It is hard to believe that I retired on the Tuesday before Christmas last year. The last 12 months have gone so quickly, possibly even faster than they did while I was working. I am quite pleased with my blog, and I see there are over 70 entries. I hope I can keep this up.
My main retirement project is the history of Edward Seymour's protectorship for the three years from 1547 to 1549. I had no idea it would take so long. This year has primarily been about background reading. Since my blog of 27th November, I have found Hester Chapman's The Last Tudor King and passages from Alison Plowden's The Young Elizabeth and David Starkey's Elizabeth. I have a routine of taking notes by hand and then typing them on the computer. These are now all complete and in January I can start amalgamating them by cut and paste. I'm looking forward to that.
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
Saturday, 15 December 2007
Beowulf 3D, Hitman and The Golden Compass
I wanted to see Beowulf in 3D and Milton Keynes Cineworld was using the Real D format for the first time. (Real D uses a single projector and an LCD screen. Images are projected alternately left and right to create the 3D effect). I thought the technology was better than the film. There was little story and the dialogue was disappointing. There were too many occasions where a scene had been deliberately staged for a 3D effect, and it showed.
Hitman was far better than the reviews. The film had pace and the action was fast and furious. Similar to the Bourne movies with the hero hunted by ex-employers. The characters were a little wooden, Timothy Olyphant and Dougray Scott not well cast (might have been better in opposite roles) and submerged by the action. But the direction was first rate, especially the action set pieces.
Having read only the first book, Northern Lights, of the Philip Pullman trilogy, I went to see The Golden Compass expecting it to be dominated by CGI typical of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. Instead I was very surprised to find a beautiful and ultimately highly emotional film. The casting was perfect. Apart from the obvious leads, the highlights are Eva Green as Seraphina Pekkala, Tom Courtenay as Farder Coram and Sam Elliott as Lee Scoresby. The early part of the film in Oxford is just long enough to set the story before heading north for Lara's search and rescue mission. I probably read the book four or five years ago, which might have been why I found the film so successful. It had been long enough to be reminded about what happens, but familiar enough to understand the plot. Lara's first meetings with Seraphina , Lee and Iorek Byrnison, the armoured polar bear, were brilliant and that's where, for me, the emotion started and stayed to the end. Fantastic.
Hitman was far better than the reviews. The film had pace and the action was fast and furious. Similar to the Bourne movies with the hero hunted by ex-employers. The characters were a little wooden, Timothy Olyphant and Dougray Scott not well cast (might have been better in opposite roles) and submerged by the action. But the direction was first rate, especially the action set pieces.
Having read only the first book, Northern Lights, of the Philip Pullman trilogy, I went to see The Golden Compass expecting it to be dominated by CGI typical of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. Instead I was very surprised to find a beautiful and ultimately highly emotional film. The casting was perfect. Apart from the obvious leads, the highlights are Eva Green as Seraphina Pekkala, Tom Courtenay as Farder Coram and Sam Elliott as Lee Scoresby. The early part of the film in Oxford is just long enough to set the story before heading north for Lara's search and rescue mission. I probably read the book four or five years ago, which might have been why I found the film so successful. It had been long enough to be reminded about what happens, but familiar enough to understand the plot. Lara's first meetings with Seraphina , Lee and Iorek Byrnison, the armoured polar bear, were brilliant and that's where, for me, the emotion started and stayed to the end. Fantastic.
Monday, 10 December 2007
Joe Strummer
There was a two page spread in this weeks Sunday Times about the new dvd: Joe Strummer:The Future Is Unwritten. His photograph immediately reminded me of John Cusack in the film Grosse Pointe Blank (in my top ten favourite films of all time). Of course, it was Joe Strummer who wrote the soundtrack of the film, and had a hand in the selection of the unbeatable songs used in the movie.
In Sunday's article, John Cusack says "There was nobody like Joe Strummer....... he was a guiding light". So putting the two pictures of John and Joe together, there was no mistaking who John modelled himself on. Even down to the shades he wears in the film.
Sunday, 9 December 2007
King Lear
There were two reasons why I was looking forward to seeing the RSC's production of King Lear at the New London Theatre. The first was that was the play I did for my "A" Levels and I went with the school early in 1963 to see Paul Schofield in the title role. This was a performance I can still remember vividly today. Even the programme for this year's play mentions this landmark production. "Paul Schofield was only his forties when, for Peter Brook at the RSC in 1962, he overturned the traditional image of the part".
