killing bono (2011) - nick hamm

Starting in the late 1970's, this is the tale of two brothers trying to make it big in their band, but being dwarfed by the accomplishments of their former school friends, U2 (and especially Bono). Based on the book 'Killing Bono - I was Bono's doppelgänger' by Neil McCormick, Killing Bono has a similar feel to 'The Commitments' about it. Now this may be lazy stereotyping on my part, as they both feature Irish youngsters in bands trying to succeed, with some humour and music thrown in, but what the Hell, that's the view I'm taking. Ben Barnes and Robert Sheehan star as Neil and Ivan McCormick, the brothers trying to make it, but, unknown to Ivan, his brother Neil had persuaded Bono not to let him join U2 in the early days, when Ivan was practising with them, as he wanted to be successful on their own terms, and be better and bigger than U2. Misfortune also follows the brothers along the way, with disastrous double bookings and mishaps. They also get involved with Danny Machin, an Irish gangster (played superbly by Stanley Townsend), and Neil turns down the chance to support U2 at their homecoming Croke Park gig in 1987. There are band fights and break ups, some romance (and break ups), and lots and lots of bickering. Pretty good though.

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pat benatar - between a heart and a rock place

I am not a great fan of Pat Benatar, but when l used to hang out at a mates place years age (Hello Stocky!), he had posters up on the walls and loved her. Through him, l was forced to listen to her albums and despite liking the odd track, was not convinced.
While scrolling on the Kindle, l fancied reading something light, and l thought l would give this book a go, to see if there was anything l had been missing out on.  I only had the book on it as l had uploaded a load of books from a DVD l had with thousands on, as there is no way on Gods green and pleasant land that l would have parted with my hard earned money for it, even if it was in a massively reduced sale. Praise the good Lord that l didn't have to pay up, as it was pretty dire. Nothing that interesting was contained in it for me anyway. Tales of falling in love with the guitarist and marrying him, falling out with Chrysalis, the record company she signed to, and trying to fight sexism in the music industry (while wearing skin tight clothes). Along the way, she wins Grammys (how, l don't know), has kids |(that, l do know), and goes on about her voice and her records. No sex, drink and drugs tales, and a pretty uneventful background. Ozzy Osbourne's book was sooooooooooooooooooooooo much better (as you would expect). I wouldn't even recommend this book if l was a fan of the music.

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satellite shot of the concordia

This is a great satellite shot of the Costa Concordia shipwreck. It also re-enforces my belief that even l could have swam to safety.

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breakdancing traffic cop

Makes the traffic police in England look pretty square.

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figo's advert and bar

Watching the new Luis Figo advert (Just for Men), which seems to be shown about every 4.5 seconds at the moment, l can't help but think back to the glorious days of being on holiday with bugger all to do. There are a couple of pictures above from his ( as wikipedia would have it, 'upscale' ) bar in Portugal, featuring other footballers and his partner in the bar, China. Wish l was still in there now, especially now the crappy weather seems to be arriving.

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dodgy batman toy gun

This Batman toy gun looks well dodgy. I think this short, wide legged and rotund version would get way too much pleasure out of me squeezing that trigger. Also, it looks like he has got a butt plug in. Not that l'm judging of course, l just wouldn't want him squirting all over me.


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two nasty deaths via flaming bulls and child eating crocodiles

 A flaming bull - yesterday

A croc - yesterday

Lying in bed this morning and catching up with some of the recent new via yesterdays Sunday papers (The Observer), l read about two gruesome and pretty (one imagines) painful deaths.

In Navajas, Spain, a 45 year old man  was gouged by a bull after the man had slipped while joining in with festivities, which include being chased by the bulls. Not a lot of chasing was going on, as the bull did not have to go very far to take it's anger out on the fallen (and no doubt panicking) man. What anger? you may ask. Well, it's a bull for one thing, and it's horns had been covered in wax and then ignited, so that it would run amok while franticly shaking it's head, trying to put out the flames (and probably being very scared of them). So the man was not just gouged, he was gouged with the flaming horns of an angry and frightened bull. And then the bull stamped on him.  I bet he never anticipated dying like that when he was a young nipper.

Now some might say he deserved it and knew the risks. The other victim certainly didn't.

In Indonesia, a young girl of 10 was hunting for turtles by a river with her father and brother, when she was suddenly snatched by a crocodile in front of them, who were powerless to help. Nothing has been found of the body since then.

Thankfully l do not live near crocodile infested rivers, and don't go running with bulls, so l should be safe at the moment. Mind you, my house will probably blow up in a gas explosion now.  If it does - I knew the risks and it's only a coincidence, and l was not tempting fate! I do not believe in such thing.
Should be short, unexpected and sweet anyway.

