Works In Progress
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email: morrismacavity@tiscali .co.uk
January 17 2008
Happy New Year
Joseph Roth who died in 1939 is a superb writer.Radetsky's March is probably the best but The Legend of a Holy Drinker is a little gem as is The Wandering Jew.
Gary Imlach's football book about his father is wonderful. Auschwitz by Laurence Rees and The Wannsee Conference. Berlin by Anthony Beevor and a Eva Hoffman from LL. Watched Downfall again, extraordinary one feels as if you are watching history....not a bad performance in the film and the claustrophobic nature of Hitler's bunker is captured brilliantly.
Eva Hoffman book Exit Into History quite wonderful. An account of two visits made to Poland, Czech Republic, Romania Bulgaria Hungary in 1989.1991. I learnt an enormous amount about Eastern Europe...she praises Rebecca West's book. Interestingly she seems to like Bulgarians the most.. Only country whose economy actually improved under Communism. Also an honourable record on anti semitism...most of its 200,000 Jews were sent to the countyside by the Bulgarian King and its Orthodox patriarch said he would throw himself in front of Nazi trains if they came to transport the Jews away. She writes critically but with enormous sympathy and insight on the Fascist, Communist and Perestoika periods.
March 4 2007 Palmy Balmy Days Casting and rehearsals bedevilled by ...what ? To NT to see Happy Days. Set, acting and much of the script superb, diverting, amusing... but I am afraid confirmed my antipathy to the Beckett/Pinter school of theatre....the reverence given to their intellectual theatricality is.....overblown and overrated... ( It's just a fucking mildy amusing monologue for Christ's sake) I feel somewhere soon there will be a backlash and their aridity and nihilstic view let alone their smallness be exposed and put into a lower pantheon. To Riverside for The Squid and The Whale. Understated and wonderfully acted study of the effects of separation on two young boys and their parents. Jeff Daniels quite marvellous with Laura Linney and two young actors playing the kids.
March 11 Riverside the best deal in London for cinema....Powerful, beautifully photographed and well acted Jarhead. But Flags of Our Fathers is a masterpiece and Clint Eastwood a master story teller. The film is elegiac, brutal, sad with a cast of gifted actors. It seems the Americans have an endless line of talent that makes claims about the superiority of Britich actors nonsense. That Scorsese, great talent that he is should win an Oscar for the turgid and disappointing The Departed against Eastwood makes the Oscars a mockery. And Clint wrote the atmospheric music as well !
Drama within the dramas of casting. We have drawn blank after blank in our search for a black actress to play Religious. In desperation I rewrote the part for a white actress and stiil we couldn't find any one. Finally thought of Clare who read Hannah so well. Too young but talented and has worked with Simone. She has agreed to play the part. Off to rehearsals in a minute.
March 16 2007 Palmy Balmy Days. Getting there, though poor Simone finding it very difficult with all the actors' busy lives and careers not letting her get everybody together to rehearse. It's the constant dilemma. You are an actor but have to earn a living. A play comes along with little money attached but you want to do it so you compromise, the writer and director compromise.You are not going to be as comfortable or happy in the role as if four weeks of ensemble rehearsal had happened
What happens if a play or a movie comes along with money attached ? Give up the day job ? It will depend on your age and financial means I would guess. An amateur knows from day one there is no money. But lots of hard work and evenings and weekends are sacrificed. Plus you pay your own expenses. So why be a professional ? Glory and a belief that one day The National will beckon or Stephen Spielberg will call ? The profession is littered with dreamer's corpses. It leads, I think often to a bad attitude, a sort of "I'm doing you a favour by being in your play". Also an idea that you could write /direct a better play or turn the present one into something nearer your vision. A writer on the Fringe suffers all the angst and has hardly any control over the "finished" product. Because of all the compromises, changes are made on the hoof, over the phone, sometimes willingly conceded, other times grudgingly, usually all without seeing what a difference the suggested changes make. Matt Peover who directed Grace Under Pressure so well suggested a workshop for the penultimate scene. It was absolutely right, I rewrote with 3 days to go and it was one of the best scenes in the play. Directors and actors can make crucial differences to a script. The writer can only respond when he sees what they are suggesting or when another actor has been brought in. If I write a character as black with a Jamaican accent and am then unable to cast the role but have to change to white from Peckham, it may be I find a better character or nuances I didn't know were there. Watch this space
March 26 2007.....It really is out of my hands now. The frustrations, the last minute requests for more money...a sound system that doesn't work, the heating left on suffocating the actors, delays in getting into the theatre, the sense of panic from the actors, the missed lines, some being on the book with three days to go...it's endless, worrying and leaves me thinking "why do I do it".
Ego ? I want to hear my words on stage. I want an audience to like those words and the action and the songs etc etc etc
Help !!!!!!!!!
March 31 2007 We are getting poor houses and many difficulties persist but the few who go are giving me very positive responses. One said it was a long time since he had cried at a play, another that the words were still in her head and had made her feel better about life, another that five people had all had differing and thoughtful opinions on the play and yet another that she had exchanged wry smiles and mutual recognition of the words with her partner. So not all bad but we do need more people.
April 4 2007 14 pax from Swaffield organised by the lovely Alpa brought some life to the play last night. I felt too fraught to go. I didn't think it could get to me like this but it has. Too many niggles, petty problems, negativity and the apathy of the local Barnes people whom we were promised would come to the play. Simone has worked way beyond the call of duty, nurtured and cared for them all..... worried and fussed. We will have to learn from this experience.
More royalties from lazybees. Sticky Snail has had its first post Swaffield performance.
April 7 Last night tonight. It will be a relief. It hasn't really worked out for a variety of reasons. A serious compromise had to be made with the character of Divine and the lack of ensemble rehearsal has been underlined at times. OSO support has been patchy and audiences sparse. Do I persevere ? I am going to have a good rest for the summer, think about a few things, plays and some kind of work but for now the garden will have priority.
Finished Suite Francaise a well told story full of observations on the conduct of the French fleeing Paris in 1940 and their relationships with the Germans. Nemirovsky's own story is tragic. Murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1942. They All Sang by Studs Terkel, a series of radio interviews with famous and not so famous musicians. Reading Snow by Pamuk, struggling a bit at the moment. April 19 Ended up too confusing and not all that well written or is it the translation ?
April 19 Stunning weather and lots of good garden work. The Wind That Shakes The Barley at Riverside quite magnificent. Preceded by a documentary and a Q and A with Ken Loach, a witty, intelligent and humane man. Rewatch of Walkabout confirming my opinion that it is a great film.
