Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood back on form (has he ever lost it?) directing, producing, writing, staring and even singing (the closing and film titled song).
The outcome was predictable, although with a twist, but echoes of Dirty Harry ghosted its way through the film.
7.3/10

Public Enemies

An early surprise christmas present from my father has seen the installation of a 37" Panasonic full HD screen with accompaning Blue-ray player into the household. Getting hold of decent Blue-ray films is a different matter so this was a first from the blockbuster up the road and whose clientele have not made the transition to this format so rather limited in choice, as is disappointingly, LoveFilm which we also subscribe to.
Anyway the movie was not bad but lacked the depth of vision to elevate it up a notch. The Pany, now linked into the stereo preformed wonderfully, and with the endless shot outs, made it sound as if WW3 had broken out in the living room.
Depp continues to surprise.
6.8/10

Grumpy Old Men. (3) (Road Gritting)

Just why do we grit the roads in the UK, when we have a little bit of snow? It causes a temporary melt only to freeze over later in the day when it gets cold again. All the chaos over the recent days has been because of the black ice that has formed due to the ongoing cold snap. Well we call it a cold snap, but temperatures of around -5C do not constitute cold. Just ask those in Siberia, or in the Canadian Praries where it really does get cold but life still goes on.

The Reader

A stay at home Saturday, but at least had this excellent film to watch which surpassed all expectations, although I thought that David Kross should have got an Oscar rather than KT who was good, but not a role that lead the film
8/10

Stanley Plumly

Stanley Plumly is an American poet, professor of English and co-director of University of Maryland’s creative writing program. Plumley's work has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, The American Poetry Review, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Paris Review, among others.

Alerted to this Stanley on Nigeness's blog, looks rather Kris Kristofferson(ish)

A Serious Man

A film maker's film, full of odd detail, held moments, European in flavour and for me, showing up the sheer fallacy of religion, although others will take away the film's general bleak message about life. Populated with snatches of comedy, and not a known main stream actor (apart from Richard Kind) in sight, left us thinking about it on the way home. A long way from the recent biopics.
8/10

My neighbour on the train this morning was reading the Daily Mail and out of the corner of my eye....well you just can't stare...were these two photos. Full marks to the photographer and well done the camera.

Stanley Matthews

Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) is. often regarded as one of the greats of the English game. He is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards. His nicknames included The Wizard of the Dribble and The Magician. A vegetarian teetotaler, he kept fit enough to play at the top level until he was 50 years old, the oldest player ever to play in England's top football division. He played his final competitive game in 1970, at the age of 55, for Hibernians in Malta, which team he also coached at the time. Matthews was also an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 to honour his contribution to the English game.

The Men Who Stare At Goats

This is a film that you either love...or don't. I loved it, ending was a bit weak, but throughout you just did not how it was going end. Clooney impresses me more everytime I see him. Spacey was just weird, Bridges looked very old and the casting of McGregor was a joke in itself. The one revelation to most who were watching was the use of a certain substance in warfare as I had read way back in the very early 70's that its use was being advocated then.
And yet another BBC Films production, how do they do it?
5 or in my case 7.999 /10

Sun Inn, Leintwardine.

Sun Inn Leintwardine is the last surviving “five-star” entry in an obscure list of Classic Basic Unspoilt Pubs of Great Britain and Camra’s Good Beer Guide describes it as a “pub of outstanding national interest”, and has been saved by two locals following the death of its owner Florence 'Flossie' Lane.
As one of the last remaining 'parlour' pubs, the 200-year-old pub in Leintwardine near Ludlow does not have a conventional bar or counter and is more like entering an old-fashioned living room - apart from the beer barrels. At most there is room for 10 drinkers to gather around a table in the 'best room' whilst the barrels are kept under the stairs in Flossie's old living room. Just help yourself, put the money in an open tray above the barrels, and thats about it. A gem and I must go and visit.

"The Classic Basic Unspoilt Pubs of Great Britain"

This list forms part of the 100 best, whether they are open still, I do not know.

