Top ten iTunes

Top Ten iTunes for September

1. Snow Patrol - Crazy in Love
2. Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me
3. Sugabebes - Killer
4. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
5. The Jam - Town Called Malice
6. Salt 'n' Pepa with Envogue - Whatta Man
7. The Three Degrees - Givin' Up Givin' In
8. Jody Watley - Looking For A New Love
9. In Deep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
10. Neville Brothers - In the Still of the Night.

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

It is not that short!

I have been a fan of Bryson’s travel writing for years, his wit and observational skills make his books interesting and funny. I expected more of the same from him in this book, and in some respects I got it, but generally I found it a harder read than most of his other stuff. The copy I have is a hardback with 423 pages plus almost a further hundred pages dedicated to notes, bibliography and the index. This made it a bit to bulky to take on journeys thus I really only read the book at home and don’t often find the time to sit and read at home, making for a disjointed reading experience. This is combined with the fact that the subject matter does not always make for easy reading and is somewhat heavier (and not just physically) than his more lightweight travel books. Bryson is an inquisitive person and goes into a great deal of detail in this book, but his observational skills have not been dulled and he is able to discover the absurd and ridiculous where it is apparent (which is quite often). The book is divided into five parts which are broken down as follows:

I. Lost in the Cosmos

There is no place to start like the beginning, thus Bryson does just that and begins his book with the creation of the Universe. The sheer number of figures with many zeros in them is a bit daunting, but Bryson does try and explain what these figures mean. The book was first published in 2003, and the solar system chapter deals with the currently topical issue of Pluto and its dubious planetary status but does not mention the new kids on the block Ceres, Xena and Charon. However this chapter (as indeed are all the chapters) is informative without being patronising, so even scanning it briefly again for the purpose of this review, I still feel I am learning something. This section also covers the stars and some of the unique personalities that have been involved in astronomy over the last few hundred years.

II. The Size of the Earth

In his look at the planet Earth, Bryson manages to find us some more eccentrics and writes of their theories on the size (and shape) of our planet. There is an emphasis on geology in this section also, a topic I have never really enjoyed, but Bryson made it as interesting as he could. He also talks about early dinosaur discoveries and how they assisted (or were ignored) by the scientists trying to gauge the age of Earth. Chemistry (another school subject I never got to grips with) is also discussed and quite frankly, in spite of reading some paragraphs about three times, mostly went over my head.

III. A New Age Dawns

Come the end on the nineteenth century physicists thought they had pretty much discovered everything. Bryson is, of course, delighted to prove them wrong. He writes of turn of the century physicists, especially Albert Einstein and how he managed to buck the trend in making new discoveries such as gravity and the theory of relativity, which initially confused and baffled his contemporaries. Elsewhere in this section Bryson also discusses atoms, lead and CFCs and particle physics. I can assure you that this is not as daunting as it may sound. I understood most of it. The last chapter in this section deals with the movement of the Earth and examines some of the theories why the land masses are shaped as such, and why some animal fossils appear on opposite sides of an ocean. I found this one of the more interesting chapters and led perfectly into the next section.

IV. Dangerous Planet

This is essentially a geology section, and although I have very little prior geological knowledge it kept my interest and I felt I learnt more about the impact of asteroids and subsequent volcanoes and tsunami and the effects they had on the geology of our planet. He also writes about what is known of the Earth’s core and an interesting chapter on volcanoes and earthquakes.

V. Life Itself

This was probably my favourite section and discusses how humans (and other species) manage to survive on Earth and how we evolved. Bryson doesn’t just start with man, but with early ocean species, and many species that died out before we arrived (not to mention the numerous species who have disappeared around the time of man arriving in their part of the world and mucking up the eco-system). There is a slightly complicated chapter dealing with cells, one on the ice age and the penultimate chapter entitled The Curious Bi-Ped which debunks various myths and theories that attempt to explain how we got to where we are today. The last chapter in appropriately entitled Goodbye and deals with some of the species that we have lost and how we managed to, quite successfully, lose them in spite of our best intentions. It is quite a sad chapter when you realise how man mistreats his fellow planetary residents and even fails to record accurately what some creatures (such as the dodo) were like.

You don’t really need to have a particular interest or any form of background knowledge on the topics discussed. Although I am not particularly scientifically minded I found with a little bit of perseverance (and re-reading of a few paragraphs) I got to grips with most topics. Not all chapters and sections will appeal equally, the diversity of the book means that there will soon be something else along than can grab your attention, although some threads are interlinked with other parts of the book, so you cannot skip too much.

I would recommend this book for people who are interested in learning a taster about subjects that don’t know a great deal about, as an alternative to heavier, more intellectual texts. This is very much a scientific (and historical) book for the layman.

