Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen & Michael Jackson

A couple of weekends ago my pal Gary came up to stay, and we went to see "Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen" at the cinema. I really liked the first film, as it was a fun and dumb romp with some cracking visuals.....typical Michael Bay really. The sequel delivered exactly what I expected (over the top action, military types in slow-motion photography, etc) but with far more robot action this time around, and some slapstick comedy thrown into the mix. I loved Wheelie - what a great character! Bay and his fx wizards move the camera a tad too quickly in the action set pieces for my liking, and the film is over long, but other than that, I really enjoyed it. Most of the humour worked for me, although some of it was unnecessary (did we really need so much screen time devoted to two comedy relief robots acting goofy?) but where the film delivers is in the scope of action set pieces and visuals. The fx's on the robots is stunning - ILM's most complex CGI models. The whole end sequence of the Autobot v Decepticon battle at the Pyramids was very exciting. I like the cast as well. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are now Hollywood's most successful young stars. "Transformers: ROTF" is already the highest grossing film of the year with $315million in the bank.

******

Michael Jackson died from a heart attack a couple of weeks ago, just a few weeks before his comeback concerts in London were to start. He was 50 years old. I was surprised at how this got to me. It sunk in about a week later and then for some reason I felt quite sad and muddled for a few days. I guess this was because Michael was (and remains) an entertainment icon from my childhood and teenage years. Maybe his passing reinforced issues of mortality and age to me. Not sure. Anyway, as a little tribute, I played "Thriller" for a few days running in the car on my commute - what a wonderful record! I also bought two special magazine publications about him.


Michael in a promotional shot for the "ET Storybook" album, 1982.


I think my first memory of Michael was in the promo video for "Blame it on the Boogie" from the Jackson's "Destiny" album in 1978. Great video effects in that one! I'm sure "Top of the Pops" showed the video, if not, I saw it on another show like "Swap Shop". I also fondly remember the Jackson's TV show shown as a repeat on Children's TV on summer mornings, shown alongside such fare as "The Littlest Hobo", "The Pink Panther" and "Why Don't you...?" I remember Jackson's singles from the excellent "Off the Wall" album in 1979 and 1980 in the charts, and then of course the hit singles from the "Thriller" album which were played constantly on the radio and on television. I also recall watching the John Landis video for "Thriller" for the first time on late night Channel 4 - Friday December 2nd, 1983, wasn't it? Then there was other stuff like "Bad", "Dangerous" etc, although even before the 1993 allegations, I was distancing myself from his stuff and finding interest in other music. Still, Michael was always in the news for some reason, so you couldn't really get away from the latest hullabaloo surround him, such as the 1995 Brit awards when Michael's Christ-complex-like performance was interrupted by a bemused and annoyed Jarvis Cocker.

For me, the memorial service broadcast from the Staples Centre in Los Angeles last week was a interesting (if very 'Hollywood') thing to see, but I'm sure it provided some form of closure for Michael's family and countless fans. I found it telling that some key people, such as Diana Ross, Quincy Jones and Elizabeth Taylor did not attend. I think the highlight for me was when the Rev. Al Sharpton addressed his children with the line, 'I just want to say to you children. Wasn't nothing strange about yo' daddy. What he had to deal with was strange.'
There was a lot of dross in the show, such as some politician spouting on and on, and Mariah Carey's performance was very poor. I'm glad I watched it though - one of those events that will be talked about in the future. The worldwide audience was thought to be around 1 billion people. Wow.

Anyway, I doubt if the press will let this whole thing go yet, as it sells too many papers. Even today, the Daily Star had a headline suggesting his death was actually murder. I don't know why, as I didn't actually read the article. And tomorrow, Channel 4 has a show on about his last days. MTV and a host of other music channels have shown his music videos on repeat over the last two weeks. Many of his hit singles are in the charts again. Hmmm, I wonder what will happen to his adopted children? No doubt the media will follow their every move from now on. Let's hope they don't become more victims of stardom.

A couple of years ago Carla and I read The Magic and The Madness, which is a fascinating document of Michael's life: the lack of a real childhood, an autocratic and overbearing father, stardom at a young age, the plastic surgery, highest selling album of all time, the chimp, the fanatical fans, the allegations, it's all there. I hope the author goes ahead and completes the story now. What a bizarre life for a very talented (if rather strange) man.

R.I.P. Michael.

Sutton Hoo and Blythburgh

We drove over to Sutton Hoo the other Saturday, which is near Ipswich in Suffolk. This is a world famous archeological site where in 1939 a number of 'Dark Ages' relics were discovered in burial mounds. The most amazing find was a preserved Anglo-Saxon longship in which weapons, armour and gold had been buried with its owner, thought to King Raedwald, who died in 625 AD. There were a number of other finds around the same area, some of the burials possibly the victims of execution. It must have been an amazing time for those archeologists to find such a hoard - the richest burial site in England! A detailed description is here.

The site is contained in a large and attractive estate: nice countryside on three sides, and lots of trees on the slopes down to the river Debden on the other, with the town of Woodbridge in the distance. The burial mounds (or barrows) are all located in one large field (one mound has been restored to its original size, and it is very big) and there are pleasant woodland walks to the west. The visitor centre comprises of a large museum that elaborates on the burial grounds and the era they were created, and it contains some wonderful displays and artefacts. What a shame the famous original mask of Raedwald wasn't there on show. This is in the British Museum in London. The visitors centre at Sutton Hoo has a replica, which is still wonderful to behold. In another building there is the usual gift shop/restaurant combo - excellent facilities. We bought a few bits and pieces from the shop, including some stunning postcards of the site in winter. (And some yummy cakes and flapjacks).

<----Carla sitting in a boat-throne!








