Random thoughts of an Essexgirl

What's it All About?

2007-08-14T18:54:00.000+01:00

This 2004 film is a re-make by Charles Shyer of the 1966 film starring Michael Caine, this time with Jude Law in the title role, and the location moved to Manhattan (but Alfie's still English). I have not seen the original, so I cannot compare them. I have also never really liked Law as a romantic lead, which is just as well as this isn't really a romantic film.

Alfie is an eternal womanizer who is looking for something else, but can't quite put his finger on it. Will he find it before it is too late? Throughout the film he addresses the camera directly, and I found this a tad annoying, especially as it sometimes interrupted the (albeit limited) conversational dialogue. His shallow shagging around New York, at times, seems as empty and pointless to the viewer as it does to Alfie, although the film is ultimately quite melancholic. One of Alfie's plans to find deeper meaning in his life is to start his own business with best friend, and fellow chauffeur, Marlon (Omar Epps) but we never really find out what this new venture is (I assume it is another chauffeuring business). We just see him having a quickie with one lady Dorie (Ally McBeal's Jane Krakowski) but making excuses as she appears to become attached to him, he then heads off to regular girlfriend, single mother Julie (Marisa Tomei) who is always pleased to see him, and who he essentially takes for granted until she discovers what he has been up to. Alfie then lurches from a one night stand with Marlon's girlfriend Lonette (Nia Long) to a relationship with manic depressive Nikki (Sienna Miller) and an affair with charismatic older woman Liz (Susan Sarandon), on some sort of path of self-destruction as he refuses to acknowledge what is wrong with his life. Should he find what he wants, and should it work out for him, and other such details I will leave for you to discover should you watch the film.

The film is not heavy on plot, although to be fair, there is more to the movie than I have mentioned above. Attempts are made for the viewer to empathise with Alfie, as he does feel remorse when he makes a mess of things. Most dialogue is Alfie talking to the camera directly, and this is not my preferred way of watching a film, I don't really like it narrated like that, although that is a personal thing, and others may not be bothered by that. Very few of Alfie's ladies have much depth. Sienna Miller's character Nikki was most disappointing for me, as her character's mood swings meant that there was so much more potential than was portrayed, in fact her part of Alfie's story was told in interestingly lit, flickery clips that resembled a pop video rather than a feature film. So much more could have been done with this character. I liked Marisa Tomei's Julie, she was a sweet character who seemed quite normal and she (as did Nia Long and Susan Sarandon) did manage to make her character a bit more than two-dimensional, which is not easy given the limited screen time each one had. Law did everything asked of him; I don't think he has the right 'cheeky chappy' type persona that would make the ideal Alfie for me. Again this is a personal preference, in that Law has disappointed me more often than not with some of his more recent films.

What I probably loved most about the film was the soundtrack written my David A Stewart (formally of The Eurythmics) and Mick Jagger with most vocal performances done by Jagger and Joss Stone. I thought it really suited the film, tracks were poppy and catchy and the soundtrack CD alone would probably be great and work out of context. The film is very stylish in its direction and there were a number of key 'mood' words displayed on billboards and as signs in the background. Essentially I enjoyed the film, but I cannot rave about it. It is something a bit different in its direction and production style, with a great soundtrack, which is why I ultimately will recommend it.

The film is a 15 certificate, which I think is fair with a small amount of nudity, sexual and drug references. The running time is a little over an hour and a half. My DVD rental copy contained no extras.

Top 10 iTunes

2007-08-08T18:57:00.000+01:00

1. Snow Patrol - Crazy in Love
2. Paul Weller - You Do Somthing To Me
3. Jennifer lopez - Let's get Loud
4. Blu Cantrell Feat. Sean Paul - Breathe
5. Jennifer lopez - Get Right
6. Sugababes - Killer
7. In Deep - Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
8. The Style Council - Promised LAnd
9. The Three Degrees - Givin' Up Givin' In
10. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody

St Stephens

2007-08-04T13:57:00.001+01:00

St Stephens 3
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl

Inside St Stephen's Chuch, Budapest

Find Something Better to Do for 90 Minutes

2007-08-02T10:40:00.000+01:00

I am a big Brit Flick fan. I think the British have made some fantastic films over the years, at the same time there have been a few duds that have got though on the back of a successful genre. The Rom-Com (Romantic-Comedy) has to have been one of the most commercially successful genres of recent years with films like Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones et al doing their bit for the British economy at the Box Office. Hoping to follow in their footsteps (and sadly failing miserably) is Confetti.

Comedian Jimmy Carr (host of '8 Out of 10 Cats') plays Antoni the owner of Confetti, a top bridal magazine, he and editor Vivienne (Felicity Montague - Alan Partridge's long suffering assistant) come up with a Most Original Wedding competition idea and start the audition process. They narrow it down to three themed weddings, to be organised by wedding planners' Gregory and Archie:

The 'Hollywood Musicals' couple. Tone-deaf Sam and Matt (Jessica Stevenson and The Office's Martin Freemen) dream of a Hollywood Musical style wedding where their family and friends join in on a show-stopping production. They are ably unassisted by Sam's interfering mum (Alison Stedman playing to type) and attention seeking sister.

The 'Tennis' Couple. Josef and Isabelle (Stephen Mangan and Meredith MacNeill) are huge tennis fans who are extremely competitive and desperate to win the contest, that they will do almost anything. They also want Cliff Richard to sing at their wedding.

The 'Naturist' Couple. Michael and Joanna (Robert Webb and Olivia Colman) want to be naked for their wedding. Joanna is new to naturism and isn't convinced she wants to be naked in front of too many people though, especially her mother.

The film is done as a mock 'documentary' and apparently was improvised. They really should have scripted it, or got in some more original actors because, quite simply, the film just isn't funny. The film is directed and 'written' (i.e. conceived) by Debbie Isitt, who I am not familiar with. I was also not familiar with half the cast, but a check on IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427089/) shows that most of them have appeared on the TV programme 'Peep Show'. I have not seen this show, but it does smack a bit of an 'Old Boy' network. I would have thought that at least meant there was some chemistry between the couples, if the actors knew each other well. Sam and Matt came across as the only couple even slightly realistic, the rest were nothing more than bad caricatures. The supporting cast of friends and family members were at best, irritating and at worst, amateur stereotypes. One small saving grace were the two wedding planners Archie and Gregory, but they were far from able to hold this dire, predictable film together. The ending (as far as who wins) is also predictable, although they do try hard to attempt to offer you some suspense, but to be honest by this time I didn't actually care. The whole premise of the film and so much more potential for comedy than the final result, I feel this was one big wasted opportunity.

The extras include three alternative endings so you can see what happens if another couple won, and a different ending with the same winners. There are also a few featurettes which appeared to be extra footage of the wedding planners which may be entertaining but I was not prepared to waste any more of my life.

It has a 15 certificate - not to be watched if you are uncomfortable with full-frontal nudity.

Which Hero are you?

2007-07-30T10:20:00.000+01:00

Which Heroes Character Are You?
	You are Hiro. You are everyones favorite Japanese tourist. Your time is well-managed and you make sure things get done. On top of that, the girls always want a second chance with you.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Prepare for Landing

2007-07-28T13:32:00.000+01:00

I thought I was prepared for the emotional rollercoaster that this film was, but that is not easy to do. For those who are not familiar with this film it is a reconstruction of the fourth flight to be hi-jacked in the USA on September 11th 2001. The other three flights hit their target - the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, this flight, believed intended for the White House or the Capitol Hill, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania killing all on board. There is a lot of info known about the flight - the passengers were allowed to make phone calls, and it was known that they were planning on trying to take over the flight from the hi-jackers, but there are also some gaps, that writer and director Paul Greengrass has to fill in himself, and for the most part appear to be reasonable assumptions. Also, information was available from air traffic control and other planes and visuals in the area.

The film sets the scene early on in the morning of September 11th as we see the pilots and passengers leaving for the airport and boarding the plane. Greengrass goes to great lengths to set the scene through phone calls and conversations with loved ones. We are introduced to nearly all the people on the flight (I cannot bring myself to call them characters) through their ID cards and their names on their boarding cards as they go through the machine. However this is too early in the film to remember exactly who they are.

The flight commences uneventfully (albeit late) and we see a bit of what is happening back on the ground as family members watch events unfold in New York, and the pilots getting messages from the air traffic control warning of cockpit invasions and the crashes into the World Trade Centre. In spite of this they let the hi-jackers in (I don't imagine I was alone in shouting "No!" at the TV, as futile as it was) with very little pressure, in spite of a flight attendant under threat. This is one assumption I found hard to take, that the pilots were aware of the risk, yet caved in seemingly so easily and opened the cockpit door. Once the plane is hi-jacked we see a little of the terrorists, and see that the 'pilot' is not very competent. I am not sure whether that is based on an educated guess from information given by air traffic control, or just how Greengrass wanted to play it.

Generally the depiction of the characters and events seem authentic and 'real', the actors are not known names, and it appears they took the time to meet family members and understand the people they are portraying. The emphasis is in making them seem like regular people like you, and your family or friends, having found themselves in a nightmare situation. I found it very easy to empathise with the passengers and crew, for although I have never been in that situation, they have depicted the story so realistically (based on prior knowledge of events) that you can understand how they feel as they exchange phone calls and the full gravity of the situation dawns on them. I am sure I am not alone in wondering how I would react if it was me, and it is certainly a tribute to those on board that decided they were going to attempt to take the plane. Again, the exact nature of this is open to interpretation, but I feel the portrayal of this aspect of events makes sense and is realistic.

There have been some criticism as to whether this film should ever be made, but I feel you cannot ignore history, nor forget it. If that was the case films like Schindler's List and The Pianist depicting the holocaust in World War Two would never have been made, and equally that is something we should not forget nor let happen again. The film is in no way exploitative of the events and the people involved, but in fact, comes across more as a tribute. If you watch this you obviously need to be prepared for all the emotions of sadness and anger that you would expect, but at the same time there is a positive vibe, over the support that other human beings are able to give to strangers, even when in need of help themselves. The film is very understated, and it seems to me has been made as re-enactment (I hesitate to use the word 'dramatisation' as it makes it sound more over-done - the story doesn't really need more drama) for posterity rather than a desire to garner awards and accolades.

There are some effects in the film, and they seem to be very well done and convincing.

If there was music in the middle of the film, I didn't notice it, only the haunting flute piece played over the closing credits.

The filmmakers donated a percentage of opening weekend profits to the Pennsylvania memorial to this plane. This totaled over US$1 million. All the deceased crew and passengers (excluding the terrorists) have their names listed at the end of the film as a tribute.

Kerepesi Cemetery

2007-07-27T15:26:00.001+01:00

Kerepesi Cemetery 22
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl

Kerepese Cemetery, budapest. January 2007.

If I Live to See The Seven Wonders

2007-07-23T14:06:00.000+01:00

So sung Fleetwood Mac.

The original seven wonders were man-made constructions, of which only one (The Pyramids at Giza, Egypt) , still exists. It was recently decided by a Swiss corporation to decide the New Seven Wonders, from a nominated short list of 28. On the new short list the pyramids were featured, but did not make it onto the final 'New' list. Others that didn't make it included the Statue of Liberty and Stonehenge. Winners were decided by a public Internet vote and there were criticisms on bloc voting, where certain countries encouraged their citizens to vote for their own country's monument. Int he end the final seven were:

1. The Great Wall of China
2. Petra, Jordan.
3. Statue of Christ the Redeemer, Rio De Janiero, Brazil.
4. Machu Picchu, Peru.
5. Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico.
6. The Colosseum, Rome, Italy.
7. Taj Mahal, India.

I have so far visited only two of these - Chichen Itza - pics to follow and the Colosseum in Rome (over-rated). I have visited five of the runner ups - Stonehenge, the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, Statue of Liberty and the Pyramids of Egypt (which to my mind should have been an automatic shoe-in to the 'New' list).

Foot Fetish

2007-07-14T12:12:00.000+01:00

No-one does a good feel-good flick like the Brits. This film is all about feeling good about oneself. It is not an out and out comedy, you won't be roaring with laughter but there are some amusing and touching moments.

The film is actually loosely based on a real Northampton shoe factory. In the film, Price's Shoemakers have been making quality men's shoes for generations. The last generation, Charlie (Joel Edgerton), doesn't really fit in with the mould and moves down to London with his fiancée to work in Marketing. However, upon the death of his father returns to the business that has been left to him. Muddling on for a bit, he discovers a major order had been cancelled and the company was on the brink of collapse. It is on an unsuccessful business trip to London that Charlie first stumbles across Lola, a drag queen (Chiwetel Ejiofor), with a broken boot. Back in Northampton he is forced to make staff redundant but feisty factory girl Lauren (Sarah Jane Potts) fights back and asks what Charlie is trying to do about it. This sets Charlie thinking and finally the penny drops (the audience had worked it out about fifteen minutes earlier) and he persuades Lauren to come down to London with him to meet Lola.

Obviously the path of fabulous shoe making does not run smoothly. Lola has a few teething problems with some of the staff at the factory. This is done sensitively and with humour, there are no cheap gags. The film is basically about knowing who you are, and being comfortable with that. It is not just Charlie and Lola who has to work this out. Director Julian Jarrold, whose background until now has been in TV direction, makes this a simple, easy to watch film that is not over-long or complicated. You don't have to try hard to make a good film and the story (inspired by a TV documentary) tells itself. Yes, it is a tad predictable in places but I found I didn't really mind. You don't watch this film if you are looking to be challenged or intellectually stimulated!

Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance as Lola is full of charisma and enthusiasm. I gather his performance was appreciated by the transvestite community as being sensitive and accurate, rather than a parody. He has a good singing voice and is a talented performer. If the acting didn't work out… He is ably supported by a cast of actors that are 'normal', and although some are recognizable for past TV roles, generally they play regular people with no pretensions, which is exactly the appeal of the film. Potentially the film could have stereotyped 'Northern' (Lola's description, before anyone wants to pick me up on my geography!) factory workers as well as drag queens, but seems to narrowly avoid all the pitfalls to make this a very watchable film. I would definitely recommend it; this is no ground-breaking cinematic masterpiece but perfect if you are looking for an amusing, entertaining film with its feet on the ground.

DVD EXTRAS: There is a 15 minute featurette entitled 'The Real Kinky Boot Factory' about the documentary that inspired the makers to turn the story into a film, and the training the actors had in order to be able to operate the machinery. There are also four deleted scenes, which are OK, certainly I have seen worse. They are even finished properly with background music also, unlike some I've seen which are just rough cuts. There is a short montage to music entitled 'Journey of a Brogue' showing pictorially how a shoe is made. Audio Commentary is also available.

The film is a certificate 12, there is limited bad language.

Running time is 104 minutes.

Top 25 iTunes

2007-07-07T16:48:00.000+01:00

There wasn't a Top 25 in Dec/Jan so I will do one now. Positions in brackets are from my last Top 25 at the end of June last year, 'Re' means a re-entry having been in a previous chart and 'new' means it has made its debut in the Top 25.

1 (1) Snow Patrol - Crazy in Love
2 (2) Paul Weller - You Do Something to Me
3 (Re) Blu Cantrall Feat. Sean Paul - Breathe
4 (5) The Three Degrees - Givin' Up, Givin' In
5 (12) Rufus and Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
6 (new) Jennifer Lopez - Let's get Loud
7 (3) Jody Watley - Looking for A New Love
8 (new) Level 42 - Leaving Me Now
9 (new) Jennifer Lopez - Get Right
10 (Re) Style Council - Promised Land
11 (19) In Deep - Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
12 (7) Lisa Scott Lee - Lately
13 (new) The Rembrandts - I'll Be There for You
14 (new) The Superman Lovers - Starlight
15 (3) Salt 'N' Pepe/En Vogue - Whatta Man
16 (11) Erasure - Sometimes
17 (new) Phil Oakey & Georgio Moroder - Electric Dreams
18 (new) Sheryl Crow - My Favourite Mistake
19 (new) The Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics (have taken over the asylum)
20 (Re) Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
21 (new) Girls Aloud - Love Machine
22 (9) Robbie Williams & Tom Jones - The Full Monty medley
23 (new) Jakob Sviestrup - Talking To You
24 (new) Propellerheads - History Repeating
25 (new) Muse - Feeling Good

Interesting Facts (to me) -

Lisa Scott Lee, The Three Degrees and Blu Cantrell Feat Sean Paul were in my first Top 10 in Aug 2004.

This is the First Top 25 chart that the Lightning Seeds and Supergrass have not appeared in.

Paul Weller has never been out of the top 2 since November 2004 and has been in every chart except the first Top 10.

Jennifer Lopez's double appearance in the Top 10 could be down to being on my Gym workout mix. Expect Deep Dish's Flashdance to appear in the next Top 25 for the same reason, along with Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle.

New songs struggle to get in the Top 25 as this is an All Time* Most Listened To Top 25. It seems a minimum of two years is needed.

*Since June 2004

Still Alive

2007-07-06T16:22:00.001+01:00

Discovered Facebook and lost hours of my life. Oh - And I have been on holiday.

Munich

2007-01-25T18:27:00.000Z

I really didn't know what to expect with this film. All I new was that is was a Steven Spielberg film about the massacre of a number of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, after a hostage situation goes wrong. As far as the event was concerned, I was a tad too young to recall it so expected to learn a bit more about it. In fact the film fast forwards through the actual event in the first 5-10 minutes of the film, with a few other aspects being told briefly in flashbacks later in the film. The film is actually about an Israeli Mossad agent (Eric Bana) and his crew (featuring Daniel Craig and Ciaran Hinds) who are secretly hired by the Israeli government to track down and assassinate all the terrorists on their hit list. However, for the most part, they are not an entirely competent bunch and not all are happy with what they are doing and find it very difficult to trust other people outside their group. Admittedly I am making certain assumptions here as apart from the Israeli agent Avner (Bana) we don't really get to discover what makes the others tick, and it is only towards the end that you realise that, generally, the rest of the team are human and not just heartless assassins. However, South African team-member Steve (Craig) never seems to show any emotion or be much more than a robot.

