the rainmaker (1956) - joseph anthony

There is a towering and lively performance by Burt Lancaster as Starbuck, 'The Rainmaker' of the title, a con merchant who is travelling from town to town selling his devices, until he meets and falls for Lizzie Curry (Katharine Hepburn), an idealistic and downtrodden daughter of a desperate (for rain) farmer father.  Starbuck gives her, the family (and himself) hope, and despite some of the hammy acting  by others, Lancaster and Hepburn manage to make the film interesting and watchable.  Does it rain at the end?  Do they live happily ever after?  That would be telling.

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the death of neil armstrong

 The iconic shot of the Earth rising in the shadow of the Moon

Armstrong back in the capsule (but still on the Moon) after his walk

For people of a certain age, the death of Neil Armstrong resonates because of the significance of what he did.  The first man ever to set foot on the moon (with Buzz Aldrin in Apollo 11).  That, let's not forget, is an amazing achievement, even if it was to be carried out now, let alone back in 1969.  Lots of things could have gone wrong, and he (with the other crew members) risked their lives and succeeded in pulling off an amazing feat.  Obviously l never knew the man, but by all accounts he was pretty modest about his achievements, but what a thing to experience.  It was amazing to see it on TV at the time, but to be able to look back on the Earth, step foot on another surface, and then return home in one piece, must have been mind blowing.  How can the rest of your life compete with that?  No wonder he looks so happy in the photograph above.

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johnny got his gun - dalton trumbo (1939)

A bit of an American classic this one, and well worthy of it's reputation.  Johnny Got His Gun tells the fictional story of Joe Bonham, who wakes up after being involved in an explosion while fighting in the First World War, only to slowly realise that he has had his limbs amputated, and also lost his sight, speech and hearing.  There is some great free flowing and hallucinatory writing from Dalton Trumbo, mixing thoughts and memories together, as our hero struggles to cope with his isolation and despair.  It's moving, emotional and political, and certainly anti war, and the joyous moments after Johnny realises he can be understood through morse code, up to the denial of his requests are some of the best passages l have ever read.  Trumbo was blacklisted and wrote under other names, and is probably best known for the screenplay to 'Spartacus', but this book has to be his crowning glory, and should be compulsory reading for schoolchildren.  Fantastic stuff.

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records being played today

For the first time since l have been off work, l haven't watched any films today.  That is because l have been reading and listening to music, specifically, the records above, and a fine days listening and reading it has been.  If you are wondering about my liking of Phil Harris, it's because he was Baloo in The Jungle Book, so all of his records pretty much sound as though Baloo is singing them, which can never be a bad thing.  It's a hard life (somewhere).

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chris evans has the chitty chitty bang bang car

I have no great interest in cars, but this is one little beauty l would have liked to own.  It's the car from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', a film which l loved when l was a kid, and was bought by Chris Evans for £500,000.  He has finished making it roadworthy, and can now drive it home from work.  It certainly makes my Rover look like a pile of crap.  I wish l had loads of money, but it's good to know Chris isn't wasting his anymore (the jammy git).  Pictures are from The Sun.

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prince harry being an idiot (again)

So, Prince Harry has been getting into trouble again, this time it's for playing strip billiards at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas,  then having naked photographs taken of him with other guests.   My opinion is, If he wants to be a normal 27 year old soldier and get pissed and naked, then he should be allowed to do so.  After all, the press are always trying to stress what a normal lad he is nowadays.  On the other hand, he should do it with his own money, not the taxpayers, and he should relinquish his claims to be King.  If he is going to take money because he is in the Royal family and has power and responsibilities, then he should get his act together and behave in a manner befitting of someone in that position, as he then has a duty to the country and his subjects.  I'm sick of tales of him and his buddies getting pissed around the world (when he is not out partying in London), drinking expensive booze and staying in flash hotels.  Where did the money come from for this little jaunt?  It's between £4,000 and £5,000 a night to stay in the rooms he occupied at the Wyatt.  Who funded that?  Even if he got it for free, it's because of who is is, which brings me back to the responsibilities he has.  He is no longer the young tearaway who dressed as a Nazi, he is a grown man who should have more sense. Plus, where the hell was the security or advisers to prevent this sort of thing happening?  I wish all the sponging royal bastards would bugger off and stop taking the piss, but l have a feeling that won't be happening in the near future.  They know where their bread is buttered, but us poor idiotic peasants paying for it?  They're having a right old laugh at our expense, and no wonder the toffs look down their noses at us.  Time for a revolution brothers and sisters.  As you can see, the pictures of Harry naked are from TMZ.