After this, we headed up the A12 to Blythburgh to visit the famous church, that is rumoured to hold the "pawprints" of the devil's dog on the North door. You can certainly see burn marks on the door that could look vaguely like animal scratches, but that is debatable! Anyway, the village is quite pretty in an English countryside way, and the church, known as the "cathedral of the marshes" is a very impressive building and in a nice location looking over the river Blyth (which nearby meets the North Sea at Southwold.)

The day was beautiful - sunny with a blue sky, with a light breeze that kept us cool. It was nice to have our little packed lunch by the church in the pretty and quiet spot. We noticed a BBC Radio van packed by the church, and inside the building there were lights and recording equipment around a piano, so I guess a recital was on that evening.

It was just a short trip up the road to my parents' where we stayed for the weekend. It was fun to have a couple of walks at the seafront, and finally Carla saw Gorleston-on-Sea beach busy with tourists!

A trip to Arkansas

Over the last two weeks of May, we went on a little break to Arkansas, USA. It was a family trip to see Carla's relatives, specifically timed to tie-in with her son Ethan's graduation from high school. Apart from that, we had a lot of chores to sort out as well as enjoying ourselves. In between running around doing paperwork, visiting the necessary places and such, we managed to fit in a few fun things. This included a day in Memphis to visit the famous STAX Records museum ("Mr big-stuff, tell me, just who do you think you are?") and the zoo (cute meerkats!) We also took a little trip up to Mammoth Spring near the Missouri border, which is the 10th biggest natural spring in the world. Lovely spot that (see picture of me in front of the falls) with an impressive gift shop. Interesting to see the old railroad station there as well.

On the way up there (about 1 1/2 hours drive from where we were staying in Trumann) we stopped off at the Hardy water wheel, situated on a small creek that flows into the Spring River. There is a long established flea market there, as well being within the site of the "Martin Creek and Morgan's Mill" American civil war battle. On the way back, we visited the tourist town of Hardy, a small town comprising of antique and nick-nack shops. Another day we had a wondeful walk around Craighead Forest Park (see picture) on the outskirts of Jonesboro, which was lovely - the woods around the huge lake were quite beautiful. We spotted a snake swimming in the water, as well as the biggest geese we have ever seen! Generally great weather throughout the two weeks: hot and sunny for the most part, and humid at times so thank goodness for air conditioning! Saw some cracking thunderstorms and very heavy rain after coming out of a supermarket one afternoon - Jonesboro looked like it was sinking under the sea! We spent a lot of time in Jonesboro, the biggest town near to where we were staying, and the town where Carla grew up. There is an impressive new shopping centre there called The Mall at Turtle Creek. Also, for some reason, we ended up spending a lot of time in Wal*Mart! You can't get away from that in the US!

As far as cinema visits went, we ended up seeing "Star Trek" (for the 2nd time for me), "Terminator Salvation", "Angels and Demons", and "Night at the Museum 2". All very entertaining and great to watch, especially as the cinema we went to see all of these in, the Hollywood Malco 16 in Jonesboro, had digital projection equipment in most screens and wonderful seating. I love that cinema! Also I managed to catch up on all the "Harry Potter" films (to date) on the plane journeys. Caught a few flicks on US TV, including "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" and "Wild Hogs", both very funny!

Carla and I continued to do our exercises while staying at her mother's house: we managed to find the "Fit TV" channel on the satellite, and on there worked out to Gilad in the morning, an Israli who now lives and works out in Hawaii! He was good, I enjoyed those workouts even if they looked a bit 1990s 'dated'.

Also while there, I managed to complete my US State Quarters collection! Very happy about that! :)

I think the highlight of the trip for me was spotting Isacc Hayes' 1972 cadillac on show at the STAX Records museum. It was amazing, so 70's cool. :)








Anyhoo, some assorted images of Jonesboro and rural Arkansas....


Fast food and scripture...yep,we're in the Bible Belt!












Some cheap dirt for sale!












Liberty Bank in Jonesboro.....that played stirring military style music in the car park.

Various things over the last few weeks

Here I am, trying to catch up on my blogging. Presenting some "Twitter" style short paragraphs to catch up....

Our pal Sarah came up for a weekend visit and we went through some of her old video tapes, converting some of those recordings to DVD. One of them was the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" musical episode! Thanks for the gift of the old video recorder, BTW!

Mark came to see us on his way home from a railway group meeting in Crewe - easy, as we live on his train line home. Apart from watching the first five episodes of "Star Wars: Clone Wars" cartoon, on the Sunday we drove out to the 'Battlefield Line' private railway in Leicestershire. That was a nice little hour or two out, and it was great to visit the museum in the old Shakerstone station, and see the train come in. Lovely easy drive out there, and it was fun to see the village called "Barton in the Beans" on the drive back! Also, I gave Mark some old railway books and other stuff I had acquired as a bit of a late birthday pressie!

I attended the "Memorabilia" show at Birmingham's NEC a couple of weeks ago. It was ok, and nice to see some friends there and meet a couple of celebrities. I only bought one item, a book of photos from "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

As she says on her blog, Carla had to go back to the US to attend her father's funeral a couple of weekends ago. :( We are going for a trip there soon to see the relatives again.

While Carla was away, I popped home for a quick visit to see mum and dad in the Great Yarmouth area. I drove pop down to the sea front to see the construction of the new outer harbour, as he is interested in the project. On my way back here later that day, I was caught in a two-hour traffic jam on the A14 near Newmarket! This was due to a fatal accident which had closed the road all afternoon. Of course, this was on Holiday (Easter) Monday and so the roads were busy with returning day trippers from the coast....lots of traffic! The traffic crawled through Newmarket, and I got back late around midnight - a frustrating tiring journey!

I've started to type up my father's Second World War diaries into a little document, including some photos that I got scanned a while back. Must try and get that completed next week!

