Robbie Williams returns....

in a proper world, i believe, we would be so swamped with quality music that the return of an out and out pop star, no matter how big selling, really wouldn't be massive news. notable, certainly, but not stop the clocks massive. however, as we live in a world where "singles", at least those that chart, are dreary, drab, anonymous and often just sampled engineered talent free affairs, then a pop star releasing a pop record is all of a sudden one of the biggest music news items of the year.


and no bad thing, really. as pop stars go, Robbie Williams loves the fame, fortune, celebrity and excess that is supposed to go with the life, and bless him for it. all too few acts these days appreciate that this is all meant to be fun and entertaining. thankfully, Robbie, whilst not trivial, doesn't take it all too seriously.

Bodies, produced by Frankie producer Trevor Horn, isn't really disposable pop. it's already had some complaints about the lyrical content for a start. it's not the most gratuitously possible-to-interpret-as-blasphemous song ever made, but then again Nine Inch Nails' Closer and indeed the Manics own Patrick Bateman were never intended for constant pop radio airplay. as far as the music goes, it's not a get up and dance to it immediately sensation you get on hearing it, but it's also not a song you reach to switch off.


Robbie's last album, the experimental Rudebox, sadly didn't excite many people (bar the She's Madonna single), going on this song his next album (Reality Killed The Video Star) should see him winning over the world once again.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

more blasts from the past from Trev!

hi everyone


well, what can i say? Trevor has really got the hang of this scanning old pictures thing now! he has very kindly forwarded on a couple more, so here you go. the first is of Richard, apparently celebrating his 6th birthday





now, where in the world is this? i think it could well be in England, i don't remember when exactly we moved to Australia. that said, i most certainly remember that stereo being in the land down under, so i really don't know!

next up is me, and it's certainly one in Aus, i remember those stairs to that house!




nice one! many thanks again, Trev!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

great minds......

hey everyone

well, talk about reading minds! Uncle Trevor has been scanning some pictures, and sent one along that, if i haven't already uploaded and missed, i had every intention of putting up here, erm, "eventually"! here it is!





now the date of this pic is interesting. it's certainly before we moved to Australia (Gillian is still rather young, we do not have Aussie sun bleached blonde hair), so at a guess it's late 1980 or possibly early 1981. that's on the basis of us wearing winter-ish clothes, but if you are mindful of the fact that tropical Great Ayton usually only has three clear days of summer (one of which is spent watching the Suggitt family rather oddly winning the summer rubber duck race every year. but they do make exceedingly good ice cream, so there you go), well, it could be any time really!

we all seem to be taking the dogs off for a walk (Lassie on the leash, a puppy Jessica in Gran's arms), irrespective of what year it is. i dare say we were headed off to the left of this pic, past the old school house, through the old churchyard and onto the magnificent field behind it. the field was full of clover, and i do recall many a happy hour spent trying to seek out an infamous four leafed one. i never found one, but seem to have had my fair share of luck regardless.

up in the background is one of Grandad Stanleys' cars, and the only surprise is that he is not in the picture, in overalls tinkering away with it!

now, the next picture is of Uncle Trevor himself, with Jessica in the front yard of the old school house.





when was this picture taken? hard to gauge, really. the fact that Jessica is in it, and Trevor's excellent attire, all suggest that it's early-to-mid 80s (the world would be a considerably better place if we still dressed with such style), but Trevor is blessed with an ageless, timeless sense of beauty and handsomeness, so this could have been taken in any of the 50 (sorry Trevor! i mean 30, of course) years that the world at large has been lucky enough to have Trev in it!

argh, i have just clicked on the link for Suggitts myself and seen all the excellent sweets and confectioneries that one can buy (presumably still by the pound, i would imagine Ayton rejects any and all European Union directives); talk about making yourself homesick!

many, many thanks to Trevor for sending these pics along!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fun and ice cream

hey everyone

usually on a Friday night we would stay up a little bit later than usual to let James play and relax after the week. this Friday, however, we couldn't think of a reason not to stay up a bit later than a bit later than usual, and so off we went to play some of his favourite games, and find whatever he wanted for dinner!