Last night of Palmy Balmy Days was good enough to convince me it is not a bad play. I have had enough opinions from friends family and strangers which were in the main very flattering and positive but we had too many disappointments in the interpretaton of the nuances of the script to make it a really happy experience. I think maybe I would be better off using amateurs in the future and lowering my expectations (or maybe raising them ?.) The director of The Finborough once took me to task for using my web site to criticise but I reiterate my previous reflections that some professional actors want to mould a script and direct the play in a gauche,confrontational and discourteous manner that doesn't serve the play. Many also have other committments that prevent them doing a proper and honest job. A real ensemble company would I believe work together with all... actors, director and writer to produce as good a piece of final work as possible. I have spent the morning cutting more lines and sharpening others. It's a pity there wasn't time and space to do this before play was performed.
Time to move on and Cultiver Mon Jardin.
April 20 2007 Coda and evening thoughts. Should anyone ever read my web site I am looking for AMATEUR actors of over sixty to meet and discuss the possibilities of workshopping and eventually putting on Palmy Balmy Days.
May 10 2007 Film fest has included The Devil Wears Prada glorious rubbish with a great Streep performance, Missing atmospheric and well directed, Lemmon outstanding. Iris touching and excellent performances all round. Rio Bravo which I first saw over 45 years ago is so good.. a chamber Western with Wayne, Martin and Walter Brennan stealing the honours. Another oldie, The Young Lions absolute crap, even Brando and especailly Clift. Network with strong central performances from Finch,. Holden and particularly Dunaway peters out but some great lines by Chaefesky.
John Lanchester book, MR Phillips mildly amusng. Dances with Devils by Pauw, a South African journalst racy and pacy but not very well written. Started the Fisk opus on wars and pestilence cruelty torture....More movies The Hustler excellent and the Zefferelli Romeo and Juliet.
May 27 2007 Matter of Life And Death at National. So looking forward to this but sadly another huge missed opportunity. More circus than play, lots of shouting actors, amazing effects, poor dialogue. To change the film plot Rice and Morris tag on a polemic about the morality of fighter pilots and the guilt of bombing Dresden. They include songs and dance which are perfectly pleasant but add nothing to the play. It's a love story with a fabulous trial scene but they can't leave it at that. The pilot meets his father and Shakespeare who want him dead and ridiculously they get their way completely betraying for no good artistic reason the original plot. All that money and talent wasted for this spectator.
June 7 2007 Zodiac a satisfying densely packed thriller with fine acting from Mark Ruffalo, Gillenhay, Downie and a host of excellent character actors. Watched The Grapes of Wrath.... how well it stands the test of time...an indictment of the cruelty of captalism beautifully photographed and superb detail by John Ford.... the actors conveying the humilations of poverty and authority and yet a determination not to succumb to despair. Jane Darvell as the mother is all courage, kindness and dignity and Henry Fonda gives probably his best performance ever. Superb.
June12 The Lives of Others is creepy atmospheric and utterly believable about the Stasi in East Germany . Faultless direction and acting. Still on Fisk book and dipping into Dervla Through Siberia by Accident. My letter to Education Guardian published admonishing Colin Shindler for his naivety on Israel boycott question.
July 10 2007 Finished the Fisk book a truly magnificent achievement. He engages the attention all the time, is opinionated, caustic, truthful, dynamic. Bravo Bravo Bravo. Campbell Diaries out won't be getting them, reading the excerpts is bad enough what a load of shits they all are and Campbell will always have his role in going to war and the Kelly affair on his conscience. Why a jumped up foul mouthed journalist and unelected "member" of the cabinet was allowed so much power is truly frightening and disgraceful. Finished monologue and will send off soon. Bugsy on Thursday fingers crossed as we drive the little devils on.
July 17 Stevie's birthday. He would have been 44 today. Miss him so much.
Bugsy in the end went very well. Can't get the tunes out of my head. Went to excellent restaurant afterwards with K and T. To town to see Goldsworthy at Hayward , mysterious and intriguing, his figures on top of buildings are my favourites. Also outstanding photographic exhibition at NT. Bought from LRB Achebe, Roth, Jonathan Wilson, Pat Barker also have Seduction Of Place by Rykwert and Roger bought me Occupational Hazards by Rory Stewart. Just finished a book of criticism of South African writers mostly on the theme of what happens post apartheid. Watched The Thick of It so good and funny and eerily prescient after the Campbell diaries. To look forward to.. more Larry David, Suddenly Last Summer. Night and The City (Jules Dassin and Richard Widmark) Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man plus the girls are hard selling The Wire to me.
Yes!!! Write It Down to be published by lazybees...my History Quintet all published now plus Sticky. Not many sales though so hope to launch a publicity drive soon.
July 25 2007 Poor girls in Oxford suffering with floods. On the Continent record heat waves; something's up. Roth's Everyman a morbid reflection on death and illness interlaced with love and marriage. A Palestine Affair well written thriller based in post First World War Palestine. Regeneration rather dour but well written fictional account of Sassoon and others incarcerated in Craiglockheart as war victims. Week end in France wine and cheese galore. Am back with Paul struggling as ever but some new ideas suggested by Dave Solomon and Tessa.
August 2 2007 Things Fall Apart by Achebe didn't quite make it for me.
NOW For those of my readers and actors with some humility and good memories. Patrick Stewart writes in Observer on 29 07 07
"Learning lines used to be a breeze...not any more...has to be planned in advance of rehearsals. In the past I never learned a single line until after rehearsals had started...a director might mutter something about getting "off the book".Of course I now see very clearly what was going on. We were avoiding commiting to the play ( OH GLORY BE) to the character, to the work. The script in hand was a kind of security blanket. Not any more. Those days are gone. Starting to learn lines after the first days of rehearsal will only end in tears" He goes on to tell an anecdote about an actress on Broaday underlining his points and finishes
"These days every line must be at least familiar, if not known by heart,on day one. Some directors, quite reasonably want actors DLP (dead letter perfect) from the beginning"
A top actor could be speaking my lines especially after PBD
I do hope some actors read the piece. What was it Noel Coward said "learn your lines and don't bump into the furniture"
I rest my case.
August 3 2007 at last the NT comes up with the goods. St Joan is wonderfully acted particularly Ann Marie Duff and Angus Wright as Richard Earl Of Warwick. Paterson Joseph goes over the top as Bishop of Beauvais. The sets and action are breathtaking and the music superb. Only cavil is I think one or two speeches /scenes should be cut and especially the end . Instead of finishing on the burning of Joan.. a long history sort of what happened next is kept in, quite unnecessarily I think. But a grand theatre experience. Bravo all and of course Marianne Elliott Rae Smith Jocelyn Pook.
August 9 2007 Festival Hall ...hard to see any changes and I am not sure about the acoustics. But Carmen was wonderfully sung and acted by a stunning South African...Cindy was enchanting and sang like an angel, Joe excellent and some of the supporting actors. The production is messy with the orchestra in sunken middle so action takes place on a narrow strip at front and back and sides. But all was conquered by singing and the beautiful Carmen and Cindy. Over fify years ago I sneaked off from school to see Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte in the film.
