Saturday, December 8, 2007
GET SMART!
WOULD YOU BELIEVE GET SMART IN AN OSCAR WINNING FEATURE FILM? HOW ABOUT GET SMART IN A VERY FUNNY FEATURE FILM? OKAY, HOW ABOUT GET SMART IN A FEATURE FILM THAT WAS BETTER THAN THE LAST GET SMART FEATURE FILM FIASCO (THE NUDE BOMB)?
CHECK OUT THE TRAILER FOR THE NEW FILM STARRING STEVE CARREL AND ANNE HATHAWAY COMING IN 2008!
Enjoy..http://getsmartmovie.warnerbros.com/
HOLIDAYS ON ICE
HOLIDAYS ON ICE!
For a swinging Christmas gift for your swingingest liturature lover, you can't go wrong with David Sedaris' irreverent and hilarious collection of holiday stories!
Holidays on Ice is a collection of three previously published stories matched with three newer ones, all, of course, on a Christmas theme. David Sedaris's darkly playful humor is another common thread through the book, worming its way through "Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" a chipper suburban Christmas letter that spirals dizzily out of control, and "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol," a vicious theatrical review of children's Christmas pageants.
As always, Sedaris's best work is his sharply observed nonfiction, notably in "Dinah, the Christmas Whore," the tale of a memorable Christmas during which the young Sedaris learns to see his family in a new light. Worth the price of the book alone is the hilarious "SantaLand Diaries," Sedaris's chronicle of his time working as an elf at Macy's, covering everything from the preliminary group lectures ("You are not a dancer. If you were a real dancer you wouldn't be here. You're an elf and you're going to wear panties like an elf.") to the perils of inter-elf flirtation. Along the way, he paints a funny and sad portrait of the way the countless parents who pass through SantaLand are too busy creating an Experience to really pay attention to their children.
In a sly way, it carries a holiday message all its own. Read it aloud to the adults after the kids have gone to bed.
SPEED RACER TRAILER!
You gotta love how the Wachowski Brothers created a virtual world ala "Sin City" for the big screen take on the beloved 'toon "Speed Racer."
Here's the official synopsis:Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a young man who has natural racing instincts whose goal is to win The Crucible, a cross-country rally that took the life of his older brother, Rex Racer (Scott Porter). Speed is loyal to the family business, run by his parents Pops (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon), with Pops responsible for designing Speed's vehicle, Mach 5.
The owner of Royalton Industries (Roger Allam) makes Speed a lucrative offer, and Speed rejects it, angering the owner. Speed also uncovers a secret that top corporate interests, including Royalton, are fixing some of the biggest races to gain profit.
With the offer to Speed denied, Royalton seeks to ensure that Speed will not win any major races. Speed finds support from his parents and his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) and enters The Crucible in a partnership with his one-time rival, Racer X (Matthew Fox), seeking to rescue his family's business and the sport itself.
THE NEVIL SHUTE NEWSLETTER
THE NEVIL SHUTE NEWSLETTER
December 2007
THE NEVIL SHUTE NORWAY FOUNDATION
'FLIGHT LOG' NOW AVAILABLE IN LIBRARIES
John Anderson j.c.anderson@metronet.co.uk writes:'
Flight Log', the description by Shute of his flight in his Proctor aircraft with James Riddell to Australia and backin 1948-49, was put together from letters and notes he wrote home. Copies have existed in the Lending Libraries for research purposes and in the original form were hard-to-read photocopies.With permission from Shute's Literary agents, the complete text has now been transcribed and annotated with maps of the journey and photographs.It is thus now available in easily readable form and copies are available for loan from the Shute Lending Libraries in the USA, UK and Australia.
ANOTHER ARCHIVES RAID
John Anderson j.c.anderson@metronet.co.uk writes: Andy Burgess and I spent a couple of productive days at the National Archives last week, focusing on the R.100.They have some of the engineering blueprints from its construction and masses of reports etc. The star find for me was the original Flying Log Book. Handwritten entries of weather, speed and course steered, position, notes of every flight the R.100 ever made. It reallybrought Nevil's Shute's Slide Rule account to life. Editor's Comments: Photos from this archive search will eventually be on the website photo album.
PANJANDRUM RE-INVENTED
The Canadian TV show, The Re-Inventors has contacted the foundation for assistance in featuring Shute's Grand Panjandrum in the show.The Re-Inventors hosts take a look at old or interesting inventions and try to re-invent them.The show is now in post production.If any readers see the final show I am sure we all would enjoy a report.The Grand Panjandrum, and Shute as its primary instigator, has always come in for a certain amount of good-natured ridicule mainly because the failures of the tests were so spectacular and were recorded on film. English and Australian readers will recall that Dad's Army had an episode featuring their own Grand Panjandrum.Post War speculation has suggested that the Grand Panjandrum was really part of the ruse to convince the German's that the D-Day target was Calais where apparently, a working model would have been more useful than on the Normandy Beaches. However I have never heard this confirmed.
MAJOR ADDITIONS TO THE ONLINE PHOTO ALBUM
Our new webmaster, David Dawson Taylor, has recently placed my update of over 50 new photos on the combined Photo Timeline. New images cover newspaper clippings, a shot of Shute's father, Oxford University, deHavillands, R100, Airspeed, the real location of Ruined City, D-Day, the real people from The Seafarers, Fred Lindsley who was possibly a model for Tom Cutter and / or Connie Shak Lin, 5 photos from Shute's tour around The Australian Outback Gulf Country which resulted in A Town Like Alice and other items. These photos are spread throughout the album so start at the beginning and browse through. I would like to thank our past webmaster, Oren Wolfe, for his years of dedicated service to the foundation and to Shute fans everywhere.
LITTLE ALIX
Dan Telfair, El Supremo Emeritus, writes: Those of you who attended the Centennial will remember a fourteen-year-old girl Shutist who assisted with movies, seminar schedules and other functions during the convention. Her name is Alix Vivier, and she is the daughter of Shutist friends here in Albuquerque. Her father was a Viet Nam era helicopter pilot. Alix wanted to be a pilot like her father, Nevil and so many Shutists at the Centennial.Over the next seven years, Alix finished high school, and earned her private pilot license, instrument rating, commercial pilot license, and flight instructor certificate. Last year, to help her along the way, she was awarded one of the Foundation flight training scholarships. Her aim was the next certification level - a rating as an Instrument Instructor. I am happy to report that she earned her instrument instructor rating last month. At twenty-three, she now has just about every airplane rating up to Air Transport Pilot - the one required to fly for the airlines. I imagine she will add that one to her list of qualifications in the not-too-distant future.Several days ago, I took an instrument refresher training flight with little Alix as my instructor, my first flight ever with her. She said I didn't do too bad for an old guy. High praise indeed! Some days are better than others. Editor's Comment: The only thing missing from this story is confirmation that Little Alix was named after the young woman in An Old Captivity.
MORE MODELS FOR KEITH STEWART
In spite of Shute's own written notes confirming Edgar Westbury as the principle model for Keith Stewart, speculation continues. Harold Luddit ludditta@telus.net writes:I wondered if Keith was patterned after the A.A. Stewart as the model collection is in miniatures and A.A. was an engineer ? Editor's Comment: I begin to see that there is no real answer to this one as even if Edgar Westbury is the main model there are links to all the other contenders. Shute would have been well aware of LBSC (also known as Curly Lawrence) who was a Keith Stewart equivalent too and a hot contender. Now AA Stewart appears on the scene. AA Stewart was an Australian model designer and collector whose designs were made and sold by the English model makers Stuart Turner. Does anyone else see a pattern ? As in full-scale engineering, it looks as if the Scots, particularly those named Stewart / Stuart dominated model engineering too.
In Trustee, Keith Stewart is also a Scot. Of further interest in the naming of characters is the name Turner. Along with other theories aired in earlier newsletters, I added my theory regarding the naming of John Turner in The Chequer Board. I claimed that in English parlance a (fitter and) turner is a lathe operator and as such a useful person. John Turner became a useful person again before he died. Knowing Shute's fondness for lathes this seemed to fit. As we now know, the model engine he was working on when writing The Chequer Board was probably the Stewart Turner 800. I can't prove any of this but I now wouldn't be surprised if both John Turner and Keith Stewart weren't named after his Stewart Turner models.