Memoirs of a Geisha

I read Arthur Golden’s novel, on which the film is based, several years ago, so was looking forward to seeing the film, but was also concerned that they may not do the book justice. It is not an easy task to translate a 400 page novel into a 2 hour and 19 minute film, and a certain amount of artistic licence needs to be used. For those who have read the book, the early years of Sayuri are very similar, obviously the years of geisha training have to be condensed somewhat, but once she is a practicing geisha the story does differ, although the main characters are still present.

For those not familiar with the story, it starts off with a young girl called Chiyo who, along with her sister, is sold by her father. The girls are separated in Kyoto, where they end up and Chiyo ends up in the Okia (geisha house) of Mother as a servant working with another young girl, Pumpkin, and the spiteful Hatsumomo, who is one of the most popular geishas in the city. Both girls wish to train as geisha but it was not an easy path for Chiyo to decide to follow until she meets the charming Chairman. She is taken under the wing of another popular geisha, Hatsumomo’s rival Mameha and so her story begins in earnest as she becomes Sayuri the geisha.

The film attracted a lot of criticism and was banned in China because of the choice of using Chinese actresses to play the geisha, claiming it was insensitive considering Japanese atrocities in China in the 1930s and 40s and the fact the geishas had low morals (although they weren’t prostitutes in the traditional sense, men paid for their company and musical skills. However, their virginity was often sold to the highest bidder). The reason for the casting of the Chinese actresses is officially given that no Japanese actresses turned up for the open auditions, although it has been speculated that there were no Japanese actresses of the international calibre and status of the Chinese and Malaysian ones that were cast. The role of Sayuri as an adult is taken by Ziyi Zhang of House of Flying Daggers. The beautiful Li Gong (Farewell my Concubine) played Hatsumomo, whilst Michelle Yeoh plays Mameha, and starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) played the supposedly charismatic chairman. I struggled with some of these performances. Firstly, English was not the first language of a lot of the cast, and in some instances I found the diction quite poor and it seemed that lines were being said sometimes by rote. I almost put the subtitles up so I could be sure of catching all the dialogue. Secondly, and this is often the case in book adaptations, they are not given the opportunity to explore the character in depth making for shallow performances. Half the emotions allegedly depicted I felt I picked up because I had read the book and understood what was being portrayed, I am not sure I would have got any depth from the film if I did not have this prior knowledge. I am not sure there was any depth to this film to be honest. My friend who had not read the book, possibly enjoyed the film more than I did, as it is always going to compare unfavourably with the book from my perspective.

Rob Marshall, the director, did a passable job of making this film come to life and there are some stunning dance sequences (he has a dance background having worked as a dancer, and previously directed Chicago). He offered an interesting snapshot into geisha life, but it is ultimately nothing more than just a glimpse as he tried to concentrate on a supposed love story that was so rushed you felt you had missed the connection (a few meaningful looks had to suffice).

The film was nominated for six technical Oscars, and won three, for best Achievement in Cinematography, art direction and costumes. The other nominations were for Sound, Sound editing and music. John Williams composed the score, and is one of the most celebrated composers in Hollywood having done the music for most of the big films such as Star Wars, War of the Worlds and Harry Potter. I can’t say the music really stuck out for me, although is did win him several other awards, including a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

The film has a running time of 139 minutes and a certification of 12, which I think is fair. There are some limited sex scenes, but no real nudity.

Extras

The DVD has a good selection of extras that certainly appeal to those that want to learn more about the geisha and bringing the story to film. There is an audio commentary (which I didn’t listen to) by Director Rob Marshall and co-producer John De Luca plus several short films of about ten to fifteen minutes each which are quite interesting:

Geisha Boot camp – this is where the child and adult actresses spent a month learning to walk, dance and move like a Geisha. The non-English speaking actresses also had English lessons.

Sayuri’s Journey from Novel to screen – interview with author Arthur Golden and Robin Swicord who wrote the screenplay in how the 400 page book was “interpreted” (their words) for the screen.

The Look of a Geisha – explains the work involved in the costume and make up department in making the Geisha look true to life whilst trying to give it a contemporary sexiness.

Others include the World of the Geisha and the Geisha’s Dance which I didn’t watch (it was getting late!) but I would expect them to be as informative as the others. There were also several picture galleries of costume sketches and behind the scenes photos, which I didn’t find that interesting. Rather unusually there were also Japanese recipes, I didn’t try any, and they seemed quite hard to read off the screen.

