I had planned to commence the reading of a book about the political involvement of King George VI a week ago but became so affected by the events in Cairo and Egypt that it will now be next Wednesday at the earliest. I have used today in a workmanlike way getting up todate in the artwork project and tomorrow I shall attend to outstanding correspondence, financial matters and plans for two trips one in March and the other in April.
Events in Egypt have reached what appears to be stalemate with the President refusing to step down and to give up any powers according to one report in which he has said to have lost his temper when this was suggested to him by his long time closest associate and now the new Vice President. He has not stepped down as head of the his political party as was rumoured although the rest of its executive committee has resigned including his son. The banks have reopened for the most past although the maximum amount that can be withdrawn is fixed and Traffic in Egypt has reached returned to grid lock which suggests that the looting and need for street checks has been withdrawn. I always thought this was a stunt by the ruling autocracy and even the burning down of the main Party building could have been carried out by the Party to blacken the uprising and with sympathy from the middle roaders. Meetings have taken place with many if not all of the main opposition groups and this is said to have included the banned Muslim Brotherhood. The Square appeared full again today including the presence of more women and children with more organisation of food and facilities. However the barricades at entrance roads have been maintained including at one area which results that an important government building cannot still be used. Panorama BBC 1 has a 30 minute special which I shall watch tonight.
BBC Panorama provided a commendable visual summary this evening. There was some additional information with interviews most reflecting the protestors but not exclusively. A Mubarak adviser put forward a reasonable case for stability, the problem being the nature of the regime which clearly cannot be trusts although there are signs of some progress. Among the position meriting attention is that recent deaths is out at 11 plus one journalist and at least 100 journalists have been held for a time, attacked or threatened, The programme claims that the State TV was the instigator of the attacks. The report attended a meeting with the leading opposition figure and then nine of those attending were arrested. One a cardiologist who was featured in the film before has been released and allowed to return to the Square. The army did send phone texts to the demonstration organisers say they were there to protect them but then took no action when the Mubarak mob attacked them. An attempt to contact the family of one of those killed was prevented by secret police who were in evidence in the area of the house and presumable had been ordered to do likewise around the homes of all those killed to prevent contact with journalists. The most moving aspect was the contribution of two beautiful and education young women, sisters training to be doctors and who father works abroad in order too maintain the family in their middle class home and environment. The young women although fearful of what will happened if the revolution fails, have returned to the Square despite the events over the weekend. Pro Mubarak people had torn off what they had written from a placard which they turn over to show what they had written again in English, saying that they will return until there is regime change. It is evident that the two young women are as far from Muslim extremism as the far right in in UK and the USA. We all have a responsibility not to let those young women down.
I have watched five films over the past three days, St Valentine Day’s Massacre, the High and the Mighty, Fort Apache and True Grit and a silly film about a travel guide in Greece which I watched because of some splendid scenery and the forgot the title which I have failed to find despite several checks on the Internet.
I enjoyed watching one football match on Saturday lunch time when Sunderland went to Stoke and then listened to part of what became the most exciting and unusual game between Newcastle and Arsenal which again made the club international headlines although this time for the best of reasons. I watched an excellent Superbowl today but the less said about the rest of the one day series between England and Australia the better. I enjoyed the first of this seasons six nations Rugby Union ,match between England and Wales at Cardiff on Friday and found the much heralded class between Chelsea and Liverpool yesterday evening, boring.
I enjoyed as usual Lark Rise to Candleford on Sunday evening and was disappointed to find that the Wallander was re run although I continued to watch with attention. Over the past two weeks I have enjoyed Michael Portillo’s Travels with last week five journeys in Scotland bringing back many good memories. I recorded for a quick run through to Performances and mark allocation of Dancing on Ice and did similarly with the latest audition of American Idol. I watched the third episode of Boardwalk Empire and the last part of the daily antique games show at lunchtime as well as the Sunday Roadshow.
