July 26th, 2011 by J

I will start this by saying that this was a tricky list for me to put together as there loads of films from the 80s that i love and have had to throw away some over others. There is no hard and fast rules as to why all these films fit into my top 20 but all of them have something special that fitted at the time i watched them.

I know there are going to be some disagreements over this list but am happy to hear all views, and then promptly ignore them.

My top 20 of the 80s

#20 Willow (1988) – Don’t know why i just like the film.

#19 Children of the corn (1984) – One of the first films to scare the crap out of me.

#18 This is spinal tap (1984) – Love to turn it up to 11 and find the stage.

#17 Predator (1987)- A little dated now but still a great film and i but you can all (especially the guys) say at least one line from it.

#16 Tron (1982) – What can i say that hasn’t been said already.

#15 Monty Pythons The meaning of life (1983) – One of the more overlooked Monty python films but i love it the most.

#14 Escape from New York (1981) – Snake Plisskin still a great movie name, chuck in Donald Pleasence and you have a great movie.

#13 Dragnet (1987) – (INSERT THEME TUNE)

#12 The Dark Crystal (1982) – Out of all of Jim Hensons work this is still one of my favs.

#11 Videodrome (1983) – Enter Cronenburg weirdness.

Entering the top 10 became a little tricky for positioning but here we go.

#10 Raiders of the lost ark (1981) – Tricky as i like all three and they were all made during the 80s but i had to give in and go with the origonal.

#9 Full Metal Jacket (1987) – Finish the sentence “me love you……”

#8 The Blues Brothers (1980) – As was discussed on a recent outing when asked why we were carrying sunglasses at night? So when the evening has reached an end you can utter the immortal line “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.”

#7 Mad Max 2 (1981) – One of the few films where the sequal was better than the original.

#6 Blade Runner (1982) – The reason that this is not higher is that it is only in later life i have truly grown to appreciate it.

#5 Stir crazy (1980) – Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor at their best.

#4 Flash Gordon (1980) – The soundtrack, The effects, The cast. Whats not to love.

#3 The Thing (1982) – Still one of the best bits of CGI for its time and a great movie for those Friday night movie nights.

#2 Aliens (1986) – A truly outstanding movie. I know that there is always debate between the 1st and 2nd movies and Alien is brilliant but for me Aliens is the better especially for the time. Aliens was only put in the #2 slot because one of my fav films was made in the 80s.

#1 The Lost Boys (1987) – An outstanding film with a great cast of young actors that for me is one that i can watch over and over again. Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland and the stunning Jami Gertz are just fantastic. Many may sneer at my choice of #1 but for me at 10 yrs old this was a great film that has stuck with me over the years.

June 30th, 2011 by J

Rules:
1. Put your iPod, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer, hit skip if you get the same artist.
3. You must write down that song name, no matter how silly it sounds.
4. Have fun!

If someone asks if you’re OK, you say…
“Lean on me i wont fall over” by Carter the unstoppable sex machine

How would you describe yourself?
“The Impossible dream” by Carter the unstoppable sex machine

What do you look for in a girl?
“Satellite” by Lena

How do you feel today?
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” by Hayseed Dixies version

What is your life’s purpose?
“Du Hast” by Volkerball

What’s your motto?
“Live and let die” by Guns and roses

What do your friends think of you?
“Suppose you gave a funeral and nobody came” by Carter the unstoppable sex machine
(which is a little worrying)

What do your parents think of you?
“The Game” by the Levellers

What do you think about very often?
“Three little birds” by Bob marley and the wailers

What do you think about your first kiss?
“Peace sells” by Megadeath

What do you think of your best friend?
“Sinnerman” by Nina Simone

What is your life story?
“Not Fair” by Lily Allen

What do you want to be when you grow up?
“Countdown to extinction” by Megadeath

What do you think when you see the person you like?
“Patience” by Guns and roses

What will you dance to at your wedding?
“Easy” by Faith no more

What will they play at your funeral?
“Wild child” by lou reed

What is your hobby/interest?
“What you gonna do” by Plan B

What is your biggest fear?
“Sweet child of mine” by guns and roses

What is your biggest secret?
“Changes” by David bowie

What do you want right now?
“The Perfect Nanny” by the Gorillaz

What do you think of your friends?
“Lemon” by U2

What title will you give this post?
“Mustang Sally” by The Commitments

June 22nd, 2011 by J

In the next week or so I will start posting again and as such I am going through my movie collection. Why! well the other day i had to search for lists of films from each decade and In doing this i reminded myself of a fantastic cult film, Empire records.

