Toy Story 3 2D, The Secret in their Eyes and Piranha 3D

Why is it that I have always thought the Toy Story movies to be overrated. OK, they are quite good, but never outstanding in the way that Wall-E and Up captured my imagination and gave me that emotional tug. Is it that childhood is now so far away that I just don't feel anything for Buzz Lightyear and that annoying cowboy. Reading all the rave reviews, I wonder what is wrong with me?

The Argentina movie The Secret in their Eyes deservedly won the Oscar for best foreign film of last year. So why has it taken so long to be released in the UK? Probably because a very small distributor (Metrodome) picked it up before it was the surprising winner. This meant that advertising of the movie was virtually zero and the release was restricted to say the least. Cineworld, for example have ignored it completely. And the Odeon chain had it showing in about four cinemas in the south, despite huge critical acclaim. So I took the advantage of Alison having a ladies night for neighbours and took myself off to Muswell Hill on a Friday night and found an old Odeon cinema, actually with a free car park at the back. The big problem with an old cinema, despite looking great on the inside, is that we were in what was the old circle with the screen where it always was, and this seemed miles away compared with modern multiplexes.

So that may have been why I just felt the movie the be slightly uninvolving, and the only reason I give it less than five stars. Having said that, the story is the best I have seen for a long time, the cinematography outstanding, especially the helicopter tracking shot of a packed football stadium in Buenos Aires eventually closing in and following a great chase sequence through the corridors and stairs at the back. I liked the seamless switching between 1999 and 1974. The director, Juan Jose Campanella has apparently worked on a number of American TV shows including Law and Order and knows how to ring the most drama out of a fine script.

It is difficult to describe what I actually thought about Piranha 3D. I was attracted by a horror film in 3D, and by the reviews that said it was great "fun". I was just horrified that the script for the introduction of the characters could actually be that bad. But I suppose that was not what the movie was about. There were, as promised lots of references to Jaws, and some were a little amusing. But what were Elizabeth Shue, Richard Dreyfus and Christopher Lloyd doing, apart from taking the money? Trying their best with rubbish dialogue, whilst all the budget went on the set piece lakeside carnage. Interesting that Metrodome released a movie called Mega Piranha in July, but that sank without a trace. Perhaps this one should have too.

131 Songs - Numbers 50, 51 and 52

Number 50 - San Francisco Bay Blues by Eric Clapton

An unlikely choice for an Eric Clapton song? And not even his own composition. But the highlight of his "Unplugged" album would always make my top twenty recordings. Composed in the mid fifties by Jesse Fuller, this folk/blues number is what Terry Wogan used to describe as "hooligan music". With a band that included Andy Fairweather Low and my favourite percussionist Ray Cooper on tambourine, it is the most fun track in my collection. Check it out on YouTube with the drummer on washboard.

Number 51 - The Last Laugh by Mark Knopfler and Van Morrison

I was looking for my favourite Van Morrison song and in the end I went for the track when he accompanied Mark Knopfler on the album "Sailing to Philadelphia" just because his singing has never been better. Just think what he might have done with material such as this.

Number 52 - Split Decision by Steve Winwood

"Back In The High Life" is such a good album. I have selected one of the lesser know tracks, but one that demonstrates Steve Winwood's musicianship so well. The production values are excellent and show the instrumental sections in their best light. A funky modern R&B track is not usually my cup of tea, but this one is just great. It might have something to do with the appearance of co-writer and guitarist Joe Walsh. In fact, Steve co-wrote all the tracks on the album including the last "My Love Leavin' " with Vivian Stanshall from the Bonzo Dog band. Alison came with me to see Steve Winwood at the Royal Albert Hall in 1988. It does not quite seem like yesterday, but surely not 22 years.

Brandi Carlile at KOKO - Cancelled!

I had booked to see Brandi Carlile at KOKO in London on 26th April. Because of the ash cloud, this was postponed until 21st October. Now her European tour has been cancelled altogether because of funding problems. She has put her apologies on her website, ending "we will be back to make it up to you". I, for one, cannot wait, having yet again just played her latest album "Give Up The Ghost". The two tracks, as described in my previous posting, "Looking Out" and "Before It Breaks" never cease to amaze.