The film is based on a controversial book called 'Vengeance' by one GeorgeJonas who claims he was told the story by the man who is portrayed in the film as Avner. It takes very little research on the net to find that there is plenty of speculation as to the reliability of Jonas' source, but at the same time Avner (should he exist) is hardly likely to want to put himself in the public eye. Spielberg himself has claimed that this film is 'inspired by real events' but that does not mean it is the truth. Of course, Israel has not officially admitted that it sent a team of Mossad agents to track down and kill the terrorists in a revenge attack, but no one is denying that there is a possibility a team of sorts was sent out to avenge the Munich massacre. To pretty much put the words in the mouth of Israel's then Prime Minister Golda Meir in the film, that this is the case is a bit naughty on the part of Spielberg. I think he should have been clearer about where the facts end, and the speculation begins. I don't doubt that some artistic licence has been used, and in other situations the blurring of the boundaries could make for an interesting film, but in this case just made me uncomfortable. If this was Spielberg's intention then he did a good job, but I felt his intentions probably lied elsewhere, which I shall come too.

Before I wander completely off-topic, I will go back to the story, such as it is. The men have taken the list of targets in good faith and set about killing them with various degrees of success, we don't know anything about the background of the targets, but see them portrayed as family men or popular members of their communities, so you naturally are uncomfortable at seeing them killed. It is not until much later that Avner queries what connection these seemingly normal people have with Black September (the terrorist group behind the Munich attack) but not much is made of it. The bulk of the 2 hours, 20 minutes of the film is taken up with one killing after another, followed by revenge killings for other attacks and for attacks on them. This is where Spielberg was coming from, I think. The senselessness of the eye-for-an eye outlook, meaning the killing will never cease as the film closes with the New York skyline (including the World Trade centre) in the background. Perhaps he is saying 'Have we brought it on ourselves?' Perhaps I am trying to read too much into it, but I can't see any other point to the film, otherwise it would just lurch from one killing to the next.

Apart from Avner, we know nothing about the background of any of the team, but it is taken as given that they bond and get on. There is a token effort to show Avner trying to maintain his relationship with his wife and his paranoia at potentially becoming the hunted rather than the hunter is well thought out and well executed. Eric Bana does a good job at the role, but with the other characters so superficial I don't feel I can comment on if the acting is flawed or the character. Is Daniel Craig's character meant to be so wooden and driven, or is that just how he has been portrayed? I really have no idea as there was so little opportunity to make a judgement. Certainly his South African accent sucked. Geoffrey Rush is worth a mention for his performance as a Mossad official, but outside of him and Bana, not a lot has been asked of any of the others (and if it was, they obviously refused).

Direction wise, I assume Spielberg achieved what he set out to do. The film is beautifully shot, and I would think that the attention to detail in depicting the era helped make the film seem authentic. Music is by John Williams (who else?) and is very appropriate in that you don't really notice it; it fits in so well with the film.

Overall, I was very disappointed with the film. It didn't teach me anything new about this event in history, instead it just muddied the waters between fact and fiction. I would have thought the majority of typical cinema goers would have been born after the event or be that bit too young to remember it and perhaps a bit more background info on what led up to the massacre would be interesting and helpful. I felt the film has miss-sold itself to me, it is not about Munich at all but about revenge and charging round cities in Europe bumping people off. It isn't even that good an action flick and any political message (if, indeed, there was supposed to be one) is vague and inconclusive. Basically the film is about hatred and vengeance, so if that doesn't bother you, then you will be fine.

Extras:
'Munich: The Mission, The Team' is a 'making of…' type featurette. It lasts about 12 minutes and glosses over the 'moral minefield' as they refer to it to nice safe topics like the cast and crew waffling on about what an important film it was.

Seven Swords

2007-01-21T15:14:00.000Z

This 2005 offering adapted from the book 'Seven Swordsmen from Mount Heaven' by Liang Yu-Sheng was recommended to me by my former Tai Chi instructor. Having enjoyed recent Chinese Martial Arts films that crossed over to the UK cinema such as 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'House of Flying Daggers' I was keen to watch this, but had missed it at the cinema.

As the film starts we are informed that Martial Arts in fifteenth century China has been outlawed and the punishment for breaking this law is decapitation. A gang of bad guys in armour, face paint and with some interesting weaponry, are greedy for the rewards and have been killing whole villages, including children and old folk, on instruction of their leader Fire-Wind. However, former executioner-turned-good-guy Fu has been stealing the name plaques from the dead and getting on their nerves. They give chase to him and he meets and is helped by (and in turn helps) pretty villager Yuanyin and returns with her to Martial Village, supposedly the next place on the bandits' list with many coveted heads. Because of his past Fu is imprisoned by the village but Yuanyin trusts him and enables the help of her friend Fang and Fang's boyfriend Han to free him. Whilst Fang stays to take the fall for the group (she is the chief's daughter, so they assume she won't get into too much trouble), Han and Yuanyin go with Fu to Mount Heaven and Master Shadow-Glow for his help.

Shadow-Glow has four disciples, although we only really meet Chu Zhaonan (Dragon Sword), no other swordsmen are explored; we just have a cursory introduction to them. I assume they each have their own stories and that the book has more detail, but as most of the characters are not given any depth anyway you don't miss much. Shadow-Glow then gives the Heaven's Fall sword to Yuanyin and the Deity sword to Han and thus they and Fu make up the seven swordsmen and they return to the village to help defend them from Fire-Wind's imminent attacks and to help the villagers flee.

There are three main big fight sequences in this film, and whilst all impressive not as jaw-dropping at 'Flying Daggers' or 'Crouching Tiger'. My favourite scene was towards the end when Chu and Fire-Wind are fighting in a narrow passage and climbing the walls. There is a bit of token romance as Chu frees Fire-Wind's beloved slave Green Pearl and some token suspense when it is revealed that the villagers have a spy in their midst.

No great acting skill is required of much of the cast with the emphasis on the fight scenes. I enjoyed the performance of Hong-Lei Sun who played Fire-wind. He did the evil general well, and I understood his captivation with Green Pearl rather than Chu's. He had one of the better fight scenes and the most interesting dialogue, such as it was. Dialogue was minimal, as was plot. The music by Kenji Kawaii is very appropriate and full of sweeping and dramatic strings. My one real issue was with the idea to not always feature on screen the person speaking but to show someone else. This is particularly annoying in the beginning when you haven't worked out who is who, and don't recognize voices. Also a lot of the scenes are shot at night and the lighting is inadequate to reveal which swordsman you have been given a fleeting glimpse of.

Overall I enjoyed this film, but it does not pass muster against the inevitable comparisons to 'Flying Daggers' or 'Crouching Tiger', and would recommend it more to existing fans of the genre rather than as an introduction.

Key people:
Director - Hark Tsui
Yuanyin - Charlie Yeung
Chu Zhaonan - Donnie Yen
Han - Yi Lu
Fu - Chia-Liang Lu
Fang -Jinchu Zhang
Shadow-Glow - Jingwu Ma
Fire-wind - Honglei Sun
Green Pearl - So-Yeon Kim

Chinese Translation: Chat Gim

The film had a running time of just less than two and a half hours and has a 15 certificate due to the violence (which is not really offensive, if you are squeamish).

We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver

2007-01-18T18:11:00.000Z

With this book, the American author won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005. Shriver changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel as a teenager, as she believed men had it easier. This was also selected to be part of Richard & Judy’s Summer Reads for 2005, and was featured on the BBC’s Page Turners programme.

The book grabbed me from page one, I knew the synopsis from the back cover, and the book starts with a letter from mother, Eva, to estranged husband, Franklin, a year and eight months after the tragic events at their son Kevin’s High School where he murdered seven fellow students, a teacher and a cafeteria worker. After Eva bumps into the mother of one of the murdered students in the supermarket she feels compelled to start writing to Franklin letters talking of her current situation as well as recalling the past, going back as far as their decision to actually have a child. This early part of the book can be quite hard going, nothing seems to actually happen and Eva’s letters occasionally get a bit random and over-detailed. Once Kevin is born we see a bit more about the struggles she has with a son that she was unable (or perhaps unwilling) to bond with. Kevin does not seem to be a pleasant or contented child, and Eva struggles to relate to him although she tries her best. It seems that there is a battle of wills between her and a stubborn four year old, and often the four year old wins. Eva’s recollections are interspersed with stories of her visit to the correctional institute that Kevin is in, all the way up to the final, gripping chapters before ‘Thursday’ as she refers to the tragic day.

As Kevin grows up we see that he is an intelligent and cunning child, as well as a malicious one, often acting out in spite towards his mother, but being sweet as pie to his dad. Franklin did not seem to give Eva the support she felt she needed and always saw the good in Kevin, and made excuses for his behaviour. This itself seemed a bit extreme, and biased but we only hear the one account, and perhaps if we read Franklin’s account we would think Eva biased. I generally thought of Franklin as partly naive but also weak in his lack of support towards his wife and tendency to stick his head in the sand every time Kevin may have done something wrong. Eva certainly recognises Kevin as trouble but even she acknowledges she did not see the ultimate tragic events unfold, feeling that most of Kevin’s behaviour is directed at her or to annoy her and provoke a reaction.

Once the book has gotten going more it is an easier read, although Eva’s thoughts are inclined to ramble at times, it appears to have more relevance. There was one racial outburst that left me feeling uncomfortable. I had to remind myself that this was a work of fiction and that just by reading a novel, I was not condoning a fictional character’s thoughts. Eva seemed a very real person, although I could not always relate to her, I usually found her believable and felt increasing sympathy towards her as the book progressed. I found the character of Kevin harder to believe. I was not convinced that the child was as spiteful, from such a young age, as he was portrayed, he didn’t really seem realistic and at times bordered on a caricature of badly behaved child.

I don’t feel the book loses anything from the fact that you know the ending, and the actual nitty-gritty details of ‘Thursday’ and why those particular victims were chosen are not revealed until the end, and there is a certain amount of suspense as the story unfolds towards the close, and all loose ends are tied up.

Overall I would recommend this book, the subject matter is not always going to appeal, and you might struggle with some of the earlier parts as it seemed to drag in places, but the premise is certainly original (even if the actual events are all too real in some US schools).

Highgate East

2007-01-13T17:38:00.000Z

Highgate East 23
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

A further photo, of any ivy covered cross monument fro Highgate Cemetery taken last June.

I Heard a Rumour

2007-01-07T16:06:00.000Z

I loved the premise of this film when I heard it and thought it a great, original twist. The idea is that Charles Webb's novel 'The Graduate', and the subsequent film with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft were actually based on a real Californian family, and that Benjamin Braddock (The Graduate) slept with both mother and daughter. Fortunately the film doesn't try and keep us guessing as to which family it is, although it takes a while for the penny to drop for Jennifer Aniston as ditzy Sarah Huttinger. It is 1997 and Sarah and her secret fiancé Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) return to Pasadena for her sister Annie's (Mena Suvari) wedding. Early on we understand that her mother Jocelyn died when the girls were children and they were brought up by their dad Earl (Richard Jenkins) ably assisted by Grandma Katherine Richelieu (Shirley MacLaine). The night before Annie's wedding Katherine reveals to Sarah that her mother run off a week before her wedding and returned after a few days. Realising that she was born just shy on nine months after her parents' wedding Sarah thinks she has guessed as to why she looks different and has different tastes to the rest of her family.

The next day, even though it is hours before Annie's wedding Sarah goes to see her mother's best friend Mitzi (Kathy Bates) to see if she can throw any light onto who the mysterious man her mother ran off with. It is there that she realises that Beau Burroughs is the man who inspired The Graduate's Braddock, as well as the man her mother ran off with and possibly her own father (as well as ahving slept with her Grandma). After the wedding she tracks him down to San Francisco and leaves Jeff to fly home to New York alone. Sarah needs to address the questions she has about her own relationships whilst trying to find out if the charismatic Burroughs (Kevin Costner) could really be her father or just a cad hoping to get another notch in his bedpost.

OK, so the essentials of a good plot are all there, you have a fabulous cast, an experienced director in Rob Reiner but the film just doesn't work on so many levels. The Reiner of classic Late Eighties/Early Nineties films seems to have gone on holiday or given up. Is this really the same man who gave us 'A Few Good Men' and 'When Harry Met Sally'? Sure, there are no loose ends; everything you need to know has been heavy handedly shoved into the movie for you. You don't even need to be familiar with 'The Graduate' as all necessary references have been unsubtly shoe-horned into the story by Ted Griffin who has done better work on 2001's 'Ocean's Eleven'.

The cast are good although it is hard to tell Aniston's portrayal of Sarah Huttinger from Friends' Rachel Greene sometimes. Costner charms and convinces; MacLaine does her piece well, seemingly content with her status as being available for all good grandma roles. Ruffalo baffles me. He is a good looking chap and has charmed and impressed as romantic leads in previous films such as '13 Going on 30' but seems too straight and sensible to convince as a suitable partner for Sarah, and chemistry is lacking. I don't think anyone would have noticed if he had been replaced with a cardboard cut-out and he only really came alive at the end.

For a film that is allegedly a comedy, I laughed only once and I think Mena Suvari's comic timing is responsible for that rather than a witty script. The romance is cheesy and heavy handed and quite frankly the film just does not live up to its potential. The film has a 12 certificate due to sexual references. As my DVD was a rental there were no extras on it, other than the theatrical trailer which I didn't watch (why, when you have the whole film?) but a quick search on the web reveals that there isn't much anyway.

My main bugbear? If it is 1997, why is it that no-one has a 'Rachel' haircut?

If You Go Down to the woods today

2006-12-17T11:34:00.000Z

When The Village plopped on my mat from my DVD rental service I couldn’t remember what it was about and why I had added it. It is written, produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan who is most famous for Sixth Sense, which I imagine is what intrigued me, although his subsequent films such as Unbreakable and Signs have not had the same commercial or critical success, nor did I enjoy them as much.

The film is set in an isolated, rural Pennsylvanian village in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The village is surrounded by a forest which contains strange, mythical type creatures that are not always friendly. Because of them the villagers do not venture into the forest and therefore do not leave the village. When a child dies, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) offers to travel through the forest to get medicine from nearby towns, but the village elders refuse to allow him to go. We also get an idea of village life, and how inward looking and superstitious it is. There is often a night lookout watching for the unnamed creatures (referred to only as Those Of Whom We Do Not Speak) from the forest and red is considered a bad colour that is banned in the village as it represents the creatures. This is really a character led drama and love story rather than a horror film, though. The film has an impressive ensemble cast headed by Bryce Dallas Howard (daughter of director Ron Howard) as blind Ivy Walker who falls in love with Lucius. However, Noah (Adrien Brody), a mentally handicapped man in the village also loves Ivy and wants to keep her for himself and this is where tragedy strikes meaning that it is Ivy who has to go through the forest to get medicine from a nearby town.

You can’t fault the acting in this, Howard is superb, and Phoenix pulls off the quiet, brooding Lucius with ease. Brody seems to enjoy his role as the excitable Noah and they are ably supported by the elders that include William Hurt as Ivy’s father, Edward and Sigourney Weaver as Lucius’ mother, Alice. The quality of the acting cannot be faulted, and the full subtleties that I believe Shyamalan wanted to depict in the village dynamics are all there. You do question the villagers’ obsession with the forest and this does lead into the inevitable plot twist. Most of it I saw coming but not all of it or how it was executed so don’t assume it is in the bag when you start watching (mind you I am usually the last person to see a twist in anything, so perhaps I am not the best person to judge!). For all its faults, the film did stay in my mind the whole of the next day, and I quite liked the premise but think it could have been explored differently and better. This is the most frustrating thing about the film; it has the potential to be a much better, more challenging and thought-provoking film with the same plot premise just executed differently. Probably with a better writer and director too!

The music is good but nothing special, certainly not memorable. There are no special effects, and the scenery and costumes appear to be authentic of a simple rural life of that period. The film is beautifully shot in winter time, so although picturesque the village can also look grey and unappealing.

There are a number of extras on the DVD, usually with an introduction by Shyamalan. There are a series of ‘Deconstructing The Village’ featurettes (essentially Making Of… films) that cover shooting, casting and boot camp amongst other topics. In total there are six of these totaling approximately 25 minutes. The best one in my opinion is Boot Camp which shows how the cast spent some time at a Living Museum learning woodwork, cheese making and other nineteenth century rural practices.

There are five deleted scenes which don’t add anything to the movie, so you can see why they were deleted.

There are extracts from Bryce Dallas Howard’s diary, written before, during and after filming, which she reads herself over music and soft focus images, which lasts 5 minutes and this is plenty long enough.

Apparently it is traditional for Shyamalan to include one of his home movies form his teens on his DVDs, thus we see one that he wrote and starred in himself with a bit of help from the dog. There is also a photo gallery.

This film has a twelve certificate, which I think is fair. There is no bad language (speech is rather old fashioned such as in an Austen or Dickens novel), and limited violence, although there are a few scenes that can be perceived as slightly scary for youngsters. It is not the best thriller you will watch or the best love story but will not be the worst film you’ve ever seen and can while away a couple of hours.

Highgate East

2006-12-11T19:09:00.000Z

Highgate East 8
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Some graves in the East part of Highgate Cemetary, London. June 2006.

Shall We Dance?

2006-11-23T18:42:00.000Z

Ah – You can’t beat a good bit of chick flick fluff. Well, you can, but on the right occasion, chick flick fluff ticks all the boxes. On this occasion boxes needing to be ticked included a bit of romance (check), music (check) a bit of humour (check) and a feel-good story (check). Bonuses include chocolate (already eaten it – damn) and chardonnay (check).