A PACIFIC NORTHWEST SHUTE FILM FESTIVAL ?
Bob King nbking@gmail.com writesGary Cline of Anacortes and I of Stanwood, WA, are thinking of putting on a Shute Film Festival like the one recently in MO. Is anyone in the area north of Seattle (50 miles here) interested in working with us? Editor's Comment: Anyone interested should contact Bob directly on nbking@gmail.com
THE SHUTE NARCOTIC EFFECT CONFIRMED
I have had a flood of endorsements for Gadepalli's and Jim's comments on Shute's soothing effect. Jim Woodward jimwoodward1943@cox.net writes:Laura Schneider and Jim Gadepalli Strike a Chord – Count me in!I feel that our 'paradise' can only be a state of mind these days with all the terrorist alerts and scare levels that we have to deal with. Reading a Shute Novel is one way to escape this insanity we now call life. Addictions? Yes. I am addicted to peace and quiet and a great book that helps me escape the madness of these days. 'On The Beach' came along (my awareness of it) during our 'Duck & Cover' nuclear scares of the 1950s and fit in with the insanity of those days. Now we get to deal with senseless terrorism – is there a terrorism that makes sense? Shute's works are addictive and the events of these days make them even more addictive and more of an escape. With all the addictive talk, I am surprised that some over-zealous nut-job here in the USA hasn't decided to regulate Shute's works but as they say, 'the day ain't over yet.'
A previous NSN fan stated in an earlier Newsletter about 'On the Beach' and the city square where a daily revival (of sorts) was held in the final days and the banner said, 'There is still time brother!' Our minister used that as a theme for a sermon soon after the film was released and I have used that phrase (giving credit to NSN) in some talks that I have given at our church. J.B. Robert creegah@atoah.com writes:I agree with Jim MacDougald's comments about the 'addiction' of the Shute novels that many of us have experienced but I'm not sure we, as a newsgroup, are so unique.
I belong to many newsgroups in which the participants are extremely passionate about their subject. Several British authors that I enjoy also have a calming effect on me, Herriot and Dick Francis to name just a few (certainly NOT Lee Child). I think it's because their stories are about 'kindler and gentler' folks. And all of us seem to be inundated by the other sort lately.
Paul Spoff PAULSPOFF6@aol.com writes:I've not even got a hint of a clue as to his narcotic effect on us. I know that with the exception of Requiem for a Wren/The Breaking Wave (Twice), I've read all of the master's works many many times. Requiem was and is a total downer for me and one that I shall not return to. I always say that Round the Bend is my favorite until I re read Alice or Kindling or Checquer, or The Far Country. Laugh, they are all my favorites, each and everyone of his books.There is a complete ability of Shute to pull us deeply into each story and the characters within. The common man raising above hardships and good triumphing over evil. I'm absolutely amazed and awestruck how when reading books that are fifty ands sixty years old, that they are so relevant to happenings in today's world. As in In The Wet, I'm positive a small corner of the veil was lifted for Shute and he was able to see into the future and pass his sightings on to us.
We are so fortunate for him to have given us his wonderful gift of story telling. Subrahmanyam None Gadepalli' subrahmanyamg1@rediffmail.com wrote:I am thrilled to find that my addiction to Nevil Shute is not an isolated case, and there are umpteen fellow addicts. My their tribe increase !I would put it this way. His use of words - though I find that he used the word 'PRESENTLY', which is not so commonly used by other authors, quite liberally, is the reason for this addiction (What are books but a collection of known words in a specific order, like the notes of musical compositions. He maintains 'Present tense' by telling the story as it unfolds rather than reporting it after the event. He prefers the first person use, wherever practical. Secondly, he is totally practical. Never philosophical or guessing. Even the minutest details are rendered quite truthfully. His pace, is like a meandering brook, rather than a torrent. It is the pace at which he unfolds the story, that may not appeal to the present generation of 'Fast food addicts'. Any way since there are no more books coming out, the only option left is to read whatever available over and over again.
Jayme Dandrade jayme.dandrade@btinternet.com writes: Further to Jim Macdougald's remarks about re-reading NSN. I did some arithmetic and find that I have been reading them for the past 57 years since I was a teenager and stumbled upon Pastoral circa 1950. I bought the complete Heron set in 1972 which I still have, and tend to complete a re-read every five to ten years.However I have to say that this compulsive re-reading also applies to Patrick O'Brian. His twenty novels set around the early nineteenth century Royal Navy are masterpieces of craftsmanship and his characters seem to live outside of the novels. The style and content of course is very different to NSN's but to my mind equally enjoyable. Re -reading both of these writers is a special treat and every occasion reveals more hidden depth and detail. There seems to be no end to the talent of these people.I wonder if any other Shutists are O'Brian fans as well? Editor's Comment:I have to admit to also being a Patrick O'Brian fan. If you feel you are overdoing your Shute addiction, Patrick O'Brian's 20 or so books make a great break before you return to Shute Nirvana again.
NOW REVEALED, A TOWN LIKE ALICE WAS WRITTEN BY A WOMAN !!!
Jim Wells wellsjc@ozemail.com.au writes: Shutist Christine Wells of Sydney, Australia recently lost a dear relative living in Brisbane - Letty Katts - who had an interesting association with 'A Town Like Alice'.Her obituary said:'Better known under her professional name Letty Katts, Violet Melick was a pioneer writer of Australian music.'She was best known for two ballads, Never Never (1945) and A Town Like Alice (1956) ...' In 1956 her song A Town Like Alice was released by Albert's Publishing House to coincide with the Sydney premiere of the film of the same name starring Peter Finch and Virginia McKenna. ...(The song) went on to become the first all-Australian song (lyric and music) to top radio's hit parade at the time.' Editor's Comment: Jim is trying to get the words of the song. I can remember hearing it on the radio.A search on iTunes reveals that you can buy a version of the song. On iTunes you can also buy an album of the music from the 1980 miniseries of A Town Like Alice.
EDITORIAL
Sydney is now hot and humid with wonderfully wild thunder storms and Christmas is fast approaching.Although it is not now politically correct to say Merry Christmas, I feel safe from accusations of proselytising when I say it because I am not religious. So I fearlessly wish you all a very merry Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year whatever your personal beliefs. (I hope the police don't come for me before we have the Christmas pudding with custard AND ice cream) If I can remember the moveable dates I hope to equally also wish all of you Happy Hanukah, Happy Diwali, Happy Chinese New Year, Happy Ramadan etc etc etc.From finding it a stressful time when I was younger, I have come to really love Christmas. It's a great holiday and whether celebrated religiously or not, who could complain about a holiday season where people are encouraged to be nice to each other. With all my travelling I am fascinated to see how popular Christmas is in essentially non-Christian places like China.
The popularity might be more related to the selling of presents but even with its commercial side it is a fun time. As it is Summer in Australia at Christmas, my wife and I usually celebrate Christmas with an early swim at Bronte Beach and then a Christmas waifs breakfast at home with several single friends and our 3 cats. This year we are then off to a big Christmas lunch with some friends who have children and a backyard swimming pool. We traditionally eat fresh King Prawns (Giant Shrimp) at Christmas which is fairly dumb as so does everyone else and the prices jump from $35- a kilo (US$13.60 per pound / GBP15- per kilo) to $60- a kilo (US$23.30 per pound / GBP25.86 per kilo) at Christmas. This is one reason it's called the Silly Season.Have a great holiday time and don't forget to buy someone a Shute book for Christmas.
LOCATE YOUR LOCAL SHUTIST
Write in if you want your name listed and would like to get together with other Shutists in, or visiting, your vicinity.
AUSTRALIA
Jim Wells wellsjc@ozemail.com.au lives in Lindfield, Sydney.Richard Michalak richardmichalak@primusonline.com.au lives in Paddington, Sydney.Neil Wynes Morse morse@netspeed.com.au lives in Canberra.Ruth Pearson ruco@tpg.com.au lives in Adelaide.James Fricker, http://fricker.net.au amos@melbpc.org.au lives in Melbourne.Chris & Penny Morton oldgaffers@bigpond.com live in Tasmania.