Antony and Cleopatra

The picture says it all. This is the main photo used for publicity by the RSC and I have to admit, it gave me cause for concern. As it turned out, the leads were most disappointing. Darrell D'Silva is not the most obvious Mark Antony. He is a good actor who did his best, but there was no magic. And Kathryn Hunter is surely totally miscast as Cleopatra. Her frail body and shrill voice, with an unrecognisable accent, did nothing to suggest her seductive powers. There was no chemistry between the two, so the central concept of their doomed love wasa completely lost.

Contrast this with the rest of the cast who were universally excellent. I particularly liked Brian Doherty as Anthony's sidekick Enobarbus, a young but taller Russell Crowe type who was interesting to watch even when he had no lines. His speaking of the verse was clear and direct. Hannah Young was equally good as Charmian, one of Cleopatra's handmaidens.

I liked the idea of setting the play in modern dress. There were lots of men in suits rushing about, so it was quite good fun. The direction, with again the exception of the scenes between the leads, was top drawer, the movement of many characters on stage expertly handled. So worth seeing for many reasons, but not the most obvious. Athough it was raining heavily before I arrived at the Courtyard Theatre, I was able to take a look at the nearly completed Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Lots of modern looking bits added sympathetically to the little parts left from the existing building. Looking forward to seeing inside next year.

Tring Book Club - The Remains of the Day and An Awfully Big Adventure

I was so glad The Remains of the Day was on the original list of suggestions for our book club. I had read Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and was very impressed with his writing. I had seen the film with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thomson, but it was along time ago and I did not really associate them with the characters in the book. The writing is again superb. It does take a bit of getting used to as it is narrated by Stevens the butler, and his stiffness and formality are reflected in the words. He is on a road trip, and reflects upon his time running the great house of Lord Darlington, and his association with the housekeeper Miss Kenton. He has not seen her for twenty years and has been lent a super car by his new American employer Mr Farraday and travels to Cornwall to see her again.

Stevens is not a wholly sympathetic character. He is totally wrapped up in what it means to be a butler. He has no other interests apart from reading. He addresses the reader with a sense of his own importance that is gradually taken apart as he comes to realise in his reflections, that he has lost the dignity that was his sole aim in life. One of the best aspects of the novel for me was the sense of mystery surrounding his previous employment. There are subtle hints that are gradually explained as the story unfolds. There are interesting explanations of what it was like to be a butler before the second world war, and the politics of these days makes a thrilling backdrop to this great piece of work.

We agreed to read something by Beryl Bainbridge as she had only recently died. I had never read anything of hers before, so a shortish novel about a theatrical repertory company in 1950 sounded just the ticket. An Awfully Big Adventure is set in Liverpool and tells the story of fifteen or sixteen year old Stella (her actual age is never revealed - only that she has failed her mock school certificate) as she embarks upon a career in the theatre. The actors in the company are many, most of whose characters are hardly mentioned, although they play a part in the action. The writing does not flow as it should, but there are some classic lines. About Grace the author says "She was in pain, but she was taking it out on a jumper she was knitting".

It is quite a nice little story, lightweight but at the same time poignant and funny. It got better half way through and the last section, particularly the Christmas Eve supper dance, is enthralling. So a bit of a contradiction. I enjoyed the stuff about theatre (the classic plays in rep being J B Priestley's "Dangerous Corner", George Bernard Shaw's "Ceasar and Cleopatra" and "Peter Pan" by J M Barrie) , the clashing of multiple egos, the mystery of why Stella lives with Uncle Vernon and Lily, and what happened to her mother. Overall a pleasing novel, I just wish we knew more about some of the characters.

George Boyd of Stichill

Thanks to Brian Boyd, I know that George Boyd, father of the millwright brothers William (my ancestor and father of William James Gibson Boyd) and George Boyd, was born at Earlston in Berwickshire in 1751 and was baptised there on 3rd February 1752. Earlston is not far from the villages of Stichill and Hume (combined as a parish) where George's son William was born on the 23rd February 1780. George had married Elizabeth Gibson on 12th October 1777 at Gordon, Berwickshire.

I believe that George was a farmer in Stichill. Searching the internet, I found that minutes from The Baron Court of Stichill has an entry dated 21st November 1795 as follows:

The which day a Head Baron Court was held by Alexander Linen Bailie of the Barony when tenants and cotters appeared and paid their usual fines for the penal statutes.

The same day George Boyd tenant in Eastfield was decerned to pay William Downie tenant in Running Barn the sum of one pound twelve shillings sterling for corn damaged and destroyed by his cattle in September and October bypast.

