A new job?

I love my 'job' at the minute. It truly is the best and I wouldn't change it for the world, but today I was talking to someone and I reckon I may have talked them into offering me one where I might get to to tick another box...

I'll now more after Christmas.

Watch this space...

Some time has passed...

Holy shit! Only just sat down for what feels like, the first time in months. I am sure it has been...

Interesting debate on the TV behind me... 'Dinner With Portillo'... With scientists tonight. Pretty good and boring at the same time. And this from a person who enjoys science?

More to follow!

My intention was to write a blog with no theme and for no real target audience. I think I've maintained that... Though maintaining this this has been a bit slack of late. There are reasons for this...

• A job...
• Time...
• Too many distractions... More of them are coming but I shall deal with these nearer the time.

More shortly.

Bread!

Well, it has been a while but I thought this...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food@Alice_Pyneanddrink/recipes/8782605/River-Cottage-Baking-recipes-The-basic-bread-recipe.html

It's been a while...

I am really enjoying life at the moment. I've got great friends, a great life and lots of stuff going on. Honestly? It couldn't get any better. I just wanted to share this with you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIc7nB-yck8&feature=related

Gregor Mendel's Birthday...

Today would have been Gregor Mendel's birthday. He would have been 189! He did the pioneering groundwork for what would later explain the theories (and mechanisms) of genetic inheritance, although recognition came long after he'd died...

You can read more here...

Or you can watch something about him here...

And Google give a nice nod to him too.

It's all gone tits up for Andy Coulson...

I was expecting somebody to do this... I wasn't let down!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtk3yLVUOKg&feature=player_embedded

All at sea with the Foo Fighters...

I went to see these last weekend. I gave my niece the spare ticket because she made the biggest noise about wanting to see the Foo Fighters! I'd seen them before a couple of years ago but didn't mind going again, especially as they were being supported by the mighty Biffy Clyro!

Anyway, as with all things now, health and safety have had to get involved in hosting concerts and I lost count of the countless signs warning us that 'crowd surfers would be ejected' etc...

Someone else must have seen these and had gone prepared...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqT0FqqTwi0&feature=youtu.be

I have never seen this at a gig before nor likely to again! Brilliantly simple. The crowd thought so too, as did Dave Grohl, who dedicated the next song to the 'Crazy mother-fucker in the boat!'

(For those interested, I am down there somewhere to the left of the picture. Somewhere... I am wearing the hat.)

'Columbo' dies...

'Columbo' actor Peter Falk passed away last night. For what it's worth, he was almost my favourite TV Detective...

Look here...

Great actor. That is all.

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme ‘Detectives’

The obvious thing to do, I suppose? Would be to cite Sherlock Holmes, (especially the old Basil Rathbone movies), or perhaps Columbo… but I have gone for something a bit more modern.

The best detective in film would have to be the guy played by Mark Ruffalo, David ‘Dave’ Toschi, who was attempting to track down a serial killer in the 2007 film ‘Zodiac’.



Apart from the fact that it is a brilliant film with a fantastic soundtrack, David Toschi was and still is a real person, though no longer a police detective. The ‘Zodiac’ was a real person or persons who was/were never caught and whose identity still a remains a mystery. Sure, theories abound but this film deals with for me, the one that seems the most plausible…

The film is shot in and around San Francisco and makes use of the actual crime-scenes where the killer struck. This makes an already good film even more compelling as you watch and consider what really happened in these places towards the end of the 60’s… (I could be wrong, but I believe one of the advisors working on the film was a guy who actually survived an attack by the killer. Another was Toschi himself).

As previously mentioned, this film has a great soundtrack, some brilliant acting (in the supporting roles too) and in places, the film is very atmospheric. Very absorbing. Very real.

The film also features one of my favourite cars… the Ford Galaxie 500. Just look at it!



An aside to the backdrop of ‘Toschi the man’, is that he inspired a lot of the mannerisms and features of another movie detective, Frank Bullitt of ‘Bullitt’ film fame portrayed by Steve McQueen.



