WAIT, WHAT’S THIS? YOU JUST READ AN ORWELL BIOGRAPHY
Yes, this is a different one. This is the Authorised Biography.
ARE YOU SERIOUSLY ASKING US TO BELWAIT, WHAT’S THIS? YOU JUST READ AN ORWELL BIOGRAPHY
Yes, this is a different one. This is the Authorised Biography.
ARE YOU SERIOUSLY ASKING US TO BELIEVE THAT AFTER 600 PAGES OF ONE ORWELL BIOGRAPHY YOU HAVE NOW READ 500 PAGES OF ANOTHER ONE?
No… I only read some parts of this one.
EXPLAIN
Well when I read the Bernard Crick one he added a chapter at the end where he gets into this big smackdown cage fight with the other guy, Michael Shelden. Harsh words are said and I became intrigued. With these hoity-toity literary nobs you usually don’t find them slagging each other off.
I SEE THAT SHELDEN’S ONE IS CALLED “THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY”
Yes – that’s the kiss of death for me. Why do they call biographies “authorised”? Isn’t it like saying “the widow and the family have okayed this snow job, everything embarrassing has been removed”? I always avoid authorised biographies.
WHAT’S THIS FIGHT ALL ABOUT THEN?
Well when Sonia Orwell decided there should be a biography she picked Crick to do it, in the late 70s. So he was the authorised guy. But when she read his book she hated it (“too political, too dry and too unsympathetic”) so she de-authorised him! And tried to stop him publishing it! But she had lost the contract she had with him! Literally! Couldn’t find it! So he went right ahead. Then she died. 11 years later Shelden popped up with his authorised one in which he trashed Crick, then Crick republished his book in which he trashed Selden. Pistols at dawn.
WHAT DID CRICK SAY?
He moans that Shelden engaged in “aggressive commercial rivalry”. “He acts as if scholarship is a boxing ring”. But more to the point this whole fight is between two incompatible ideas of what biography should be. Crick says
I grew to be sceptical of much of the fine writing, balanced appraisal and psychological insight that is the hallmark of the English tradition of biography
and more :
readers should realise that they are often being led by the nose or that the biographer is fooling himself by an affable pretence of being able to enter into another person’s mind.
And
I realise that the externality of my method runs the risk that I appear unsympathetic to Orwell
Crick thinks you should report what the person did and wrote and what happened to them. Psychology is out. This is why Sonia thought it was “dry”. Having read it I kinda see her point. There are juicy bits of Orwell’s life that Crick scuttles away from. For instance the embarrassing period after his first wife’s death when he went round proposing marriage to no less than four women, one time using the come-on “would you like to be the widow of a literary man?” and on more than one occasion physically grabbing and pawing them. This sexual harrassment is in Sheldon and not in Crick.
WHY DID SONIA SCREAM AT CRICK “OF COURSE HE SHOT A FUCKING ELEPHANT”?
Crick hemmed and hawed about whether you should take some of the essays Orwell wrote to be the literal truth – his memoir of his prep school was one he doubted, and “Shooting an Elephant” was another.
Sonia Orwell once screamed across the table at Bertorelli’s (to the delight of other clients) “Of course he shot a fucking elephant!” I said that none of the old hands could remember such a remarkable incident and I’d searched the Rangoon Gazette in vain. “Bloody fact-grubber!”
AH YES, SONIA
She is included in the amusing memoir by David Plante called Difficult Women. He says
Sonia was naturally ill-tempered, as if just having to live, day after day, were reason enough .
Crick gives a great example
She drank a great deal and was either shouting at me “Can’t we have lunch like two friends without your taking bloody notes all the time like a policeman?” or demanding “Why am I wasting my bloody time giving you all this when you are not taking a single fucking note!”
There are ten or so pages just about Sonia in Shelden’s book – they’re fun but Crick is quite right to say that a biography of Orwell shouldn’t be about what his widow did after he died, should it? (Sonia was married to Orwell for a whole three months.) There’s something funny here though – Sonia thought Crick was too dry and unemotional; his replacement Selden takes his time to pretty much trash her as an obnoxious gold digger and that the marriage was a fairly cold blooded deal between the two of them (“He needed someone to take care of him and help him stay alive and the reward would be the income from his books”). Sheldon later says
In the meantime Sonia tried to make a new life for herself, with the help of Orwell’s money. Her period of mourning was short.
DEAR GOODREADERS
It’s quite possible that Sheldon’s biography is way more amusing than the one I read....more
I got hooked on watching a show from around ten years ago called Hoarders. As you may imagine from the title, this is about people who are the polar oI got hooked on watching a show from around ten years ago called Hoarders. As you may imagine from the title, this is about people who are the polar opposite of tidy. If you, dear Goodreader, exploded a bomb inside your house, the resulting vista of destruction would still be 100% more organised than these hoarders.
I realised that I myself hoard books. But very neatly. Most of them are in the loft. The first section is fiction, arranged, obviously, by author’s last name. I’ve read all these. I am thinking that Marie Kondo might possibly give me a hard time about that. She could reasonably ask why I need to keep those, since there is no possibility I could ever have the time to reread any of them, and in any case, I rated quite a few of them one or two stars, so why would I ever want to. This is where me and the hoarders are not so far apart. They keep stuff they won’t ever use, they seem to imagine vaguely that they will be able to live another hundred years and be able to get round to all these projects and sort out all these towering piles of broken furniture and rain damaged guitars and patch all those rat-gnawed doileys.
In the fiction section those names beginning with Mc give me mild anxiety – should I assume there is an A between the M and the c? If I don’t those authors will find themselves exiled from their clan members whose names begin Mac. So I assume, but trepidaciously. The short story collections come at the end of the fiction section. There is no sensible way of ordering them. Very sorry but no one remembers who edits an anthology so their names are useless. After fiction comes Memoirs, Politics, Theology and History. These have their own idiosyncrasies which I shan’t bore you with. After those comes some great shelves of graphic novels and then science fiction followed by my Shelf of Shame : true crime. I’m sure Ray Bradbury shudders to find himself within arm’s reach of John Wayne Gacy (whereas Kurt Vonnegut smiles sardonically) but I am not running Borges’ Library of Babel here. So that is the loft.