Last Sunday I got together with my friend Toria who lives locally, and we went to the cinema to see "Monsters v Aliens" after a pleasant walk along the canal as it was a nice sunny day! The film was very entertaining as I spotted a lot of the references to 1950's sci-fi b-movies, such as "The Blob", "Attack of the 50ft Woman" and a load of others. Great CGI animation as well. As for DVDs, we have a few backed up to watch, including a load of Marilyn Monroe flicks, "The Notorious Betty Page", and "Robin of Sherwood" series 2 from the 1980's!

A visit to West Stow Saxon village.

On the way to my parent's place for a weekend visit in late February, we visited the Saxon village re-construction and museum at West Stow in Suffolk. It was a bright and sunny day, so it was nice to see something in the countryside, and in this case an attraction that was easy to get to as it was just a little way off our main route.

The site is made up of a museum (split into two parts - the smaller one highlighting archeological finds presented in order of 'era', and the larger one featuring fascinating examples of everyday items, clothing and weapons,) a restaurant which we didn't bother with, and the (obligatory) shop selling the usual tourist trinkets. The buildings these are in look relatively new. A short walk into a large field at the back of the museum complex are the re-creations of a village from saxon times, constructed near to the site of many important finds. This comprises of several huts constructed over a few years from the early 1970's, and they are very well done. The wooden huts show how the common people lived in post Roman Britain - it must have been tough, cold and dirty! A female saxon re-enactor was in one of the huts, showing traditional cooking techniques. Wow, that smoke got us in the throat! Ugh. One hut was constucted half buried in the ground, based on a theory from archeologists of the early 1970's - something I believe has now been discarded.

Also when we visited, they were doing a "Lord of the Rings" day to entertain the kids for half-term, hence the few Middle Earth re-enactors wandering around in costume. Up the hill near to the huts, there was archery being demonstrated, and here and there a few children and tired-looking parents could be found participating in a Middle Earth style quiz. I guess they had to find clues around the estate or something.

We found some chickens and cockrels wandering around behind the back of the museum, and they were fantastic! Thankfully they posed long enough for me to get a photo or two.

The site is located in the middle of an attractive country park, which is open to the public free of charge. It will be pleasant to go back when the weather is a little walmer, so we can do some easy walking around the attractive woodland paths and see the lake. Also, there are plenty of places to have a picninc lunch!

A nice diversion on a little weekend break by the sea!

"Star Fleet", "The Clone Wars", and some melted snow....

Last Monday, "Star Fleet" was released on DVD here. This is a wonderful sci-fi puppet series originally broadcast on ITV in the winter of 1982/83. Basically, it's a "Star Wars" rip off, but with a slightly more adult tone than "Thunderbirds" had. It's very popular amongst sci-fi fans who are now in their 30's, who remember the show with wistful nostalgia. I haven't bought it yet, as Carla said she would buy it for me. Once we've got it in the house, I'll do a mini-review of the DVD. There is a fan site and group on 'Facebook' (yes, I'm a member of both) and there is a brilliant fan website here.

Staying with 'space stuff' (as my mother calls it)....at last, I'm watching the new "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animated series. Starting from yesterday, 'Cartoon Network' has started to show them every Saturday morning, repeated on Saturday evening. The channel broadcast episodes 1 and 2 yesterday. The series picks up after the film released last summer. Episode 1 features a lot of Yoda doing awesome lightsabre battling (bad luck, battle droids), and the second episode featured the return of General Grievous and his new weapon, a super ion cannon. Great fun stuff, and the animation is superb. I'm looking forward to seeing some characters like Jar Jar Binks return in episode 8. What's also funny are the little 'Lego Star Wars' adverts in between the episodes. Hopefully they should be turning up on 'You Tube' soon.

A proper guide to the series can be found here on the official "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" website. Also, my pal in the USA does regular mini reviews of the episodes, and you can find them tucked away on her Livejournal.

The widespread snowfall across the UK over the last two weeks or so seems to be on the wane now, thank goodness. I can't stand it really, it just gets in the way commuting. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad in this area, as I was only affected for one day, and I was able to work at home anyway. This country doesn't really do extreme weather that well, I guess we aren't used to it.
Have a look at what my pal Joe said about it here.

I've joined Carla when she does the 'Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home' workout. It's really good, as I've found since I've been driving (9 months) I walk a lot less, so this is great for basic cardio fitness. Carla sometimes writes about her fitness regime, and you can follow it here.

Yay! She just said she's going to make koshari today! Lovely! :)

A winter trip to Kent and St. Albans.

For Carla's birthday in late January, we decided to have some time off work to visit a place we hadn't been to before, so we went to Kent (in the South East of England). We stayed for three nights in the city of Canterbury, so we could see some historical things that would interest us. We had a great time!

The drive down to Canterbury was ok, especially as Carla read excepts from "The Canterbury Tales" to keep us entertained on the M1 and M25, and get us in the mood for our visit. We stayed in a pleasant self-catering apartment, in an Edwardian house called Oriel Lodge, which was about a ten minute walk from the city centre. Once settled in our rooms, we decided to explore the city for a little while in the late afternoon. Between our lodgings and the city centre was a very pretty public garden area on either side of the River Stour, near to the old West Gate. Due to recent heavy rain, the river was flooding into the gardens - it was a fast flowing torrent! The main road from there leads into the centre and follows an old Roman road. We had a look around the extensive shopping area, which was bustling with Friday afternoon shoppers and a large amount of French schoolchildren who must have been over on a day trip (Canterbury is very close to the Channel Tunnel rail link and English Channel port of Dover, so its very easy to get to from the continent). We found the health food shop that Carla wanted to visit, called Canterbury Wholefoods. Quite a well stocked shop, we were very impressed.

