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29 February 2024

Gender, Labels & Grammar

It seems that the very people who dislike being labelled are labelling themselves. If he/she prefers to be genderless then, unless it's relevant (e.g. medical issues), I totally agree. However, the common practice of using 'they' instead of the singular, genderless 'it' (or maybe create a new word) makes 'them' seem scizophrenic. 

For example, an extract from Wikipedia "They co-created, co-wrote and starred in..." refers only to Mae Martin and does not include any other person(s) who co-created/co-wrote or starred. It's confusing. Also, I can't bring myself to say 'they is brilliant'.

It's a grammar thing which I know that I need to accept, similar to the common mis-use of  'different to' (cringe) or 'compared to' and 'people that...' (see notes) but, well, it's difficult. Don't get me started on 'could of' or 'your' when it should be 'you're'... Language changes between generations and my generation was traditionally taught. All I can do is quietly accept declining standards of grammar and not deliver a rant to the perpertators (unless, of course, they ask me to).

On the topic of labelling, I've never felt the need to belong to a group, whether non-binary, feminist, political or anything else. People are people and it's nobody else's business if there are differences - it's what makes humans interesting. Imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same; might as well be robots.

Similarly, religion. Be atheist, hindu, christian, or whatever you believe. Explain your choice if asked but do not, ever, bully the rest of the world to join you. Religion is your belief, just as Santa Claus is a 3-year old child's belief. In fact, on the face of it, there is more evidence of Santa's magic than any god's miracles, in recent times. Take comfort in your belief but please don't force it upon others. 

~ ~ ~ 

Notes 

The Grammar Thing:
- different from (always, unless using the American 'different than');
- compared with (when comparing like with like; 'compared to' should only be used when the comparison is not comparable, e.g. a person and a summer’s day;
- people who, not people that, please. Simple guidelines:
    -- Who is always used to refer to people (the person who...);
    -- That is used for mostly everything else, e.g. objects, animals, groups
        (the cat that... that team that...).

Non-gender-specific: There is a place for 'they'. For example, when writing a business plan, it can be introduced as a term which can refer to he, she or more than one person, thereby avoiding multiple future edits.



 

26 January 2024

Fool Me Once (NetFlix Series)

I'd never come across author Harlan Coben until recently when his name kept cropping up - his work is all over Netflix. I've not yet read any of his books and, so far, I've seen only one TV serialisation of a book, Fool Me Once, by screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst. This was compelling and I watched the eight episodes over two evenings. 

The book was set in/near New York but the Netflix series was set in England, starring Joanna Lumley, Richard Armitage, Michelle Keegan, Marcus Garvey and Adeel Akhtar. 

The plot has twists and turns and the main storyline is essentially about the rich and powerful buying off (or killing off) anyone who could damage their reputation and therefore wealth. Knowing who to believe and who can be trusted provides the tension. 

A secondary storyline is about the ordinary people whose lives are disrupted by events from the main storyline. This provides the break between the shenanigens of the 'unreal' world of deceit and death, which is as far from the ordinary viewing public's lives as any sci-fi. That said, it's a gripping series and worthy of inclusion in your list of things to watch. 

Feel free to leave a comment if you agree, disagree or wish to add your views in any way. 



Directed by Dexter Fletcher

Born in the mid-1960s in Enfield (now a London borough), Dexter Fletcher is an actor, film director and producer. He is the British equivalent of USA's Ron Howard. Both became famous as actors and have gone on to direct some great films. Fletcher's quirky style brings enjoyment to a mostly family audience, through such movies as:

  • Sunshine on Leith (2013)
  • Eddie the Eagle (2015) 
  • Rocketman (2019) 
  • Ghosted (2023) 

I've just got round to watching Ghosted, which features big stars in small roles (e.g. Anthony Mackie and Ryan Reynolds). It's a love story, it's an action-packed spy film, it's humorous. Summary: a recommended watch; great fun!

I know that I watched Sunshine on Leith and Eddie the Eagle, both of which I enjoyed, but it was so long ago that I can't remember details! Not a fan of Elton John but I may watch Rocketman some day. 

Unrelated quote:
I am constantly mistaken for Ben Elton...' - David Baddiel. 


19 January 2024

Time for more Book Reviews!