See the holster for Bullitt’s gun? Pure Dave Toschi…

In ‘Zodiac’ as in life, Toschi never got his man… but I think he came damn close.

Well worth a watch (if only for the car!)

Or the soundtrack… but here’s the original trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dWgRfb17-M

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme ‘Book Adaptations’

Again, Hannah has picked a brilliant topic for discussion. I could have chosen from a whole host of films for this… but after some thought (and after spying that The Green Mile had already been nabbed!), I settled on another, (yes another!) film that involves Robert Redford.

‘A River Runs Through It’ was written by Norman Maclean & it essentially describes how he and his younger, more rebellious brother become young men… while spending a lot of time fishing. Norman eventually leaves home but returns a few years later…

It is a lovely, easy book to read and more importantly; to believe. It is semi-biographical but the descriptions of the rural America (in particular Montana) of the 1930’s are regarded as being right up there with Hemingway.



Which brings us to the movie. You know when something catches the mood and sentiment absolutely? Well, I think this film does that. It makes you want to visit the place. The characters are believable and it is beautifully shot. Phillippe Rousselot won an Oscar for the cinematography.

Here's the original trailer.

If you haven’t seen it then I think you ought to. Honest!

(Others considered, ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’, ‘Capote’, ‘The Legend of Bagger Vance’ among others… I think I chose good!)

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme ‘Horror’

Been busy of late so haven’t done the last couple of weeks and I am writing this on the ‘hoof’.

Don’t really watch horror films so can’t recommend any ‘gore fests’ for you!

What I can recommend though is ‘Young Frankenstein’ a comic look at the horror genre…

I leave you with the original trailer…

Stuff I've seen on the net...

I like these...

http://www.worldofmoose.com/pages/mugs1_1.html

And I think this is brilliant...

http://www.charlottemann.co.uk/work.html

Nice Tribute by Google to Richard Trevithick...

But it just wouldn’t work!

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme… ‘The 80’s’

This should be easy… I was around for the 80’s in it’s entirety so I ought to be able to come up with something…

Some time later, thinking of all the films from that time I settled on one that just about qualifies…

‘Batman’ from 1989 must get the nod from me. Taking it’s style from ‘Beetle Juice’ (which almost got it, had Tim Burton as it’s director too and released a year earlier), Batman in my opinion started to change the way movies were filmed. Certainly the way these sort of movies were made. It happens to be a good movie too!

Apart from the ‘darkness’ of the story, there is also the dark mood of the scenery in which the story is set… not to mention the dark nature of the lead character. You shouldn't get to know Batman too well. Batman is mysterious and perhaps that’s the way it should have been done all those years before in the 60’s TV Series, but I think they missed the trick. It is a dark movie but there is humour there if you look for it. (You don’t have to look particularly hard…)

The earlier series had too much humour to the point of being ridiculous. This film restored the balance and it restored it very well…

All the sequels and prequels that have followed have copied the blueprint of this film.

There. And I thought that would be easy!

Also considered…

• The Empire Strikes Back
• Any of the original Indiana Jones
• Uncle Buck
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Blade Runner
• This Is Spinal Tap
• Ghostbusters
• The Naked Gun
• Back To The Future
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

And lots more… looking back, the 80’s wasn’t as bad as I remember. Cheers Hannah!

I remember...

The weather…

Apart from it being completely grey outside as I write this... summer is really starting to take shape isn't it? Only a couple of months ago I couldn't physically drive my car because the brakes had somehow become frozen solid. Which was fine by me. Couldn't go anywhere in the car anyway (we live on a hill), and walking (even in the snow), has it's merits. You can become so dependent on the car that you miss so much... especially if you live where we live.

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme... ‘Chick–Flicks'

A ‘chick-movie’? I was sort of wandering when this was going to come up? Anyway here goes…

I actually hate the at ‘phrase’ in an earlier MMMM post I cited Roman Holiday as my ‘black and white’ favourite and said I suppose it could be construed as an early ‘chick-flick’ but I don’t buy that…

I suppose the obvious ones for me would be the ones that wife watches but claims to ‘hate’… the ones that contain Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan. Grade ‘A’ chick-flicks both…

But I am going to go for another Meg Ryan film. This time with Billy Crystal, ‘When Harry Met Sally’… simply brilliant. Very funny. Written by a woman with a remarkable insight into how men might think…

Men and women can't be friends...