The weather was clear but cold on Saturday morning, so Carla kindly bought me a hat before we started our day exploring! We then visited the Canterbury Roman Museum, a centrally located attraction that is actually built below modern street level, and shows some of the extensive archeological digs of the early 20th Century, as well as interesting pieces and recreations. Basically, they have built a museum around some Roman ruins, including a now very wobbly mosiac floor! We then had a look around the town centre, and after photographing the old Odeon cinema (a geeky hobby of mine) we walked along the Roman (and medieval) walls, which still exist on the West side of the town. After climbing 'The Mound' in Dane John Gardens to get some impressive views of the city, we found ourselves at the old castle which unfortunately is a ruin now. Still, very interesting to investigate. After lunch at our lodgings, we popped back into town and Carla bought some 'Winnie the Pooh' slippers from the Winnie the Pooh shop. Canterbury isn't a million miles from the location of the bridge where pooh sticks were first played! Anyway, only a stone's throw away from the shop is the famous Canterbury Cathedral, which we went to next. I have to say I was very impressed with the interior, and at how big the building and site is generally (there are a lot of associated buildings next to it, as well as pleasant areas of open grass and trees - nicer in the summer though!) The highlight for me was seeing the point of pilgrimage for Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered on the orders of Henry II in 1170. Also, underneath the cathedral, there are some incredible catacombs which just ooze atmosphere. Shame my photo didn't come out that well, but it was dark in there. Also, the nave was stupendous. It was especially thrilling to be there as a local choir was rehearsing for an upcoming concert. As we looked a the amazing ceiling, Mozart's Requiem was echoing throughout the building. Wonderful! After leaving the cathedral, we did a bit of shopping and went home.

We visited Leeds Castle on Sunday, even though the day was *very* wet - the rain didn't really stop all day. It was very easy to get to from Canterbury, just a simple drive down three main roads. We had to be careful with areas of the road that had standing pools of water though! The castle and grounds proved to be very impressive, although it was slightly uncomfortable walking through the extensive grounds in waterproofs. We really liked an area called 'The Duckery', which is made up of little ponds and small streams and patches of managed woodland. It is a haven for ducks, geese, and other birds such as peacocks! At the back of the castle, there is an aviary which contains many exotic birds from around the world, including some very pretty parakeets. We particularly liked a parrot called Oscar, who we watched eat endless peanuts and say "hello!" The castle itself is well worth a visit, particularly to see the older rooms done out in their medieval style. I was a little disappointed because only part of the castle is open to tourists, and some of this was rebuilt in the 1800's in a style that doesn't really interest me. Still, it is a working building which is used for other things than tourism. The main thing I liked about the building was the view of the castle from outside, as it is built on two small islands in a lake. Very atmospheric!

On the Monday, the morning weather was bright and sunny, so we decided to explore a bit on the long drive home. First, we went up to the North Kent coast to explore the town of Whitstable, a fishing community that is famous for its North Sea oysters, and for a place to retire to. That was fun, as we explored the old harbour area and the little town centre. I was happy to see that the town has a whistful charm and a number of indepenent shops. We also explored the beach and the castle, which really is a 19th century manor house in some nice small gardens atop the low cliffs.

After the dreaded M25 was behind us, we found our way to St. Albans in Hertfordshire. What a pleasant place! We found the town centre to be lively shopping area, and contain some interesting old buildings, such as the famous clock tower. Just at the back of the town centre is the large medieval abbey, which was wonderful to visit. Inside the abbey there was an fascinating history of the site. Beautiful building! I bought a postcard showing a picture of King Offa (as in 'Offa's Dyke', the old English/Welsh border) as he appears in the Abbey. He founded the place in 793.

We had lunch outside the abbey in the gardens, next to some old grand buildings that made up the local public school. Whilst eating our sandwiches, we noticed a camerman filming some chap dressed as a monk! I wonder if that was for some upcoming documentary? I really should have asked...

A short drive away on the outskirts of St. Albans are the remains of the old Roman town, known as 'Verulamium'. This was one of the main settlements in Roman time, and famous for being sacked by Boudica. There is a wonderful museum built near the centre of the old town, which has detailed re-creations of Roman life, and a large collection of pieces, such as pottery and coins on show. Also, they have a large mosiac to see there. The musem itself is located on the edge of what is a now a huge park with playing fields. In the centre of these fields is a perfectly preserved Roman mosiac which used to be in a villa. The mosiac is now covered by a modern building for the protection of the floor and also keeping tourists dry and out of the wind. It was fascinating to see the detailed geometrical work on Roman mosiacs: they are really quite beautiful. On the edge of the fields back towards the town are some remains of the old Roman wall, but we didn't go out there. As we didn't have much time, we decided to go into the museum instead of crossing the road to see the remains of the amphitheatre - we'll go there another day. I bought a map of Roman Britain in the museum. It'll help plan future day trips!

The drive home was ok, we got back tired but happy. Fun little trip!

Happy New Year!

I know 2009 is a few days old now, but Happy New Year anyway!

Well, we had a nice relaxing Christmas and New Year break, and got a lot of film and TV watching in, and relaxing by not going to work! I managed to stay awake and watch the impressive fireworks from central London (launched from and around the London Eye) which was broadcast as part of the usual crappy new year show BBC1 puts out around midnight. Amazing feat that, as the cheap wine from earlier had gone to my head and I was really tired! The Mrs. saw some of it, but she missed the end.

I also got a chance to visit my parents for a weekend in the holidays. It was a long drive, but the roads were generally ok to deal with in both directions. Shame I had to drive in the dark on the way back, but at least the weather was ok. When I was there, I got them a digital TV set top box, so at last they can get channel 5 without the speckles, and watch repeats on ITV4. Also, I went around to see my pal Kevin and he showed me his spanking new Panasonic Blu-ray player and TV setup. I have to say, the demo he gave me by playing the end sequence of the "2001: A Space Odyssey" disc was amazing. With the lights off, that stargate did my head in a bit. You don't need illegal drugs to trip when you have this!! :)

Oh, as for Christmas presents, Carla got me a fab gift, the "Starsky and Hutch" series 1-4 DVD box set. So far, we are about a third of the way through series 1. Great stuff, I really love that series, it's definitely one of my favourites. Funny, action packed, and the stars David Soul (Hutch), Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky), and Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear) are really cool to watch, even if it's all a bit camp. I joked that we should get our little Ford KA re-sprayed in that 1975 Gran Torino red and white as seen here!