August 19 2007 Wonderful DVD of Leonard Cohen now 73. He is a genius and various singers paid homage to him. "There's a crack a crack in everything that's how the lights get in that's how the light gets in". Read In Search of Fatima an insight into pain of Palestinians banished from their land and homes. Arab Nationalism a history of the various attempts to turn the Arab world ino a singular entity. The Seduction of Place, an interesting examination of cities and their social and emotional needs.
August 28 2007 Hollow Land is beautifully writen in a scholarly and precise manner which makes it all the more effective in its indictment of Zionism and Israel's brutal and illegal policies. Have decided to rewrite my monologue in the light of this book to try and get more of the Palestinain experience in. Approached Galleon /Greenwich Playhouse about reading it myself but have aborted after negative response from De Sousa and after rewriting may do it in Oxford early next year.
September 5 2007 A blessing in disguise is that cancelling Galleon enterprise has caused extensive rewriting and I will definitely read it myself early next year. Must confess I find it difficult to learn lines but what a relief not to have to rely on any actors directors and all that crap they give you. I'll stand or fall alone. Watched four hour Spike Lee New Orleans documentary. Hypnotic and sad and encouraging about the human spirit. The richest country in the world can't alleviate the pain and clear away the squalor or build enough homes for the dispossessed. Bush is a disgrace as a human being let alone a President.
September 14 2007 Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury a strangely hypnotic work full of wonderful images and poetry
Almost certainly doing Bitter Fruit Monologue in Oxford in March 2008. More anon.
September 25 2007. Wonderful break in Seville, Cordoba and Granada . Feared being part of a group but in the event we mostly did our own thing. Seville a lovely city of river, parks and buildings. Cordoba....The Mesquite is magnificent would have been even better if the Chritstians had left it alone. Jewish museum and synagogue Arabic tea room all exhausting but riddled with history. The Alhambra everything I dreamed it would be like. Three hour tour with a witty and intelligent guide Elena.To Old Town and lunch in a Morrocan restaurant. Dinner in a seedy but fun place with a flamenco in a tiny room thrown in for the price of dinner. Good tour guide excellent hotels.
Have had a very good response from Rosemary Tylka on Bitter Fruit though she and Shelby Tucker seem to think it is called Bitter Lemon !...Am learning my lines and have booked West Oxford Community Hall for March 2 2008 at 5pm.Still not heard from Hillcroft. They do move very very slowly.
October 3rd 2007 The dreaded return of the stuffed nostrils. As ever I feel dreadful and have spent two days in bed the longest for the last hundred years. Hillcroft??? Have now spoken with yet another lady called Noleen who has promised to get me some response. It is the most mysterious behaviour. I am learning and rewriting Bitter monologue. No reaction from CAABU but I suppose that is the story of my life in writing. Black Mass by John Gray makes a compelling argument against the philosophies of the neo cons and the ideas of Utopians. All seem to lead to disaster, the only panacea is realism but Gray is pessimistic about terroism and the survival of the human race . Who isn't ? A curious little book A Fly For The Prosecution is the detailing of the work of a forenscic entemologist mostly on Hawaii.
October 14 2007 My favourite place the A&E department of St George's received me on Tuesday evening. On Monday I did a dramatic collapse at the surgery. What fun. England beat France....Australia,,,,can they go all the way? I say YES
Edward Said, The Politics of Dispossession, a collection of his essays over the years confirms again his intellectual and incisve mind and searing honesty. Am finding more and more lines for my monologue. Encouraging response from Palestinian Solidarity Campaign to my email about the performance.Interview about suggested course/s on Wed at Hillcroft. May do Drama for La Diva at Wix. Now about these anti biotics ....................
October 15 2007 Is there a greater indictment of Blair who was " really astonished and angry" when given a presentation on the devastating effects of Israel's security barriers, settlements and closures on the lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories
"He asked very smart questions though I did think that someone who was prime minister for so long should already have known these facts"
He is convinced Ms Rice is committed to working intensively for a peace deal " Condi's got religion" he has told friends
October 20 2007 Finished Married to Another Man by Ghada Karmi, a superb history and also cogently argued case for one state solution.
To Green College Oxford for Ghada Karmi , a rather formidable lady who spoke well and eloquently on the subject of a unitary state of Palestine /Israel. Question and answer session left me pondering if the hothouse atmosphere of academic debate can ever take the Palestinian issue forward. I can't help thinking sometimes that academics have their doctorates stuck up their arses. Watched Doha debate with a very prickly David Aaaronovitch trying desperately not to accuse everyone of being anti- semites. When he wrote for the Observer I felt he wasn't too bad but then he went increasingly to the right or perhaps he always was a closet Tory. He then took the Murdoch shilling putting him beyond the pale. He argued amongst other things that the Israeli lobby did not put pressure on writers and professors. Well the most disturbing thing that Karmi said was that the Oxford Union the bastion of free speech had bowed to pressure from Dershowitz and withdrawn Finklestein's invitation to debate the previous evening. She and Pappe and Shlaim had withdrawn in protest. She warned of creeping censorship on the model of the Israeli Lobby and I take it very seriously. Reading Perceptions of Palestine by Kathy Christison which delineates quite clearly the ways in which Palestinians have been made invisible by the Great Powers. Also read on line her and her husband's exchange of letters with Benny Morris the revisionist historian who recanted and wished that all the Arabs had been driven into the sea in 1948. No he didn't quite say that but close.
October 31 2007 Well..another visit to A&E at St Georges...draw the screens Nurse. Finished Perceptions of Palestine, first class writing and informative.. learnt a lot. Creative Writing at Hillcroft went well and good feedback. Finally got an answer out of Theatre 503... yes you guessed it they have destroyed script and hadn't received any of my emails. You can't make it up.
November 9 2007 Beliefs and Drama at Hillcroft and next week Black History and hopefully Dec 12 Bitter Fruit. Finished Fisk Lebanon book another white knuckle ride through recent history told with verve, honesty and some brilliant and sad, terrifying passages, Criticisms would be that so many different factions are involved in the mayhem of Lebanon that a guide to them would have been useful. At times I lost the thread. Also two curiosities. He writes a lot about his friend Terry Anderson and the hostages, Waite, McCarthy etc but never mentions Brian Keenan. With his deep interest in Ireland both North and Republic it is a strange omission. The other is that having previously mentioned Anderson's family and his daughter Gabrielle, she completely disappears on Anderson's release and his "new" daughter Sulome and his wife are the only ones mentioned. Very odd. Autumn Watch on BBC is wonderful, even Oddie has quietened down and lets the lovely Kate Humble talk. Spooks is turning into just another American style series all car chases and violence, the script has disappeared. Such a shame.
November 15 My regular port of call A&E. More drugs. Extraordinary script report (see plays1 htm above ) for Palmy Balmy Days. One can only call it a rave review, almost over the top...but the inevitable BUT . Not one criticism only the lame" it's not really an Oldham Coliseum mainhouse play" with no mention WHY. ????
