HOME.
Potter time again!
On the 19th November the last Potter story, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, will be released worldwide: Part 2 will come along next July. The success of the films will be governed by good acting, compelling presentation and imaginative direction. One can only hope all will show more inspiration than does the hackneyed addition of Part 1 and Part 2 to the title.
On the 19th November the last Potter story, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, will be released worldwide: Part 2 will come along next July. The success of the films will be governed by good acting, compelling presentation and imaginative direction. One can only hope all will show more inspiration than does the hackneyed addition of Part 1 and Part 2 to the title.
i.
As mentioned elsewhere within these posts, my preferred newspaper is The Independent. It carries a variety of opinion, is well written and, in common with the newspaper I dreamt of writing for in my youth, the News Chronicle, will quite likely end up in the hands of the right wing Daily Mail.
The decision by proprietor Evgeny Lebedev to launch i, a precis Inde priced at only 20p, is either far-sighted or desperate (depends on your viewpoint): it is certainly a brave venture.
I have purchased the new daily since its inception and it is very readable. True it contains a load of advertisements, but they obviously offset the reduced price and they do include Hyundai which, since we bought the i10, is fine by me.
The boy behind the counter in our paper shop muttered ‘There’s not much in it,’ when I cheerfully remarked that I thought it good value.
Age forestalled a quick response. Had it not I would have said: “Well, you didn’t expect tits for twenty pence did you?”
Don’t think quickly enough nowadays.
Visitors.
One morning last week friends Anonymous John and Sheila came in for elevenses. The cat Shadow (apparently determined to live up to the Brat Cat nickname bestowed upon him by granddaughter Jess) chose the occasion to indulge in some of his more irksome behaviour.
He prowled morosely through every downstairs room, declined an invitation to sit on the windowsill - he is not comfortable with the secondary double glazing - and made clear his displeasure that the customary human population of his home had doubled in one morning.
“I don’t know what’s come over him,” said Maureen, “He’s not usually like this.”
“Perhaps he’s wrestling with the last line of a poem,” suggested John, gently.
As mentioned elsewhere within these posts, my preferred newspaper is The Independent. It carries a variety of opinion, is well written and, in common with the newspaper I dreamt of writing for in my youth, the News Chronicle, will quite likely end up in the hands of the right wing Daily Mail.
The decision by proprietor Evgeny Lebedev to launch i, a precis Inde priced at only 20p, is either far-sighted or desperate (depends on your viewpoint): it is certainly a brave venture.
I have purchased the new daily since its inception and it is very readable. True it contains a load of advertisements, but they obviously offset the reduced price and they do include Hyundai which, since we bought the i10, is fine by me.
The boy behind the counter in our paper shop muttered ‘There’s not much in it,’ when I cheerfully remarked that I thought it good value.
Age forestalled a quick response. Had it not I would have said: “Well, you didn’t expect tits for twenty pence did you?”
Don’t think quickly enough nowadays.
Visitors.
One morning last week friends Anonymous John and Sheila came in for elevenses. The cat Shadow (apparently determined to live up to the Brat Cat nickname bestowed upon him by granddaughter Jess) chose the occasion to indulge in some of his more irksome behaviour.
He prowled morosely through every downstairs room, declined an invitation to sit on the windowsill - he is not comfortable with the secondary double glazing - and made clear his displeasure that the customary human population of his home had doubled in one morning.
“I don’t know what’s come over him,” said Maureen, “He’s not usually like this.”
“Perhaps he’s wrestling with the last line of a poem,” suggested John, gently.
TELEVISION
The Hairy Bikers’ Cook Off. (BBC2)
This pair have been reinventing themselves since way back in the days when David Myers was a make-up artist and Simon King a location manager. Lord only knows how they landed those jobs but no doubt they were good at them.
They then became television cooks, clearly taking the opportunity of a gap in the market when the death of Jennifer Paterson brought an end to The Two Fat Ladies. Hairy Bikers was obviously a better soubriquet than Two Fat Blokes would have been, but the programme was an unashamed rip-off - as have been subsequent variants.
Now increasingly popular, and affectionately known as Dave and Si, they are hosting this recycled Ready Steady Cook/Master Chef crap with all the aplomb you might expect of two such experienced television performers.