I got some other cheapish DVDs recently, the first was a box set of Doug McClure family adventure films from the 70's: "The Land that Time Forgot", "At the Earth's Core", and "Warlords of Atlantis". All fun B-movies that have played on television loads of times (in fact, the latter two were on over Christmas!) I love the rubber monsters and bad back projection, the unconvincing fist fights, the minor British TV stars acting in character roles, and the ample cleavage on show from starlets of the time such as Caroline Munro and Lea Brodie. Well, I watched the first one I grabbed out of the box and that happened to be "Atlantis". I'm looking forward to seeing the other two films soon, and picking up "The People That Time Forgot" as well. I'll write about my other recent DVDs in the next posting.

"The Day The Earth Stood Still" and Happy Xmas!

Firstly, a happy Christmas to all!





***

Last Sunday, we went to see the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" at our local Odeon cinema. As we caught the 1:30pm screening, it was nigh on empty in the cinema, which I prefer as you don't get crowds of people making noise, and of course you have the pick of the seats! Cold in there though! I guess they don't turn the heating on until the evening. I was interested in seeing this remake as I have been a fan of the original 1951 version for many years: it's certainly one of the better sci-fi films of that period, alongside "Forbidden Planet" and "Earth vs the Flying Saucers". When we got home, we watched the original over dinner to do some comparisons.

I had read a few average/poor reviews of the film on-line, so I wasn't expecting much. Thankfully, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, even though it may have shortcomings in terms of its script and characterisations. The film roughly follows the plot of the original: an alien ambassador comes to earth to warn the human race about impending doom, due to man's destructive nature. In the original version, which was filmed at the height of the cold war, it was all about a potential third world war, but the new version takes on an environmental stance.

The film takes place in the New York/New Jersey area (it was Washington DC in the 1951 version) and after the alien spacecraft arrives in Central Park, various scientist types including Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) investigate in cool space suits. The spherical craft soon reveals a messenger, initially a very alien looking character, but who turns out to be human-like Klaatu (Keanu Reeves). The military attempts to deal with this in their usual gung-ho manner, even though Klaatu makes no aggressive move - he is shot by some trigger happy grunt. Soon GORT, his giant protective robot, appears and all hell breaks loose. Klaatu is taken into custody, he is operated on to remove the bullet, and the interrogation begins...

The film deals with what would happen if a superior intelligence decided that 'enough is enough', and took action against us and our self destructive ways. Its main focus is on Klaatu and the replationship between him and Benson, and her stepson. We get the US military trying to blow things up, which heralds some impressive CGI visuals, huge robot GORT destroying a wide swathe of the NE of the USA in a bizarre way, images of world-wide panic, and Keanu speaking a few sentences of Chinese! Oh, and John Cleese appears as a scientist in one scene. However, this version ends a little bleaker compared to the original. I won't give it away, but it I felt the ending was a really interesting and satisfying twist on the original. Special effects are very good throughout the film.

I suppose the main criticism of the new version would be its 'dumbed down' approach to how Klaatu deals with his important mission. As the American military won't let him see the UN, the aliens decide to rid the world of humans (oh, and rescue some plants and animals along the way). Well, fair enough I suppose. But when our alien visitor sees 'the other side' - the caring side - of humanity, specifically in the relationship between Benson and her stepson, he sort of changes his mind and things develop slightly differently. Maybe that element was a bit wishy-washy, as surely the aliens would know about all facets of humanity if we had been studied for years? You could argue that Michael Rennie, who played Klaatu in the 1951 version, had more emotion and depth in his performance, and the atmosphere in the film was handled better by a better director (Robert Wise). Anyway, Keanu Reeves gives his usual 'limited' performance, but here he is fine as the cold alien messenger I felt, and he looked good in a suit. Jennifer Connelly is always good to watch, even though she seems to get thinner with each film, and thankfully her stepson in the film, played by Jaden Smith (Will Smith's son), isn't annoying. Overall, an entertaining film. I'll definitely buy it for my DVD collection next year so I have both versions on the shelf next to each other.

You can read Carla's thoughts on the film here.

"Beware of the blob...."

We watched a couple of old sci-fi movies today after lunch: "The Blob" (1958) and "Demon Seed" (1977).

"The Blob" is very entertaining spoof of alien invasion paranoia and teenage delinquency - imagine a mix of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Crawling Eye" with elements of "Rebel without a Cause". Add a 28 year old Steve McQueen ('and exciting young actors', as the trailer says) playing a teenager and you've got this film that I love! I've always found it great to watch, particularly as part of a late night 50's sci-fi film session. The opening theme song by Burt Bacharach retains a quirky charm all of it's own. So, what happens? A meteorite crashes outside a small American town: the meteorite reveals an alien creature that goes around absorbing human victims. Teenagers investigate and warn the town. Steve McQueen saves the day with a fire extinguisher. Have a look here for some more details.




In one of the most memorable scenes from the film, the 'blob' attacks a cinema. Cue shrieking 'thirty'-boppers!




"Demon Seed "is a much darker film, about a super computer named 'Proteous IV'
that becomes so powerful, that it develops it's own emotions and thought processes. It wishes to fully understand humans and does so by creating one. It achieves this by impregnating the estranged wife of the scientist who invented it. Julie Christie (pictured) plays Susan, who becomes the mother of the hybrid baby. Susan is entrapped in her home by the computer, and forced to do its bidding. Proteous IV even murders a scientist who tries to aid her escape. Eventually, the authorities decide to shut the crazed machine down, but Proteous IV finds a way to survive.....

