The Weigelia Red Prince

 

Although the photo of the Weigelia above shows lots of flowers, these are only at the end of long bare branches. So in June, a major prune was in order. And I mean major.

Above is after it was cut almost to ground level as I posted on 1st July. Hardly a leaf left on. I was not convinced it would recover as the shrub was over twenty years old.

But over two months later, there is now a fair amount of promising growth so, hopefully, it will flower again next year.

Now, in late October, the shrub has put on even more foliage and is looking in good shape for some flowers next year.

State of the Union - Series 2

 

I definitely preferred this second series of State of the Union to the first. Maybe because Brendan Gleeson and Patricia Clarkson are older than Chris O'Dowd and Rosemond Pike who appeared in series 1. I love the ten minute segments in ten episodes as the husband and wife meet for coffee before their counselling session upstairs that we never see.   

It's all down to the writing by Nick Hornby and direction by Stephen Frears. A British comedy, this time set in America after the first series in a London pub. Then put two class actors together and you get TV magic.

Series 1 was fine, I just find that Chris O'Dowd somehow annoys me in most of his work. 

Tring Book Club - The Sanest Man in the Room by Don Black

 

I had expected an autobiography, but how wrong can you be. This is just a series of anecdotes littered with stacks of lyrics to pad out the book. The only reason it didn't get one star is that it provoked lots of research into songs and singers with whom I am familiar. It should also have got one star for the worst title of any book ever, (but typical of this boastful writing), no list of chapters at the beginning, even worse no index at the end (so lazy), the constant use of song lyrics to pad out the book and the last fifty pages of  a dash through "More Musicals" and "My Top Ten Musicals". Although I quite enjoyed the early chapters (three pages on average, including lyrics). But when he talks about an old school friend, it has to be Laurence Graff who made billions in diamonds. That is so typical.

I was amazed he was Matt Monro's manager for a while, after writing the lyric to a melody by Udo Jurgens. "Walk Away" became one of my favourite songs of all time, by the best crooner ever. Then next up came his first collaboration with John Barry when they wrote the theme song for "Thunderball". I did like to hear about their work together on so many Bond movies. I had to agree that the lyrics for Lulu's "To Sir With Love" are quite special: "who has taken you from crayons to perfume" and "for closing books and long last looks" could not be better.

Early on, I jumped forward to a batch of photos and found Don Black next to A R Rahman. What were they doing together? I knew Rahman mainly for his brilliant score for Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" and the great dance routine at the end to "Jai Ho". I found a video on YouTube of the author talking about his collaboration with Rahman on the musical "Bombay Dreams".

I have to admit that Don Black's body of work is huge. Just to pick a few: the two songs with Quincy Jones for "The Italian Job", ("On Days Like These" and "The Self Preservation Society"), working with Andrew Lloyd Webber on "Tell Me On A Sunday" (some of the best lyrics in any musical), the Oscar winning "Born Free" (not originally selected as the main theme for the movie) and a Connie Francis number "If I Never Sing Another Song". Her LP from 1959 was one of the first I ever owned. But Black picks out Connie singing his song "If I never sing another song" (first recorded my Matt Monro) which I found on YouTube.

But at the end of the book there are fifty pages in chapters called "More Musicals" and "My Top Ten Musicals". Just total rubbish and why this is not an autobiography. For something decent, read Dirk Bogarde's seven or Michael Palin's "Halfway to Hollywood".

American Actresses in American Plays in London

 It was an article in this weeks Sunday Times about Helen Hunt appearing in Eureka Day at the Old Vic that reminded me of other American plays with American actresses that I had seen on stage.

Laurie Metcalf in  A Long Day's Journey into Night

She co-starred with David Suchet at the Milton Keynes Theatre before it's run in London. Blog posting of 20th March 2012.

Laura Linney in  My Name is Lucy Barton

A wonderful monologue at the Bridge Theatre, see post of 9th June 2018.

Gillian Anderson in  All About Eve

With Lily James at The Noel Coward Theatre as blog post of 26th April 2019.

Amy Adams in  The Glass Menagerie

At the Duke of York's Theatre and on my blog of 12th August 2022.