Also William Downie was decerned to pay George Boyd the sum of twelve shillings sterling for corns also destroyed by his cattle in September last.

Source: http://www.ebooksread.com/

Fifteen years later in 1810,according to Brian Boyd, the two sons, William and George, moved to England to set up a millwright business over North Bridge in Hull. Their father was by then 59 years old. He must have moved with his sons because on the 7th June 1818 he died at Sculcoates, Hull, East Yorkshire.

Lissie, A Fine Frenzy, Courtyard Hounds and Abi Moore

I occasionally find a singer who becomes an instant favourite. Amy McDonald and Brandi Carlile come to mind. Lissie is the latest. Catching a Tiger is the first album from Elisabeth Maurus and I am not alone in thinking her songs are truly great. The publicity on the front cover of the CD says "A present day icon for lovers of both blues, folk and country...." and so I was not surprised to hear such great tracks as my favourite "everywhere I go". Absolutely brilliant.
P.S. And then I find that she was born in Rock Island, Illinois, the city that inspired the song "Rock Island Line", the first record in my list of 131 Songs. I should have known.

A Fine Frenzy's latest album Bomb in a Birdcage is just as good as the last. Alison Sudol is such a good writer of poetic, cheery, quirky, but never inaccessible songs. Another triumph.

Courtyard Hounds are Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, the two sisters who are the backing singers and instrumentalists to Natalie Mains lead vocals in the Dixie Chicks. Here they are on their own with a self titled album. They and Natalie had started writing individual songs for the second Dixie Chicks album so this CD gives them an opportunity to continue writing their own material. Not an unqualified success, but their country style just stays on the edge of folk/rock to be acceptable to my ears. Good production and a decent band make for an album that does get better on repeat listening.

But I cannot say the same for Abi Moore's things we should've said.... I first heard her during a stop at Cafe Nero on the southbank last year and was impressed. But her album was only on Amazon and cost a fortune. But when it became available elsewhere at a normal price recently (still £18.99 at Amazon), I took a chance. This is her second album and I have to say most of the songs are pretty ordinary. Her voice is OK but her uptempo compositions seem a little amateurish. It's only when we get to three tracks from the end that "Too Young To Understand" showcases her talent for writing a decent ballad with just a piano accompaniment. Disappointing.

Shosanna's War Paint

I recorded Inglourious Basterds when it arrived a short time ago on Sky. My favourite part is the beginning of Chapter Five where David Bowie's Cat People (Putting Out the Fire With Gasoline) plays to Shosanna (Melanie Laurent - The Beat That My Heart Skipped) preparing to burn down her cinema that is packed with Nazis for a film premiere.

In a beautiful red dress and putting on her make up to dazzle her enemies, she applies rouge initially as war paint, using a finger in a dramatic flourish. An angry but huge gesture of defiance as she becomes an instrument of terrifying revenge. The highlight of this wonderful combination of song and action. It so reminds me of some other movie, what reference has Tarantino made this time?

Westminster Abbey

Our day out to London this year was centred on Westminster Abbey. I thought that I had been there before, but it must have been decades ago as I could not remember anything about the interior. The photograph below is from the Cloisters.

We plumped for the audio tour and Jeremy Irons escorted us so we did not miss a thing. Apart from the awesome architecture (all down to Henry III in the thirteenth century) the most surprising feature was just how many kings and queens are buried there. From Edward I and Edward the Confessor (Edward III) to Elizabeth I and her sister Mary, the list goes on.

I particularly liked the Henry VII Chapel with it's staggering ceiling, although the downloaded photo below does it no justice (photography is not allowed inside the cathedral). The tomb he created for his wife, and where he was later buried, is mightily impressive.

I also liked the Chapter House dating from the 1250's and the beautiful tiled floor. Amazing to think that it was walked upon by The King's Council in 1259.

Coronations have taken place in Westminster Abbey and the Coronation Chair has been used since 1308. We visited the museum to see some of the practice robes and artifacts used for these coronations. In the evening, we watched a recording of a Channel Four Time Team programme called "Secrets of Westminster Abbey" which filled in even more detail of what we had seen. Most notably they showed the Cosmati Pavement in front of the high altar dating from 1268 and that has only just been uncovered and restored. It is all just incredible.

