RIP Paul Newman

If there ever was anyone who proved that the eyes are the windows to the soul it has to be you. Bright, clear and sensitive. A quietly philanthropic man, who has done so much for charity without making sure it was slapped all over the papers.

And you played some of the most iconic characters on film: Butch, Luke, Lew Harper, Henry Gondorff, Eddie Felson and, my favourite of all his roles, Frank Galvin in The Verdict. Could it get much cooler?

We'll miss you.

There was no fat lady singing

coliseum_front,
originally uploaded by enowebmaster.

We went along to the opera last night Cav & Pag at the Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. Really good evening. The performance was incredible, very emotional because both of the operas are really sad. The Coliseum is wonderful though. Very stately. All in all a great night out.

This weekend was Open House weekend, where you can gain free access to interstesting buildings even private homes. We went along to one of those in the afternoon. An architect's house called Loth House. Quite something, it is just up the road from St Pancras International in a quiet little street. His office is in the basement of his own home and he has a small garden out back with a lovely little waterfall. It was a really cool space.

Of course, we were so close to St Pancras we just had to head down there to have some champagne before going out. The champagne bar is really cool actually, you're right in the thick of things. It reminds you of the time when rail travel was the upper class way to travel. I recommend spending half an hour in there, you really are watching the world go by.

Fadin' out...

Flickr

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Open hair day

I had my hair done today, now I know that might seem boring to you but it has been five months with my grey roots coming in, yes Madonna gets those died dark, and I feel I can earn enough now to cover the cost. Those were the two important considerations. I go here la Kutt Zone. It's not just a salon, it's a great experience.

Anyway this weekend is open house weekend so I get to go nosey around in architects' lovely houses, the ones that I would never see unless I were invited to dinner, which is not likely to happen any time soon. Check out Open House London to find some venues you might want to have a look at.

I do wonder at the Bank of England still being on the list though, with all that has happened this week. Do they really want irate investors and customers in the building? Annoyed mortgage payers may take up residence, if foreclosure on their own property is an option. The Bank building may be a bit hard to heat though, but the echo when you sing in the shower would be good.

Fadin' out...

Enough doom and gloom

Banks, insurance companies, financial this, going bust that. I'm bored with it. Let's cheer up...

Well, don't see The Women, that will just annoy you. Taken might be cool, out next week, Liam Neeson as a stone-cold killer. Then there is Robert and Al together again in Righteous Kill, hmmm, we'll see. I liked The Chaser, Korean new wave at its best. Total escapism, in the film and in the audience, and great performances. Await the Hollywood remake, which hopefully will do it justice.

Okay, more Colorado snaps. This is the view from the American Eagles site I told you about. Now I wonder when those miners came back up with handfuls of gold and saw this site, they ever thought gold's price could reach the $1,000 an ounce it did this year. I'd love to know what they sold it for, 'cause $1,000 would probably have bought a huge piece of Colorado back then. I look at the pics of the mines though and it does remind me of There Will Be Blood. Now I know that's a different commodity, but there just seemed to be a drive to physically find both of them back then. Now, they seem to be a today price or a future price to be gambled on.

And that brings me to ...

I am going to make a short film with the footage of the Colorado trip. A comparison of the mining back then and the strip mining now. Basically, a little short documentary, taking no sides, 'cause I am sure that if, back then, they had the equipment we have now, they would not have needed, nor wanted, that blacksmith's shop at the top of a damn mountain! Btw, I climbed up that easy slope, from the carpark, not so easy, and I bet it was hard for those horses laden with gold. Well at least the load was only downhill. They must have dreaded the return trip, to start all over again.

Fadin' out...

I've been away so long...

where can I start.

Three years eh. OK, quick synopsis, left job, no leaving present, great leaving do, lunched for a year, work was minimal, met lovely guy, walked more, travelled a bit, freelance now. Wow, three years goes fast.

I am so happy at the mo. Just had a freelance job kinda confirmed for the forseeable and that is great. I am dithering with my fiction writing, don't know why, maybe it's still too raw.

Anyway, in the meantime, here are some pics of one of my travels this year.

I fell in love with Colorado, I know, how weird is that. Small place Colorado Springs considering how big the state is, but oh my, how beautiful is that scenery.

Did you know you can drive up Pike's Peak, well in a four-wheel, even in a snow storm in March. I whined about my headache only to look online to find it was a symptom of altitude sickness. How was I supposed to know, it was only 11,000ft :-0
I love the advice online tho, if you have altitude sickness the best cure is....to come back down, yup, that easy.

My favourite thing in Colorado tho, and my little mission, was to find Ghost Towns. They seem so Hollywood and detached on the screen, but when we got to Victor, an old gold-rush town where strip mining is now the deal, and found it literally closing down, it was really sad. Reality sad.

However, a drive up the mountain next door and there it was, the American Eagles protected site. An old mineshaft, blacksmiths shop and the amazing view over to Pike's Peak. These guys might have mined but they had respect for the land. I'm not sure that is quite the case now.

Cripple Creek just up the way from Victor is thriving on gambling, hey gold miners and gambling must have gotten along like Laurel and Hardy in all their best movies. We did drive the shelf road all the way out of there tho. I recommend that. I hate heights but wow. Those guys were determined to get that gold out of there and not be ambushed: sheer cliff one side, sheer drop the other, no room for bandits.