as luck would have it, we also found one of Mummy's top games, something called "Ferrari F360", a high level, demanding challenge which involves going round and round in a circle. rather fast. such a complex, involved and top level complex would have been all but impossible for Michele to handle on her own; how fortunate that James was on hand, or if you will on lap, to assist!





nice one James, but going on the next picture you might want to work on the best, most efficient way to change gears before you are old enough to drive a car on your own!





next up was the #1 best game in the world ever. i hardly need to name it, then.





for those that do need it to be named, it is of course the most excellent Star Wars Trilogy Arcade machine, and we found it where you could play it R1 cheaper than at Sun City!!





now, whereas we would normally encourage James to eat as healthily as possible, we did let him decide on exactly what he wanted for dinner last night. we need not have asked, really, for given the choice of anything he wished to have for dinner there was only going to be one thing, and that wasn't broccoli.....





hope you all had a good, fun filled Friday too!!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KFC in a time of Spring.....

hey everyone

we have been bestowed with Spring in our corner of the world, and thus it was time to celebrate at verk. and what says celebration more than KFC? nothing!

it would be traditional to have a Spring breakfast, but alas the KFC branches that do the magnificent breakfast menu (see numerous earlier posts) were too far away from our office. we all, then, more or less opted for a KFC lunch to mark the dawning of this most prestigious seasonal shift.

as ever, my unofficial personal photographer, Trigger, was on hand to capture the moment. here i am with a by no means insignificant amount of The Colonel's finest, looking - if my may observe myself - rather happy about it.





now, in the spirit of fair play, equality and all that sort of concern, it was the case that i wasn't able to keep and eat all the KFC myself. my many splendid colleagues at verk admire the food of The Colonel just as much as i, after all.

here i am dispensing the food of The Colonel with my dear friend Khanyisile and, believe it or not regular readers, the new look Zama.....





yes, people, Zama not so long ago decided to shave off his world famous dreadlocks. Zama is in particular concerned about how the people of New Zealand will react to this development; i am sure that they, like we have had to, will adjust to the new image direction!

last, certainly not least and perhaps best, there is the pinnacle of the menu of The Colonel, behold - my exceptionally good friend and i display the most excellent meal known as the bucket..





a very big thanks to Ronel and Trigger (and everyone else) who went off and purchased all this excellent KFC for us all to enjoy at verk! an extra thanks, of course, for Trigger for the outstanding work he does as my unofficial personal photographer.

i can only hope and trust that in your part of the world you celebrated whatever season it is in a similar fashion. from my side, i have eaten levels of KFC this week that are comparable to those eaten by The King, Elvis Presley. this makes me happy.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frankie Say the same again

well, no news as such, just another sighting of this new Frankie Goes To Hollywood promo poster or, if you will, "flyer".





no details anywhere as to what it relates to, but interestingly going on as many online stores as i can think to check all Frankie albums and compilations are current not available, apparently on some "withdrawn" status. this and the appearance of the posters suggest that everything is geared to some Frankie releases later in the year; hopefully as lavish and as impressive as the Return To The Pleasuredome set released in Japan earlier in the year





hope all is revealed sooner rather than later!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

15 incredible lessons to learn from the episode of Batman called How To Hatch A Dinosaur.....

hey everyone


well, as James has a love of both Batman and Dinosaurs, what on earth could be better than seeing an episode of Batman that promises to have a dinosaur in it? not a great deal, to be honest! of all the 30 minute episodes of the fantastic 60s series, this is one of the all time best.

why is How To Hatch A Dinosaur such a great episode? well, here's a guide to the many gems of information i got from watching it.....

but first, of course, a warning - *** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

01 the rather dangerous, highly radioactive substance radium is usually stored in exact amounts of two pounds in safety containers that are fairly easy for petite blonde radium lab assistants to carry around....




...but a bit on the heavy side for 6ft tall bald lunatic men





(it's also worth noting that, going on Gotham, all cities have a "Radium centre")


02 Bessarovian Cossacks, led by the Queen of the Bessarovian Cossacks, have absolutely nothing better to do with their lives than follow a bald, demented lunatic on a quest to hatch a dinosaur for no apparent reason or prospect of financial gain.





03 in terms of safety and security, the best way to keep a 40 million year old Neosaurus egg is under a spotlight in a museum behind a bit of rope.