Or can they?

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme... ‘Favourite Actor’

I’ll be honest… I’ve struggled with this but I was pretty sure I would come up with something. Actually, somebody…

So over a nice glass of white and while 'explaining' the ‘Meme Theme’ to my wife… all became clear. And pretty obvious really. I asked her ‘Who my favourite actor was?’ she said ‘That’s easy… David Jason’.

Fair play. She knows me better than I know me and I know the purists out there will say he isn’t a movie actor, but to this I’ll say he did a couple of 90 minute Christmas specials so in ‘my head’ he counts!

Do I need to explain my reasons? I don’t think so… but if you’re still in denial go and see ‘Porridge’, ‘Open All Hours’ or ‘Only Fools And Horses’ (specifically ‘ To Hull & Back’ or ‘The Jolly Boys Outing’ absolute classics!)

Here he is at his finest!

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme #week4

For this week Hannah has picked Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, producer and celebrity environmental campaigner as her ‘meme theme’.

I thought initially that I’d struggle to take part this week. For some reason… he just doesn’t ‘impress’ me has an actor. (If ‘impress’ is the correct word? Even when you consider the good films he has been involved with?)

Anyway, trying to continue on a more positive frame, I remembered that he was in ‘Catch Me If you Can’. Now this is a film I did enjoy.

Everyone loves a ‘cat and mouse’ situation don’t they? And the fact that it is based on a true story, (sorry, but I’m a bit of a history nerd amongst other things), has some other great actors in it, has great direction and the sheer cheek of the DiCaprio’s character (would you try some of the stuff he pulls?), makes it my favourite film of his. The art direction is brilliant and having John Williams look after the soundtrack can’t be ignored either…

All this supporting ‘waffle’ might seem to make the link to the ‘meme theme’ a fairly loose one so I’ll apologise now!

Wife cited ‘The Man In The Iron Mask’ when I emailed her earlier about this… but I haven’t seen that one. ‘Catch Me If you Can’ I have seen; so I’ll stick with that one.

Reading the other posts, ‘Shutter Island’ looks good…

Here's the opening sequence so you can admire the art direction...

I dare you not to smile...

I was directed towards this on the net the other day and it made me smile...

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme #week3

This is a difficult one. The theme Hannah has picked this week is ‘Directors’… and who remembers films for their directors? They rarely appear on screen unless your name is Robert Redford or Clint Eastwood. So I thought I’d try and think of some films I liked and see if there was any commonality between them… right? I consciously tried to keep the list short.

Anyway, here goes…

• William Wyler – How to Steal a Million, Roman Holiday
• Robert Redford – The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Horse Whisperer, A River Runs Through It
• Frank Darabont – The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption
• George Lucas? He has been more a producer than a director but worth an obvious mention…
• Lewis Gilbert – Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine
• George Roy Hill – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

I could have added John Madden, Sam Mendes, Sergio Leone, Steven Spielberg and a whole host of others but I’ll stop there. My ‘favourite’ director has to be Frank Darabont. He didn’t direct my favourite film but he damn near almost did. He could write a bit too.
I like the Redford films mentioned above too. More than anyone I can think of, he seems to have a unique and lovely ability to introduce and promote the scenery as another character. (Maybe in an effort to copy George Roy Hill?)

But Darabont gets the nod. Well, this week he does. If you’re anything like me I’ll have another ‘favourite’ director next week…

The Green Mile Trailer

Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme #week2

As it so happens, I have been watching some black and white films this week... no reason, I just thought they were good films and with time on my hands, decided to watch a couple of them. And then I see Metal Mummy’s latest #MMMM ‘Black and White’.

This one I couldn’t resist...

