2293 Animated and CGI family Films

Of four computer animated family films in 3D experienced over recent months I vote that Rio is the best because it satisfied the childhood wish that animation should be colourful, engaging and different. The film is full of standard characters, heroes and villains with whom young people can either identify or condemn without having to give great consideration, allowing them to wholehearted give in to their feelings.

Blu is a Blue Macaw who before he has learned to walk is captured in the Brazilian Rain Forest close to the capital city and flown to the USA to be sold. However before reaching its destination, the vehicle is involved in a jolting stop, the rear of the vehicles open and the single container holding the macaw drops out unbeknown to the diver and is found by a geeky young girl who on discovering the bird immediately adopts and is allowed to do so without question from parents and authorities, presumably because the thieves and importers did not report the loss,

The girl grows up as the owner/manager of the local book store with her companion the bird who she treats as a best friend. The bird has not learned to fly but is agile in terms of walking and climbing. One day out of the blue (pun intended) a geeky young man arrives from the Brazil endangered specie protection unit having discovered the existence of the male macaw and wanting to unite the bird with the only surviving blue female bird which was temporarily in the care of the unit. He offers to transport the owner and the bird to Brazil and back. She initially says no but the baddies take an interest she agrees.

In Brazil while Blu is immediately attracted to Jewel, the female blue macaw she is independent and seeking to escape back to her free world. She is scathing on learning that Blu does not know how to fly and this disability is a key issue throughout the rest of the film.
The bird thieves and exporters who were originally responsible for Blu going to the USA are still at work and in the process of completing a new consignment aided by a street boy and a vicious rogue Cockatoo who participates in the capturing and acts as a terrorising jailor.

Blu and Jewel are captured and placed in chains. Her owner friend Linda and the sanctuary manager Tulio print thousands of flyers in attempt to find the missing birds, and go on a desperate personal search. The blue macaws still chained escape into the rain forest. The macaws meet up with two bird friends Blu established arrival and offer to take the pair to meet a salivating bloodhound garage watch dog Luiz with access to a metal saw. Meanwhile the bird snatch gang have approached a thieving gang of chimpanzee type of creature to locate the blue macaws,

Free for their chains the blue macaws are taken to a pre Carnival party where they are attacked by the chimps and Jewel is captured. The street boy has second thoughts about that he has done and takes Linda and Tulio to the hide out but find the place deserted, They learn that the birds are being taken to the airport but because of the Carnival in a mock float has been created to enable them to progress through the capital as part of the procession. The street boy has exchanged a vehicle belonging to Tulio for a motor bike in order to get though the crowds and then the due dress as carnival participants with Linda selected to stand at the top of a float as the star attraction. This provides her with a view of the float ahead carrying Jewel and with Blu and his friends also on the track of the enemy.

All the birds are captured and despite a hectic chase by the float conveying Linda and Tulio, the thieves are able to take off in plane with all the birds. However Blu uses his skills to break out of the container and free all the birds who then release the loading bay in mid air and they all escape except Blu who unable to fly elects to remain on the plane until he releases that Jewel is injured and cannot fly. He therefore leaps off the plane and rescues Jewel and realises the freedom of flying for the first time. The Cockatoo Nigel had an unpleasant experiences in which he loses his feather as the plane crashes and the gang descended to ground by various means where they are captured and sent to jail

In the final scene Linda and Tulio are together running the rescue centre with the Blue and Jewel free to fly the skies by using the centre as a secured base with their friends. There some original songs and tunes created for the show.

Rango was awarded the best animated film Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards and has a Johnny Depp voice over as a pet Chameleon who rather like Blu is travelling from one destination to another when an accident results in finding himself in an unexpected location (he falls off the roof of his owner’s car). On the road in the desert he finds an Armadillo (Alfred Molina) who is on a quest to seek the mystical spirit of the West. He is given directions on a nearby town where he can find water with water being a key issue in the film.

Rango has an early confrontation with Bad Bill (Ray Winston) until a hawk chases the man off and then turns its attention to Rango who unintentionally kills the hawk with whom he had a earlier confrontation while making his way across the desert to the town. The town officials are so pleased with this result that Rango is appointed Sheriff although the populace is concerned that without the hawk, they are at the mercy of Gunslinger Rattlesnake Jake.

Before reaching the town Rango has met an Iguana called Beans played by Isla Fisher who guided him into the town and expresses concern on finding out that the town’s water supply is kept in the bank because it is running out. She asks Rango to investigate the situation. Later Rango makes an unwitting mistake giving directions to a trio of creatures for the location of the bank and they steal the water supply overnight, Rango organises a posse and they discover the bank manager dead from drowning. There is a protracted chase between the posse and the robbers and their friends until they discovered the water stolen water container is empty. The thieves are brought back to town for trial but the whereabouts of the water remains unknown.

Rango then learns that the Mayor has been buying all the land around the town. The Mayor says that his purchases are part of a plan to build a new town but his story is challenged with the result that the Mayor brings rattlesnake Jake into town (Bill Knighy) who is able to demonstrate that Rango was not the killer of the hawk but the death had been accidental. Disgraced before the towns people Rango is driven off into the desert on his own.

Rango then meets the Spirit of the West who inspires Rango by saying that no man can walk out of his own story. This of course is not true and should have only gone as far as saying that no man should walk out of his story unless with good cause or words to that effect. There are a number of situations where inaction, walk away, accepting circumstances, is appropriate and at times heroic.

Rango with help eventually finds that the Mayor is the villain for having cut off the town’s water supply diverting for the construction of the new town. There a duel between Rango and Rattlesnake during which supporters of the robbers attempts to free them. However Bean is captured by Rattlesnake and forces Rango to surrender but Rango finds a way to break free and in turn Rattlesnake discovering he has been used by the Mayor takes him into the desert for revenge. With the water supply reconnected Rango is recognised as a hero by the town again.

Despicable Me is another computer animated 3D film with a kind of Scrooge subject. A super villain uses his suburban home as the base for his partner (Russell Brand) to use thousands of yellow minions to prepare their schemes in subterranean workings. The super villain is beaten by a rival to stealing the Great Pyramid of Giza and his vanity threatened the super villain decides to embark on a long standing  wished for project to shrink the size of the moon. This plan has been long opposed by his mother (Julie Andrews) as foolhardy as well as costly. In order to finance the project he approaches the Bank of Evil for a loan which is offered conditional upon the villain gaining access to the Shrink Ray first.

The supervillain and team are successful in the mission only to have it stolen from them by the rival who took the Great Pyramid. Three orphan children are required by the orphanage to earn their keep by making and selling cookies door to door and while observing the secure compound of the rival he sees that the girls are able to enter to sell their merchandise.  He therefore devises a plan which first involves adopting the girls only to find they quickly become demanding, trusting and at an times endearing handful.

After using the girls to get the ray back he decides to take them to a local theme park as a reward with the intention of leaving them there but enjoys the day and to his own surprise takes them back to his home. He agrees to attend the concert at the Ballet school in which the girls are going to perform.

The villain then goes to the Bank only to be refused discovering that his rival is in fact the son of the Bank owner.  Depressed the villain is brightened up when he girls offer to give him their savings and he is able to go ahead with the plan and goes to the moon by rocket and shrinks the moon returning to earth in time to attend the concert. Unfortunately he does not make it and then discovers that the rival has kidnapped the girls. He will trade the girls for the moon but reneges and flies off in a rocket with the girls and the moon, unaware that the shrink effect will quickly wear off.

The villain, his assistant and team manage to rescue the girls from the space craft just before it explodes as the moon reaches is true size and leaving the rival marooned on the dead planet. The villain readopts the girls who perform the routine he missed with his mother Brand and the minion also watching.