04 the ideal way to disperse radium is via a wonderful device called a "zapping machine"





05 radium is highly dangerous. however, only the person dispersing the radium needs to take the safety precaution of standing in the secure area of the zapping machine; anyone stood next to it will be safe.





06 when budget cuts are applied to libraries, the first saving made is by canceling the subscription to the magazine The Southeastern Regional Journal Of Applied Radiology.





07 sometimes you only need to hear the title of an article to understand exactly what the whole article is about. this is particularly true if the article, as featured in the magazine The Southeastern Regional Journal Of Applied Radiology, is titled "Revitalizing Fossil Forms By The Use Of High-Energy Radioactive Energy Sources"





08 Batman and Batgirl are two of the greatest crime fighting detectives in history, but are apparently unable to detect when an elderly gentleman in the employ of Batman is in fact speaking to both of them at the same time.




09 Bessarovian Cossacks are absolute rubbish at sword-fighting. three of them armed with rather hefty, Samurai looking blades are unable to defeat one boy wonder with a conventional, rudimentary sword.





10 if four or more Bessarovian Cossacks attack, the best defence you can opt for is to throw an absolutely massive stuffed bear at them.




11 although the only fossils found suggest that an adult Neosaurus dinosaur was no taller than 1 metre, when they hatch they are in fact roughly the size of a grown adult male.





12 after successfully hatching a 40 million year old Neosaurus egg thanks to the combination of radium and a zapping machine, the first instinct of the bald, lunatic madman who did it will be to run away and demand to be locked in a police van, conveniently parked outside.





13 four Bessarovian Cossacks armed with swords and one Queen of the Bessarovian Cossacks will not be enough to defeat one 40 million year old man sized Neosaurus dinosaur, and thus they will also demand to be locked safely away in a police van.




14 Robin (the boy wonder) and Batgirl are intelligent, but not intelligent enough to notice that the Neosaurus statue is missing and that the Neosaurus dinosaur that just hatched is more or less the same size as Batman, even though Batman was noticeable in his absence during the fight with the Bessarovian Cossacks.




to their credit, mind, Robin and Batgirl fancy their chances against the Neosaurus dinosaur in hand to hand combat, which makes them, if nothing else, bolder than the Bessarovian Cossacks.

and finally....

15 40 million year old Neosaurus eggs, as well as being conveniently man sized, are equipped with a special, secret hatch somewhere which allows Batman to sneak in to them and pretend to be a Neosaurus dinosaur. even more conveniently, it appears that as standard 40 million year old Neosaurus eggs are hollow.





so there you have it! a lovely episode of Batman, i strongly recommend that you seek this edition out and see it as soon as possible!


see you next Bat Time, same Bat Channel..................

in praise of the KFC breakfast

hey everyone

well, today i was finally able to get my hands on one of these new KFC breakfasts. needless to say, perhaps, this is the finest single breakfast that i have ever had, and the remainder of my life shall be filled with a sense of regret, loss and a pondering of what might have been, for i did not have one in my earlier, formulative years.

as for what i had for breakfast, as tempting as i was to order a bucket in the manner that The King, Elvis Presley would, i opted for what appears to be the pinnacle of their new breakfast range, the "am wrapstar". i could go ahead and describe what was in it, but you can see for yourself below!





for some inexplicable reason KFC does not do an SA website as such, so the menu for this magnificent breakfast range isn't to be found online. well, not until now at least - behold, here is the full menu!





i am not sure what to order next, really. the "am twister" looks quite smart. as does the french toast fingers. and the, well, and everything else on the menu bar the distinctly non-The King, Elvis Presley offering that is a "muesli cup"; an item that i will rather leave to Michele to try.

i am sure this advice is pretty obvious, but anyway - my advice to you is that if you are in an area blessed enough to have a KFC which is offering these fine breakfast choices, make sure you are at KFC in the morning!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rolling Stones' Keith Richards recording with Jack White

The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards has revealed that he has been working with Jack White.

Richards was tight-lipped about the hook-up, but told Rolling Stone magazine that the two guitarists have collaborated. However, he was cagey on the subject on whether he might enlist White to produce for his band.