One star

Derbyshire	Kirk Ireton	Barley Mow
Dorset	Worth Matravers	Square & Compass
Dyfed	Llandovery	Red Lion
East Sussex	Hadlow Down	New
	Herstmonceux	Welcome Stranger
Hampshire	Fritham	Royal Oak
Hertfordshire	High Wych	Rising Sun
Kent	Snargate	Red Lion
Oxfordshire	Checkendon	Black Horse
	Steventon	North Star
	Stoke Talmage	Red Lion
Somerset	Faulkland	Tuckers Grave
	Witham Friary	Seymour Arms
Suffolk	Brent Eleigh	Cock

Two stars

Durham	Cornsay Colliery	Fir Tree
Gloucestershire	Cheltenham	Bath Tavern
Hereford & Worcestershire	Kington	Olde Tavern
Humberside	Skerne	Eagle
Norfolk	Burnham Thorpe	Lord Nelson
Northumberland	Netherton	Star

Three stars

Devonshire	Drewsteington	Drewe Arms
Dyfed	Meidrim	Maenllwyd
	Ponfaen	Dyffryn Arms
Gloucestershire	Ampney St Peter	Red Lion
Hereford & Worcestershire	Risbury	Hop Pole
Kent	Cowden	Queens Arms
North Yorkshire	Beck Hole	Birch Hall
Powys	Llanfihnangel-Yng-Ngwfyna	Goat

Four stars

Devonshire	Luppitt	Luppitt
Gloucestershire	Duntisbourne Abbots	Five Mile House
Shropshire	Halfway House	Seven Stars

Five stars (and, thus, probably the best pub in Great Britain)

Hereford & Worcestershire

Leintwardine

Sun

Archie

Thanks to the excellent Saturday Live on Radio4 on Saturday morning with the also excellent Fi Glover, did managed to hear an interview with Alan Emtage this weekend.
Who he?
Well he's the guy that invented the world's first search engine, which was called ARCHIE whilst he was still a student at McGill Uni in Montreal back in 1990 when google was just a twinkling in Larry Page and Sergey Brin's eyes some eight years later. (also while they were students).
So pioneering was the work that the entire 'internet' in Canada had the bandwidth of next to nothing, and they were taking half of it.

Bright Star

Not my cup of tea, a bit too girlie, but a very good film, well crafted, but again like An Education last week, a biopic than you know Keats dies at a tender young age. Thought the very last shot was truncated far to early, the poem Bright Star hardly finished when the credits rolled. But never before have I witnessed an audience stay to the very end of the credits, two or three of a sold out audience left but the rest remained seated.
8/10

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.

Cultural Oxford

The Ashmolean Museum, a fine building by the Architect Charles Cockerall was reopened to the public today after 3 years of extensive building and refurbishment to a design by the Architect, Rick Mather.
Had a quick stroll around this afternoon as it was very busy, skirting my way around the new central atrium on all four levels. Appears simple and discreet in execution although I did note that the execution of some of the finishes was not quite up to the mark which was a surprise given its £60M price tag.
Nevertheless, along with the University Museum and the Pitt Rivers, three world class museums within a half mile of each other that will reward you on repeated visits.

Just along from the Ashmolean, is Broad Street, and now placed on the roof of Blackwell's Art Shop is 'Iron Man' by Anthony Gormley, a striking new gargoyle addition to the skyline.


And finally, the Isis was awash with first year students practicing their rowing, a scene repeated for sometime now.

Happy Birthday Joni

66 today, OMG
The greatest female singer/songwriter that there has ever been, and inspiration to us all. Saw her once, at Wembley back in the early eighties, we were near the back, who was in that band then?

Alerted to her birthday by Zoe Ball this morning on the radio who played 'Case of You' from her Blue lp. The song contains two of the best put down lines I know of.

Just before our love got lost you said
I am as constant as a northern star
And I said, constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar

On the back of a carton coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice

Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet

Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I'm frightened by the devil
And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid
I remember that time that you told me, you said
Love is touching souls
Surely you touched mine
Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time

Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet

I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said
Go to him, stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed

Oh but you are in my blood you're my holy wine
You're so bitter, bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet

Apollo Theatre Oxford

I read twice today that the Apollo Theatre in George Street Oxford has been taken over by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire of the Ambassador Theatre Group. Two articles, The Telegraph and the now free Evening Standard alerted me. Yes it is a flea pit, looks dreadful from the outside, no foyer to speak of, you could fit it into the area taken by one bar in the Barbican, and Oxford deserves better, lets hope they give us one.