It was difficult to appreciate the target audience for Despicable Me other than young girl girls yet the film banked $543 million on an investment of $69m ($474m) and is therefore not surprising that a sequel is due in 2013.  Rio came next making $390m more than its budget while Rango where the outlay was the highest $135m failed to double the investment with a take of $245m ($110m). I was not surprised that Spy Kids 2 at a cost of $38m only grossed $120m (82M)

I found Spy Kids 2 3D the least enjoyable and failed to pay close attention. The film mixes real adults and children with computer aided graphics and starts off on the premise, (I have not seen Spy Kids 1) that the  USA Security Services have established and trained children as James  Bonds style special agents. The second premises are that two sets of children compete against each other for assignments egged on by their respective parents. When  the precocious brat of the President sabotages a thrill ride at a theme park to grab attention for herself, the two sets of children  compete to rescue although given  the waste of  resources  I started off by wondering why bother and hoped the President would be censured for misusing national resources.

The parent of the obnoxious boy agent manages to fix the computer system to get himself appointed the new head of the service instead of the parent (Antonio Banderas) of the nice spy kids and the new head also takes out of service Banderas son after blaming the boy for something his own son has done. The problem is that the son’s sister has a crush on their effective enemy.

The reason for the double dealing and subterfuge is a device which shuts down all electronic devices the possession of which enables the holder to rule the world. The device is held and used by a mad scientist to protect the island where he lives and created miniaturised animals with a view to creating a market for these world wide for children in the form of miniature zoos. The problem is that he has become a prisoner within his own compound because of an earlier failure in which he got the process wrong and created super monster creatures which includes a flying pig.  In a spin off from one of the  Pirates of the Caribbean  films there are also aggressive  fighting skeletons ( although why is not explained) and this leads to both sets of spy children ending on the island as their power cuts out and with no communications except of a tracking device fitted to the tooth of the son of Banderas.

They have various adventures before Banderas and his father Ricardo Montalban set off to find their children not knowing that the island is cloaked so when the children get their the signal disappears. The children persuade the mad scientist to risk venturing out where because he created the creatures they do not attack him and the special cloaking device is switched off and destroyed. The spy boy’s sister realises at last the wickedness of the son of their rival and helps out to stop the boy and they all return to the USA.

The father becomes head of the service with the children reinstated and there is a final sequence over the credit which suggests a possible direction for the next episode.

2292 A British Boxing World Champ, Durham win at 40 40 cricket against Scotland, England Win Second test and Soccer Aid, Gymnasts and Rowers head tables and trophies

The week ahead is planned, in fact so are the weeks of the summer ahead but so much is dependent on the outcome of the visit to the Freeman’s hospital on Friday.

The weather continues to be glorious, not Mediterranean although I regret I could no longer cope with intense heat and yesterday I was out and about for the greater part of the day after having stayed up to watch Carl Froch knock out Lucien Bute the International Boxing federation super middle weight so called World title fight of Nottingham.

Professional Boxing has an established history of corruption, involvement of the Mafia and criminal dealings in general. There is money to be made by promoting Boxing events especially with the TV rights involved and through gambling which in turn leads to fighters being persuade to lose. There is also corruption of the officials hired to score events and to referee. There are also five competing bodies all claiming to put on World Title fights. The prize for these competitions apart from the contacted money with everyone getting their cut is gaudy belts,

The World Boxing Association (1962) is the oldest of the present four bodies which sanctions (licences bouts for an appropriate fee) and arose out of the National Boxing Association of the USA. The Association brands champions super if they hold two more of the weight titles from the four association competitions. Each Association has 18 World Champions or super champions according to weight with Minimum and Flyweight 105 lbs 48 kilos   109 lbs 49 kilos through to 200 lbs and 90.7 kilos and heavyweight which are over this amount of 14 stone and 4 lbs. You might therefore conclude that at anyone time there could be 72 World Champions topping bills around the World. In fact there is likely to be more than this because sometimes titles are disputed and the subject of legal and Association wrangle. The WBA has 1 vacant title at present, seven super champions and  can be regarded as a  genuine International body with only five of the weights held by a USA citizen with one of these Andre Ward mentioned last night as having won the  recent Super six contest depriving  Froch of his  previous World Champion Title. Ward now holds titles recognised by three Associations and is the obvious next person Froch should meet

I also have heard and possibly seen one other of their present champions Vladimir Klitschko is the recognised heavy weight title holder by four of the bodies with his brother recognised by the 5th.
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It is the International Boxing Federation (1983) which  presently recognises Karl Froch as Super Middleweight after his  victory against Bute and the only British fighter in their list with three from the USA, has been recognises heaving weight champion by the IBF since 2006. They have two champions since listed since 2009.

The World Boxing Council was established in 1963. They recognise Ward and also the brother of Vladimir as a separate heavyweight champion The IBO was founded in 199 and also recognises Vladimir and heavy weight champion. There is also the International Boxing association which awards titles. The European and International Boxing Unions are organisation which attempt to recognise and unify title competitions. The International bodies also sponsor similar competitions and titles for female boxers.

Froch is therefore the only recognised British champion at the present time. He was considered the underdog in the contest by some commentators in part because he had two previous defeats in his 30 professional fights whereas his opponent had nine and was regarded as someone who could take hard punching to his face and body. Some suggested however that he had been careful to fight primarily in his adopted home country of Canada and after the demolition he suffered he is unlikely to insist on having the contracted return bout if he lost. The undisputed British super champion title holder as this weight was Joe Calzaghe who has since retired.  The number of present and former British boxers known to me   are few with heavy weights Henry Cooper the best known along with Joe Bugner and Lennox Lewis, Ken Buchanon   at lightweight, Freddie Mills, Randolph Turpin, Chick Caldewood, Chris Finnegan and John Conteh Light Heavyweight, Lloyd Honeghan at Welter, Terry Downs and Alan Minter at Middle, Pat Cowdell at superfly, Alan Rudkin at superfly  and  Terry Spinks, and Barry McQuigan at featherweight who was won of the commentators last light.

Amir Khan the Bolton British born boxer won the Olympic Lightweight Medal at the 2004 games when he was only 17. He should have become World BA and IBF light welter champion last year winning on points but being deprived of the title by a referring decision which was hotly contested. The winning boxer has since failed a drugs test before the planned rematch. As I have said the sport has been riddled with criminality of all kinds.

I only had one boxing match when a school boy which was stopped when I entered the Inter House boxing competition on a dare. It was suggested that I should join the Boxing club which I wanted to do but was refused by the aunties.

The Froch fight ended around one am and later in the day I set off to Chester Le Street for Durham’s 40 40 game against Scotland  fearing the worst after the team‘s bad defeat against Surrey in the same competition and the championship defeats against Somerset and Warwickshire all away from home. The wicket was closest to the Members pavilion so I could not sit over the wicked in the new stand development. I had been given the impression that an additional 2500 of fixed seating was going up in time for the one day game in July. There was no sign of this on arrival and the notice is no longer showing on the Club site.

It was  a busy morning beforehand making a salmon salad to eat during the match  together with cherries purchases  the day before and a flask of iced water. I had also prepared lunch with a lamb steak in the oven with the rest of the tomato and beans and three new potatoes in skins purchased as a pack for £1 at the second of two £40 supermarket visits within three days. This was to qualify for a £5 discount and involved quite a lot of stocking up including clothes washing when I discovered they are no longer selling non biological tabs but have switched to liquid sachets. I resisted most goodies apart from a stock of Pepsi Max although I will restrict my use. I also bought a pack of four cornet ices and so far have only enjoyed. I am determined to make the push to below 16.7 now that the weather has improved for the better.  I still need some fish resisting the rise in a new product to its full price having been at half for a couple of weeks. I did buy three large packs of prawns in shell which had been reduced from £4 to £3.

