A Day in Oxford

 

Friday was a gloriously warm and sunny day and Alison and I took the train from Princes Risborough ( only a 15 minute drive away) to Oxford that stopped only at Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway. This is far more pleasant a journey than driving to Oxford and waiting for the park and ride bus to arrive. 

We headed first for John Lewis where we had a voucher for free tea and cake for two. Then stopping at a few shops on the way to the University of Oxford Botanical Gardens. We had been there before a couple of times but never in May. And we had a two for one voucher. There were not that many plants in flower but the Alliums were at their best. That is Alison's hand getting in the picture.

And these were some of the best of the others.

Fortunately we did find a couple of benches on our way round as the sun was very warm. The map below was invaluable.

Before we reached the gardens, we had walked down Cornmarket to Christ Church and then taken the Broad Walk along Christ Church Meadow arriving at the River Cherwell. Then leaving the gardens I wanted to look at the plaque just outside where the Jews of Oxford buried their dead from 1190. The reason being, I am currently reading Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins. Halfway through there appears someone who acts as a guide for the main character, taking in unusual places in the town, this being one. But also all the popular sites as well. 

So on our way back to the centre of Oxford, I did see that narrow street that gives the book it's title.

We headed off the High Street for a wander round the back streets including the Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library and Sheldonian Theatre before finding a table in the shade outside a small café for a welcome cuppa and cake. It was then time to head back to the station where we only had to wait five minutes for the train back to Princes Risborough and back home.

Amaryllis CARMEN from Father Gracy

 

I first planted this Amaryllis in 2022 and it has flowered every year. They are quite unpredictable so flowering three years in succession is apparently unusual. These have been in the same pot since planting, They do not need feeding or new compost as they have everything they need inside the bulb. These sit on my study window cill as they are not welcome downstairs. But I love them.

The far end cleared

 

Now cleared, the very far end of the garden was where I used to have three compost heaps, see below,  one for each year before the oldest was spread on the borders in spring and a new one started. 

That was why I planted the laurels to block the view from down the garden.

Now that moving the compost has become too hard, it was time to clear all the forget-me-nots and to level the last of the remaining compost over the whole area. This was how it looked in March before the forget-me-nots came into flower. 

Last week the forget-me-nots have been cleared and in piles ready for taking to the tip. Alison helped with that last week.

Then on Monday, in a gap when it was not raining, I spread all the remaining compost to level the whole area. There is just the one heap left from last year that I will decide what to do with sometime.  I just need to keep the weeds down this summer. There are also the remains of three tree stumps from the Aylesbury Prune that died a few years ago. They are gradually disintegrating.

Movies at Home: So Long, My Son, Amores Perros and I'm Your Man

 

So Long , My Son from 2019 is an epic movie from China, nearly three hours long. A riveting drama spanning over thirty years. Written and directed by Wang Xiaoshuai it plays forwards and backwards to tremendous effect. Although where we are in time does get a bit of getting used to. It focuses on the Chinese one child policy that was gone in 2015. I will not go into all those complicated Chinese names for the actors, but they portray the families with distinction. What was even more impressive was the cinematography, some of the long range exterior shots were outstanding. The long, three hour run time is a little padded out as the camera dawdles as it moves between rooms and for some household chores. 

Not for the faint hearted, amores perros (a rough translation is bad love, although perros is also dogs) is a 2000 award winning film from Mexico.  Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, (21 Grams and Babel are excellent movies) it follows three separate stories that become interwoven towards the end. First is Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) who cannot stand how his brother treats his wife, whom he secretly adores. He has a fighting dog, Cofi. Secondly, Valeria is a stunning supermodel (Goya Toledo) involved in a bad accident. Last of all is Chivo, seemingly a down and out, but he does have his own place. Ex-army and dangerous. Emilio Echevarria is superb.

I'm Your Man (or in this case, your robot) is a lovely French film from 2021. In the lead role is Maren Eggert who I had never seen before. Of  course I knew Dan Stevens from Downton Abbey. Also Sandra Huller from The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall. But it was Eggert who was worth watching, and no wonder winning best actress at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023. Stevens hardly has to act in his role as a robot, but it is Eggert who steals the show. She was just brilliant.