"I enjoy working with Jack," he said. "We’ve done a couple of tracks."

On the possibility of White producing for The Rolling Stones, he added: "I couldn't fuel that rumour any more than to say Jack and I are in touch."

Richards did, however, confirm that it was his plan to get his band into the studio next year to record their next album.

"I'm trying to gather the boys together," he explained. "One way or another, I'll get them back in line."


Rock and Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the greatest ever rock bootleg?

hey everyone

right, just to clear something up first. bootlegs, on the whole, are very naughty. they are, as the name suggests, not exactly legal and should in general be frowned upon.

every now and then, however, you get artists that turn a "blind eye", or if you will deaf ear, to concert recordings being made. Led Zeppelin, for instance, famously used to buy bootleg lps of their own gigs as the bootleggers often did a better job of the people they hired to record them. likewise, Bruce Springsteen encourages bootleggers to get the tapes rolling when he's doing a good show, and the Bob Dylan bootlegs are legendary.

and then there's the greatest Rock and Roll band in the world, ever.





around the time that they released the "40 Years Of Maximum R & B" box set (just before the term "R & B" was bewilderingly taken and applied to some very awful, mostly sampled and generally monotonous black American music), The Who called something of an "amnesty" for those sat on master tapes of bootlegged concerts in the hope of finding enough quality material to put out an official live retrospective.

not much came of it beyond the exceptional 2 CD set of the classic Live At Leeds and the reasonable Isle Of Wight set featuring a fairly complete Tommy. the world, however, benefited somewhat from The Who seemingly more or less encouraging bootlegs to be made available with any number of gigs, from rather poor quality to excellent ones being scattered everywhere.

and so it came to be that, as a consequence of the above, i got to hear this.....





Tales From The Who - Largo 1973 has got to be the single greatest concert that i have ever heard without actually being at the gig. it's a "soundboard" recording (whatever that means, presumably something to do with the mixing deck) and whilst not perfect quality, it's good enough.

now, i know a bit about The Who, but am not going to proclaim to be the definitive expert - corrections are thus welcome. this gig is from the ill-fated Quadrophenia tour, where the technology wasn't up to what the band wished to do live. backing tapes jammed, broke down or kicked in at the wrong time, and the band recall the whole thing as "frustrating". as one would expect from Townshend and co, however, any and all frustrating was pumped into the performance.






my long held view that Live At Leeds was the definitive live recording of The Who has thus been canned. whereas Quadrophenia has never been as accessible as their other, better known monolith of a rock opera Tommy, there are certainly many highlights, the majority of them captured on this recording. this is a must have, must hear for Who fans, although of course i can't actively encourage anyone to obtain a not strictly speaking legal recording.

the interesting thing is that, apparently, there's an even better recording of this gig out there somewhere -





happy hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

like Grandfather like Granddaughter.......

hey everyone


Grandma and Grandad went to visit Richard, Erika and Lyla over the weekend. the event was, of course, photographed, and someone (Mum or Erika i guess!) caught this gem of a pose!





quite a similar look, they both have! i wonder where the ball went off to?


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frankie Say Confuse (and indeed titillate) The Fans......

hey everyone

many thanks to the wonderful people on the Frankie Goes To Hollywood forum for keeping an eye out on developments with the greatest band ever in the history of music. that said, for residents of London, it would perhaps have been difficult to miss the appearance of these posters.....





what's going on? have the five members of Frankie, 22 years later, decided to get it on again and move forward? wishful thinking.......

the general suspicion is that this is early promo work for the (much anticipated) Frankie box set, on the way in November of this year. as anticipated as the box set is, there seems to be disappointment ahead - a 3 CD set, 1 x Greatest Hits, 1 x "remixes", 1 x "rarities". erm, yeah - most Frankie fans will have the first two, and there surely must be more than 1 cd's worth of rarities of the band? there's a stack of unreleased live recordings for a start!

chances of the band getting together are slim. there was a bizarre rumour of it earlier in the year, but all from the band who could be bothered to speak spoke against it.


if there are any more sightings or developments i will be sure to put them up here; in the mean time, get ready. October shall mark the 25th anniversary of the release of Welcome To The Pleasuredome, an album that absolutely everyone on earth should own (it would make the world a better place), i would expect a lengthy retrospective to be posted here around then....


in the mean time, whatever it is that Frankie wishes to say, i very much wish to hear it............