Downstairs you will find bookcases dedicated to biographies (arranged alphabetically by subject name not by author name), books about books, and books about music. There are memoirs and biographies in the music book section – I know! What a contradiction! Shouldn’t the music biographies be shelved with all the other biographies? Should Joni Mitchell come between Grace Metalious and Anais Nin? How delicious!. Should Captain Beefheart interpose himself between Samuel Beckett and Saul Bellow? Perish the thought. So after much head scratching I assigned the musicians to their own ghetto. Then finally I have some shelves dedicated to those most intimidating books of all – the To Be Reads. They glower at me every day. I know what they are thinking – why haven’t you read me yet? Eight years I have been patiently waiting! Am I no longer pretty enough? Some of the older ones watch newer arrivals plucked off the tbr shelf almost immediately – I can hear their pages gnashing.
I’m almost sure Marie Kondo would tell me point blank to get rid of half of these books. So I’ll put my copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up carefully on my tbr shelf and benignly ignore it for a few years....more
Chop Shop (2007) The House Of Hummingbird (2018) Rocks (2019) The Father (2020)
Regarding the last one – I thought I had seen enough Alzheimer movies (all of which feature terrific performances) but this one is on a different level, much more bracing, much less sentimental, and for my money, far better.
SOME GREAT OLDER MOVIES
Safety Last Harold Lloyd hanging off a skyscraper
Panic In The Streets Richard Widmark trying to find Patient Zero who has plague
Easy Living Just when you thought you’d seen all the great screwball comedies
Five Star Final 1931 drama about the tabloid press exposing someone’s past criminal acts – this exact thing happens these days, with the same consequences.
Le Million Utterly delightful early French farce with some silly songs
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner I thought I didn’t need to see this one as I knew the story, but how wrong can you be, it was mesmerising. All about a boy’s prison in the early 60s. Compare this with Scum made in the late 70s – things got a lot worse! [image] Dinner At Eight Again, I thought it would be predictable and not that funny. Again, wrong!
FOUR FABULOUS FOREIGN FILMS
The Tree Of Wooden Clogs (1978 , Italy) Sometimes those lists of greatest films ever come up with yet another dismal Robert Bresson film, and sometimes they come up with something you would never have otherwise watched, like this one all about 19th century Italian peasants.
Lilya-4-Ever (2002, Sweden) About a trafficked 16 year old girl, a real heartbreaker.
Taxi (2015, Iran) Not to be confused with Taxi, Taxi Driver, The Taxi Driver or Night on Earth which is all about taxis and their drivers. This one is about an Iranian director Jafar Panahi who was banned from making films by the government so he pretended to be a taxi driver and made a film of his various conversations with people about the problems of modern Iran.
THREE WILDLY OVERPRAISED MOVIES
The Artist
The Shining This was the most famous movie I had never seen, having taken over from Gone with the Wind. I thought I had but I hadn’t.
Limelight Ugh, what a corny old load of bollocks.
INSUFFERABLE HOLLYWOOD TRASH
Baby Doll Has to be seen to be believed, but don’t see it!
Love In The Afternoon One of the Bad Billy Wilders, featuring a hot romance between Gary Cooper (aged 56) and Audrey Hepburn (aged 27). Classic Hollywood all right.
A REALLY GRUESOME TRUE CRIME MOVIE
The Golden Glove [image] TWO HILARIOUS LOOPY HORROR MOVIES
Be My Cat Why Don’t You Just Die
FOUR UNMISSABLE DOCUMENTARIES
Collective In which a Romanian night club fire scandal then uncovers a much larger public health scandal. Quite horrifying.
The Act Of Killing Land Without Bread The War Game
I think there might be something wrong with Amazon's search engine. When I entered this exact title into the books section the first thing to come up I think there might be something wrong with Amazon's search engine. When I entered this exact title into the books section the first thing to come up was this book itself (great! but too expensive...) but the second thing to come up was Natures Aid PremEeze Agnus Castus, Relief of Premenstrual Symptoms (PMS), Vegan, 60 Capsules, which is not a book (but it is quite affordable).
And the third thing that came up was He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo . I'm wondering if that isn't some sly cyber-comment on humanity's continually disappointing relationship with the Divine....more
I just came across a quote from Celeste Ng which pretty much sums this thing up for me. She admitted she couldn't finish it and added :
What really fruI just came across a quote from Celeste Ng which pretty much sums this thing up for me. She admitted she couldn't finish it and added :
What really frustrates me about it is that, for centuries, extremely average straight white men get volumes to tell every detail of their lives, while stories by anyone else have to fight to be published at all....more
News Of The World This was the film of one of those modern westerns I like so much. Downside was that it starred the often tiresome Tom Hanks. But no problem, he was very good. And the movie was nearly as good as the book.
A Simple Plan From 1998 so not very new. The book takes an idea which has been used a lot of times before and does it right, and all the film has to do is follow the book page for page, and it does.
Pariah Promising Young Woman Judas and the Black Messiah
NEW OR NEWISH : THE REST
I Care A Lot This is about an obscure aspect of the American legal system (guardianship or conservatorship) which if true is mind-boggling. I was thinking that surely this movie exaggerates a lot, but then the whole Britney Spears thing came up in the news, so maybe it’s true. The movie has some flaws but it’s almost a must-see.
Shiva Baby After The Storm Nobody Lone Star The Father The White Tiger A Quiet Place Part 2 Pieces Of A Woman Nomadland The Nightingale Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
FOREIGN : THE GREAT
a must-see trilogy by Abbas Kiarostami:
Where Is The Friend’s House And Life Goes On Through The Olive Trees These are interlinked in a unique way. The first one is a charming story of a kid who is trying to return a forgotten homework book to his friend who lives in the next village. That movie was made in 1987. Three years later there was a disastrous earthquake and Kiarostami became very concerned about the survival of the children in his movie so he went looking for them. Turned out they were okay. So the second film is about his fraught with difficulty road trip to try to find these kids. The third film is about two of the actors who played one scene in the second film, and why they were such trouble.
Two more great movies about kids :
The White Balloon Also by Kiarostami – I really discovered him this year!
L’enfance Nue This is like a non-cute version of The 400 Blows. Probably my movie of the year so far.
These are all highly recommended:
Farewell My Concubine Germany Year Zero Mephisto Central Station The Baker’s Wife Winter Sleep Before The Rain The Handmaiden A Special Day Il Posto
THE NOT GREAT
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Why this boring supernatural slo-mo silliness transfixed the critics is way beyond me.
Le Samourai Another critical all time top movie I thought was an empty exercise in gangster chic
SOME GREAT CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
Baby Face Ball Of Fire Brute Force Stage Door Night And The City Employees Entrance A Night To Remember Panic In The Streets
SOME STRANGE STUFF FROM HERE AND THERE
My Dinner With Andre Could this be the most boring movie ever? Well, no, but it’s surely in the top five. A real time two hour restaurant conversation between two very tiresome artsyfartsy guys in New York. Kill me now.