In addition to preparing food I made a visit just after opening to B and Q having send an announcement of 2 for 1 mix and match plants over the weekend. I had come to conclusion that apart from the broad beans the seedlings that have survived would not become productive plants before the end of season and certainly would not provide the kind of patio look I wanted. I was right that even by 10 am the best plants I had wanted had gone. I was after tomato plants and found only three that I considered worth buying. One originally £3.98 was marked for £2 and two marked at £1.84 each were available effectively at half price. I was more successful with salad peppers where I purchased a pack of six plants two each of Green red and yellow. The addition purchase which is regarded as a great experiment in a dozen corn of cob plants marked down for £1, possible because of the time and unlikelihood that the growth will be sufficient to achieve products. I also bought three flowering plants some red trailing impatiens, (busy lizzies), some red salvia and some yellow chrysanthemums.  The flowering plants were  placed on the tables  facing my desk window or  against the wall in the garage area so I can view from the kitchen when the  vehicle in parked outside. I carried out the plantings on returning from the cricket during breaks from watching Leveson on Monday morning.

Back to the cricket I was immediately struck by the strength of the sun and pleased | had remembered to use a strong sun blocker,  wore my hat and brought a jacket to put over my knees as I felt the heat burning through the fabric of my trousers. Durham had won the toss and elected to bowl. One bowler quickly demonstrated that irrespective of the condition he was in a class superior to everyone else. Graham Onion finished his 8 overs with one wicket for 27 runs, remarkable given the nature of the wicked as everyone else was find out. At the other end of the spectrum Liam Plunkett had rungs scored from his six overs with 1 wicket while young Borthwick 6 overs and 48 runs.

I readily admit that given the recent batting performances I speculated that even on a good wicket getting six runs an over for 40 overs would be too much and disaster threatened. Oh of so little faith for Stoneman 136 not out with 18 fours and 1 six broke the back of the runs required and the heart of several bowlers as together with captain Mustard  91 with 11 fours and 1 six the pair put on 207 runs  for the first wicket. It then looked that having reduced  the run rate required to 4 an over Stoneman and Stokes would  carefully achieve the remaining runs by taking singles without pushing the score by attempting big hits. Stokes could not resist one opportunity and at that point with some 20 runs to get I made a leisurely start back to the car. I had struggled  with the heat and tiredness during the match but overall the visit was satisfying. I had a brief sojourn before the interval in the Member’s lounge mainly to catch up with Test score which the announcer  failed to mention and to overhear if there were any comments about the situation at the club overall although on such a day there were few members inside. The one  exchange indicated  a sense of disbelief and shock about what was happening and  a need for surgical change.

Durham with two wins out of 3 are third in table in the second listed of three divisions of the 40 40 competition with Hampshire and Surrey three from three. It will be essential for Durham to start to win their away games as well as beating Surrey when they come of the Riverside if they are to get one of the semi final places open only to the team that heads the table of each division at the end of the 12 match series as well as the overall  best runner up from all three divisions.

There had been much other sport  over the weekend, too much to cope with and most had to be set aside. I did watch the Soccer Aid match from Manchester United’s ground on Sunday evening,. Soccer aid was the idea of  Robbie Williams and his friend and former footballer John Wilkes some four years ago as a means of raising substantial funds for good causes  on behalf of UNICEF and which enabled personalities from other spheres to play alongside former stars on the basis of an England Team versus the Rest of the World at Old Trafford in 2006. Interestingly the matches in 2010 and 2012 also attracted near full stadium crowds while the one held at Wembley stadium in 2008 achieved about half with 45000.

Some of those participating have become regulars Jamie Theaskston, Ben Shepherd, Gordon Ramsay while others on the list of soccer stars  include Gascoigne, Ferdinand (Les), Barnes, Robson, Shearer, Zola, Ginola, and Schmeichael. Maradonna, Dunga,  Paulo de Canio, Figo, Roy Keane, Crespo and Edwin De Saar, Tony Sheringham  and Kevin Phillips.  

Angus Deiton Sergei Federov,, Alistair Campbell, Craig David, Ricky Hatton Olly Murs, Mike Myers, Rupert Perry Jones, Michael Sheen,  Will Ferrell Joe Calzaghe are among the celebs. with coaching staff Sam Alladyce, Kenny Dalgleish, Terry Venables, Ruud Giulet, Gus Poyet, Harry Rednapp, Bryn Robson and Peter Reid having  roles.

Yesterday The Rest of the World went ahead with a brilliant intended goal by Serge Pizzorno an Italian background now British subject guitarist and song writer with the band Kasabian. England responded in the second half with three goals Sheringham, Phipps and  Phillips. More people watched Soccer Aid that the TV BAFTAS on BBC 1.

I started to watch Warrington’s  games  against Widnes on the  festival of Rugby Union when all 14 teams played local Derbies at the Manchester City Ground on Saturday 3 games and Sunday 4 Games. It was such a walkover as not to be interesting 68 point to 4 against a team which looks  destined for the lower division after  a series of calamities. Hull Kingston Roves beat Hull 32  30 in a reported close and exciting game, Wakefield beat Castleford, Leeds Bradford and the Catalan Dragons London Broncos. Salford had a narrow win over Huddersfield while leagues leaders Wigan smashed St Helens.

The top three teams have all lost 3 games Wigan points) Warrington (23) and Catalan Dragons (22) but they have a game in hand so does Hull beaten on Saturday with 19 points and Huddersfield is 4th with 20.

I watched Saturday’s practice of Monaco Grand Prix which is a curious race because no one can overtake so is the size of the track but there are frequent crashes because of driver  error especially when it rains. Starting at the front of the grid is therefore essential.

I cannot give the results because someone at the BBC’s has made a pigs ear of the results but can confirm that Lewis Hamilton is now 4th in the drivers championship with Jenson  7th  and still in the mix while their combined points leaves McLaren Mercedes second in the constructors table 108 points to Red Bull Renault on 145. Alonso head the drivers list with Vetted and Webber 2 and 3

The Rugby Union Cup took place at Twickenham and was on 3D TV Harlequins beat Leicester. Britain won three Gold’s and headed the medals table in the world rowing championships but Steve Red grave was far from happy, expecting much more. Britain male gymnasts beat Russia to take the Team Gold in the European championship an unthinkable result not so long ago.

I also managed to keep one eye on the second Test Match against the West Indies  at Nottingham which England won unexpectedly by nine wickets today. I say unexpectedly because England after being 300 for 3 only went to make 428 after Strauss was out for 141 and Petersen 90 with a stand close to 100 for the third wicket. Yorkshire’s Bairstow was given a short ball torrid time going for 4 after Roach and stopped  the no balling of the previous day.  However the Windies then collapsed on Sunday evening (while I sweated watching Durham) to 66 for 6 overnight. Today the last 4 out made 100 more leaving England to get 111 runs to win. Strauss made 45 before being dismissed falling just short of 200 runs for this match and two centuries in the first games proving the backbone batsman as well as excellent captain he has always been.

Alas just as I was ready to consider a walk in sunshine it clouded over marking the end  of the sun  with  cloud and some showers forecast for the week.

2291 Golden days of early summer and Israeli prisoners of war

The weather has become glorious for only the second time this year and on this occasion the sun has been up before eight and continues until the early evening getting as warm as the upper twenties past three days with the promise of more over the rest of this week and next. It has been a golden 24 hours in several respects. It can also been a time longing for what has been.

Thursday evening commenced with an enjoyable meal of roast beef and unlimited vegetables followed by an ice cream at the Britannia Cleadon. On leaving the bench tables seats were still being used on the grass by the car park as the dusk descended. On return I was tired but made the mistake of checking emails and saw a request for information about Ancient Greece and this led to a quick read of a book in the Classical series and remembering images from my visits to mainland in 1966 and late to Corfu and Rhodes which all covered a number of mini trips to classical sites and to several other islands. I continue to read from time to time Remember Greece by Dilys Powell and the plight of the present economy grieves me.