Cormorant at Weston Turville Reservoir

 

When I visited Weston Turville Reservoir last week, I saw a Cormorant splashing it's wings in the water. Exactly like the video on YouTube called "Cormorant washing in Long Water".  It then flew onto a buoy to dry, just like it was suggested on the internet. 

Unfortunately the camera on my phone is pretty awful, especially using close up. But here it is. I was the only person there and spent ages just watching the antics.

Inside Cinema - Shorts - 21 to 30

 

The next ten in my notes on "Inside Cinema - Shorts" starts with Episode 21 Bumbling Detectives narrated by Justin Chang. He tells us these films are "taking the edge off something serious" and hoping the viewer will work out whodunit before those bumbling detectives. Such as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Hot Fuzz. Unlike those films full of slapstick and pratfalls. Such as Michael Caine as Sherlock homes in Without a Clue, Elliot Gould as Philip Marlow and Daniel Craig in Knives Out: "I suspect foul play".

Nikki Bedi whips through lots and lots of Indian films in Episode 22's Taboo Breaking Bollywood. Of which I had never heard of one. Or the directors or the actors. This must be because these particular movies have no singing and dancing but are more along the lines of social realism. 

Episode 23 is Star Wardrobes introduced by Gavia Baker. The tile is a terrible pun. It is all about the costumes, production design, the look of the Star Wars films. George Lucas wanted them all to be distinctive, futuristic, even fascist and militaristic. All except our heroes looking more naturalistic with muted colours and soft fabrics. Then the elaborate wardrobes of  Padme Amidala played by Natalie Portman. Then the costume of the main baddie Darth Vader, all black.

Hannah Woodland is the narrator for Episode 24 Cats Entertainment. Again, we rush through films such as 1959's Bell, Book and Candle with Kim Novak and James Stewart, then Donald Pleasance as Blofeld and his cat in From Russia with Love in 1963. On to the horror films like 1977's The Uncanny and animated pictures such as Coraline from 2009. Then the last twenty hardly register from 1934's The Back Cat to 2018's Can You Ever Forgive Me. Were they just going for the record?

Another mad rush through some dark Christmas movies is Pamela Hutchinson's Episode 25 Unmerry Christmas. I was glad they included It's a Wonderful Life that is such a miserable film to put on each year. And I hardly count Miracle on 34th Street as unmerry even if Kris Kringle gets arrested. But some are really funny like 1984's Gremlins and Home Alone in 1990. Some films are predictably included but some not. Emma Thomson's horrible moment in Love Actually is always upsetting. 

Ashley Clark starts episode 26 Millennials on Film with, possibly predictably, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring from 2013. Then on to 2012's Spring Breakers, both with all these awful youngish people. There were some films I did not want to be reminded of but better were The Social Network from 2010, Greta Gerwig's Ladybird from 2017 and 2016's Personal Shopper, all of which were excellent.  For some reason we are shown lots of documentaries such as Minding the Gap from 2018 before the narrator extolled the virtues of Natalie Portman in 2018's Vox Lux. One to look out for: " a millennium clarion call" and someone "thriving against the odds". 

Above is dear Paddington holding on in Episode 27 Locomotion Pictures. Jake Cunningham whips through lots of clips of trains on film. Most very familiar. But not 2016's Japanese movie Train to Busan. I did see the riotous  Snowpiercer from 2013, Bong Joon-ho's  post apocolyptic thriller that I wouldn't mind seeing again. Lots of westerns with trains including One Upon a Time in the West. Ending with some animated films and Paddington. 

Tim Robey introduces Episode 28 Perfect Storms. There is, of course, lots and lots of rain. So, of course, singing in it. Tim says "does cinema ever do light drizzle?". Not for Gene Kelly. Then not only rain but hurricanes and blizzards. We are shown a clip from Forces of Nature from 1999. "It has the worst weather day for a wedding in entire film history". Goodbyes in the rain include 1993's Remains of the Day and Bridges of Maddison County from 1995.So in films "it never rains but it pours". Just ask Andy MacDowell and Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Thirty years ago this month.