Stanley Unwin

Stanley Unwin was born in South Africa and sometimes billed as Professor Stanley Unwin, was a comedian and comic writer, and the inventor of his own language, "Unwinese," referred to in the film Carry On Regardless as "gobbledegook".
Unwinese was a mangled form of English in which many of the words were corrupted in playful and humorous ways, as in its description of Elvis Presley and his contemporaries as being "wasp-waist and swivel-hippy". Unwin claimed his gift came from his mother, who once told him that on the way home she had "falolloped over and grazed her kneeclabbers".
Unwinese, also known as "Basic Engly Twentyfido" - probably a reference to Charles Kay Ogden's 1930 work "Basic English", which strips the language down to 8509 words, was a special, ornamented and mangled form of English in which many of the words were corrupted in a playful and humorous way. Unwin’s performances could be hilarious yet disorienting although the meaning and context were always conveyed in a disguised and picturesque style. Unwinese was very poetic in the way it alluded to its subject and it was often punctuated with moments of clarity and directness to accentuate the ‘nonsense’ – e.g. ‘Deep joy!’ ‘Oh yes’.
Unwin claimed his gift came from his mother, who once told him that on the way home she had "falolloped over and grazed her kneeclabbers". This phrase eventually turned up in one of Unwin's monologues, Goldiloppers and the Three Bearloders.
Unwinese might also be traceable back to Lewis Carroll's 1871 poem, "Jabberwocky."
In 1968 he had a speaking part on "Happiness Stan" on side two of The Small Faces'
LP “Ogden's Nut Gone Flake”.

Jabberwocky

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird,
and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Steve Earle

Very rushed getting to the Barbican through rush hour traffic and Arse supporters going to their European Cup game at the Emirates. The Barbican's car park provided a superb position to park up and guessed we were sitting only 50 metres away. The place was busy, very busy and it felt as if all London's nightlife had gathered in the foyer. Whether they were there for Steve Earle or any off the other events going on it was hard to tell, but it had a good vibrancy to the place although the decor felt very dated. Spatially it works very well, even the sloping floors but someone tell the City of London to give it a make over. Anyway Steve Earle.

A Good Man

Disappointed as soon as we entered the auditorium to realise that it was to be a solo performance, no band and whilst for a hour and half he held the stage just by his sheer presence and songs and talks between the numbers, it could have done with a bit of light and shade that a backing band would have provided. I really enjoyed his rap like introduction to his song cycle tribute to Townes Van Zandt which dominated the show, although Emmylou Harris's Poncho and Lefty is still the definitive version. Three songs in the encore, including Guitar Town and Copperhead Road, followed by a standing ovation and a bow to the audience the length of which I have never seen at a gig. Really warmed to him, and as I said before,

A Good Man

There is a party game which asks the question, who would you like to have at your dinner party? Well I certainly would have Steve Earle.

An Education

Rather good but not exceptional with Nick Hornby's screenplay the biggest winner. Like all biopics, you know how it ends...Lynn Barber gets to Oxford.
6.75/10

Countdown to Steve Earle

Only five days to go now, the gig at the Barbican is sold out, but not excited about it now as I was when I purchased the tickets. Lets hope my new found technique of taking photos at gigs works out....taking them in RAW format and adjusting afterwards.

