I write for publication the first time in what is probably a month and only the second time in six weeks. I have written to individuals all over the world extensively during this time, mostly emails, sometimes instant messaging and in two instances video calls and while I am yet to complete records, as the activity will continue until the end of the month. I am yet to work out how many individuals there have been but 500 give or take 50 could be the number. I will be surprised if the total record pages is less than 3500. I may publish a review in due course but as the individuals are all living the material is confidential as is the subject.
There has been much sport, many films and international and national developments which had also engaged my attention. There was one major mistake in that I missed the last Whitley Bay Jazz festival and the Mouth of the Tyne Festival by a week. I phoned the Festival office to buy a ticket for the Friday and spoke to the son of the organiser who explained it had been successfully held the week before. Part of the error was that I had decided against a ticket for the Midnight to Mayfair concert of British Band Music of the 30’s to 50’s held at the Sage on the Thursday. I have two CD collections of the band music of the era which I should review and which I sometimes play to remind of my childhood listening to the music on the radio in the forties before I moved into Swing with Benny Goodman and discovered the Blues and Trad, and then Modern. After attending the recreation of Goodman’s Carnegie Hall Concert in 2008 and of the Armstrong’s Hot Five and Seven last year, this concert had less appeal.
Since discovering the existence of the Jazz Festival when attending the North Bank River festival at Tynemouth and finding that 3 Trad Jazz or swing bands played on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the green outside the Rock of Gibraltar Pub close to the entrance of the Castle and Priory. I switched my interest from South Shields events, taking the ferry across the river and then the special bus to the start of the Tynemouth High Street on both days
During the six weeks I only went once to the cinema to see a film and three times to see relayed football, once in 3D. The film was the third rendering in the Twilight Saga, The Eclipse. The plan had been to go to the Jazz Festival on the Friday session held from noon to midnight at hotel on the other side of the Tyne Tunnel close to the Silverlink retail park and entertainment centre, and to visit other general bands and entertainments on the Saturday at Tynemouth Priory grounds, returning for a meal and then going out to the evening moving art installation from Gypsy Green to just below here on the hill, for the fireworks, and then staying in South Shields on the Sunday for the multicultural bands and food event or going to the Emirates Riverside for the Durham 20 20 game which could clinch a place in the quarter finals. And then I missed it all and woe has been me.
I will begin with the films and more than a mention of the Twilight Saga and the Eclipse, having not seen the previous two films or read Stephen Meyer’s 2007 novel. The series has proved one of the great money spinners of all time with this film costing $68 billion and grossing so far in excess of a half a billion. So why the fuss? At one level it follows recent interest in Vampires and Wolves and their mutual aversion although in this instances the local Werewolf pack joins with the local Vampires to defeat an assault from an avenging vampire who has created a little army of newbees- ....Newbees are newly created vampire who are stronger than ongoing creatures because they still retain human aggressive skills.
At a second level it is a teenage heartthrob romantic drama with the lead lady, Kristen Stewart as Bella Swann, a normal girl, who is courted by Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen the Vampire boyfriend, and Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, the werewolf.
At the third level, and the one I appreciated most, it is a story of those normals who not only feel but know they are different from everyone else, whether they fit into society as Bella or are outsiders from an early age, such as me, they struggle between the requirements and conventions of society and the call of their true nature.
The story begins as the threesome are about to graduate from High School and Bella’s Father, a senior cop, played by Billy Burke, dislikes Cullen who he fear has already taken his daughter’s virginity and who appears an intellectual cold fish, while he hopes she will take up with Black who appears to him a typical hot blooded man’s man teenager. I use the expression hot blooded advisedly of course. Black is able to offer Bella a normal healthy hot blooded sexual relationship as long as she does not mind him turning into werewolf when the moon rises and romping off to play with the both sex others in the pack.
