First single I bought was All the Young Dudes, first LP Ziggy Stardust. Loads of Ziggy haircuts at school. Then we all went soul with Young Americans until the Feelgoods and punk woke us up. Bowie, Roxy and QPR best things about the early 70s for some of us old gits
It’s Shakespeare time, yay! Or perhaps not in this case. Measure for Measure is a weird and quite nasty play at the best of times, but when all the stuff which is meant to make it a comedy is cut out you are left with a nauseating tale of powerful men exploiting women, which in this case has been weaponised as a Me Too story by the director. Fair enough, but it’s as subtle as a sledgehammer, even started with video featuring Clinton, Trump, Weinstein, Prince Andrew and other sleaze balls. The Thelma and Louise moment at the end did not, of course, feature in Shakespeare’s text. Couple of good performances, but also a lot of screaming and shouting, which was painful as the amplification (unneeded in a properly designed theatre like this one) was inconsistent and sometimes too much. Not an enjoyable experience, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t meant to be. Reviews for this have been pretty universally 4 and 5 stars so I’m clearly in a minority.
Finally got round to finishing off Irvine Welshs' latest novel, Men in Love. Based in the immediate aftermath of Renton running off with the drug money at the end of Trainspotting, it sees the regular crew spread around. Renton has gone to ground in Amsterdam, but has secretly sent some of the money to Spud, who is back skulking about Leith, stealing and taking drugs, and living with one of Sick Boys cast-offs, Alison (she was in the drug den with them all when the baby died in Trainspotting). Begbie is also back in Edinburgh, although mostly in Saughton jail for various acts of violence. Meanwhile, Sick Boy has remained in London and is working in a sex-shop and making porn movies. There's a bit of humour, with Sick Boy anonomously sending gay porn to Begbie in jail, or Spud on his various misadventures, but sadly it's quite a boring read. There's a lot (a boatload) of depraved sex scenes, which get quite monotonous. The only real storyline relates to Sick Boy picking up a posh girl at a rehab meeting and worming his way in to her life, proposing to her so he can get access to the family wealth (Daddy owns a house on the river in Richmond, works at the Home Office and has an OBE) and the lead up to the wedding. It's not one of Welshs' best books, quite a slow read, and nothing of any great import happens until the last 50 pages, with the wedding and chaos that ensues when having a psycho like Begbie as your best man It's a hard read...I'm a fairly quick reader, but it's taken me a couple of weeks to struggle through this. A lot of it is in Edinburgh/Leith talk, so you may be ok @sb_73 with your time spend with the Hibbees, but may be difficult for some people to understand. Would really only recommend this for anyone who is a big Irvine Welsh fan - I've read most of his atuff, this isn't in his top five by a long way.
I liked, if that’s the word, the original film but have never read any of his books, kind of thought they weren’t meant for me. It took me a couple of books to feel the same about Roddy Doyle. No problems with them, but they are very specific.
Not a new review but I watched Joker again last night. A great film and a superb performance by Joaquin Phoenix. The sequel sounds like it was a bit rubbish, though. Anyone seen it?
Started watching the film Dune on ITV. I probably read the book as a teenager but can remember nothing of it, and I never saw the David Lynch version (oddly, as I love David Lynch). I can imagine this is visually stunning on a very big screen. But come on, what a load of bollocks. Daft plodding story and the dialogue and a couple of performances in this version (especially Timothy Chalamet and more surprisingly Josh Brolin who is usually very good) are made of solid oak. Opted for an early night.
I saw Edwin Collins last night at the Southbank, brilliant, I enjoyed the gig more than I thought I would. I had heard he had a stroke but seeing him helped on stage by another guy and walking stick was a little unsettling but once seated his distinctive deep voice and Scottish lilt lit up the venue. All the classic played plus some from a new album finishing with girl like you with Paul Cook on drums and Vic Goddard backing vocals (he looked worse than Collins)
I think this is his final tour, two cerebral haemorrhages and it’s a miracle he can talk let alone sing. Great man, always done his own thing.
I've just watched a movie called afterburn just so you lot don't have to Just watch the trailer Avoid the movie Tomorrow I might look at prisoner of war
On the Eurostar to Amsterdam and already two glasses of champagne in. My wife booked first class as an anniversary surprise. Excellent meal, too. Who'd have thought that baked cod with olive and coconut black rice could be so delicious.
Enjoy. Have to say after many visits for work, fun and football Amsterdam is not doing well, especially near the centre. Gets better on the outer circles of canals, and of course the Indonesian food is outstanding. Have opted to stay elsewhere- Utrecht and Zwolle which are great towns - on recent visits. Amsterdam still beats Copenhagen hands down though.
Only my second visit and my wife has never been before. Didn't know about the Indonesian food, so will check that out. Eurostar was good.