I have returned to morning Swims with a sauna as well as a swim although missed out on Saturday morning and having reached 101 games at level 1 chess again I unintentionally wiped out the record as a I though I was erasing the second level record.
I have enjoyed some good food.
So I cannot hope to cover everything in grater depth in just one writing so will spread to a sport and general and to films or some fo both as my mood and fancy now takes me.
I begin with the weather as it has been cold and wet over the weekend with more of the same forecast but hopefully the snow is restricted to Scotland. I eventually found out that my order for Snow grippers has been delayed because it is said that the on line credit card number was rejected. I have now provided one online which went through and will and see how long it is before they arrive.
I cannot remember if I have recorded that towards the end of last week I had an unpleasant disturbing waking dream which churned me up and if it has been mentioned then this demonstrates how much it affected me. I do have waking dreams several times most nights and usually understand their cause and significance. They are often about loss and rejection and most of all about being lost thinking I no where I am and that I get to where I want and then finding it is not so.
I am eating a hot breakfast again on a regular basis, mostly a bacon roll but occasionally Sausage and Mash (5 for £4) or an all day breakfast (£1.57). The wholemeal bacon roll with two thin slices about 50p , I had the second of the gammon shanks yesterday which with the one the week before was better value than the lamb but still only provided one meal compared to a gammon joint for the same price. I will have the lamb shank next Sunday and then go back to previous choices for the following Sunday although with the quantity of meals in the freezer this is likely to be three lamb cutlets. Overt the first two weeks of the re stock i have enjoyed the spicy chicken wings, used one of the double chicken breasts from the earlier purchase for a curry and from a second pair for a stir fry. Last Saturday was Chinese Food Day when I enjoyed one tray with two dishes for lunch and the other for the evening meal using some of the Chinese starters with Indian held over since Christmas, using the spicy sauce for the lunch meal. I did over do the cans of coke because of the gammon yesterday and have been average more than ne can a day recently together with making custard fir the bananas as afters. I have enjoyed some pears recently and the occasional melon slices. The grapes have become more and more expenses. I enjoyed a prawn salad yesterday evening to day had individual Quiche from Morrison’s (£1) with the salad which included a mixture of Feta cheese and onion with black olives, some ham pieces with pasta shells, rice with more black olives and chicken pieces and a new salad which includes strips of bacon more chicken and something else I have yet worked out what.
Now for a film. A remake of True Grit created by the Coen Brothers has been released in British Cinemas this week and like the original is in the running for Oscars. John Wayne achieved his only Oscar success with the film given more as reward for his long career rather than the specific acting performance which should have gone to the 14 year old Teenage daughter of a murdered rancher played by Kim Darby then aged in her early twenties. The girl lived with her father, mother, younger brother and baby sister and ranch hand circ 1880. Another rancher has killed her father, stolen cash in hand, a couple of gold coins and a horse. She goes into the local town to arrange for father to have a better coffin grave stone and sent back to the ranch and to find get the Sheriff to go after the murderer.
Bearing in mind she is only fourteen she appears confident, feisty, determined and courageous. She does a deal with Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) to go after the man for $100 with a down payment of $25. He is a Federal Marshal able to travel in Indian reservation territory where as the local Sherriff has no jurisdiction. She then talks to the local horse dealer forcing him to pay for four geldings sold as breeding horses to her father and also compensation for other items involved in the actions of the murders, making a total of $300. She had threatened him with her lawyer as she also threatened Wayne when he started to renege on the deal between them.
The girl stays a local rooming house where also arrive Texas Ranger Le Boeuf played by the sing songwriter Glen Campbell. He plays a straight role although sings the opening ballad. The music for the film was composed by Elmer Bernstein. Campbell is also after the man whose killed her father who killed a Texan politician whose family has employed the Ranger. He is a rival with Rooster for the reward money but agree to join forces, including that they should make the venture alone when the girl insists in travelling with them. They have a lead that their man has participated in a railway hold up with a gang whose leader is someone Rooster has been after for sometime. This is Luck Ned Pepper who survived being show by Rooster in the past. The man is played by a young Robert Duvall. Also a member of the gang is Moon played another young star in the making, Dennis Hopper.
