Sunshine Cleaning

I think we missed seeing this at the cinema, although for some unknown reason I kept on getting deja vue thinking I had seen this scene and that scene before. Anyhow, what a beautifully 'nice' film it is. The two lead women are terrific, the story absorbing, and for waht is a simple tale, highly enjoyable.
8.35 / 10

Alejandro Escovedo & the Sensitive Boys

Arrived and Alejandro had already started, never done that before. Was not too sure at first as it was a good deal 'harder' than I had expected. But two songs and I was hooked. A mixture of Alt. Country with Rock and Punk.
Punk stems back to his earlier days when he was a punk, on the bill of the Sex Pistols last ever gig in New York, moved into the infamous Chelsea Hotel, neighbours being Sid and Nancy.
Tight band (not the big band) of lead, bass and drums, mentions especially for his lead guitarist David Pulkingham and drummer Hector Munoz, and went onto play a 1 3/4hour set running through his back and new catalogue finishing with the Stones's Beast of Burden.
And yet again, the sheer muscianship of American performers can not go unnoticed. It makes the English guys look second rate. Why the difference? its because the Americans have such a great music scene all over, and they learn their craft doing gigs like these to 100 or so souls in bars up and down the country. We may have a bit of it in major cities, but Joe Public are only interested in manufactured acts or old acts who just play on their old reputation.
Absolute first rate gig and cant wait to catch up with him the next time he visits the UK
10/10

District 9

Had heard a couple of good things about this film, but otherwise very low key, so it was much to our surprise what a stunning film it is.
Sharlto Copley is very good in the lead and mainly only role as the others are just bit players. Work colleague from Joburg says he is well known locally. We thoroughly enjoyed it and now not surprised it had 4 Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Visual Effects.
Liked the opening joke, and also the ongoing one about the Nigerians (not surprised their government complained)

9/10

Two BBC Headlines

Both appear on BBC's News website, and makes you wonder what next?
Child farms 'must improve safety'
Child abuse vetting scheme halted

The House of the Flying Daggers

Another revisit on Blu Ray for a film we had seen on its initial release. As with Zhang Yimou's other films the use of colour is always to the fore, and again the natural setting of the Chinese landscape is well just gobsmackingly beautiful, must see it.

Zhao Xiaoding's cinematography is outstanding, there is never an off shot, and there are some that the jaw does in fact drop to.


Good story with a couple of very good surprises but the martial arts does go on a little too far which does distract from the overall brilliance.

8.25/10

Prelude to Power

Absolutely gob-smackingly fascinating read. This is only the second diary I have ever read, Alan Clarke's being the other, but I just cannot put it down. Not very far in but John Prescott is coming out well, and Campbell does deserve admiration.

Stanley Milgram

Stanley Milgram (August 15, 1933 – December 20, 1984) was an American social psychologist most notable for his controversial study known as the Milgram Experiment. The study was conducted in the 1960s during Milgram's professorship at Yale. Milgram was influenced by the events of the Holocaust to carry out an experiment that would prove the relationship between obedience and authority.
In this experiment, 37 out of 40 participants administered the full range of shocks up to 450 volts, the highest obedience rate Milgram found in his whole series. In this variation, the actual subject did not pull the shock lever; instead he only conveyed information to the peer (a confederate) who pulled the lever. Thus, according to Milgram, the subject shifts responsibility to another person and does not blame himself for what happens. This resembles real-life incidents in which people see themselves as merely cogs in a machine, just "doing their job," allowing them to avoid responsibility for the consequences of their actions. The shocks themselves were fake, the participant who took the place as the 'learner' in the experiment was in fact a paid actor who would simulate the effects of the shock depending on the voltage. Milgram became very notorious for this tactic, and his experiment was soon classed as highly unethical as it caused stress to the participants in the study. The study soon became one of the most talked about psychological experiments in recent history, invading headlines across the world, Milgram finding himself in the centre of public attention. There was a huge divide in the psychological community as many believe that his deception was necessary in proving fault with the human condition and helping to explain the actions of the Nazis in the Holocaust, which was the main reasoning behind the creation of the study.