HONG KONGJulian Stargardt julian.stargardt@gmail.com
INDIAGadepalli Subrahmanyam subrahmanyamg1@rediffmail.com lives in Vizianagaram THAILANDBruce A Clarke bruce@bmj.co.th lives in Bangkok
UKRichard Wynn rswynn@cinderschurch.fsnet.co.uk lives in Cinderford , Gloucestershire in The UK.
USA Jim & Kristi Woodward jimwoodward1943@cox.net live in Broken Arrow (east of Tulsa), Oklahoma, USA.Joy Hogg, Harrietta Michigan (northern lower Michigan, near Traverse City and Cadillac)Bill McCandless macranet@comcast.net lives in Joliet near Chicago.David B. Horvath, dhorvath in the cobs.com domain, near Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA.Al Benkelman benk23@netzero.com Warrenton, Virginia Jim Magruder, jmagru2 (at) msn.com, near Salem, OregonJack Harper, Evergreen, Colorado jharper@frobenius.comFred Depkin depkin@comcast.net Palm City, FloridaJim MacDougald, macdou@tampabay.rr.com St. Petersburg, Florida, Jim Cavanaugh jimmiepat@Cavanaugh.net Coupeville, Washington on Whidbey Island, and Seattle, Washington.Robert J Price robandkate@mac.com lives in Cottonwood, California, near Redding. The Foundation maintains a password protected database of Shute enthusiasts world-wide who have expressed an interest in having their names, emails and locations recorded so that they may be put in touch with others of like mind.
If anyone would like to be included in this listing, please forward your details to our UK librarian, David Dawson-Taylor, at UKLibrary@nevilshute.org mailto:UKLibrary@nevilshute.org
December 2007
THE NEVIL SHUTE NORWAY FOUNDATION
'FLIGHT LOG' NOW AVAILABLE IN LIBRARIES
John Anderson j.c.anderson@metronet.co.uk writes:'
Flight Log', the description by Shute of his flight in his Proctor aircraft with James Riddell to Australia and backin 1948-49, was put together from letters and notes he wrote home. Copies have existed in the Lending Libraries for research purposes and in the original form were hard-to-read photocopies.With permission from Shute's Literary agents, the complete text has now been transcribed and annotated with maps of the journey and photographs.It is thus now available in easily readable form and copies are available for loan from the Shute Lending Libraries in the USA, UK and Australia.
ANOTHER ARCHIVES RAID
John Anderson j.c.anderson@metronet.co.uk writes: Andy Burgess and I spent a couple of productive days at the National Archives last week, focusing on the R.100.They have some of the engineering blueprints from its construction and masses of reports etc. The star find for me was the original Flying Log Book. Handwritten entries of weather, speed and course steered, position, notes of every flight the R.100 ever made. It reallybrought Nevil's Shute's Slide Rule account to life. Editor's Comments: Photos from this archive search will eventually be on the website photo album.
PANJANDRUM RE-INVENTED
The Canadian TV show, The Re-Inventors has contacted the foundation for assistance in featuring Shute's Grand Panjandrum in the show.The Re-Inventors hosts take a look at old or interesting inventions and try to re-invent them.The show is now in post production.If any readers see the final show I am sure we all would enjoy a report.The Grand Panjandrum, and Shute as its primary instigator, has always come in for a certain amount of good-natured ridicule mainly because the failures of the tests were so spectacular and were recorded on film. English and Australian readers will recall that Dad's Army had an episode featuring their own Grand Panjandrum.Post War speculation has suggested that the Grand Panjandrum was really part of the ruse to convince the German's that the D-Day target was Calais where apparently, a working model would have been more useful than on the Normandy Beaches. However I have never heard this confirmed.
MAJOR ADDITIONS TO THE ONLINE PHOTO ALBUM
Our new webmaster, David Dawson Taylor, has recently placed my update of over 50 new photos on the combined Photo Timeline. New images cover newspaper clippings, a shot of Shute's father, Oxford University, deHavillands, R100, Airspeed, the real location of Ruined City, D-Day, the real people from The Seafarers, Fred Lindsley who was possibly a model for Tom Cutter and / or Connie Shak Lin, 5 photos from Shute's tour around The Australian Outback Gulf Country which resulted in A Town Like Alice and other items. These photos are spread throughout the album so start at the beginning and browse through. I would like to thank our past webmaster, Oren Wolfe, for his years of dedicated service to the foundation and to Shute fans everywhere.
LITTLE ALIX
Dan Telfair, El Supremo Emeritus, writes: Those of you who attended the Centennial will remember a fourteen-year-old girl Shutist who assisted with movies, seminar schedules and other functions during the convention. Her name is Alix Vivier, and she is the daughter of Shutist friends here in Albuquerque. Her father was a Viet Nam era helicopter pilot. Alix wanted to be a pilot like her father, Nevil and so many Shutists at the Centennial.Over the next seven years, Alix finished high school, and earned her private pilot license, instrument rating, commercial pilot license, and flight instructor certificate. Last year, to help her along the way, she was awarded one of the Foundation flight training scholarships. Her aim was the next certification level - a rating as an Instrument Instructor. I am happy to report that she earned her instrument instructor rating last month. At twenty-three, she now has just about every airplane rating up to Air Transport Pilot - the one required to fly for the airlines. I imagine she will add that one to her list of qualifications in the not-too-distant future.Several days ago, I took an instrument refresher training flight with little Alix as my instructor, my first flight ever with her. She said I didn't do too bad for an old guy. High praise indeed! Some days are better than others. Editor's Comment: The only thing missing from this story is confirmation that Little Alix was named after the young woman in An Old Captivity.
MORE MODELS FOR KEITH STEWART
In spite of Shute's own written notes confirming Edgar Westbury as the principle model for Keith Stewart, speculation continues. Harold Luddit ludditta@telus.net writes:I wondered if Keith was patterned after the A.A. Stewart as the model collection is in miniatures and A.A. was an engineer ? Editor's Comment: I begin to see that there is no real answer to this one as even if Edgar Westbury is the main model there are links to all the other contenders. Shute would have been well aware of LBSC (also known as Curly Lawrence) who was a Keith Stewart equivalent too and a hot contender. Now AA Stewart appears on the scene. AA Stewart was an Australian model designer and collector whose designs were made and sold by the English model makers Stuart Turner. Does anyone else see a pattern ? As in full-scale engineering, it looks as if the Scots, particularly those named Stewart / Stuart dominated model engineering too.
In Trustee, Keith Stewart is also a Scot. Of further interest in the naming of characters is the name Turner. Along with other theories aired in earlier newsletters, I added my theory regarding the naming of John Turner in The Chequer Board. I claimed that in English parlance a (fitter and) turner is a lathe operator and as such a useful person. John Turner became a useful person again before he died. Knowing Shute's fondness for lathes this seemed to fit. As we now know, the model engine he was working on when writing The Chequer Board was probably the Stewart Turner 800. I can't prove any of this but I now wouldn't be surprised if both John Turner and Keith Stewart weren't named after his Stewart Turner models.
A PACIFIC NORTHWEST SHUTE FILM FESTIVAL ?
Bob King nbking@gmail.com writesGary Cline of Anacortes and I of Stanwood, WA, are thinking of putting on a Shute Film Festival like the one recently in MO. Is anyone in the area north of Seattle (50 miles here) interested in working with us? Editor's Comment: Anyone interested should contact Bob directly on nbking@gmail.com
THE SHUTE NARCOTIC EFFECT CONFIRMED
I have had a flood of endorsements for Gadepalli's and Jim's comments on Shute's soothing effect. Jim Woodward jimwoodward1943@cox.net writes:Laura Schneider and Jim Gadepalli Strike a Chord – Count me in!I feel that our 'paradise' can only be a state of mind these days with all the terrorist alerts and scare levels that we have to deal with. Reading a Shute Novel is one way to escape this insanity we now call life. Addictions? Yes. I am addicted to peace and quiet and a great book that helps me escape the madness of these days. 'On The Beach' came along (my awareness of it) during our 'Duck & Cover' nuclear scares of the 1950s and fit in with the insanity of those days. Now we get to deal with senseless terrorism – is there a terrorism that makes sense? Shute's works are addictive and the events of these days make them even more addictive and more of an escape. With all the addictive talk, I am surprised that some over-zealous nut-job here in the USA hasn't decided to regulate Shute's works but as they say, 'the day ain't over yet.'
