Rose "Eden Rose"

 

A couple of years ago I lost a rose in the middle of the border. I had waited to replace it as the general opinion is do not plant a rose where one has been before.  So this time I used the last bit of mycorrhizal fungi powder I found lurking at the back of a shelf in the garage (see below) and some rose fertilizer, both at the bottom of the hole I dug. Then some chicken manure pellets with the backfilling soil.  If this doesn't work, nothing will.

There is not much to see in the rose border apart from the first leaves sprouting after the pruning.

The label for the rose says it is fine as a bush rose, although other websites suggest it is a climber. We shall see. It was in the sale at Dobbies, reduced from £19.99 to £9.99. I had to use a Dobbies voucher so only just over £7.00. It will be a bargain if it grows.

Endeavour: Exeunt - The Final Episode

 

So here we are. The very last episode ever of Endeavour. The end of the ninth series that started way back in 2012. Like many others, I wasn't at first entirely convinced by Shaun Evans as a young Morse. But he has grown into the role and here he was excellent. As was Roger Allam as Inspector Fred Thursday. As the title of the episode suggests, all the actors leave the stage in one way or another. 

At the end Superintendent Bright played by Anton Lesser gave us "Our revels now are ended" from The Tempest. My favourite words from Shakespeare. I had to watch it again and it was even better the second time. I preferred this solemn speech rather than Alex Kingston's rage. In fact the last part of Exeunt is superb. So good it reminded me of that magnificent ending to the Keeley Hawes finale of Ashes to Ashes. And was it the shows creator Russell Lewis who had the very final words as Endeavor leaves Blenheim Palace. 

As for the soundtrack it starts, unbelievably, with Paranoid by Black Sabbath, and tracks from Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones, Elvis' The Wonder of  You and Rocket Man by Elton John. All perfect for 1972.

Have You Seen .... ? by David Thomson Part 5: Casino, The 39 Steps and The Equalizer

 

I bought the wrong DVD. It had the original widescreen aspect in 2:35:1 so there was too much blank screen top and bottom of my TV. There was far too much narration for my taste, telling us how the casino worked. I hardly recognised Sharon Stone as Ginger. David Thomson says she will not let her be overlooked. And that the film has "so many inspired scenes". Then who pops up but a young James Woods. I found it intentionally sordid and violent. And too much didn't add up. You knew when Ace gives Ginger the only key to the money box that this was a grave error. However, the soundtrack was good, especially hearing The In Crowd by Ramsey Lewis.

There have been numerous versions of The 39 Steps. David Thomson includes the 1935 version (shot entirely at the Lime Grove studios) which was surely better than this 1959 film. There was another film in 2011, a TV movie in 2008 and a mini series in 2021. Here is Kenneth More being chased all over Scotland. Nice scenery including that part on the Firth of Forth Bridge. It seems to have been played for laughs, it even has Sid James as a lorry driver. Then it ends all of a sudden. We never actually see those steps!

The Equalizer is not in my copy of David Thomson's book, but I found an article where he extolls the virtues of this Denzel Washington movie. It may have been the forerunner of many movies in the future, a one man vengeance mission, but I found it far too predictable and repetitive. 

Cosmos seeds and Freesia corms

 

More experiments for the garden this year. First up the Cosmos seeds, planted in a large tray as per full instructions from Monty Don on Gardener's World. In fact I ordered the seeds well before I saw the programme. The only difference is that I'm using Coco Coir instead of compost for the very first time. 

Then some Freesia corms that Monty said I had to pack into pots only an inch apart. These and the Cosmos will be resident in the conservatory for a month or so before the risk of heavy frost has passed.

How To Watch A Movie by David Thomson

 

For a book about the various aspects of how movies can be seen, this is quite an intellectual challenge. It does help to have seen lots of films going back in time. David Thomson is not just a film critic, more a connoisseur. I made a few notes on each chapter as I went along:

1. ARE WE HAVING FUN?
"The ultimate subject of this book is watching or paying attention (that encompasses listening, fantasizing, and longing for next week) and so it extends to watching as a total enterprise or commitment". See what I mean? So why, near the end of this chapter do we get told about Derek Jeter, "the longtime shortstop for the New York Yankees"? It's because on YouTube there is awful advert for Gatorade. Thomson is not impressed: "it leaves us like suckers".