Surprisingly, there are very few book reviews on this blog yet I read so many! These have included some by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Ian Cummins and numerous others but I'll just review a couple of these books in this post. 

1. Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels.

I'm just a couple of books from having the whole set. I re-read the ones I have in 2023. If you know and love Discworld, there is nothing I can add but, if you want to try a few, here is some useful information.

Death appears in many of the books. Obvious when you think about it, really. He is a weary old bag of bones with a strong sense of duty (well, except for that one time...) and has a grand-daughter Susan, a horse named Binky and a manservant, Albert. His speech is denoted in small capitals, such as I COULD MURDER A CURRY

Lord Vetinari is a dictator although that seems a bit harsh, considering how well he runs the main city of Ankh-Morpork by keeping ahead of everone and everything. He is also in many of the books. 

The Wizards of the Unseen University provide the mad-cap element and the Witches from varioius other regions of Discworld are generally practical and helpful within their communities. Rincewind is a failed wizard who travels throughout the Discworld and has many adventures, featuring in several of the books.

The Watch reports to Lord Vetinari, they are responsible for law enforcement and are, for the most part, let by Captain Vimes. There are also guilds who are allowed to control their own (otherwise unlawful) business within parameters set by Lord Vetinari; these includethe assassins guild, thieves guild, etc.. The Watch is featured in many of the Discworld stories, particularly those set in Ankh-Morpork. 

Moist Von Lipwig is featured in three stories. He resurrected the Post Office, ran the bank and was instrumental in the Rail system.

Ankh-Morpork is a truly cosmopolitan city, home to humans, wizards (including one orang-utang), dwarfs, golems, trolls, at least one werewolf and a vampire - you name them, you'll find them there. 

Gods have a following. Between them, they cover everything, including cutlery drawers, but are not usually significant in most of the stories. 

There are many other characters popping up now and then and the themes of stories are parodies of the world we live in but with a quirky, humorous twist.

Discworld

 

2. Neil Gaiman - Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) and a book of his short stories.

Perhaps you've watched Good Omens on TV? I had already read the original book and subsequently the script of the first story. It was excellent. The sequel (without Pratchett) was not quite as captivating, in my opinion. 

Gaiman's book of short stories illustrates just how many weird ideas are floating around his head - not all happy thoughts, either. He's a good writer and, to be fair to him, I am not a fan of short stories, but if it's your way of escaping your life for a while, by all means give it a go. 

3. Ian Cummins - The Wrong Briefcase, My Time Again, Social Murderer.

Three different novels, three different genres. Take your pick.

The Wrong Briefcase is like a TV drama in that it's about people who you may know through work, the local pub, parents at the school, neighbours, etc.. It focuses on two characters. One is an ambitious man, Mark, whose life is changing; the other is James, a family man and our link to his father Harry's business. The story begins with Harry deciding to invest all his cash for his upcoming retirement to secure his and his wife's future - but he leaves the briefcase full of money in a taxi. The next person to use the taxi is Mark who picks up the briefcase, thinking it's his own, forgetting that he didn't have one with him that day. Harry turns to his son, James, to help find the briefcase but suddenly dies, leaving James to 'tidy up' his affairs. The book follows Mark with his new found wealth and James as their lives change but never cross. Of course, there's a good twist at the end. 

My Time Again is about a man, Graham, who has lived for 70 years when he is transported overnight back to 1970, when he was starting at University in London. His body is now that of an 18 year old but his seventy years of memories are still in his mind. This leads him to make different choices second time around. The author uses real life events to guide the story along, with Graham occasionally trying to change outcomes. But what may happen when his seventieth birthday approaches plays on his mind and he is determined to unravel the mystery before it's too late. 

Social Murderer is darker than the previous two books. Whilst murder-mysteries are the most popular of genres, I prefer less death and more feel-good. That said, however, it's a well thought through story of trying to identify the murderer before he continues his killing spree. Eventually, the detective finds out that victims are randomly chosen from their social media profiles - hence 'social murderer' - with the qualifying criteria being that their names that can be arranged in a specific pattern to solve a simple puzzle. The murderer has promised a huge reward for the first person who solves the puzzle. Will he/she be caught before the puzzle is finished and the prize claimed?