I'm thinking of making a short film about the whole experience. Mebbe...

Fadin' out

Surrounded by scary events that you cannot believe are happening, more of which below, I decided to lose myself in the new Harry Potter. Worry not, I will not publish any spoilers here, I have too much respect for Jo Rowling for that. Though I think most fans know the secret by now.

However, I will say it is again a testament to her increasing talent as a writer that a child's book can hold adult attention and have deep, well-rounded characters. A lovely book and she deserves all the success her talent will continue to bring her.

My other escape was to go walking at the weekend on the South Downs, the Seven Sisters country park to be exact. The weather was just right and in the early evening cool enough to take on some strenuous hills. Check out the pictures to see how beautiful that area is.

Now I have seen Quadrophenia many times but I was still incredibly surprised at the fact you could get right to the edge of those cliffs. We avoided looking over too close to the edge because the combination of gravitational pull and the movement of the sea made a drop over the side almost inevitable.

Walking is a great pastime, I've discovered, but you have to be careful not to get caught up in all that hiking jargon and nonsense about finding little parts of the world no one else has been to/seen etc. Much better to stride along exchanging greetings with those passing and taking in that scenery.

I'm working up to doing some walking in Scotland, and of course, I can always scout locations for my movies at the same time. Parts of those particular trails make the Seven Sisters seem like a stroll, so I think it'll take a bit of practice before heading up there.

As Londoners our lives have been dominated by trying to get back to normal after the bombings of July 7 and the subsequent attempt to repeat these acts on July 21. The knowledge that those responsible were born and raised in Britain with a normal and loving family life, has come as a real shock to everyone. I guess you expect the kind of people who would do this sort of thing to be monsters or stand out in some way. Again, as with serial killers, it could be anyone.

However, I won't dwell on this. There are people much more skilled in the news media who analyse events such as this. Suffice to say, most of the people I know, workmates and neighbours for instance, are determined we will not all be divided as Londoners. My opinion exactly. And nature always gives us something to help us forget the sadness, for a while anyway.

Fadin' out

What a difference...

So many things have happened in London since my last post it all seems a million miles away from my breezy, devil-may-care opening post.

I was lucky enough to win Live8 tickets for last Saturday, and as you can see by the pics, I was not in the Golden Circle (or Golden Shower area as we liked to call it) no, were two of the suburbanites at screen number something or other. We did however have a wonderful picnic, and who says you couldn't take wine in. We had two cartons of South Africa's finest. Keane, Madonna and UB40 blew us away. Pink Floyd put us to sleep.

Long day all the same, we were wishing we had called it a day/evening/night around 10.30pm and watched the rest at home. All that said, I was so over-the-moon to be there and somehow, someway, my sis and I walked out of the park and picked up the only cab working in the west end within about 10 minutes. Luck was not the word, though it did rhyme with the one that popped into our head. Now we only have to watch the DVD of the day to see what really happened.

I was out of London when the wonderful announcement came that we would be hosting the 2012 Olympics, and speaking as someone who was originally sceptical about the whole thing: "Why do we need them, we'll lose money, what about the transport system, etc". I came round to the idea and would have been gutted if we'd lost. I was jumping up and down when the announcement was made. Though at the same time I couldn't help but notice a couple of the bid team almost fell on Tanni Grey-Thompson in their celebrations. I know it was a strange thing to notice, but it did strike me as strange. She is one of their coolest reps after all, a true Olympian. Sorry, now I am becoming emotional.

Now you will know where I'm going with this and what ends my blog this week. Those terrible events of Thursday, which even those of us who had the misfortune to live through the IRA campaign found horrifying, frightening and incredibly sad for victims and their families. Now, don't get me wrong London can be a difficult place, but over the last few years the city has become more friendly, more accepting, more easy to handle. Someone resents this and also saw how easy it was to make a serious hit on the tube, bad combination. I cried last year for Madrid and now I cry for my chosen hometown. That should be it. The intelligence services must get to the bottom of things before the tragedies. And not be making plans on how to deal with what is seen as inevitable.

We all know someone affected by this and as Ken Livingstone said it was people of all ages, colours and creeds who were targetted. This must pull us together even closer. Don't let's be coerced by the bigotted or the racist to turn on each other. Be better than that.

To paraphrase the American slogan: "None of our colours will run."

Fadin' out:

Allow me to introduce myself...

While I was at the Cannes film festival this year, everyone had a blog. I have only now got around to setting mine up.

As you can probably guess from the name I am a big movie fan, now that could mean I'm big, I like big movies or the big refers to my fan status. All three probably apply. I love film as an art and entertainment medium. However, I also have a healthy cynicism when it comes to film and the way it can be used to manipulate, commercially in particular.

To show how skilled filmmakers can be and as an opening gambit here are some lovely shots of models for Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit. Dreamworks seem to be totally behind this film and so they should be. Check out these intricate models - every petal of every flower is perfect.

I have a few more of these photos I'll post now and then.

To keep you amused until my next posting here is a site with some pretty and kind-of-hippy games on it http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

Fadin' out.