A previous NSN fan stated in an earlier Newsletter about 'On the Beach' and the city square where a daily revival (of sorts) was held in the final days and the banner said, 'There is still time brother!' Our minister used that as a theme for a sermon soon after the film was released and I have used that phrase (giving credit to NSN) in some talks that I have given at our church. J.B. Robert creegah@atoah.com writes:I agree with Jim MacDougald's comments about the 'addiction' of the Shute novels that many of us have experienced but I'm not sure we, as a newsgroup, are so unique.
I belong to many newsgroups in which the participants are extremely passionate about their subject. Several British authors that I enjoy also have a calming effect on me, Herriot and Dick Francis to name just a few (certainly NOT Lee Child). I think it's because their stories are about 'kindler and gentler' folks. And all of us seem to be inundated by the other sort lately.
Paul Spoff PAULSPOFF6@aol.com writes:I've not even got a hint of a clue as to his narcotic effect on us. I know that with the exception of Requiem for a Wren/The Breaking Wave (Twice), I've read all of the master's works many many times. Requiem was and is a total downer for me and one that I shall not return to. I always say that Round the Bend is my favorite until I re read Alice or Kindling or Checquer, or The Far Country. Laugh, they are all my favorites, each and everyone of his books.There is a complete ability of Shute to pull us deeply into each story and the characters within. The common man raising above hardships and good triumphing over evil. I'm absolutely amazed and awestruck how when reading books that are fifty ands sixty years old, that they are so relevant to happenings in today's world. As in In The Wet, I'm positive a small corner of the veil was lifted for Shute and he was able to see into the future and pass his sightings on to us.
We are so fortunate for him to have given us his wonderful gift of story telling. Subrahmanyam None Gadepalli' subrahmanyamg1@rediffmail.com wrote:I am thrilled to find that my addiction to Nevil Shute is not an isolated case, and there are umpteen fellow addicts. My their tribe increase !I would put it this way. His use of words - though I find that he used the word 'PRESENTLY', which is not so commonly used by other authors, quite liberally, is the reason for this addiction (What are books but a collection of known words in a specific order, like the notes of musical compositions. He maintains 'Present tense' by telling the story as it unfolds rather than reporting it after the event. He prefers the first person use, wherever practical. Secondly, he is totally practical. Never philosophical or guessing. Even the minutest details are rendered quite truthfully. His pace, is like a meandering brook, rather than a torrent. It is the pace at which he unfolds the story, that may not appeal to the present generation of 'Fast food addicts'. Any way since there are no more books coming out, the only option left is to read whatever available over and over again.
Jayme Dandrade jayme.dandrade@btinternet.com writes: Further to Jim Macdougald's remarks about re-reading NSN. I did some arithmetic and find that I have been reading them for the past 57 years since I was a teenager and stumbled upon Pastoral circa 1950. I bought the complete Heron set in 1972 which I still have, and tend to complete a re-read every five to ten years.However I have to say that this compulsive re-reading also applies to Patrick O'Brian. His twenty novels set around the early nineteenth century Royal Navy are masterpieces of craftsmanship and his characters seem to live outside of the novels. The style and content of course is very different to NSN's but to my mind equally enjoyable. Re -reading both of these writers is a special treat and every occasion reveals more hidden depth and detail. There seems to be no end to the talent of these people.I wonder if any other Shutists are O'Brian fans as well? Editor's Comment:I have to admit to also being a Patrick O'Brian fan. If you feel you are overdoing your Shute addiction, Patrick O'Brian's 20 or so books make a great break before you return to Shute Nirvana again.
NOW REVEALED, A TOWN LIKE ALICE WAS WRITTEN BY A WOMAN !!!
Jim Wells wellsjc@ozemail.com.au writes: Shutist Christine Wells of Sydney, Australia recently lost a dear relative living in Brisbane - Letty Katts - who had an interesting association with 'A Town Like Alice'.Her obituary said:'Better known under her professional name Letty Katts, Violet Melick was a pioneer writer of Australian music.'She was best known for two ballads, Never Never (1945) and A Town Like Alice (1956) ...' In 1956 her song A Town Like Alice was released by Albert's Publishing House to coincide with the Sydney premiere of the film of the same name starring Peter Finch and Virginia McKenna. ...(The song) went on to become the first all-Australian song (lyric and music) to top radio's hit parade at the time.' Editor's Comment: Jim is trying to get the words of the song. I can remember hearing it on the radio.A search on iTunes reveals that you can buy a version of the song. On iTunes you can also buy an album of the music from the 1980 miniseries of A Town Like Alice.
EDITORIAL
Sydney is now hot and humid with wonderfully wild thunder storms and Christmas is fast approaching.Although it is not now politically correct to say Merry Christmas, I feel safe from accusations of proselytising when I say it because I am not religious. So I fearlessly wish you all a very merry Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year whatever your personal beliefs. (I hope the police don't come for me before we have the Christmas pudding with custard AND ice cream) If I can remember the moveable dates I hope to equally also wish all of you Happy Hanukah, Happy Diwali, Happy Chinese New Year, Happy Ramadan etc etc etc.From finding it a stressful time when I was younger, I have come to really love Christmas. It's a great holiday and whether celebrated religiously or not, who could complain about a holiday season where people are encouraged to be nice to each other. With all my travelling I am fascinated to see how popular Christmas is in essentially non-Christian places like China.
The popularity might be more related to the selling of presents but even with its commercial side it is a fun time. As it is Summer in Australia at Christmas, my wife and I usually celebrate Christmas with an early swim at Bronte Beach and then a Christmas waifs breakfast at home with several single friends and our 3 cats. This year we are then off to a big Christmas lunch with some friends who have children and a backyard swimming pool. We traditionally eat fresh King Prawns (Giant Shrimp) at Christmas which is fairly dumb as so does everyone else and the prices jump from $35- a kilo (US$13.60 per pound / GBP15- per kilo) to $60- a kilo (US$23.30 per pound / GBP25.86 per kilo) at Christmas. This is one reason it's called the Silly Season.Have a great holiday time and don't forget to buy someone a Shute book for Christmas.
LOCATE YOUR LOCAL SHUTIST
Write in if you want your name listed and would like to get together with other Shutists in, or visiting, your vicinity.
AUSTRALIA
Jim Wells wellsjc@ozemail.com.au lives in Lindfield, Sydney.Richard Michalak richardmichalak@primusonline.com.au lives in Paddington, Sydney.Neil Wynes Morse morse@netspeed.com.au lives in Canberra.Ruth Pearson ruco@tpg.com.au lives in Adelaide.James Fricker, http://fricker.net.au amos@melbpc.org.au lives in Melbourne.Chris & Penny Morton oldgaffers@bigpond.com live in Tasmania.
HONG KONGJulian Stargardt julian.stargardt@gmail.com
INDIAGadepalli Subrahmanyam subrahmanyamg1@rediffmail.com lives in Vizianagaram THAILANDBruce A Clarke bruce@bmj.co.th lives in Bangkok
UKRichard Wynn rswynn@cinderschurch.fsnet.co.uk lives in Cinderford , Gloucestershire in The UK.
USA Jim & Kristi Woodward jimwoodward1943@cox.net live in Broken Arrow (east of Tulsa), Oklahoma, USA.Joy Hogg, Harrietta Michigan (northern lower Michigan, near Traverse City and Cadillac)Bill McCandless macranet@comcast.net lives in Joliet near Chicago.David B. Horvath, dhorvath in the cobs.com domain, near Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA.Al Benkelman benk23@netzero.com Warrenton, Virginia Jim Magruder, jmagru2 (at) msn.com, near Salem, OregonJack Harper, Evergreen, Colorado jharper@frobenius.comFred Depkin depkin@comcast.net Palm City, FloridaJim MacDougald, macdou@tampabay.rr.com St. Petersburg, Florida, Jim Cavanaugh jimmiepat@Cavanaugh.net Coupeville, Washington on Whidbey Island, and Seattle, Washington.Robert J Price robandkate@mac.com lives in Cottonwood, California, near Redding. The Foundation maintains a password protected database of Shute enthusiasts world-wide who have expressed an interest in having their names, emails and locations recorded so that they may be put in touch with others of like mind.
