A Lazy Cat? - Review of "The Cat's Meow"

Marion Davies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cover of The Cat's Meow

 It is 1924, at the height of the jazz age, where the Charlston is all the rage, Prohibition is en force and silent cinema has made Hollywood. On 15 November newspaper publishing magnate W R Hearst (Edward Herrmann) leaves San Pedro, California on a cruise to San Diego with his luxury yacht filled with a veritable who's who of Hollywood. These include his mistress, the up-and-coming actress, Marion Davies (Kirsten Dunst), the world famous comedy actor Charlie Chaplin (Eddie Izzard), the English novelist and scriptwriter Elinor Glyn (Joanna Lumley), Hearst's film critic Louella Parsons (Jennifer Tilly) and movie mogul Tom Ince (Cary Elwes).

The cruise and its onboard partying have all been arranged in honour of Ince's birthday. However, Ince is after a bigger present than a luxury cruise and some cake. His film business has been in steep decline for the past five years and he sees this as his opportunity to convince Hearst to go into partnership with him. Meanwhile Chaplin has his eyes on Hearst's starlet mistress who longs to play comedy roles instead of the stuffy period dramas her lover pushes her into. She and Ince are not the only one trying to climb the ladder to the career of her dreams, as Heart's film critic is desperately trying to get foothold in somewhere.

All the while Elinor Glyn watches. With careers at significant turning points for all concerned, Ince's machinations are set to have life-changing results for most and a life-ending result for one...

Demonic Possession, Hauntings and Such Like - A Review of "The Conjuring"

Lorraine Warren (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Plot:

In 1971 the Perron family (Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarl, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, Kyla Deaver) move into an old farmhouse. A series of unusual events lead the family to enlist the help of psychic investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Famiga respectively). The Warrens discover a history of suicides and murders that have taken place on the surrounding land that once belonged to the owner of the Perron’s house. This owner had been accused of witchcraft who had tried to sacrifice her child to the devil and eventually killed herself in 1863, cursing all those who lived on her land...

Ripper Retrospective - Revew of the classic "Jack the Ripper: Summing up and Verdict"

Ripper Bridge (Photo credit: STINFLIN Pascal)

1988 was a hell of a year for Jack the Ripper enthusiasts. Being the centenary of London’s “Autumn of Terror”, few producers, publishers, historians, writers and professional criminologists missed a trick. From movies about a copycat serial killer called “Jack’s Back” to a wide commissioning of any work that was tied into the Whitechapel Murders, the year was full of old and new theories on the identity of the killer and every self-respecting bookshop made sure their respective section was stocked up. I was only 12 at the time and fell in love with the shamelessly melodramatic and lavish ITV miniseries, “Jack the Ripper”, which for all its thrill and wonderful cast and production values did not yield a convincing theory on the case. In his amazingly explorative “From Hell”, comic-book writer, Alan Moore, touched on the whole the institution that now surrounds Jack the Ripper and pretty much nailed how it has become virtually impossible to unmask the fiend of Victorian London. He echoed in the century of the sadistic serial killer and, as sharp as the weapon he wielded, tore open the British Victorian veneer of pomp, prosperity and conservatism. In the tradition of Arthur Conan Doyle – was consulted at the time of the murders – and the institution that Agatha Christie would start, the Ripper also provided us with a real-life whodunit. Amidst the flow of reprinted books on silly theories, I was lucky enough to obtain a copy of “Jack the Ripper: Summing up and Verdict”, which had been commissioned for release in 1988. 

Batman at 75

I have loved Batman from almost as early as I can recall. As I push the ever aging and failing mechanism I call a brain to recreate the images of my past, I am filled with a sense of happiest during those earliest of years. One of my happiest memories was being four and a half years old on holiday in Florida. It was the only true holiday I recall as a child. Even then the model for what I like best about a “holiday” was set during that dreamlike time. We were a circus family, in the middle of running our own circus, and so we saw circus people and circus-related places. I got my head stuck in the railings at SeaWorld and I saw Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. I remember our Mexican driver and my amusement that the steering wheel was on the other side the cars. These were all great recollections, but some of my most comforting memories came from staying at the hotel.  I wasn’t used to staying in any other accommodation than a wagon (caravan). I remember falling in love with two icons that have stood the test of maturity: Charlie Brown and Batman.

The British Playboy - Review of "The Look of Love"

Plot:

This is the biopic of Paul Raymond (Steve Coogan), the British millionaire publisher, club owner and real estate developer. “The Look of Love” takes a reflective look through the eyes of Raymond after he attends his daughter’s funeral. We see his rise to success as a night club owner and publisher of “Men Only” after discovering how to create publicity stunts in the 1950s. The film looks at the eventual price Raymond will have to pay for his self-indulgent lifestyle as a playboy and the impact it will have on those closest to him, his wife Jean (Anna Friel), his lover Fiona (Tamsin Egerton) and especially his daughter, Debbie (Imogen Poots).

Ensnared Melodies

English: Original oil painting by Pappi, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Introduction

As with poetry, aspects of a romantic relationship are regular topics in songs. From longing to heartbreak to the joyfully unique feelings a person experiences when they are with a loving companion, popular music has it all covered. Relationships are very complicated self-imposed institutions and no one knows how they will turn out. Worse still, the majority of the stories we have told each other throughout time present too much of the “happily ever after” ideal that never happens. It little prepares us for the many twists and turns that lie ahead both in our partners and in ourselves. Sometimes those twists lead to a bizarre perversion of what was a loving romance. The following songs I have selected reflect on this perversion. Words like “trap” and “abuse” are used to describe something that other songwriters, more often than not, beautify and society, driven by our instinctive impulse to breed, venerates as our ultimate purpose. “Love” and “heart” are in there too, but they take the form of vulnerabilities that are being used as instruments of torture.   

The Lust for Failure? 2007

"Losing: it’s like winning, but with more experience."
- Anon
2013 Introduction
Below is an article I wrote back in 2007 long before I started making a deeper study into the nature of failure and mistakes. That particular journey moved me more into scepticism and critical thinking, as well as a willingness to embrace the benefits of accepting personal errors. Since writing this piece I read the brilliant "Mistakes were Made (but not by me)" by Carol Tavris and the equally entertaining "Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margins of Error" by Katherine Schulz.

I have never been a natural and have always had a passion for teaching. I think the disadvantages you face in not learning things easily enrich your ability to teach. It often amuses me when I hear people who put themselves over as great teachers and yet seem to have an inability to admit being flawed in anyway. They often won't even admit to making mistakes in the past. Such people seem to take on a religious view of their teaching ability, emulating some sort of Christ figure who is perfect in every way and revered by his discipiles as being the greatest of teachers. Personally I take the rather more mortal outlook that comes from works like Stephen Briers "Superpowers for Parents" and the aforementioned works by Tavris and Schulz that a teacher who shows they are faillible and even exhibits his mistakes and flaws is much more effective than those who easily gained skills or refuse to admit being wrong.