lungs before getting back to bank. His wife gave her first aid as paramedic, police and fire service arrived. The girl was taken to the North Durham Hospital where she was treated for shock and for bruising but by late evening she was seeking ice cream and chocolate and her relieved parents were telling the world how lucky they were. I wondered what were the odds of survival in that situation in terms of girl being caught in the drain underground, of if her father had not and the inspiration to get to the river and work out the direction the drain might be going to the water. What could have happens is difficult to think about although such tragedies occur every day somewhere.
It was the one bright piece of news in the evening regional news and sport programmes which concentrated on the flooding of Morpeth and other parts of Northumberland which has been the worst for over half a century as in one of the quirks of nature the water bearing clouds suddenly came to a halt over the town and wider areas unleashing over a month's rain in a few hours over already saturated ground. Again the possessions of a lifetime were destroyed but fortunately no lives were lost in this area as a consequence
The regional TV programmes also reminded of the statements made over the weekend my Newcastle Football Club and on behalf of Kevin Keegan to which was added the news that two other coaches and close associates had also left the club, fuelling the anger of supporters and where the momentum for a boycott appears to have gained ground and for standing in protest outside. A spokesperson for the managing company said there had been no approach to buy the club which suggests that unless the owners have some rabbit to pull out of the hat then their will be a test of will but hopefully not of strength on Saturday. I assume there will be a significant police presence to prevent crowds forming outside the ground unless they are entering with a ticket, but which in turn runs the risk of those bent in creating trouble doing so elsewhere in the city. It is a very worrying situation.
Yesterday I had seen again a film about the power of belief called Constantine and the Cross. This 1962 film feature Cornel Wilde and Belinda Lee and had its moments of engagement as long as one made no attempt to check its historical accuracy. The film focuses on the battle for power after the Empire was split between to rulers with Caesars as their deputies and how Constantine was converted to Christianity after his mother had done so. It also has a loyal friend Hadrian whose also falls for a Christian girl who may have been slave or a member of a minor family but there is no happy ending for them. Constantine triumphs and purges Rome of its nastier elements, for a time.
In contrast Alexander the Great viewed a couple of days before and which starred Richard Burton (unconvincing as a young man) nevertheless had a fine script giving the film gravitas. There was a balance on intrigue and on relationships rather than action and spectacle, as with Shakespeare's work which I liked but not the critics. The film made in the mid fifties did get slightly better reviews than Oliver Stone's 2005 epic which lasted nearly three hours. I enjoyed both.
I also enjoyed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind which I saw five years ago at a Cineworld in Chelsea and was again shown last night as I also watch Blue Velvet which I had not seen previously, occasionally flipping over to New York in the hope that Murray would find the mental strength and courage to break out of the crushing play of his opponent in he final of the USA open. Federer sense he could get his number one spot back and was without mercy.
I was much less critical again than the critics about Confessions. They disliked this first Directorial black comedy satirical film by George Clooney and which starred Sam Rockwell as the young man making the confessions and Drew Barrymore as his long term girl friend and Julia Roberts as a Marta Hari. Most did not like the plot or the script. Basically I believe most did not understand the psychology and most Americans would not appreciate the underlying self criticism of the American illusion. Sam Rockwell plays a creative who decides to use his talents on a series of brainless money making games shows. The first we knew in Britain as Blind date with Cilla Black. Three young people of same sex are interviewed by someone of the opposite sex who asks them three stupid questions and from their answers one is picked to have a blind date, someone a inexpensive local meal out, but more often an expensive few days in some exciting place. Usually they have a difficult time and cannot wait for the date to end, although I believe there was one wedding. In the film the producing team are told they can make the show as stupid as they like but warned that they will be sent to prison if they included anything which Uncle Sam then regards as un-American.
It is at this point that George Clooney enters the film as a special squad of state assassins and recruits Sam after claiming authorship for the idea of sending the couples on romantic trips and adventures around the world as cover for Sam acting as chaperone with the film crew to do "jobs" for his country. He is helped in these activities by Julia Roberts.
The need to find new shows is constant and as Sam progresses in popularity and double life he creates an earlier form of American Idol and the X factor except without the talent and restricted just to the worst would be performers willing to humiliate themselves on TV for the enjoyment of the masses. It at this point that a double agent comes to the fore and the principals set about trying to eliminate each other so Sam has a breakdown and goes into hiding before working out who the villain of villains is. The films has a kind of happy ever after ending and to add spice the story is put about that the take was not entirely fictitious. As with Blue Velvet it is intended to be taken at various levels. I loved the idea of the game show in which three old men review their lives and the one who does blow his brains out with the loaded revolvers given to them wins the prize of a new fridge or washing machine.