November 20 2007 Days of Glory French film about North Africans fighting for France in Second World War and facing prejudice and the horrors of war. Superbly acted and directed. Odd little book by Tom Segev, Elvis In Jerusalem about the Americanisation Of Israel. Revelations on the inherent racism of many Israelis against Sephardic Jews and other races.
An extraordinary statement about Holocaust survivors from Ben Gurion on page 101
"Among the survivors of the German concentration camps were people who would not have prevailed had they not been what they were,.hard, bad, egotistical. And everything that happened to them excised all that is good from their souls.
Israeli Myths on working the land. In 1950's 16 %..... in 1990's 3%
November 30 2007 Dancing at Lughnasa which I saw on stage many moons ago. A sad and beautifully directed fim with some outstanding performances, though Gambon disappointing. I saw Nashville over thity years ago. Stood up so well. A commentary on America through country music and small minds. The Chorus a french film sentimental and at times harsh but well acted and directed. Book... Crow Country by Mark Cocker sometimes loses its way and repetitve but some golden writing and moments. Anapolis meeting of Olmert and Abbas....who knows? Brown government up to their necks in sleaze it always happens that governments succumb to this type of behaviour when they have been in power for too long . Putin behaving like a dictator with elections coming up.Chavez the people's champion vying for extra tenure. Beliefs class going well at Hillcroft. Intelligent discussions and lively group.
December 8 2007 Ten years since Stephen died. Bless the boy, we shall always miss him.
Wonderful film Jesse James with outstanding performances. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck are riveting. Such a beautiful movie to look at the photography and direction is marvellous, the atmosphere totally believable, music et al. Bravo. Short book of essays by John Berger has some reflective and poignant moments. Brubaker with Redford a bit of a mishmash but watchable. Am feeling very depressed about the form filling at Hillcroft, so much wasted time and effort and banal aims as usual all to do with funding and employing managers instead of getting on with the glorious uncertainty of learning and discussion.
December 14 Performance of Bitter at Hillcroft went reasonably well. Sadly a lady who I had got on with very well and who appeared to be a rational intelligent human being, not only didn't like it (fair enough) but said she didn't understand what all the fuss was about "There are so many different Palestinians.... why don't they go and live in the Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Syria?, there's plenty of room" words shockingly racist and uncaring...then "my father in-law was in Belsen and he wouldn't like it... You'll upset a lot of people if you do this in Oxford". I feel so sad that she harbours these thoughts. Who will I upset ? Those who are obsessed with accusing any critics of Israel of anti-semitism ? Unfortunately I could see her during the performance and was aware all was not well. I tried to point out that it was in fact a pro Israeli piece. Nathan is an Israeli who thinks that his country's policies towards the Palestinians are wrong and that land was and is as we speak being stolen. The shocking thing about her words and reactions are that she is not listening to the arguments or prepared to read the books I could recommend, the very least a mature student should be practising or for that matter any student. I hate to sound intolerant but she has told us that she is a Jewish Cabbalist. I've done some research on the "Cult " and suffice it to say it is a dreadful mishmash of.... steady Richard be tolerant. It wasn't just me... the others were appalled at her words. A Muslim young woman said the piece made her cry and it was the first time that she had heard a positive view of the Palestinian predicament
I wish my doubting student above had read Rajah Shehadeh's book Palestinian Walks, a touching, sad and brave relating of alienation and loss. It might bring her to realise the love that Palestinians have for their land and their intense anger at their dispossession from so much of it. I wonder what our aunt Lisalotte, who survived Belsen and lived to be a 101 would have made of it all. Lessing wrote in the 18th century of the "wise men who make the pillars of the best known truths shake wherever they let their eyes fall" I''ll drink to that.
December 31 2007 A rich stay in Norfolk with walks, sea, birds, videos and chats, food and drink with family.
Finished Lion Of Jordan by Avi Shlaim from which I gleaned much knowledge of what made Hussein tick . Reading Pappe's Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, quite shocking and revelatory. One excellent video American Splendour with Paul Giammati as misanthropic comic book writer ..Heist with Gene Hackman.. a wonderful script by David Mamet. Pan's Labyrinth an intriguing film well directed and good to look at.
Happy New Year
January 9 2008 A brilliant film by Ang Lee, Lust and Caution superb to look at and a great story, most beautiful and charismatic young actress and riveting man. Names later. Another Pappe book History of Modern Palestine. Clooney and Blanchet The Good German somewhat disappointing though well filmed and acted. Politics. Clintom it was who had passed the law sending people to life for 3 counts. America has people as young as 13 convicted.
January 17 2008 Kite Runner had me weeping . The two boys are brilliant but the Father is charismatic. Superb direction photography and acting. A mildly amusing little book by Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader fantasising that the Queen discovers the joys of reading. Threats of flooding in Oxford again.....
Feb 1 2008 No Country for Old Men, In the Valley of Elah, Three Burials of Melquiades... all Tommy Lee Jones... magnificent performances and Charlize Theron is superb in Valley of Elah. Sicko though a bit faux naive and cutesy is a must to see. book Fiasco by Thomas Ricks exposes Bush Blair et all for their indifference to planning for aftermath of war and the stunning incompetence of so many people . Beyond Chutzpah by Norman Finklestein crushes the racist Alan Dershowitz's book The Case for Israel. Palestinian Identity by Rashid Khalidi coolly makes its case as do a series of articles in The War for Palestine ed Rogan and Shlaim. kd lang was quite wonderful she is in the line of the greats... Ella, Nina, Billie. We have a friendly fox on our balcony tucked up and sleeping off its hard night.
February 12 2008 The Sorrow and The Pity the doc of French Collaboration in Clermont Ferrand. I think we would have been probably just as accommodating. Also finally saw Battleship Ptomkin a classic black and white recreation of a part of Russian revolution..the photography is beautiful, the acting melodramatic. Write it Down sold in Wiesbaden to an International school.
Feb 15 Resigned from Hillcroft..it is becoming a habit!
I am just too old to put up with so much aggravation... suffice it to say that the communication and the organisation leaves a lot to be desired. I will draw a veil over the gory details
I am working hard on Bitter Fruit but still fearful of forgetting lumps of the script. Awful book by Peter Carey which I didn't finish. First European sale of one of my kid's plays Write it Down to be performed inWiesbaden, an International school apparently
February 23 2008
A week to go for Bitter Fruit...eeeek. Trevor Mostyn has agreed to chair the discussion, he is a Senior Advisor on the School Of Journalism at Oxford. Magnificent film There will Be Blood with a bravura performance by Daniel Day Lewis, directed and photographed with panache. Terrible book by Ethan Hawke stick to the acting son .Camus and Calvino intriguing, existential
February 28 2008 Riverside. La Vie En Rose had me sniffling throughout. Marion Coutillard is ...well extraodinary, she is Piaf . For such a life the director handles the story with subltlety and passion. Like Daniel Day Lewis there was no contest for Best Actresss. Paired with The Counterfeiters an engrossing brutal movie of the incarceration of skilled Jewish forgers in a Nazi concentration camp producing forgeries of the pound and the dollar. Saeed The Pessoptimist mildly entertaining. Sunday March 2 looms...I did it for Tessa and she seemed to think it was okay.