Shall We Dance certainly met my criteria (apart from not being made of chocolate). It is based on a Japanese movie of the same name, which was originally released in 1996. As far as I can tell, they haven’t really changed the story. John Clark (Richard Gere) is a successful lawyer who deals with people’s wills and estates; he has a nice house and life with his beautiful, successful wife Beverley (Susan Sarandon) and two happy, well-adjusted teen-adult children. However there is something missing from John’s life that he can’t put his finger on. On his train journey home he keeps seeing a beautiful woman looking out the window of Miss Mitzi’s dance studio.

Quite what triggers his impulsive decision to learn to dance is not really clear. There seems no unforeseen latent desire to waltz, and the attraction to the aloof, beautiful woman, Paulina (Jennifer Lopez), seems fairly superficial, especially when Susan Sarandon is looking so good, and has less of an attitude. However, we go with the flow here as John enrolls at Miss Mitzi’s beginners’ class, and meets two other men. Chic (Bobby Cannavale) is going because all ladies love a man who can dance and the chunky Vern (Omar Miller) is trying to lose weight and impress his fiancé. The charms of the three men seem to alarm any potential lady students so they are on their own. Their teacher Miss Mitzi (Anita Gillette) is a bit of a lush but is very enthusiastic and the guys get stuck in.

The enigma that is Paulina remains somewhat in the background, working in another room, or occasionally helping out, and it is obvious that John is intrigued by her. He is too embarrassed to tell his family (including his wife) or friends about dancing but discovers that his colleague Link (Stanley Tucci) is also a keen dancer and concealing it. Also practicing at Miss Mitzi’s is brassy Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter). With no tact or taste, Bobbie is loud and OTT and is nicknamed the Bobbinator by the men, who are all too scared to dance with her.

Once, when Paulina was upset because Bobbie had spilt spaghetti on her coat, John offered to take her for a Chinese. Paulina made it clear she didn’t socialize with students and that if he was coming to class to get with her he was mistaken. Taken aback, and John decides to stop going, but then realises that he enjoys dancing and the company of his friends that he has made there. The film continues on with some excellent dance scenes, some comedy ‘buddy’ scenes and the friendship grows with Paulina, who realises she misjudged John. Meanwhile, Beverley thinks her husband maybe having an affair and hires a private detective…

The cast are all good; although Sarandon and Tucci are under used for their talents they give great performances. Lopez is acceptable, but is not as big a role as I imagined, she is not challenged. Gere heads up the movie very well, Cannavale, Gillette and Miller do some good comic turns although they, and indeed most of the cast, are upstaged by Walter’s Bobbie. Director Peter Chelsom does a good job as far as I can see; I would be interested to see the original Japanese version as I suspect this may have a little bit more charm than the re-make.

The music is, of course, ballroom and Latin style numbers. No one piece really stands out.

I really enjoyed this film, it is light, fun and has that all important feel-good factor, and made an hour and three-quarters fly by. I would think this is one of the better films of its genre, although a passing interest in dancing would probably help, it obviously isn’t going to appeal to everybody. The film got a 12 certificate in the UK; there is no violence, sex or bad language.

Top 10 Love Songs

2006-11-20T18:40:00.000Z

Top 10 Love Songs/Ballads I have played on iTunes

1. Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me
2. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain'y Nobody
3. Neville Brothers - In the Still of the Night
4. Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight
5. Robert Cray - Right Next Door
6. Madonna - Crazy For You
7. Annie Lennox - Waiting in Vain
8. Wet Wet Wet - If I Never See You Again
9. Sad Cafe - Everyday Hurts
10. Robert Palmer - Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You

Wimbledon

2006-11-16T18:31:00.000Z

Tennis is one sport that Hollywood seems to have ignored in their vast repertoire of sporting films. Technically this isn’t a Hollywood film however, made as it is by Working Title responsible for Notting Hill, Love Actually and Bridget Jones. As a fan of the sport (strictly armchair level) and being rather partial to Paul Bettany I decided to settle in one evening to watch this.

This is a romantic comedy and makes no apology for the fact; the film is light and bright, even during rain scenes and instantly gives an uplifting feeling with a pop soundtrack featuring artists such as David Gray and the Sugababes. The premise is about an English tennis player Peter Colt (Bettany) playing in his final Wimbledon of his career. Currently ranked 119^th in the world, he was formerly number 11 (as he likes to remind everyone) and has accepted a Tennis Director’s position at the local country club in preparation for his professional retirement. This year at Wimbledon it is a bit different, and he gets caught up in a romance with America’s enfant terrible of tennis, Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst) with her McEnroe style tantrums, playing her first Wimbledon tournament. Lizzie is young, competitive and driven. Her father Dennis (Sam Neill) is also driven in his ambition for his daughter, although he clearly loves her. This is no will they-won’t they style romance, our hero and heroine dive straight into ‘fooling around’ right after their first round matches. Both players are superstitious and don’t want to break their routine, but whilst Peter’s luck, as a Brit doing well at Wimbledon, (I did say this was a comedy) is going strong, Lizzie is struggling and her father tries to persuade them to end the relationship (who’d have seen that coming, eh?!) as he fears the ‘fooling around’ is becoming serious for Lizzie and he doesn’t want her hurt, or to lose the tournament.

I don’t want to reveal the plot for you, it is not particularly strong or original, but it is entertaining. A lot of this is down to the sterling supporting cast, not just Sam Neill but Peter’s squabbling parents (played by Bernard Hill and Eleanor Born), his chancer brother Carl (Shameless’ James McAvoy) who figures he can either make money at the bookies if his brother loses or get laid if he wins. Add to this Jon Favreau as the mobile phone addicted agent and Nickolaj Coster-Waldau as Peter’s handsome best friend and practice partner, and you have a lovely, typical summer Brit-Flick. Most people will probably recognize Chris Evert and John McEnroe in cameo roles, as well as John Barrett, the eponymous voice of Wimbledon commentary for the last million years. Oh, and the voices of Chris Moyles and Danny Baker on the radio. British stalwarts Celia Imrie and Robert Lindsay also crop up.

The DVD has a number of Extras but they are all of the ‘Making Of’ variety. The first is ‘Welcome to the Club’, which is 3 minutes long, and talks to director Richard Loncraine, the cast and some key Wimbledon bods as to the atmosphere surrounding the tournament and Centre Court. ‘Ball Control’ explains the CGI effects needed to make the rallies look realistic between the actors and their opponents, who were often professionals. This lasts for 5 minutes. ‘Coach A Rising Star’ is a three minute look at Pat Cash coaching the cast to make them look like they knew what they were doing. Slightly longer is ‘Wimbledon – A Look Inside’ which is yet another making of type mini-documentary. Personally I think they could have put these together for one twenty minute Making Of documentary rather than breaking them up. As well as these little films, there is the commentary with Richard Loncraine and Paul Bettany (unique, I suspect, in that the actors do not normally contribute to such things, but then I don’t normally watch/listen to them) and some trailers of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the Terminal, Vanity Fair and bizarrely the musical stage production of Billy Elliot.

I liked this film because it was light and bright and entertaining. I don’t think you need to be a fan of tennis to enjoy it; there are some factual details that would be quite annoying to fans. For example the men’s and ladies’ semi-finals are played at the same time (which would not normally happen unless there was a huge rain backlog – which wasn’t the case) and there was a male semi final on an outside court which would never happen, because if for some reason Centre Court was not available, play would move to Court One. The finalists also seemed to be a match short. That said, Richard Loncraine did an effective directing job and there were some fabulous special effects, which are not actually obvious in the film (which is why they were so good). I would recommend this film for the pure piece of light entertainment that it is.

The film has a 12 certificate.

Highgate Cemetary

2006-11-07T18:02:00.000Z

Highgate east 5
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

East Cemetary. June 2006

Life and Death in Shanghai

2006-11-06T13:27:00.000Z

Over the years I have read many autobiographies written by Chinese women about their lives prior to, during and since communism and the Cultural Revolution. For the most part they have been interesting, moving and informative with the odd exception. Having felt I had overdosed on the genre I left them alone for a while until I spotted this book languishing on my step-dad’s bookshelf. He couldn’t remember if it was any good or not, so I thought I’d find out for myself.

Nien was relatively fortunate in her early years having studied and lived abroad. Her late husband had been a senior director for Shell in their Shanghai office and initially the communist government had been pleased to keep the company and the income it generated. After her husband’s death Nien also took a senior position with Shell, which subsequently relocated to Hong Kong, while Nien stayed behind. The book begins with Nien enjoying a comfortable and privileged life with a cook and servants and regularly having friends over to dine. She seems keen for us to know about all she had, such as her valuable antiques and collectors’ pieces. Her constant reference to serving tea English style and European food made it seem that she thought she was somehow better than her fellow Chinese.

Once the Red Guards come to her house you feel sorry for her, as anyone familiar with that part of Chinese history will be aware, there was a dreadful culture of hysteria, and bullying that was legitimised under the guise of the Cultural Revolution. If you were unfortunate enough to have been educated to university standards, had a little bit of money or have a job that could label you an intellectual or a capitalist then you faced persecution. Eventually she was taken to a detention centre where she was kept in solitary confinement for months before questioning and constant requests to confess to her supposed crimes against the Communist Party, which believed she had spied for the British whilst at Shell. Cheng endured some harsh conditions and ill health but nothing was ever resolved, despite several rounds of interrogations and attempts to force her to confess. She was quite fortunate to have not been executed like some of prisoners who had refused to confess, even though former colleagues and even her brother said she was a spy (under duress, it is assumed).

Eventually she is released to discover that her daughter has allegedly committed suicide, although a cover up is suspected and her journey does not end as she understandably wants to find out the truth, and her alleged capitalist spy past remains a constant stigma.

Her comfy life at the beginning of the book seems a bit bragging; but there is no doubt that she did suffer under the Red Guards and other revolutionary groups. Cheng does re-create the period with startling accuracy and with great detail. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge about this period in China will realize how futile her position was and it is certainly admirable of her to fight back and protest her innocence for as long as she did.

Most Chinese women’s autobiographies do not include prison and the struggle meetings that Cheng experienced and I would recommend it for people who are interested in China during the period and fans of non-celebrity autobiographies but be warned, as the book is not a light read. Cheng’s writing style is easy to follow however, and she tries to remain positive for the most part. You do not get bogged down in the depths of despair even in the darkest times that she experienced in prison as the story flows well and keeps moving on.

Life and Death in Shanghai is not the best of its genre (see To the Edge of the Sky by Anhua Gao), nor is it the worst (see Red Azalea by Anchee Min), but it is certainly one of the darkest that I have read.

As far as I can tell, at the end of last year Mrs. Cheng was still alive and well and living a quite life in the USA. This is her only book and was first published in 1988 (the edition I read), and again in 1995, which is the edition found at most online shops.

Tampon Crafts

2006-11-03T18:26:00.000Z

Some people have too much time on their hands!
See here.

Pure Elan Digital Radio

2006-10-29T16:53:00.000Z

WHAT IS DAB?

DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting and it is basically a way to hear more radio stations and to hear them interference free, without hiss and crackle. How good you hear it depends on the number of transmitters in your area and currently only 85% of the population are covered. You also don’t have a fiddly dial to twiddle to try and find the right frequency, you select a station by name by pressing a few buttons and it finds it automatically for you.

WHY DO I WANT ONE?

I had been dithering in the purchase of a digital radio for some time. My ex had one that was permanently tuned to TalkSport in the kitchen. If I wanted to listen to something else I need to use the stereo FM radio and fiddle with the aerial which would only grant me reception if I held it in the air whilst balancing on my left leg, extending my right leg by 45 degrees in a north by northwesterly direction (or so it seemed). That in mind, although now single and able to choose my own channels, I had got out of the habit of listening to the radio at home and wondered if this rather expensive purchase would be worth it.

If you have Sky or Freeview you can pick up some of these new stations on your TV but that is not very portable if you want to listen to the radio in the bath for example.

There are some attractive radios out there such as the wooden Pure Evoke and the trendily retro Roberts’ ones that sold for £80-100 looked great but I didn’t feel I could justify the cost. The Pure Elan is not as attractive as these and is bigger at 29cm across, 17cm high (with aerial and handle down) and 8cm deep at its widest part. It is also very heavy. It retails for about £65-70, but when I saw a half price offer with Nectar’s Summer of Rewards for the equivalent of £35 worth of Nectar points that swung it once and for all and I ordered it.

THE RADIO ITSELF

The radio and its plug are packaged in a large box with and a slim manual. When I first took it out of the box I noticed how heavy it was (I don’t have anything to weigh it on, but boxed it is 3kg) and that it didn’t look as bad as in the picture, it had a smart matt silver finish and appears to be quite sturdy and scratch resistant.. There is an LCD screen on the front with the built in speakers and controls along the top with an extendable aerial. The radio takes 6 x C type batteries for up to 30 hours of DAB listening or 80 hours of FM. As I have always used the radio from the mains I cannot comment if this is true or not. I plugged the radio into the mains and automatically it searched for stations and within seconds was playing BBC 1 Xtra (the first station on the list). The buttons are self-explanatory and I didn’t need to use the manual or Quick Start Guide to get going.

From left the buttons are:

Headphone socket (OK – technically not a button!)

Sleep – there is no alarm facility with this radio but you can go to sleep listening to it for 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes and it will turn itself off. The timer shows up on the LCD screen so you know how long you have set it for.

DAB/FM – Switch between DAB radio and FM. There is a slight time delay every time you select DAB.

Volume +/- - This can go up quite high, supposedly 14 levels but I am quite happy with level 2. The level is shown on the LCD display

Preset Buttons – There are 8 FM and 8 DAB presets with four buttons. You press the button with the arrow (like a Shift key) to access or set stations 5-8. To set a station you just need to press a free preset button for a few seconds.

+/- and select – this allows you to scroll up (+) and down(-) the alphabetical list of stations to find one you fancy, whilst still listening to the current station. When you have found your new choice you just press the Select button and it will play it (with the same slight time delay if you are in DAB). In FM mode you use it to scroll up and down a numerical list as you would on a conventional FM radio but without the lucky guess as to where you are on the dial.

Menu – This changes your setup. For example you can set the LCD backlight to stay on or turn off after 5 seconds. You can also change how the station order comes up when using the +/- keys mentioned above by putting favourite stations at the beginning so you can easily find them. You will also find the Autotune button here if you want to check for newly added stations or manual tune if you want to find the best position for the radio/aerial. (Maybe my days of standing on one-leg are not over).

Info – This is my favourite button, I am always playing with it. On the bottom line of the LCD display below the station name you can choose what info you want displayed. My favourite is Scrolling text which tells you a bit about the station you are listening to and on some stations will tell you the track and artist that is playing, which is always handy. On Virgin FM, for example, you can sometimes get a mini artist biography scrolling past. It is a miracle I manage to leave the house some mornings. Other buttons reveal the program type (pop music, rock music, varied speech) and is handy for stations you are initially unfamiliar with. You can also get the time and date, although the time (received from the digital transmitter, so you know which clocks in the house are now wrong) is permanently displayed anyway. You can also get an accurate signal quality guide out of one hundred. For example 85 or above is good.

WHAT IS THE RECEPTION LIKE?

Straight away I was listening to stations with a signal quality of 97 or above and was thrilled to bits. I can get BBC Essex and most of the London stations but for some reason not Essex FM, even though I live in Essex.

I have found the reception sporadic at times, and I cannot see a reason why this is. I can be listening at 95 or above and then it just disappears for no reason and drops to a signal strength of 17 or something for a few seconds and then back up again. This is obviously frustrating when listening to music but makes spoken word stations unlistenable if it happens several times over a few minutes. Fortunately this is not always a problem and I have researched throughout the internet as to what could be the problem and why I cannot always get a strong signal and there appears to be no real reason or this as I am capable of receiving strong signals, it is just the inconsistency that is a problem, and by its nature DAB should not be affected by atmospheric pressures. Changing station makes very little difference. I can only assume that I am just unfortunate, but whether it is down to my location or this product I don’t know.

WHAT YOU CAN LISTEN TO

The amount of extra stations you can get are dependant on where you live. Enter your postcode in this website to get an idea: http://www.ukdigitalradio.com/coverage/search/default.asp

Living in the South East I am probably more fortunate than most and am spending quite a bit of time listening to stations I would not normally have done so. If you have Sky or Freeview some or all of the new stations will be familiar to you. The choice available is quite varied from rock stations to pop stations as well as spoken word stations. There are stations aimed at an Asian audience, a gay audience and world music fans. A lot of stations are advert free (or less than the FM commercial stations) and in some cases DJ free with the emphasis on playing music instead of annoying jingles and daft phone-ins. I have become rather fond of ‘chill’ (http://www.helpmechill.com/) which plays a variety of instrumental and chillout club tracks from artists such as Moby and Morcheeba. They have no adverts and usually no DJs apart from two evening shows a week.

IS IT WORTH IT?

I really enjoy listening to the radio and have it on most of the time if not watching TV or listening to a specific piece of music. That said I do have a few problems with signal strength which means I can’t listen to it at certain times. I really can’t see any reason to justify a more expensive purchase and this suits my needs just fine.

Useful links:

http://www.digitalradionow.com/home.php

http://www.ukdigitalradio.com/home/default.asp

10 NEW CHANNELS I HAVE NEVER LISTENED TO BEFORE

1. BBC 6

Listened to 2-3pm Saturday

Marc Riley plays rock music, although not chart rock. The Suffragettes were live in the studio and were decidedly ropey. It is not mainstream rock, I hadn’t heard of half the Bowie tracks that they played hourly. Nice to hear ‘Blister in the Sun’ by the Violent Femmes though. Usually has track lists but not on all shows

Would I listen again? Maybe

2. Arrow Rock

Listened to on weekend afternoons

Usually old rock, rather than new, such as The Eagles, ELO, Lynrd Skynrd, although there was some Oasis and Matchbox 20. Minimal DJ input. Track listings usually a couple of minutes behind.