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puss in boots (2011) - chris miller

The story of Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas, before Puss joined the Shrek franchise in Shrek 2, this was really well done, and so much better than Shrek 3.  Maybe slightly too long for my liking, but it also had minor funny cameos, such as the cat that goes "OOoooo", and the cute girl cat was not an annoying distraction, but also funny. Friendship, trust, greed, revenge and golden eggs.  What more do you want?  Why weren't these sort of films out when l was a kid?
Mind you, we had 'The Jungle Book', so it wasn't all bad.

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cast a giant shadow (1966) - melvin sharvelson

The fictionalized story of how David 'Mickey' Marcus helped defend the State Of Israel in the Arab - Israeli war in 1948, with a top notch cast (Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Yul Brynner etc), the premise of Cast a Giant Shadow certainly sounds good. Unfortunately, it is pretty boring, too long, and has the dubious gift of making the non fictional aspects of the story look fictional.  Not worth wasting your time on.

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george best - style guru and madame tussaurds

My admiration for George Best as a footballer and sometimes style guru knows no bounds, but even he couldn't get away with the above outfit. Even in the 1960's, he was never going to make that work.  No wonder the watching girls look stunned.
Also on the George Best front, the top picture is of his waxwork at Madame Tussauds being taken down and replaced  by Johan Cruyff's.  Fair enough, as Bestie was past his best and Cruyff was fantastic, but take a look at the so called 'face' of Best.  It is crap, and nothing like him.  I would have been demanding my money back if l had gone to see a George Best waxwork and been shown that monstrosity as a representation, especially as they always (still do) went on about how life like the waxworks are.  They are better now (I was there a few years ago), but there are still some real horrorshows.

Anyone for The Beatles?

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aileen and jethro, cancer, and the right to die

This is a picture of Aileen Crimmings O'Brien Graef and her dog Jethro, taken yesterday, just before Aileen died of breast cancer (from Boing Boing). She is the sister of Miles O'Brien, who bought Jethro to the hospice to say a last goodbye, and who took this photograph.  Their mother also died of the disease and Miles' girlfriend, Xeni Jardin, has also been diagnosed. I'm sure this photograph will be reproduced a lot, as it is certainly moving, and I wish Aileen's daughters (Katie and Aileen) nothing but the best.  I don't know the circumstances around Aileen's illness and death, and the following views are just my own, nothing to do with the way she died (or chose to die).
My own mother died in a hospice through cancer, and it was an awful way to watch someone deteriorate and slip away.  If we could have given her something to speed up the end, and limit the suffering (as she would have wanted), we would have done, but were unable to do so (although l did consider putting a pillow over her face at one stage). It went on and on, until she was finally just (and l mean just) breathing.  Dignity in death was no-where to be seen (although the hospice itself was excellent).
On a related note, Tony Nicklinson, the man with locked in syndrome who last week lost his right to have doctors legally end his life, died today, peacefully at home.  He was going to continue his fight, and l agree that people should have the choice.  It's absurd that people have to suffer in a manner that an animal would not (as it would be put down).
Tony Scott was diagnosed with a brain tumor and jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge three days ago in Los Angeles.  Perhaps if he had been able to live out the rest of his life until it got too much, and was then given some kind of lethal painkiller, he might have decided to live longer (although there could be other reasons for jumping).  Lethal medicaton (or possibly Heroin) is certainly the way l would want to go if the aches and pains got too much, and if not, it will be a tall building  for me (probably dressed as Spider-man).  Don't think this is flippant talk and not taking the matter seriously.  I'm deadly serious and have spoken about this for many years.
If you want to leave things in God's hands - fine.  Myself, l want to have the choice, and if l'm not going to be able to make that choice when l am really ill, then l will do so beforehand.  I'm prepared to take my chances with the 'afterlife' and the consequences of my actions.