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pele sounding bitter about messi

Lionel Messi has won the European Footballer Of The Year (Ballon d'Or) award for the third time, but it sounds like he is getting under Pele's skin, if his recent comments are to be believed.
Pele had other world class Brazilians playing with him, and most of his goals were against crappy teams (and he counted goals in  friendlies).
Messi is still young, and if he stays injury free, will win the award many more times. He even scored another brilliant hat-trick again yesterday evening for Barcelona v Malaga.
Pele was great, but Messi is head and shoulders above anyone else at the moment, and it just sounds as though Pele is bitter.
Maybe his Viagra has stopped working.




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walter freeman and lobotomy

While myself and the FPO were at Robbo and Kerry's on Friday, after the celebrations had abated (Kerry's 40th and a gain of 5 pounds), we were discussing lobotomies (as you do in polite society), and more importantly, the work of Walter Jackson Freeman.
For those that don't know, he pioneered the transorbital ( ice pick) frontal lobotomy, and then got carried away with it, performing them extensively (he kept records of 3,439) over aprox 30 years, including on John F Kennedy's sister Rosemary, until there were too many deaths, and he stopped in1967. This was all without any formal surgical training. Basically, it's put an ice pick up a tear duct and tap it into the front of the brain, wiggle it about, then repeat under the other eye.
Amazing (and no thanks).
There's an interesting sound bite about what it was like to have a lobotomy by Freeman here.

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yet another dodgy comic panel

Sometimes l wonder if the letterers/story-writers meant to put this kind of stuff in.


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bicycle diaries - david byrne

This book reminded me a lot of Robert M Pirsig's 'Zen And The Art Of Mortorcycle Maintenance', which l read many years ago, when l was a fresh faced young hippie. Both books deal with journeys, but are mainly full of philosophical ramblings about various subjects, but both deal with epistemology.
In David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries, the thoughts mainly concern architecture, city planning, and what makes human behave in certain ways. A bit like the Bill Bryson travel books in fact, but Byrne meets lots of arty types along the way (and doesn't go rambling in the rain).  This may sound unbelievably tedious, but it wasn't, and l found the book to be a lot better than l was anticipating, not being a huge fan of Talking Heads, nor cycling (just huge).
Bicycle Diaries has very nearly inspired me to buy a folding bike, but let's face it, that is not going to happen in a million years, although l may start cycling to work again once the weather improves, after all, l've gotta keep my buttocks like walnuts (or am l getting confused with my testicles?). Either way, I will have to dig out the old 'Zen' book again and re-read that at some stage (and that book made me want to get a motorcycle and ride across America).
Altogether now...Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  (and don't Bogart the joint)

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clint eastwood in joe kidd posters

After the post about Clint Eastwood in Joe Kidd, here are some posters for it. Once again, like the lobby cards, l just like the artwork.

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the stone roses show their age

And talking of being an old git (see last post), l was looking at this photograph from  The Stone Roses reformation that was announced recently.
I have blogged about how l wasn't too enamoured about the reformation before, but this picture just made me think about them (and everyone else of course) ageing, as they're certainly not the sprightly young whipper-snappers they used to be.
Then again, who is? After all, it was 20 years ago when they were top of the world, and no-one could expect them to look the same, in fact it would be freaky if they did (look at Cliff Richard).
It does however, make one pine for the days of unblemished youth, innocent times, and a rosy future ahead.


Hold on, l can't ever remember living in that time.
It must have been the drugs - l blame The Stone Roses (tidied that post up nicely).

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once upon a time in the midlands (2002) - shane meadows

Blimey, it's like we're having a Shane Meadows season in our house at the moment.
Once Upon A Time In The Midlands is set (once again) in a (you guessed it!) Midlands town (but filmed in Nottingham).
Robert Carlyle (Jimmy) is a loser up in Scotland, who sees his ex partner Shirley (Shirley Henderson) being proposed to on TV, but then turning the suitor (Dek) down.
After a bungled robbery, he decides to head back down south to try and win her back. Henceforth, there is a struggle to win the affection of Shirley between Dek and Jimmy, with Jimmy and Shirley's child being caught in the middle.
There were some great (albeit stereotypical) performances by Kathy Burke and Ricky Tomlinson, and Robert Carlyle was his usual brilliant self.
I would never (ever) class myself as a fan of Rhys Ifans, but his portrayal of Dek was really good, just eliciting the right amount of sympathy for him, without it becoming too maudlin. Dek started off being a right sad git, but became more likeable as the film went on, so at the end, you were rooting for him to win his girl (and family) back.
The FPO was weeping, so it must have ticked the correct boxes for her (unless of course, she was just re-evaluating her life with me, which would explain why the tears went on for so long).
Anyway, l digress. Definitely worth watching, but still no-where near as good as 'This is England', as Shane Meadows has just got better and better as time has been moving on (unlike the rest of us old gits).

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joe kidd lobby cards

I wasn't keen on the film, but l can still appreciate the artwork.

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