The news channels have concentrated on the future of Greece where Minister from Europe and the G8 have been issuing a stark warning to the Greek people  that unless they bite the  bullet and accept some form of major austerity plan there will be no alternative but for them to leave the Euro and revert to their former currency. I cannot see these proud people being bullied by International politicians whatever the consequences for them and repercussions for us and the rest of Europe and will again support parties who want to renegotiate a less damaging financial plan. The second General Election in a month is unlikely to provide the kind of result to achieve stability.

I believe Greece was the most important of the ancient civilizations for those of us Western Europe because of the belief in the essential freedom and political equality of all male citizens. True this excluded slaves who forms as much as a third of the population of some City States and in keeping with the Western tradition until the twentieth  century, women were excluded from the right to vote and their say, and were expected to manage homes, children and accept control by their fathers and their husbands. Clever women were able to exercise influence and indeed control but unofficially.

Given the way Athenian democracy has been replaced by representative democracy in which the rich, sometimes aristocratic, these days usually international corporations, their owners and executives control the representatives, it can be argued that the greater contribution of the Ancient Greeks has been in art with a number of plays still performed today by National and Classical Theatre companies - Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Electra, the Trojan Women and Lysistrata are known throughout the cultured world as they were in Greek cities three to four thousand years ago.

I have visited some of the sites of ancient amphitheatres and some of modern creations such as the Minack on the cliff top in Cornwall and in Shields although called the that amphitheatre on the sea front in South Shields where I walked to day it is circular with in two weeks there will be free evening concerts on Thursdays and Saturdays in June and entertainment for children during the summer school holidays.

I must confess to not having read the Greek Poets including Homer’s Iliad or the Odyssey but I am familiar with many of the adventure stories subsequently made into films and which emanated from ancient myths and legends going back in their time.

I have seen reproductions of the main music instrument the Lyre used to accompany the poetic songs and only recently made the connection between the Lyre and the Lyric.

The Greek statues are famous for being life like and beautiful to look at, and so are their buildings with the Parthenon former Temple of the Athens Acropolis and I have watched the sunset fall over Cape Sounion yhrough the Tempt of Poseidon. 

I acquired a fake Grecian urn and have read The Ode of John Keats.

When I was at Ruskin I was required to read Plato’s Republic for one of the weekly assignments in the term in which Political Theory was my main subject along Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Thomas Paine, Hegel, Lenin and Marx, Edmund Burke and Stuart Mill. I read from Sabine’s History of Political Theory and the non technical work on the same subject by Professor G C Field.

I know of the works of Aristotle and Socrates rather than from studying them during a period when I also acquired volumes on Logic and Ethics as well as the history of philosophy, including samples of their writings which I failed to digest having been tempted by the university behavioural psychology tutor to go for a Philosophy, Psychology and Physiology Oxford degree instead of professional training in child care social work.

Aristotle remains the grander of the trio because his interests mathematics, biology and zoology as well and thoughts of thought and of the emotions with his interests in the theatre and poetry.

And of course for a thousand years between 700 BC 300 AD the Olympic Games were held in Greece in varying forms and diminishing importance until they were held again just before the turn in to the twentieth century. I appreciate the concept of the Olympic Flame which does originate in those Ancient times but not the Nazi inspired 1936 Torch relays which have become a money making event with some of the 8000 of the cost to buy £200 torches already being offered for sale on by making £5000. Originally the organising committee was against resale but now admits it proposes to sell off any of those not purchased by the individual participants thus generating a market.

London will be the first city to have been awarded three of the modern Games (1916 and 1948 being the two previous occasions) and with Athens, Paris and Los Angeles although some countries have  held them in different cities(Australia- in Sydney and Melbourne, Germany, Berlin and Munich)

The 21st  and 23rd of May 2012 will become a remembered days because  in the dawn of the Monday an email was sent saying that my Summer Olympic tickets had arrived at the Shields  delivery office and would be received during the day. Within minutes of the package arriving another email was sent to confirm this event. Interestingly although I was charged £6 for the original allocation from my first bid and then when I went for tickets at St James Park all four arrived together with an information leaflets and the Travel card. I am not complaining having been allocated £40 seats for £16 with the Travel card worth £8.50 and which will get me from Croydon into London by train and then out to Wembley for the quarter final on the Saturday afternoon.

The memorable part is not the arrival of the tickets but realising that the final tranche of tickets- 1.4 million for the football and half a million others were going on sale at 11 am on the Wednesday. The day before the ticket availability was up on screen so it was possible so I worked out a wish list for the day. My first efforts were not successful. I made a selection of four events the maximum for a single session and was told I would have to wait 15 mins before knowing if any of the tickets were available. The computer crashed around 20 minutes just when the site showed there was only a minute to go. I rebooted and on the second occasion I went the full 15 plus minutes and got a £5 day pass for the Olympic site on the first full day after arrival cost £11 because of the special postage arrangements.

I decided not to give up but to apply for tickets one by one so on this same day I have a £40 seat at a cost of £16 for a basketball session at the Olympic Park. I will try and resell my football ticket for that day through the official site. On the second day I will go in the afternoon to the Excel stadium to watch a session of boxing and on the third day back to the Olympic Park for handball in the Copper Box an arena which will be kept at the site and as an indoor sports centre. In all instances I was able to get £40 seats for £16 plus the postage less the free travel card. The final purchase was the most expensive the full £65 ticket to watch Badminton at the Wembley Centre in the morning before the afternoon Quarterfinal the Stadium. There is an hour and three quarters between the two events. Having got to the swimming centre for the Paralympics, the Athletic stadium remains my last target.

In contrast to the excitement of the sun and the Olympics the fist three episodes of Prisoners of War was a good dose of the reality of human behaviour. It is understandable why this Israeli language film became essential viewing given the release of a couple of soldiers held in captivity after many years in exchange for several hundred Muslim detainees.

This films follows the release of such former soldiers held for close on two decades and the impact on their families, including that of the sister of a third soldier whose remain are returned in a coffin, As yet we know nothing of the third soldier who died except that he has become alive for the sister who kept kennels run by her parents going after their death so that their son would have an occupation when he returned. She has a friend who undertakes support for the families of prisoners and over the episodes a relationship develops between them which promise to heal the bitterness and the loneliness.

The two men who return are bonded though their experience of constant torture but appear very different personalities, in part because of the experience of their partners but there is also a lot  more to be revealed. I have two books which provide an excellent account of what happens to no combatants who are taken prisoner and held for long periods in hard captivity. Brian Keenan an Irish Journalist, An Evil Cradling was taking prisoner in Beruit along with John Macarthy.  He has returned to the City some 17 years. Terry Waite was appointed a negotiator by the Church of England to seek the release of McCarthy and other hostages and was held himself for over four years.

The first of the two appears the most normal. He was married at the time of his capture with a daughter born and a son in the womb. At first it the children who find the arrival of their father the most difficult in part because their  mother has spent the greater part of their lives campaigning for his release She remain a national hero commanding universal respect.

This contrasts with the former betrothed of the second man who had pleased that that he would be with her for ever. In fact as hopes of his release end and she had married his brother and now has a teenage son. On release the authorities persuade the woman to return to her former home and pretend she has been waiting for his release without mentioning the marriage and the child. In fact we know that he already knew what had happened because for some reason not disclosed he is taken to a house when he is allowed to live a shot while in comfort but shown a newspaper with the information that his fiancée has remarried. However he does not disclose his awareness when on arrival the two men are allowed to stay overnight with their families.