Sweet Movie This should be seen to be believed but half an hour will be enough…. From the imdb plot summary : She moves to an anarchic community of sodomy and later she becomes an actress working in a erotic chocolate advertisement. Meanwhile, the revolutionary, pedophile, and mad killer Anna Planeta makes candy in her boat while sailing through the canals of a city that seems to be Amsterdam.
The Boy Friend Gummo Ken Park Bronson Buffalo 66
ONE BEAUTIFUL DOCUMENTARY
Kedi This is all about the thousands of street cats of Istanbul. They are so cute and charming and the lovely people of Istanbul take collective care of them.
In the olden days they used to come up with beautiful evocative titles for movies – Drums Along the Mohawk, Each Dawn I Die, Whistle Down the Wind, Closely Observed Trains…. Now every other movie is The something or just one word titles – recently I saw Loveless, Burning, Bait, Excision, Taxidermia, Loving, Lemonade, Youth, Skin, Buried, Poetry, Beast and The Child, The Children, The Master, The Judge, The Return, The Lighthouse… I could go on. You get the picture.
Then there’s the mania for naming films with female first names – Amy, Blanche, Carol, Chloe, Elena, Gilda, Gloria, Greta, Ida, Iris… who can remember these boring titles?
Message to film makers : please, when you finish your movie, spend just a little bit of your time thinking of an interesting title for it, so your audience doesn’t have to struggle to remember it the next day.
2020 JANUARY TO JUNE : CORONA NIGHTS
NEW(ISH) MOVIES : THE GREAT
Import/Export Two and a half hours of Ukrainian misery. Truly grim. Really excellent. Really grim.
The Child This rubbish low-level criminal is truly in love with his girlfriend so when they have a baby together he sells it.
Mary and Max Unique animation, never saw this brilliant style anywhere else.
[image]
Eighth Grade Heartbreaking performance of the year so far.
[image]
Capernaum Joint film of the year so far. It was made in 2018 in Lebanon. There are so many brilliant kid performances in movies (Room, Spirit of the Beehive, 400 Blows) and this is another. Totally unsentimental.
[image]
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Joint movie of the year so far
Parasite Last movie I saw in a cinema before LOCKDOWN.
NEW(ISH) MOVIES : THE GOOD
Uncut Gems My friends hated HATED this movie, it gave them migraines, and I can see that, really I can, but this is a breakneck blistering frantic horrible meltdown of a movie and if you wear earplugs it’s very entertaining.
Skin Billy Elliott is all grown up and is now an American Nazi – I guess you can never predict how things will turn out.
Little Women David Copperfield Bait Non Fiction Elena Beast Poetry Away from Her The Insult Amour Osama 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days The Match Factory Girl The Return Gett :The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem Phantom Thread On Body and Soul
LA FRANCE
Without intending to I saw a lot of old French films. The best two were
A Day in the Country The Mother and the Whore
The first of these was uncompleted, only 40 minutes long, although it’s perfect as it is. The second is three and a half hours of Jean-Pierre Leaud and his two girlfriends droning on about their half-baked ideas on life, love and the universe. These two films could not be more French or more great.
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The other must-see French movies (Must see for people who like French movies, that is.):
Le Cercle Rouge A Heart in Winter Cesar and Rosalie La Belle Noiseuse Les Diaboliques Rififi Casque d’Or Port of Shadows
OTHER OLD MOVIES : THE GREAT
The Spirit of the Beehive Cria Cuervos Alice in the Cities
Strangely, these three all feature brilliant performances by child actors, two by the same girl.
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The Last Days of Disco Metropolitan These last two are the movies that would have resulted if Henry James had been reborn as Brett Easton Ellis.
Raise the Red Lantern
OLD MOVIES : THE BAD
Gone with the Wind Undoubtedly a racist movie. It was the most famous film I had never seen and it was a real eyeful, gorgeous to look at but cringe-making to watch, with all the caricature black slaves happy to serve their white masters but not a single mention of either slavery or why the Civil War was being fought. But plenty of indications that the black people were fine with things just as they were.
The Hustler Everyone loves this cheesy macho dick-waving contest but I thought it was beautifully filmed pretentious wankery.
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Ben Gazarra sweats and suffers for 2 hours 15 minutes but not as much as the audience does as once again we wonder why critics love this achingly slow slice of life improvfest, don’t they have homes to go to ? Everything that happens in this movie happened in three minutes in any episode of The Sopranos. You might say that's not the point, but I would say, yes, that is the point.
Nights of Cabiria Black Narcissus The Leopard Life is Beautiful
NEAT HORROR MOVIES
Midsommar Although this is just an updated even more stylised version of The Wicker Man.
Buried There’s a movie where a guy is stuck in a phone booth for the whole film, and another one where a guy is in a car for the whole film, this is where a guy is in a coffin for the whole film. And there aren’t any other scenes, no flashbacks, nothing.
Capture Kill Release Everybody is fed up of found footage movies but this was cute, a suburban couple decide to murder a random person, just for fun, and film the whole thing, including trips to Walmart to buy axes and drills, etc.
ALSO SEEN – A GALLIMAUFRY OF CINETASTIC SCINTILLATION
Of Human Bondage This is the one where Bette Davis says You cad, you dirty swine! I never cared for you, not once! I was always makin' a fool of ya! Ya bored me stiff; I hated ya! It made me SICK when I had to let ya kiss me. I only did it because ya begged me, ya hounded me and drove me crazy! And after ya kissed me, I always used to wipe my mouth! WIPE MY MOUTH!
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Hail the Conquering Hero Shadow of a Doubt A Blonde in Love Gloria Sunrise Victim Blast of Silence Love and Death Spring Summer Fall Winter …and Spring Babette’s Feast In the Name of the Father The South...more
Greatly disturbed by this question, I had a talk with my cats today. I said look, it's about my eyeballs.
They said - Oh, so you know about theUpdate :
Greatly disturbed by this question, I had a talk with my cats today. I said look, it's about my eyeballs.
They said - Oh, so you know about the eyeball thing. Who told you?
I said It's in this book. Everyone knows now.
They said This is gonna be bad for cats.
I said Look, I like you, I'm a fair person, I want to make a deal. If I predecease you, you can have the eyeballs, I'll bequeath them. But no eating them off my head. They'll be removed by a proper eye doctor in a dignified manner, okay? Plus - if you predecease me, I get your fur for gloves.