The critics were much more enthusiastic about Blue Velvet because it was about the diversity of human sexual behaviour, albeit of the darker and nastier kind and had lots of arty and surreal sequences which I thought pretentious. My interest was with the female star whose voice reminded of Ingrid Bergman so I played a hunch and looked her up on Wikipedia which confirmed that Isabella Fiorella Ellettra Rossellini was indeed a daughter of Ingrid and the Italian film director Roberto who was married three times. She was brought up in Rome. Santa Marinella and Paris before coming to New York when 19 years where she worked at Finch College as a translator, a ring master in a circus and for RAI TV. She appears to be one of those children of famous/infamous parents who do not come into their own until the death of the parent/parents.
She married Martin Scorsese 1979-1982, then a German ,model and later had relationships with David Lynch the film director of Blue Velvet, Gary Oldman and George Mosher. She also became a model being photographed by some of the best of the day and at one point was the front face for Lancome which she held for 14 years until on reaching 40 she was sacked for a younger person. Apart from the notoriety created by Blue Velvet she appeared in a number of films and TV series gaining minor award and nominations for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In later life she became involved with various good causes and became a US Ambassador for UNICEF although she continues to hold joint citizenship. She remains part of large extended family as her father had three wives and in addition to her twin sis she also has a half sister from her mother's first marriage.. What I like about her most is that she wrote a book entitled my father lived to be 100, now what am I calling the book about my mother?
I went out walking in the morning as the rain had stopped for a day as bought a Daily Mail or a copy of the Culture Club record which was great value as it contained a number of hit songs. Visit to the bank for statement and cash and then to Asda just for milk as I bought grapes and strawberries at the station greengrocers completed the trip. I decided to start chasing up things outstanding and with day's task the free AOL Car Warehouse laptop which had clearly been lost between the various interests involved. It should arrive in less than two weeks. I had ordered some black ink cartridges over the weekend and the garage door is now working as it did when first installed which shows that it is better to face things than put them off.
Whereas Andy Murray finds it difficult to impossible to accept that he is part of Great Britain as well as being a proud Scotsman, Eleanor had Union Jack on her back and red white and blue fingernails. It was her interview afterwards which led to my hoping the media will take her up and that she will win the Sports personality of the year. I am pleased to say that she did make to the national news along with one of most amazing escapes of all time.
A young family Mark Baxter and his wife Beverley were walking at Durham River Chester Le Street, the park land and children's playground next to the cricket ground, with their two daughters Leona aged 3 years and older sister about five years and the family dog splashing about the water left after the rain storm. Suddenly the three year old and her dog disappeared having been sucked into an uncovered and unmarked storm drain. Her father attempted to get her out but he had disappeared. Then in a moment of extraordinary inspiration he worked out that the drain would go straight to river and rushed off to its bank some seventy metres away and was able to see her coat being swept along then realising that it was his daughter face down, he jumped in, started to get the water out of her lungs before getting back to bank. His wife gave her first aid as paramedic, police and fire service arrived. The girl was taken to the North Durham Hospital where she was treated for shock and for bruising but by late evening she was seeking ice cream and chocolate and her relieved parents were telling the world how lucky they were. I wondered what were the odds of survival in that situation in terms of girl being caught in the drain underground, of if her father had not and the inspiration to get to the river and work out the direction the drain might be going to the water. What could have happens is difficult to think about although such tragedies occur every day somewhere.
It was the one bright piece of news in the evening regional news and sport programmes which concentrated on the flooding of Morpeth and other parts of Northumberland which has been the worst for over half a century as in one of the quirks of nature the water bearing clouds suddenly came to a halt over the town and wider areas unleashing over a month's rain in a few hours over already saturated ground. Again the possessions of a lifetime were destroyed but fortunately no lives were lost in this area as a consequence
The regional TV programmes also reminded of the statements made over the weekend my Newcastle Football Club and on behalf of Kevin Keegan to which was added the news that two other coaches and close associates had also left the club, fuelling the anger of supporters and where the momentum for a boycott appears to have gained ground and for standing in protest outside. A spokesperson for the managing company said there had been no approach to buy the club which suggests that unless the owners have some rabbit to pull out of the hat then their will be a test of will but hopefully not of strength on Saturday. I assume there will be a significant police presence to prevent crowds forming outside the ground unless they are entering with a ticket, but which in turn runs the risk of those bent in creating trouble doing so elsewhere in the city. It is a very worrying situation.
Yesterday I had seen again a film about the power of belief called Constantine and the Cross. This 1962 film feature Cornel Wilde and Belinda Lee and had its moments of engagement as long as one made no attempt to check its historical accuracy. The film focuses on the battle for power after the Empire was split between to rulers with Caesars as their deputies and how Constantine was converted to Christianity after his mother had done so. It also has a loyal friend Hadrian whose also falls for a Christian girl who may have been slave or a member of a minor family but there is no happy ending for them. Constantine triumphs and purges Rome of its nastier elements, for a time.