Christina Newland again, this time looking at make-up in Episode 29 Cosmetic Cinema. Above is Melanie Laurant applying war paint in Quentin Tarrantino's Inglorious Basterds. Reviewed on this blog on 3rd September 2009 and my post "Revenge of the Giant Face" on 4th May 2011. As Christina says "make up in movies is far from cosmetic". Flaming Youth from 1923 is a very early version but that was before it dashed through so many films. I was more interested later on with make up as a templte for sadness or disaster. Such as 2017's I, Tonya, Edward Scissorhands in 1990 and Dangerous Liasons in 1988. 

Episode 30 is Who Killed the Erotic Thriller presented by Catherine Bray. We are shown all those Michael Douglas movies from the early nineties "Lots and lots of Michael Douglas" but also many Hollywood A-listers. But who killed it off and where are they today? Apparently it was Showgirls that bombed in 1995. It seems to be left to TV series such as Game of Thrones to take up the banner.

Sight and Sound Weekly Film Bulletin

This week we have Rose Glass's top ten films in the "Greatest Films of all Time" poll. I hope to her latest movie Love Lies Bleeding next week and I have Saint Maud on record to fast forward through the scary bits. All good choices except I had not heard of John Waters' Female Trouble.

"The Watch List" for next week includes The Fall Guy as well as the one above.

"From the Archive" we go back to 1989 and a link to Lindsay Anderson's full interview looking back on his career. He tells us "In Britain, cinemas are depressing places to visit". Maybe then, but thirty five years later they are much better. 

In "Our critics review the latest releases", we have Challengers "Luca Guadagnino's frenetic three hander", but the better sounding The Idea of You is only on Amazon Prime.

Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on Sky Arts

 

We are invited to the London Philharmonic Orchestra's rehearsals for Mahler's Second Symphony "The Resurrection". Over four parts, conductor Edward Gardner talks us through the whole process with interviews with some of the musicians.

Part One: The Strings

He tells us what it will be like for the rehearsals with such a large orchestra that will be supplemented by other musicians. He talks about Mahler and particularly his second symphony. All very technical but amazing.

Alice Ivy-Pemberton is co-leader of the London Philharmonic. She talks about her background, how she practices and her role in the orchestra. As does bass player Hugh Kluger. Then a married couple, Martin Wray (viola, apparently he got too tall for violin)) and Minn Majoe (first violin). Ronald Long is from South Carolina and is a freelance musician supplementing the violins. Facebook has them all talking on "Meet the Strings Backstage with the London Philharmonic.

Part Two; Woodwind and Percussion

Rehearsals have now moved to The Royal Festival Hall where the concert will take place. It's hard to squeeze in all the instruments with those extra musicians. The rehearsal tries out single instruments, then pairs with the brass then behind the scenes before the full orchestra starts to play.

This time we hear from Juliette Bauser, principal flute, Jonathon Davies, principal bassoon, and Simon Carrington, principal timpani. He shows us the the amazing kettle drums. I liked it when they showed us them practicing at home. It was interesting how the woodwind section worked with percussion. 

Edward Gardner tells us about the start of the 3rd movement when a crash of percussion surprises the audience. Simon tells about his history then shows us him changing the heads of the drums where the previous heads had worn out. We see the mechanics of this amazing instrument. Juliette is from a musical family and that she started flute from the age of four. Then Jonathon tells us about making the reeds for his bassoon that is an "ongoing hellish process". 

Andrew Barclay always wanted to play an unusual instrument and is now principle percussion with the London Philharmonic. We see him with his enormous cymbals and that crucial time in the piece when they crash. He and Simon (principal percussion) have known each other since they were seventeen and they went to the Royal College of Music together. Andrew seems to be the joker. "Meet the percussion section" is on YouTube. 

Edward Gardner talks about Mahler, how he was a musician, conductor and composer. His music sheets are full of instructions such as horns playing offstage. This I found absolutely enthralling. At the end we are told the choir is still to be introduced.