Star Wars in glorious LCD

hi everyone

Grandad recently invested in the biggest television set he could find, and was kind enough to more or less keep to one side as i put it together for him.

James was very impressed indeed when he saw the big new TV, and i would imagine that you can guess what he decided should be played on it!





yes, of course, the only thing that should be played on any television, no matter how big or small, is Star Wars!!!

so impressed was James that he even tried to encourage Marmite to sit and watch him with it, with somewhat mixed results.....





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the best Michael Jackson is alive conspiracy yet....

hey everyone


here is an image from a video clip that claims to show the "dead" Michael Jackson getting out of the ambulance which supposedly took his dead body to the hospital.





well, let's think about this, shall we? the whole thing hinges on you accepting that a good deal of time and money was spent staging this elaborate "hoax", but the security measures around it didn't stretch as far as stopping someone from filming him making his escape? and why would someone stand and film ambulances at random, unless they were a really disturbed freak?

part of me does wish this is true, purely to give that vile website, newspaper or TV station (i forget which) that paid many, many thousands of dollars for a picture of Michael Jackson dead on the stretcher something to think about.

if this is the only "evidence" of it all being a hoax, i remain convinced that his death was a tragic accident, then.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Zealand - still there!

hey everyone

well, it seems that New Zealand are once again allowing people to send pictures off via the internet! many thanks to Gillian, Grant, Katie and Daniel for sending these on!

as for new developments in regards of learning what happens in New Zealand, this first picture would suggest that they do indeed have trees there. ones that you can, with some effort, climb up!





and on the subject of going up, why would one climb the stairs to go to bed when Daddy can easily carry both of you there?





but stairs are a rather fun place to sit with Mummy, especially when you have either just woken up or, going on how Gillian is dressed, are supposed to be heading to bed!





thanks for the pics!!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

don't believe the truth?

"It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.

Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan."
-Noel Gallagher, 28 August 2009.


well, we've been here before with Oasis. barely a month, let alone a year, has ever gone by without one of them walking out. "this time", however, is the first time that an official statement of one departing has been put out, so you never know, it might be serious this time.





by all accounts, this new split in Paris, apparently involving Noel & Liam throwing chairs at each other and ending with Liam smashing up Noel's guitar, was about a minute before they were supposed to go on stage.

as for Noel's comment that "people can write what they like", well, i think the real sad thing at the moment is that so many people are writing "good riddance" and not necessarily being as polite as that when they say it. Oasis are, were, one of the great Rock n Roll bands - loved the music, loved the fame, loved the lifestyle. as the majority of bands around these days are incredibly dull, Oasis were one of the few who served as a reminder of how much fun, and how important, music is.





if indeed this is "it", i expect Noel to put out a well received but poor selling solo album, Liam to mumble along as either Oasis or just the same thing under a new name, followed eventually by the two getting back together as Oasis in the not too distant future. if nothing else, far far far too many people make money off Oasis to let them just fizzle out.



whilst the brothers Gallagher will obviously ignore this, be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

movie reviews

hey everyone, and indeed a very special hello Barrie!


i was unaware that some, in particular Barrie, were missing movie reviews featuring here. i am happy to oblige, but the truth is that i just do not get to see all that many films these days. due to a mix of being on leave and being off ill from verk whilst taking this tamiflu stuff, i am happy to add some reviews on top of the one from The Informers earlier this month. yes, Barrie, the one you asked to be reviewed features here.

now, i appreciate that (i think) these films were all released in or around late 2008; as i said i do not get to watch as much as i would like! first up is one we watched whilst away on holiday, Sir Ridley Scott's Body Of Lies





well, let's see shall we? a film directed by one of cinema's last true visionaries, starring the exceptionally talented Russel Crowe and the (ahem) ever popular Leonardo Di Caprio, with a contemporary story about American, for want of a better term, "involvement" in the Middle East. what could possibly go wrong? quite a bit, as it turns out.





i had limited if not modest expectations of this being some sort of wild cross of a thinking man's Enemy Of The State and a more accessible Syriana. i ended up watching a rather contrite and certainly implausible "American James Bond" thing, and yes i do mean implausible by James Bond standards. which is saying something.