They conferred for a while and then we shook on it. I feel a lot better now.
*****************
This is a question I have never asked myself before. So now I need this book to find out the answer.
But wait - I have two cats. If I keel over and expire on the spot one day at home, will they take one eyeball each? Or, as usually happens when I dish up food at the same time, will Hatter scoff his eyeball really quick and then shoulder Miranda out of the way as she is nibbling delicately on her eyeball? And I will not be there to tell him off for his unseemly manners. Well, I will be there, of course, but I won't be functional. Except as lunch.
So - when they look at me, as they often do, are they just eyeing up the eyeballs? Is that all I am to them? So many questions....more
Support The Girls Booksmart - Kind of obvious and kind of frenetically pushing all available modern buttons but still these two movies have got a lot of heart & soul
Tangerine - Four years old but new to me – this is fast and furious and filthy and all shot on iPhones – a modern comedy classic, kind of
El Camino - The Netflix epilogue to Breaking Bad, just what fans wanted
Ready Or Not - A stupid horror movie just like You’re Next. I liked it a lot. Great cinematography. Lotta screaming.
Toy Story 4 - the act you’ve known for all these years.
Marriage Story - Two great performances, for sure.
NEW MOVIES BAD
Charlie Says - Hilarious – Doctor Who (Matt Smith) plays Charles Manson! Must see! The beard takes up most of the screen! But actually, this study of the three central Manson family women is trying hard to say something serious about cults and becoming inured to violence and deprogramming… for a better, less lurid movie on this subject see Martha Marcie May Marlene.
First Reformed - Liked by many but I thought it was a right royal wallow and the ending was reedickerlous.
Blinded By The Light - File next to Yesterday. In this one the British Asian kid is obsessed with Bruce Springsteen, to the consternation of his family. If you were thinking I bet this kid has a nerdy but cool friend and gets a cool girlfriend at the end you would be right. Also file this next to Wild Rose. Three modern British films that are wish fulfilment fantasies about music. Hmmm. And I didn’t see Rocketman.
The Dead Don’t Die - Jim Jarmusch must have some clout to get this zombie uncomedy made. It had two good jokes and it had Bill Murray looking more dead than the zombies.
OLD MOVIES GOOD
These are mostly blindingly obviously great.
La Grande Illusion (1937) Way Out West (1937) Ninotchka (1939) The Great McGinty (1940) Murder My Sweet (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945) - I also saw the Kate Winslett tv series (very good) and I will be reading the James M Cain novel soon & so will become an expert on Mildredology.
The Snake Pit (1948) - Sometimes you think an old Hollywood movie will trot out the cliches of the day about its chosen subject and often you’re right but sometimes, as in this fascinating movie about mental illness, you’re wrong.
The Reckless Moment (1949)
Los Olvidados (1950) - As with La Grande Illusion, when you get round to watching these critically-revered monuments of film culture you are already feeling rather browbeaten and a little bit resentful, but mostly they are on the list of Great Movies because they still have the power to reach out of the screen and shake you by the scruff of your neck. Both these movies did it to me. I was well shook.
Hell Drivers (1957)
The Wrong Arm Of The Law (1963) - Two ancient British movies that are only good if you like corny old British movies. Hell Drivers has an amazing cast : Patrick McGoohan, Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, pre-Bond Sean Connery, Sid James and Alfie Bass
The Servant (1963) - Again, I thought I knew exactly what I was going to get here (homo-erotic sadomasochistic role-switching between master and servant) and I did but there was a whole lot more going on. Really excellent.
Le Bonheur (1965) - Agnes Varda movie beamed down from the Planet France where everything is Very Colourful and all the people are Cute. Underneath the vast prettiness this is a real story about real people, too.
Daisies (1966) - I did not know of this – should be filed next to those other mid-sixties European anarchist movies like WR – Mysteries of the Organism and I Am Curious Yellow. This one is WILD and a must see for any film fan.
The Fireman’s Ball (1967) - A rewatch and still hilariously cringemaking. Also – how much did this movie influence Robert Altman! I think – a lot.
Straw Dogs (1971) The Devils (1971) Dancer In The Dark (2000) Monsoon Wedding (2001) Like Someone In Love (2012)
OLD MOVIES BAD
You Can’t Take It With You (1938) La Ronde (1950)
Shane (1953) - Finally convinced me that I have had it with Western movies. Strangely, I have only recently discovered the sub-genre of modern Western novels such as the Sisters Brothers. I love those but these classic Hollywood Westerns are just ridiculous now, so pompous.
Paris Nous Appartient (1961)
Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) - This could also fit into the Old Movies Good category but really there are so many things that capsize it – Mickey Rooney’s famously racist comedy Japanese man; all that stuff about the cat; the feeble George Peppard; the eyerolling chic New York swingin’ party which goes on and on and on. Really the divine Miss H is the only untrammeled joy to be had.
Au Hasard Balthazar (1963) - I never know which Great Critical Favourites I will love & which I will loathe. This one was truly absurd. Like bresson is standing over us with a donkey shaped hammer yelling “have you got the religious allegory going on here yet?” And the patented blank-faced non-acting throughout makes you long for Joan Crawford.
Woman In The Dunes (1964) Fitzcarraldo (1982)
A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
The General The New Girlfriend Silent Light Blue Velvet The Baader Meinhof Complex
TWO GREAT DOCUMENTARIES
The Kingdom Of Us Beaches Of Agnes
BILLY WILDER
I caught up with a bunch of this amazing director’s stuff. I a lot of it is very iffy – feminists are going to be throwing things at the screen sometimes – but the guy had energy and he knew what a rattling script should sound like. I do admit his fondness for Jack Lemmon is regrettable.
Irma La Douce The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes
One Two Three - A must see for the final fantastic amphetamine performance by Jimmy Cagney. Has to be seen to believe it.
Kiss Me Stupid Witness For The Prosecution The Fortune Cookie The Odd Couple
Sunset Boulevard - Just when you think Billy Wilder is all about daft comedies, wham – this tragedy comes along. Three great performances, especially Eric von Stroheim playing one of the saddest men you ever did see on screen.
I’d read the book and this was like the book so it was rockin’ rollin’ fun.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Gotta say that it was a bold move to construct a movie around a series of forgeries of literary autographs done by a frumpy old alcoholic has-been who lives alone in a grotty apartment with a cat, as has-beens often do. Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant were terrific. Must see movie.