After several days they plan to spend the night in a cabin only to find it occupied by two horse thieves (one is Hopper) waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive for the fresh horses the two have stolen. Eventually these two die, one at the hands of the other, and two of the rest of the gang of four but not the two most wanted men. The four men are brought into the nearest town for reward and burial.
The trio then go off after the rest and the girl accidentally comes across her father’s filler as she goes to wash in a near river when they have camped for the night. The exciting climax results in her father’s gun misfiring and in her capture until rescued by Wayne and Campbell and they capture her father’s killer. However Wayne becomes involved in a shoot out with the other man and three of his henchmen and is then trapped under his dead horse. Campbell is the overcome by the remaining killer and in the struggle the girl falls into a pit with lethal snakes. She is then rescued as first the father killer is himself gunned down. However Campbell who has been shot dies after helping Wayne to get her out fo the pit. Wayne then has to d ride and drive fast as the girl is bitten by one fo the snakes. He gets her to the nearest town to her home where she remains very ill for some time. Wayne then finds that the lawyer she talked about is real when he calls to settle the hire and also to give a bonus for saving her life. He then visits her when she is still recovering from the broken arm sustained in the fall and she shows him the family plot. She offers him a place which he says he may well take up, in time.
The film is based on a novel by Charles Portis published only a year before. The novel is in the form of the girl who has become an old woman recounting her story. La Boeuf survives his head injury in the novel. In the book the girl has to have her arm amputated. Rooster is supposed to be 40 years of age in the book with Wayne aged and looking is 61. The book is set in winter to communicate a harsher reality than the autumn of the film. While the film does follow the place names of the book it shows a different environment. In addition tot eh remake there was a sequel in which Wayne is the centre of attention called Rooster Cogburn
Although Kim Darby came to international fame as a result of the film, her subsequent career in film and TV never brought her the same attention. She married five times, some briefly as well as known to have affairs with two known actors. Her last film role was in 2007 (Dead Letters) and on TV in an X files production in 1999. She continues to make guest celebrity appearances.
Events in Egypt have reached what appears to be stalemate with the President refusing to step down and to give up any powers according to one report in which he has said to have lost his temper when this was suggested to him by his long time closest associate and now the new Vice President. He has not stepped down as head of the his political party as was rumoured although the rest of its executive committee has resigned including his son. The banks have reopened for the most past although the maximum amount that can be withdrawn is fixed and Traffic in Egypt has reached returned to grid lock which suggests that the looting and need for street checks has been withdrawn. I always thought this was a stunt by the ruling autocracy and even the burning down of the main Party building could have been carried out by the Party to blacken the uprising and with sympathy from the middle roaders. Meetings have taken place with many if not all of the main opposition groups and this is said to have included the banned Muslim Brotherhood. The Square appeared full again today including the presence of more women and children with more organisation of food and facilities. However the barricades at entrance roads have been maintained including at one area which results that an important government building cannot still be used. Panorama BBC 1 has a 30 minute special which I shall watch tonight.
BBC Panorama provided a commendable visual summary this evening. There was some additional information with interviews most reflecting the protestors but not exclusively. A Mubarak adviser put forward a reasonable case for stability, the problem being the nature of the regime which clearly cannot be trusts although there are signs of some progress. Among the position meriting attention is that recent deaths is out at 11 plus one journalist and at least 100 journalists have been held for a time, attacked or threatened, The programme claims that the State TV was the instigator of the attacks. The report attended a meeting with the leading opposition figure and then nine of those attending were arrested. One a cardiologist who was featured in the film before has been released and allowed to return to the Square. The army did send phone texts to the demonstration organisers say they were there to protect them but then took no action when the Mubarak mob attacked them. An attempt to contact the family of one of those killed was prevented by secret police who were in evidence in the area of the house and presumable had been ordered to do likewise around the homes of all those killed to prevent contact with journalists. The most moving aspect was the contribution of two beautiful and education young women, sisters training to be doctors and who father works abroad in order too maintain the family in their middle class home and environment. The young women although fearful of what will happened if the revolution fails, have returned to the Square despite the events over the weekend. Pro Mubarak people had torn off what they had written from a placard which they turn over to show what they had written again in English, saying that they will return until there is regime change. It is evident that the two young women are as far from Muslim extremism as the far right in in UK and the USA. We all have a responsibility not to let those young women down.