Port Quinn and Fisherman's Friends

 

One of the shots in the film Fisherman's Friends: One And All is of a cottage at Port Quinn where two of the band are living. That is the building in the foreground of the above photo with the white cottage at the back being the National Trust property Lacombe where we stayed for many years.

There is a long scene in and around Doyden Castle, seen here below.

There are also lots of shots along the coast from Port Quinn to Rumps, the walk we took every one of our sixteen years there.

Fisherman's Friends: One And All, The Invitation and Eiffel

 

I deliberately avoided the first film about Fisherman's Friends and the only attraction of the sequel were the shots in the trailer of Port Quinn where we had stayed for sixteen years at the National Trust properties of Doyden and Lacombe. And that Alison wanted to accompany me. I agreed with one review that the movie was very ordinary (apart from a good cameo from the mature actress Maggie Steed) except it did "make the most of the stunning Cornish coast with some handsomely captured sunsets". The scenes set in Port Quinn included the Doyden Castle, another NT property, and a cottage round the corner from where we stayed. See separate post.

A predictable but fun B movie about a young woman being invited to a wedding that involves vampires. Lots of dialogue, not all great, but the cast tried their best. Nathalie Emmanuel was fine in the lead role and Sean Pertwee hammed it up.There were twists at the end that were a change from the usual happenings in this genre. I had never seen that in any vampire film. There is also something added on at the end that was filmed later. Interesting.

I had to go to the Rex cinema in Berkhampsted to see this French movie. There was a lot I didn't know about Gustave Eiffel (played by Romain Duris) who led the design of the structure. He designed bridges and even the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty. I loved the sets and costumes of late nineteenth century Paris, particularly when the construction had reached Level 1 which needed six architects and twelve engineers. I enjoyed how we were told of the intricacies of building next to the Seine with metal caissons and injected compresesd air, and about the lattice structure avoiding wind turbulence. There are good bits about explanations of the structure and lots of work on the drawings. So far so good. But because this is a French movie we had to have the revival of a love affair from twenty years previously. It did show Emma Mackey to great effect and added some needed female interest. Director Martin Bourboulon and cinematographer Marias Boucard have made a wonderful job of the tower's development.

Beck Series 8, Four Strangers (Uspjeh) and Nordic Murders Series 3

 On the 17th May 2021 I published a long post about a number of TV foreign detective programmes. Among them were earlier series of Beck and Nordic Murders that feature below, along with a brand new Croatian thriller called Uspjeh. One of the main reasons I watch these subtitled dramas is the locations, we get to see all sorts of different places in Europe.

Beck    Series 8 

I cannot remember how many episodes I have seen. All I know is that Beck should have been retired long ago. But there he is, hovering in the background. Although he did come to help in the best episode of this series, a hostage drama in a TV studio. 

The Nordic Murders    Series 3

There is an article in the Radio Times by Jane Rackam: 

"The strange thing about the Baltic island of Usedom — well, apart from the fact it has a crime rate to rival Midsomer Murders — is that former district attorney Karin Lossow (Katrin Sass) is always right in the middle of any investigation. How it must irritate detective Ellen Noorgard (Rikke Lylloff) to have her constantly solving crimes like a German Miss Marple. This time it’s the death of a 16-year-old schoolboy who was locked in a sauna at a drug-fuelled party hosted by — what do you know? — Karin’s nephew Ben. The teenagers are a frustratingly unhelpful bunch so as this German drama unfolds, there’s all the twisted bleakness you’d expect in a Scandi-noir."

The detective Ellen Norgaard played by Rikke Lylloff  appeared in the previous series but is upstaged by Lossow as described above. The scenery is great, Usedom is an island just off the north coast, divided by Germany (where the series is set) and Poland so that is interesting. Occasionally we go over the border.

Four Strangers

Four Strangers is a Croatian thriller that is quite brilliant. Who would have thought. The four (Haris, Blanka, Vinka and Kiki) are all involved, one way or another, in the killing of a gangster's dreadfully violent son. So not only are the police after the killer, but gangsters and corrupt business men are also involved. episode 3 is an absolute classic. It's all about the car. The four, the gangsters, the police are all trying to find it first. I was not always sure who was who because of the Croatian names, but I got there in the end. The story was original with cliff-hangers at the end of each of the six episodes. Superb.