In contrast Alexander the Great viewed a couple of days before and which starred Richard Burton (unconvincing as a young man) nevertheless had a fine script giving the film gravitas. There was a balance on intrigue and on relationships rather than action and spectacle, as with Shakespeare's work which I liked but not the critics. The film made in the mid fifties did get slightly better reviews than Oliver Stone's 2005 epic which lasted nearly three hours. I enjoyed both.
I also enjoyed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind which I saw five years ago at a Cineworld in Chelsea and was again shown last night as I also watch Blue Velvet which I had not seen previously, occasionally flipping over to New York in the hope that Murray would find the mental strength and courage to break out of the crushing play of his opponent in he final of the USA open. Federer sense he could get his number one spot back and was without mercy.
I was much less critical again than the critics about Confessions. They disliked this first Directorial black comedy satirical film by George Clooney and which starred Sam Rockwell as the young man making the confessions and Drew Barrymore as his long term girl friend and Julia Roberts as a Marta Hari. Most did not like the plot or the script. Basically I believe most did not understand the psychology and most Americans would not appreciate the underlying self criticism of the American illusion. Sam Rockwell plays a creative who decides to use his talents on a series of brainless money making games shows. The first we knew in Britain as Blind date with Cilla Black. Three young people of same sex are interviewed by someone of the opposite sex who asks them three stupid questions and from their answers one is picked to have a blind date, someone a inexpensive local meal out, but more often an expensive few days in some exciting place. Usually they have a difficult time and cannot wait for the date to end, although I believe there was one wedding. In the film the producing team are told they can make the show as stupid as they like but warned that they will be sent to prison if they included anything which Uncle Sam then regards as un-American.
It is at this point that George Clooney enters the film as a special squad of state assassins and recruits Sam after claiming authorship for the idea of sending the couples on romantic trips and adventures around the world as cover for Sam acting as chaperone with the film crew to do "jobs" for his country. He is helped in these activities by Julia Roberts.
The need to find new shows is constant and as Sam progresses in popularity and double life he creates an earlier form of American Idol and the X factor except without the talent and restricted just to the worst would be performers willing to humiliate themselves on TV for the enjoyment of the masses. It at this point that a double agent comes to the fore and the principals set about trying to eliminate each other so Sam has a breakdown and goes into hiding before working out who the villain of villains is. The films has a kind of happy ever after ending and to add spice the story is put about that the take was not entirely fictitious. As with Blue Velvet it is intended to be taken at various levels. I loved the idea of the game show in which three old men review their lives and the one who does blow his brains out with the loaded revolvers given to them wins the prize of a new fridge or washing machine.
The critics were much more enthusiastic about Blue Velvet because it was about the diversity of human sexual behaviour, albeit of the darker and nastier kind and had lots of arty and surreal sequences which I thought pretentious. My interest was with the female star whose voice reminded of Ingrid Bergman so I played a hunch and looked her up on Wikipedia which confirmed that Isabella Fiorella Ellettra Rossellini was indeed a daughter of Ingrid and the Italian film director Roberto who was married three times. She was brought up in Rome. Santa Marinella and Paris before coming to New York when 19 years where she worked at Finch College as a translator, a ring master in a circus and for RAI TV. She appears to be one of those children of famous/infamous parents who do not come into their own until the death of the parent/parents.
She married Martin Scorsese 1979-1982, then a German ,model and later had relationships with David Lynch the film director of Blue Velvet, Gary Oldman and George Mosher. She also became a model being photographed by some of the best of the day and at one point was the front face for Lancome which she held for 14 years until on reaching 40 she was sacked for a younger person. Apart from the notoriety created by Blue Velvet she appeared in a number of films and TV series gaining minor award and nominations for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In later life she became involved with various good causes and became a US Ambassador for UNICEF although she continues to hold joint citizenship. She remains part of large extended family as her father had three wives and in addition to her twin sis she also has a half sister from her mother's first marriage.. What I like about her most is that she wrote a book entitled my father lived to be 100, now what am I calling the book about my mother?
I went out walking in the morning as the rain had stopped for a day as bought a Daily Mail or a copy of the Culture Club record which was great value as it contained a number of hit songs. Visit to the bank for statement and cash and then to Asda just for milk as I bought grapes and strawberries at the station greengrocers completed the trip. I decided to start chasing up things outstanding and with day's task the free AOL Car Warehouse laptop which had clearly been lost between the various interests involved. It should arrive in less than two weeks. I had ordered some black ink cartridges over the weekend and the garage door is now working as it did when first installed which shows that it is better to face things than put them off.
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