Labor Day, Under The Skin and The Invisible Woman

I thought Jason Reitman did a great job directing Juno, Young Adult  and  Up In The Air. All three had a witty and engaging screenplay; he was lucky that the first two were written by Diablo Cody. But he seemed to struggle with a serious drama that could have done with some lighter moments. Kate Winslet as Adele and Josh Brolin as Frank were both very good as expected, but again they seemed to be a little bogged down with the serious script. But late on Adele's thirteen year old son Henry meets a quirky girl and suddenly, for a wonderful short while, we are back to the lightness of the director's three earlier movies. I also became somewhat confused about who was who in the flashbacks, and apparently I was not the only one.

There is no doubt about it, Under The Skin is a very weird film. I found it to be half an experimental reality docudrama and half a portrait of what it would be like to be an alien in another world. It was at times tedious and boring, but the uncomfortable after effects stay with you like few movies do. One of my weekend papers gave it a grudging one star "the weirdest and most overhyped film this year ...... I just hated, hated, hated every mind-numbingly minute of it" and the other gave it five stars "arcane and wondrous ..... the myriad possible interpretations make this a satisfying experience that reverberates long afterwards". Both critics were female. Director Jonathon Glazer makes Scarlett Johansson's alien in human body, a creature that wants to act like everyone else, but is at heart, a monster.

It was off to The Rex in Berkhampstead to see The Invisible Woman, having missed it first time round. Ralph Fiennes has made an intelligent movie about the other woman in the life of Charles Dickens. He is becoming a very good director as well as bringing to life the character of the famous writer and impresario. But for me, the stand out feature of the film was the performance of Felicity Jones as Nelly Ternan. She goes from young ingénue at the beginnings of her relationship with Dickens to a mature, confident wife and  mother, sometime after his death.  I found the contrast startling and beautiful. Abi Morgan has written an excellent screenplay from Claire Tomalin's book and the ensemble acting is first class.

A Career in Construction - Part 11

Can I draw a veil over my next move. Everyone is allowed one big mistake in their career and this was mine. I guess that after 13 years with major contractors, I wanted to try something different. Well that is my excuse. So when John Davy persuaded me (he was a better salesman than he was businessman) to join his fledgling Davy Homes, I thought why not. And anything was better than Tamworth.

But there I was, based on another major housing contract in Dunstable, and another that had all the hallmarks of disaster. I lasted five months. It took me a month to decide I needed to find another job, three months to find it and a month to serve out my notice. If there is one huge upside to this mistake, it did enable me to find out that Henry Boot were starting to look for work in the South. I had my interview on 17th March 1977 at The Royal Chase Hotel in Barnet, and was offered a job. I gave in my notice on the 28th March and finished at Davy Homes on 29th April.

So I started back at Henry Boot on 2nd May 1977. And that is where my career really took off. Do you think I ever put Davy Homes on my CV?

Salamander

The latest foreign detective series on BBC4 on Saturday evenings, Salamander is unusually a Belgian production. The first thing I noticed was that the characters were nearly all speaking Flemish, and I had to look up which parts of Belgium spoke that language and which part French.

The Chief Inspector of Police, Paul Geradi, is caught in the middle of the bank robbers and the bank itself. Both object to his interference and both want him dead. An interesting twist. Each side has it's enforcer, so Geradi has a lot on his plate. As the series develops, we are also treated to the back story of a Belgian Resistance group in 1944 whose Operation Salamander is the cause of the problem. The final episode is full of tension, and the ending is terrific. A nice alternative to Scandinavian crime.

Songs from "True Detective"

As soon as I heard the unmistakable intro to Lucinda Williams' Are You All Right in Episode 4, I wondered if there was a list of songs from the series. That was easy. There is a website (blogs.indiewire.com if you Google "Songs from True Detective") that not only lists the sings, but includes lots of videos.

 

The songs aren't listed at the end of each episode, but I believe that HBO list them on their website which is not available in the UK. Music Supervisor T Bone Burnett has obviously searched far and wide for songs which create a superb atmosphere for the Louisiana locations. They are all very bluesy, with some folk, country and gospel thrown in. They are not all to my taste but enough so that I can make my own compilation.