Shepherd's Bush Empire

Back in the early eighties, I used to live a stone throw away from this great venue when it was in the hands of the BBC. Never went in, no reason to, going next door to the Bush pub, for its lounge Bar, or the strippers in the public, or upstairs to the Bush Theatre, and sometimes all three in one evening. Now it is a music venue.
It started life in 1903, the first performers being The Fred Karno Troupe and even Charlie Chaplin appeared in 1906 before crossing the pond. In 1953, the Empire was sold to the BBC, which put it to use as a television studio–theatre, renaming it the BBC Television Theatre. Among the programmes produced there were Crackerjack, Hancock's Half Hour, The Old Grey Whistle Test, That's Life!, The Generation Game, The Basil Brush Show, Juke Box Jury, This is Your Life and Jim'll Fix It among others., The BBC vacated the building in 1991 and in 1994 again became the Shepherds Bush Empire.
The Empire has a capacity of 2,000, but it has been chosen as a venue for small gigs by such leading performers as, David Bowie,, Erasure, Elton John, The Rolling Stones and The Who. The most talked about gig to take place there on March 10, 2003, when Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines made her famously controversial remark against George Bush. "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
We have now been three times, Lucinda Williams twice and from Thursday The Felice Brothers. For us in Oxford, its location is pretty ideal, whether we stay over at the Hilton the other side of Shepherds Bush Green, drive in from home. We managed to be seated to being home in bed in 75minutes after Thursdays gig, or if you are so minded, catching the Oxford Tube bus which stops outside the Hilton.
We have sat twice up in the circle finding a great location in the wing where you are on top of the performers and down in the stripped out stalls, standing. The interior still has its original features and stacked vertically in four layers is as intimate a large venue could be.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Terry Gilliam up to his usual fantasies in a cross between fairy story/Ken Russell/Monty Python. Very watchable, with a couple of very good moments. Tom Waits cast as Old Nick a masterstroke but otherwise forgettable (but not in a bad way).
Not a touch on Brazil, The Fisher King or 12 Monkeys.
6/10

*** The Felice Brothers ***

"Bloody Excellent! and much better than I was expecting. Did not believe they were going to be that animated. "Frankie's Gun" was the only disappointment, and "Whiskey in My Whiskey" turned out to be a mass sing a long. My other half said they were a 'breath of fresh air' and I must concur with her.
Ian is so slight when compared to his brother James, a big bear of a man who looked as if he was wrestling with his accordion at times and did liked the way they all interchanged roles with even Greg Farley playing lead and singing a new song.
Was also impressed with A A Bondy who opened and played with the band on a number of numbers"
A first rate concert and very memorable.

A review from another on songkick

"So, so, so good! Really a must-see-live kind of band. I was feeling really under the weather, but I'm so glad that I still went. Even sitting way up in the second tier balcony of Shepherds Bush Empire, I could feel the energy of the band. Don't think I've ever seen the audience at that venue as engaged as they were with Felice Brothers!
Highlights included "Helen Fry", "Take This Bread", "Murder By Mistletoe", a cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Two Hands", and of course, "Love Me Tenderly" and "Frankie's Gun". During the latter two you could tell that they were a bit bored with playing them -- Ian Felice rushed through a lot of the lyrics, but they were still good. I was really hoping they would play "Ruby Mae", which, unfortunately, wasn't included in the lengthly 20-song + encore set.
It's been a long time since I saw a band that was infused with such energy and charisma - they just looked like they were having so much fun on stage. There were stage antics aplenty, complete with multi-instrumentalist Greg Farley bashing his washboard into the drummer's ride symbol, and Ian doing laps around the entire stage during the keyboard solo or standing on top of the kick drum.
Ian Felice is so slight, he looked almost like a puppet at times -- doing a sort of Charleston dance-step, sometimes rocking back and forth so much he looked like he was waltzing. His Dylan-esque rasp is so perfect for the songs, it was hard not to feel like you were in a world of speakeasies or the small-town Catskills.
Highly recommended, I'd love to see them in a smaller venue (or at least closer to the stage) next time!"

Felice Brothers

Now less than 24 hours away, they were guests on Rad and Macs radio 2 show tonight. Need to get to grip with the camera and how to get a decent exposure in a gig situation. Annoyingly as many years ago I did the gig photos in Black and white for the Poly's gig. Weather Report and Stranglers spring to mind.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There has to be a first time.
returning home last night and fell asleep in the train. We came through Didcot slowly no doubt following the stopper, and off I nodded.
I woke up just catching the end of an announcement that went....the first three carriages'
That did not ring bells with me, and when the train gave a lurch to the left at some point which was never there before I knew something was wrong. This was confirmed a minute or two later when we pulled into Hanborough station.
I got out there, rang my wife, then found a pub to have a quick drink whist she drove the ten or so miles to pick me up.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Eilen Jewell