So that's it. You can buy Pratchett's and Gaiman's books practically anywhere; Ian Cummins' books are all available on Amazon books and Kindle.

P.S. I posted this book review years ago and can only remember the first and last books mentioned! Sadly, my Kindle is over ten years old and has stopped functioning.

I Used To Be Famous - British film

A few years after Del-boy put Peckham on the map, along comes Vinnie D. 

Co-written, directed and starring Eddie Sternberg as Vince Denham who used to be in a famous band twenty years earlier, this story is a reminder that people are complicated creatures. 

Vince is down on his luck. Alone in his flat, he reflects on his life choices which led him here, mainly shaped by his inability to stand his ground and visit his younger brother in hospital, who died while the band was on tour. He is not happy with his life and dreams of becoming famous again.

While practising a new song on his electronic keyboard, sitting on a bench in Peckham market, a young man, Stevie, starts drumming along with the song until Stevie's mother arrives on the scene and takes him home. 

Long story short... Stevie is autistic and drums as therapy. Vince joins the therapy group and shows understanding, helping other members gain self-confidence. The two team up (against Stevie's mum's wishes) and get a gig at the local pub. They are well received until some guys wander in and begin to shout derogatory comments about the music and then start picking on Stevie. Vince protects his younger friend and a fight ensues. Obviously he is then banned from the pub. 

With various people posting short videos on social media of Vince and Stevie playing in the market and at the gig, Vince is eventually poised to make a comeback tour... 

AI generated image of drumming

Released 2022, currently on Netflix.

17 January 2024

Indiana Jones - the fifth and final film

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 

Everyone was excited about the next Indiana Jones movie until the studio started to shoot itself in the foot and put out negative vibes. Even after it was released, there was no love for the film at Disney. Unsurprisingly, one of the highest budget films was not a box-office success and, at the time, made huge losses. These factors niggled at an audience who wanted to love Indy's last adventure (bearing in mind that Harrison Ford must be nearly 100 years old by now). 

So we waited. We've now watched the movie and have our own opinion on it. Generally, the public awarded a 3.6 rating and we wouldn't argue with that but we believe it could have been higher with a better final cut. For example, it's a long film at 2h22m and much of the first half dragged on a bit therefore just removing 20 minutes or so from the first half of the film would have been beneficial. Possibly the scenes where old Indy became younger Indy, thanks to CGI, were only kept in to justify the CGI cost? 

That aside, once the action got going, it was entertaining.

Resurrecting the Nazi element as the antagonists was a terrible idea but the fantasy element of the franchise (e.g. Arc, Aliens) was topped by time-travel. The antagonists meet their doom in the distant past as Indy meets with Archimedes who, apparently, discovered how to time travel around 2000 years ago. 

All in all, quite entertaining and a must-see if you've seen the others. 

Personal ratings by release:

  • Raiders of the Lost Arc ~~~ 5* 
  • Temple of Doom ~~~ 4* 
  • Last Crusade ~~~ 5*
  • Crystal Skull ~~~ 4* 
  • Dial of Destiny ~~~ 4*

 



12 January 2024

Movies: Freelance, Witless Protection, About My Father - our ratings

We've watched three more films on three consecutive evenings, wow. 

1. Freelance

Genre: action and humour. If this had been made at the end of the last millenium, it would be starring Arnie and possibly co-starring Antonio Banderas. However, it was released in 2023 and stars John Cena, Alison Brie and Juan Pablo Raba. It's not a new plot but it was entertaining and for that, we give it 4 out of 5 stars. Cena and Brie were good and Juan Pablo Raba was excellent.

2. Witless Protection

Genre: comedy. We nearly abandoned this quite early on as it's cringey rather than funny but we let it run and there was some worthy humour. Added to that, the plot developed nicely, so we can award 3 out of 5 stars. For those of you who know of the comedian 'Larry the Cable Guy', the humour is probably typical but for the rest of us (especially Brits), this is a B-list movie.

3. About My Father

Genre: comedy. Based loosely on the relationshop between the writer/leading actor Sebastian Maniscalco and his father, played by Robert De Niro, this hardly believable plot is entertaining, with characters who you may like or loathe as the story unfolds. It's entertaining, so somewhere between 3 and 4 stars out of 5. 

Click here for more film info.