 

Far From Any Road by The Handsome Family

 

Rocks and Gravel by Bob Dylan

 

Unfriendly Woman by John Lee Hooker (takes me way back to the sixties)

 

Train Song by Vashti Bunyan

 

Does My Ring Burn Your Finger by Buddy and Julie Miller

 

Bring It To Jerome by Bo Diddley (this is exactly where the Rolling Stones started)

 

Are You All Right by Lucinda Williams

 

Casey's Last Ride by Kris Kristopherson

 

Tired Of Waiting For You by The Kinks

 

Waymores Blues by Waylon Jennings (the most unexpectedly brilliant number of all)

 

The Good Book by Emmylou Harris

 

Too Many Tears In My Eyes by Ike and Tina Turner

 

Angel Of The Morning by Juice Newton (why is this not one of my 131 songs? This was a big favourite on Radio 2 in the seventies with a recording by P.P. Arnold)

 

Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed by Richard and Linda Thomson

 

Fourteen tracks will make a very nice CD. I had better get downloading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Career in Construction - Part 10

Where was I? Oh yes, four contracts in Peterborough over four years were coming to and end. All the surveyors in my little area were gradually disappearing and I was left with tidying up final accounts. But what had the company in store for me next? As it turned out, a huge shock to the system. Tamworth!

On the back of our hugely successful second housing contract in Peterborough (Bretton 3A), Birmingham Region was tendering and winning some vast public housing contracts in the Midlands. One of these was in Tamworth. And strangely enough, half way through, it was in big trouble, think Bretton 3B on bigger scale. So the company thought, Roberts to the rescue. Did they think I would travel daily from Peterborough? On Monday 1st November 1976, I pitched up on site for the first time. The surveyors there were unhelpful, the files were in a mess, and a Valuation was due.  They could not have a clue about how much the material costs were working out, as no one had done a stock on site check....ever? So my first job was to try to get the team to count all the materials that were actually on site, first for the Valuation and second for the reconciliation. On a site as big as Tamworth, this was a huge exercise and one that was not completed in the day.

I knew then that Tamworth was not for me, and I resigned the next day. That was my only trip to this contract, and I was glad to escape and spend the remainder of my month's notice finalising things on Peterborough from an office on a Corby site. I already had made a few applications for a new job, and it was just a case of deciding what to do next.

The Book Thief, Non-Stop and The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Book Thief could have been a great movie but it was let down by a poor screenplay  and even worse direction. The bestselling book was obviously very popular, and the underlying story of a young girl's experiences in a German town during WW2 could have made a superior thriller. Instead we have Nazi brutality mixed with sentimental drama. The narration by "Death" himself is totally banal and the direction of Brian Percival makes it all feel extremely awkward. For once, the children's acting is amateur, and is in sharp contrast to the performances of Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson who try to save the day with occasional heart braking scenes. If only they had not been told to use mock German accents with too many "jas" and "neins" thrown in. What a shame.

Instantly forgettable but fun at the time, Non-Stop gives a whole new twist to the "whodunit" genre. It all takes place on a plane, which does give this (comedy?) thriller a kind of claustrophobic feel as one death leads to another. Agatha Christie would be amused. But this is a movie that piles ridiculous situations one on top of the other. So there is no real tension as the plot seems so ludicrous. Liam Neeson is back in his tough guy mode, but this time with a totally unlovable character. I know he has to be for the plot's sake, but guys, give us a break.

The trailer for The Grand Budapest Hotel is fantastic and promises so much for this Wes Anderson movie. So it was a little disappointing that the mad cap action and humour could obviously not be maintained for the whole time. However, Ralph Fiennes is truly great in the lead role. His comic timing is superb and he is complemented by the wealth of characters and cameos (hard to spot Harvey Keitel midway through). But what gets in the way is hardly a criticism. The sets are so good that  they didn't need a story. They are truly colourful and magical. And when occasionally stuffed full of a hundred plus extras, it is truly a delight to behold. So whilst I sat back and revelled in the picture on the screen, the screenplay did not involve me as I had hoped. Maybe that was the plan, all surface and no guts. After seeing the director's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom, I should have known. So although we get a visual masterpiece, and probably his best film to date, I guess for me it's a great script that will tell in the end.