2. SCREENS
I knew that before digital technology, projectionists had to change reels, but what I didn't know was this happens every ten minutes. Thomson tells us about the different ways we can watch movies including TV, computers and even phones. Then "our creepy readiness for real disaster, as long as it stays on the screen". As an example, he describes "M" starring Peter Lorre and how this paved the way for murders in films and shows, including "Dexter", "Psycho", "Seven", "Silence of the Lambs" and more.

3. ALONE TOGETHER
Here are the classics from the war years, and then a big discussion about happy endings, and how many movies did not. Another long piece about "Locke" (see my post of 23rd February) which Thomson ends with "No film I've seen in recent years is more eloquent on where we are now, and on how alone we feel". He calls big concrete pours as "drops" which must be the American word.

4. SEE IT ONCE, WATCH IT TWICE
In 1955 Thomson says he had only heard about "Citizen Kane" until it was shown in at The Classic in Tooting. "I was the only member of the audience". This has also happened to me. He says he didn't understand with "the plot beyond my grasp". He was not the only one. But he's now seen it many times. Unlike some films he mentions that only deserve to be seen once, if that. But he does like the Joseph Losey remake of "M" and it is on YouTube.

5. WATCHING AND SEEING
There are lots about "Rear Window" with James Stewart, obviously. "He never realises (the people opposite) can see him". I didn't know that it was filmed in an elaborate set built in LA. Then lots about "Blow Up", both on the subject and the title. Thomson tells us that the shower scene in "Psycho" was a "flagrant artfulness that wont permit the censor to interfere in his razor sharp cuts".

6. WHAT IS CINEMATIC INFORMATION?
An interesting note about CinemaScope and it's adaption for TV. All about framing the image. Thomson then selects Alfred Hitchcock to talk about "the epitome of control" and goes on to describe in detail the first 30 minutes of "Psycho" and the casting of Janet Leigh. (He says the remake is a travesty).

7. WHAT IS A SHOT?
From film cameras to our phones, he explores in great detail what goes into taking a picture. There are examples of movies to look at "decision making" of a shot, from 1944's "Lara" to 2014's "Gone Girl".

8. WHAT IS A CUT AND DOES IT HURT?
We get a piece about tracking shots which I love. Obviously a mention of the beginning of Hitchcock's "Touch of Evil" but nothing about "Goodfellas" which I think has the best of these. Cuts in time include those in "Citizen Kane" and then onto the Directors Cut. A good section on editing where Thomson says "Let editing act as an accelerating force in a story". And then "cross cut close ups".

9. WHAT DO YOU HEAR
In my case,now, not everything. There is more about "Psycho" and how Bernard Herman's score amplified the scene in the shower. Then how changing the composer on "Chinatown" was a masterstroke. But much more about Orson Welles who "knew and cared the most about sound" having started in radio where the 1938 broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" led to being given a chance directing movies. "Before Welles, no movie director had had such aptitude for sound , or such experience with it's potential for trickery". An interesting bit about dubbing and then the fact movies now have sound designers. Thomson notes the sound of the train as Michael Corleone prepares to kill his enemies in "The Godfather". There are mentions of many movies where music plays a big part.

10. WHAT IS A STORY AND DOES IT MATTER?
Why does the write go into so much detail (4 pages) about the plot of "All is Lost"? I have to agree that J C Chandor is a great director (I also loved "Margin Call" and "A Most Violet Year". Just a shame "Triple Frontier" is only on Netflix.) But we don't need to hear the plots of all the films Thomson mentions to know about stories.

11. WHO MAKES THESE MOVIES?
An interesting piece about "The Bandwagon" where Fred Astaire never had a credit as director even though he insisted on the way his dance numbers were shot. The full figures of the dancers had to be seen. We do have examples of just how many people it takes to make a movie and what their contributions are. Then "the last category pf the people who make the movies - ourselves". How our attendance influences what and how movies are made.

12. WHAT DOES A HERO DO?
Here is Tom Hardy in "Locke" yet again. In comparison comes Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Expendables" and how it became "a rest home franchise for for male superheroes who have seen better days". We get a lot about Denzel Washington in 2014's "The Equalizer" when he was about 60. Thomson tells us that the violence was not the worst but bad enough. And it does go on and on. So does his review over another four pages. But then a note about "Deja Vu" directed by Tony Scott where I agreed "the more you see it the better it gets".

13. CAN YOU SEE THE MONEY?
An amazing section about how much Elizabeth Taylor was paid for "Cleopatra" and how a $2 Million budget became $44 Million.

14. THE DOCUMENT AND THE DREAM
I'm not sure what Thomson is trying to tell us, it does ramble on. Is he running out of steam? maybe the balance of "truth and fiction"? he quote some quite obscure movies, maybe for the real film buffs.