Would I listen again? Yes.

3. Capital Disney

Listened to on weekend afternoons, weekday evenings.

Pure chart music with a pop or rock leaning – Lily Allen, Orson, The Automatic, Sunblock. Seems the target audience is teen. DJs (who aren’t very good) have phone ins with the same seven people seemingly phoning in.

Would I listen again? To the music maybe, not for the DJs.

4. Century London

Listened to on weekday evenings.

Bit like Heart and other main stream pop stations – Pat Sharp’s Time Tunnell (guess the year). The clock runs on the display and is always a minute out. Music is pretty much chart stuff and mainstream pop like Pink and S Club.

Will I listen again? Probably

5. Chill

Listened to on weekday evenings

No ads and DJs only for two evening shows a week where more club chill is played. Mainly instrumentals and chill/slow version of other songs such as ‘Born Slippy’ by Barefoot (originally by Underworld). Other artists include Moby and Morcheeba. There are not always track listings.

Would I listen to again? Yes

6. Gaydar

Listened to at weekends and weekday evenings

For London’s gay community, generally no track listing. Music includes chillout, dance and pop stuff like Madonna.

Would I listen to again? Maybe, but perhaps later at night when the music is more dance and the DJs less intrusive.

7. Heat

Listened to on weekday evenings

Affiliated to the gossip magazine, there were a few ads but no DJs. The music was pure chart pop such as Lily Allen, Shakira and Pink, plus older pop ‘classics’ like Kylie, Chaka Khan and Stephanie Mills.

Would I listen to again? Maybe.

8. Passion

Listened to on weekday evenings.

This is a ‘varied speech’ station with news and interviews as well as music from 80s pop to World Music. When I listened there were some Bhangra style tracks being played.

Would I listen to again? Probably not.

9. Smash Hits!

Listened to on weekday evening

Chart stuff – Pop/Hip-Hop, no track listings.

Would I listen to again? Yes

10. The Hits

Similar to above

Would I listen to again? Yes

Cellular

2006-10-22T17:40:00.000+01:00

I saw this film promoted when I was in America on holiday in 2004. It appealed because Jason Statham was in it playing an all action bad guy, possibly not the most challenging role for him but one he does well. Plus Kim Basinger hadn’t done anything high profile (apart from a supporting role in the Eminem movie ‘8 Mile’) for a few years and she looked fantastic for 50 something. Anyway we didn’t go and see it in the end and thus it has taken me a while to get around to watching it.

This is like ‘Phone Booth’ on the move. High School science teacher Jessica (Kim Basinger) is kidnapped from her home by a gang of men, for reasons she doesn’t understand (or at least claims not to understand). Ethan (Jason Statham) leader of the gang locks her in the attic of the house they take her to and smashes the phone. Being a resourceful lass, Jessica detects a tone on the phone and although the keypad did not survive, she taps away persistently with the wires in the hope that she makes a connection. She ends up calling a young lad called Ryan, desperately trying to run errands to impress his ex-girlfriend. Ryan (Chris Evans – no, not that one) is naturally suspicious of some strange woman phoning him saying she has been kidnapped. Instead of disconnecting straight away he listens to what she has to say, and why she can’t dial the police or hang up, and agrees to drive to the police station and hand the phone over.

The sweet and soon to retire cop, Sergeant Mooney (William H Macy) is slightly distracted by plans to open a day spa with his wife. He tries to help but a fight breaks out at the station and he sends Ryan upstairs to another department. Jessica’s kidnappers return to her room and she hides the phone under her jacket, Ryan can hear them in the background threatening to kidnap and kill her son and no longer doubts her. However he is experiencing a low signal in the police station so leaves to try and beat the kidnappers to her son’s school, rather than continuing and risking losing the connection. There begins a rollicking, fast-paced, tunnel-avoiding ride for the rest of the movie, and plenty of product placement for Nokia. For good measure there is even a little bit of mystery as to why Jessica and her family have been targeted, who these bad guys are and what they want, but nothing that will trouble you greatly.

The film asks you suspend your belief big time that Jessica with no keypad managed to dial a mobile of a lad who was not only also in California, but seemingly in the same area. Plus there are many far-fetched situations that Ryan gets himself to into to help Jessica, such as armed robbery, car-jacking and driving the wrong way down the freeway emerging unscathed through the multi-car pile-ups behind him. Saying that, I don’t think the film intends to take itself seriously, just to entertain. Director David Ellis keeps his finger on the pulse of the action at all times and the pace of the movie does not flag. The performances of all the key characters are solid, but none of them are particularly challenged by their roles. I was pleasantly surprised how the 50-something Basinger managed to pull off a semi-action parts of the feisty Jessica with ease, maybe it was the Botox.

With a running time of little over an hour and a half this film will not inconvenience you greatly to watch. Characters are not deep, and sometimes slightly stereotypical (soon to retire cop anyone?) It is a very easy to watch film, it will not challenge or stimulate you as long as you can suspend your belief long enough to enjoy the ride.

This film has a 15 certificate; there is no sex and limited violence, certainly nothing gory.

Daddy Cool - The Musical

2006-10-19T19:07:00.000+01:00

This musical advertises itself as being based on the songs of Boney M, in fact it is based on the songs of Frank Farian. For the uninitiated, Farian wrote and produced Boney M’s songs and those of other acts such as Milli Vanilli, Eruption and No Mercy. I suspect that a musical featuring the songs of Milli Vanilli would not have quite the same appeal, so they seemingly gloss over that and hope the Boney M fans don’t notice.

Following on from the success of the Queen musical ‘We Will Rock You’ and Abba’s ‘Mamma Mia’ there have been a few musicals springing up based loosely around the songs of a certain band. I had seen the Queen musical and knew the story was weak and just an excuse to link all the songs together and chuck in a few jokes; however there was a bit more effort here with the story. Instead of making up a weak plot they unashamedly nicked a tried and tested one from West Side Story, which itself was inspired by Romeo and Juliet.

Looking back I don’t really remember why we chose this musical, I think we thought it would be a fun slice of disco-cheese. If you have seen posters for it they make a big thing out of the stars for the show: Michelle Collins (Eastenders’ Cindy Beale), Harvey (rapper with the So Solid Crew) and Javine (Eurovision entrant and the one who didn’t quite make it into Girls Aloud). However they are actually more in supporting roles.

THE CAST AND PERFROMANCES

SUNNY (Dwayne Wint) is a young lad in love with music, his friends and his girlfriend. Wint has a lovely, sweet soulful voice slightly reminiscent of Lemar and carries off the lead role well.

ROSE (Camilla Beeput) meets Sunny at a club and they fall in love and she vows to stand by him regardless. She has a beautiful singing voice, although it is not the strongest. If you recognise her name it is because apparently she was also in the first series of Fame Academy.

MA BAKER (Michelle Collins) is Rose’s mum and is not happy about her daughter’s relationship. Her singing is one of the weakest and all non sung lines are delivered with her hands on her hips. Disappointing.

PEARL (Melanie La Barrie) is Sunny’s mum and is also not happy with his new relationship as she lost Sunny’s dad Johnny Cool to Ma. Melanie has the one true diva voice in the show.

SHAKE(SPEARE) (Harvey) is Sunny’s best mate and leader of the west end Subsonic Crew. He doesn’t sing and only speaks a few times; mainly he just raps and makes the odd gratuitous shirtless appearance.

BENNY (Davie Fairbanks) is Ma’s son and leader of the East End Blade Squad (not to be confused with Blazin’ Squad who were a bunch of twelve years olds from Walthamstow) he is a bit of a thug and is portrayed well by Fairbanks.

ASIA BLUE (Javine) is a pole dancer at Ma Baker’s club and would- be singer. She is going out with Benny but is attracted to Shake. Javine sings OK, delivers a few lines and that is about it. Nothing much more is asked of her.

Having read that I think you now have an inkling of the groan inducing cheesiness that surrounds this show. If your cholesterol can stand it, read on…

THE STORY

We start off in 1990 in The Islands and young Sunny is living with his grandma, and it is Independence Day. What better excuse do you need to bring out the steel drums and sing ‘Hooray! Hooray! It’s A Holi-Holiday’? Quite. Sunny is then told he must go to England, where it is winter, and live with his mum.

The second scene is Christmas in London and young Sunny and his mum are at church. What else do you sing but ‘Mary’s Boy Child’? This is giving a gospel twist with a bit of rapping thrown in by the little lad playing young Sunny. We then go back to Sunny and Pearl’s flat where she sings ‘Sunny’ to him as a lullaby.

Fast-forwarding to the present day we see grown up Sunny going down to the recording studio owned by Rasputin (I swear I am not making this up) to meet the So Solid Crew, sorry I mean Subsonic Crew, and get a little beatbox demonstration before they perform Milli Vanilli’s ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ in a hip hop style. This is where the Subsonic’s first meet Benny and the Blade Squad from East London and they don’t exactly hit it off. The Subsonics decide to head out to the Shadwell Arches club a bit later and see what is happening.

Benny and his pole-dancing girlfriend Asia Blue go to Ma Baker’s lap dance club where Asia dances. Asia and Ma sing an obscure (to me) Boney M song called ‘Take the Heat off Me’. Meanwhile Ma has banned her daughter, Rose; from going to the Shadwell Arches thus Rose and Sandra sing the song ‘Ma Baker’ in her bedroom before shinning down the drainpipe.

At Shadwell Arches, whilst Asia sings some other songs I don’t know, and I get a bit fidgety, Rose and Sunny meet and surprise, surprise it all kicks off with the two rival gangs. Rasputin suggests a sing off and all agree. Sunny and Rose sing a duet of Milli Vanilli’s ‘Baby Don’t Forget My Number’. It was an improvement on the original. They make a date to go to Camden Market where some more steel drums are found to sing ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’ and there is a lively ensemble performance of ‘Sunny’.

We then see a flashback Seventies scene with another obscure disco track as Pearl remembers Sunny’s dad going off with Ma, and the young Pearl sings a medley of ‘Daddy Cool’ and ‘One Way Ticket’ (the latter originally a hit for Eruption).

Thankfully now there is an interval, the theatre is boiling hot and legs need to be stretched.

Now it is time for the sing-off and traditional Boney M fans will be very disappointed as the songs are turned into raps with very little in the way of words and music can be related to the original songs. There is no mention of a Russian Queen during ‘Rasputin’ for example. Saying that the rapping is excellent, and not a naff effort, it seems for the programme that a lot of the cast members have experience in this field and know what they are doing. The Subsonics win the sing-off (rap-off?) but tragedy strikes as Shake is shot. Sunny can’t continue to go out with the sister of the bloke who shot his mate so ends it with Rose by singing to her Milli Vanilli’s ‘Girl, I’m Gonna Miss You’. A cringe worthy choice of song, but well executed.

We are then treated to one of the best vocal performances as Pearl sings Eruption’s ‘Can’t Stand The Rain’ and gives Aretha and all the rest of the soul divas a run for their money.

Benny catches up with Asia and asks her ‘Where Did You Go’ just like No Mercy. He did a good performance, ably supported by some pole dancing rappers and did well not to be distracted by the audience giggling in a combination of disbelief and embarrassment as the full extent of the tackiness of the show.

I won’t spoil anymore of the show for you, there are some more songs that I didn’t know to close the show, plus a bright orange parrot was lowered from the roof for no apparent reason other to block the view of those in the Upper Circle and back of the Royal Circle. Fortunately it only stayed down for a bit before going back up again.

After the cast took their bows, (Collins, Harvey and Javine taking theirs after the more talented leads) the show finally redeemed itself with a lively medley of Boney M tracks in the expected disco style plus a Boney M tribute performance of ‘Rivers of Babylon’ and a gigantic glitter ball.

There is some humour in the show and some lively tracks and generally the performances are solid. Die hard Boney M fans should think again, as they are unlikely to appreciate the new versions of the songs. If you are looking for a bit of a laugh and a fairly lively show (especially at the end where the audience can get up and dance) then this is worth considering.

The show is currently at the Shaftesbury Theatre, 210 Shaftesbury Ave, London, WC2.
Box Office: 020 7379 5399

Nearest Tube is Holborn and Tottenham Court Road (Central Line)

Performance Times Mon-Thurs: 7.30pm; Fri: 5pm and 8.30pm; Sat: 3pm and 7.30pm. My 7.30pm performance ended at 10.20pm and there was a 15m interval.

Ticket prices are between £17.50 and £45.00. I purchased my front of the Royal Circle seats for £22.50 +£2 booking fee each through Show-Pairs (http://www.show-pairs.co.uk/). If your company has more than 20 employees, give them a call and sign up to their mailing list for two-for-one offers on selected West End shows. Tel: 020 7976 5887. 76 5887

Scissor Sisters - Ta Dah

2006-10-15T10:59:00.000+01:00

The Scissor Sisters formed in New York in 2001, and had a huge global hit with their debut, self-titled album, which was the best selling album of 2004. It was always going to be hard to follow on from this success and the band certainly took their time in making sure they got an album that they wanted. When I heard the first single off this new CD entitled ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’ I was relieved that they were still going to make good, fun, listenable pop/rock tracks and pre-ordered the album, hoping that the rest will match up to such a strong single.

The CD kicks off with ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’, which is co-written by their new best friend Elton John. Feeling the pressure to follow up on their debut album, the band just decided to have some fun and this was the outcome. It works for me.

Their second song is obviously a tribute to the aforementioned new chum as it reminds me greatly of Elton’s ‘I’m Still Standing’, with that familiar rock ‘n’ roll beat. It is entitled ‘She’s My Man’ and was apparently inspired by a New Orleans’ pirate called Annie Christmas who passed herself off as a man, as well running a brothel. It has lyrics that include the lines “May the best queen hold the crown, for the most bush sold on the levee”. No beating around the bush here then (sorry).

‘I Can’t Decide’ has a country/blues feel to it with a strong Thirties/Forties Music Hall piano sound (think Bugsy Malone), which I quite like (it has to be better than a Chas ‘n’ Dave type piano after all). I am developing a new found respect for the banjo. In it vocalist Jake sings on gangster acts and deciding whether to let a lover live or die. I am sure he doesn’t mean it literally!

‘Lights’ sounds like it came out of the Studio 54 era in New York during the seventies, it is a very upbeat track with a lively brass section and some disco rhythms.

‘Land of a Thousand Words’ is a heartfelt ballad, with some lovely, meaningful lyrics. The arrangement doesn’t sound like it would be out of place as the main love song for a musical with its heavy, romantic strings. Maybe that is a good idea for their next project…I’d certainly go and see it. Apparently it was actually inspired by the band’s love of James Bond theme songs.

‘Intermission’ is another piano-led track with their mate Mr John tinkling the ivories and co-writing, is seems like a war-time not-quite Big Band track, with lots of strings.

‘Kiss You Off’ has a fabulous guitar rock intro with the vocals mainly being taken by Ana Matronic for a change. She sings about getting rid of a boyfriend who was not worthy.

‘Ooh’ is a catchy hi-energy dance track in the ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’ vein, with a very catchy, if not original, chorus (‘Ooh, Oooooh, Oooooh, Oooooh’) but not as good otherwise.

‘Paul McCartney’ was written after singer Jake Shears had a dream about his hero (other than Elton John presumably) Paul McCartney. It has a good brass section and is a very upbeat track and instantly likeable. It doesn’t remind me of The Beatles or Wings at any level, and at the longest stretch of the imagination possibly of McCartney’s Michael Jackson 1980s collaboration period, but better (thankfully).

‘The Other Side’ is another slow track about waiting for a loved one on the other side (i.e. in the afterlife) should anything happen to them. It seems quite a personal song and I can only guess at what inspired it.

‘Might Tell You Tonight’ is another ballad about telling someone that you love them for the first time.

‘Everybody wants the Same Thing’ is back to the dance/rock Scissor Sister formula with a lively beat, which they played for the first time at Live8. For some reason there is two minutes of silence at the end of this track.

On my CD there was a bonus track called ‘Transistor’ which is quite different from the other tracks, heavy electronica and nothing special. I hope this is not the taste of Scissor Sisters to come.

Overall this is an excellent CD that possibly needs to be played a few times to be appreciated, but once done so will never be off the CD player. Their first album was very much a cross genre effort, and whilst there is no single genre to pigeon hole them on this album they have taken on board a more retro Seventies disco era influence then was previously obvious. I also detected music hall and theatrical style influences (they claim to be fans of this and burlesque theatre) but whether this is something that is always been there or something that has come with their Elton John collaboration, I am not sure.

There is some swearing on the tracks, and some lyrics are not for the easy offended.

The Scissor Sisters are:

Jake Shears – Lead vocals

Ana Matronic – vocals

Babydaddy – Bass, guitar, banjo, keyboards

Del Marquis – Guitars

Paddy Boom – Drums

The main songwriters are Jake and Babydaddy.

Useful Links

Songs can be heard on their MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/scissorsisters

http://www.scissorsisters.com/intro/ Their official site for songs, info and commentary.

http://www.wearescissorsisters.com/. See some videos and discover your Scissor Sisters’ name. Mine is Filthy Loose, but I’d rather you just called me Essexgirl.

Top Ten Motown tracks

2006-10-14T13:07:00.000+01:00

As listened to on iTunes....