Part 3 Brass

The Principal Tuba player is Lee Tsarmaklis. He was very young when his parents moved to England and he learnt how to play the tuba for fun before he even learned to speak English. He worked on building sites until he was persuaded to audition for the Royal Academy of Music. This he said was "life changing". He is big friend with principal  trombone played Mark Templeton and they have worked together for a long time. Then we see Paul Beniston is principal trumpet. Later we see his collection of vintage brass instruments including a cornet four years older than Mahler. 

A young lady is mounting the steps up to the Royal Academy of Music. This is Annemarie Federle, going to practice her French horn. She says there are very few women in the brass section of orchestras. She is very young at 21 as principal French horn. Still studying for her exams at the Royal Academy. She started the French horn at seven as apparently her lungs when young were very loud. She tells us about holding the instrument, the breathing involved etc. In 2022 she stepped in at very short notice as a soloist for the London Philharmonic and this led to an offer to join full time. 

We then see all them all playing with the full orchestra. At the very end, at last, here is the large choir at the back of the Royal Festival Hall joining the orchestra for final rehearsals.

Part 4 The Concert

The whole of Mahler's Second Symphony is here. Great to see all those members of the orchestra who have appeared in the previous episodes. The whole series has been brilliant.

Noah's Compass, The Characters of Love and Blaming

 

I was just about to give my review three stars when I remembered that highly emotional ending. Liam Pennywell is sixty something, made redundant from his teaching role at St Dyfrigs, downsizes to a small apartment and has no reason to find other employment. But on his first night there he is attacked, although he has no recollection of the event except he wakes up in hospital. He has lots of visitors from an extended family (two failed marriages) who appear on odd occasions through the story. Grown up children and their offspring. Also his older sister: "She collected and polished resentments as if it were some sort of hobby".

Settling down in his small apartment, his stitches are out, visitors gone, he is fixated by not being able to remember anything about the attack. He does, however, become distracted by Eunice who he meets at the doctor's surgery, and their relationship, of sorts, carries the book forwards. Interrupted as it is by daughter Kitty suddenly staying with him. Towards the end, Liam reflects on his life and we hear at last about his ex wives. His visit to one at the end is maybe the basis for some kind of resolution.

Then at the very end, the author even starts the poem "James, James, Morrison, Morrison, Weatherby George Dupree......". (He took great care of his mother though he was only three). An A.A. Milne poem that my father recited to us when we were very young. That is much more than seventy years ago.

Unfortunately, this is my last Susie Boyt book as I have read all her others. As her second novel, I didn't think it was up there with her best. The story follows Nell from childhood to her early twenties, combining her relationships with an absentee father and that with her much much older tutor at university. Nell is a strange creation. A difficult girl in some ways, but highly intelligent and resourceful. I guess the author is trying to compare these two men in her life, who are not really the best for her fragile mind. But at that impressionable age, these things can happen. The writing is as brilliant as ever, especially some of the dialogue. I will now have to wait until her next book is published.

I haven't read all of Elizabeth Taylor's novels but this is her last. She was dying when she finished the book so never saw it published. There is a kind of melancholy and occasional anger that permeates the writing. Amy and her husband Nick are on a Mediterranean cruise onboard a ship that also has cargo. The only other English speaking passenger is Martha who is a single American. Nick is recovering from treatment in hospital and seems to be struggling. They reach Istanbul for a stop-over. The next day when Martha boards the coach, Amy and Nick are missing. Only later does she find out that Nick has died.

So begins a strange kind of relationship between Amy and Martha. Back home Martha tries to support Amy despite the latter feeling this is the last sort of person she wants around. In Amy's fancy but old house we find Ernie Pounce, a general factotum who Nick had stay as a housekeeper and cook. He seems oblivious to Amy's loss and just talks about the problems with his teeth. "They are the last straw, she thought".

We then hear about Amy's family and the husband of her dead best friend. Gareth, is perhaps, the one straightforward character in the story. But it's Martha who tries to dominate her life. Two people you would do everything to avoid: Martha and Ernie Pounce. This is not the favourite of the Elizabeth Taylor shortish novels, but the writing is as sharp and wonderful as ever. There is humour too, but that underlying sadness cannot be avoided.