The film takes a very bleak look at the then 'new' science of computers, typical of the era it was released in. Computers in 1970's cinema still belonged alongside evil robots and mad scientists! Overall, I quite like the film, although it does fall into over-long psychedelic weirdness in a couple of places. I guess the director was trying to achieve some sort of visual 'high art' with lasers and early examples of computer graphics.....or copy the end sequence of "2001: A Space Odyssey". Demon Seed features a cold but engaging performance from Julie Christie, who is fine as the grieving mother (the character had lost a daughter to leukaemia, and was going through marital problems) entrapped by the computer.

Right, I'm off to watch another old sci-fi film now, called "Silent Running".

The NEC Memorabilia show and our latest DVDs

I went to the Memorabilia show at Birmingham's NEC yesterday: the large TV and film collectors event. It was quite fun, especially as I was lucky enough to meet up with a few friends there (one who was in a full "Star Wars" costume - see picture on the right.) The place seemed to be busy so I guess that was good for the organisers. I went for one autograph, that of actor Julian Glover who appeared in "The Empire Strikes Back", "For Your Eyes Only", and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" etc. He was quite fun to chat to. I got Julian to sign my old "Empire Strikes Back" storybook, where all of my "Empire" related signatures are.

Today has been really lazy for us, but that's due to the bad weather outside -- no need to go anywhere when it's windy, raining and snowing!

Last week we watched "The Mist" on DVD, a cheap but effective horror flick based on Steven King's book. It wasn't that scary, and there were some poor CGI shots, but the film had an interesting concept and the ending was a grotesque twist. We both enjoyed it! We also sat through the remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" which was ok at best, but was an incipid version of the 1974 original. Jessica Biel made a good 'final girl' though. I also bought "Silent Running", an early 70's sci-fi feature starring Bruce Dern and three cute robots. We'll watch that at some point. Hopefully the other DVD I ordered - "The Blob" - will be here soon.

A visit home, and some board games from the past.

On Monday of this week, I drove home to see my mum and dad for a couple of days. It was nice to see them again, help out a bit with various chores, and take my dad shopping to some of the shops he can't usually get to. I also drove him down to the sea-front, which was nice as he has difficulty getting out and about these days due to ill-health, and he has always loved the sea and beach. I was also able to sort out the problems with the 'projection ratio' on their new rented TV. Nobody looks stretched anymore!

The drive there and back was ok -- about four hours each way. When I left on Tuesday afternoon, I was driving pretty much straight west, so I had the full blast of low angle winter sun in my eyes! At one point, the sun was right at the end of the road, glowing large and red! It looked like poster for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", especially as this was at a straight section of the A143, and the setting was rural. If I had my camera with me, I may well have tried to stop somewhere and photograph it.

When I was at my parents' house, I discovered two of my old boardgames in the attic, and I decided to bring them back with me to play. They could be handy if we get visitors at weekends, or maybe to play over Xmas. These were "Creature Castle" and "Tank Commander", both dating from the 1970's. Thankfully both are complete and in very good condition.

Carla and I just had a quick game of "Creature Castle", which is a fun (if simplistic) little game. We weren't really prepared for the 'been in the attic for twenty-five years musty smell' coming from the packaging, board and cards though! *cough* oh well. You play classic 'Hammer horror style' characters who have to escape from the evil castle, by playing various cards which allows progress along the castle's corridors, and thus to freedom. I played as 'Igor' and only just won the game ahead of Carla, playing as 'Zelda'.

'Tank Commander' is a simple strategy war game, where you have to defeat your enemy by destroying their tanks before they destroy yours. We'll play that at some point. As a kid, I loved the little plastic tanks and trucks you move across the big fold out board.

Oh, Carla showed me the very basics of a 'kettlebell' workout this morning, and I practised some of the techniques. I'm going to try fifteen minute workout with the 8 kilo bell tomorrow! I'm sure it will do me the world of good.

Right, off now to watch (from the window) yet more fireworks going off in our area!

Halloween pumpkins, a collectors show at Coventry Football club, and Daniel Craig!

Last Friday, Halloween, I was able to get out of work a bit early, and after a doctors visit and a little shopping, head off home to get the house ready. I put up my usual array of halloween decorations, mostly comprimising of pumpkins in various guises that I've collected over the years, including two new real ones that I carved. Of course, we had to name them after Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross this year! The display was ok, but I think previous years have been better. Never mind, it looked ok.

Carla and her work pal Teresa were at a work event until 8pm (see her blog), so I went and picked them after that and then we all came back to the flat to have a bit of a horror film session! Whilst eating a schlubby dinner of saugages and chips, and then cake to follow, the three of us watched the DVD of the John Carpenter 1978 film, "Halloween" (this DVD version contains four new scenes, which were actually shot for the 1980 TV screening) as it was the film's 30th anniversary, and it being the proper night and all, it seemed appropriate! Also, Teresa had never seen it, so it was interesting to show this classic to a new viewer! As Carla says, it's good to analyse a 'classic' and explain to somebody new why it was a success - the most successfuly independent released film of all time - an honour it held for about twelve years. I love the film, even though I have some issues with the plot, because Carpenter has a wonderful skill of achieving a creepy atmosphere through moody photography, and simple yet effective theme music. The way the film is edited builds the tension slowly. Anyway, after the film finished, I was all up for watching "Halloween II", but Teresa had to go, so I lent it to her the DVD instead (she hadn't seen that either!) Maybe I can get her to watch "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (a guilty pleasure of mine - I love that film even though everyone else thinks its rubbish!)