Bring Up The Bodies at RSC Stratford

I was lucky to get a ticket. The Swan Theatre only holds an audience of 450, and sold out quickly. Not surprising as it was all what the rave reviews promised. Mike Poulton's adaptation of Hilary Mantel's book was solid, witty and dramatic. It seemed very much like something Shakespeare could have written if he lived today. It had an epic quality with a large cast and an even larger number of characters.

Ben Miles was superb as Thomas Cromwell. He is hardly ever off the stage and he gives the whole play a quiet dignified stab in the back. Nathaniel Parker (he will always be Inspector Lynley to us) manages to ditch his posh boy image to give us a striking portrait of Henry V111, full of vigour, humour and occasional temper. Anne Boleyn is played by Lydia Leonard with great subtlety and power. The rest of the cast are fine, especially Paul Jesson as a wonderfully funny (and dead)  Cardinal Wolsey.

I was surprised how there were so many laughs, but they brought some light relief to a story that is about political intrigue. The director Jeremy Herrin is to be congratulated for showing the light and dark side of life at court in 1535. And for brilliant staging that typifies the RSC these days.

My Favourite Season

Spring has arrived early this year, unlike last year when the cold weather went on all through March. But after the wettest winter on record, the lawn and the borders are beginning to dry out. The grass got it's first cut this week, and it looks a lot better for it.

Trimming the edges is the hardest job, although the grass was so long and wet (I had been waiting for a windy day that would dry the grass but no luck) the mowing wasn't perfect.

At the far end of the picture, the laurels have flowered far heavier than previous years, maybe they like the rain?

Although there are hardly any catkins on the Corylus Contorta.

The forsythia has never flowered as I had hoped, but at least it has some.

 

I'm waiting to see how the flowering currant that I transplanted last year will do. No sign of any flowers yet.

Apple Tree Yard, The Rosie Project and The Go-Between



I read this book on the strength of Louise Doughty's excellent "Whatever You Love". However it fell too much into the thriller category for me to appreciate what at times was good writing. So it is hard for me to be objective. I have to say that I have never read a book where I wanted so desperately to skip to the last page. The tension builds all the way through to what was a bit of a let down at the end, given the expectations of the first sentence of the prologue. But I tend to find that with thrillers. I always seem to find too many plot holes and actions that are quite unbelievable. But if you are prepared to go with the flow, this will be an enjoyable read.

This is such a fun book. It's not a literary masterpiece but for a few days it had me totally hooked. Any book that can make me laugh out loud has my vote. And there are moments when the author does come out with some devastating comments on the human condition. The narrator, handsome Professor Don Tillman, an expert in genetics, has never had a proper girlfriend due to his brain being differently wired to other people. But along comes Rosie, and his life is turned upside down. I would normally avoid anything like a romantic comedy in fiction, but this is way different. All because of the weird and wonderful man that is Don Tillman. The nearest I can think of as a movie is "(500) Days of Summer" and Graeme Simsion's book will obviously make a great screenplay. There were times I just had to put it down in fear of finishing it too quickly. It was that good.

Why did I pick this book? There is a Q&A session at the end of Steff Penney's "The Invisible Ones" where she picked "The Go-Between" as a book she had wished she had written. Now a classic, and a made into a movie I cannot remember, it sounded a good choice. It is narrated by Leo Colston, a boy approaching his thirteenth birthday who is spending the summer holidays at Brandham Hall in Norfolk, the home of a school friend. The title says it all about what happens in this famous book. It starts with the equally famous line "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there". But I preferred the later "what does it matter to anyone what I was like, then or now? But every man is important to himself at one time or another". There are some nice passages. However, I found the book quite dated and old fashioned. The prose is variable, sometimes magical, occasionally tedious. The writing did not flow like some recent novels I have read. But the story is terrific and the feeling of it ending in tragedy pervades the book as much as the abnormal summer heat of 1900. But funnily enough, the conclusion is perhaps the best part of the novel. It was worth the wait.