Eilen Jewel evening turned out to be a good-un. In drips and droves we all turned up one after the other at the pub opposite Tingewick Village Hall where she was playing, The door of which displayed in bold red letters, TONIGHTS SHOW SOLD OUT. An excellent pint or three of Timothy Taylors Golden Best was consumed, the third of which was taken over the road into the hall. Some gig goers were carrying pitchers of beer over. A quick chat with the promoter Mike Trotman and then we sat down for a quick Chinese meal cooked in the pub which had for the evening set up for phone orders to the local area. 10 of us around the table and with added drink on top of it all came to the grand total off £83, not bad, and as I don’t like Chinese, even I liked it. This was probably because it was on the sweet side.
9pm came along so we all walked over to the hall, paid our entry dues, although I was on the guest list due to daughter No1 throwing out the tickets I had paid for some months earlier. Slight disappointment as four rows of seats had been placed in front of the stage and these were occupied already, fair enough as we were in the pub during the first act, but I was expecting to get a lot closer.
And then the band came on. And duly performed a great little set. I imagine she must have done 20 odd numbers of which I reckon six were covers. All songs were no more than 3-4 minutes long and as the reviewer below says, the first four were predetermined and then it was open suggestions.
They obviously had some difficulties on the M18 coming down from North Yorkshire, so Eilen said what a drag it was and that they were still affected by the two stationary wait on the motorway. She mentioned that it had some affect on them so I piped up ‘High Shelf Booze’ as it is a up tempo number and a drink was what she needed. Which is exactly what she did, and taking cue from me said something on the lines of good idea, and off they went to play it. After that it was a dialogue with the audience as to what to play next along with numbers that she wanted to do. Just very classy, changing her mind what to play as the mood, or the audience took her. The lead guitarist was very good to say the least, I just wonder if he is the same Jerry Millar from Moby Grape, also playing a Gretsch too. One small niggle, I think she needs either a keyboard or violinist to supplement the band as per her records just to give an extra dimension to the sound, but on the shoestring that they must make out of the touring, it has another person to divie it all up to.

It proves again that there is bloody good music going on in places you would never think of, and then at the same time millions are watching the non talented non entities that ‘perform’ on the X Factor. Why are the British public so gullible .but then why should I complain, it makes it easier for me.

Here is a review of one of her earlier London gigs at the Luminaire by a record collector, compiler and reviewer Roger Dopson, it could have been written for Tingewick


You have GOT to go and see Eilen Jewell! I saw her last night, at The Luminaire - awesome!! Those records really don't do her - or, more pertinently, her BAND - any real justice.

Live, the songs have a considerably harder edge to them and the band really rock. For example, 'If You Catch Me Stealing' - which on CD comes across as a mournful, doleful, reflective song - was played as heads-down Rockabilly. She's got her regular, long-time backing band with her, and - as you'd expect from American Country pickers - they're very much the Real Deal.

It's a trio: guitar, stand-up slap bass & drums. The guitarist is a kinda James Burton/Albert Lee/Dick Dale hybrid; the bass-slapper is classic doghouse (i.e. more slap than pluck!); and the drummer played most of the set on the snare and hi-hat. Pure Countrybilly!!

They made for an incongruous looking lot. Eilen (pronounced 'eelen') is a funny little thing. She came onstage with a 1920's haircut, wearing a dark grey twinset & pearls with cowboy boots, whilst the band looked just like a bunch of grimy truckers. They played for about an hour and three-quarters, including a couple of encores.

The place was rammed - and it was all people who were clearly familiar with her albums. She was a bit like Dale in that she opened with four or five songs, which she'd obviously pre-determined, but after that went with the flow, playing whatever people called out for. She even did a couple of Gospel numbers!

A genuinely memorable night!! You'll love her!

Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951 in Philadelphia, PA) is a jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores. He is best known for his work with the fusion band Return to Forever.
During the 1970s he joined the jazz fusion group Return to Forever led by Chick Corea. The group became one of the most important fusion groups and released several albums that achieved both mainstream popularity and plaudits from critics.
His well-known solo album is School Days (1976), which, along with Jaco Pastorius's self-titled debut, is one of the influential solo bass recordings in fusion history.