Goodbye forget-me-nots

 

I included some photos of the forget-me-nots in a previous post. This year they had spread like never before and, despite giving colour in the early Spring, they have become a major problem in the garden. Especially how I now struggle to clear them. I started a week ago with four separate sessions and managed to clear most of the wildflower border above.

So when Alison volunteered to help yesterday, I was only too pleased to let her tackle some of the borders for the very first time.

For future reference, it has taken seven hours to clear them. So next Spring I will have to get out early and clear them before or just as they flower. They are a highly invasive plant. I Have to say that having cleared them, the borders do look a lot better, and perennials have appeared where before they were covered over. And some room for new things to grow.

May in April (Just)

 

The Hawthorn at the end of the garden is just breaking into flower. It is called May as this is the month when it usually blooms. Ours is not yet anywhere near it's best, so I'm hoping for a better photo in a couple of weeks.

World War 2 and Cinema on Sky Arts - Episode 3 - D-Day, The Holocaust and The Atomic Bomb

 

This is the final episode in the short series about how cinema has portrayed the second world war. Ian Nathan is back at RAF Duxford and talked about how the fighter command and bomber command became as an important factor at the final stages of the war as they had been at the beginning. Operation Overlord or D-Day is portrayed in 1962's The Longest Day. An all star cast includes John Wayne telling his subordinates that as Americans, they were "newcomers" to the action .Bonnie Greer explained how the film showed both sides with the Germans speaking their own language with subtitles. Simon Heffer said it was a film "full of integrity".

Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan in 1998 showed the brutality and death on the beaches. Derek Malcolm said those first 45 minutes were so realistic: "beautifully made and acted" and at the same time "terrifying". 

THE VI AND V2 ROCKETS

Operation Crossbow from 1965 showed Germany fighting back with flying bombs targeting London and the ports. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

A film I did not know was Is Paris Burning? from 1966. Simon told us that this was based on a book about the liberation of Paris in 1944. Charles de Gaulle insisted that the French army went in first to liberate the city. Hitler had wanted it to have been laid to waste but that did not happen. We then see  a clip from The Train, a 1964 film with Paul Schofield that I remember well.

   THE WAR IN GERMANY

In 1965 came Battle of the Bulge, which showed the retreating German army launching  counter offensive in The Ardennes. Ian Nathan calls this a "terrific war movie in terms of entertainment", if not fanciful in part. Patton from 1970 had George C Scott in the title role, Simon telling us that this is "a film about leadership". 

THE HOLOCAUST

The 1958 movie The Young Lions was an adaptation of the book of the same name from 1948. An all star cast included Marlon Brando, Dean Martin and Montgomery Clift. Americans and Germans meet outside a concentration camp at the end of the war. The Stranger from 1946 was directed by Orson Welles who starred alongside Edward G Robinson where a high ranking Nazi is tracked down in Connecticut. 1961's Judgement at Nuremberg included documentary footage shown at the trial. Derek Malcolm thought it was a pretty accurate picture of what happened there. Schindler's List from 1993 was Steven Spielberg's epic drama starring Liam Neeson. The Zone of Interest was too new to have been included.

THE END OF THE WAR IN EUROPE

In 2004 came Downfall, the final days of Hitler and the Third Reich starring Bruno Ganz. Despite much criticism, this for me is a masterpiece as it documents the end of the world's greatest tyranny. Simon agrees when he says it is "stunning... an utterly brilliant film" with Ganz giving a "tremendously effective representation". The clip shows Hitler furious with all his generals and everyone else. Superb.

THE END OF THE WAR IN ASIA

In 2006 came Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, based on the book and both directed by Clint Eastwood. He wanted to show the battle for the island shown from both sides, the first from the American and the second (in the language of) the Japanese. And last of all Empire of the Sun from 1987 directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tom Stoppard from the book by J.G. Ballard, set i China at the end of the war with the Japanese surrender at the very end.

60 Songs: BBC Two at 60

 

With BBC Two turning sixty this week, they put together sixty songs from their archives. I recorded the whole four hour show. This meant I could just watch those songs that were of any interest to me. Such as that half way through from Dusty Springfield in January 1973 when she sang You Don't Have To Say You Love Me. The photo is actually from that performance. And what a singer she was. Next came Adele from November 2010 but whose vocal is nowhere near as good as Dusty. 