The men are then taken to a guarded coastal villa for debriefing and are kept under 24 hour observation and here the principal investigator initially concludes nothing happened which endangers national security and the two men are allowed to return to their homes for the second evening in succession. His wife has been counselled to make room for husband and clear space for his clothing and also removed a vast quantity of material associated with her campaigning of the years. She prepares some favourite food but he wants to go out for some Pizza and is supported in this by the children. She finds it hard not resent this or that the first morning he had gone out for a run without telling her. The second “wife” experiences public hostility and guilt and willingly says at the flat on being told of his planned second visit wearing make up and cutting her hair to make herself look younger. Naturally the husband and son are bewildered by what has happened. The prisoner is dropped off but does not enter and goes to see his father, sad that his mother has died while incarcerated and distressed by the situation he is in.

While under observation it becomes evident the two men had developed a simple Morse code to communicate and this is cracked to reveal inconsistencies between what they have told the inquisitors about what happened to the dead comrade and what they say to each other. The implication is that one or both had a hand in the death of the third and there is also the suggestion that one of the two has become a secret Muslim.

2290 Two Detective series and Barristers at work

The fictional Detectives Lewis and Vera have in common that I did not immediate take to either series but now they have become part of my essential viewing. It was always going to be difficult for Kevin Whatley, the North East born and proud, actor, to take the lead role in the series which has brought John Thaw lasting fame and which reminds I must read and write about his life following the purchase of two biographies some time ago, including that by his life and that of his wife Sheila Hancock.

The follow on series where university Oxford University colleges and the riverscape have equal top billing reverses the roles  where Thaw was the bookish opera loving red jaguar car owning Oxford University educated detective inspector by giving the Northern actor a sergeant side kick who is Oxford educated and once would be clergyman. The interaction between the two men has developed well, especially as both are bachelors with the original wife of Lewis having been murdered in what was thought to have been a road traffic accident on a shopping trip to London.

I enjoy the interactions between the two men and the sights of the city, where I studied and lived in two spells totalling five years separated by the year at Birmingham University, more than the stories, where like the other John “Nettles” his Midsomer murders, are more about middle class village life than the endless trail of multiple killings.

The most recent episode of Lewis provided a clever plot where the script pointed to one of two men and not the culprit, a woman, and where the sights of Oxford delight the senses and reminds of a time when golden opportunities were all before me. The final lines are about two successful people who buried themselves in their work but end up alone, one dead also has meaning for Lewis and Hathaway as the latter draws attention.

The story begins with an event which only has a loose connection with everything that is to follow. The two men are at the perimeter keeping the media at a distance while a raid takes place on a cannabis growing operation of several acres worth several millions. The head of the plant manages to resist arrest but warned that he is attempting to break out Lewis and Hathaway use police vehicles to ram the getaway 4 by 4 and it is Hathaway who delivers the punch which leads to the arrest before the cameras after Lewis is hit and injured on his face. The two become local celebrities as a consequence and the subject of banter within the local force.

The significance of good publicity is soon placed against  the bad when a Professor of English who once wrote a  book about women not needing men, is found dead by one of her students after someone had posted the video  she in turn had posted on a dating site seeking a male partner. Surely she did not commit suicide because of this?

The facts suggests otherwise except to Lewis who is nor convinced and persuades his colleagues, senior and junior, as the events unfold, who did it as there are several suspects all of whom they discover were undergraduates together two decades before.

There are two principle suspects. She once dated a fellow student whose happiest moments was in a meadow adjacent to one of the colleges which he is now proposing to develop for housing in a deal with the college, who are hesitant about agreeing after a successful campaign against the project by Professor. It emerges that the reason the couple broke up was the outcome of a successful malicious campaign by another student who she had beat to become President of the union.  This individual now runs and Internet site which attacks individuals, releasing confidential information about their lives including home addresses and telephone numbers. He and his team are responsible for gaining access to the video and releasing it on the net.

One of the helpers is a bright young woman/student/former student who Hathaway takes a shine and asks her to help trying to find the link between the deceased, and the two men. The secret is that the man managing the site had put it out that the Professor was sleeping around, taking revenge on his defeat in the   ballot for President of the Union. This young girl is found brutally murdered and this confirms Lewis’s belief that the Professor was also murdered. The girl is the friend  of another young assistant with the site, who has a grudge against the Professor because she was unwilling to give him the kind of reference which would have got him a post graduate post at an Ivy League USA University after his graduation. The two young people with others have paid work recording the works of Shakespeare for the BBC.

A third suspect is a journalist who dated the Professor recently despite being married with children having responded to the Dating site advert and who had also known the other suspects and the Professor as an undergraduate. The police discover that he appears responsible for the over 20 messages left on the answering machine and subsequently wiped off with the recording cassette taken had destroyed.  He had done this after finding the body although it was his wife who had made the calls after finding out what her husband had been up to.

The culprit was none of these but the woman who runs the Dating agency and Internet site and who was a close friend of the property developer and who wanted him but knew it was not possible while the Professor lived. She had also killed the girl after she had worked out what had been happening and why. The episode remains coherent and satisfying.

In the first of the latest series, it is the botanical gardens close to Magdalene Bridge and from where there is pathway to Christchurch Meadow and the Isis and the Cherwell conjoin which is the star and which also has a complicated plot with blind alleys and red herrings.  I do not remember this episode now as clearly as I now should.

A botanist accidentally unearths the body of a recently buried professor who was fixated upon solving a Lewis Carroll riddle which has no significance except to pose the concept that some things cannot be explained. The main deviation from the central plot is in the believed existence of a secret Oxford Society for those of exceptional intellect and character. The programme reveals that the founder and sole member of the club is a Oxford Professor one of whose assistant/students died from a drug overdose, or so it appears and his death and the Professor is pursued by the boy’s mother who has turned her home into a shrine and police style Operations room in her determination to get to the truth. I cannot remember if the young man was a druggie or gambler or both with debts but he died after taking part in a private experiment to find an immediate cure for cancer

The head of the fake genius society would pursue possible members by sending them cards on which was printed statements such as “you have been noticed”, “you are under consideration”, and such like, to create a sense of being important. A student couple become obsessed with becoming members to the extent of claiming they saw something at one point relating to one of the deaths but create the likeness of Lewis and his sidekick Hathaway, such is their obsession with being different and drawing attention to themselves.

All roads lead to the home of the wealthy brother of the dead Professor and his wife where Lewis establishes that pictures are being sold allegedly to keep up with the costs of running the Hall.  When the truth unfolds it emerges that in fact £2 million pounds of paintings have been sold in order to fund the basement laboratory where the brother is trying to find an immediate cure for the cancer his terminally ill wife is suffering. The complication is that husband is having an affair with the Botanist head of the Gardens, in fact with the approval of the wife who does not want her husband to be alone when she dies. He had been using a poisonous plant from the Gardens for his experiments and on which he tested on the student volunteer. I think the brother was eliminated by the botanist because he worked out what had happened. In any event the two killers are taken into custody leaving the wife to die alone.  There is a good walk along the High from Carfax to Magdalene Bridge into the Botanical Gardens and Christchurch  Meadow and the gardens  next to the College and back to Carfax.

Vera can be considered a follow up to George Gentry, police detectives set in the North East of England.  Gentry  was in fact written by an East Anglian author who set  all his many books in the part of the country in which he grew up. Vera Stanhope is also a fictional character from a series written by Anne Cleeves and who appears to have written the books as set in the North East with a separate series set in the Shetlands which is also being made into a TV series by ITV although she grew up in the South West country.

Very is played by the double Oscar winning actress Brenda Belthyn who has never looked fully comfortable pretending to be born and bred in the North East, living in an isolated cottage on the Northumbrian coast once occupied by her father, a man she appears to have dislike primarily because he had an affair and as she discovers in the second series, with a woman who she meets and learns she bore him a daughter.