Annoyingly I never saw him for Return to Forever played our college and we walked past the back of the stage when they were playing, not being bothered to go in and see them.
Have School Days in my vinyl collection but that has not seen the light of day for a decade or so.
The sadly missed Jaco Pastorius is still the greatest modern bass player and his influence, along with Clarke's in the wings has shaped bass playing ever since.

Weekend

Well its now 7:30am, Saturday morning and its the weekend, 48 hours time I will be on Oxford station waiting for the train to start next week rolling again. Two days is not enough time to recuperate, oh for a three day weekend. Not that work is interesting enough, thats fine, its just come the weekend I really want to wind down.
Anyway, Eilen Jewell to look forward to tonight, we have a party of ten going and with a bit of luck a couple of stragglers too. Then its The Felice Brothers on Thursday and a day off work too....a four day week and I have so much holiday left to take before the year is out.
Daughter No1 coming back from Uni feeling unwell today but no doubt will be back in Bristol for Monday, and taking daughter No2 down to Bournemouth Sunday to see what she think of the Uni. Oh and some 'pj' to get on with in some shape or form as well.

Real or Fake???

Well it must be fake, but if its photoshop they have done a good job.

Countdown to Eilen Jewell and The Felice Brothers

Jewell now a week away, must remember to get tickets organised as daughter no1 managed to throw out the originals.
The Felice Brothers now just under two weeks away and down at the Shepherds Bush Empire and have taken the day off work in honour of the gig.
Need to borrow a small camera as my Nikon D50 a bit large for these occasions.

Stan Marsh

Stanley "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by the series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman. He debuted on television when South Park first aired in 1997, and featured in the feature length South Park, Bigger, Longer & Uncut dating from 1999. Some were not amused, but this little soul was.

Aerodynamics

The 2010 Toyoto Prius is claiming a cd factor of 0.25. With only the Merc E class coupe and quite unbelievably the Audi A2 anywhere near it this is where all car design should be going. We must banish all those SUVs and 4X4 to the scrapheap of profligacy where they deserve to be sent.

All About My Mother (and Volver)

Tonight, dear old Blockbuster provided us with All About My Mother, which was terrific, and unknown to me had Penelope Cruz in it, unlike Volver which we saw a few weeks back which again was equally as good. Cruz is good, god knows what she saw in that dwarf Cruise. Beats Hollywood any day.
All About My Mother 7.5/10
Volver 7.5/10

Last day of Summer, Red Skies and Sun Dogs

Today felt like the last day of summer, certainly in London today, although did not have much chance to enjoy it. By mid afternoon the sky was clouding over from the north west and the journey home on the train was not as spectacular as the other four journeys taken this week. It was an hour earlier and so the sun had not chance to sink .
Monday this week produced the most spectacular red sky I have seen for quite some time. I'm afraid the photo is from elsewhere but it was on this scale, if not better. The next three days were good too but not like Monday where the juxtaposition of the clouds at varying heights produced the impressive sight.
But today, on the train into London between Didcot and Reading we were treated by the classic pair of Sun Dogs. But not only a pair, as again because of the position of the clouds that became the screen that the broken rainbow was being projected onto, split, and the pairs were being divided again, first into two and briefly into three.
Most if not all the other passengers on the train were blissfully unaware of the natural phenomenon happening on the other side of the window.

Countdown to Eilen Jewell

17 days and counting, trust I'm not as knackered as I am tonight.

Curved Air: Air Conditioning

It has everything....rock...opera...folk...classical...pop
Took their name from Terry Riley's 'Rainbow in Curved Air' and features Daryl Way's soaring violin playing become one of a small handful of groups with a violin as lead instrument, (East of Eden, Flock and one of my favs, Its A beautiful Day being the others) and the out of this world voice of Sonja Kristina.
Released in 1970, I had the pleasure of seeing them twice, once at The Lyceum Ballroom on the Strand and (I think) The Pavillion Hemel Hempstead.
Very ahead of their times with their mixing of genres and some recent groups...Florence and the Machine and Bat for Lashes picking up in a 2008/9 fashion, the sound Curved Air had pioneered nearly forty years earlier.