Thunder Road
This is a weird indie movie about a very unbalanced cop whose mother has just died and whose marriage has broken up. This is one of those written by, directed by and starring type things, so if you don’t get on board with Jim Cummings’ wild and crazy performance you’ll really hate this.
The Favourite
A must see – this is how costume dramas should be done. Quite strange, cruel, funny, demented – great performances all round especially Olivia Colman and Emma Stone, and a mesmerizing style all of its own.
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Stan and Ollie
For me, a knockout, and two more favourite performances. The knowledge that for years after Oliver Hardy’s death Stan Laurel was still writing scripts for them both makes me almost dissolve into boo hooing every time I think of it.
Sorry to Bother You
This was probably trying too hard but I liked it’s strange energy. File next to Get Out and Us, I suppose.
AWFUL NEW MOVIES
Late Night
Emma Thompson usually means death to any movie but this one was already DOA, ghastly script packed with first world problems all resolved by a non white Very Nice Woman who harrumphs and charms the world into the Way It Should Be. Not even unintentionally funny.
Wild Rose
Yes, a bad film, but a crackerjack performance in it by new face Jessie Buckley makes you forget just how crap it is until 20 minutes after you’ve seen it.
Baby Driver
The star was the soundtrack, I guess. Otherwise, well edited wallpaper.
Hereditary
Allegedly a real horror movie. Actually an incoherent mosh pit.
Mandy
More frothing incoherence. Not even the bug eyes of Nicholas Cage and not even the quarts of blood dumped all over him could make this watchable.
Mary Poppins Returns
Don’t ask! Okay – I thought it would be a good idea! How wrong I was. This was a damned remake, with every scene an inferior update of a scene in the great original. And the songs were so really very bad.
I FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH A BUNCH OF FAMOUS MOVIES WITH VERY MIXED RESULTS
THE GOOD ONES
High Sierra
Finally found a Bogart movie that made me understand why people think he’s the king of Hollywood. This one was perfect.
The Battle of Algiers
I thought this was a war film & so had avoided it but it’s not, it’s a slam bang wrenching, fabulous movie about a people’s revolution against the colonial masters, in this case the French. It’s a stone must-see.
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Marty
A short sharp trip to the lump in your throat from 1955 with Ernest Borgnine as the sad sack not good looking not that sharp bachelor and Betsy Blair as the left on the shelf timid spinster. I thought – aw, this is just going to be a plateful of mush, and it really wasn’t. Totally predictable, but totally loveable.
THE BAD ONES
I just put all these into a category called oh my god I am really on the wrong planet if film fans and scholars promote these movies as being something you should give your valuable time to
Vanishing Point Silent Running (Bruce Dern as Jesus in Space – ha ha ha) Rebel without a Cause (so wrong in about eleven different ways) To Have and Have Not The Barefoot Contessa My darling Clementine Imitation of Life Barbarella (ok, no one thinks this is great, but it’s not even so bad it’s good) The Blues Brothers (tragically unfunny, but it does have Aretha Franklin singing Think)
DOCUMENTARIES
Hoop Dreams
Wow – this lurked in the 1001 Films you Must See list and I thought why should anyone see a documentary about one of those sports that only Americans get excited about, and then I saw it. Blam! It was like The Wire series three mashed up with Friday Night Lights, only for real. Great! Also a must see.
Three Identical Strangers
Yeah, pretty weird all right. Best to see this one knowing absolutely nothing about it. Kind of recommended.
The Gleaners and I
I am now an official Agnes Varda fan – this is her goofy documentary about people that scavenge in France – after harvests, after markets in the town square – and how they live off their meagre pickings. She just gets in a car and zigzags around and finds curious people. Great.
FOREIGN GOOD ONES
Shoplifters
Japanese movie from last year about a family of petty thieves. A third masterpiece from Hirokazu Koreeda, following Nobody Knows and Our Little Sister. All these are must-sees.
One Cut of the Dead
Japanese meta-zombie horror movie, about a crew filming a zombie apocalypse movie when a real zombie apocalypse happens. Fun for all the family, except grandma I suppose.
Wadjda
A Saudi Arabian movie (never seen one of those before) from 2012 telling the story of a girl who wanted a bike. Quite wonderful, must see.
Given up for now, probably for ever. Too many Victorian novelists thought the only subject they could possibly make a novel out of was the broad satirGiven up for now, probably for ever. Too many Victorian novelists thought the only subject they could possibly make a novel out of was the broad satire of the upper classes, these awful families with their country houses in Berkshire and their town houses in Westmoreland Square and the huge comedy of their attempts to make Good Marriages and the endless parade of bad sons who gamble away the family porcelain so their brilliant sisters must marry fat old Lords and they all go to balls that all get a 50 page description and they all play cards and they all eat and eat and eat and their repulsive lifestyle is propped up by a grey army of nameless servants one of whom occasionally dies and inconveniences everyone because the peacock’s brains will now have to be the eighth course not the fifth course, so you have Clarissa, Evelina, all the novels of Jane Austen, Vanity Fair (the best of the bunch), The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (the Leonard Cohen version), The Portrait of a Lady, The Forsyte Saga and so forth, many books, many authors, same subject.
If I had come across The Way we Live Now before Vanity Fair probably it would have been Vanity Fair that I gave up, because these are the same thing, more or less, and that would have been a great pity, because Vanity Fair is GREAT so for me Anthony Trollope was the comedian who came on stage and cracked all the jokes the previous guy had just cracked. ...more
well, take two (below) didn't happen, and take one has gone off in a wild tangent like a skiier being pursued by an avalanche.
Instead of a no Update :
well, take two (below) didn't happen, and take one has gone off in a wild tangent like a skiier being pursued by an avalanche.
Instead of a no confidence motion Corbyn decided to propose a Bill to force Bojo to ask for an extension to Brexit beyond 31 October.
This he has sworn on the grave of his parents (who are still alive) never NEVER to do.
The blighters in the Commons have today passed this bill - now it goes to the House of Geriatrics to be confirmed.
Twenty-one Tories voted for this pernicious bill, so they have been chucked out of the Conservative Party for disloyalty.
These traitors to Boris include the guy who five weeks ago was Chancellor of the Exchequer and - oh yes - the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill. Traitors both!
Now, in the other part of the forest of madness Corbyn has been baying like a wild wolf on a crag for an election for many moons. And now Bojo says - "I call for an election immediately!" and Corbyn is now saying - NO! You can't have one!!