On Saturday, our pal Mandy came down to stay, and we went off to the 'Collectormania Midlands' event, held at the Coventry Ricoh Arena. At the show we met up with our friends Kevin and Gerald. Like the last one held there I went to, it was a bit quiet, but fun to attend. It was the usual mix of dealers selling old and new tv/film related merchandise, and had the added attraction of some celebrities signing autographs. As the leading guest was Dirk Benedict from the "A-Team" and "Battlestar Galactica", the organisers had two "A-Team" original vehicles on show, the van and the corvette. My pal Kevin was in his element getting Dirk's autograph and having a picture with the van! We also went to a free talk by Dirk, where he rambled on a bit about various things including his son playing for Southend United Football club, and how Mr T and George Peppard didn't talk to each other on the set of the "A-Team" - quite a mix! After the show, we all went back to the flat for a bit of a chat and drink (and to finish the cake!)

After Kevin and Gerald left, and after a quick dinner, the three of us headed off to the cinema to see the latest James Bond flick, "Quantum of Solace", which was released the day before. It had been raining heavily since the early evening, which put a damper on the local authority-organised firework display which we passed. At the cinema, we ran from the car trying not to get too wet. Unfortunately, as we just turned up at the cinema without booking, we had to sit only five rows from the front, which made the screen very big and too close for our liking. Oh well.

The film picks up 'about an hour' after the the last scene in "Casino Royale". We see James Bond in a high octane car chase on the Italian coast. Well, I say 'see', because to be honest, I couldn't make out what on earth was going on for that whole opening sequence. It was edited very choppy and fast - too fast! Anyway, I was irritated by that, and the film seemed to be playing ok in the non-action sequences, but every time there was a chase, fight, explosion etc, the director and editor seemed to go a bit over the top with the fast editing. Arrgrghh!! Films that give me a headache in the opening five minutes don't really appeal.

The most effective part of this rather disjointed (and ultimately disappointing) film was the opera scene, which was very thrilling and well thought out. Funnily enough, his choppy editing style worked at this point. So, to sum up....the plot? Fine - an interesting continuation of the first film. Acting, locations, photography, sound, visual effects, all good. Editing on the action scenes? DREADFUL. That's a word you don't want to appear in an action film. It would have been nice just to have some of the action scenes edited like previous Bond pictures. If somebody could re-edit the action scenes to tone down the over the top cross-cutting, it would be a 10/10 movie. I'll give it 6/10 until that happens. Shame.

Hmm, I'm thinking the film might work better on the small screen. We'll see when the DVD comes out.

Sunday was a lazy day. I wandered into town after Mandy left, and picked up the DVD of "Star Wars: Robot Chicken": the silly frame by frame animation show, which in this episode lampoons all things "Star Wars". I adore the Jar Jar Binks/Darth Vader skit when Binks dies and comes back as a Jedi ghost. "Mee-sa all spark-lee glow-ee!" After that, we watched another DVD, the 1960 drama "Peeping Tom" - a superb (if unsettling) tale of a deranged film-maker, Mark Lewis (played with surprising sympathy by the excellent Carl Boehm - pictured on the right with glamour model Pamela Green) who murders women and films their deaths in order to catch their fear on film, all to become "a martyr to psychology". A stunning film. The old Channel 4 documentary included on the DVD was very interesting as well - particularly the piece about the negative reaction to the film on its original release.

"Allo Allo" on the stage

On Wednesday afternoon of last week, we went to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry to see the matinee performance of "Allo Allo". This is the stage version of the successful BBC TV comedy series of the 1980's, set in World War II France. The stage show stars Vicki Michelle (Yvette, the maid) and Jeffrey Holland (café owner René Artois) who was a star of BBC's "Hi-De-Hi!". Original writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft have returned to put the script together, although they have resumed the "painting in the sausage" plot that seemed to dominate the series!

The usual innuendos and silliness were to be found in abundance in the two hour show. At one point, Monsieur Leclerc disguised himself as a "simple parrot salesman" and what followed were gags about "a cock or two". There were funny, if rather rude sequences with Rene, Yvette and Officer Crabtree doing something suggestive with a blow-up Hitler. At one point, René had a giant knockwurst under his apron and it kept rising up, much to the amazement of Lt. Gruber! Helga (played very well by Nell Jerram) performed a burlesque style strip as Herr Flick played on his violin - of course, we then had a gag about his g-string snapping! Rene's wife Edith performed a cabaret style singing act which was dreadful, but that's what it was supposed to be like!

It was nice to see Vicki Michelle involved as I loved her in the original show. She still looks really good after all of these years! The performances were OK, although certainly not as strong as the original TV cast. I felt that Nell Jerram gave the best performance of any of the new actors. Jeffrey Holland was fine, although maybe not as humorous to look at as Gordon Kaye. Maybe a two hour show is too long to sustain the humour, as I felt it was running out of steam a while before the end. Also, I felt the British airman characters were underused. Shame also that one of the prop based gags didn't work (an small explosion failed to go off). Anyway, here is a review, which I partially agree with, although whatever faults the production has, I certainly enjoyed going to see it!

We got tickets on the afternoon, although I was surprised at how busy the matinee show was, and that the majority of the audience were over 50! Also, I was pleased to see how easy it was to get there and park up in the new multi-storey car park at the back of the theatre. It looks as if that area of the city centre is going through a major re-development. Quite a fun afternoon out!

So....when is "Son of Rambo" set?

Last week we completed watching the "Rambo" DVD box set, and thoroughly enjoyable that was too! The new film was pretty good (if short) but very brutal in it's depiction of death (arms and legs fly everywhere, people get blown to bits in glorious hollywood gore etc.) Great to see Stallone do a new one, as I'm a big fan of the character. The DVD of number 4 also included some interesting 'making off's' as well.

Anway, to round off the week, Carla rented "Son of Rambo", a comedy set in the early 80's which tells the tale of two school boys who become friends as they make a film based on their experience of watching "First Blood". We both enjoyed it. Certainly had great moments of both comedy and drama. I liked the characters - they seemed to be well written.