March 5 2008 Who cares he asks 15 pax most of therm my family and friends. Lavish praise from the assembled but how can I not whinge when not an undergraduate, not a member of any organisation came ?
Rosemary and friend Mary Lynn came from France, Susan from France, Trevor Mostyn the only Member of the University CAABU and PSC ???..
March 17 2008 The Parallax View a shockingly bad movie in every way, obtuse, poorly shot, directed and acted; one of the most irritating films I have watched in years. Rendition okay, Zodiac revisited not quite so brilliant the second time around but Mark Ruffalo steals the show. Tribes United to be published by lazybees my seventh on the net.
Interesting reading Rory Stewart The Places In Between a journey through Afghanistan . He is a truly brave and intrepid young man with a deep love of humanity. Death at Intervals by Jose Saramago an intriguing idea of a land where nobody dies for a period causing confusion and doubt and well written. Only If You Promise Not to Kiss Me by Duncan Hamilton a journalist who "enjoyed" a close realationship with Brian Clough. Clough comes over as a horror, arrogant, nasty, jealous, insecure, bitter, yet capable of extraordinary acts of kindness and a highly talented manager. Ruined and ravaged by drink it is a very sad tale. Elvis The Final Years poorly written and yet another sad tale of an insecure man, uneducated, rigtht wing and ruined by drugs, food and sycophantic friends. I was and am a huge fan. Yes he stole his best music from the American blacks but he was a charismatic performer and the most exciting person in my life in the fifties(well the girls did come first) The Founding Myths of Israel, another worthy book with insights into Ben Gurion, Zionism, Histadrut, Gdud and other figures of early Zionism.
Bitter Fruit booked for April 24 at Old Sorting Office Barnes. Saw Anne Carroll today and confirmed booking.
Am I mad or am I mad ?
March 26 2008 Terror and Toleration an argument for intellectual contact between Ottoman culture and Westen especially Habsburg culture in 17-18thc using extensively a man called Hammer-Purgstall as an example. The writer Sutter Fichtner criticises Said's Orientalism but not convincingly enough for me. Robert Hughes memoir The Things I Did't Know is a mixed bag , some superb passages and opinions but not always holding my attention. Piercing and well written polemic by Carole Bennett in Observer criticising Powell Blair and Campbell. What horrors they are but it doesn't matter a jot, they carry on working their way to loadsofmoney and the great public doesn't give a shit. Rewatched Jarhead a remarkable film, sensitve nuanced and wonderfully acted by Gillenhaal et al. Battle for Haditha a great howl of violence, well balanced and again sensitive to the issues involved in war. Not a documentary but feels like one, a great achievement by Broomfield.
April 6 2008 Beaufort, a film of great power and feeling. A group of Israeli soldiers "sit out" the last few days of 2000 in Lebanon before evacuating the 12 th c Crusader fort first captured in 1982, the actors are amazing and the atmosphere created by the lighting and direction quite superb. Saw it at Rich Mix cinema in Bethnal Green a relatively new venue. Lions and Lambs is so well scripted and articulate film on America's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan ...Redford Streep and Cruise all magnificent in their roles. it didn't do well for the critics or box office. Too intelligent and wordy I guess. Days of Heaven is so beautifully filmed,a painterly and visual feast but somehow the story fails to capture the imagination. It as if Malick is so obsessed with his artistry amd vision that the plot disappears, a bit like New World. Saramago continues to intrigue with Manual of Painting and Calligraphy, a novel about a second rate portrait painter and his apparently mundane life but as ever with Saramago full of erudition and insight into the human condition. Snow today in April,.Tessa 31.We moved here in April 30 years ago and it snowed then. So what ? Couple of hundred quid for kids play sales.... over twenty performances all over the place. Fantastic
April 12 2008 Revisited The Rainmaker a competent lawyer movie with De Vito, Damon and Voight convincing enough. Into The Wild at times comes across as a profound comment on modern life but somehow doesn't make it all the way. But never less than watchable, Hirsch excellent and a touching cameo from Hal Holbrook. If I Am Not for Myself the memoirs of a Jewish anti Zionist, Mike Marqusee is erudite and searingly honest about the iniquities of the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians.Am increasingly pissed off with CAABu and PSC who discourteously...so far... have ignored my letters adddressd personally to executives. Have emailed dozens of people but nothing seems to stir the waters. Two lovely days this week, one gardening all day in sunshine and this morning to Isabella with K... coffee in Pembroke and nourished as ever by the beauty of Richmond Park. Spoke with a gardener who says he has been there ten years and everyday there is something different to rejoice in. Hurrah
April 20 To East London for interview...what for Richard ?...sh... later To Riverside for magnificent The Fugitive Kind a film I first saw over 45 years ago. A charismatic Brando, a smoudering and touching Anna Magnani, beautiful and hugely talented Joanne Woodward and a fantastic supporting cast including Maureen Stapleton. Do you think I liked it ? Accompanied by a very disappointing Before the Devil Knows You're Dead also Lumet but wasting the talents of Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke and especially Marisa Tomei just there for the sex scenes it seems. The Book of Job is too dense for me it compares interpretations and translations but ....no. Refugees In Our Own Land by Muna Hamseh is evocative and heartfelt.
April 30 2008 A good result over 30 people to see Bitter Fruit and a lively discussion afterwards. Where to next I have no idea To Induction for Oral History project and it all looks very promising with a lot of academic as well as practical input. Hope it will be everything I have been looking for..well not everything but I know what I mean.
May 9 2003. Usual anti'climax after excitement of Bitter Fruit of Palestine performance. Very little reaction
Appalling email from Chris Doyle of CAABU denying my membership. He is a liar. I have the details and I know that he has spoken to Trevor Mostyn about me and the piece. As for PSC. It doesn't matter in the bigger picture of Palestinian injustice but all I asked for was some publicity on their web site and some interest. I have no idea why Trevor Mostyn has behaved so strangely. So be it... move on.
Edward Said writes of the corruption and anarchy of Arafat's dictatorship . Despite the attempts by varioius groups to get the gneral public interested in the Nakba, it rarely makes the front page.
May 16 2008 A day in the Archives at Bexley. Found out that I was part of the archives, a team photograph and the cartoon of when I scored two goals in the FA Amateur Cup for Erith and Belvedere... of such stuff.... We finished watching Damages with bravura performances from Glenn Close and Ted Danson and stellar supporting cast. Hokum but wonderful. Another disappointing trip to NT. Fram is a mess. In rhyming verse which begins to grate after a while and no real drama. Lots of interesting ideas but Harrison never settles on one stream of thought. Jon Stewart although too strident continues to expose with great humour the American Presidential race. Falling back with my reading the Oral History project beginning to take over.