1. High Inergy - You Can't Turn Me Off
2. The Four Tops - It's The Same Old Song
3. The Supremes - Automatically Sunshine
4. Stevie Wonder - If You Really Love Me
5. Diana Ross - Touch Me in the Morning
6. The Four Tops - Standing in the Shadows of Love
7. The Miracles - Love Machine
8. Diana Ross & The Supremes - I Hear a Symphony
9. Stevie Wonder - As
10. Diana Ross & The Supremes - Reflections.

George Elliott's Grave.

2006-10-10T18:22:00.000+01:00

George Elliott Highgate East 2
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

The grave of Mar y Ann Cross who wrote under the pen name of George Elliot. East Cemetary, Highgate. June 2006.

Love Lives - Josie Lloyd and Emelyn Rees

2006-10-07T15:13:00.000+01:00

Husband and wife authors Emlyn Rees and Josie Lloyd, as well as being published individually, have been writing together for a number of years. Love Lives is their fourth collaboration following on from Come Together, Come Again and The Boy Next Door. They have had two more books published since entitled We Are Family and The Three Day Rule. Their writing topics bring them under the genre of chick lit (or women’s contemporary romantic fiction if you prefer!). Obviously a book entitled Love Lives is going to be about love but Lloyd and Rees also bring in relationships with family and friends to try and make the book different from a classic romance. Naturally, as with all good romantic fiction the path of true love does not run smooth and unfortunately this is quite a predictable romance as far as the ending is concerned but the journey there is entertaining enough.

The book is set in a Shoresby, a fictional, seemingly run down south coast seaside resort with its own Beachy Head style suicide spot known as Lost Soul’s Point. As the book starts it has come to the end of the summer season in Shoresby, yet for a change something interesting is happening. Not only is someone renovating nearby Appleforth House after over a hundred years, but there is a documentary film crew in town to make a film about the area and in particular the myths and mysteries surrounding Lost Soul’s Point.

In previous books Lloyd and Rees have given each character their own chapter, in this book they are mixed up and any character can appear next. The four main characters are:

Ned Spencer is a widowed single father who is working as an architect to restore Appleforth House, destroyed by its owner, Alexander Walpole, in 1871 after his daughter’s death as Lost Soul’s Point. After the tragic death of his wife, Ned has decided romance is not for him and has dedicated his life to his business and his young daughter.

Ellen is an ambitious film-maker with an equally ambitious boyfriend. She has been given a great opportunity while her boss is on maternity leave, which she wishes to make the most of. She is trying to make a documentary about the story behind the Walpole suicide and Lost Soul’s Point. She is also intrigued by the stories surrounding other suicides in the area, in particular one concerning a young, local lad almost a year before.

Jimmy is 17 and lives with his step mum and step brother whilst his dad works abroad and his grandmother is in the local hospice. He thinks he might be in love with a local girl and on top of this he has to deal with the tragic suicide of his best friend Ryan at Lost Soul’s Point the year before. It is hinted that there is more to this, and Jimmy’s involvement, than it first appears.

Verity Driver is a talented, popular local girl who is unaware of Jimmy’s existence not to mention how he feels about her. She is more worried about the pressure her mother is putting on her to perform at the local memorial concert for Ryan and her burgeoning relationship with the grown up and extremely cool Denny, owner of the local surf shop.

I think it is in the nature of books with several central characters that it can be quite disjointed. Fortunately in this case it is just at the beginning, once we have met the characters and the story has been established it makes for an easier read. I found the male characters are better developed and more complex than the female characters. Verity in particular seems a bit bland and undeveloped, as if they were just trying to even out the numbers by including her. The character led nature of the book didn’t work on all levels for me. It seemed only the male characters had secrets and depth, the women characters were much more superficial. They were not pathetic or ditzy as in some chick lit type novels; they were smart women, who could be very real and relatable to with a little bit more effort. Knowing in the past that the authors wrote the character that relates to their own gender, I was disappointed with Josie Lloyd, if this is the case with this book.

In conclusion, this is a harmless romance, there is no deep meaning to be found within the pages, you will not learn anything about yourself, and you read this book because you want a light, easyish read for whatever reason. I don’t think this is the best work of their that I have read (so far that honour goes to The Boy Next Door, but I have not read their last two books) and it has not and will not light up the literary sky. It is what is is, a romance aimed at the twenty- and thirty-something female market, and as far as that is concerned it does it as well if not slightly better than most of its peers.

James Morrison - Undiscovered

2006-10-05T18:36:00.000+01:00

21 year old Morrison is a white British lad with a soulful voice that has been compared to Otis Redding. He was born in Rugby but moved to Cornwall in his teens. He is a young, slightly scruffy, soul balladeer is a music market that has seen its fair share of similar singers. He has been compared to James Blunt which I think is unfair. At least I hope so, as I was never a fan of Blunt’s music and I don’t think that the shy Morrison is as bland as the other James. My typical music tastes do not normally include white, male, soul singers and I’ll walk over hot coals to avoid them normally, but something about Morrison’s Top Five debut single You Give Me Something attracted my attention and made me want to listen to more. He has a deep gravelly voice which at times reminds me of Stevie Wonder. He claims always to have had this voice since childhood, though he admits it is possibly exacerbated by smoking. Morrison has co-written all the thirteen songs on the album. It was released in July and went to Number One in August.

The CD has a strong start with a track called Under the Influence. It has a catchy hook and Morrison’s vocals sound charmingly grating with a dash of soul, and sounds the most like a Stevie Wonder Motown track and is about being intoxicated by someone and powerless to know your own mind.

The second track is Morrison’s debut single the melodic You Give Me Something that currently gets so much airplay, (which I hope will not be to his detriment) on a variety of rock, pop and easy listening type radio stations. The lyrics are about taking that first step into a new relationship and the track is one of the more positive and uplifting songs on the album which have a tendency to be about relationship break ups.

This is followed by Wonderful World a song about feeling down and not able to appreciate things. It has a catchy, foot-tapping beat and is one of the best songs on the CD in spite of the slightly depressing lyrics.

The ballad The Pieces Don’t Fit anymore is a song about a relationship that no longer works and facing the inevitable. It is one of the slower tracks on the album, and Morrison sings in very softly, especially at the beginning, and resists belting the vocals out as he did on the earlier tracks.

One Last Chance is another ballad with a slight rock touch and is about his last opportunity to sort himself out and find happiness. I have no idea if the song is autobiographical or not, but it certainly sounds as if it is sung from the heart. There is a strong blues element to this song.

Undiscovered in the albums’s title track and in it Morrison invites a lady (presumably) to look a bit deeper, and try and find the real him. It is a very uplifting song, almost gospel in parts with a female vocal chorus.

The Letter is about receiving a letter from a lover and being afraid to open it. Again, it is quite bluesy with the emphasis on gravelly vocals, drums and some harmonica.

Call The Police is not about a criminal act but the feeling of a loss of control at the end of a relationship. I don’t think I am alone in starting to see a pattern here?! It is a good rock song and has a fabulous guitar riff that is rather Nirvana-esque (an influence, along with Hendrix, I was initially surprised that Morrison had) and it rather works with Morrison’s raw edged vocals belting out. I like muchly and easily my favourite.

This Boy was apparently written by Morrison a few years ago when he wasn’t seeing eye to eye with his mother, it is more a song of friendship and putting things behind you than love, which makes a change. It is probably one of the weaker songs in the album but is an enjoyable filler track none the less.

The Otis Redding influence is obvious in a number of tracks, but none more so than If The Rain Must Fall which is very soulful song about how it doesn’t matter if it rains, as long as he has your love.

How Come is another rockier ballad. I don’t think Morrison is able to do a track with a faster beat, just with more frantic vocals. The song is about a relationship where the partner doesn’t seem to know what they want.

The Last Goodbye is (no surprise here) an end of relationship ballad. Rather slow and plodding and adding nothing new. I only notice it playing as it is one of the longest tracks of the album.

Better Man is about how he has become a better man because of his relationship, another slow ballad, this time sung just with a guitar. However I felt it was a disappointing closing track.

I don’t think his lyrics are so deep and meaningful that they will have too many lonesome souls reaching for the razor blades, I think the fact that there is such a theme running through the CD means I am more likely to switch off listening to the lyrics, although one should remember that not all the songs are about relationship break ups and some, such as Give Me Something, are more positive. I feel they are not the kind of lyrics that I would sing along to in the car (where the engine drowns my wailing out) but a lot of the songs have a catchy melody.

The inlay booklet contains the lyrics to all tracks and a few black and white photos of liver performances and studio sessions. At the back of the booklet he thanks his dad for introducing him to his record collection (no Barbra Streisand at his parents house then, unlike mine?) and Uncle Joe for introducing him to the blues and also lists his varied influences of Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens, Nirvana, Radiohead and Marc Bolan to name just a few.

http://www.jamesmorrisonmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/jamesmorrisonmusic

The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff

2006-10-01T17:46:00.000+01:00

The Sims 2 is a huge game franchise. It originated on the PC as just The Sims and added on six expansion packs until the Sims 2 was launched with better graphics and game play. The Sims have also expanded to consoles. This is a stuff pack adding on new items rather than more game play. Before I continue, however, I am going to mention a little but about The Sims 2 for those who are not familiar with it. If you are familiar, feel free to skip the next paragraph.

The Sims 2 (and the original version) is a God-Sim or people management game. There are no levels to complete, you set your own target for the sim or just try and meet their needs and aspirations and keep them happy. Sims have different personality aspirations such as wanting marriage and children, a promotion, more money or many lovers. It is up to you if you want your Sim (who is played as part of a family unit that you create either at the beginning or by getting them to marry and have children) to achieve their aspirations or whether you want to set your own goals for them. The game has much more to it than can be mentioned here, as this is not the right review, so I will move back onto the Glamour Life Stuff pack.

This is a Stuff Pack as opposed to an expansion pack (like University, Nightlife or Open For Business) and does not add anything to the game other than new outfits, furniture of accessories. Other stuff packs include Christmas Party Pack and Family Fun Stuff. You need to have the Sims 2 installed on your PC in order to play this game, though it is not obligatory to have any of the expansion packs or other stuff packs. You also need a 1.0 Ghz processor and an additional 1BG free hard disk. Once you have installed this disc it is the one you will use to play your game with from then on (or until a new expansion pack is installed). It is advised that you back up your existing game in case you should wish to uninstall this pack for any reason.

For a RRP of £9.99 you don’t actually get a lot. The disc is in a yellow and purple DVD case with the distinctive white and green Sims 2 logo across the top and some pictures of the new items contained within and announcing ‘60 Glamorous Items’ on a mock sticker. Inside the case is a 16 page brochure with installation instructions, game tips (which are nothing new to experienced players) and pictures of a few of the new items.

The disc itself it straight forward to install and takes just a few minutes. Once installed it can take you straight to the game where you can find the new items which are kept with your existing items of the same type in the menu, they are not kept separately. The items include some new room sets for the bedroom, living room and dining room, plus some interesting Pop Art and sculptures. There are also new light fixtures, rugs and a stereo. Most of the new clothing is evening wear, although there are a few day outfits and silk pajamas. There is also a fur coat for the ladies. There are a few teen outfits but not children’s outfits. Um…that is about it. Not a great haul when you consider that some fan sites share outfits and furniture they have created themselves for free (although I have had problems installing these so don’t tend to bother). This does seem a bit greedy of EA (Electronic Arts – the game’s manufacturers) to try and get even more money out of loyal fans of the game and then offer them very little content but with millions of people across the world playing it, I am sure they will continue to do well and be a regular money spinner especially if they carry on releasing two or three a year in addition to the expansion packs.

Top ten iTunes

2006-09-30T16:00:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-28T18:53:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-24T13:08:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-17T17:12:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-16T11:19:00.000+01:00

View of City 3
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

View of Florence from the Piazza Michelangelo. May 2006.

Lily Allen - Alright, Still

2006-09-10T11:09:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-01T13:16:00.000+01:00

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.

Top Ten iTunes

2006-08-30T18:35:00.000+01:00

1. Paul Weller - You Do Something to Me
2. Snow Patrol - Crazy in love
3. Salt 'n' Pepa - Whatta Man
4. The Three Degrees - Givin' Up, Givin' In
5. Jody Watley - Looking for a New Love
6. The Sugababes - Killer
7. The Rembrants - I'll Be There For You
8. Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body
9. The Jam - Town Called Malice
10. Lisa Scott Lee - Lately

Incompetence - Rob Grant

2006-08-27T15:13:00.000+01:00

About the author: Rob Grant is best known as co-creator of the cult show Red Dwarf, as well as writing various other comedy shows. Incompetence is his second novel.

At some point in the not to distant future in the United States of Europe, the following article is passed:

“Article 13199 of the Pan European Constitution: ‘No Person shall be prejudiced from employment in any capacity, at any level, by reason of age, race, creed or incompitence” (sic)

Thus it is not possible to sack someone for not being any good at their job anymore. Detective Harry Salt (to give just one of his alias) is actually quite competent but must deal with endless ineptitude in order to do his job, and this time the murderer he is trying to track down is also very competent. The book takes us (and Harry) to Rome (via the wrong airport as the pilot got confused), Paris and Vienna on the trace of this rather efficient killer. On his way Harry will meet an armed police chief with anger management issues, a mortician with an unusual hobby and various staggering levels of beaurocracy.

In parts the book is funny, but it is very much a one-joke book and accounts of some of Harry’s altercations with officialdom and other incompetents can be a bit laborious, you are wishing the author would just get on with the story as we have already established the character is a bit of an idiot. There are no deep characters here, we don’t really get to know Harry or anyone he comes into contact with on anything more than a superficial level; it is not that type of book. The book is a comedy book and though mainly is witty and amusing I did not find it laugh out loud funny as others have (maybe it is me – I liked Red Dwarf but wasn’t as fanatical as some)! I have read funnier and more original works. By the end this book is almost a pastiche of itself, although I suspect that may be intentional. The book is very easy to read though. Apart from some frustrating and long-winded pages involving various imbeciles or officialdom that take a long time to resolve, the book runs at a cracking pace. There is not much dialogue but the story is told from Harry’s perspective. Grant seems to try and make the murder solving as part of the book, but it is almost a sub-plot rather than an integral part. I didn’t guess who the perpetrator was but then I didn’t try, I didn’t think of it as important, I was more interested in what particular type of idiot Harry would come across next. The imaginative crimes really are excuses for Harry’s adventures in trying to travel across Europe in shoes made of vegetables.

Did I enjoy it? Mostly yes. As I have already said, it is not the funniest book I have read, although it is amusing. Some parts of the book can be as frustrating to read as they supposedly were for Harry Salt. It is easy to read but will never be classified as a classic.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend

2006-08-22T18:25:00.000+01:00

Since seeing The Wailers perform at the London Rise Against Racism festival, it reminded me of how many great songs they have in their repertoire with Bob Marley and decided it was long overdue to buy a Best Of compilation.

The album starts off with Is This Love the Marley penned classic from 1978 and the song really needs no introduction. It was taken from the Kaya album, which revolved around the duel themes of love and marijuana, and this instance the song was about love. It is a beautiful song, and certainly at the Rise concert, got the crowd singing. It is followed by No Woman, No Cry originally from the Natty Dread album and is about the struggle of life in the Trenchtown, the rundown part of Kingston, Jamaica where Bob grew up with his mother after his father died. The version of the song on Legend is not from Natty Dread but from Live! which was a live album that the band recorded in 1975 at the Lyceum in London. It is worth noting that the writing credit for the song is given to a Vincent Ford, a friend of Marley’s who ran a soup kitchen in Trenchtown. It is thought that Marley himself actually wrote it, but the royalties kept the soup kitchen afloat. The song stands out, particularly live, because of the hook “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” chanted repeatedly.

Could You be Loved is the next track and is taken from the 1980 Uprising album. The single reached No 5 in the UK singles charts, the highest any Bob Marley and The Wailers track reached. This is followed by Three Little Birds, (the ‘Don’t Worry About A Thing’ song) from the 1977 Exodus album, one of band’s more commercially and critically successful albums. Bob’s son Ziggy recently collaborated with Jamaican dance hall artist Sean Paul on a cover of this song. Buffalo Soldier, the next track, was on the post-humous 1983 album Confrontation and is a catchy, classic reggae song written about the black soldiers conscripted to fight in the American Civil War.

The CD also contains early tracks such as Get Up, Stand Up written by Bob and original Wailer Peter Tosh (McIntosh) and is on The Wailers 1973 Burnin’ album. At this time they worked as The Wailers only, Bob Marley and The Wailers didn’t become an entity until after 1974. The song became the anthem of Amnesty International and was important in the Rasta movement. Its militancy is quite typical of the Wailers at this time. This is followed by Stir it Up, a gentle, chilled track from The Wailers’ first album Catch a Fire, released in 1973, the album was important in the fact that it brought reggae out of Jamaica and into the international arena.

Easy Skanking in the next track, taken from the album Kaya, and is homage to marijuana. I was not as familiar with this track as some of the others but it is as slow and laid-back as you imagine it would be! This is followed by One Love/People Get Ready, another of the well known songs (although not a hit in the UK) where Marley was influenced by Curtis Mayfield and his song People Get Ready. Back to early Wailers songs, the next track on the compilation is I Shot the Sheriff, a song about justice with a great reggae beat from the Burnin’ album. It was covered successfully by Eric Clapton who had a US No 1 and a UK Top Ten hit with his version. Then we are back to the Exodus album with Waiting In Vain, a beautiful, love song about unrequited love.