If anyone would like to be included in this listing, please forward your details to our UK librarian, David Dawson-Taylor, at UKLibrary@nevilshute.org mailto:UKLibrary@nevilshute.org
PASS IT ON!
PASS IT ON!
Something cool that Xerox is doing If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one! Please send a card. It's FREE and it only takes a second
Friday, December 7, 2007
NEW YOUNG BOND COVER ART!
NEW YOUNG BOND COVER ART!News courtesy of www.doubleosection.blogspot.com
The Young Bond Dossier spotted this excellent new artwork online for the upcoming (and long overdue) American hardcover edition of Charlie Higson's third Young Bond novel, Double Or Die. (Yes, America is just getting around to Number Three even though the fourth, Hurricane Gold, has already been released in the UK.)
This cover, by regular Young Bond promotional artist Kev Walker, comes as welcome news after the recent revelation of a fairly lacklustre cover for the upcoming Bond novel Devil May Care.
THE SAINT RETURNS!
THE SAINT RETURNS!
News courtesy of doubleosection.blogspot.com
Dark Horizons points the way today to a very exciting story posted at the official website of Saint creator Leslie Charteris: The Saint is being revived, and James Purefoy is the man under the halo! The Rome star will portray Simon Templar in what's described as "a two-hour pilot film for a new series of The Saint" co-produced by Geoffrey Moore, son of the most famous screen Saint to date. (Dad Roger's production company was behind both his incarnation and the Seventies revival Return of the Saint starring Ian Ogilvy.)
It's unclear whether this is a pilot for a British or American television series. It's set to start shooting in April of next year after Purefoy wraps the big-screen adaptation of Conan creator Robert E. Howard's Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane. Locations include Berlin and Australia.
This will be the fourth revival of The Saint since Ogilvy, following a series of British TV movies starring Simon Dutton (which are rumored to be coming next year from the UK's Network DVD), an American TV movie starring mustachioed Australian Andrew Clarke as a Lamborghini-driving Saint for the Magnum era, and of course the Val Kilmer theatrical misfire. Let's hope Purefoy's version fares better than those!
This will be the fourth revival of The Saint since Ogilvy, following a series of British TV movies starring Simon Dutton (which are rumored to be coming next year from the UK's Network DVD), an American TV movie starring mustachioed Australian Andrew Clarke as a Lamborghini-driving Saint for the Magnum era, and of course the Val Kilmer theatrical misfire. Let's hope Purefoy's version fares better than those!
Personally, I'm very excited to see Purefoy's take on Charteris' classic hero. He's a much better fit than Kilmer.
THE RAT PACK SWINGS AGAIN!
'THE RAT PACK' SWINGS AGAIN!
The shenanigans and songs of Frank, Sammy and Dino are re-created in 'Live at the Sands' at the Wilshire Theatre.
By Charlotte Stoudt, Special to The Times
It was the ultimate boys' night out, except the party went nonstop for a month: In 1960, the Rat Pack rolled into Vegas to make the heist movie "Ocean's Eleven" and have a little fun. Frank Sinatra and posse -- Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop -- would wake up late in the afternoon, do two sets of songs and comedy at the Sands Hotel's Copa Room, then start filming in the wee small hours of the morning. "Ocean's" was a smash, and those cabaret sessions became the stuff of entertainment legend. Never had so many been so cool with seemingly so little effort.
Now "The Rat Pack: Live at the Sands," a glossy, affable re-creation of those celebrated concerts, comes to L.A.'s Wilshire Theatre after more than 1,500 performances in London. Director-choreographer Mitch Sebastian has taken liberties with the facts: He loses two of the original Pack (Bishop and Lawford), and time frames vary, but aficionados will find plenty to enjoy, including the famous drink trolley (lunch) and sly digs at the Klan.
Let's admit it, the audience is wary when Stephen Triffitt first appears onstage, backed by a sweep of illuminated steps and a terrific 15-piece orchestra (the musical direction is by Andy Rumble). He's here to conjure the Chairman of the Board, and we're awfully possessive of The Voice many of us fell in or out of love to. Not an entrance for the faint-hearted, but Triffitt waits for the verdict with elegance. In the meantime, it's up to Sammy Davis Jr. (David Hayes) to break the ice and for Dean Martin (Nigel Casey) to add the Jack Daniel's. They win over the crowd with irresistible versions of "Once in a Lifetime," "That's Amore," some tap dancing and plenty of goofing. (Martin reports his mother-in-law "is 85 but doesn't need glasses. She just sucks the scotch right through the label. I worship the ground that's coming to her.")
The Burelli Sisters (Anna Carmichael, Lucie Florentine, Lucy Thatcher) provide the gams, tuneful backup and some generic sashay. Their awkward slink may be intentional, since the hot blonds at the Copa apparently were not the best hoofers.Tributes are odd occasions. They can either make their objects of veneration feel even more absent or present in spirit if not in letter. "The Rat Pack" does some of both. Sebastian and crew create an easy vibe, and the period choreography sells the illusion of time travel. (Costumer Chris Woods' ferociously cut '60s suits add to the atmosphere; I've never seen a tuxedo fit a man as well as Triffitt's does.)
Even the audience adds authenticity; on opening night, Davis' widow, Altovise, and blues star Linda Hopkins were in the crowd.
As Sinatra, Triffitt looks the part, much of his phrasing is beautiful, and he can certainly build a song ("New York, New York," "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Mack the Knife" are among the evening's standouts). Yet as Sinatra himself once said, "An audience is like a broad. If you're indifferent, Endsville."
While Hayes and Casey don't fully capture their assigned personas, they seize on an essential aspect. Hayes channels Davis' almost superhuman buzz; Casey's smile signals Martin's faintly aggressive indolence. Triffitt has Sinatra's contained wit, his offhand cool but perhaps not enough of his passion. He's singing, but somehow it's not quite to us.
The holidays engage our nostalgia as no other season does. Like "The Rat Pack," they promise access to the best of what's come and gone. But time is the velvet rope none of us can get around -- the very barrier that gives the past its value. And no one sang that beautiful pain like Sinatra.
GO SPEED RACER!
GO SPEED RACER!A cutting edge update from our blog buddy at:
Growing up, who didn't watch the anime toon "Speed Racer?" While it's been stuck in development Hell, the Wachowski brothers wanted to bring the project to the screen with Johnny Depp. Never happened.
They did, however, invent a whole new look for their upcoming adaptation for Warner Bros. pictures.USA Today has recently published the first 8 photos from the feature which show off the new film's stunning look. Action producer Joel Silver ("The Matrix," et al.) calls the visual effects of the pic "are beyond belief. "We couldn't have made this movie until right now."
The trailer premieres tonight on "Entertainment Tonight" will hit the 'Net soon after.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
CAROL WELSMAN SMOOTH JAZZ NEWS!
CAROL WELSMAN NOMINATED FOR CANADIAN SMOOTH JAZZ FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR!
WAVE 94.7FM and SmoothJazzNow.com have announced this year's nominees for the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards with one of our favorite, Carol Welsman, being nominated two categories:
Female Vocalist of the Year
Album of the Year for "Carol Welsman"
Carol is thrilled and honored by these nominations and says she'd love to have your vote in her Christmas stocking!
PLEASE VOTE NOW... voting ends February 28. ANYONE can vote from anywhere around the world!
The 2008 Smooth Jazz Awards Ceremony will be held at the Living Arts Centre, Mississauga, Ontario on Friday, March 7.
If you haven't heard heard her latest nominated CD yet, you can CLICK HERE
http://www.carolwelsman.com/main.php
to sample and order it!