There is an explanation for this but it's too exhausting to write down.
My favourite insult out of many from the debates today was said by Boris after Jeremy talked about the problems of a trade deal with the USA -
“There’s only one chlorinated chicken that I can see in this house, and he’s on that bench.”
He also called the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition "a big girl's blouse".
It's all good fun.
****************************
This is just for my British friends here, I’m fairly sure no one else will be interested.
Britain is in the middle of a genuine crisis – one tv presenter said “They’ll be studying the year 2019 in British politics for the next 200 years – THIS is what it’s like to be living through HISTORY!” Rather overdramatic, but it could be true.
Two very different scenarios seem the most likely, so here they are. On 1st November I will check which one was right.
THE FUTURE, TAKE ONE
Boris Johnson wins Tory leadership Boris goes off to Europe to renegotiate Theresa May's hated Deal They tell him the same as they told Theresa May (“this is the deal, there is no other deal, which bit didn’t you understand?”) He comes back & says "the blighters didn't listen to me, ME, the great Bojo, now we must leave without a deal" Corbyn puts down a no confidence motion Ten or so Tories vote against their own government to stop the zombie apocalypse that is no deal No confidence motion passes, government falls General election Brexit Party takes so many votes from Tories that Corbyn (the antisemitic Marxist, that Corbyn) is elected PRIME MINISTER! The crystal ball clouds over….. what happens next? I don’t know.
THE FUTURE, TAKE TWO
Boris Johnson wins Tory leadership Boris goes off to Europe to negotiate Gets a couple of tweaks to The Deal including replacing the word “backstop” with a euphemism in Greek Overwhelmed by the force of Bojo's winning ways parliament grovels at his very feet & passes his bill Brexit attained Brexit Party self immolates. Nigel Farage prostrates ("O Master!") At next general election Bojo trounces Corbyn (by this time in a zimmer frame) and wins vast majority Bojo crowned Churchill the Second in televised ceremony in Westminster Abbey Street parties spontaneously erupt Sir Paul McCartney's song "Let it Bojo" is No 1 in 16 countries
What I loved about this was the vision of a different America to the one we are always seeing – instead of the bleak inner city violence and every man for himself, here is an America where people look after each other, even the father here, who is a difficult customer. Beautiful film, perfect ending.
A Simple Favor
I like ridiculous corkscrew plots and I like Anna Kendrick so this was a shoo in for me. Totally fun.
Blackkklansman Jeune Femme Widows Roma
GREAT DOCUMENTARIES
All must-see stuff –
The Open Road Bus 174 Faces Places Oklahoma City - This latter is a riveting account of the American far right
BEST (OLD)
The Death of Mr Lazarescu
Romanian miseryfest from 2005 is a real must-see. I know you probably don’t believe that. Okay, it’s a must see for people who want to see two and a half hours of a mean old guy’s last two and a half hours.
Trouble in Paradise Local hero
CATCHING UP WITH THE CLASSICS
Look Back in Anger
I read the play, too. Holy cow. What a nasty piece of work this is. Jimmy is the poster boy for the intellectual end of the wifebeater spectrum.
Two for the Road
A real weird must-see for fans of the swinging sixties. Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney try to age 15 years or so but fail. Stanley Donen tries to tell the story of this marriage by showing all the various times they made this exact same trip by car across France to St Tropez. Cue a zillion clothes/hairdo/car changes.
Blade Runner
No one can now say those fabled words “Whaddya mean you never saw Blade Runner!??” Although the actual story was as gripping as a coma victim, I never saw a movie with such beautiful set design & lighting and unique look. 5 stars just for that.
TWO NOIRS
Angel face
The Seventh Victim
You never saw more excruciatingly polite middle class devil worshippers as in this truly loopy movie. Another to be seen to be believed one. Wow, the crazy plots that got greenlighted in those days.
TWO MOVIES WHICH PROVE WAR IS HELL IF YOU NEEDED REMINDING
Full Metal Jacket Come and See
ARTHOUSE STUFF PROBABLY PAST THEIR SELL BY DATE
Lola
Not a lot happens here except that Anouk Aimee tries to crack the camera lens at every opportunity with Joker-style manic grins and practices some pre-Chubby Checker dance moves. Otherwise a young guy mooches around town. End.
Seconds
Completely ridiculous science fiction malarkey about getting your youth back starring the elderly John Randolph who gets reborn as Rock Hudson and still finds room to complain. One of those gotta see it to believe this kind of tosh ever got made.
Shadows
Cassavetes wanted to do a completely improv film and shot Shadows and then found out his soundtrack was inaudible.
Nobody had kept a record of what was said so Cassavetes was forced to employ lip-readers so that dialogue could be dubbed.
Then, when he finally premiered the film, the audience hated it & he agreed with them. So he shot a further hour of stuff, this time using a script. Less than 25 minutes of the original film is left in the version we now have. But it still has a punch.
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Well many people think this is an all time work of genius, but not me. This made me wonder how many of the BFI Critics Top 100 films I actively dislike. So :
Vertigo Breathless La Dolce Vita Barry Lyndon The Magnificent Ambersons A Matter of Life and Death The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Which led me to wonder how many of IMDB’s 100 most-popular films I actively dislike, so :
Forrest Gump Se7en The Usual Suspects Vertigo
I guess I’m more a man of the people than I thought.
TWO OLD STILL-AMUSING COMEDIES, KIND OF
Whisky Galore Monsieur Verdoux
FOREIGN STUFF
Fat Girl A One and a Two Lost in Paris The White Ribbon Timbuktoo
Things to Come
Regarding this last, I must take issue with those thinking that this is La Huppert’s career best performance. She slogs around from pillar to post in a numbed daze as one damn thing after another happens to her. And all that drippy stuff with the handsome former student-now-revolutionary was more than a little sickmaking. So no, I didn’t like it.
WORST
Switchblade Romance
I had to re-watch this to check out the massive insanely ridiculous plot twist. When you know what’s coming, you see plainly that most of the first 20 minutes of the movie is a big fat LIE and a CON perpetrated upon the audience. So no wonder the plot twist comes as a surprise – it breaks every convention of trust between author and viewer. Oh, plus, it implies that if you frustrate a lesbian, she might slaughter your whole family. So, you know, watch it....more
A book about how to reduce plastic waste has been shrink-wrapped in single-use plastic by a distributor. AuthoANTI PLASTIC BOOK GETS WRAPPED IN PLASTIC
A book about how to reduce plastic waste has been shrink-wrapped in single-use plastic by a distributor. Author Martin Dorey called the decision by a US distributor an "absolute shambles". "It undoes all our hard work and proves once again that we are using plastic with our eyes closed," he said on Instagram. "We toiled hard on this," said Mr Dorey, from Cornwall. "We worked with the printer to make it one of the most environmentally friendly books this year. And then this. "I know my publishers are working hard to stop this in future but it still happens further down the line."