I could have gone for some Laurel and Hardy; they still never fail to make me laugh. My wife can’t stand them but I like them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4CM1RZgNwA&feature=related

Similar reactions are achieved if I start watching Norman Wisdom films… when I laugh, she adopts a puzzled look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtIstIKkBWs&feature=related

Her best reaction is always reserved for probably one of the funniest films ever made… ‘Young Frankenstein’; especially the candlestick scene!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKH2z32cs4Q

So you could be forgiven for thinking a comic recommendation was on it’s way. But no! My recommendation is an ‘all serious’ film and probably, in all seriousness, be considered a ‘chick-flick’ by some. I don’t care.

Not only is it the best black and white film but in my opinion, I think one of the best stories ever told by a film.

Anyway, ‘Roman Holiday’ has everything. It is funny, sad, happy, tense, serious and ‘involving’. The acting is brilliant. It is shot in Rome so I won’t comment on the scenery… needless to say, you’ll want to visit. I did. And it launched the career of Audrey Hepburn. It didn’t do any harm to Gregory Peck’s career either. He said while filming they should ‘give the Oscar to Audrey’. Later, the people who give out Oscars did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR9EfIEaMbQ

My interest in Italy can probably be traced to this film. My failure to visit Rome probably can be too. A couple of years ago, I was on holiday in Italy. I went at Naples, Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, the island of Capri. I was even on the ‘outskirts’ of Rome but decided not to go. With time running out, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it ‘justice’… so decided I wouldn’t try to. I mean, you can’t rush Rome can you? I haven’t yet, but I will be going back soon…

Too many films get turned into remakes and that’s fine by me. The remakes are usually better. But this is one film I hope they leave alone. How can you improve on perfection?

So for me it’s ‘Roman Holiday’ – *****!

Enjoy!

(I didn’t do one last week but I would have suggested the ‘Bourne’ films. Highly watchable. James Bond is good but he needs rockets, cars and ridiculousness. Jason Bourne doesn’t.)

More political 'hum-drum'; but looking on the bright-side...

Up to about the start of May last year I was genuinely interested in politics; but to be honest, it's been quite a depressing few weeks on the political front and my enthusiasm has long since started to fade. But some things have made pleasant reading recently.

Here are a few...

Nocton Mega-Dairy in UK Withdraws Plans for Factory Dairy Farm

MP's reject prisoner votes plan

David Cameron bows to pressure over English forest sale

But then there are always the broken promises...

Alcohol policy in tatters as health experts revolt

NHS 'faces job cuts despite pledge'

I keep hearing a nasty rumour that the current government will stop blaming the last one and actually start governing. Just sayin'...

Why is your car insurance going up? Ask a vet...

Like thousands, probably millions of other people up and down the country, I got more than mildly annoyed recently when my new cover note for my car insurance dropped through the letterbox.

I opened the envelope it arrived in to read that that after another year of low level mileage, no accidents, no endorsements, moving to a new house with a garage and off road parking, my insurance had gone up by around £120.00.

I did the usual thing... threatened to call them immediately, marched around the house then stuffed the letter into the appropriate file in the desk and did nothing. That was 2 months ago...

A couple of days ago I was out and about and on the radio was a debate about how the cost of living was going up ('existing' might be a more apt word but I digress), and in particular... insurance.

I won't quote all the figures here because I haven't sourced them, I am only repeating part of what the guy on the radio was telling Vicky Derbyshire; but it seems, the essence of what he was saying was that it is all the fault of the vet...

Allow me to explain. He, the man on the radio who I understood to be from an insurance company (though I might be guessing here), recited a story where a dog was insured and only £40 in premiums had been paid before the dog had to have a cruciate ligament fixed. The owner claimed for the treatment and the insurers had no real choice but to cough up. Cost? £3700! Nearly four grand!

On the same radio show another dog-owner complained that her dog's insurance had increased by 52%!

In the case of the cruciate ligament... the vet got paid by the dog-owner; the dog-owner got paid by the insurers. And because the insurers were more than a little bit 'miffed' and feeling a bit left out at not paid by somebody, anybody, decided that the only reasonable thing to do was to increase everyone else's premiums to rectify their own situation. So because we have been driving safely, have moved to a nicer area and not had our possessions stolen, we pay more so they get paid off too. All this because a dog got sick. Is this fair?