The Milton Keynes 10K and Back running down the Canal

There were over 1100 runners for the Milton Keynes 10K on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful sunny morning when we arrived early, we even had time to read the Sunday paper while we waited in the car. Alison and I ran separately as we now tend to do. The first half is all downhill or level, so my Garmin was telling me I was doing too well. It's the second half that is the real tester, lots of gradual uphill stretches and a killer of a hill near the end. Coupled with the fact it became quite warm, I was glad to reach the finish. At just over 56 minutes, I had cut two minutes off last year's time but still over the time I ran Oxford last May. Coming in at position 325, I was more than happy with the result. Alison came in over the hour, but she hates running in sunny warm weather.

I had been avoiding running down the canal towpath for some weeks due to the mud and puddles that cannot be avoided. But after a few days of dry weather, I was back there yesterday, and what an improvement. I didn't even have to wear trail shoes, so it was great to wear road trainers and run on a dry path. Lots of ducks on the canal, it was lovely.

"37 Days" - Where were our spies?

The BBC drama "37 Days", shown over three nights, was a brilliant narrative of the days leading up to WW1. It was fascinating as it alternated between the politicians in London and the German hierarchy. The writing was superb and the ensemble acting first class. I found it totally absorbing and it should be shown in every school in the world on the off chance that something so complicated might be avoided in the future. The political machinations of 1914 had uncomfortable similarities with what was happening now in Ukraine.

But I did wonder when only in the last couple of days, someone realised that Germany had already built half mile platforms on stations close to the Belgium border. Where were our spies?

The Oscars 2014

Last year I preferred "Silver Linings Playbook" for best film at the Oscars, and the year before it was "Margin Call". This year, to complete a hat-trick, my favourite "The Way Way Back" was not nominated for anything. Not only was this the best screenplay by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who also directed) but the ensemble acting was fabulous. And why didn't Sam Rockwell win the Oscar for best supporting actor? And not even nominated?

I have to admit that I have yet to see Spike Jonze's "Her" which won best original screenplay, so I will come back and tell you if that was better. Thank goodness Alfonso Cuaron won best director for "Gravity" and which should have won best film of those nominated. I thought Sally Hawkins deserved the best supporting actress Oscar for "Blue Jasmine". And didn't she look great on the night.

Tring Book Club - Waterland by Graham Swift and A Long Walk Home by Judith Tebbutt

Waterland is a hugely ambitious novel. The format of a history teacher addressing his class (this allows him to be slightly theatrical in his delivery) doesn't always come off, sometimes it reads a little slow, but the overall result is something quite awesome. This is not the Graham Swift style from his prizewinning "Last Orders" or his latest "Wish You Here". These are pretty mainstream in comparison. "Waterland" is far more philosophical about the importance of history, and about the nature and effects of revolution and war. Sometimes it gets a little heavy going, but never less than totally absorbing. Yes, there is a big family story at the crux of the novel and this is extremely well told. There are some pretty dramatic events and secrets we expect to be revealed. The book bounces around various timelines as the author gives us, through two families, a history of the fens with topical features of flooding and dredging (the book was written over 25 years ago, so nothing changes). I thought it was brilliant.

I would never have read this book if it was not chosen by my Book Club. I rarely read non fiction, but I found it an interesting, and at times a riveting account of the author's stay in captivity when taken by Somali pirates as a hostage. I just wish the writing had been better, it seemed quite amateurish even though a ghost writer gave some help. It did give a good insight into conditions in Somalia, and the final chapters leading up to her release and homecoming flew by. Howeever there is no explanation of the ransom (described in the media as being close to £800,000) or who paid. There is just one paragraph. "Details about sums of money ..... are bound by confidentiality agreements". That is all we get. Confidentiality with kidnappers? No way. But confidentiality with who put up the money? We can only guess. It certainly wasn't the family and friends that was hinted at early on. Judith did not lose her house or savings (plenty of money for holidays including three and a half weeks in Australia). I have my own theory, but I guess everyone has. I wish I had known this before I started the book.

Aylesbury ParkSplash

The return of Aylesbury ParkRun on Saturday morning turned out to be a cold affair. The event had not taken place since December due to flooding, but we had the promise of a new course, there and back twice. The warning of one large puddle turned out to be a long deep pond over the footpath. And we had a steep hill to negotiate.

The problem was that not only was the water freezing, but we had to go through it four times. As you can see, it was well over the ankles. The only slight compensation was that it was a beautiful morning despite being cold at 9am. When we got back to the car, we had to wring out are socks. Our running shoes have still not dried out.