Mr Dorey said: "The point is that this book is about no more plastic and some idiot shrink-wrapped it in plastic without thinking."
I mean, really... you shouldn't laugh, but you kind of have to. It's the laughter of despair.
I was re-shelving books in my loft (yes, the loft!) And I was lugging all these heavy tomes around and I naturally wondered exactly which were the biggI was re-shelving books in my loft (yes, the loft!) And I was lugging all these heavy tomes around and I naturally wondered exactly which were the biggest books I have. Now, size isn’t any indication of quality, as we know, but if a book is so big it would cripple all but the sturdiest Amazon delivery people it should be pretty good or what’s the point of all those strained lower back regions.
So I got the kitchen scales and I weighed these bad boys. And as a public service to all who may wish to torture a particular relative, I present the top twenty – ask for a couple of these from your aged grandparent and watch the fun.
There are lots of guides to the best travel books, greatest novels, most outrageous alien sex beast manga comix, etc. But this is the only Heaviest Books list I think. Unique to Goodreads!
I know many of you will have the hefty readers’ guide 1001 Books You Must Read Before They Come to Get You – so that one weighs in at 4lb 2oz (1.87 kg). So that will give you a way of comparing. Otherwise you may wish to know that a litre of milk = 1 kilogram.
TOP TWENTY (in reverse order)
20. Simply Beautiful Photographs by Annie Griffiths 5lb 7oz (2.4 kg)
[image]
(Horrible title but lovely phot book. Not too surprising, these classy photo books take four spots in the top 20. So my first book is the equivalent of two and a half litres of milk.
19. Reclaiming History by Vince Bugliosi 6 3 (2.8 kg) [image]
If you eliminate all the photo or painting or illustration-drenched books in this list, this recent acquisition is really the NUMBER ONE big book. Hardly any photos! Just 1600 small font pages!
18. The Beatles Anthology by The Beatles 6 3
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This shows that page numbers do not tell the whole story. Only 368 pages in this huge book but you would be going straight to the Accident and Emergency Department if you dropped it on your toe.
17. Wide Angle by Ferdinand Protzman 6 4 (2.83 kg)
[image]
16. Dylan – All the Songs by Philippe Margotin 6 6 (2.9 kg)
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Surely the biggest Dylan book ever – it’s actually almost complete rubbish except for the photos, which are great.
15. Views of Africa by Stefan Shutz 6 6
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First of three big Africa photo books.
14. Living Africa by Steve Bloom 6 6
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Well, I like big photo books about Africa
13. Exactitude : Hyperrealist Art Today by John Russell Taylor 6 8 (2.94 kg)
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My joint favourite art book
12. China : Portrait of a Country by Liu Heung Shing 6 9
[image]
11. Victorian Painting by Lionel Lambourne 6 9 [image]
My other joint favourite art book
10. The Times Concise Atlas of the World 6 10 (3 kg)
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That’s right, this is the concise version!
9. Monty Python : Complete and Annotated (Annotations by Luke Dempsey) 6 10
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Now we are in the region of might-need-help-picking-this-up
8. The Universe by Leo Marriott 6 13 (3.1kg)
[image]
All the photos in this book are so clearly fake! There is no Universe!
7. Artoday by Edward Lucie Smith 7 2 (3.2 kg)
[image]
6. Art of our Century by Yann le Pichon 7 10 (3.4 kg)
[image]
Chiropractors will be glad he only goes up to 1989 in this book.
5. Art – the Definitive Visual Guide by Andrew Graham-Dixon 7 10
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I don’t even like this one but it’s too big to take to Oxfam!
4. Africa by Olivier Follmi 7 12 (3.5 kg)
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3. The Earth from the Air by Yann Arthus-Bertrand 10 4 (4.6 kg)
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Truly a fantastic book – every home should have one. Your granny could live in it.
2. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Leslie Klinger 10 10 (4.8 kg)
[image]
Maybe this is a kind of a cheat because it’s two books in a case. But heck, it’s so beautiful. The picture shows the third volume which includes the novels.
1. Century by Bruce Bernard 12 8 (5.6 kg
[image]
I knew this was going to be the winner, having lugged it around enough times. Wow, it’s 5 ½ litres of milk’s worth of graphic, appalling and fearsome photos, and worth every drop too.
For those of you interested more in fiction, here’s the top ten
TOP TEN FICTION
1. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes 10 10 2. Monty Python : All the Words 6 10 (I guess this has to be classed as fiction – there never was a Mr Smoketoomuch) 3. The New Annotated HP Lovecraft 4 12 4. Moby Dick in Pictures 4 6 This is another sort-of-cheat – it’s a giant graphic version of bits of the novel. 5. Themystery.doc 4 5 6. Divine Days 3 11 7. The New Annotated Dracula 3 9 8. That Glimpse of Truth 3 8 Short story collection 9. City on Fire 3 0 10. Miss MacIntosh, My darling 3 0
TOP TEN FICTION – PURIST VERSION
For those who wish to have no truck with annotations or graphic versions or any of that nonsense.
1. Themystery.doc 4 5 2. Divine Days* 3 11 3. That Glimpse of Truth 3 8 4. City on Fire 3 0 5. Miss MacIntosh, My Darling * 3 0 6. A Naked Singularity 2 13 7. The Instructions* 2 13 8. The Kills* 2 11 9. A Fine Balance 2 6 10. 2666 2 4 The Tunnel 2 4
*The eagle eyed will note that I hated these huge novels. But either I keep them around just to take them out and glare at them every so often, or because I don’t wish to inflict them on any other reader by giving them to Oxfam. Two theories....more
Due to overwhelming public demand, meaning that at least THREE different people asked me to do this, here is a list of the parodies of some books I haDue to overwhelming public demand, meaning that at least THREE different people asked me to do this, here is a list of the parodies of some books I have done in order to mock, abuse and hold them up to ridicule. Or not….!
And sometimes an author has such an unusual style I think oh I really must try that, it looks like fun, like WG Sebald in The Rings of Saturn or this one of Finnegans Wake
I’m not sure if this surreal sketch actually is a parody but it was fun anyway, in which some famous literary characters like Eeyore react to Notes from Underground, like those “Kids React to Donald Trump” videos you get.