The Good Ship Mandy

Just could not resist

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick lived in England during most of the last 40 years of his career. Kubrick was noted for the scrupulous care with which he chose his subjects, his slow method of working, the variety of genres he worked in. He worked far beyond the confines of the Hollywood system, maintaining almost complete artistic control and making movies according to the whims and time constraints of no one but himself.
Notable Films:
The Shinning
2001 A Space Odessy
Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
Full Metal Jacket
Dr Strangelove
Lollita

Grumpy Old Men. (3) (Women) (and Packing)

They cannot pack.
They cannot load a Dishwasher.
They cannot load fridge.

I'm sure everything has to be 30% bigger just to accommodate their inability to do these very simple exercises..........except mobile phones which should be 30% bigger so we can get our fingers onto the keys

Both Ears and the Tail

A recording by Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick released in 2008 that was taken from tapes discovered by their sound engineer who had plugged a tape direct into the PA's feed in the Folkus Folk Club in Nottingham in 1966. The guy was looking through old tapes in the 'attic' and bingo he found the tapes he had recorded some thirty years earlier.
And it is such a good recording, very clear, the odd scrape of chair from the audience, with first rate playing. If you have folk hankerings, then this will be a worthy addition to your collection. Its good but in my Live recordings hall of fame its a shame but ......
6.8/10

Cloudbusting: Over La Residencia, Deia

Rupert Graves and others made this place famous with artists, then the wealthy came and bought up the little cottages and villas in this rather idyllic location. La Residencia is now a place for the rich and famous to chillax and for muggles like us to have a very nice but quite expensive afternoon tea and scones on the terrace, and with weather like this, you can at least feel like a millionaire.
These Altocumulus formed quite quickly over a matter of ten minutes above the backdrop of the Serra de Tramuntana, and then as if by magic, just disappeared.

Cloudbusting, Or Germans gassing themselves

A great phallic shaped cumulonimbus developing on the horizon which ten or so minutes later just disappeared leaving a small puffy trail where it's head would have been,
This was taken looking north in the resort of Alcudia which has a great long beach running south and then east behind me. It is largely frequented by Germans. The twin towers are from the gas/oil terminal and on this day with the wind coming from its direction, the air had a very distict smell of Methane.
So Germans like to gas themselves too :-)

Spanish Steps...real ones

They say there are 365 of them, one for every day of the year. Would have said a few 'Hail Marys' on the way up to the little chapel at the top, but then I am an atheist.

Cloudbusting, Mallorca Style

This was a prelude to yet another thunderstorm, although we did manage to get up and down Puig de Maria without getting wet.

Stanley Jordan

My dad's called Stanley, are rare name these day, so a little reminder of other Stanley's

(July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist, best known for his development of the touch technique for playing guitar. He was born in Chicago and received a BA in digital music composition from Princetown Uni in 1981.

The Summer of '74

Looking back on that Knebworth gig, it also reminded me that prior to about 4 weeks before my record collection consisted of 95% Uk based bands, and then I cant think apart from maybe Tonto's Expanding Head Band, what American ones there were. I had come home from college and started work at a local sawmill trying to earn some money to pay off the overdraft. I lasted there only a week to move onto a more lucrative labouring job closer to home. But during that week I made friends with a Pete Campbell, whose dad ran the mill. He was very Scottish and maybe a year older and had been at Sterling Uni. Their house in the depths of Ashridge was down a private drive and I can never forget the Campbell tartan carpets that were everywhere. Anyway he had a different taste in rock music and although friendly with Supertramp I seem to recall, followed American bands. SoI was introduced to Steely Dan, Eagles and Little Feat as well as others, and as I had a car, off to Knebworth we went.
So I have to thank him for the way my tastes developed from there.
Summer holidays finished and I went back to Oxford, meeting up with him for new year in Edinburgh and new years day in a snow swept Aviemore. An epic drive back when we were the last cars to be allowed to go over the Drumochter Pass, and this in an automatic Hillman Hunter. After that we totally lost touch. Good times though.
Car: Morris Minor (without starter motor) I did not get laid.