In the first of the four part two hour slot films  a respected senior social worker, Jenny Lister, is murdered by drowning while swimming in a reservoir a number of suspects emerge from one of social services past cases about an infamous case involving the death of a child drowning in a bath. The child's mother was jailed; a junior social worker was pilloried who lives with her daughter also in an isolated cottage on the coast and where Vera’s visit leads to the woman being outed in the local community. In a dramatic finale the pilloried social worker and her daughter are nearly killed by the murderer. I have failed to remember some of the key aspects of the story because of confusion with another story about a former social worker in a different Police detective series with the socially aristocratic Scotland Yard Inspector Linley.

In this case a woman social worker and wife of a clergyman had disappeared at the same time as a child had disappeared in the London where the woman then worked. The mystery is solved  after the duo investigate the murder of a kindly clergyman where his death was  initially thought to be  one of accidental poisoning after he had died  eating a mistaken fungus and  the hostess had survived after being violently sick. The chief suspect is the sixties with it young housekeeper of the clergyman although attention is also focussed on the daughter of the female hostess.  The complication is the policeman son of the local police detective who had an affair with the housekeeper before turning his attentions to the female hostess.

In this instance it emerges that the up and coming former City based clergyman had buried himself away in the countryside after his baby daughter had died in infancy and then his wife was thought to have committed suicide on a ferry trip to the continent. Her body was never found. By coincidence he had chosen or been appointed to a parish where he discovered his former wife was living under a new name with a daughter who is about the same age as their lost child. It emerges that the woman had faked her death before kidnapping the baby and bringing her up as her own. The story does not cover what happens to girl now a teenager when she discovers that she had a mother living in poverty in London with other children.

In the most recent case for Vera a shoe is found on a Tyne Bridge over a motorway link which is later connected to another shoe of a man found dead in a skip in Portsmouth.  It is later established that the man was attacked and thrown over the bridge or managed to get in the bridge rail and fell onto the roof of a passing transport en route to Portsmouth and a Continental bound Ferry and had been dumped in the skip by the driver determined not to delay his work assignment.

It is then discovered that the man in his early forties was living with his mother who did not report he was missing for three days. It transpires she had been away or a trip with a local doctor also to the continent from the North Tyneside based overnight Ferry service. It also emerges that the young man had developed an early drug habit and his mother had used her inheritance, re-mortgaging the property and establishing major debts to a drug supplier in order to maintain he son’s habit and where she also kept detailed of records of how much she spent and also in the periods when she had been successful in getting him to stop.

There is an involvement between the man and a young woman and also an elderly dying homosexual man with whom the young man had established a relationship and was intending to leave his mother to live with and who was also to inherit the man’s property. During the fist part of the story it is made to appear that the mother was responsible for the death of her son. The “who done it” is in fact the mother’s boyfriend, causing the unintentional death of the son from the best of intentions and also that of drug dealer is found dead on a beach. The woman owed the dealer money and had gone to Amsterdam as a courier for him.

I have also been watching the second series of Silk with Maxine Peake playing Defence Barrister Martha Costello and Rupert Perry Jones as Clive Reader fellow Barrister and Neil Stuke as the Chambers Senior Clerk Billy Lamb. The first series centres on he ambition of both barristers to become leading Counsels Q.C’s and the machinations of the senior clerk to get them “briefs” commission’s from solicitors to represent their clients. He deals with a solicitor who represents a well known villain and it is this relationship which concentrates the first episode of the new series. There are two defendants. The first the crime boss walks because there is a lack of evidence to continue to the hearing but the fall guy is a man of low intelligence and high dependency who did carrying out part of the instructions to destroy the five senses of the victim, going as far as blinding him but then calling an ambulance which saved the man’s life. Although as a consequence of a powerful speech, the client is found not guilty (diminished responsibility) despite a steer by the Judge to the jury to the contrary, he is then tortured and killed by crime boss.

In the second episode Martha is asked to defend an Army officer charged with being responsible for the death of a member of his team by disobeying orders not to leave their compound in Afghanistan. The man refuses to go into the witness box, to explain his actions or have a senior friend speak for him. A side story is the potential relationship between Martha and the friend who arranges the representation.

The story that emerges is a moving one in that the dead colleague was a trained sniped who had unintentionally shot a child used as a shield by the enemy at distance when they had been attacking the compound. They had attempted to save the child but the death had haunted both of them especially the man who shot the child and who became unstable and unreliable. Facing a similar situation he had agreed to the young man going out to investigate leading to his death rather carrying out the orders and putting all the team in jeopardy. He had not wanted to reveal the truth before the parents. While the officer is found guilty of disobeying orders and is penalised the chairman of the Tribunal expresses the wish that the man remains with the service and continues to display the courage he has previously shown on the field of action and in the court.

2289 My Google readership on the warmest day of the year

I am at sixes and sevens to day having slept for over eight hours and then wasted a couple of hours playing chess against the computer while listening and sometimes watching the evidence of Tom Watson to Leveson Inquiry. There is blue sky outside and it feels warmer. Over the luncheon hour I went out into the back and onto the patio area and it is indeed warm in amazing to contrast to the weather since March now a distance memory which I failed to make good use of. I fear I am repeating that position again

I should be taking exercise although having just weighed the celebrations of the past three days on winning £200 on a free bet with Chelsea’s win in European Championships have so far had no adverse effect and I am ready to begin the effort required to get under  sixteen and a half stone. I have already invested the £200 by securing tickets and accommodation for the final weekend of the paralympics games. I believe a record of this experience is of value to me for future reference and may be of interest to others.

Having registered an obtain ticket albeit for Football I could not apply for tickets in the subsequent first come first served opportunities. This morning I was able to seek tickets by going to those the programme of events and creating wish list. Having selected four events I then applied and to wait for availability. Two of the four requests were met. The morning swimming from 9.30 to 12.30 on the final Saturday and seats for the Marathon ending in the Mall on the Sunday morning. Both events with tickets cost £5. I then tried again to get tickets for the evening Athletics and the closing ceremony willing to pay the fill price to the maximum £45 without success.

I had previously checked that there was reasonably priced Travel accommodation but when I went to the site having had my bookings confirmed by email I discovered difficult it getting to the availability beds for the period or the special page on Internet site. I therefore went to the standard price pages and was rewarded not on to getting information for the weekend boy found there were saver rates at fewer than fifty percent of the standard price. I booked up for the Friday and Saturday leaving open a decision for the Sunday until late today,

I write always for me own benefit and interest and as a part of the 101 Artman project not anticipating that anyone else will read what I have to say. In fact the absence of recorded comment has suggested that at times no one is reading the pieces. This was reinforced with MySpace publications which until recently was the only means of establishing readership and the number has always been under ten and recently five or fewer. The position has now dramatically changed with the new framework used by Google Blogger where in addition to the main publication I publish piece under individual subjects.