15. WHERE IS THE SCREEN
There is something about the various formats from VHS to DVD's and onto YouTube etc. Thomson talks about aspect ratio, and how I remembered seeing that DVD of "Casino" in widescreen but huge amounts of blank screen at the top and bottom. The conversions these days are far better. For me, I need the cinema to be able to concentrate and not let my mind wander, or get up and make a cup of tea.

To summarise, there is an awful lot of deviation which may have been padding? But it is the most intelligent and intellectual book I have ever read about movies. Sometimes quite hard work, but overall essential reading for those interested in this subject.

The Garden in March

 

Things are happening in the garden at last. Especially after the freezing temperatures in the early part of the month when we even had a dusting of snow.

 I posted about the Viburum tinus at the end of February and it still looks wonderful in the top photo. The daffodils this year have been great and there are more and more bulbs yet to flower. The grass had it's first cut on Friday and the bare patches are beginning to repair.

The forsythia is usually a big disappointment and no change this year. For a start it should not be grown in a border that has good soil and too much nitrogen. Older shrubs do not produce many flowers, ours is well over twenty years old. There is also little sunlight in the garden for the previous four months so that is another reason.

The laurels at the far end are a mass of flowers.

Here is the Corylus Contorta with some nice catkins and lots of buds.

Some other bulbs are now in flower.

Even the Delphinium Pacific Giant has sprouted. The first of the main perennials in the main border.

At the end of the month, all the hyacinths are now in flower.

he large hypericum at the end of this border has been pruned and should soon be in leaf.

Those daffodils are a great display.

The main border is coming into life. This morning I found a lupin that I thought was lost but is now in leaf. Along the fence, I pruned the beesianum jasmine and tied back the honeysuckle which, against the odds, is coming into leaf. Then later, I spread three bags of compost and planted ten gladioli bulbs.

At the front, there are some unusual bulbs that I cannot remember planting. we will have to wait until next month to see what they are.

I also spread the last bag of compost on the bedding border as I am advised this will keep the moisture in the ground while waiting for the end of May.

And finally, in a bare patch at the beginning of the long border, I replanted some cornflowers then raked the soil to sow some Poppy and Corncockle seeds. We shall see if anything grows.

What's Love Got To Do With It, Broker and Scream V1

 

I have never known a movie that was so poor at the start but gradually improved along the way. There are some unexpected twists along the way including (unusual for a romcom) one of the leads getting married. Lily James is not the greatest actress, but she always has some sort of magnetic presence. Emma Thomson is the opposite. The screenplay is pretty hammy but the cast are having a good time so we should too.

I was looking forward this South Korean film from the director of Shoplifters. However, I found it hard to sympathise with a pair involved in baby trafficking, making a fast buck from troubled mothers. So a strange human drama with an unsavoury theme. But I loved the characters and the cast, and the story has momentum and pathos. Especially good was Ji-enn Lee as the young mother Moon So-young. And I liked the two police women who try to track the gang to the pay-off. So apart from the subject matter, an excellent film.

Maybe I should have gone to see Adam Driver's 65 instead? Maybe not. It would probably have been better if I had seen the previous movies in the Scream franchise as there were so many references to these films along the way. I only went because Kevin Maher's 4 star review in The Times told us it might be the best of the series so far. Fortunately there is a lot of wit and irony in the decent script and some interesting drama in the relationship between the two sisters, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. However, I found the set piece attacks to be boring, unrealistic and pathetic. Much better was the suspense on the subway train. Funny to see Haden Panettiere from Heroes all those years ago. Someone quips she looks far too young to be in the FBI to which she replies she has reached thirty years of age. And Courtney Cox is a walking advertisement to avoid plastic surgery. Finally, I liked the setting of an old theatre for the big finale. 

The Public Image, April in Spain and The Black Dress

 

A typically satirical and surreal story from this writer. Annabel Christopher is a minor film actress ( I cannot say star), in Rome for a new movie. There are what we would call minor upsets which seem to be blown up out of proportion due to maintaining "her public image" if that was ever needed. Her husband Frederick is a strange character. Many film stars do well from bad publicity. But somehow we are drawn into the tension that is created by these non events. There are huge amounts of dialogue, a lot of which is quite obtuse. It seems to be for the reader to fill in the gaps. Some of the story is set in the Piazza Navona where they dine in the square. This reminded me of our visit to Rome where we had dinner outside a restaurant in what maybe the exact same spot.