The other reason was that this time it was Ian McKellan as Lear, it having been nearly forty years since I saw him at the Theatre Royal in Brighton (see Blog of 7th May). This time he is totally convincing as a King who is already losing his marbles when he gives away his kingdom at the beginning, and eventually becomes totally deranged, as the result of this decision ends in tragedy.
All the acting was first class, particularly Sylvester McCoy as the Fool, William Gaunt as Gloucester and the wonderful Romola Garai as Cordelia. Here is a young actress who will make a big star. The direction was excellent, some of the effects quite shattering, especially when the hanging of the Fool was too realistic. This is when theatrical tricks surpass anything that special effects can do on the big screen.
Unfortunately, some of the dialogue was occasionally inaudible. But the action was ramped up in the second half and the time flew by, which it needs to in a play of over three and a half hours.
My favourite line comes from Lear as he meets the blind Gloucester. "Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see the things thou dost not". Nothing changes. Perhaps Lear was not mad after all, only pretending so.
The other reason was that this time it was Ian McKellan as Lear, it having been nearly forty years since I saw him at the Theatre Royal in Brighton (see Blog of 7th May). This time he is totally convincing as a King who is already losing his marbles when he gives away his kingdom at the beginning, and eventually becomes totally deranged, as the result of this decision ends in tragedy.
All the acting was first class, particularly Sylvester McCoy as the Fool, William Gaunt as Gloucester and the wonderful Romola Garai as Cordelia. Here is a young actress who will make a big star. The direction was excellent, some of the effects quite shattering, especially when the hanging of the Fool was too realistic. This is when theatrical tricks surpass anything that special effects can do on the big screen.
Unfortunately, some of the dialogue was occasionally inaudible. But the action was ramped up in the second half and the time flew by, which it needs to in a play of over three and a half hours.
My favourite line comes from Lear as he meets the blind Gloucester. "Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see the things thou dost not". Nothing changes. Perhaps Lear was not mad after all, only pretending so.
All New Chilterns Walk
Last Monday was such a beautiful day, I had to go out for a walk. I wanted to try a new route and Alison had said how nice it had been on her run with Sara the previous day. This had been around Little Hampden, so looking at the map, I found a circular route of around seven miles that might work.
The walk started from the car park at Coombe Hill and I set off for Dunsmore which is the same direction as my usual circular walk which takes in Chequers and Eddlesborough. At the stables just below Dunsmore, instead of going straight on, I turned left. Now I was on footpaths that were new to me. Through some woods, I was soon walking along a ridge, not high but with superb views. This was a very quiet, almost isolated part of the Chilterns I had never seen before.
Turning off the ridge, I went downhill to meet a path across some fields and eventually came to the village of Little Hampden. Instead of following the road, I headed for a wood where after a short while, another path took me across a big field back to the road. It was here I found The Rising Sun. This is a country pub that I had passed on a walk a long time ago. But the path I wanted was in a different direction and was heading back towards Coombe Hill.
This was the first new major circular walk I had attempted for some years. It has the added advantage that there are a number of alternative, almost parallel paths along the way to try. It did take in some beautiful countryside, no particularly high ridges as most of my usual routes, but nonetheless superb. A definite addition to my trusted circular walks and I am already looking forward to doing it again.
The walk started from the car park at Coombe Hill and I set off for Dunsmore which is the same direction as my usual circular walk which takes in Chequers and Eddlesborough. At the stables just below Dunsmore, instead of going straight on, I turned left. Now I was on footpaths that were new to me. Through some woods, I was soon walking along a ridge, not high but with superb views. This was a very quiet, almost isolated part of the Chilterns I had never seen before.
Turning off the ridge, I went downhill to meet a path across some fields and eventually came to the village of Little Hampden. Instead of following the road, I headed for a wood where after a short while, another path took me across a big field back to the road. It was here I found The Rising Sun. This is a country pub that I had passed on a walk a long time ago. But the path I wanted was in a different direction and was heading back towards Coombe Hill.
This was the first new major circular walk I had attempted for some years. It has the added advantage that there are a number of alternative, almost parallel paths along the way to try. It did take in some beautiful countryside, no particularly high ridges as most of my usual routes, but nonetheless superb. A definite addition to my trusted circular walks and I am already looking forward to doing it again.
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