May 22 to London Library and LRB bookshop. A book on the Weimar Republic about which I know very little, a Carlo Levi book on India and Wolf Totem which promises much interesting writing about China. To Isabella. If you haven't been go now, it is quite stunningly beautiful, azaleas, shrubs in glorious bloom and idyllically empty of Humans. Started essay. More later
May 29 2008 To Pilger, War on Democracy at Clapham Picture House. Excellent documentary on America's attempt to dominate South America through murder and mayhem, hypocrisy and lies . Pilger very impressive in Q&A following.. calm measured but incisve in his views and answers. Finally made it to HighGate Cemetery with guided tour by skilled and amusing guide. Discourse on Colonialism by Aimeee Cesaire is short and pithy, well written. Palestine Comes First by Grollenberg a Dominican priest is old fashiond but heart felt. To TUC archives at LMU. Finished essay 2500 words.., like old times. Palestine question is never going to be solved unless we can find some honest and daring politicians... pretty unlikely. People who are liars should be called so. Blair Bush Kissinger et al
June 9 2008 No news from the writing front , a certain lethargy permeates my soul. Finally reading Imagined Communities more anon
June 17 2008 Imagined Communities is intelligent and thought provoking though at times the density of Anderson's intellectual trail is a bit overwhelming, Pitmen Painters at Cottelesoe is the best play I have seen in ages. Witty, funny, sad and a very intelligent play with outstanding acting and directing. It proves that when the National gets away from their huge and tricky staging and overstuffing the stage with props you don't need such "SETS" Lee Hall does not waste a word and never spells his story out like Fram for example. House full of people at the moment and op on Thursday. Draw the screens Nurse.
June 29 2008 Still some discomfort from op thank you all for asking. More sessions on Oral History. Have my first interview on Thursday July 3. Another performane of We Are Not Amused coming up. Dusklands, Coetzee's first book bleak and surrreal. On Writing by Stephen King has its moments. Italo Calvino "a classic book is a book that has not finished what it is trying to say" To Centre Court with Gilbert to see Murray win. Euro Final tonight.
July 7 Yet again A&E calls (collapsed in garden... ambulance to house, horns blaring so a fair amount of drama) thus missed Wimbledon, Vanessa Redgrave and my first intervew for East London. Since then to Eltham to do interview and to Bromley By Bow to transcribe... a horrendous experience with my typing skills. Stupendous Wimbledon final now Rain Rain Rain.
July 17 Stephen would have been 45 today. As ever we all remenber him with great love
Have done two interviews with ex Siemens employees, two very interesting men one 73 the other 76. Both emphasise the rigorous nature of their training and what good stead it gave them when Siemens closed in 1968. Both travelled the world and are in reasonable health and financially independent. To Lords for Cricket with Karen seeing her first match. Read Beyond a Boundary by CLR James a somwhat portentous and at times pompous book on cricket and politics but very interesting on the different colour bars that operated in Trinidad in his youth in the twenties and thirties and the prejudice both intellectual and personal in West Indies and Britain. We had our last two lecture days at LMU and now have to finish transcribing and write a 1.000 word essay/report on interviewing. Had a meeting with Michael yesterday which has clarified certain aspects of the job and now feel much happier now about the future prospects of the post. Interesting program on the Qu'ran on Channel Four. Off to see/listen to Leonard Cohen at Dome with Sophie, Tessa and Karen
July 23 Leonard was outstanding, a host of his songs, a group of musicians of the highest skills and quality. A memorable evening . Brown made the most excruciating speech in the Knesset, no wonder the Arab world hate us so much. He displayed absolute ignorance of the issues and now Obama is there.
May the Gods help us all
August 6 2008 Afterlife atThe National is ghastly, boring, pretentious and irritating . It is typical of so much theatre at the National lately. Overly respectful to older living wtiters they dress the play up with big production values and stage veterans without seeming to care about language, theatricallity in its proper sense. There is no heart or drama in the play...it is beyond saving. Amusing send up on a website of the process at The National after the awful Fram "another bloody verse play"
Finished Three Letter Plague by Jonny Steinberg, an interesting and thoughtful book on the Aids plague in South Africa , a real and honest attempt by a gay white liberal to understand the stigma and shame and the social and economoic consequences for males and females to register HIV positive or to even test for the disease.
To Hadrian at British Musem, yet another masterly exhibition. Where the Terracotta Army was awe inspiring and one felt as if in a great cathedral of history and privileged to be there, Hadrian's impact is real and immediate. I feel such empathy with the period. He was cruel, intelligent, brave and culturally sensitive, clearly in love with his Antinous. Interestingly the Romans didn't have a word for homosexuality... quite normal for men to take young boys as lovers and to be married. Fascinating that some of the brickmaking workshops were owned by women. The thought of Hadrian constantly on the move throughout the Empire and yet having to listen to petitioners and write endlessly to answer petitions from his subjects . A triumph by the British Museum again. I'm proud to be a Friend of the Museum.
Just joined Surrey Cricket Club. Fancy a few visits in my old age sitting in the members pavillion with a glass of wine and a book watching a county game with about four others. Had a request from a lady in Gateshead for Palmy Balmy Days ???
Did my workshop with six kids in Wanstead Library, all very bright and mostly interested. Hope to finish my transcribing tomorrow and get on with essay. To see Tony in Ramsgate on Friday. He is still trying to come to terms with the death of his brother Arthur
Some commentators forecasting end of Brown by Autumn ? It is sad that his hubris has taken over from his instincts whch I feel are worthy and honest at heart but he has allowed himself to be become a victim of spin and plotting. The Liberals are pathetic. a huge opportunity to take some iniatitives and fire up the voters missed or ignored. Why I still belong I don't know
August 18 2008 Olympics is like bread and circuses for the masses....we are doing so well in some sports, it is cheering. Weather is the pits.
August 22 2008 Weimar Germany book illuminationg on the republic and its demise from its origins in Kiel. Author Weitz is specailly interesting on the role of radio and film, architecture and the multi party republic of extremes of right and left and the feverish atmosphere generated by inflation, depression and bouts of relative prosperity. The Lost Europeans by Emmanul Litvinnoff is about a young German Jew returning to Berlin from England to claim restitution in the late fifties, cold war and politics, love and disillusionment ...well written but loses its energies halfway through.. To Oval first time as a a member. Lots of old fogies wittering banalities, Ramps got a century and very cross with a Sussex fielder. Sat in weak sunshine and read my book ate my sandwiches and enjoyed the play.