But mostly parodies are just plain vicious, you’ll be glad to know:
Just a little list for all the SF fans out there. This is the first 100 and just goes up to 1968, I’ll do the neBEST SF STORIES (PART ONE) : MY CHOICE
Just a little list for all the SF fans out there. This is the first 100 and just goes up to 1968, I’ll do the next 100 later. If you have your own list or if you see some blatant omissions please let me know. A very useful place to check where these stories can be found is here:
1845 The Facts in the Case of M Valdemar : Edgar Allen Poe
1939 The Gnarly Man : L Sprague de Camp Note : compare "Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo?" by Gerald Kersh – exactly the same idea
1941 Prescience : Nelson Nightfall : Isaac Asimov The Portable Phonograph : Walter van Tillburg Clark
1943 Mimsy were the Borogoves : Henry Kuttner & C L Moore
1948 Brooklyn Project : William Tenn
1949 Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius : Jorge Luis Borges The Lottery in Babylon : Jorge Luis Borges The Library of Babel : Jorge Luis Borges Funes the Memorious : Jorge Luis Borges
Note : did Borges write science fiction? Not all the time, but I would say these four stories are SF
The Sound Machine : Roald Dahl The Forgotten Enemy : Arthur C Clarke
1950 Build Up Logically : Howard Schoenfeld Skirmish : Clifford D Simak The Mindworm : C M Kornbluth Coming Attraction : Fritz Leiber
1951 The Earth Men : Ray Bradbury The Third Expedition (also known as Mars is Heaven) : Ray Bradbury There will Come Soft Rains : Ray Bradbury The Monkey Wrench : Gordon R Dickson Protected Species : HB Fyfe The Fun they Had : Isaac Asimov
1952 Zero Hour : Ray Bradbury The Long Rain : Ray Bradbury What's it Like Out There? : Edmund Hamilton Command Performance : Walter M Miller Dumb Waiter : Walter M Miller The Snowball Effect : Katherine Maclean Note : this story allegedly invented pyramid selling
1953 Lot : Ward Moore The Liberation of Earth : William Tenn Sky Lift : Robert Heinlein It's a GOOD Life : Jerome Bixby
1954 I Made You : Walter M Miller Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo? : Gerald Kersh Note : cf The Gnarly Man above Foster, You're Dead : Philip K Dick Pyramid : Robert Abernathy
1955 The [Widget], the [Wadget] and Boff : Theodore Sturgeon The Game of Rat and Dragon : Cordwainer Smith Pottage : Zenna Henderson The Star : Arthur C Clarke* Grandpa : Howard Schmidt
1956 The Traveller : Ray Bradbury The Man Upstairs : Ray Bradbury Born of Man and Woman : Richard Matheson Jokester : Isaac Asimov The Country of the Kind : Damon Knight
1957 Our Feathered Friends : Philip Macdonald Our Kind of Knowledge : Brian Aldiss The Failed Men : Brian W Aldiss The Other Celia : Theodore Sturgeon
1958 To Marry Medusa : Theodore Sturgeon But who can replace a man? : Brian W Aldiss When you're Smiling : Theodore Sturgeon The Nine Billion Names of God : Arthur C Clarke The Cold Equations : Tom Godwin Space-Time for Springers : Fritz Leiber The Advent on Channel 12 : C M Kornbluth Or all the Seas with Oysters : Avram Davidson Unhuman Sacrifice : Katherine Maclean
1959 A Planet named Shayol : Cordwainer Smith Flowers for Algernon : Daniel Keyes*
note : probably the most beloved story in all of SF
The Big Front Yard : Clifford Simak* For Love : Algis Budrys The Store of the Worlds : Robert Sheckley "All you Zombies…" : Robert Heinlein
1960 The Handler : Damon Knight Old Hundredth : Brian W Aldiss The Martyr : Poul Anderson The First Men : Howard Fast Common Time : James Blish The Certificate : Avram Davidson Build-Up : J G Ballard The Voices of Time : J G Ballard The Sound Sweep : J G Ballard
1961 Harrison Bergeron : Kurt Vonnegut The First Days of May : Claude Veillot The Short Life : Francis Donovan Hobbyist : Eric Frank Russell Mr F is Mr F : J G Ballard
1962 Christmas Treason : James White Seven Day Terror : R A Lafferty An Alien Agony (aka The Streets of Ashkelon) : Harry Harrison The Garden of Time : J G Ballard
1963 Drunkboat : Cordwainer Smith The Small World of Lewis Stillman : William F Nolan 1964 Descending : Thomas Disch The Dead Lady of Clown Town : Cordwainer Smith The Illuminated Man : J G Ballard Billenium : J G Ballard
1965 Man Skin : M S Waddell Slow Tuesday Night : R A Lafferty
Note : Notable 1965 omission : “Repent, Harlequin” Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison – I think most of HE’s stuff has aged very badly and this one especially. Other notable omissions for the same reason : I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream and The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (Oh those titles)
1966 A Two Timer : David Masson The Squirrel Cage : Thomas M Disch Day Million : Frederick Pohl
1967 The Great Clock : Langdon Jones Light of Other Days : Bob Shaw The Jigsaw Man : Larry Niven
1968 Legends of Smith's Burst : Brian W Aldiss Kyrie : Poul Anderson
I just saw Gilda for the first time and wow, I’m amazed that any of those old time Hollywood movie stars made it past the age of 50 – every single sceI just saw Gilda for the first time and wow, I’m amazed that any of those old time Hollywood movie stars made it past the age of 50 – every single scene, there they all were, lighting up, smoke smoke smoking away, blowing mighty clouds into each other’s faces, stubbing out their cigarettes only to immediately light up another one, smoking and drinking, smoking and kissing, interrupting the eating and kissing to light up another one – frankly, it was gross. Also, here’s an idea of the dialogue :
Johnny : You shouldn’t be here. Gilda : Johnny, don’t say that, Johnny. Johnny : What about your…husband? Gilda : Oh Johnny. He’s not here. Johnny, don’t you see? Don’t you see, Johnny? Johnny: See what? Gilda : Johnny, don’t you see? I need a cigarette, Johnny. You know I do, Johnny.
Anyone playing a drinking game where you down a shot of, say, vodka every time Rita Hayworth says “Johnny” would be stone dead within twenty minutes. So don’t try that. I hated this movie so much I need to read this analysis to find out what I completely missed....more
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