Back to Square One
I had thought that I’d found a house to move to in Canonbury in North London. But it failed the survey yesterday, and so I won’t be buying it.
But at least there would seem to be lots of suitable places for sale in the area to the east of Highbury and Islington.
So I’m going to start looking again.
I would really love to live in de Beauvoir Town, as C and I nearly moved there years ago, but instead we went to the flat in the Barbican.
I remember that we looked at a house owned by the writer, Alun Owen. Strangely, I’d met him before when he was a guest at dinner in the Liverpool University hall of residence, where I lived in my last year at University. Owen is probably best known for his screenplay for the first Beatles film, A Hard Day’s Night!
Shirley Valentine
I have never seen Willy Russell‘s iconic play, Shirley Valentine about the Liverpool housewife, but I have seen the film starring Pauline Collins and Tom Conti. It is now being staged in London again, with Meera Syal as Shirley. It may seem stage that an actress of Indian origin should take this role, but this play has a history of good actresses of many races and nationalites having success with the part of Shirley.
I remember once many years ago, I drove from Chicago to Washington, leaving The Windy City just as it was getting dark. For the first two hours, I was listening to a chat show on the radio, where Ellen Burstyn spoke about her role as Shirley in the play, which was touring the United States and was at that time running in Chicago. Having heard that interview, I regretted that I had not known about the play, whilst in Chicago, as I would certainly gone and seen it. Ellen explained how she had been nervous to take on the play, as being set in Liverpool, she was worried about the accent. But then Willy Russell had reassured her and she decided to have a go. She said she couldn’t do the accent, but that she could do Irish, as she had that blood. Willy then explained that most Liverpudlians had Irish ancestry, so an Irish accent would do. In the end she made a great success of the part of Shirley.
So now that Meera Syal is taking over the part in London, all she is doing is following a great tradition of playing one of the best parts ever written for an actress.
Rough Aunties
This looks like a film to be worth seeing, according to the review in The Times.
I shall try and see it!
Woody Allen Resigns From The NRA
I doubt that Woody Allen would ever want to join, just as I wouldn’t join any such violently pro-gun organisation as the NRA, but after seeing his latest film, Whatever Works, they certainly wouldn’t welcome him now.
Three of us went and saw the film in Cambridge, this afternoon and we all enjoyed it immensely.
I was very pleased with the film, but then does it fit my mood at present after the stroke? Many of the one-liners also hit the same targets that I like to attack. The reviews of the film were actually not very positive, but then I doubt many reviewers have the right experience of life to appeciate it. But this guy does think it a very good film.
Quantum of Solace
I haven’t seen a James Bond film in years, as they weren’t to C’s taste, but I did watch Quantum of Solace on the flight home. It was the best of a group of films that either didn’t appeal or I’d seen before. I tried to watch The Last Station, but the sound quality on the headsets wasn’t good enough to follow it.
Quantum of Solace wasn’t too bad and it filled a couple of hours, but the BA choice had been better on the way out.
Interestingly, we bought our house in Debach from Daniel Craig’s step father, Maxwell Blond.
The Third Man
I hadn’t seen this film before and as BA had a large number of films on the entertainment system, I chose to watch it. It is a marvellous story, but you’d expect that as it was written by Graham Greene, an author that is always worth reading. He’s actually a good read if you don’t like long books, as some of his best are about two hundred pages. They are just as fresh as when they were written.
The film is good and often rated as one of the best films ever made. It was shot in the ruins of Vienna and mostly at night or in the sewers, so to call it a dark film would not be an understatement.
Years ago, I met a man called Roland Landman, who was in The Guards and they were some of the soldiers who liberated Vienna from the Nazis. He said that the city was in a dire way and for example, if you wanted a woman, that would cost just two cigarettes. We don’t know what poverty is!
There was talk that Austria would end up under Russian domination and according to Rolnad it was touch and go, whether the Austrians decided to throw in their lot with the communists. But he told the story of the Major in the Irish Guards, who said that the people needed entertainment and that being Irish, they should organise a horse race meeting.
Everybody thought he was barmy, but they did.
The finery came out, everybody had a good time and Austria stayed in the West.
Whether this tale is true or not, I do not know, but after seeing The Third Man last night, I can understand it a lot more.
Let’s hope we never go through any more wars like that.
Under Siege
Under Siege is quite a silly film, but I like it.
It’s just that you have one man taking on the forces of evil by himself.
It’s always a good scenario for a film.
Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll
I finally saw this biopic of Ian Dury’s life.
Was it good?
Yes! I laughed and cried and left the cinema in a better state than I arrived.
That is all you want.
But don’t go if you don’t like real swearing. And I mean lots of it, with both the f*** and the c*** words.
Beyond the Pole
After the gloom of the last post, We’re Under Control, this one is about a new film called Beyond the Pole. It’s all about Brits doing what we do best; muddle through with courage, humour and style.
It has been made by Helen Baxendale and her husband and their struggle is described in The Times.
I hope it’s a hit. But if it isn’t it won’t be without the help of their fans and Facebook.
There’s an equally appropriate irony in the reason this low-budget flick with a tiny distributor and zero marketing budget is on the verge of becoming a hit in America — the pecs and abs of Alex Skarsgard. Between filming Pole and its release, the then unknown Swede stormed the screens in Generation Kill, but most particularly as the sensual, dark vampire Eric in True Blood.
I shall try and see it, but whether it gets to this neck of the woods is definitely in the lap of the distributors.
A Period Mobile Phone
Is my Elan, one of the few with an original early-1990’s analogue mobile phone?
A Period Panasonic Mobile Phone
Note the Sony radio, which is the only non-original equipment in the car. As I’ve still got the original Binatone from the car, perhaps if someone wants an early 1990’s original Elan for a film, then this is the car.
The Mobile Phone Aerial
The mobile phone aerial is just a little spike on the windscreen. It is actually glued on both sides, so there is no hole in the windscreen.
The Anonymous Widower 