August 28 2008 The Man from Plains is an engrossing documentary on Jimmy Carter , following his bookselling tour in 2007 Palestine Peace or Apartheid. He is 84 and a quite magnificent human being, feisty, well informed and well able to deal with the cretins of the American press and other ghouls like Alan Dershowitz. A palpably good man borne up by his deep seated Christianity and devotion to his wife. Directed by Jonathan Demme superbly. Finished Waterlog by Roger Deakin, an intriguing tale of his swiiming through the waters and lakes of Britain. A vast knowledge of flora and fauna and a searing honesty, it has much of the flavour of Wildwoods. He must be deeply missed by his family and friends. A grand walk with K. Starting at Bromley by Bow along towpath to Three Mills Museum and cafe for coffee and cake, through the maelstrom of the Olympic Building site and along more idylic towpaths into Victoria Park where we dined on cheese sandwiches esconced on a park bench. Followd by tea at Cafe and lake side. Down Roman road to Mile End Tube. Reached home in a state of tiredness and euphoria. Lamb pieces and vegetables in a gloomy and miserable garden. Where art thou sun and light ? It is lack of light that brings me down. Up betimes and to Wetlands where the people were just as interesting as the ducks and drakes. Overheard conversations and the ladies who stroll with their broods. Sat with a coffee and mused on the increasing detachment I feel from life. The eternal "what is the point ?"rises again and again. Of course I know there is one.....???? Just recording the above events informs me of the rich diversity of the world and the life I lead, succoured by friends and family..... but but, a sense of unfinished business yet thwarted by time and its rushing tides. Enough.... begone you varlets. make way for a cacophony of sound , trumpets and timpani, a holding on for dear life to the left side of life, to love and fellowship... Begone I say
September 12 2008 Two of the giants of American literature have left me disappointed. Saul Bellow travels in Israel seemingly blind to the history of the conflict and writing as if he is an Israeli. So many Jews live outside the state of Israel yet identify in this ridiculous manner. Bellow a born and bred Chicagoan is no more Israeli than I am. I love Herzog and other books by him but this book is poor stuff ....To Jerusalem and Back. What to say of Phillip Roth ? obsessed with his Jewish roots and his whole oeurvre returns again and again to the complexity of American Jews and sex in every form...well heterosexual sex anyway. The Zuckerman books become boring and ridiculous laced with passages of wit and some bravura writing. Yet American Pastoral The Plot Against America and Everyman are different and keep the attention throughout. As does Exit Ghost though only just. I had just decided I couldn't continue with Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain and picked up a Roth book to find that neither could his character continue the struggle. Buddenbrooks I did perservere with and it has a power in its tracing of a family from its rise to its fall but no real emotion for me. Wide Sargasso Sea disappointing . and also abandoned Litvinoff . To Oval for some pretty boring cricket and equally boring listening to cricket groupies opinions on everything. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. England managed to play very well 4-1 against Croatia with Walcott hat trick. God on Trial at Auschwitch, worthy and redolent of the horror of the camps but lacking real fire or polemic until a very interesting speech at the end by Anthony Sher in which he takes us through a history of the Jews and God's instructions in the Old Testament for them to kill and destroy . Ends with saying maybe God has chosen someone else....The Nazis to do his dirty work ?. Rain and darkness continue. Read on my friends.
September 23 2008 Deer Hunting with Jesus by Joe Bageant is racy fast paced and illuminating on redneck America. Much of the material is familiar..the depressing lives and hard struggles of so many in health and job issues and of course housing now doubly exacerabated by financial crisis. The sheer ignorance nay stupidity of so many rednecks, the awful false religiosity is exposed brutally by Bageant. Curiously he is pro guns and makes a good case....whoa... only up to a point for their place in American society. Adam Boulton has wriiten powerful indictment of the Campbell and Blair years. Confirms what a baleful and interfering person Campbell was... an unelected member of the inner cabinet, a liar and manipulator like his master. Jon Stewart continues to delight. Book by Peter Gay, a memoir of his boyhood years in Berlin during Hitler's rise to power. Poorly written. Excellent very long article in LRB by Perry Anderson on Turkey and interesting review of Fenimore Cooper biography plus Terry Eagleton on an ideas book...very funny and erudite. Attended Working Lives Conference at LMA in Faringdon. Billy Bragg gave a wonderful talk on Barking and the theory of incomers.Witty and he didn't take a penny for his efforts. Good man
Hard to see where to go next, Writing ground to a halt and Eastside not inspiring me at the moment. Draw the screens nurse
October 3 2008 Barbara Ehrenreich Going to Extremes not very stylish but bish bash bosh, wonderful anger and polemic underlining much of Bageant Moore et al. Eichman Interrogated leaves one once again overwhelmed at the evilness of the Nazis. Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong is... many things. The story basically of a Chinese student, one of the many sent to Mongolia for re-education in 60's. Red Guard fall out. He inbibes the ways and traditions of the grass people and their reverence for the Mongolian wolf and realises a way of life is coming to an end with the expansion of the Chinese into Mongolia and their thrust for new food sources. The book relates epic battles between horses, wolves and the sheep herders and pasture dwellers. It describes with great detail the flora and fauna and the delicate relationships of nature and man. At the centre of the novel is Chen's attempts to bring up a wolf cub. It is a tour de force of information, relationships and man's ever increasing destruction of the life balances we need to nurture. Heartbreaking. Bravo Bravo Bravo. Appaloosa a film written and directed by Ed Harris is a minor triuimph made with great attention to detail and a sense of love.... all the cliches of a Western but at all times intelligent and believable. Revisit to From Here To Eternity. Lancaster and Sinatra awful, Clift less so. Local Hero crap crap. Tree Of The Wooden Clogs, after thirty years a masterpiece of the grinding lives of peasants in Tuscany at end of 20th century. Vox pop at Whitechapel on people's thoughts on Olympics..... quite positive in the main. More sales of kid's plays. Ciao
October 12 2008 Recount with masterful performances from Kevin Spacey Tom Wilkinson Denis Leary and others relating the story of the 2000 stolen election.Once again stunned by the moral corruption of the Supreme Court . A profile of Lee Atwater manipulator of the American political system, a liar, crook, rock and roller and destroyer of men and women. Film of the young George Bush demonstrating his fatal charms. Obama and McCain in debate pretty boring. Palin is sinister and dangerous, the American right and the hillibillies love her. The awful Mandelson is back in power... Lord Mandelson god save us, a twice disgraced minister and ready not only to take a job with Brown he will be compensated with over a million pounds from his European job. The world in turmoil and many of its problems financial and moral brought on and aided by Blair Mandelson and Campbell yet they strut the world stage unscathed by it all and buoyed by money beyond the ordinary person's dreams Bring on the revolution . Point to Point Navigation by Gore Vidal a memoir raging against the dying of the light full of wit, invective and charm and self regard. Small Wars Permitting by Christina Lamb the reporting of a tough and brave lady who has covered war, pestilence and starvation and yet retains her balance most of the time. Weimar Culture by Peter Gay is not as well written as the Weitz book but on a smaller scale is informative and insightful on the period. The Contender an intelligent well scripted film on a crisis in the presidency with Jeff Bridges magnificent as the President. He makes a magnificent speech in Congress that had me on my feet cheering....Would that it had really happened. Frustated on the East London Heritage front, a static and disappointing period. Monday promises to be.....? World markets continue to tumble. Maybe this is the revolution.