Insurance can in simple terms, be considered a bet. Where the dog was concerned, the insurers bet the owner that the dog would not need to go to the vet. Alas, it did and the insurers had to pay out. That's the bet and the insurance people lost.

But hang on a minute. These two parties entered into this contract/bet; whatever you care to call it together and without consulting me. I was nowhere near, had no knowledge of this arrangement and was required to sign no paperwork. Yet, I have somehow become involved with reimbursing the insurance company? Nowhere on my house policy, car policy or any other policy does it state that the premiums will be ramped up if an animal gets poorly.

This pisses me off. Essentially, the vet (or anyone else that provides a service that you can insure against for that matter), seem to have gotten the rest of us over a barrel. Think about it; a claim goes into the insurers who are obliged to pay; who then add these payouts onto the next years policies of their own 'loyal' policy holders. Whatever they end up paying out... they are always going to get it back with interest. A lot of interest.

Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-animal or against ownership of animals (provided they are looked after correctly), but whether or not to own an animal is down to the individual and shouldn't have affect anyone else, especially in the pocket.

Regarding the dog; the one with the dodgy, doggy, cruciate ligament. What if the insurers were not prepared to pay out? Would the owners have still gone ahead with the treatment then? Now there's a question...

I'm rambling now but my advice (or the man's advice from the radio if you prefer), is change your insurance provider. The reason they whack up the premiums is because they assume (correctly so, for the vast majority of us), that we won't be bothered with going through the aggravation of having to close one policy only to open it again with another someone else. And I have to say for the most part they are right. Right, in my case anyway...

In short then, people love their animals and will get almost any treatment for it provided someone else is going to pay. The vet knows this and will charge whatever he or she wants. The pet-owners know that with the right policy, money is no object. The policy brokers, though reluctant to pay out, often will where animals are concerned because they don't want to be seen to be causing any further suffering to the animal by not paying out and so delaying the over-priced treatment. The insurers 'loyal' customers will make up the slight dip in profit by paying more for their own policies upon their renewal for no apparent reason.

Everyone wins (the vet, the owner, the insurer) in their own way except for the loyal, responsible customer who is only trying to protect him or herself from financial hardship if some future calamity should occur... in their own lives, not in someone else's.

Or is what I've written above just a complete load of bollocks?

Never say never again...

After walking away from (what was) a very enjoyable job a few years ago with no regrets for myself. Only for the job. Tonight I have been giving serious thought to the idea of going back to it, even though I always said I wouldn't. Even though I always say 'never say never' & 'never burn your bridges'...

Apparently, my skills are in demand. They always were...

Even with all the nice phone calls, I'm still not so sure... I love my life at the moment.

It couldn't get any better. Why should I let another job ruin that.

Where did all that time go?

Earlier today, I found myself wasting time on the Internet. At some point, I opened a link to a site showing some awful, distressing pictures.

Didn't and couldn't work out what it was at first but after reading the header bar discovered (to my horror), that it was Kurt Cobain. Kurt Cobain, apparently, 'post' gunshot...

I hope it was fake. I believe it was fake. I prefer to remember him jumping into Dave Grohl's drum-kit in the 'Lithium' video. That'll do for me...

Anyway, I realised later that it'll be be twenty years in September since Nirvana released 'Nevermind'. Twenty years? Goes quick doesn't it?



This album hasn't even begun to lose it's lustre. Pure excellence. It will be for a very long time.

What a stupid idea?

Well, with time on my hands, I started to write this blog. Not often. Not scheduled. Not themed. But just when I could be bothered to compose a bit when I read or heard or saw something that stimulated me...

Anyway, it's been a while.

But tonight I saw that one of my old students had started a writing blog from her placement in Spain. And it stimulated me! Not in 'that' way but I thought I would drop in and say 'Hello!'

And I've started to write a book. Well... started to write. I hated writing and literature at school. But there is something about sitting and thinking and typing and then getting to read what your fingers did.

Now this I really fancy...

And I have a slight plan forming...

http://www.skiffhire.com/

And Happy New Year too!