I was not overly familiar with the next track on the disc, Redemption Song from 1980’s Uprising album. It is one of his more religious songs written whilst Marley was fighting cancer and in a lot of pain, according to his wife, Rita. It is an acoustic track and Marley sings about emancipation from mental slavery. Satisfy My Soul is a gentle ska/reggae hybrid from the Kaya album, a song that fitted in quite well with the commercial ska movement in the UK at the time. Exodus, from the album of the same name, was Marley’s second UK hit. Written whilst Marley and his wife were living in London, after an assassination attempt on them in their Jamaican home, it is possibly influenced by this but also the Rasta movement and has a strong funk beat running through it. Jamming is the penultimate track, a catchy, popular track that was Marley’s first UK Top Ten (with Punky Reggae Party). While at first listen this seems like “I wanna jam it with you” is about a musical jam session, but on closer inspection is actually more about uniting in front of God (or Jah as the Rastafarian God is known). The final track is a bonus track, Punky Reggae Party, described as a ‘tribute to the flourishing cultural intersection in the UK of reggae and punk rock’, although it definitely sounds more reggae than punk to me.

Marley developed a form of skin cancer which spread around his body; he died in Miami in May 1981, unable to make it home to Jamaica to die. He was 36.

Who were the Wailers: Bob, his school friend Bunny Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer) and Peter Tosh were the Wailers at the beginning of their international success, although had previously been a six piece. After Bunny and Peter left and the group was disbanded in 1974, Bob re-formed them as his backing band featuring:

Aston Barrett – Bass Guitar, percussion

Carlton Barrett – Drums and percussion

Al Anderson – Lead Guitar

Junior Marvin – Lead Guitar, backing vocals

Tyrone Downie – Keyboards, percussion, backing vocals

Alvin Patterson – Percussion

I-Threes:Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt – Backing Vocals

Earl Lindo – Keyboards, percussion, backing vocals

Earl Smith – Lead and Rhythm guitar, percussion

Donald Kinsey – Lead Guitar

Bernard Harvey – Piano, organ

BB: Over at last

2006-08-19T15:23:00.000+01:00

This series went on way to long for me, and there were way to many housemates.

Six were left for the final week, where they did daily tasks, Nikki had tantrums and Aisleyne cried. Glyn got to speak Welsh to a Welsh BB and Richard remembered how to say "I'm Feeling Horny" from his Welsh language class task for the occassion.

Jennie left first, followed by a stunned Nikki who almost got booed off the stage during her interview by claiming she was too scared to speak. Richard went next and was followed out bu Aisleyne in third. A surge of internet support for her meant she was a hot tip to win, but that was not the case. Pete (as predicted) won with Glyn as his runner up.

Can I have my life back now please?

Sheila O'Flanagan - Suddenly Single

2006-08-14T20:23:00.000+01:00

Why do I do this to myself? I bought three O’Flanagan books from the Book Man who comes to work for £5 the set. Bargain I thought. Maybe I have outgrown the genre but I found all the first two rather dull, but not wanting to waste it without giving it a chance (and part as a punishment to myself for buying them without thinking about how dire they could be) I valiantly (or stupidly) proceeded to read this one.

Our heroine, Alix is a career girl in a successful relationship with a journalist. However, the relationship isn’t as successful as she thought, as Paul then dumps her for a woman who will give him marriage and children instead of being driven by her career. Alix is knocked for six and partly refuses to face the inevitable. She has a few dates, reluctantly; more to placate her family but is concentrating more on not being usurped in the work place where she is a successful currency dealer for an international bank. Will Alix let he guard down long enough to face her demons that plague her about her personal life right from her childhood when her father left?

The book does resolve these issues, but it doesn’t really matter as the book is dull and predictable. Competing in a genre like chick-lit where the market is flooded O’Flanagan is found wanting. The book is not particularly well written and lacks the wit and pace of some of her rivals.

Top Dance iTunes

2006-08-13T19:39:00.000+01:00

Top Ten dance tracks from dance/club compilations (such as Hed Kandi/Tokyo Collection) that I have listened to on iTunes since June 2004.

1. In Deep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
2. Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
3. Joe Smooth - Promised Land
4. Flower Power - Flower Power
5. Open Air - Seven Nation Army
6. The Montanas Feat. Rita Campbell - Love's Just Found Me (Morjac Extended)
7. Mayhem & Bones - Feels Good
8. Soul Rebels Feat Lisa Millet - I'll be Good (Soul Rebels Club Mix)
9. Seamus Haji - Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
10. Mousse T with Roachford - Pop Muzak (Ian Pooley Extended Mix)

BB Update

2006-08-12T12:26:00.000+01:00

There has been a right old furore in the media about Channel 4/BB producers asking people to vote to put people back in the house that they had already spent money on evicting. They decided to send in Grace (why??), Lea, Nikki and Mikey. The rest of the housemates were bored with each other and were delighted when the screen showed their ex-housemates and realised they were moving into the House Next Door. They tried to shout to them and then Glyn climbed onto the roof to speak to his mate, the 'lovely' Grace.

BB punished Glyn on Friday by keeping him seperate from his housemates. The housemates played a large board game and jennie won immunity from eviction.

Imogen and Richard were nominated for eviction and on Wednesday moved to the house next door with the ex-housemates without saying goodbye to the others.

The official housemates did a Radio show task which they passed.

Imogen was evicted.

The housemates (excluding Glyn) had to decide which of the four ex-housemates they would bring back in for the final week. It was close between Nikki and Lea but they chose Nikki as they knew Pete missed her and that their was a budding romance there.

Thus, Nikki moved back into the BB house for the final week and is eligable to win.

Palazzo Vecchio

2006-08-10T19:34:00.000+01:00

Palazzo vecchio 6
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Inside the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. May 2006

BB Update

2006-08-05T10:56:00.000+01:00

This was a bit dull this week. Mikey aregued with everyone and was up for eviction with Susie, Jennie and Imogen. They passed a university task. Aisleyne discovered she was machivellian.

Mikey went and there was a surprise double eviction, which meant Susie followed him 30 minutes later.

Showing how desperate the BB producers are they are now going to send four housemates back and put them into the house next door on Tuesday. Eventually one will go back into the main house for the final week and be eligible to win the show.

101 Things in 1001 Days - The Fifth Ten

2006-08-01T18:10:00.000+01:00

~~41. Break 2 million on Bejeweled 2~~ (done 17/2)
42. Call Uncle & Aunt once a month, or see them (ongoing)
~~43. Sort out garage~~ 29/5
44. Buy new lampshades for kitchen, spare bedroom and hall (Spare room and kitchen done but not put up)
45. Collect all of the Swarovski ‘Wonders of the Sea’ main limited edition pieces. (1/3)
46. Go to bed before 10.30 every weekday night (Sun-Thurs) for two weeks.
47. Frame and display a new photo that I have taken
48. Make a new friend
49. Do 240 sit ups
50. Keep Sims 2 expansion packs up to date and get six successful businesses started in the new one

As more impressive effort so far. 41 & 43 are done. 42, 44, 45 and 50 are in hand or ongoing. I have one business in Sims 2: Open For Business which almost has the top ranking, just another 5 to go.

BB Update

2006-07-29T15:59:00.000+01:00

A good week. The remaining ten had to pair off into 'best friends' for the week: Glyn & Mikey; Pete & Richard; Susie & Imogen; Spoiral & Michael and Aisleyne & Jennie. They had to hug everytime a friendship song was played into the house and nominated a single housemate in pairs. The twist was that the nominated housemate and their friend went up for eviction. Thus Richard (with Pete), Susie & Imogen and Michael & Spoiral faced the public vote in a joint eviction.

The housemates also did a prisoner/prison officer task and one half of each best friend couple went to prison the other was an officer in a striking black and hot pink uniform. The twist was the shift work the officers had, whilst the prisoners (apart from doing a few dodgy tasks) had a secret room. Halfway through a prisoner was eligible for parole, but no one really wanted to go apart from Pete who was struggling with the lack of space. He was paroled and Richard went in and took his place. The task was passed but Pete was no longer eligible for a letter from home which the other prisoners were, and he was quite upset by that.

Come final night, it was Spoiral and Michael who left the house. They won't be missed.

Michelangelo's David

2006-07-28T18:07:00.000+01:00

Michelangelo's David
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Not the original. Based in Piazza Michelangelo, Florence which has fabulous city views. May 2006

101 Things to do in 1001 Days - No 84

2006-07-24T19:06:00.000+01:00

Write a Blog Post every day for a month - Blogger permitting!

I have now done this, and did extra posts the next day for days I was unable to blog (including when I had no internet connection after changing ISP)

Yay!

Top Ten iTunes

2006-07-23T21:30:00.000+01:00

1. Snow Patrol - Crazy in Love
2. Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me
3. Salt 'n' Pepa - Whatta Man
4. The Three Degrees - Givin' Up Givin' In
5. Jody Watley - Looking for a New Love
6. Sugababes - Killer
7. Justin Timberlake - Rock Ya Body
8. The Jam - Town Called Malice
9. Lisa Scott Lee - lately
10. The Rembrandts - I'll Be There For You

BB Update

2006-07-22T22:27:00.000+01:00

Bloody hell Jayne, now the housemates are without hot water and the use of the pool for the week, all because she can't get her head around the rules. What a surprise she is up for nomination. Richard was also up with her. The housemates passed their Unfair Funfair gunge assault course shopping task and that is about it. They didn't do anything all week apart from have a few spats (Spoiral or Michael usually).

At the end Jayne went and we have the hint of a double eviction next week.

52 Films in 52 Weeks.

2006-07-21T19:37:00.000+01:00

101 Things in 1001 Days: No. 6.

Ooops. Again.
25 weeks and 14 Films down. I blame Big Brother.

1. 14/02/06 Paycheck

2 17/02/06 The Motorcycle Diaries

3. 07/03/06 Closer

4. 11/03/06 Flightplan

5. 17/03/06 Cold Mountain

6. 18/03/06 Dirty Pretty Things

7. 24/03/06 Raising Helen

8. 31/03/06 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

9 14/04/06 Ice Age 2

10 01/05/06 Matrix Revolutions

11 18/5/06 Bewitched

12 27/5/06 Phone Booth

13 28/5/06 March of the Penguins

14 29/5/06 American Pie: The Wedding

How to make your own Pink Hello Kitty laptop

2006-07-20T21:14:00.000+01:00

Don't ask me. But someone has already done this.

Iris Festival

2006-07-19T21:47:00.000+01:00

Iris Festival
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

On the hill at the south of Florence there was an Iris festival. Sadly the heatwave after a lot of rain was causing the flowers to die rapidly, but there were still some nice colours on display. May 2006.

Alexander McCall Smith - Morality for Beautiful Girls

2006-07-18T18:36:00.000+01:00

The gentle storytelling of McCall Smith and the unique way he deals with his characters will not (and does not) appeal to everyone. Personally I love his writing styles and love the simple, easy way he writes that reflects the slower pace of life for our heroine Mma Precious Ramotswe and her No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. This is the third in the series, following for the original No 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Tears of the Giraffe.

Mma Ramotswe’s fiancé the highly esteemed Mr J L B Matekoni of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is unwell, and Mma Ramotswe has a lot on her plate with caring for the orphans he adopted and worrying about the lack of money coming into the agency. She decides to move the agency to the garage so she and Assistant Detective Mma Makutsi can help out. Among the cases that Mma Ramotswe has to deal with is investigating claims by an important Government man that his brother is being poisoned and worrying about an orphan who smells of lion…. Meanwhile Mma Makutsi has a very important case of her own, investigating contestants for a local Beauty pageant.

Those familiar with McCall Smith’s work will enjoy this book, the detective work is nothing compared to the serial killers and forensic work that most contemporary crime novels deal with (I was surprised to find his books in the Crime section at Waterstones) but fans of his books don’t read them for the Whodunnit but because they love his characters and their way of life. His books are always positive and are a real feel good read and I already look forward to the next one in the series.

Orson - Bright Idea

2006-07-17T18:49:00.000+01:00

It is hard to believe that as recently as the end of last year, Orson were an unknown LA band, who raised the funds to fly over to the UK and try their luck here. According to the band’s website they paid for the album themselves and it cost them $5000. I don’t know if they had an extra cash injection since or whether they just got good value for money but this is a very slick, well produced and put together CD for such a sum. Currently the band is supporting Robbie Williams on his tour of Europe. Most tracks are written by the bands vocalist Jason Pebworth.

The album opens with the band’s second single the strong and catchy Bright Idea, after which this album is named, followed by their debut single No Tomorrow. Both are strong pop/rock tracks that are instantly catchy. Happiness is a very Seventies influenced guitar led rock track which is to be their next single. This is followed by Already Over, a mature rock track that sounds like it should belong to an older rock band doing huge stadium tours. That doesn’t make it a bad thing however, as the track is really catchy.

The bulk of the tracks on this CD are very much rock led and generally are very catchy but there is not a huge variety. Downtown follows on from a similar vein to Already Over, whilst Trying To Help is more rock ‘n’ roll. So Ahead of me has a good beat to it and you’ll find yourself tapping your feet until it gets a lot heavier at the end and is followed up by Last Night and then the gentle Look Around. This is followed by the lively Save the World.

I notice on their website and on other shopping sites that an eleventh track called Okay Song is listed, I have only heard a short snippet and it seems very listenable. This track is not on my CD which I bought at Cd-Wow, so that is something to look out for. You can hear snippets of all the songs on the band’s website: http://www.orsonband.com/orsonband.htm

Generally not all the songs are as strong as the first two singles, but after two or three listens the rest of the tracks really grow on you and I am glad I bought this album.

Try Something new Every Month: July

2006-07-16T14:56:00.000+01:00

1001 Things in 101 Days - No 61

This month: Run a mile for Sport Relief

Along with some work colleagues we decided to join 20,000 other people in London by running a mile along Victoria Embankment in aid of Sport Relief that helps people in the UK and in the developing world. We are hoping to raise £800.

Previously I have done 3 mile 'fun' runs which wern't much fun as I had to train and are hard work, but due to the number of people there, I knew I wouldn't have room to run fast if at all, so I didn't worry. There was a great atmosphere as people dressed up and whole families turned out.

Sport Relief

BB Update

2006-07-15T17:21:00.000+01:00

Oh Dear. Newbie Jayne just can't keep her mouth shut about the outside world. Especially when it involves telling Nikki about how horrible Aislyne is. This meant that as punishment ALL housemates (excluding herself) would be up for eviction. Still unable to stop herself she then got everyone punished by having them put on basic rations for the rest of the week.

The worst thing about this week is that livewire Nikki was the one who went.

How to explain the offside rule to girls

2006-07-14T20:40:00.000+01:00

You're in a shoe shop, second in the queue for the till. Behind the shop assistant on the till is a pair of shoes which you have seen and which you must have.

The female shopper in front of you has seen them also and is eyeing them with desire. Both of you have forgotten your purses.

It would be rude to push in front of the first woman if you had no money to pay for the shoes.

The shop assistant remains at the till waiting.

Your friend is trying on another pair of shoes at the back of the shop and sees your dilemma.

She prepares to throw her purse to you.

If she does so, you can catch the purse, then walk round the other shopper and buy the shoes!

At a pinch she could throw the purse ahead of the other shopper and "whilst it is in flight" you could nip around the other shopper, catch the purse and buy the shoes!

BUT, you must always remember that until the purse has "actually been thrown", it would be plain wrong for you to be in front of the other shopper and you would be OFFSIDE!

52 Books in 52 Weeks

2006-07-13T18:49:00.000+01:00

24 Weeks in and 7 books down. Ooops.

1. 9/2/06 Clare Chambers Back Trouble

2. 8/3/06 Jeremy Paxman The Political Animal

3. 17/3/06 Jo Brand Sorting Out Billy

4. 21/4/06 Richard Doyle Flood

5. 25/5/06 Sabine Baring-Gould Mehalah

6. 20/6/06 Chris Stewart A Parrot in the Pepper Tree

7. 26/6/06 Carlos Ruis Zafon The Shadow in the Wind

Nothing like an OTT headstone...

2006-07-12T18:56:00.000+01:00

Graveyard 3
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

...All 10 foot of it!

Cimitero delle Porte Sante behind San Miniato al Monte on the hills in the south of Florence. May 2006.

The National Gallery

2006-07-12T18:50:00.000+01:00

I recently decided that a visit to The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square was long overdue. A few minutes walk from Charing Cross tube, the able bodied can climb the front steps of the Portico Enterance of the National Gallery and get good views of Trafalgar Square and Big Ben. Alternatively you can enter by the low level Getty Entrance nearby or the Sainsbury Wing entrance more to the left .

I personally prefer to wander around a gallery of my own free will but you can get a variety of audio tours (highlights or themed tours, or choose whichever commentary you wish to listen to from over 1000 paintings) or free guided tours. A voluntary donation is suggested. However, I found the labeling of the paintings quite informative as to the background of most paintings.

My first stop when I arrived was the Espresso Bar, not just because it was a hot day and I was thirsty, but to use the micro gallery. The bar contains a number of computer consoles (it doesn’t appear that you need to purchase anything to use them, the bar is not cheap – a bottle of Pepsi cost me £1.75) which you can use to search for particular painting or artists and read a background on them or find where they are located if you have a certain picture you are desperate to see. You can also print out a personal ‘tour’ featuring up to ten paintings. This is also a useful tool to keep younger visitors entertained.

There are a large number or rooms in the gallery and I believe it is essential to pick up one of the free plans as you come in, which is available in a variety of languages and mean you don’t miss out on anything. Also indicated on these plans are Gallery Highlights.

I started in the West Wing which contains works from the sixteenth century and is strongly influenced by Italian art with paintings by da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael. Also represented is Holbein in the German room, plus a number of Dutch rooms. Pieces of note in this part include Michelangelo’s unfinished The Entombment, Raphael’s Madonna and the Pinks, Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne and Bronzino’s rather odd and slightly disturbing Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time.