Overall whilst I was disappointed in the film, I still enjoyed it and was glad I watched it. The extras, for a change, were really worthwhile and to some extent were more interesting than the film, if you wanted to learn a bit more about the geisha and the film’s background. I would not let the fact you have not read the book put you off, I think you may enjoy it more than those who had and are forever going to compare it to such a stunning novel.

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

This is the debut novel by Khaled Hosseini, a Californian doctor who was born in Afghanistan and fled to the US seeking political asylum in 1980, thus you can be sure he knows he stuff regarding the early years of his lead character.

The book is told from the perspective of Amir. Amir’s mother died in childbirth and he grew up thinking that his father never quite forgave him for killing his mother. Amir’s father, or Baba as he is referred to throughout the book, was a successful businessman and philanthropist and they shared their house with Ali ( a childhood friend of Baba’s) and his son Hassan who were Hazaras, a Shi’a Muslim immigrant minority group rumoured to be descended from Genghis Khan, that were often regarded as second class citizens in Afghanistan. Ali and Hassan were servants to Amir’s family. Hassan is about the same age as Amir and also motherless as she run off just after Hassan was born as he was disfigured by a hare lip. Although Hassan had to look after Amir in the house, he was also his main playmate. Unable to read he enjoyed Amir reading stories to him and Amir loved the power this gave him as Amir was a coward and it was often Hassan who stood up for him in fights. This left Amir feeling inadequate that he was not the brave, sporty hero that Baba was, and that he was a disappointment to his father. Amir was closer to his father’s friend Rahim Khan who understood Amir’s love of books and writing, which Baba did not. However, the boys’ main hobby was kite fighting and kite running which was a national sport in Afghanistan at the time. Baba had been kite fighting champion and Amir felt the pressure to get the title to, and earn the respect and love of his father. Hassan was also a talented kite runner, meaning that when a beaten (torn) kite fell to the ground, there was a race on to catch it. It was also very prestigious to catch the last beaten kite at the end of the tournament. However, this tournament sets the stage for the tragic events that change the boys’ lives forever. I do not wish to reveal the plot to you, and I am not being melodramatic here, this really was tragic and something that could have been avoided if Amir had been less of a coward. In order to cover his cowardice and shame, Amir continues to behave despicably and you begin to feel uncomfortable reading about such a dislikeable character.

Later in the book Amir and Baba escape the Russian invasion and go to the US leaving close friend Rahim behind in their house (Ali and Hassan have since moved on). One day, after the Taliban have been in power for a few years, Rahim Khan calls Amir in the US and asks him to come and visit him one last time in Pakistan. He tells Amir a story of how things have been in Afghanistan that means Amir must go to Kabul and face his demons (quite literally) and hopefully put right some of his wrongs before it is too late. At this point you assume you know how the book is going to end, but let me assure you that it is not as predictable as you might have thought.

The book seems to be divided into three parts. Amir and Hassan’s early years in Kabul; Amir and Baba settling into America where Baba had to work as a petrol pump attendant and Amir’s return to Afghanistan alone, as a man. The book is extremely well-written and engrossing. You learn how life was for Afghani immigrants in the US as well as for those back home alongside an original and compelling story. Over the course of the book the characters develop well, although you have to get used to the fact that you might not like all of them. Hosseini’s writing style keeps you engrossed in spite of this, there are twists and turns and the story is not straight forward, but is always believable. You even start to feel some sympathy for Amir.

Florence

View of City 3
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

View of Florence from the Piazza Michelangelo. May 2006.

Lily Allen - Alright, Still

Lily Allen is the daughter on comedian Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. She has had small parts in films her mother has produced, notably Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett where she played a Lady in Waiting. 21 year old Lily was signed to Parlaphone late last year, in response to her popular My Space music profile (see link below). It has been widely reported that she was being expelled from a dozen or so different schools as well as experimenting with drugs in her teens, although it doesn’t seem to have done her any harm, as she has managed to produce a number one single with her debut single, and a top five album. The album, ‘Alright, Still’ refers to a slang saying of her brother’s which means ‘Cool’.

The first track on the CD is the number one single Smile and has some very interesting lyrics and a Dance Hall/Reggae beat to it. I loved it when I first heard it for the original and witty lyrics and as I quite like the reagge/ska genre it was quite interesting to hear something fresh. It is apparently inspired by the depression Allen experienced after a relationship break up in her teens; the lyrics belie the perky tune they are sung to. Knock ‘Em Out is a very Streets-ish about trying to get away from unwanted blokes in the pub, and girls that bother blokes by return. It is talking rather than singing and there are some amusing excuses given. LDN was actually released before Smile but as a limited edition 7” vinyl only which is why most people -myself included – don’t know it. It is another reggae inspired track where Lily sings about the worst things about London and city life (crack whores and muggers) and then asks why she would want to be anywhere else when the sun is shining. Somewhere without crack whores and muggers possibly?! It is due to be released properly in late September.