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how not to catch spiders

I don't know why l watch this sort of stuff, as it just freaks me out, but here are two failures when it comes to catching spiders. Bloody things - l hate them. toodle pip

cystic echinococcosis (hydatid cyst of the liver)

Don't watch this video if you are squeamish, as it's one of the most disgusting things l have ever seen.  It shows a liver being emptied after it had become full of Echinococcosis larvae (the round balls).  Humans accidentally eat the eggs and can become infected, and these can quickly grow inside the liver.  Urghh!
More information here.

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paul mccartney painting

It's good to know that Paul McCartney is not good at everything.  This is his 'Yellow Linda with Piano' from 1988, and l reckon l could do something just as good.  On the other hand, he has done some half decent things in music that l might not be able to match.  Bloody show off.

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bill clinton meeting john f kennedy

I saw the photograph at the top for the first time the other day, and was amazed l had not seen it before.  It has a young Bill Clinton meeting and shaking hands with John F Kennedy at The White House on July 24th. 1963.  The meeting helped inspire Clinton to become a politician, but less than 4 months later, Kennedy had been assassinated (by Lee Harvey Oswald?).  The other photographs l have taken from the video.

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a happy horse

A happy horse.  What's not to like?

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letter from prison and education for the poor

My English leaves a lot to be desired, but that is mainly because l hardly had to write anything until the last few years, as l worked in jobs that did not require much paperwork.  I passed my English exams (language and literature), but my spelling and grammer was a lot better back in the day (although my vocabulary has increased).  However, this is put into perspective with the people l come into contact with and communicate with, both at work and away from it.  I then find that most people are not as good at using and understanding the language, and some are shockingly bad at it.  To demonstrate this, l accidentally opened a letter that had been wrongly addressed to my house, and it turned out to be from a prisoner, writing to try and get a visit from somebody.  The letter was resealed and handed back to the postman the next day, and l was obviously not going to scan it or reveal it's full contents, but before l resealed it, l couldn't help but be amazed at some of the mistakes.  The grammer was terrible, but these are a small selection of the words spelt incorrectly (with the correct spelling afterwards)

wiv - with
were - where
dose - does
thay - they
intill - untill
wot - what
anuff - enough
afhter  - after

Now the prisoner may well be dyslexic, but l have a sneaking suspicion that they have been poorly educated, not encouraged, come from a broken home or violent background,  and had no opportunities, therefore leading to a life of crime.  A lot of it may be their own fault, and they have made their own choices in life, but what real chances do they have of gaining meaningful and rewarding employment with so few writing skills and lack of education.  Unless something miraculous happens, this person will probably be a habitual re-offender, and may go onto major crime.  Surely it's better to throw money at educating and providing for the poor while they are young and a difference may be achieved, as it will only cost a lot more money (and harm to society) in the future.  Capitalism needs a poorly educated and cheap to employ workforce, but there are limits.

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1967 barbeque and music

That is what you call a Barbeque!  And all for the costly sum of £1!  With 'Soft Ultra Violet' lighting!  With Hot Dogs!  You don't even have atmosphere, as its listed as 'atmospere' on the poster. Times certainly were different back in the day.

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some behind the scenes photographs

 Dustin Hoffman and dear dear Laurence Olivier during 'Marathon Man'

Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream

The guys at Sesame Street

Superman

Some behind the scenes shots from films and TV ('A peek behind the magic').

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hud posters and lobby cards

Posters and lobby cards for 'Hud' (see below).

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