The father warms to Cullen when he finds that his daughter still a virgin, and would have approved even more so had it known the Youngman has refused her advances until they have an earthly wedding and not just to have normal sex will be dangerous for her. He is also ambivalent about her surrendering her earthly body into the cold eternity of the vampire hood, he having been taken as an innocent old fashioned gentleman officer of the south in the US civil war. As the action progresses and Bella becomes increasingly in peril she admits attraction and gratitude towards Black who saves her life nearly surrendering his own, but she chooses Cullen not because she loves him more, but decides she wants to give way to her deepest inner nature and desires. A girl has got be what a girl has gotta be.
I liked the film, against all expectations, for the script which made all three characters real despite their absurdity, for the decision not to indulge in technical wizardry, including 3D and because of the old fashioned messages of honour and duty and above all that we need to be our true selves irrespective of where being so takes us.
I had to leave the writing to go out for black cartridges in town although it has remain wet, cold and windy all day. A nasty miserable day. I parked at the supermarket and walked over to the computer store to find they only had three black inks and took magenta as the fourth, only to find on return that I also needed to replace the magenta. I also check out cherries at the grocers under the Metro station find three full boxes of large dark red cherries. I bought close to three pounds weight for £3.90 which should keep going for most of the weekend although I will get some more before they are sold out on Saturday. On the way I noted activity at the former Azda door down the hill to discovered in the local free news appear that Morrison’s is scheduled to take this over. So we are to go full circle. I have to say this is a amazing turn of events. I bought some raspberries at Azda along with milk to cover the weekend. I enjoyed some previously bought cherries and a carton of raspberries during the day, with the renewed salad at lunch time and a good piece of steak in the evening.
I have been successful in buying reduce priced fish at the supermarket but did not enjoy a packet of six large sardines which I baked yesterday with some badly made white fish sauce. I had managed to get my weight under 17 stones but the past week has seen it slowly rise especially after enjoying a bar or two of cheap Azda chocolate at 27p.
A film which has been updated but where the original remains better is the Manchurian Candidate with Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, based on the 1959 Richard Condon novel of what Chinese and Russian brainwashing techniques used on captured prisoners during the Korean war. The story is fundamentally flawed in the main individual brainwashed happens to be son of sleeper communist Angela Lansbury who it the wife of a top ant communist fighter politician in the USA close to the Presidency. He is conditioned to kill the Party head and President elect at the convention where he is the Vice Presidential candidate, but instead kills his step mother and father and then himself as he comes to realise the truth arising from his association with his former senior officer, played by Sinatra. The two, plus other were captured together and afterwards Sinatra ahs confirmed the heroic role of Harvey which leads to the Congressional Medal of Honour. The past begins to knaw at him until he begins to unravel what happened with the help of his girl friend played by Janet Leigh. Once you accept the implausibility of he role of the mother played by Lansbury the film remains a good thriller.
Another gem of a film is Farewell to the King with Nigel Havers and Nick Nolte as he king. The film is a good follow up to recent films about lone British or American officers who create armies in the Far East during the Second World War to undermine the roll of the Japanese, In this instance British Officer Havers finds a US army deserter who has escaped a Japanese firing squad adopted by a tribe of Head Hunters who make him their King. The two go through many adventures together with Havers persuading his commanding officer played by James Fox to accept the reality of the role played by Nolte. The film has several tragic moments as the horror of war unfolds.
This also reminds of another film of this period in which a group of US service men including radio operator are sent on mission to contact an agent who turn out to the a former USA Malayan young woman now acting as Geisha courtesan to the Japanese command seeing information which will help the proposed return of General MacArthur. Everyone including Mickey Rooney is killed except the radio officer who manages to be picked up by the planned submarine.
A different side submarine pick up is portrayed in one of the later versions of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps. This made for TV version in 2008 has Rupert Penry Jones as Hanny with a nice twist at the end.
The Funny film, which I have not previously seen is a musical version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in which Frankie Howard made his name in the British version. The US version has Buster Keaton in a secondary role but loses out by omitting all the double meanings. It is not really worth using valuable time writing about. Nor is Gargoyle which passed the time during a tired period this afternoon. I am sure there were several other films viewed which I failed to note titles so cannot recall the subjects or my reactions.