Empire records was released in 1995. This at the time mediocre film received massive slating in the press and by the critics including a 24% “Rotten” rating on Rotton Tomatoes. The film itself cast some now very well known faces including Anthony LaPaglia, Rory Cochrane (dazed and confused, csi:miami), Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger.

It is however a great film, The plot is weak and basically about a record store that is going to go out of business and is staffed by a group of strange and emotionally inept teenagers. You can see where this is going…..

Despite this the film works and is annoyingly enjoyable, Possable one for the guilty pleasures section of your life. What makes this film good however is the soundtrack.

Being a record store the choice for the music score is limitless and they haven’t skimped featuring tracks from ‘The The’, AC/DC, Dire straits and Suicidal tendencies and many more. This combined with some actually good performances from the cast has made this into a cult film and definitely worth a Sunday evening.

There is however a second part to this movie and that is the Soundtrack that was released after the film. For some reason the studio decided to release a soundtrack with nothing good on it. The film itself culminates in a roof top band playing a song called sugar high written by Coyote Shivers and performed by himself and Renee Zellweger (on you tube)which is really good (it was the 90’s), Zellweger’s slightly raspy voice really brings something to the song, but on the album it featured Coyote Shivers version (on You tube) which apart from being sung higher and having less words, is awful.

Unfortunately the studio never commissioned a clean recording of the film version so fans have always been disappointed, This is no longer the case. Some clever chap/chapett has knocked together a No dialogue version of the original film song (Click here) which is brilliant and stuck it on youtube.

So enjoy everyone a bit of retro film for you.

March 2nd, 2011 by J

Here you go ladies and gentelmen as promised photos of the unseen theatre are now online.

The closure approaches at the end of the week so i think i have taken all the photos i can but i may get a few more. Click the image to be wisked away.

Enjoy.

February 24th, 2011 by J

Hi all.

Thought i would post another caption competition for a bit of fun.

Have a go…

February 10th, 2011 by J

Well i have had my Kindle for a couple of months now and thought i would write a little about it.

Looks and feel 8/10:

From taking it out of the box my first impressions were that it is not as sleek and silky looking as some of the other e-readers on the market. This however deterred me for about 0.5 of a second.

A slightly rough surface gives a good feel to the kindle and i love the placement of the back/forward buttons and the keyboard is very usable. The four way selector is a little bit fiddly but as it is not used a massive amount not a real problem. The action on the buttons is very good and gives you a nice feeling click when used,

Having for so long now got used to electronic devices being in colour, having a device in B/W again is a little odd and the white screen of the kindle took me a few days to get used to.

The Kindle is a nice weight, lighter than you would think but very comfortable to hold and actually quite natural.  Although not “pocket” size the kindle does fit into my inside coat pocket and even into my jeans back pocket although a little tight.

Use 10/10:

There is not a lot i can say about this with out raving although there are a few little niggles that i will go over in a mo. Using the kindle on the bus to and from work has been a joy. The kindle is comfortable to hold and easy to read, as i said above i love the buttons on either side as this allows nicely for commuter cramage. No matter which corner of the bus i am crammed into i can still operate the kindle with either thumb.

There is little or no reflection on the screen which is nice, although so far there have not been any sun scorching days but i have sat reading with an angle poise behind me and suffered no ill effects.

There is however one niggle however that i have personally.  This concerns the length of time it takes to turn off. I understand the idea is to switch it to standby (very quick) however this is not practical if you are using it to and from work and i do find that i have to pre-empt with bus stops at what point i switch it off. Having said this it is not something that is going to effect my life and therefore does not effect my initial score.

What has also held my score is that my father has one and finds it fantastic and as he is barely able to switch on a computer this is a fairly high accolade.

Practical items 9/10:

Getting books – The purchase and download functions from the kindle itself are excellent and very quick (dependent on connection) and the file transfer from computer is a little tricky but very quick to learn.

Battery life – Excellent for commuter use so far i have not charged it since December 12th. and have used it for 1hr, 6 days a week for 2 months (approx 55hrs).

Charging – Very good it took about 2hrs for its initial charge.

Screen size – Excellent just the size i need and with the text size function good for all eyesight’s. I was a little worried however about damage going in and out of my bag so got a nice leather case for Christmas.

Conclusion 9/10:

Overall the Amazon Kindle is a fantastic piece of kit. It’s size, weight and overall dimensions make it great for traveling or that dreaded commute to work.Easy to update and go.

Am i totally sold on ebooks….No!

There is still something about the feel, smell and comfort about a good old paperback book and i will still continue to buy them. however the ease of the kindle means that i can carry more books with me and expand my reading into new realms as i trawl the free books available.