I have watched five films over the past three days, St Valentine Day’s Massacre, the High and the Mighty, Fort Apache and True Grit and a silly film about a travel guide in Greece which I watched because of some splendid scenery and the forgot the title which I have failed to find despite several checks on the Internet.
I enjoyed watching one football match on Saturday lunch time when Sunderland went to Stoke and then listened to part of what became the most exciting and unusual game between Newcastle and Arsenal which again made the club international headlines although this time for the best of reasons. I watched an excellent Superbowl today but the less said about the rest of the one day series between England and Australia the better. I enjoyed the first of this seasons six nations Rugby Union ,match between England and Wales at Cardiff on Friday and found the much heralded class between Chelsea and Liverpool yesterday evening, boring.
I enjoyed as usual Lark Rise to Candleford on Sunday evening and was disappointed to find that the Wallander was re run although I continued to watch with attention. Over the past two weeks I have enjoyed Michael Portillo’s Travels with last week five journeys in Scotland bringing back many good memories. I recorded for a quick run through to Performances and mark allocation of Dancing on Ice and did similarly with the latest audition of American Idol. I watched the third episode of Boardwalk Empire and the last part of the daily antique games show at lunchtime as well as the Sunday Roadshow.
I have returned to morning Swims with a sauna as well as a swim although missed out on Saturday morning and having reached 101 games at level 1 chess again I unintentionally wiped out the record as a I though I was erasing the second level record.
I have enjoyed some good food.
So I cannot hope to cover everything in grater depth in just one writing so will spread to a sport and general and to films or some fo both as my mood and fancy now takes me.
I begin with the weather as it has been cold and wet over the weekend with more of the same forecast but hopefully the snow is restricted to Scotland. I eventually found out that my order for Snow grippers has been delayed because it is said that the on line credit card number was rejected. I have now provided one online which went through and will and see how long it is before they arrive.
I cannot remember if I have recorded that towards the end of last week I had an unpleasant disturbing waking dream which churned me up and if it has been mentioned then this demonstrates how much it affected me. I do have waking dreams several times most nights and usually understand their cause and significance. They are often about loss and rejection and most of all about being lost thinking I no where I am and that I get to where I want and then finding it is not so.
I am eating a hot breakfast again on a regular basis, mostly a bacon roll but occasionally Sausage and Mash (5 for £4) or an all day breakfast (£1.57). The wholemeal bacon roll with two thin slices about 50p , I had the second of the gammon shanks yesterday which with the one the week before was better value than the lamb but still only provided one meal compared to a gammon joint for the same price. I will have the lamb shank next Sunday and then go back to previous choices for the following Sunday although with the quantity of meals in the freezer this is likely to be three lamb cutlets. Overt the first two weeks of the re stock i have enjoyed the spicy chicken wings, used one of the double chicken breasts from the earlier purchase for a curry and from a second pair for a stir fry. Last Saturday was Chinese Food Day when I enjoyed one tray with two dishes for lunch and the other for the evening meal using some of the Chinese starters with Indian held over since Christmas, using the spicy sauce for the lunch meal. I did over do the cans of coke because of the gammon yesterday and have been average more than ne can a day recently together with making custard fir the bananas as afters. I have enjoyed some pears recently and the occasional melon slices. The grapes have become more and more expenses. I enjoyed a prawn salad yesterday evening to day had individual Quiche from Morrison’s (£1) with the salad which included a mixture of Feta cheese and onion with black olives, some ham pieces with pasta shells, rice with more black olives and chicken pieces and a new salad which includes strips of bacon more chicken and something else I have yet worked out what.