In no particular order, these were my highlights. The Rolling Stones at Glastonbury in 2013 featuring an extra slim Mick, Simple Minds with Don't You Forget About Me on the Old Grey Whistle Test, a very young Van Morrison with a 1970's Brown Eyed Girl, Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven from a concert in 1972, (reminding me of seeing him live at the Odeon Hammersmith in May 1964), the superb Tina Turner in February 1984 and, would you believe, a young Taylor Swift from 2009's "Children in Need". Now I had never heard one of her songs so this was from fifteen years ago when, singing Love Story,  her country influences showed through. Back then, if I had known, I might have become a Swiftie. On YouTube's EAS Channel.

Then on to a young Billy Joel, Blondie from 1979, my very first song from Radiohead, headlining at 1997's Glastonbury with Street Spirit (Fade Out), U2's Pride (In the Name of Love) from 2011 at Glastonbury, Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline from 1971, Losing My Religion by REM on "Later....with Jools Holland" October 2003,  The Bee Gees from September 1998, David Bowie at Glastonbury in June 2000 singing Heroes (not a patch on his performance at Live Aid) and last of all, of course, Paul McCartney with Get Back on "Later...etc" in 2013.  A shame Jools is no Billy Preston from the much better Savile Row rooftop performance. 

Seize Them!, Back To Black and Civil War

 

Three completely different films starting with a historical comedy. Seize Them! is reasonably funny but far too much swearing. Is that supposed to make us laugh? Everything is all very silly. The cast at least look as if they are having fun. Aimee Lou Wood as Queen Dagan was fine and her stage acting credentials showed through, despite the uneven script by Andy Riley. Along for the ride are Nick Frost as Babik and Lolly Adefope (one of our favourites from Ghosts and also starring in Wicked Little Letters) as Shulmay. There are the odd familiar faces such as Jason Burnett as Thane Tostig (known in our house as DCI Wilkes in Agatha Raisin). Director Curtis Vowell has taken us on a road trip (or should that be cart track) along some lovely locations in Wales including Raglan Castle. So it did look good.

I did not find Back To Black an easy watch. Amy Winehouse is not a person you could warm to. Highly strung, over confident, fragile and at the same time quite naïve and childish. Wow! However, I was reminded about her love of jazz from Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington to Sarah Vaughn. The latter who I saw at The Odeon Hammersmith with Count Basie. Amy was not only a terrific singer but she wrote her songs from the heart. Not like those others who just sang standards. So Amy was definitely a one off. Fortunately the movie puts the music first. It's where Amy is at her happiest. So there are lots of songs and not all were Amy's. What she could have done when she matured is anyone's guess. 

She meets Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O'Connell) and their relationship is basically her downfall if not his fault. She was very much against drugs before they met. But he drags her in. And he is charismatic character as when he dances to The Shangri-La's  Leader of the Pack on the juke box in the pub when they first meet. But I found the story quite uneven. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson was, perhaps, not the best choice. We see too much of the paparazzi in the second half and the staging of when she won her Grammy was too much. The cinematography by Polly Morgan was excellent as were the costumes and design. Marisa Abela is fine as Amy, but head and shoulders above the rest of the cast are Eddie Marsan as Amy's father and Leslie Manville as her Nan. Both were excellent. 

Oh Alex, what have you done? This is the writer for 28 Days Later, Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later and Never Let Me Go, and the writer and director for Ex Machina and Men. So what is he doing with this mess. A pretty stupid plot where we never learn one thing about what started the conflict. We are plunged right from the start into something very unpleasant. All to show this is a (story) about war photographers and correspondents. But they have nothing interesting to say, just there as excuse to watch the violence. So the dialogue is rubbish and the predictable road movie has the predictable set pieces. All with gratuitous violence and wooden characters. Garland was the only reason why I went to see this miserable excuse for a blockbuster movie which someone said "impressive acting and cinematography cannot make up for the lack of a compelling story beyond the words in the title". I guess this is what happens when a respected writer and director is given too high a budget to make an action film. Fortunately there was no extra cost for the IMAX screening as we were on an April freebie.