Walking round Parliament Square after we left the cathedral, I spotted the new Supreme Court building. I say new because the court has only been there a year since it opened. Before then it was Middlesex Guildhall and then, after the county was abolished in 1965, it had been converted into a crown court. The renovation work to convert a building cluttered with partitions, cells and seven courtrooms took place between 2007 and 2009. It brought back many hidden architectural details and is now restored to full spendour.

The top floor contains the main courtroom which is the most eyecatching part of the building.

It was warm and sunny as we left Parliament Square. We headed down Whitehall and across Horseguards Parade. Crossing The Mall we made our way to Trafalgar Square. It was late afternoon when we stopped for coffee and it was there we decided to call it a day. Another of our great days out in London.

Sacred Country; Juliet, Naked; Home Truths; Girl Meets Boy and Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Since joining the book club in Tring, I have still managed to read a few novels in the last few months not on the reading list. Ever since I read Rose Tremain's superb The Road Home, I had wanted to read another of her novels. And I was not disappointed with Sacred Country. Poignant, but at the same time told with great affection, the story of Mary Ward is hard to put down. The setting of rural Suffolk in the fifties and sixties is beautifully described, with diversions to London and Nashville. Music and cinema are important to the lives of the well drawn characters. Highly recommended.

Nick Hornby is one of my favourite authors, and his latest, Juliet, Naked is one of his best. The title refers to a stripped down version of an old forgotten rock star's only classic album. Duncan is an obsessive fan of Tucker, but it is his partner Annie who makes the right connection. The writing is sharp, very funny and quite touching. It is one of those books that you make time to read as each time you pick it up, there is a new delight. Yes, it would make an excellent movie.

The next two books are very short. Home Truths by David Lodge is even described as a "novella", with only 135 pages of large type. The author has turned the script for a play of the same title into an amusing and engaging tale of the dangers of involvement with the media. It has all the trademarks of one of my favourite writers, well written and of course the sharp dialogue that would have been great on stage.

I loved Ali Smith's the accidental, and her choice in The Myths series (where authors retell a myth in a contemporary way) was from Ovid's original story. Ali Smith's writing is as good and original as ever. Funny and sad, the story is told from the point of view of two sisters. The chapters are labelled "I", "YOU", "US", "THEM" and "ALL TOGETHER NOW". Typical of such an exceptional writer.

Kate Atkinson's first novel not only won the Whitbread prize of 1995 for the best first novel, but was also their book of the year in all categories. Behind the Scenes at the Museum (recommended by Alison's sister) is actually quite exceptional and will probably be the best book I will read this year. Our heroine, Ruby, is born in 1952, and she tells the story of her family, going back to her great grandmother. The first chapter is hilarious as Ruby starts by introducing her family from when she is in the womb. There are many laugh out loud moments, but others that bring a tear to the eye. I had read one novel by the author, a very good crime drama When Will There Be Good News, and am looking forward to her Case Histories amongst others.

Predators, Inception and Splice

Three science fiction movies, all with a single name title, and two starring Adrien Brody. His role in Predators involves a lot of running around and being moody. Not much of a script, but that is only to be expected. Not quite as good as the original, but Robert Rodrigues has engaged Nimrod Antal as director, and he does a pretty good job in ramping up the tension as the group is gradually "whittled" down. An interesting cameo from Laurence Fishbourne contributes to a reasonably fun movie.

Inception is one of the two best movies I have seen this year, probably not quite up to the standard of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo but brilliant nonetheless. All the reviews are about how complicated the action becomes, but I dont think that I had to concentrate that hard to understand what was going on. Yes, there are layers within layers, but Christopher Nolan wants us to be there with him as the story unfolds. His direction is absolutely spot on, and is helped by a decent enough script great sound, music and cinematography. The casting is fabulous, with one exception. I am afraid to say that there are a dozen or so box office friendly actors who would have done far better job than Leonardo DeCaprio in the lead role. Even Clive Owen (and I am not a huge fan) would have been OK. But take a great actor like Tom Hardy (critically acclaimed for his lead role in Bronson) and put him in a supporting role and you get gold.

The great thing about a terrific actor like Adrien Brody is that even though you see him in two roles, you immediately forget the first while watching the second. He and his co-star, Sarah Polley, lend their considerable acting talents to what would have been a run of the mill genetic engineering monster movie. Splice is a cut above many of this genre, thanks to a decent enough screenplay and the special effects. Well worth seeing.