The North Wing is devoted to seventeenth century paintings, the emphasis this time is more on Dutch and Flemish artists, with some rooms donated to Spanish, French and Italian paintings also. The art is quite varied from Cuyp’s rural scenes featuring lots of cows to Rembrandt’s self portrait to Velazquez’s Rokeby Venus. A honorable mention should also go to van Hoogstraten’s peepshow. One of the few surviving works of its type, it is a three-sided piece of art that looks odd at the front, but if you look through the holes at either end, you see a room scene as three-dimensional. This was one of my personal highlights. Also in this section are works by Turner and the paintings that influenced them by Claude Lorrain and Vermeer’s Young Woman Standing at a Virginal and its sister Young Woman Sitting at a Virginal. I may have slightly dark tastes in art, but I also liked Giordano’s Perseus turning Phineas and his followers to Stone.

The East Wing is dedicated to eighteenth and nineteenth century paintings. Here there is a lot more British art as well as some key Impressionist pieces. One of the most famous British paintings, Constable’s The Hay Wain, can be found alongside works by Turner, Gainsborough and Stubbs’ Whistlejacket (the life-size horse portrait). In the Impressionist sections there are many Monet’s from his garden and also from London (Thames Below Westminster) and Seurat’s famous Bathers at Asnieres. There is also works by Cezanne, Gaugin and Van Gogh including one of the original versions of Sunflowers. One of my favourites in this section is Paul Delaroche’s Execution of Lady Jane Grey.

I left the early paintings to last as I had seen a lot of similar painting at the Uffizi in Florence the previous month, but as I had the time (although the energy was flagging) I decided to have a look. In retrospect I would have appreciated it more if I had left it til another day when I was fresher. These painting were all done between 1250 and 1500 and includes early works by Da Vinci and Raphael, plus Botticelli and other (mainly Italian) artists of the era.

The National Gallery also offers lectures on key paintings and special exhibitions. Currently they are showing an exhibition entitled Rebels & Martyrs: The Image of the Artist in the Nineteenth Century. Admission to the exhibition is £8 or £4 after 6pm on Wednesdays. I didn’t see it so cannot comment on how good it is.

The Gallery offers a waiter service café and restaurant as well as the more informal Espresso Bar and has two gift shops. Both shops sell the usual assortment of postcards (at a very reasonable 50p each) as well as notebooks, posters and other stationery gifts depicting works found in the Gallery. There are plenty of books and other gifts, with a larger selection in the ground floor shop in the Sainsbury Wing. I found the toilets to be clean and tidy and disabled access (special entrances, toilet facilities and lift access to all levels) is good. They also do special sign language tours and talks for the deaf and have descriptive audio tours and large print labels for the visually impaired. Baby changing facilities are also available. The Gallery is not specifically child friendly, as paintings are hung at adult eye level, although there currently is a children’s art exhibition which is free. There are plenty of seats if you wish to reat and/or take in a particular painting for a longer period.

Opening Hours:

Daily 10am-6pm
Wednesday 10am-9pm

Admission: Free except for some special exhibitions. Donations welcome (and deserved!).

All in all this is a good way to while away an afternoon in central London. The rooms are temperature controlled so it is very pleasant in the height of summer. I would suggest allowing 3 hours as a minimum.

Chris Stewart - A Parrot in the Pepper Tree

2006-07-10T18:18:00.000+01:00

This book is the sequel to Driving over Lemons, which I have not read but do not feel that this matters. Chris’s laid-back and self-depreciating writing style is very easy to read and absorb. Chris and his wife and daughter live in the Alpujarras in Southern Spain where they have a farm.

Occasionally the books seems a bit jumpy as he addresses different topics in each chapter, rather than writing of events in a chronological order, but this should not detract from his Stewart’s tales.

Non-Alpujarras chapters cover sheep-shearing during a Swedish winter, not being in Genesis, life with a traveling circus and Chris’s love affair with the Spanish Guitar. Farm based chapters cover the troublesome parrot of the title who adopted them , volunteer land-workers, building an eco-pool and the arrival of a dam in the region.

Regardless of the topic Chris tells you exactly as it is without dressing it up for comic effect, as Chris often sees the comedy in everything (apart from, possibly, the dam) and has no need to exaggerate.

London: Rise Festival

2006-07-09T18:26:00.000+01:00

I went to London's free anti-racism festival at Finsbury Park held yesterday. I wasn't familar with most acts on the bill and spent some time at the Cuba Fiesta tent listening to hip hop (I was hoping for some salsa) and queueing for MSG at the Chinese food stall. I had a backstage pass courtesy of a friend who worked the festival so managed to freeload some alcohol courtesy of the London tax payer. Cheers!

I heard The Buzzcocks (I only knew Have You Ever Fallen in Love With Someone) and The Wailers who were brilliant and really got the crowd singing and dancing.

This is my 750th Post!

BB Update

2006-07-09T18:01:00.000+01:00

Another week in the BB house and Aislyne has bonded with her four new housemates in The House Next Door. It is not long before she has to choose who the first evictee, and she chooses vulgar loud mouth Jayne. However they hear cheers from next door and correctly summise that Jayne has moved into the main house.

Meanwhile in the main house Lea and Richard are up for nomination.

Aislyne then evits (and sends to the main house) Jennie and Michael.

The main house successfully complete their untangling task for a luxury shopping budget.

Aislyne is told the truth about her evictions and then has to decide whether to evict Jonathan or Spiral for real, the remainder will return to the house with her. Under stress, Aislyne chose Jonathan to leave and moved back to the main house sobbing with Spiral. Both houses watched the decision on the screen.

Come Friday it was Lea who left. Pete can breathe again now.

iPod iconz

2006-07-07T21:18:00.000+01:00

Use your facourite icon to protect your ipod - Superman, Batman or Homer Simpson available.

Top Ten iTunes - Soundtracks

2006-07-06T19:43:00.000+01:00

1. Annie Lennox - Waiting in Vain (Serendipity)
2. Paul McCartney & Wings - Live and Let Die (James Bond: Live and let Die)
3. Mary J Blige - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason)
4. Vangelis - Chariots of Fire (Chariots of Fire)
5. The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love (Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason)
6. Bruce Channel - Hey Baby! (Dirty Dancing)
7. Jamelia - Stop (Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason)
8. Harry Connick Jnr - It Had to Be You (When Harry Met Sally)
9. Beyonce - Crazy in Love (Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason)
10. Fatboy Slim - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Moulin Rouge)

I never realised I was such a chick flick fan!

Florentine Graveyard

2006-07-05T20:59:00.000+01:00

Graveyard 4
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Cimitero delle Porte Sante behind San Miniato al Monte on the hills in the south of Florence. May 2006.

The Zutons - Tired of Hanging Around

2006-07-04T19:54:00.000+01:00

It took me a while to fully appreciate The Zutons, but I do now. This Liverpool based quintet formed in 2002 and sold 600,000 copies of their debut album Who Killed The Zutons? In spite of being hard to pigeon hole under a genre (rock? Country? Some strange glam/be-bop hybrid?) have become very successful. This is their second album.

The CD kicks off with the single of the album title which is a guitar led rock track. This is followed by It’s the little Things we Do which is much more typical Zutons with a catchy chorus and a rockabilly beat. This is followed by the single Valerie with a fabulous rock ‘n’ roll beat and sing-along lyrics.

Someone Watching Over Me is more soulful then previous tracks, and this is something that the band have consciously tried to do, says front man and writer David McCabe on the band’s website, "We know how to put ourselves across better - and know how to put our feelings across. It's a lot harder and a lot more soulful. We wanted to make this album more like a live album." Secrets is another track that reveals this as does the mellow How Does it Feel? which is probably my favourite of their more soulful tracks, personally I prefer them at their rock ‘n’ roll best which returns with the next track, the stonking stalker single Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?

This is followed by Oh Stacey (Look What You’ve Done) inspired by a girl the band met in America and her intent to self-destruct. You’ve Got a Friend In Me a slightly angst-ridden, gentle rock song. Hello Conscience almost sound like the product of a seventies glam rock band, but not, because these are the Zutons and they don’t do songs with just one influence. But it is also typically Zutons and probably the closest track to anything from their first album. The final track I Know I’ll Never Leave is a slower track, slightly depressive with interesting guitar usage.

Overall this is a very listenable album and all the tracks are instantly likeable, and it has been a long time since I have been able to say that about a CD I have bought.

The Zutons are:

David McCabe – vocals / guitar

Abi Harding – Saxophone

Boyan Chowdhury – guitar

Sean Payne – drums

Russell Pritchard – Bass.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind

2006-07-03T18:58:00.000+01:00

This book is about a young lad called Daniel Sempere growing up in 1940s Barcelona with his widowed father, a second-hand bookseller. One day Daniel’s father takes him to the Cemetery for Forgotten Books, a cavernous place containing out of print and long forgotten books, where he is allowed to take one book and look after it. He chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. He falls in love with the book and tries to find others by him and more about the author but discovers that Carax is a bit of an enigma and his enquiries have reached the wrong ears as someone is trying to find all of Carax’s books and burn them. Daniel continues to keep the book safe whilst investigating into the mysterious life and death of the author. In his endeavors he is aided by former spy and beggar Fermin, who he hires to work in his father’s bookshop. He also falls in love and gets beaten up as he tries to solve the mystery of who is trying to erase Carax’s works. On a spooky level, Daniel also finds his life sometimes mirroring that of Carax.

The book is part mystery, part romance, part adventure as Daniel comes of age and comes to terms with events in his lives and those in others. It is a cross-genre book and I think it is well worth reading even if you are not normally a romance or mystery fan, as overall this is a good story, and cannot be pigeonholed accurately. The mystery part of this books twists and turns and you are never sure who the mysterious man is although there are several options so you go along for the ride with Daniel and hope he finds the answers he is looking for, for himself and for the memory of Julian Carax and his friends. Most of all, this book is written by someone who really loves books, about people who really love books, for people who really love books and is definitely worth a read. The best book I have read this year (so far).

101 Things to do in 1001 days - The Fourth Ten

2006-07-02T10:57:00.000+01:00

31. Buy a real designer handbag
32. Watch the first two series of 24. (12/24 first series)
33. Watch all the DVDs of Ally McBeal (half of Series one watched so far).
34. Organise my photos into albums
35. Sell, donate or throw-away 101 items
36. Get a new bathroom
37. Make my own ice cream
38. Get a new address book and put in all the latest addresses for everyone before they move again.
39. Organise my recipies
40. Try two new recipes a month

Not very good with this batch. I am 25% of the way through No. 32 and about 10% through of No. 33 . I could do with a couple of extra hours in the day.

I got a photo album for my birthday but I still have a lot to sort out. I am waiting on a quote for my new bathroom. I have quite a few things to chuck out it is just a case of sorting them. I have yet to organise my recipes and am doing a new recipe on avergae once a month. I am so crap.

BB Update

2006-07-01T10:53:00.000+01:00

A quiet week of bitching and backstabbing in the BB house. Glyn drank too much and was sick, Susie was unsympathetic and in the running for the most boring housemate ever. Nominated for eviction was Aislyne and Susie. Aislyne didn't take it too well, cried a bit and was nasty to Lea and Nicky for the rest of the week.

The sting in the tail was that the housemate the public voted for was not going home but into a new house next door with five new housemates. It was a devastated Aislyne that left and she was delighted to find herself in a new house. She was joined by Cumbrian bouncer Jonathan, Irish DJ and rapper Spiral, dopey Liverpudlian Jennie, camp Michael and big and brassy Jayne.

Aislyne has been told in secret that she must choose four of her new housemates to leave over the next week. What she doesn't know is they they will all go into the main house and be waiting for her when she goes back in...

Church Burial records

2006-06-30T11:30:00.000+01:00

1001 Things in 101 Days - No 61 Try Something New Every Month - May

I have been up to Peldon church in deepest, darkest Essex and looked through the burial records to see if I can find any ancestors in there, which I did, and the very helpful church warden then located graves for us, so I finally saw by Great-grandparents graves. Unfortunately other relatives either did not have a headstone or it was illegible so we were unable to find all the graves, but I was pleased to at least find my direct lineage. We also went onto the less loved Great Wigborough church. We already know the records from the period we were looking for had been sent to the archives, so we could only look around and the few legible graves, which unfortunately did not contain any ancestors. A local lady who came into the churchyard whilst we were there said that many graves had been razed over the years and just sunk into the ground. Plus, we suspect that our relatives may not have had headstones due to the expense as we had found the invoices from the undertakers for some relatives at both Great and Little Wigborough church and they do not quote for headstones (plus my mum was around when some of the Little Wigborough relatives were buried and can confirm that there no stones). Although it was not as successful a visit as we would have liked, I was happy to enjoy another quintessential English churchyard in the sunshine again.

Guys & Dolls

2006-06-30T11:26:00.000+01:00

I recently went to see this Donmar Warehouse Production at the Piccadilly Theatre, having only seen the film before many years ago. The story is pretty straightforward set around gamblers Sky Masterson (ballet dancer Adam Cooper) and Nathan Detroit (Man Behaving Badly’s Neil Morrissey) in Manhattan and their ‘dolls’. Nathan’s long-time (and ling-suffering) fiancé Miss Adelaide (established West End performer Sally Ann Triplett) sings and dances in the Hot Box bar and has been lying to her mother about already being married to Nathan. Whilst trying to keep his promise to Miss Adelaide that he’ll stop gambling Nathan sets up one last dice game and gets Sky involved in funding the venture by betting him that he couldn’t get a dinner date with a woman of Nathan’s choice. Nathan chooses missionary Sarah Brown (played by relative newcomer Kelly Price) and thereby the show gets going.

Guys and Dolls does not have as many big show-stopping numbers as some of the other big West End/Broadway shows, the title song and ‘If I Were A Bell’ were the most memorable from the first half, and ‘Luck Be A Lady’ and ‘Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat’ in the second half.

The performances were all very good. I expected Adam Cooper to be able to dance and he also had a good voice. Neil Morrissey’s strength lay not in his voice or slightly gangly dancing but in the comic timing he brought to the role. In fact all the cast members did an excellent job of the comedic and musical parts of their roles and I was also especially impressed with Kelly Price who graduated from stage school only two years ago. The supporting cast were also excellent and held some big numbers themselves. I was slightly disappointed by the ending as the last number was a bit of a damp squib following on from a show-stopping rendition of ‘Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat’.

The current lead cast are due to change shortly with Morrissey and Triplett being replaced by Patrick Swayze and Claire Sweeney. Cooper and Price are staying on until August.

Key Cast members:

Sky Masterson – Adam Cooper

Nathan Detroit – Neil Morrissey

Sally Ann Triplett – Miss Adelaide

Sarah Brown – Kelly Price

Directed by Michael Grandage

Piccadilly Theatre, Denman Street, W1.

Box Office : 0870 060 0123

Performances commence at 7.30 pm Mon-Sat with matinees commencing at 2.30pm on Wednesday and Saturday.

Further info: http://www.theambassadors.com/piccadilly/

I bought my tickets through an offer on lastminute.com where Upper Circle tickets and a two-course meal at nearby Tiger Tiger on Haymarket cost £29.95 per person.

Trabant

2006-06-28T18:08:00.000+01:00

Trabant
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Another excellent piece of Berlin grafitti art. Feb 2006.

Top 25 iTunes

2006-06-27T19:37:00.000+01:00

Top 25 tunes listened to via iTunes over the two years. Figures in brackets are positions from January when I last did a Top 25. RE refers to a track that was not in the Last Top 25 but has been in it before.

1. (1) Snow Patrol - Crazy in Love
2. (2) Paul Weller - You Do Something to Me
3. (New) Salt 'n' Pepa - Whatta Man
4. (3) Jody Watley - Looking for a New Love
5. (17) The Three Degrees - Givin' Up Givin' In
6. (7) Sugababes - Killer
7. (18) Lisa Scott Lee - Lately
8. (new) Donna Summer - MacArthur Park
9. (22) Robbie Williams & Tom Jones - Full Monty Medley
10. (new) The Neville Brothers - In the Still of the Night
11. (New) Erasure - Sometimes
12. (New) Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
13. (16) Hot Butter - Popcorn
14. (Re) Annie Lennox - Waiting in Vain
15. (13) The Jam - Town Called Malice
16. (New) Shawn Mullins - Lullaby
17. (Re) The Lightning Seeds - You Showed me
18. (24) Wet Wet Wet - If I Never See You Again
19. (14) In Deep - Last Night a DJ Saved my Life
20. (4) Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop
21. (5) Barenaked Ladies - One Week
22. (6) Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body
23. (8) Supergrass - Moving
24. (9) The Lightening Seeds - Marvellous
25. (New) Go West - What You Won't Do For Love

Big Brother Update

2006-06-26T18:20:00.000+01:00

The housemates were in trouble for talking about nominations again. Nikki, Lisa, Imogen, Glyn and Lea committed the heinous crime of talking about nominations. They had to stand up in front of everyone and nominate one person from the guilty pack for nomination so that the one with the most went up automatically, as well as whoever went up after the other housemates had done regular nominations. The group mainly were being strategic and nominating one each so all would be up together but Lisa nominated Nikki after Glyn already had done so, so she was automatically up for the third week and was rather upset, particularly as Lisa had been all reassuring to her earlier, saying she would be safe.

Once the other housemates had done their regular nominations it was Mikey, Imogen and Lisa who went up with Nikki.

After successfully completing a Majorettes task the rest of the week was spent gossiping about who fancied who. Mainly Lea, Nikki and Aisleyne were obsessed that the others all fancied Pete whilst denying that they did, but then later admitting to him that they did. Mikey and Imogen also got close less than a week after Grace left.

Come Friday night it was loud, moany, moody Lisa who left. I was pleased

Two Years On

2006-06-25T12:52:00.000+01:00

Two years (and one week) and 735 posts since I made my first blog entry in June 2006 about Baby Showers

Fortunately I have never had to go to another one.