October 17 2008
On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ or God or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position one hundred per cent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I am frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A,B,C and D. Just who do they think they are ? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me ? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every toll call in the Senate. I am warning them today; I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism.
NOW.... who said that ? As no-one reads this web site it may be a waste of time to ask but I will leave it for a bit to see if any one might stumble across and want to come up with the answer. I think it is quite magnificent
The Forever War by Dexter Filkins is gripping and thoughtful amidst the mayhem of the carnage cruelities and barbarisms of Iraq and Afghanistan. Filkins is brutally honest and never loses sympathy for the "kids" he is in battle with. Tariq Ali writes intelligently and knowingly of the relationship between Pakistan and America in The Duel. The Brethren by Woodward and Armstrong is a close examination using jounalistic recreations and at times poetic licence to describe the machinations of the Supreme Court between 1969 and 1976 especially interesting on the Watergate affair.
October 26 Neil Morris came up with the answer to the quotation. Barry Goldwater no less and quoted in Tariq Ali's new book reviewed above, The Duel . Final Cut the story from executive Steve Bach's point of view of the making of Heaven's Gate...a story of a creative ego so vast that it broke the heart of United Artists... originally founded by Mary Pickford Charlie Chaplin Douglas Fairbanks and DW Griffith and the name of a great company is lost. A very honest account and Bach reports that the finally edited version of nearly five hours to three is considered by many to be a minor masterpiece. Perhaps London Film Festival wiil take it up some time. W is excellent whilst falling short of a great movie. Josh Brolin is utterly believable as Bush and Richard Dreyfus as Cheney, Jeffery Wright as Powell. Scott Glen as Rumsfield, James Cromwell as Bush senior are all very good. Poor Thandie Newton gets a rum deal as Condeleeza without a meaningful moment in the whole of the film. Last of the Wagons remastered in glorious cineamascope should have been left where it was. Wonderful to look at, it must have one of the most risible scripts to emerge from fifties Hollywood. Widmark is very good BUT that script. Rewatching after many years Pennies From Heaven, the series stands up very well. Hoskins Campbell Craven Bennet all great and the script is intelligent and sad. Two episodes to go. Good haul from London Library, more to come. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles is absorbing initially but veers away into unbelievable bathos. Weather continues to delight...flowers continuing to stay alive in pockets. Taking time out from East London until New Year. Nose job on Nov 7 and K ankle on Nov 14 so a certain hors de combat descending.
November 13 2008 YES WE CAN what a relief. Tessa and I stayed up until 4.30 and had a few tears. Already the pessimists are circling and of course he cannot possibly fulfil all our hopes but after W....!!!!. Recession and doom are the order of the day, so be it. Barenboim book is unavoidably repetitive as it is from a number of articles and essays. He makes the same very strong point that we don't listen to music or each other properly which I totally agree with. His writings on Palestine are very honest though I sometimes feel his admiration of Ben Gurion is not tempered criticallly enough. Barenboim's devotion to Said and the orchestra of The Western Easten Diwan is touching and testament to his great humanity. More pigmies including the hateful David Frum are attacking Said. He would have crushed them. Reading his book on music. Excellent though his kind of intellectualism is, it is too erudite for my poor brain but as ever he writes brilliantly. I struggle in the foothills of intellectual thinking, perhaps not even there but I won't give up the struggle
Nose job seems a success but I am taking a long time to get my energies back.
At least lots of reading. The Godly and the Ungodly by Niehbuhr written in 1958 dissects the dilemmas of secular and religious arrogance and makes a lot of strong points. He concentrates on Christianity and Judaism and doesn't even mention Islam ( Said where were you ?) Disappointingly all the carefully argued points end in his conviction that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus answer all the spiritual needs and questions. He posits some primordial God who finally awoke to the sinfulness of man.
What can I say ?
November 22 Freethinkers by Susan Jacoby is well written and introduced me to names I didn't know. Robert Ingersoll who was a giant in the humanist movement in 19th c, The Grittke sisters and Ernestine Rose. Emma Goldman I did know but learnt more of her bravery and of course Garrison, Tubman and Sojourner Truth. We underestimate their courage in the face of bigots and Jacobson makes points again and again on the backwardness and virulent bigotry, sheer hatred against the non religious by the Catholic and Protestant churches especially in the South. She brings us up to date by quoting an outrageous speech by Antonin Scalia the Supreme Court Judge which she suuggests and I agree should be rhe subject of impeachment . I am thinking yet again about quitting the Liberal Party after over forty years. Completely ineffective and led by pigmies missing every opportunity to lambast the other parties . No strong moral or intellectuial leadership even from the beloved Cable. But who would I support ? I still believe one should vote when we contemplate the heroes of the past who fought for the right. Liberals have been accused for yeaes of wasting their vote though I have avoided that by making arrangements to vote Labour in Putney whiist a correspondent votes Liberal in Dorset. I despise Brown et al. Lord Bingham has belatedly brought the Iraq war back into focus and the weasally Goldsmith and Straw deny as ever. Blair and his cohorts should be indicted and brought to trial but we know they won't any more than the awful Bush will be.
Dec 1 2008 A Choice of Enemies by Lawrence Freedman is a dense examination of America's colonial adventures, wars and digressions in the Middle East. Freedman is in some ways sympathetic to the problems the various administrations grapple with but his evenhandness can't acquit Bush and Blair on Iraq or the continual sins of the Israelis. I have finally read Homage to Catalonia and have learnt a lot about Spanish Civil War . Orwell is brutally honest with himself and the messy and incoherent conflict. Looks like some action on Drama with two local schools. More anon. Watched La Vie en Rose on DVD. Cotilliard is beyond praise , the film is a great work of art. Primary Colours is not but very funny and wonderfully acted by Emma Thompson, John Travolta, Adrian Lestor and others. Burnt By The Sun is sad and truthful and graced by great direction and acting.
January 2 2009 Happy New Year, Recession, War and pestilence continue. The abombinable Zionsts commit crimes and nothing happens. Lots of movies Million Dollar Baby, Gangs of New York, There Willl Be Blood. United 193, Mamma Mia (Yes Yes) 85 books. To start Drama Clubs in Wandsworth Clapham and Newham in next two weeks . A paid performance of We Are Not Amused in Canada. A year of operations ant biotics and tiredness. Of walks and cooking and wine, of the ever loving presence of S,T,K of cats....four now, Larry and Yoshi having joined Rosy and Jimbo. Of performing Bitter Fruit and gardening. Strike up the band there is no drum..... but there is a crack in everything that's how the light gets in
Peace Peace peace.....peace sh.......