Carol says, "thanks very much, and may all the joy and happiness of the season be bestowed upon you!"
MUSIC LEGENDS
Speaking of music legends - this is way cool of Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino 'boogying' together.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe5w0_ray-charles-jerry-lee-lewis
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe5w0_ray-charles-jerry-lee-lewis
UPCOMING EVENTS @ PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY'S SMOTHER'S THEATRE!
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY – SMOTHER'S THEATRE!
WYNTON MARSALIS!
2,400 entries, 20 juries, 102 judges, and 21 categories result in each year's Pulitzer Prizes. The prize, regarded as the highest American honor in print journalism, literary achievement, and musical composition, awards a substantial cash prize in 20 of the categories.
The 21st category, public service, is always given to a newspaper, whose reward is a gold medal. In 1997, Wynton Marsalis recorded the first jazz composition ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. "Blood on the Fields" premiered on January 28, 1997, at Woolsey Hall at Yale University.
Come hear the first jazz composer to receive the Pulitzer, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, at Pepperdine University's intimate Smothers Theatre, February 2 at 5:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. $75.00
TEMPO TRIVIA – FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD!
Harold Arlen, best known for composing the music for "The Wizard of Oz," wrote numerous hit songs that have been featured throughout the decades in other movies.
Arlen's son comes to Smothers Theatre paying tribute to his father's memorable music with his jazz saxophone, George Bugatti and the Three Crooners, vocalist Barbara Morrison, and behind-the-scenes footage from the making of "The Wizard of Oz."
Don't miss a trip to see the Wizard on February 1 at 8 p.m. $40.00
Match the movie with the Arlen song on the soundtrack:
1. Over the Rainbow
2. Down with Love
3. Come Rain or Come Shine
4. That Old Black Magic
5. Get Happy
6. It's Only a Paper Moon
7. Blues in the Night
2. Down with Love
3. Come Rain or Come Shine
4. That Old Black Magic
5. Get Happy
6. It's Only a Paper Moon
7. Blues in the Night
A.The Good Shepherd
B.Life of the Party
C. Wizard of Oz
D. Ocean's Eleven
E. Target
F. Down With Love
G. A League of Their Own
B.Life of the Party
C. Wizard of Oz
D. Ocean's Eleven
E. Target
F. Down With Love
G. A League of Their Own
NEW IRONMAN PIC REVEALED!
NEW IRONMAN PIC REVEALED!
Paramount has officially sent out this uber cool new pic of next summer's "Iron Man." Click on the image to enlarge. The film, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as the hunk of tin, hits theaters on May 2 2008.
DEPARTMENT STORE SANTA'S PET PEEVES!
DEPARTMENT STORE SANTA'S PET PEEVES!
8. Kids who refuse to believe that it's fruitcake on your breath and not gin.
7. When the last guy to use the beard leaves bits of his lunch in it.
6. Even with the costume, people recognizing you from "Crime Watch"
5. Parents who get all uptight when you offer their kids a swig from your hip flask
4. Enduring the taunts of your old buddies from Drama School
3. Those dorks in the Power Rangers costumes get all the babes
2. Kids who don't understand that Santa's been a little jittery since he got back from 'Nam
1. Two words: lap rash
NEED A GIFT IDEA? CHECK OUT THE 2008 "JAZZ TRIP" CALENDAR
NEED A GIFT IDEA? CHECK OUT THE 2008 "JAZZ TRIP" CALENDAR FROM PHOTOGRAPHER JUAN CARLOS-HERNANDEZ!
You can order Juan Carlos-Hernandez's 2008 Jazz Calendar "Jazz Trip" directly at http://www.lulu.com/content/1027828Don't hesitate to contact http://www.blogger.com/ if you have any questions ;-)
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
FIL-AM JAZZFEST!
FIL-AM JAZZFEST IS DOUBLE CRITIC'S CHOICE The Filipino music event of the year, featuring the greatest Fil-Am jazz artists from around the world on one stage. CHARMAINE CLAMOR, MON DAVID, TATENG KATINDIG, TOTI FUENTES, JOHNNY ALEGRE and more!
What: 3rd Annual Fil-Am JazzFest, Presented by ABS-CBN Global
When: December 7-9; shows at 8 & 10PM, Sunday at 7PM; "Pinoy Jazz"
Movie Screening at 3PM
Where: Catalina Bar & Grill Jazz Club, 6725 Sunset Blvd.
(at McCadden), Hollywood, 90028
http://www.catalinajazzclub.com
How Much: $20-35, plus drinks or dinner
The LA TIMES "Pick of the Weekend."
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-gd-eightthings6dec06,1,553362.story
LEAD Item in Brick Wahl's LA WEEKLY Jazz Picks Column
http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/pacific-heights/17827/
Tickets and More Info:
http://www.jazzphil-usa.com
NEW RUMPOLE NOVEL!
RUMPOLE ISN'T READY TO HANG UP THE WIG JUST YET
By Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
FANS of the indomitable Horace Rumpole and his redoubtable creator, John Mortimer, may rejoice.At nearly 84, Mortimer has produced in "Rumpole Misbehaves" one of the best of the 16 story collections and novels centering on the crafty old barrister and self-described proud "Old Bailey hack." Rumpole's abiding idealism still is hedged around with decades of courtroom cynicism concerning man's fallen nature and a store of ready quotes from Wordsworth, all fortified by regular ingestion of Chateau Thames Embankment, the cheap red he purchases from Pommeroy's Wine Bar, where his tab remains unpaid.
His hostility to overreaching judges and supercilious prosecuting attorneys remains implacable. He still refuses to prosecute and only defends. (British barristers or trial attorneys usually do both, representing the Crown in one trial and the accused in another.) He accepts only criminal cases, holding fast to "the golden thread" of British justice, the presumption of innocence. Fierce and fearless cross-examination remains Rumpole's weapon of choice, and he wields it to particular effect in this novel.
Rumpole has for many volumes now -- not to mention through many television dramas -- remained fixed in our imaginations at about age 70. Perhaps it's because of the author's age, but this novel, which is rather intricately plotted and propulsively rich in incident for so short a narrative, has the feeling of a summation. Over its course, the incorrigible Horace will meet and surmount not only a variety of novel challenges -- political correctness and human trafficking, for example -- but also old temptations, particularly the pressure to sacrifice his generally undeserving clients on the expedient altar of long unrealized ambition, in this case a chance to finally "take silk" and become a Queens Counsel, the senior barristers who act as lead lawyers in the most serious cases.
HARD TIMES
As "Rumpole Misbehaves" begins, a distressing downturn in crime has put Horace in a bit of a funk. He's bored and as his wife, Hilda -- "she who must be obeyed" -- notes, ill-tempered. His reduced financial situation has deprived him of his customary pub lunch of a meat pie washed down with a pint of Guinness. Instead, he's bringing sandwiches from home, washing them down with glasses of Pommeroy's Very Ordinary and consoling himself by smoking one small, cheap cigar after another.
Into this despond comes a case. Here's Rumpole with the solicitor, offering him the brief:"What are you bringing me? A sensational murder?""I'm afraid not, Mr. Rumpole. Not this week."
"An armed robber at the Bank of New South Wales?"
"Not that either."
" 'Don't tell me.' I'm afraid my voice betrayed its disappointment. 'Not another gross indecency in a picture palace?' Wartime epics were, I had found, the most likely to produce such regrettable behavior in the auditorium."
What the solicitor has on offer is a chance to represent a young Timson, the family of minor south London criminals to whom Rumpole is virtually house counsel, who has been hit with one of New Labor's Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBO). Those are extra-legal orders compelling a person to desist from some sort of conduct deemed noxious by neighbors.
In this case, the young Timson has been playing soccer on a prosperous nearby street where he's unwanted. Much to his outrage, Rumpole finds that while the orders have the effect of law -- the Timson boy faces incarceration if he persists -- there is no due process, no confrontation of witnesses, no cross examination; in other words, he loses the case.Back in chambers, things go from bad to worse, for Rumpole's forward-looking colleagues have grown concerned about global warming and pollution.