February 7th, 2011 by J

Well the time has finally come and the Theatre Royal is getting it’s face lift, well half of it is. As of the 28th Feb the rear half of the building will close for a year for it’s long awaited refurbishment.

As you can imagine this means that everything in the rear half of the building has to go into storage, the bin or be relocated down into the studio space. All the wiring needs to be re-routed, call system, fire systems, dimmers offices etc. all need to come in front of the cut off line. This is of course making things fun trying to squeeze 40yrs worth of stuff into small spaces.

With the refurbishment comes some sadness but also some excitement of change. A time to renew and clear out the unwanted. As part of this i thought i would wander the building with my camera and try to capture some of the history that will disappear in the flood of change.

I will be posting the pic’s on flicker in the next few days.

February 3rd, 2011 by J

Hi all.

Thought i would post a caption competition for a bit of fun.

Come on what do you think.

November 6th, 2010 by J

As i am nearing my 33rd birthday i was having a little self indulgent wallow the other day after watching a program discussing peoples rights and the interviewer was talking to a group of teenagers about how laws etc. affected them and mentioned the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 bought in by John Major.

What caught me was that none of them new what he was talking about. Afterwards i thought about it and realised that why would they? This simple act gave the police the power to close down any gathering including a family bbq, It caused marches that bought London to a standstill and yet for the most part has been completly forgotten.

The 90’s did not start well The end of Maggie was followed by John Major and it began with the poll tax riots:

#1, #2

Now i understand that each generation has had these bits of history that are not forgotten but reduced to a footnote in history, The CND marches of the 50s/60s, The miners strikes etc. Occasionally though i think it is a good idea to take those bits out of the cupboard and give them a little shake before sending them back so i have done some digging.

One of the biggest events of my teen years apart from the poll tax riots was the road protests. What are you going on about i hear some of you say well exactly.

The A30 road protests were huge, Treetop walkways, tree houses, tunnels, arm lock traps so the police couldn’t get them out they had everything and the M11 Claremont road protest, none ended well with massive police incursions all along the a30 route and into Claremont road.

The general information out there is a little sparse written accounts,  an old website,  a couple of after the event newspaper articles #1 #2,  one photo of Tot hill and Swampys entry on Wikipedia.

I did manage to find a Flickr stream of photos from the Newbury bypass protest and some video for you to watch:

Road to Ruin P1, Road to Ruin P2, Road to Ruin P3 also the Claremont road eviction, news 1, news 2 and Twyford down #1

Call them Hippies or Hero’s it is up to you but at least that had the belief to stand up for something they believed in something which is a little lacking in England at the moment.

The 90’s were not all doom and gloom however as there was some great soundtracks of life provided by the Levellers and Sultans of ping FC and Nivarna.  There was also some Quality telly on 4 channels.

1997 saw the year of the great deluge at Glastonbury festival, for those of us who stayed (sort of had to as we were working) it was a great laugh. Where as 1998 saw a different deluge at the festival.

Fashion is probably best forgotten as the grunge and shell suit looks were not great.

Well i think that’s enough of a trip down memory lane for now hope you all enjoyed a little walk back in time.

October 31st, 2010 by J

Well the week started well with hard hearted hannah on Tuesday a great jug band show, With some great music and songs. This was followed the same day by RAW: freestyle mc run by Baba israel from control which was outstanding and featured 4 MC’s battleing it out with some games and fancy mouth work.

Thursday had the outstanding Instant Wit and the suggestables. Imagine who’s line is it anyway on acid. One of the best shows I have seen all year and well worth a looksee.

Unfortunatly my week is not ending so well with one of the dullest comics I have ever heard. I know comedy is all subjective but…..

I am however smiling.
What is currently happenig at the front of the stage is however not what is amusing me.
upstage of said comic is a long black drape which hides another show which was on earlier and again later. The show is a dance piece done in disco style on dance floor and under neons and uv.
The finale is just under uv light and sees the dancers throwing handfulls of little white pads all over the stage. Which looks very cool.

The same white sticky backed pads you stick on chair feet so they don’t scratch the floor. The same ones who’s backs come of if you ever so much as blow them and weld themselves to your drawer bottom.

No one thought to check these………

So currently upstage of the comic and the black drape are 3 crew, the shows director, 2 dancers and 2 front of house staff picking, scraping , rubbing and swearing trying to remove approx 100 of these pads off the dance floor (unable to use cleaner as it will damage the floor) without damaging it within the next 40mins.

My job is never dull

Surprisingly I now have 2 days off and inted to do somthing interesting with them. I feel some pumpkin carving coming on and trick or treating with P as V has made a fantastic spiders costume for her which she is pestering to wear.

Tis all for today.