However, I was a little annoyed with the mish-mash of 1980's details. The film-makers could have cleared that up by putting a date at the start of the film, and trying to be as accurate with those details as possible. When exactly was this film set? "First Blood" started playing in UK cinemas from the tail end of 1982 or early 1983 (I'm not sure, but the BBFC website states that it was classified as a "15" certificate in November of 1982 so the release would be shortly after.) Anyway, the next film we see at that cinema in the film a couple of weeks later is "Yentl", which wasn't released until the end of 1983/early 1984. So...as the film is set in early summer, is it set in the summer of 1984? Ok, if that is the case, why then in one scene do we hear "I Can't Wait" by the group Nu Shooz playing on the radio, when that song was actually released in May/June 1986? A date of summer 1986 would better suit the car/mobile phone the older brother has. But that seems a little late for either film to be showing at the cinema, even a provincial one, unless they were both on re-issue? "First Blood" was released sometime in 1983 on video rental (in pre BBFC certificate form) and then again around Xmas 1986 with proper BBFC approved certification, so if the film is set in the summer of 1984 or after, there would be no point in pirating the film from a cinema screening. Also, I seem to recall that school kids didn't really get into the whole 'Rambo' thing until 1985, the time when “Rambo: First Blood Part 2” was released to huge success - certainly that's when the media started to show kids putting their school ties around their heads. Of course, many of those kids would have seen "First Blood" on video by then anyway.

I wish film makers would get things right!

Rambo DVD

Carla kindly bought me the "Ultimate Rambo Collection" DVD box set, as it was cheap in HMV. I've been meaning to pick this set up for some time, as I've been a fan of the films for many years and look forward to seeing Stallone in action again in the new one. We just watched "First Blood", the first film originally relased in October 1982. This feature is still a powerful and exciting action film that doesn't let up for it's 90 minute run time. Good performances from Stallone as John Rambo, the crazed Vietnam war veteran, Richard Crenna (a late replacment for Kirk Douglas) in the role of Col. Trautman, and Brian Dennehey as the small town sherrif. There is a little documentary on the DVD covering the making and release of the film, and quite a few of the people involved with the production are interviewed, such as director Ted Kotcheff and the producers Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna. The documentary also includes photos of the cut John Rambo 'death' scene.

We'll watch the rest of the box set this week. Nice set....wierd packaging though!

An interesting article about the films is located here.

Shogun DVD

The Mrs. bought "Shogun" on DVD (from play) and it arrived today. We started watching the series this evening, and have just finished the first two-hour episode. Wow, its good!
"Shogun" is an all-star cast mini series, based on the novel by James Cavell, and first shown on US TV in September 1980. The 80's was the time for the high budget mini series: "The Winds of War" is another great example. Anyhoo, "Shogun" follows the story of a English sailor, Pilot-Major John Blackthorne (played by Richard Chamberlain) who is shipwrecked on the Japanese coast in 1600. The series follows his adventures in this new land, as he tries to survive death by the hands of the samurai, meglomaniac warlords, and scheming jesuit priests. We also see him becoming to understand the japanese culture and way of life. Cracking stuff! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series over the next few days.

This disc set is really good. Looks as if they have included a 'making of' disc as well, which we'll get to eventually!
Oh, we had a japanese style dinner as well, to eat as we watched the DVD. :)

The Clone Wars, and some other stuff

On Thursday we went into Birmingham for a mooch about and shop, and over Friday and Saturday we made two trips into London. Friday's trip was to investigate 'The Japan Centre', a shop and restaurant that specialises in all things Japanese, as well as looking around Chinatown for various bits and pieces. Carla will cover all of this on her blog soon, and I'll link to it then. Saves typing!

Having stayed with a friend (who lives closer to London than we do) on Friday night, the three of us went back down to London on the Saturday morning to meet up with a large group of our friends, to see the newly released "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". After meeting up at Waterloo station, we had a little picnic lunch (Carla and I got ours at 'Planet Organic') in the beautiful Victoria Embankment Gardens near Embankment Underground station. Thankfully the weather had improved from earlier that day, and it was warm and sunny. We all had a nice chat there before the film - a good way to catch up.

We caught the 2:15pm showing at Vue West End in Leicester Square. The trailers were pretty lame, so I was eager for the film to start! The story picks up after the end of "Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones" with the Clone Wars in their first phase....

Ok, so the 20th Century Fox logo has been replaced with the Warner Bros. one, and there was no opening crawl, but after that you are into the usual mix of Jedi knights fighting with lightsabres, huge space battles, and Yoda talking backwards.

Anyway, here is a review from SFX magazine which I'm pretty happy with.

Hutts (including the infamous Jabba) feature heavily in this film. Jabba's son Rotta (aka 'Stinky' or 'Punky-muffin'!) the Huttlet, made me smile, as did Ziro - a sleaze who does a remarkable Truman Capote impression. I thought the animation was pretty good, if not ground-breaking ("Wall-E" did that this year), but it is part of a weekly cartoon series so on TV, it's going to look wonderful! I really liked Ahsoka Tano, a sprightly Jedi apprentice to an initially doubtful Anakin Skywalker. The many battle scenes were pretty exciting, and there were some cleverly designed shots in all of that CGI. Most of all, I found the film great fun, because it was action packed and not bogged down with boring political sequences which slowed down the prequels. I'm definitely looking forward to the weekly episodes!

The cinema had the volume up too loud though, which made it a little uncomfortable to bear in the middle of the noisy battle scenes. Oh well, I can still hear 24 hours later, so that's OK.

After the film, we went to The Angel pub in in Holborn for a quick post film chit-chat. After about an hour, several of us left to make the long trip home. All in all, a fun couple of days. I enjoyed the film and it was nice to see our pals again.

The front of the Vue cinema. Kung Fu Panda takes on Hellboy, with Yoda's help! ---->