They declare their offices a no-smoking zone and forbid eating in chambers. Rumpole, of course, persists and is hit with his own ASBO by one of the other lawyers, the perennially twit-like Claude Erskine-Brown.In quick order, Rumpole must not only defend himself but also take up the case of a man accused of murdering a Russian immigrant girl forced to work as a prostitute. The client was discovered standing over the strangled girl's body and his case seems hopeless -- a Rumpole specialty -- until the old barrister realizes that the victim's apartment was on the street from which young Timson was banned.
Much of great import follows from that not-so-coincidental fact, and Rumpole comes to believe not only in his sad client's innocence but also in a trail of official malfeasance leading directly back to the Home Office, which has charge of immigration matters.
LONG AWAITED PROMOTION?
Meanwhile, Rumpole has the long deferred prospect of ascension to Queens Counsel dangled before him, if only he'll stop antagonizing judges and, it is ever so discreetly implied, stop trying to drag the Home office into his squalid homicide.Here's Rumpole, taking a break from the trail, to appear before the committee weighing his suitability to take silk:"It seems your practice is entirely criminal."
" 'As I would wish it to be,' I told the meeting."
'Why do you say that?' came from one of the unknown QCs.
"Because if you go down to the Old Bailey you'll find that all life is there, the real world with all its sins, mistakes and occasional beauty and good behavior. Go and watch the huge international companies suing each other in the Queen's Bench Division and you move into a world of fantasy and make-believe.' "
Spoken like a criminal defense lawyer.
There's a great deal of what might be called "the inner Rumpole" woven unobtrusively through this novel. One facet of that is the barrister's unshakable faith in the presumption of innocence and its handmaiden, reasonable doubt. Rumpole will make decisive recourse to "the golden thread" in his desperate defense of his unhappy murder client.
American readers may not be aware that this phrase comes not from Rumpole's eloquence, considerable though it may be, but from a speech delivered by Viscount Sankey during a 1935 debate in which the House of Lords overturned a capital murder conviction:"Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt. . . . If, at the end of and on the whole of the case, there is a reasonable doubt, created by the evidence given by either the prosecution or the prisoner, as to whether the prisoner killed the deceased with a malicious intention, the prosecution has not made out the case and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal. No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must prove the guilt of the prisoner is part of the common law of England and no attempt to whittle it down can be entertained."
Amen. Horace Rumpole couldn't have said it better.
BOXING -- THE MAN IN MANCHESTER!
Nobody keeps it real like Ricky Hatton, who is beloved in England and puts his unbeaten record on the line against Mayweather
By Chuck Culpepper, Special to The Times December 5, 2007
MANCHESTER, England -- "Three sausage, three bacon, two hash browns, two black pudding . . ."
Wait, a point of information: Black pudding is a sausage made from pig's blood et al., but now let's continue with manager Alison Threadgold of the wee Butty Box café in Hyde on the thoroughly unpretentious eastern edge of Manchester, as she reels off the items in her menu's "Megabreakfast" . . . " . . . two slices of Spam, two eggs, beans, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and . . . " This Lipitor daydream goes for £4.50 ($9.26 as of Tuesday) and doubles as Ricky Hatton's favorite meal, but hold on, she's not finished . . . " . . . two pieces of toast, and tea or coffee."
So the "or" represents the lone restraint. Hatton used to down the "Mega" traditionally between adoring well-wishes on fight mornings, and breakfast at the Butty Box surely ranks among the most telltale things about Hatton.
He has earned millions boxing, he's 43-0, he'll fight similarly unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday night in Las Vegas for the PPBFIW title (pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, as they say), he has a whole nation loving but better yet liking him, and his favorite café during non-training times would be . . . It would be the kind of outmoded sidewalk business that suburban shopping malls have slaughtered, a bastion of modesty with a painted black sign with neat pink lettering, five tables and three women toiling inside, the Chinese Delight restaurant next door, Bravo Seamstress Services after that, and Vittorio Tansella & Son Gents Hair Stylists just across Mottram Road.
"No airs or graces," they say about the Butty Box, and about Hyde, and about Manchester, and always, always about Hatton. On a sports planet utterly besotted with PR and marketing of elite athletes, here's a 29-year-old elite athlete who lacks the PR-and-marketing gene to such degree it's bracing, yet has wound up wildly popular because -- because people do love the absence of PR.
"I think that's why, to be fair, he's so well-liked throughout the world," said David "Duck" Owen, a New Inn pub denizen in Hatton's home of Hattersley who has known Hatton forever. "No one could have any dirt on him 'cause he tells it to you! That's what's good, because it spoils it, doesn't it?"
It's not just that he'll tell about his fondness for a Guinness or several or for a fat gram or several hundred; it's the way-it-is tone that craves no approval and dreads no disapproval. When wrapped in approachability and suitable wit, it can win over a country, especially one with a knack for realism.
"I don't lie about a single thing," Hatton told reporters last week on a conference call. "People say, 'Do you like to have a drink of alcohol?' and I say, 'Yes, yes, of course, I love to.' 'And do you like fat foods?' 'Yes.' 'And do you put weight on?' 'Yes.' And these people are maybe a little bit more vain, would probably not admit to that, and I do. "And I think with what you see with me, you see an honesty in my life, the way I am, period. There's honesty in the way I train for me fights."
In ersatz-Ali mode, Mayweather even tried the "Ricky Fatton" insult born of Hatton's habitual cycle of Butty Box and Guinness followed by pre-fight whittling of the Butty Box and Guinness. Hatton's reaction? "I guess he doesn't realize I named myself 'Ricky Fatton' in the first place," he said. He's Manchester; he's not trying to be London.
Manchester: England's third-largest city. The world's first industrialized city. Home to a phenomenal late-20th century music scene. Its sky seldom seems to smile. It's home to much of the world's gray. Its winter wind can be hateful. Historian A.J.P. Taylor called Manchester "the only place in England which escapes our characteristic vice of snobbery."
George Orwell went for "the belly and guts of the nation."Noel Gallagher of the Manchester band Oasis told the BBC in 1998, "The thing about Manchester is . . . it all comes from here." He pointed to the heart, deemed one of Hatton's best hopes against Mayweather, as when Hatton warned, "I mean, if you don't hurt me, I'll keep coming all night." So while Manchester's newer architecture might shine here and there, and its residents did once include Becks & Posh, its legacy abounds with working-class family trees like Hatton's, said Dawn Mines of the Hattersley & Mottram Community News, where Hatton grew up.
His father, Ray, played for Manchester City in pre-lavish soccer days, and still has the carpet business where his first-born pugilist once worked. His mother, Carol, still works a carpet stall at the Glossop Market in the Peak District to the east, and has enough moxie to admit to British reporters she endures her son's bouts by gracing her water bottle with one mixed drink of the vodka persuasion. A mayor of Hyde once thanked Hatton at a ceremony for "remaining real." Tommy Murtagh, the owner of the New Inn where the darts-team roster includes the 5-foot-7 Hatton, says he's "one of the lads when he's out with the lads, and if you saw him in the pub and you didn't know him, you wouldn't think he was anything special."
And in late September during the Manchester stop on the promotional tour, Hatton memorably addressed a throng downtown on live TV, teasing Mayweather about touching him improperly and joking that while he'd missed his 6-year-old son, he'd spent the week "with another 6-year-old." "We apologize for the language at the moment," a Sky voice intoned between indelicacies, as if vox populi might object.
By then, most everyone there had learned the biography and warmed to its lack of pretense. A "forceps birth" in 1978, Ricky arrived with black eyes and the midwife and doctor saying, "Oh my god, we've got a little bruiser here," as Carol related in the DVD "Ricky Hatton, A Life Story." He grew up on the vast, rolling Hattersley housing estate, which in British parlance means a government-subsidized development. Everybody called him Richard. He didn't mind the odd scuffle.
He and his kid brother Matthew played myriad sports -- cricket, even -- and, in soccer, Murtagh said, "No one could get the ball from him." Around age 10, his father took him to a boxing gym where the owner, Ted Peate, took a look and said to Ray, "Look at the way that bloody bag is moving." Early footage of the lad punching shows stunning natural prowess for a skinny blond kid. He trained during teen years in the concrete-walled basement of the New Inn while his parents owned it before Murtagh. Owen can still remember the sounds from below -- "Bam, bam, bam" -- mixed with "all the growls he makes."