Russell Crowe for this considered "acting" to be "a silly haircut and a wonky accent". Leonardo Di Caprio, who must be as bitter about not being cast in The Bourne Identity as we should be grateful that he was not, proves that it is impossible to take him seriously in any sort of action or violent role, even if he does try to hide behind dyed hair and a silly beard. the biggest disappointment, however, is how visually bland and stale the film was. did Ridley Scott really direct this? the whole thing seems to have been filmed in a style intended as a poor man's tribute to the TV show 24.

the basic gist of this film seems to be the statement "people of a culture which encourage torture and the odd beheading are OK as long as they are allies of America". the rather scary thing is that this seems to be promoted as a good, sound philosophy. if you haven't seen this yet, give it a miss.





right, a film that i oddly watched half of whilst away, the other half a few weeks later whilst taken ill. ladies and gentlemen, the very strange world of the film Choke.





the plot, according to the ace internet movie database site, is that of "a sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death". did you manage to follow that? well, good, but do be warned, as this is something close to less than half of the actual plot crammed into 90 minutes of utterly wonderful mayhem.

i have not read the Chuck Palahniuk novel on which this is based. as would be usual, fans of the book are complaining that the film fails to do the novel justice. going on just how much is crammed into the film, i do suspect that this is the case; however with blissful ignorance of the text i rather enjoyed this.


the increasingly impressive Sam Rockwell (i loved Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, he was well cast in the film of Hitchhikers' Guide To The Galaxy and i can't wait to see Moon) carries the film off perfectly as the protagonist of the piece. ever self-aware of being shallow and wishing not to be, Rockwell gives an amazing performance.





the star turn in the film, however, comes from Anjelica Huston. i do not honestly recall ever seeing her as good as this in a film, quite frankly. however bizarre, odd and indeed offensive this film is at times (well, all the time), her performance alone would make worthwhile viewing for even the most skeptical viewer.





much like The Informers, by no means is this film for everyone. those who find my description or the plot summary appealing, however, shall not be disappointed.


finally, and Barrie i trust that you are paying attention, we have what is widely reported as being Clint Eastwood's final acting role, Gran Torino.





Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, an arrogant, ferociously independent war veteran who pretty much holds everyone in contempt. a family of immigrant Hmong descent moves in next door. Kowalski abhors them at first, but ultimately ends up venturing into their lives to the extent that his life journey is defined by them.

much of this film, frankly, is superb. Eastwood gives one of the fine acting performances that have been increasingly appreciated over the last 15 or so years, and as director draws out stunning performances from the supporting actors. beyond the obvious praise for the young actors who play Sue and "Toad" living next door to Eastwood, i would single out Christopher Carley for his portrayal of the Priest who in the course of trying to convince Eastwood to go to Confession finds himself drawn to an unexpected level of respect of his bleak yet practical outlook on the world.





the "problems" with this film, and i am doing my best to keep this as free of spoilers as i can, are that the ending is by and large out of step with the character developments and plot narrative, and that Eastwood has covered this ground before - considerably better, which is saying something - with Unforgiven. in regards of the ending, it seems a 50-50 split between those who think it works fine and those who are left a bit puzzled and somewhat disappointed by it. i fall somewhere between the two. in respect of the similarities to Unforgiven, this film does tend to borrow (rather heavily in one or two instances) from that magnificent film, putting it into a "modern" context. this is not necessarily a bad idea, it's just strange that effectively the same material should attract Eastwood back for another go at it.

so do you watch it or not? well, yes. i dare say that somewhere out there on the internet someone has tried to sound very clever indeed by giving a wordy, convoluted review about how all of this film, be in Eastwood's character or his neighbuorhood, are symbolic of the deconstruction of the traditional definition of America and being American, followed by the reconstruction of what it is today. that's all very well and good, but should distract one from the fact that this is Clint Eastwood doing what he does best. if this really is his last acting outing, well, the film could be seen as a fascinating rapid overview of his career, but i'll leave it at that.





so, there you go. i will try and watch one or two movies in the near future, perhaps even within a year or so of their release!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!