Next is catch up on all the sport.
There has been much sport, many films and international and national developments which had also engaged my attention. There was one major mistake in that I missed the last Whitley Bay Jazz festival and the Mouth of the Tyne Festival by a week. I phoned the Festival office to buy a ticket for the Friday and spoke to the son of the organiser who explained it had been successfully held the week before. Part of the error was that I had decided against a ticket for the Midnight to Mayfair concert of British Band Music of the 30’s to 50’s held at the Sage on the Thursday. I have two CD collections of the band music of the era which I should review and which I sometimes play to remind of my childhood listening to the music on the radio in the forties before I moved into Swing with Benny Goodman and discovered the Blues and Trad, and then Modern. After attending the recreation of Goodman’s Carnegie Hall Concert in 2008 and of the Armstrong’s Hot Five and Seven last year, this concert had less appeal.
Since discovering the existence of the Jazz Festival when attending the North Bank River festival at Tynemouth and finding that 3 Trad Jazz or swing bands played on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the green outside the Rock of Gibraltar Pub close to the entrance of the Castle and Priory. I switched my interest from South Shields events, taking the ferry across the river and then the special bus to the start of the Tynemouth High Street on both days
During the six weeks I only went once to the cinema to see a film and three times to see relayed football, once in 3D. The film was the third rendering in the Twilight Saga, The Eclipse. The plan had been to go to the Jazz Festival on the Friday session held from noon to midnight at hotel on the other side of the Tyne Tunnel close to the Silverlink retail park and entertainment centre, and to visit other general bands and entertainments on the Saturday at Tynemouth Priory grounds, returning for a meal and then going out to the evening moving art installation from Gypsy Green to just below here on the hill, for the fireworks, and then staying in South Shields on the Sunday for the multicultural bands and food event or going to the Emirates Riverside for the Durham 20 20 game which could clinch a place in the quarter finals. And then I missed it all and woe has been me.
I will begin with the films and more than a mention of the Twilight Saga and the Eclipse, having not seen the previous two films or read Stephen Meyer’s 2007 novel. The series has proved one of the great money spinners of all time with this film costing $68 billion and grossing so far in excess of a half a billion. So why the fuss? At one level it follows recent interest in Vampires and Wolves and their mutual aversion although in this instances the local Werewolf pack joins with the local Vampires to defeat an assault from an avenging vampire who has created a little army of newbees- ....Newbees are newly created vampire who are stronger than ongoing creatures because they still retain human aggressive skills.
At a second level it is a teenage heartthrob romantic drama with the lead lady, Kristen Stewart as Bella Swann, a normal girl, who is courted by Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen the Vampire boyfriend, and Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, the werewolf.
At the third level, and the one I appreciated most, it is a story of those normals who not only feel but know they are different from everyone else, whether they fit into society as Bella or are outsiders from an early age, such as me, they struggle between the requirements and conventions of society and the call of their true nature.
The story begins as the threesome are about to graduate from High School and Bella’s Father, a senior cop, played by Billy Burke, dislikes Cullen who he fear has already taken his daughter’s virginity and who appears an intellectual cold fish, while he hopes she will take up with Black who appears to him a typical hot blooded man’s man teenager. I use the expression hot blooded advisedly of course. Black is able to offer Bella a normal healthy hot blooded sexual relationship as long as she does not mind him turning into werewolf when the moon rises and romping off to play with the both sex others in the pack.
The father warms to Cullen when he finds that his daughter still a virgin, and would have approved even more so had it known the Youngman has refused her advances until they have an earthly wedding and not just to have normal sex will be dangerous for her. He is also ambivalent about her surrendering her earthly body into the cold eternity of the vampire hood, he having been taken as an innocent old fashioned gentleman officer of the south in the US civil war. As the action progresses and Bella becomes increasingly in peril she admits attraction and gratitude towards Black who saves her life nearly surrendering his own, but she chooses Cullen not because she loves him more, but decides she wants to give way to her deepest inner nature and desires. A girl has got be what a girl has gotta be.