Now for a film. A remake of True Grit created by the Coen Brothers has been released in British Cinemas this week and like the original is in the running for Oscars. John Wayne achieved his only Oscar success with the film given more as reward for his long career rather than the specific acting performance which should have gone to the 14 year old Teenage daughter of a murdered rancher played by Kim Darby then aged in her early twenties. The girl lived with her father, mother, younger brother and baby sister and ranch hand circ 1880. Another rancher has killed her father, stolen cash in hand, a couple of gold coins and a horse. She goes into the local town to arrange for father to have a better coffin grave stone and sent back to the ranch and to find get the Sheriff to go after the murderer.
Bearing in mind she is only fourteen she appears confident, feisty, determined and courageous. She does a deal with Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) to go after the man for $100 with a down payment of $25. He is a Federal Marshal able to travel in Indian reservation territory where as the local Sherriff has no jurisdiction. She then talks to the local horse dealer forcing him to pay for four geldings sold as breeding horses to her father and also compensation for other items involved in the actions of the murders, making a total of $300. She had threatened him with her lawyer as she also threatened Wayne when he started to renege on the deal between them.
The girl stays a local rooming house where also arrive Texas Ranger Le Boeuf played by the sing songwriter Glen Campbell. He plays a straight role although sings the opening ballad. The music for the film was composed by Elmer Bernstein. Campbell is also after the man whose killed her father who killed a Texan politician whose family has employed the Ranger. He is a rival with Rooster for the reward money but agree to join forces, including that they should make the venture alone when the girl insists in travelling with them. They have a lead that their man has participated in a railway hold up with a gang whose leader is someone Rooster has been after for sometime. This is Luck Ned Pepper who survived being show by Rooster in the past. The man is played by a young Robert Duvall. Also a member of the gang is Moon played another young star in the making, Dennis Hopper.
After several days they plan to spend the night in a cabin only to find it occupied by two horse thieves (one is Hopper) waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive for the fresh horses the two have stolen. Eventually these two die, one at the hands of the other, and two of the rest of the gang of four but not the two most wanted men. The four men are brought into the nearest town for reward and burial.
The trio then go off after the rest and the girl accidentally comes across her father’s filler as she goes to wash in a near river when they have camped for the night. The exciting climax results in her father’s gun misfiring and in her capture until rescued by Wayne and Campbell and they capture her father’s killer. However Wayne becomes involved in a shoot out with the other man and three of his henchmen and is then trapped under his dead horse. Campbell is the overcome by the remaining killer and in the struggle the girl falls into a pit with lethal snakes. She is then rescued as first the father killer is himself gunned down. However Campbell who has been shot dies after helping Wayne to get her out fo the pit. Wayne then has to d ride and drive fast as the girl is bitten by one fo the snakes. He gets her to the nearest town to her home where she remains very ill for some time. Wayne then finds that the lawyer she talked about is real when he calls to settle the hire and also to give a bonus for saving her life. He then visits her when she is still recovering from the broken arm sustained in the fall and she shows him the family plot. She offers him a place which he says he may well take up, in time.
The film is based on a novel by Charles Portis published only a year before. The novel is in the form of the girl who has become an old woman recounting her story. La Boeuf survives his head injury in the novel. In the book the girl has to have her arm amputated. Rooster is supposed to be 40 years of age in the book with Wayne aged and looking is 61. The book is set in winter to communicate a harsher reality than the autumn of the film. While the film does follow the place names of the book it shows a different environment. In addition tot eh remake there was a sequel in which Wayne is the centre of attention called Rooster Cogburn
Although Kim Darby came to international fame as a result of the film, her subsequent career in film and TV never brought her the same attention. She married five times, some briefly as well as known to have affairs with two known actors. Her last film role was in 2007 (Dead Letters) and on TV in an X files production in 1999. She continues to make guest celebrity appearances.
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