For the main Blog there have been 21930 page views to date an average of 17 per published Blog but with dramatic variations which I am now in a position to record in detail. For each of 100 Blogs listed I included the three with the highest number of views

1-100 
475 2258 Birthday weekend  
204 2240 Russian salad and Gorky  Park 
87 2284 Third week of May begins
          
2-100
194 2156 A long weekend of riots in August178 2165 Boardwalk Empire and Roma crime 
118 2187 Leveson Inquiry report 3

3-100
678 2030   Vietnam War, Treme, Boardwalk  
                               Empire  
173 2086   Five Opera Singers 

101 2018   Egypt Latest
              
4-100
117 1641 Christianity background
   94 1622 Gay Rights
   85 1986 Prince Waleed bin Tatal and the Savoy

5-100
657 1572 Personal Experiences and Dr Pinney                 
259 1579 The Role of a Member of Parliament 
 99 1575 State Opening of Parliament and      Damien Green

6-100
225 1475 Closing Ceremony Olympic Games
  73 1513 The Conservative approach             
  64 1504 I predict outcome of General Election

7-100  
215 1911 Foyles War and the Odessa Scandal 
145   1897 Chocolate Heaven and Hell
  99   1414 Elizabeth 1

8-100 
111    1860 Haitian Earthquake
  37    1859 Chilcot Inquiry
  29    1870 Life through places visited

9-100 
23      1810 The Itch, the Fixer 
14       1301 A Good Woman Prospero’s Books 
14 1843 Spooks Babylon 5

10-100
 140 1282 The Greatest Raid of them all
   30 1251 Big Brother Angelina Jolie
    181271 The Good Citizen, Eric Clapton

11-100
 19   1257 2008 Message
 13   1701 Rufino Nicaacci Gino Barteli
 10   1725 Angels and Demons in and out of
                               Parliament

12-100
 20   1687 Robots, Dr No
 14   1166   Theatre Royal Newcastle
 12   1176    Howl Manchurian Candidate

13-100
 20   1090 TV Watching while in Scotland
 16    1095 People of Significance
 11     1119 George and Diana Melly

14-100
 524 1642 Political Scandals of the past
  18   1014 Bergman’s Summer with Monika
  16   1018 Bergman’s Through Glass Darkly

There is no immediate explanation for the results given that many have no readers or only 1. I mention that I have published sub pieces under separate Google Blog headings. The second Blog is that of Artman Films with 16561 views with an average of 25 views per item. Here there has been more of a division between the first 300 pieces and the latter 350 and with only 10 items having over 100 readers with the Greatest Raid of them All 453, 323 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 218 Sweetwater, 215 Gorky Park, 154 The best exotic Marigold Hotel, 136 Crazy Heart, 146 Oscar Triumphs, 126 Romanzo Criminale, and 120 Scenes of a sexual nature.

I have published a number of other category or individual subject pieces with again some unexpected results with the Greatest Raid of them All 453 views
2 pieces on the Swinging Sixties attracting an average of 271 views, 
3 pieces on Ancient History registering an average of 110, the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry 3 average 92,
Fellini 6 average 80,
Sunderland 6 average 65.
South Tyneside 33 average 56,
the TV series 4400   11 average 51,
The Durham Cricket Club 2 average 43,
Television 170 average 41,
Princess Diana Inquest 10 average 41
In our Time 2 average 36,
Music 35 average 34,
European Travels 3 average 32,
Clumber Park 1 -30 views
Radio 3 average 26,
Sport 118 average 25,
Opera 20 average 25,
Speculations 15 average 25,
Brave New order 1 with 23
Scifi 19 average 22,
Travels in the UK 83 average 21,
Young Queen Victoria 1 with 20
Contemporary art project 35 average 18,
Literature 37 average 16,
The Theatre 20 average 14,
Novel 2 average 12,
La Strada 1 with 11
Northern Rivera 17 average 10
Lypsinch 1 with 10
Chronicles 140 average 6
Almodovar 6 average 5,

For the rest of the day I viewed the evidence of Lord Smith the former Culture Secretary and Alan Johnson, the former Home Secretary. The session finished mid afternoon in time to watch some of the House of Commons consideration of the recommendations of the Culture Committee that action should be taken against the three named individuals to-date who they said had previously lied to them during their phone hacking investigation. Although I had a good nine hours sleep I went to sleep while watching and missed a large chunk of the 90 minute session. The Procedures and Privileges Committee of the House of Commons is to investigate and will recommend to the House whether sanctions such as fines or imprisonment should be introduced in this instance and in general for future reference. The Culture Committee has said it may recommend action against other individuals presently the subject of police inquiries.

2288 Four cultural events summing up 2012

Three of the four cultural events in this piece cover great works of art while fourth says much about contemporary western society.

The first is The Tempest believed to be one of the comedies created by William Shakespeare an which I experienced as a stage play by the Royal Shakespeare Company on the 19th of November 1985 at the Theatre Royal Newcastle and again on Sunday May 20th 2012 as a film first released at the end of 2010 and to the credit of Sky added to their anytime films this weekend.

I remember little of the RSC production, except that Alfred Burke previously known to me from a TV detective series, participated, from the programme as Gonzalo the honest Counsellor and which also revealed that James Purefoy was Ferdinand the son of the King of Naples and Melanie Thaw (daughter of John) played Miranda the daughter of Prospero.

I very much enjoyed the film which has Dame Helen Mirren playing the Prospero, the Duke of Milan as Prospera, and a twist which made the story a more convincing one. The film kept to the text is all other respect except that it omitted the play within a play at the end, a device also used in the recently seen and reported Taming of he Shrew which I can confirm was seen in Newcastle at the Theatre Royal in 1988 and also in Oxford by a college company on the lawn on a flying visit when to be researched. Brian Cox played Petrucio in the 1988 RSC production together with Alex Jennings and Fiona Shaw (now CBE who became internationally known as Harry’s aunt Petunia Dursley in five of he Harry Potter films.

The Tempest film also brilliant portrayed the sprite Aerial and used the latest CGI to provide the conjuring tricks of the Prospera as the Sorceress. I thought the film was made brilliantly accessible to contemporary audiences and the casting of Russell Brand as Trinculo, the court jester and Alfred Molina as the alcoholic Butler. Tom Conti is Gonzallo the old Counsellor.

The Duke of Milan and her daughter Miranda is cast adrift in an open boat by her young brother who wanted the title for himself.  She lands on an island where the native creature strong man  and work horse Caliban shows her how to survive and where she develops he skills as a sorceress freeing the sprite Ariel  from imprisonment in a tree. Both become her servants although Aerial is promised freedom for his role in bringing the King of Naples, his son, the king’s brother together with the current Duke of Milan and the Counsellor ashore after using magic to create a great sea and fire leading to the ship appearing to be destroyed and the crew and passengers being tossed into sea and drowning.

The sight of this upset the daughter who since childhood and known no other experience of living with her mother, ignorant of her background and without experience of men. The idea of man being able to bring up a baby girl as a normal young woman is not as good as the original, understandable for a time when young boys played the female roles. Mother reassures her daughter that all are safe and coming ashore as well as the ship which unscathed has been brought to a safe harbour. The Kings, his son and court had been to North Africa for the daughter of his marriage and father and son each believed the other had perished on reaching the shore. Similarly Trinculo is  alone and encounters Caliban  and in turn they are found together by Stephan the Butler in a genuinely humorous diversion during which Caliban gets drunk, considers Stephano a God and swears allegiance to him breaking away from Prospera,

Prospera has three objectives which she achieves. The first is for she and her daughter to be able to leave the Island. The second is to regain her rightful place as Duke if Milan and he treachery of her brother to be recognised and thirdly, on finding the son of the King to be a fine young man, that her daughter should marry him.

Before achieving her goals she uses Ariel to stop the King’s brother and her own from murdering the King and his Counsellor taken power for themselves believing the son is dead and the daughter married and out of the way and then to put the fear of the devil into them before containing the foursome in a circle so they can be confronted with the truth and father introduced to her daughter and give his blessing to the marriage. She also gives Caliban and the others good fright before abandoning him to live alone on the Island after freeing the sprite. I decided not to read the long final section of play within a play. So I do not know if its absence undermined the original concept but as a film I am sure the cutting contributed to its success and effectiveness just a Coriolanus experienced earlier in the year.

I first experienced Coriolanus in Newcastle in 1990 with Charles Dance as Coriolanus and Babara Jefford his mother. Joe Melia played Junius Brutus.