They are not foul-mouthed footballers calling themselves chefs, or market place greengrocers masquerading as nutritionists, they are a couple of seasoned opportunists from Tyne and Wear who know how to woo a television audience - and that includes simply calling themselves cooks.
I loathe reality television.
But, perhaps against my better judgment, I still like the Hairy Bikers.
Strictly Come Dancing. (BBC1)
This pair have been reinventing themselves since way back in the days when David Myers was a make-up artist and Simon King a location manager. Lord only knows how they landed those jobs but no doubt they were good at them.
They then became television cooks, clearly taking the opportunity of a gap in the market when the death of Jennifer Paterson brought an end to The Two Fat Ladies. Hairy Bikers was obviously a better soubriquet than Two Fat Blokes would have been, but the programme was an unashamed rip-off - as have been subsequent variants.
Now increasingly popular, and affectionately known as Dave and Si, they are hosting this recycled Ready Steady Cook/Master Chef crap with all the aplomb you might expect of two such experienced television performers.
They are not foul-mouthed footballers calling themselves chefs, or market place greengrocers masquerading as nutritionists, they are a couple of seasoned opportunists from Tyne and Wear who know how to woo a television audience - and that includes simply calling themselves cooks.
I loathe reality television.
But, perhaps against my better judgment, I still like the Hairy Bikers.
Strictly Come Dancing. (BBC1)
As anticipated, all the really good dancers, plus the joke entrant, are still in.
READING.
M.C. Beaton.
Returned from an enjoyable stroll with Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dibley and am now half way through Nocturne by
Returned from an enjoyable stroll with Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dibley and am now half way through Nocturne by
Graham Hurley.
Nocturne is told in the first person, by young media graduate Julie Emerson, and is such a departure from the Faraday stories that one cannot but wonder at the sheer versatility of the writer. More later.
In the meantime, my mention of Mr. Hurley (Posts 153 - 155) brought an interesting email from former Wessex Regional Health Authority PRO and editor of the award winning NHS magazine Link
Ian Dillow.
It seems that Ian and Graham Hurley have been friends for nigh on 40 years. Back in the early seventies the pair of them, together with the now departed John East (former Head of Addictions - drugs, alcohol and gambling - for Hampshire County Council), set up a charity film group called Project Icarus with a view to ‘bringing people down to earth about drugs.’
Their first film, “Better dead?” shocked the three of them by winning the Chicago Film Festival. It became required viewing for recruits to Britain’s armed forces and was shown in secondary schools throughout the country.
With money coming in they turned Icarus into a registered charity and went on to produce films on such topics as LSD, burn injuries, mental handicap etc. They had offices on the outskirts of Portsmouth and only wound down about six years ago. That’s it…and pretty much the way ol’ Dillow tells it.
Some people really are good value.
Nocturne is told in the first person, by young media graduate Julie Emerson, and is such a departure from the Faraday stories that one cannot but wonder at the sheer versatility of the writer. More later.
In the meantime, my mention of Mr. Hurley (Posts 153 - 155) brought an interesting email from former Wessex Regional Health Authority PRO and editor of the award winning NHS magazine Link
Ian Dillow.
It seems that Ian and Graham Hurley have been friends for nigh on 40 years. Back in the early seventies the pair of them, together with the now departed John East (former Head of Addictions - drugs, alcohol and gambling - for Hampshire County Council), set up a charity film group called Project Icarus with a view to ‘bringing people down to earth about drugs.’
Their first film, “Better dead?” shocked the three of them by winning the Chicago Film Festival. It became required viewing for recruits to Britain’s armed forces and was shown in secondary schools throughout the country.
With money coming in they turned Icarus into a registered charity and went on to produce films on such topics as LSD, burn injuries, mental handicap etc. They had offices on the outskirts of Portsmouth and only wound down about six years ago. That’s it…and pretty much the way ol’ Dillow tells it.
Some people really are good value.
ENDPIECE.
Eamonn Lawless.
Eamonn regularly forwards funny and appropriate emails to us. This gem is a reminder that we were enjoying the dance long before 'strictly' came along.
Eamonn regularly forwards funny and appropriate emails to us. This gem is a reminder that we were enjoying the dance long before 'strictly' came along.
Whoever put this music video together is an editing genius !!!....Speakers ON !!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYL3j27sSH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYL3j27sSH8