Corinne Bailey Rae

2006-06-21T21:11:00.000+01:00

After having had a phenomenal start to the year with the fabulous 'Put Your Records On', Bailey Rae subsequently brought out this much in demand, self-titled debut album. The album starts with the track 'Like A Star', which is a slow, jazzy number. Her vocals are still distinctive but the song is not as catchy or as memorable as 'Put Your Records On'. 'Enchantment' is less jazzy, and also quite unmemorable, fortunately the CD then redeems itself with 'Put Your Records On'. This is followed by 'Til It Happens To You' which whilst being another slow number has a nice beat with a definite blues feel followed by another single 'Trouble Sleeping' which is a bit livelier again.

The haunting strings that play during the introduction of 'Call Me When You Get This' reminds me of a 1960s film soundtrack, although the rest of the track does not offer much more, I was also disappointed with 'Choux Pastry Heart', a very slow, and sombre track that is not to my taste at all.

'Breathless' is a lovely uplifting track and one that grabbed me instantly, as most of the other tracks (excluding the singles) I suspect are more growers. 'I’d Like To' is one of the more upbeat numbers with a strong brass section. It is then slowed back down again for Butterfly which reminds me a bit of Eva Cassidy. The album closes with the melodic 'Seasons Change'.

I have been burnt a few times by buying contemporary 'Easy Listening' type CDs and not enjoying them, as my tastes tend to be a bit rockier, but I was glad to be given as I had loved the two singles I had heard. However, I feel the general sameness of much of the music could inhibit further success. It is a great background CD to have on at a dinner party, or for sitting reading, but I can’t see me picking it off the rack to often to listen to all the way through very often , but I wouldn't be disappointed if most of these tracks came up on my iPod when set to shuffle

BB Update

2006-06-17T11:24:00.000+01:00

Naughty BB. Golden Ticket winner Suzie was the only housemate allowed to nominate. She chose Grace and Nikki. Both took the news badly and ranted and slagged her off behind her back. Nikki subsequentlly calmed down and grew to like Suzie and understood why she may have been nominated. Grace never got over it, and knew she was going after the boos last week and continued her bitching completely obliviosly to what she was doing.

The week's task was the State of Susie and housemates had to (amongst other things) learn a pledge of alliegance and could only sing certain songs. This is the main things that they failed on a housemates kept singing other songs and had practically failed the task in the first hour. Only Aislyne could remember the pledge correctly, thus the task was failed 37 times or something.

Come Friday there was no doubt that Grace was going albeit with a low 87% of the vote.

She will not be missed.

Highgate Cemetery

2006-06-16T18:10:00.000+01:00

Highgate Cemetery

Most people think it strange when I say that Highgate Cemetery is an afternoon out worth doing. After all it is just a graveyard isn't it?!

The cemetery was opened in 1839 and currently has over 150,000 people buried in over 50,000 graves. It is divided into two parts - the older West Cemetery and the newer East cemetery. In its Victorian heyday up to 29 gardeners were employed to keep the grounds neat. However, as it filled up and the money dried up the cemetery became overgrown and in disrepair. In the 1970s the Friends of Highgate Cemetery became involved and as volunteers, preserved the cemetery and opened it for visitors. Their policy is not one of restoration but of preservation and conservation or, as my guide told me, “managed neglect”!

Tours run during the week at 2pm and at weekends on the hour from 10-4pm in the summer and up to 3pm in the winter and cost £5.00. It is worth getting there up to 30 minutes in advance as they will only take 12-15 people per tour. Each tour lasts 55 minutes. Do not be put off by the rottweiler in the skirt and cardigan coming out of the gates. Although she may remind you of the rules often, she was instrumental in starting up the Friends of Highgate Cemetery started and is the reason you are able to visit it. Key rules to remember are no bare shoulders, no eating, drinking and smoking. The ground is uneven and there is a slight incline which should not bother most people, but could be difficult for the elderly.

Our guide was called Alex, a knowledgeable American chap who took us around the West cemetery and showed us some of the key graves and told us some interesting stories about some of the ‘residents’ of the cemetery. I am sure with 50,000 plus graves there are 50,000 stories but we have to be content with a dozen or so. You are not allowed to wander through the West side without a guide. There is a small book store which you come to at the end of the tour and I don’t believe it is accessible without doing the tour.

In the newer east side you may wander as you wish. Admission is £2, plus £1 if you wish to take photos and a further £1 for a map. If you don’t wish to buy the map the gate attendant will direct you to Karl Marx and George’ Elliot’s graves. If you carry on down from Marx’s grave to see quite a lot of older graves that are crumbling and buried in the bushes and you realise exactly how much work the Friends of Highgate Cemetery have done so far, and you no longer begrudge the admission charge.

Both cemeteries contain a range of simple graves to the opulent and I must say I find a certain Englishness in the simple wonky, stones overgrown with ivy, or where the roots of a tree and broken the stones, and probably prefer them to the angels, urns, lions and cats.

PC Bling

2006-06-15T20:07:00.000+01:00

Love it! Apart from the price (which starts at US$100) these Swarovski crystal desk accessories are gorgeous. More info here

Inside Reichstag

2006-06-14T19:03:00.000+01:00

Inside Reichstag
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Inside the Reichstag, Berlin. Feb 2006.

Phone Booth

2006-06-13T19:00:00.000+01:00

This thriller is unique in that it is filmed almost entirely at the same location – a Manhattan Phone booth. Arrogant and obnoxious PR man Stu (an excellent performance by Colin Farrell) uses the same phone booth everyday to call his would-be girlfriend (a thankfully underused Katie Holmes), but has attracted some attention that he does not want.

When the phone rings in the booth, he answers it and then finds his world turned upside down. The caller on the other end knows all about him, about his wife and girlfriend and wants him to pay for not being a nice person. He also has a rifle which he uses to cause trouble. You have to wonder why the sniper (voiced by a sinister Keifer Sutherland) would go to all that trouble and the reasons given were not as satisfactory as I would have liked but the speed of the film, the quality performances and the many twists kept me hooked.

Because most of the film is shot in the confined location of a phone booth with our anti-hero Stu, the film is strongly dialogue led but you do not tire of it as he uses all his wiles to get one over the sniper who seems to remain one step ahead all the time. Director Joel Schumacher must be credited for keeping the story tight and twisting at all times.

A mention must go to Forest Whitaker, whose good cop character, whilst not entirely original, gives you faith that one day all will be well.

Running Time: 81 mins.

DVD Extras included an audio commentary by Director Joel Schumacher, which I found a bit dull. There was also a short ‘Making Of’ documentary.

7.5/10

BB Update

2006-06-11T12:42:00.000+01:00

Sam went. She cried and apologised.

The winner of the Kit Kat Golden Ticket contest was announced - 43 year old model Susie went in after her husband paid £4000 for her ticket.

The crowd chanted "Get Grace Out". She heard. Ha ha Ha

iTunes Top Ten - The Beatles

2006-06-10T10:50:00.000+01:00

The Top Ten Beatles tracks I have listened to on iTunes since June 2004:

1. Come Together
2. Something
3. Lady Madonna
4. Help!
5. Don't Let Me Down
6. I Am The Walrus
7. From Me To You
8. Day Tripper
9. Ticket to Ride
10. Yellow Submarine

BB Update

2006-06-09T18:26:00.000+01:00

Belated due to Blogger problems last week - George walked because he didn't want to be famous, tow new housemates (Sam and Aislyne) arrived ans Sezer was evicted with 91.9% of the vote over Lea and Richard. The nation cheered (or booed). Richard & Imogen had an argument.

This week Nikki and newcomer Sam are up for eviction.

Bewitched

2006-06-09T18:24:00.000+01:00

This romantic comedy film is loosely based on the Sixties TV show stars Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in the lead roles. Kidman plays Isabel, a real-life witch, who has given it up (almost) to have a normal life, but has discovered how dependant she is on her witchcraft. Ferrell plays Jack, and actor trying to make it big (again) with his role of Derrin in the re-make of the Bewitched TV series, he is desperate for an unknown to play wife Samantha (the lead character in the original TV series) so that he can steal the limelight. He discovers Isabel with a twitchy nose and offers her the job. This leads us into some uncomfortable romantic tangles and some supposedly funny happenings.

You can tell what director Nora Ephron was trying to do on this film in giving it an original slant. The film is nothing like the TV series, but is more about a the actors in a re-make of the TV series. I imagine there are some ‘in-jokes’ for those that remember it better than I, but there is no real re-cap as to who the characters are for those too young too remember the show first time round. Die-hards fans of the Tv series would undoubtedly be disappointed in how this has worked out. I think the idea was to make it appeal to a new, younger audience, but I think it has worked in only being unappealing. The sequence of events happening in the film all seems a bit random and disjointed, and there is absolutely no chemistry between the two leads.

As a side story they brought in Michael Caine to play Isabel’s father and Shirley MacLaine as the actress who plays Samantha’s mother in the show, to hint at some romance, but these veterans can’t save this film, and don’t seem that bothered. Like the rest of this film it was a complete waste of time.

The DVD extras include the director’s commentary and deleted scenes, but unfortunately I was far from inclined to watch them.

4/10

101 in 1001: No 6. Watch 52 Films in 52 Weeks.

Try Something New Every Month - May

2006-06-08T19:00:00.000+01:00

Inspite of going to Florence twice, I never visited the Uffizi, so I did that this time, and queued up for 50 minutes to get in which was a lot better than up to four hours which is the official queue time. It is a lot cheaper than pre-booking.

No. 61 - Do Something New Every Month
No 67 - Go to 50 places (attractions/parks/towns/buildings) I have never been before

Buddy bears

2006-06-02T18:09:00.000+01:00

Bears - Kissing
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Part of the range of Buddy Bears all around the city of Berlin. Feb 2006

101 Things in 1001 Days - The Third Ten

2006-05-30T21:38:00.000+01:00

21. Get a new job
22. Sell on e-bay
~~23. Lose 5lbs – 28/4~~
24. Keep it off. - ongoing
25. Complete 200 Words a Day Spanish course
26. Buy a DAB digital radio and listen to 10 stations I have never heard for, for a minimum of one hour.
27. Enter to go on a TV quiz show
28. Make lunch to take to work everyday for a week
29. Make my own pesto
30. Join an evening class that is non-exercise based

Not such a successful list. 23 is completed and 24 is ongoing. I have done nothing towards 21, 22, 25, 26, 27 and 29. I have managed 28 about four out of five days a week. I have looked at other evening classes but their is nothing interesting me at the moment, so I will have to see what comes up by September.

Mehalah - Sabine Baring-Gould

2006-05-27T12:14:00.000+01:00

I was interested to read this book as it was set in the Essex marshlands near where my ancestors lived. Baring-Gould was the local vicar and wrote countless fiction and non-fiction books, poems and hymns, the best known probably being Onward Christain Soldiers. This book was his most highly acclaimed novel and with it he drew comparisons with Hardy, Dickens and Charlotte Bronte. I certainly see the Dickens similarity as a lot of his characterisations echo Dickens style of almost caricatures.

Our heroine is a young woman called Mehalah who lives on a small island off of Mersea with her sick, widowed mother. She is a bit of a tom boy and is as capable as any of them men when it comes to handling the boats. She has an admirer is a young fisherman called George, plus an elder, wealthy landowner called Elijah. Elijah uses his power and influence locally to try and win Mehalah away from George.

The writing style is very typical for a book set in the 1880s, thus the old style language doesn’t flow well for those used to reading more contemporary books. Some events that happen in the book don’t ring true. Without giving too much away, the author is somewhat heavy handed in his attempts to add a bit of mystery and it is often plainly obvious to the reader what the true story of events is, and it is frustrating when the characters don’t realise this, regardless of the strange coincidences that seem to have befallen them.

Whilst it was not an easy read it was still an interesting book to read, but one I am unlikely to pick up again.

Big Brother Update

2006-05-27T11:08:00.000+01:00

What an eventful week in the BB House as 14 fame hungry wannabes bitch and argue of national TV for thirteen weeks for my entertainment.

BB gave the housemates a brotherhood task and two random housemates (Shahbaz and Lisa) were the leaders, immune from nominations and the only people to get their suitcases. They were allowed to choose people to join them as and when BB said so. Most people were more upset at not getting their suitcases than avoiding eviction and it caused some tears and tantrums. Nikki wanted bottled water and thus had a tantrum about this, as well as not having her stuff several times, she was highly entertaining.

In other news Shahbaz was getting attention and wanted more so proceeded to go out of his way to wind up and spat with his housemates as much as possible. He was overly tactile with people he had just met, and requests to tone it down were ignored. He had some spectacular rows and exhibited some rather unhinged behaviour, but ultimately found that the rest of the housemates had ganged up on him and became the victim himself, before walking after a kind of mini breakdown on day 5.

Dawn the alleged misanthropist (who wasn't) got a message to say her sister was ill, she then told her fellow housemates that this was actually a code that meant all was not well with her portrayal in the outside world and that she should leave. BB decided she had actually broken the rules about contact with the outside world and ejected her. Not that it made any difference as she wanted to go anyway and BB and presenter declarations about her being a rule breaker were all a bit lame, as basically they had got one over them.

At the end of the brotherhood task the only ones without a suitcase were Dawn, Bonnie (pronounced Bonn-eh) and Glyn. After dawn was 'ejected' Glyn and Bonnie went head to head for last night eviction that saw the dull, unattractive non-entity Bonnie leave.

Top Ten iTunes

2006-05-26T19:20:00.000+01:00

The Top iTunes that I have played since June 2004

1. Snow Patrol - Crazy in Love
2. Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me
3. Jody Watley - Looking for a new Love
4. Sugababes - Killer
5. The Three Degrees - Givin' Up, Givin In
6. Lisa Scott Lee - Lately
7. Hot Butter - Popcorn
8. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
9. Annie Lennox - Waiting in Vain
10. The Jam - Town Called Malice

Big Brother 7

2006-05-19T18:30:00.000+01:00

BB7 has kicked off with 14 attention seeking freaks, I mean, housemates in the smallest, most inside out house ever.

First in was Bonnie (pronounced Bonneh) who can't speak very clearly, is as thick as two short planks but thinks she is pretty and sexy and was happy to show off her flabby gut in the VT. The crowd booed her in. Next was Pete who was in a band and had Tourette's Syndrome and was completely hyper. Unless he calms down soon he will irritate people enough to ensure an early eviction.

Third was young, posh toff George, who allegedly has Royal blood. Next was Scottish-Asian gay guy Shabaz who appeared to know no social boundaries and proceeded to stroke all his fellow housemates. He was followed by Lea who is the same age as me and has had £35,000 of plastic surgery to make her look ten years older. Her boobs are apparently a 30M. Quite how she stays upright is anyone's guess. Imogen was a former Miss Wales and she was quite pretty and probably quite bland. Mikey was a twat who hates feminists. I don't think he knows the meaning of the word, and (hopefully) was just talking bollocks for the cameras to get in the house. Dawn was a depressive and misanthropist who didn't want to make any friends and didn't believe there are any good people in the world apart from Ghandi, Mother Teresa and Bob Geldof.

Glyn was an 18 year old lifeguard from Wales who thought he was God's gift. Quite frankly if I was given him as a gift, I'd hope God kept the receipt so I can exchange him for someone attractive. Richard was a camp Canadian 'sexual terrorist'. Yawn. Grace was a spoiled, young Sloane who has never wanted for anything in her life. Lisa was a mad Chinese girl from Manchester with a loud voice and bad hearing.

Sezer was an entrepreneur with an ego and he was followed by the utterly charmless Nikki whose life's ambition was to marry a Premiership footballer.

I hate them all. Apart from possibly Dawn as I may be able to relate to her dislike of everybody.

Orange Trees

2006-05-17T19:15:00.000+01:00

Orange Trees
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

All over the city. Valencia, December 2005.

The blue wires on them are lights, so they look nice at night.

Random thoughts of an Essexgirl

What's it All About?

Top 10 iTunes

St Stephens

Find Something Better to Do for 90 Minutes

Which Hero are you?

Which Heroes Character Are You?

Prepare for Landing

Kerepesi Cemetery

If I Live to See The Seven Wonders

Foot Fetish

Top 25 iTunes

Still Alive

Munich

Seven Swords

We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver

Highgate East

I Heard a Rumour

If You Go Down to the woods today

Highgate East

Shall We Dance?

Top 10 Love Songs

Wimbledon

Highgate Cemetary

Life and Death in Shanghai

Tampon Crafts

Pure Elan Digital Radio

Cellular

Daddy Cool - The Musical

Scissor Sisters - Ta Dah

Top Ten Motown tracks

George Elliott's Grave.

Love Lives - Josie Lloyd and Emelyn Rees

James Morrison - Undiscovered

The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff

Top ten iTunes

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

Memoirs of a Geisha

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Florence

Lily Allen - Alright, Still

100 Things in 1001 Days - The Sixth Ten

Top Ten iTunes

Incompetence - Rob Grant

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend

BB: Over at last

Sheila O'Flanagan - Suddenly Single

Top Dance iTunes

BB Update

Palazzo Vecchio

BB Update

101 Things in 1001 Days - The Fifth Ten

BB Update

Michelangelo's David

101 Things to do in 1001 Days - No 84

Top Ten iTunes

BB Update

52 Films in 52 Weeks.

How to make your own Pink Hello Kitty laptop

Iris Festival

Alexander McCall Smith - Morality for Beautiful Girls

Orson - Bright Idea

Try Something new Every Month: July

BB Update

How to explain the offside rule to girls

52 Books in 52 Weeks

Nothing like an OTT headstone...

The National Gallery

Chris Stewart - A Parrot in the Pepper Tree

London: Rise Festival

BB Update

iPod iconz

Top Ten iTunes - Soundtracks

Florentine Graveyard

The Zutons - Tired of Hanging Around

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind

101 Things to do in 1001 days - The Fourth Ten

BB Update

Church Burial records

Guys & Dolls