When I checked my review for "Snow", the previous John Banville story in this series, I found the following summary: "I have never read anything like it before and have no wish to do so again". So I'm unsure why I picked "April in Spain". However it was not the unsavory story of the last book. In fact it was mainly a fine drama as pathologist Quirke goes on holiday to San Sebastian in Spain with this wife Evelyn. And that's about it for 200 pages. Just wonderfully written prose with a little mystery built in. Quirke's niece Phoebe becomes involved as do some individuals at the top of Ireland's government, and a hitman. Nothing violent until the very end. This, for me, is John Banville back to his best.

My eighth novel from Deborah Moggach and I thought her weakest. Her books are normally light and witty and I read them for a change from heavier material. But this one had too many blockbuster twists that dominate an otherwise interesting story of a seventy year old widow visiting funerals where she might find a bereaved widower. "As so often with funerals, the atmosphere was surprisingly cheerful". Of course she first ends up at the wrong funeral. Pru lives alone in a big house in Muswell Hill: "entirely populated by smug couple leading enviable lives".

At breakneck speed we rush through some humorous episodes as some short lived relationships cruise past. So far so fine. Pru's friend Azra has a lot to answer for, but Pru deserves her. But then the twists become more and more crazy. In fact it became quite tawdry as the revelations about Pru finally surface. As ever, it is reasonably well written, but I prefer her early books.

Have You Seen ....... ? by David Thomson Part 4 - Adaptation, Belle de Jour and The Third Man

It's Nicholas Cage who plays Charlie Kaufman , the writer/director of this strange movie. So a fictional tortured screenwriter with the same name as him in real life. Enter Meryl Streep, stage left, as Susan Orlean, (the joint  writer of the screenplay), a journalist who has written a book called "The Orchid Thief" about Chris Cooper's John Laroche stage right. In the wings are Tilda Swinton, Cara Seymour and Brian Cox and a whole list of others. Now Charlie has a twin brother Donald and it all gets complicated. In the film, Charlie is struggling to write a screenplay from the book. The action jumps back and forth to when Susan meets John. Enough said, except that the stars look so young in 2002. The director was Spike Jonze  David Thomson explains that this was a late addition to the book: "to be honest, it was the last" after he was pitched the film by two screenwriters. He fell asleep the second time as he did the first. I managed to keep awake. Just.

I was going to avoid Luis Bunuel's 1967 Belle de Jour until I read David Thomson's advice that this was  "one of the very few great films". And it scores 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. So how could I resist. The subject matter maybe sordid but the film is in fact an anti-erotic movie. Catherine Deneuve is  terrific, sophisticated and spectacular in her Yves St Laurent dresses. For me, a strange story told with flashbacks to what looked like a traumatic childhood, maybe the explanation for why she seeks excitement with other men. These are pretty awful characters that visit this high class brothel. One in particular later on turns the movie into more of a thriller. It just goes to show you never know who you might meet. It's not as if she needs the money. Genevieve Page is terrific as the resident madam. The image on the screen has saturated colours with sumptuous interiors and magnificent furnishings and decor. In some ways the film looks dated and in others very modern. An enigma.

The one thing that spoilt this film for me was that I had seen that iconic scene late on so many times, when Orson Welles' Harry Lime finally appears from the shadows. The plot hinges on the fact that he was dead and we watched his burial at the beginning of the film. If we didn't know the story and it's ending, Joseph Cotton's Holly Martin's search for the truth would be far more interesting. What made it for me was the British cast with Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee (didn't "M"  look so young in 1949) and Wilfred Hyde White. I didn't know that post war Vienna was divided into four zones (American, British, French and Soviet Union) and that the central district was collectively administered by the Allied Control Council. This is central to some of the action. Director Carol Reed's location black and white photography of the bombed city was superb, this was a movie never to have colour. It's Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt who tells Holly "You shouldn't get mixed up in this". But we know he will. Surprisingly it does not appear in David Thomson's book despite his positive reviews elsewhere, but I include it on his behalf.

The Oscars 2023

 

Thank goodness I found a report from Kevin Maher in The Times this morning. 

An Academy Awards ceremony that wrestled itself easily away from the legacy of last year’s angry “slap” controversy proved a safe and cosy love-fest defined by feel-good choices and cuddly self-validating wins mostly at the expense of quality. 

He ends with:

And that was the story of the night. A triumph for a ceremony that needs to stand back from last year’s violence and give itself a warm and sensitive group hug. Quality be damned.