Everything’s Just Wonderful, with its Seventies TV theme inspired intro is about when things aren’t wonderful and you can’t get a mortgage because of bad credit (a problem I am sure Ms Allen no longer has) or eat what you want without feeling guilty about putting weight on. Not Big continues with the typical ska type beat that is present in most of the tracks on the CD, and is an amusing song about telling an ex that he was a bit rubbish in bed and… err… a bit small. I can’t help wondering if it is autobiographical like others on the CD and whether there is an ex-boyfriend of Lily’s out there, cringing, as he recognises himself!

Friday Night sounds as if it has been inspired by The Specials ‘Ghost Town’ and is about a night out in a club and being provoked by some other girls. Shame For You is another track about rejecting an admirer; it has a more bluesy feel over the ska beat. Well, about a bluesey as Lily Allen can get, she does actually sing on this track (she says she is classically trained) compared to her half talking, half singing on a lot of other tracks and, as ever, her lyrics are sharp and witty. Littlest Things is about reminiscing about a past relationship (presumably not with the guy who was bad in bed) and is the nearest to a romantic ballad on the CD. There is a piano and strings and harmonious backing vocals over a ska type beat with Allen’s “Cor Blimey” vocals warbling over it, quite frankly it makes it all sound a bit odd!

Take What You Take is about keeping in real and receiving unwanted advice. All this adds up to the fact the Allen has a huge chip on her shoulder with lines like “What the f*** do you know? Just cos you’re old and think you’re wise”. Friend of Mine is about ending an old school friendship because said friend now talks s***e. Alfie is a very interesting track and Lily actually sings, rather than half-talks, about her real brother Alfie and is very catchy, although he can’t be too pleased with being immortalized as a weed-smoking, lazy t*** by his sister. I have read interviews where she has since said she regrets bringing her family in since then (which makes me wonder more if the ex-boyfriend who was bad in bed was real).

A lot of her tracks tell people not to take her on because you will get a reaction, I don’t know if Lily is like this in real life, I suspect she can be very forthright and opinionated as this comes across in interviews. However, I do feel slightly uncomfortable with some of the verbal belligerence on some tracks, but hopefully (and I suspect) it is more talk than do. Lily’s outspokenness, attitude and unique musical style have made her a bit ‘marmite’ (i.e. you either love her or hate her) with the record buying public. While I generally like her lyrics I find the ‘Mockney’ singing a bit irritating, especially as I have heard her speak in interviews and she sounds nothing like that. She admits to a middle class upbringing, which makes the faux-working class act a bit grating. In my opinion, there are two ways to listen to this CD, either carefully listening to the generally amusing lyrics or have it on in the background as the melodies and choruses are very catchy so I find myself bopping away in my seat as I surf Ciao!

Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. Most songs are growers, and I was not sure after the first listen, but two or three listens later and I am glad I have bought it. Not all songs are as strong as Smile, but if you like your pop mixed with a bit of reggae and ska then I think this is worth a try.

Other details:

There is swearing on the album, usually the F word. The C word is blanked out where is would have been used. The CD invites you to insert it in your PC and get an exclusive album, but this doesn’t seem to work for me, I can only access a mix of her tracks from this album (or maybe that is what I was supposed to get!). The inlay card features the lyrics to the songs and is in a ska friendly black, white and red design. There are no pictures other than the cover one.

http://www.myspace.com/leadingbyexample This is an answer song by Example called Vile, written as if he was the boyfriend referred to by Lily on Smile (he wasn’t, but it is an amusing track anyway).

Lily’s MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

Official website: http://lilyallenmusic.com/

Both websites allow you to listen to a few tracks.

100 Things in 1001 Days - The Sixth Ten

51. Have Sims weekends, where I play the game in excess of 14 hours over the weekend x 5 ( x1 - 2/4 Mar 06; x 1 – 15-17 Apr 06; x 1 – 19-21 May 06)
52. Get 25 Sims to achieve their lifetime aspiration.
53. 10,000 steps a day for a week (For four separate weeks)
54. Go a Day without TV x 25 (III)
55. Meet an author
56. Play LA in a Box 5 times

57. Play Trivial Pursuit 20 5 times
58. Write a story
59. Read what I have not read already on this list: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml
60. Take a photo everyday for a month


Not so good this month. I am three-fifths of the way through the top one, hope to get that done soon, and 20% of the way through number 59 (which is a big challenge). The rest I have not started or made a very small dent into.