I liked the film, against all expectations, for the script which made all three characters real despite their absurdity, for the decision not to indulge in technical wizardry, including 3D and because of the old fashioned messages of honour and duty and above all that we need to be our true selves irrespective of where being so takes us.
I had to leave the writing to go out for black cartridges in town although it has remain wet, cold and windy all day. A nasty miserable day. I parked at the supermarket and walked over to the computer store to find they only had three black inks and took magenta as the fourth, only to find on return that I also needed to replace the magenta. I also check out cherries at the grocers under the Metro station find three full boxes of large dark red cherries. I bought close to three pounds weight for £3.90 which should keep going for most of the weekend although I will get some more before they are sold out on Saturday. On the way I noted activity at the former Azda door down the hill to discovered in the local free news appear that Morrison’s is scheduled to take this over. So we are to go full circle. I have to say this is a amazing turn of events. I bought some raspberries at Azda along with milk to cover the weekend. I enjoyed some previously bought cherries and a carton of raspberries during the day, with the renewed salad at lunch time and a good piece of steak in the evening.
I have been successful in buying reduce priced fish at the supermarket but did not enjoy a packet of six large sardines which I baked yesterday with some badly made white fish sauce. I had managed to get my weight under 17 stones but the past week has seen it slowly rise especially after enjoying a bar or two of cheap Azda chocolate at 27p.
A film which has been updated but where the original remains better is the Manchurian Candidate with Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, based on the 1959 Richard Condon novel of what Chinese and Russian brainwashing techniques used on captured prisoners during the Korean war. The story is fundamentally flawed in the main individual brainwashed happens to be son of sleeper communist Angela Lansbury who it the wife of a top ant communist fighter politician in the USA close to the Presidency. He is conditioned to kill the Party head and President elect at the convention where he is the Vice Presidential candidate, but instead kills his step mother and father and then himself as he comes to realise the truth arising from his association with his former senior officer, played by Sinatra. The two, plus other were captured together and afterwards Sinatra ahs confirmed the heroic role of Harvey which leads to the Congressional Medal of Honour. The past begins to knaw at him until he begins to unravel what happened with the help of his girl friend played by Janet Leigh. Once you accept the implausibility of he role of the mother played by Lansbury the film remains a good thriller.
Another gem of a film is Farewell to the King with Nigel Havers and Nick Nolte as he king. The film is a good follow up to recent films about lone British or American officers who create armies in the Far East during the Second World War to undermine the roll of the Japanese, In this instance British Officer Havers finds a US army deserter who has escaped a Japanese firing squad adopted by a tribe of Head Hunters who make him their King. The two go through many adventures together with Havers persuading his commanding officer played by James Fox to accept the reality of the role played by Nolte. The film has several tragic moments as the horror of war unfolds.
This also reminds of another film of this period in which a group of US service men including radio operator are sent on mission to contact an agent who turn out to the a former USA Malayan young woman now acting as Geisha courtesan to the Japanese command seeing information which will help the proposed return of General MacArthur. Everyone including Mickey Rooney is killed except the radio officer who manages to be picked up by the planned submarine.
A different side submarine pick up is portrayed in one of the later versions of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps. This made for TV version in 2008 has Rupert Penry Jones as Hanny with a nice twist at the end.
The Funny film, which I have not previously seen is a musical version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in which Frankie Howard made his name in the British version. The US version has Buster Keaton in a secondary role but loses out by omitting all the double meanings. It is not really worth using valuable time writing about. Nor is Gargoyle which passed the time during a tired period this afternoon. I am sure there were several other films viewed which I failed to note titles so cannot recall the subjects or my reactions.
Next is catch up on all the sport.
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