I could not believe Jamie Lee Curtis won best supporting actress. Did nobody watch The Banshees of Inisherin and the magical performance of Kerry Condon? At least Everything Everywhere All At Once was shown on general release, unlike All Quiet on the Western Front. However, there is a great story behind this movie. Go to Lesley Paterson on wikipedia.

Seventeen Generations of the Roberts Family

 

Searches for our Roberts family go back as far as Oliver Roberts possibly born 1496 who paid a King's Subsidy in 1524. His second son was George Roberts possibly born 1526 and who died in  1568. His son Thomas Roberts was born in 1554 and died in 1578. He was followed by another Thomas born 1575? and died in 1664. His son Richard Roberts was possibly born in 1603 and died in 1638. All this information comes from the book called Some Memorials of the family of Roberts first researched and published by Samuel Roberts in 1862, then by his son Samuel in 1887, updated in 1924 by his son Samuel and lastly by Peter Roberts in 1971. These Samuels were all a separate line to the Jacobs from whom we are descended. 

This is what I wrote on 21st October 2009.

Charles Augustus Roberts, the brother of my great Grandfather Vincent Littlewood Roberts, created a family tree in 1937 entitled "Genealogy of the family of Roberts of Sheffield". So the contents of this CD are not only the ancestors of my father, but also updates Charles' family tree with the descendants of Oliver Roberts of Wooldale born around 1496.For this, I am indebted to the book given to me by Sir Samuel Roberts of Cockley Clay called "Some Memorials of the Family of Roberts". This was originally written by his ancestor, Sir Samuel Roberts of Queens Tower in 1862 and distributed to family members including Grandfather Vincent. This was updated by the next two Sir Samuel Roberts and finally (and extensively) by Sir Peter Roberts in 1971. It was Sir Peter who, as he describes in the "Introduction Extended", made a special study of the area of Holmfirth and concludes "At Wooldale in the first half of the XV1 century lived two families; one, that of GEORGE ROBERTS, who died in 1568, and the other of OLIVER ROBERTS, who died in 1588. It is likely that both these families had a common ancestor in one OLIVER ROBERTS who was a farmer, and paid King's Subsidy on land worth £50 in 1524. I consider that it is beyond reasonable doubt that the said GEORGE ROBERTS is the progenitor of the present Roberts family".I also wish to give thanks to Chris Rathbone and Nigel Buchanan who have given me invaluable information.

Going back to Richard, his son was Abraham Roberts 1627 to 1683, and his son Samuel Roberts lived between 1649 and 1715. Then came three generations of Jacob Roberts, the first 1697 - 1728 as photo below. See posts of 2nd July 2008 and 27th August 2008.

He is followed by another Jacob  1726 - 1781.

Then a third Jacob Roberts 1764 to 1820.  Again, see posts of 2nd July 2008 and 27th August 2008.

His son was Sidney Roberts - 1804  to 1859.  He married Sarah Shearwood in 1832 and they had two sons, John and Augustus. Strange that I have never found a  photograph.

But there is one of his son John Shearwood Roberts 1833 - 1915. See post of 17th November 2010.

Next came John's son Vincent Littlewood Roberts, see post 1st February 2023.

Then his son Stanley Boyd Roberts., a post dated 6th November 2009.

The third son of Stanley was my father Peter Richard Boyd Roberts.  See post of  31st January 2012.

Then me and my son. That makes seventeen generations.

The Tempest - Shakespeare's Greatest Hits

 

Watching The Tempest yesterday, I could not help but wonder how much of this probably last play from William Shakespeare, was actually the playwright revisiting some of his most interesting characters. There are many who think that Prospero is a version of Shakespeare himself, as the magician controls the actions of the players on stage. 

Then there are the three spirits: Juno, Ceres and Iris. It just struck me that here are the opposites of the three witches in Macbeth.

There are, of course the traditional comedians, none more so here than Stephano, drunk and bossy as Falstaff any day. His mate Trinculo is a perfect Bardolf.

Maybe, like me, Shakespeare thought his royalty were always boring even if their actions were adequately dramatic. Here he casts them under Prospero's spell. Some pompous, some devious and one (Gonzalo "an honest old counsellor") puts them to shame.

The Tempest also includes the spirits who inhabited many of the romances. Here is the one that Shakespeare made the greatest of all, Ariel.

Finally the love struck youngsters in Miranda and Ferdinand. Does the photo below not remind us of  Romeo and Juliet, and those from many of the comedies. Shakespeare goes out with a happy ending as it should be.