The second cultural event of importance is also a film Cinema Verité, a fictionalised account of the behind the scenes of the original reality TV experience An American Family in 1973.  A decade later I argued at the Henley International management course that the development of the Internet would expand the reality experience idea in all aspects of human life and its condition, from bed room to bathroom. I did not know how right I was to prove.

The 12 part TV series caused considerable controversy after the family had been billed as the archetypal American Dream family.  The eldest son left the family to live in New York and admitted to being gay, the first such admission on USA TV. The wife asked her husband to leave and divorce after 21 years of marriage. The main controversy was on the extent to which the show could be said to be reality because of the editing of the months of filming and that it was impossible for people not to act out and react to the presence of the camera.

The film proved an engaging and impressive portrayal of the reality difference between how the USA likes to perceive itself and really is through the behaviour of the wife, Pat Loud who has invested heavily in her children, her home and local community because her husband Bill is constantly away alleging managing his business interests which enable the family to live in a large house with outdoor swimming pool and all the latest gadgets and symbols of material affluence.  In fact as she find  with the help of the TV series Director, her husband has had  a series of mistresses taking them away on holidays lavishing his time as well as money.  His children have to cope with the insecurity which the break up engenders although his financial circumstances are such that they are able to continue in their former lifestyle.

Tim Robbins is excellent and the hypocritical husband with Diane Lane as the wife. The great surprise of the film was the casting of James Gandolfini, Tony Soprano in the Sopranos as the film Director. There was no hint of the gangster in this character study barely recognisable in a beard and having lost substantial weight. The film revealed how driven by the corporate pressures for rating and the financial outlay over a million dollars, the Director had misled the couple about how they would portrayed and he had the four children, three sons and a daughter. Once they family realised how they were being shoen and the hostility which resulted they went on the offensive uniting in order to counter the reaction and explain why they had participated and what had happened. In this they were supported by the film crew, a young couple who became Hollywood film makers. They protested about the bending of ethical standards. The family were successful in this with all members gaining reputations and can be said positions as a consequence.    The eldest son Lance became something of a cult hero among the gay community and at his requested he was filmed during his final days arising from HIV infection and AIDS. His last wish was for his parents together. His father had remained and also divorced for a second time. The parents have remained together since that time living close to their children so that it can be said that far from breaking hem it has made them stringer individually and collectively. In this respect I suspect they were lucky with the parents being people of substance before the intrusion and having given more to their children than is often portrayed by family of material wealth and social standing.

It is also time to write of my experience of watching a live relay at the Bolden Cineworld of Guiseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto from the Royal Opera House, London, and the 497th performance on Tuesday 12 April 2012 at 7.15. I was unfamiliar with the story or the production in the packed theatre although I overheard a conversation warning that it was raunchy.

In contrast to the Metropolitan and other great Opera House the Royal Opera House London had developed a reputation for staging challenging and at time controversial productions of the classics. The Opera was first performed in Venice in 1851. The inspiration for the work is the play by Victor Hugo Le roils s’amuse which depicts the king of France as an immoral and cynical womaniser. Instead of the King of France the opera features an Italian noble whose title although a real one had become extinct.

The opera open at the court of the Duke who sings about his pleasure in taking as many women as possible. I use taking than having because of his use of position and subterfuge to seduce everyone from whores to the wives of the courtiers. In the Royal Opera production members of court participate in an orgy with  loose women who  are topless with one naked as the act progresses together one full frontal male nude. Given the audience was primarily middle aged to elder, here were some gasps from those unprepared, although many like me I suspect had lived through the era of Hair.

The Duke is presently engaged in two ambitions. The first is to seduce the wife of the Count of Caprano and the second a virginal young woman he has recently seen at church.  The court is also interested in rumours that the deformed (hunchback) court jester Rigoletto has a lover because of visiting a house on a regular basis often late at night and without mentioning it to anyone in the court.  Rigoletto does not endear himself to the court especially as suggests arresting the husbands/ fathers of those the Duke wishes to seduce. In one instance the Duke arrests a father who utters a curse on the Duke and Rigoletto who is much affected.

From scene two of the first act the Opera changes its mood.  Rigoletto comes across an assassin who offers his service and considers that while the man kills with physical weapons, he uses the tongue to stab victims with its malice. He accept the suggestion of a group of disguised courtiers that he should help them in the kidnapping the Countess Coprano, taking her out of the orbit of the advancing Duke. They blindfold Rigoletto.  Meanwhile the Duke having trailed the Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda to her home and overhears the young women express her interest in the young man at church who she hopes is not a noble man but someone poor such as student. He pretends to be so on making contact and gaining the support of her maidservant Giovanna who he sends away. Hearing sounds which she assumes her father returning she sends the Duke away declaring in her interest in him. The blindfolded Rigoletto then aids the group in kidnapping his daughter who they spirit away leaving him horrified when he realises he is at his home and his daughter has gone. He remembers the curse laid on him.

In the one scene second Act Rigoletto returns to the Palace believing it is the Duke who the most likely to have taken his daughter. In fact it is the Duke who learning what his courtiers have done rescues her and then declares his interest without disclosing his position. The courtiers make fun of Rigoletto for having made fun of then and when he explains about the loss of his daughter instead of owning up they beat him up but he manages to finds his distressed daughter who tells him to send everyone else away. Rigoletto convinced the Duke is behind the kidnapping talks of revenge but the girl pleads for the young man with whom she has become infatuated. As with Miranda in the Tempest both women have been kept away from young men and fall for the first male to show an interest.

In the third Act the Duke visits the Inn run by the assassin and his sister and he sings the famous aria La donna é mobile -women re fickle. He is heard by Gilda and her father who are passing by and she then witnesses him attempting to seduce the willing sister. The Duke has previously expressed genuine interest and loving concern for Gilda and a willingness to mend his ways at the commencement of the second Act but the availability of the woman is too much for him and he reverts to his natural ways.

Rigoletto bargains with the Assassin to kill the Duke who because of a storm spends the night at the Inn.  Rigoletto persuades his daughter to leave the city, disguised wearing the clothes of a man. The sister has genuine affection for the Duke and on learning that her brother has been paid to kill him pleads with him not to do so but kill the first person available. Gilda overhears the plot and despite knowing the behaviour of the Duke sets out to save him by dressed as a man calling on the Inn.

Rigoletto returns to the Inn at midnight to remove the killed man in a sack to be dumped in the river. He has to see the body for his revenge to be complete and only then sees the body of his beloved daughter. He remembers the curse and collapses. Given that I was unaware of the story the ending is something of a shock although the emotions aroused are very different from those in the opening scene.

The opera is a tour de force for Dimitri Platinias as Rigoletto who made his name when playing the role with the Greek National Opera and this is his Convent Garden debut. I thought his performance outstanding. The Duke is played by the Italian Vittorio Griglo who once appeared in a version of West Side Story with James Goldofini before turning to Opera He made his debut at the Royal Opera House in Faust as the lead. Gilda is played by Ekaterina Siurina having previously performed the role in a production at the Metropolitan.

In a piece about important cultural experience of the year 2012 I debate whether to make reference to the late night low budget (85000 dollars) Nude Nuns Big Guns. Seeing such a title while scrolling through the film channels was irresistible despite anticipating sacrilegious violence and pornography. It is about the worse example of the everything does society. It portrays Roman Catholic Clrgy producing hard drugs using half naked nuns and selling to the criminal underworld. When one of the nuns decides take revenge ion her abusers she is provided with a powerful pair of hand guns although over time he arsenal of weaponry increases and she destroys everyone in sight, clergy, nun, whore and gangster. In the final act she removes the appendage of the chief civilian. It is one of those films where you quickly lose count of the number of slaughters and topless young women. I stayed mesmerised in disbelief.