Murtagh remembers him removing his school uniform in afternoons and stocking shelves while getting teased about loving Man City to his brother's Man United. Long about age 15, he started working with Billy Graham, his understanding Manchester trainer with the copiously tattooed arms.
Then, all this fame, six belts in two weight classes, friendships with primo footballers such as Wayne Rooney (who has carried Hatton's belt into the ring), but still: He lives just around the bend from his parents. He seems to pine for regularity. Owen says he'll return from some allegedly glam trip and say, "Let's go have a blowout," which entails the pub.
The people around Hyde adore touting him. He gets a "huge rush" from being called "the people's champion." The people love his lack of entourage. They love that he walks into the New Inn alone with, "Y'all right, mate?" or jogs on Stockport Road behind the housing estate and, Mines said, "People wave at him in the car as he passes and he just waves back." "He's luv-lehhhh," said Threadgold of the Butty Box, local dialect for "lovely."
Now thousands of Mancs make exodus to Las Vegas. Many lack tickets but don't care. Pubs throughout Manchester, especially out east in Hyde and Hattersley, figure to stay open to the wee hours for a fight that'll start maybe at 5 a.m.
They're craving and even forecasting an upset, banking on Manchester heart to envision what Matthew Syed in the Times of London reckons would be "the greatest victory by a British boxer since the Marquess of Queensberry codified the sport in 1867."
They dream that America's frills capital could see a champion best viewed through the eyes of everyday people, one with no airs, no graces and some big ol' "megas" upcoming at the Butty Box.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
THE WISE GUYS ON NEW YEAR'S SWINGING EVE!
THE WISE GUYS ON NEW YEAR'S SWINGING EVE!
The Wiseguys Big Band Machine is appearing at the House of Blues at Downtown Disney on Sunday, December 30th!!
The Wiseguys Big Band Machine is appearing at the House of Blues at Downtown Disney on Sunday, December 30th!!
Get a head start on your New Year's festivities with your friends The Wiseguys, and their special guests Los Rhythm Rockets. There will be surprise musical guests and great music for your listening and dancing pleasure!!
This event is also the OC version of The Wiseguys CD Release Party, the last one was a sell out, so be sure and arrive early.
Tickets are available from The Wiseguys. There is no charge for admission, but you must have a ticket to get in so call, email, write or grab a Wiseguy TODAY!!
'SWEENEY TODD' JUMPS THE GUN ON BIG BEN
A fun update from our blog buddy at: www.hemingwayslounge.blogspot.com/
The creative think tank and mad men publicists over at Paramount and DreamWorks just have to be kicking themselves in their collective keesters. In a moody promo shot for the new musical "Sweeney Todd," Johnny Depp sits by an attic skylight, with the Big Ben clock tower visible through the glass. Unfortunately, the film about the demon barber of Fleet Street, is set in the early 19th century - 50 years before the famous tower was even built.
MARK FROST'S THE MATCH!
I’m a huge fan of sports novels and golf novels in particular. While Mark Frost’s golf books are non-fiction, they read like the best of golf novels, filled with fully realized characters, energized with tense action, and infused with a love and understanding of what makes the game special to so many people. His new book, The Match: The Day The Game Of Golf Changed Forever, is another gold star read.In 1956, millionaires Eddie Lowery and George Coleman made an off-the-cuff bet on a golf match and inadvertently set up one of the sport's most climactic duels; this one casual game has become the sport's great suburban legend. Frost (The Greatest Game Ever Played) diligently covers the two pros slightly past their prime, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, who squared off against two top amateurs, Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi. It happened in the last hours of Hogan's playing career, and ten years after Byron had left the stage, but at the near pinnacle of the amateurs', whose personalities couldn't have been more diametrically opposed (Venturi the classic up-and-comer, and Ward the inveterate playboy who performed hungover on two hours' sleep).
The match itself, scrupulously teased out by Frost for maximum drama, is less interesting than the people involved and the historical backdrop. The match happened near the sport's great cusp, as it transitioned from something for amateurs to a professional career, from a pastime for wastrel aristocrats and entertainers (and Bing Crosby, with his annual booze-soaked Clambake charity matches) to a mainstream suburban obsession. Frost has a penchant toward the florid, but as he writes, Because he was Ben Hogan, and it was just past twilight, and his like would never pass this way again, he captures an elusive magic in this improbable matchup and what it meant for those who played and witnessed it.
A CONVERSATION WITH MARK FROST
A CONVERSATION WITH MARK FROST
YOUR LAST TWO NONFICTION GOLF BOOKS, THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED AND THE GRAND SLAM, WERE ENORMOUSLY SUCCESSFUL. WHAT INTRIGUED YOU TO WRITE ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT THE WORLD OF GOLF?
Mark Frost: Realizing that what I've set out to do is chronicle the history of American golf in a series of books, I went looking for a single, crystallizing event that would move the story forward from the 1930s to the 1950s. I found that event in The Match.
WHAT INITIALLY DREW YOU ABOUT THIS LITTLE-KNOWN MATCH? HOW DID YOU ORIGINALLY HEAR ABOUT THIS MATCH AND HOW DID YOU COME TO MEET KEN VENTURI AND BYRON NELSON?
MF: I heard about it initially from Ben Crenshaw years ago, after writing The Greatest Game. I got to know Ken Venturi at about that same time, and with his help was able to go about recreating this extraordinary, almost unknown event. I was lucky enough to meet Byron Nelson shortly thereafter through a mutual friend, and sat down with him to draw out his memories as well.
THIS IS YOUR THIRD NONFICTION GOLF BOOK. ARE YOU PARTICULARLY DRAWN TO THE SPORT OR DO YOU JUST FIND THAT THERE ARE MANY FACETS TO WRITE ABOUT?
MF: Golf is my favorite sport to play, but it's also a wonderful sport for storytelling for a number of reasons. Its history is populated by remarkable people, and the rhythms and nature of the game itself reveals character in a way that lends itself particularly well to the written word. Much of the real action of the game is interior, psychological, even occasionally spiritual, and illuminating the human experience involved in any endeavor is the goal of any good writing.
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE INTERVIEWING KEN AND BYRON. YOU WERE ONE OF THE LAST, IF NOT THE LAST, TO INTERVIEW BYRON BEFORE HE PASSED AWAY LAST YEAR.
MF: The book couldn't have been written without the cooperation and participation of Ken and Byron. Ken was extremely generous with his time and we were able to meticulously recreate the events of that day largely through his memories, fifty years to the month after it happened. Byron Nelson may well have been the greatest athlete of the 20th century who actually deserved the hideously overused modern title of "role model." Being in his presence made the whole experience worthwhile.
WITHOUT GIVING AWAY THE BOOK, WHY DO YOU THINK THIS PARTICULAR GAME HAD SUCH AND IMPACT ON THE SPORT OF GOLF?
MF: It marks the great divide between the end of the period when pros and amateurs played the game as relative equals, and the beginning of the modern era, which has been thoroughly dominated by professionals and, increasingly, by market forces that have transformed it, for better or worse, into a billion-dollar industry.
IN THE GREATEST GAME, YOU FOCUSED ON WHAT YOU CALLED "THE BEST UNDERDOG STORY I'D EVER COME ACROSS," AND IN THE GRAND SLAM YOU CONSIDERED THE THEME OF THE BOOK TO BE "A STORY OF GREATNESS IN HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT." WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE UNDERLYING THEME IN THE MATCH?
MF: Friendship, loyalty, the real meaning of pride, and the high price paid for idealism and integrity in the real world.
WHO DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE GREATEST PLAYERS, OR THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PLAYERS, IN GOLF TODAY?
MF: Tiger Woods, more than any man in the game since Bob Jones, stands alone. And he's barely set foot into the second act of his journey.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU?
MF: I'm beginning research on a book about baseball, focusing on one particular game in a spectacular world series, that sits astride a similar dividing line between the sport as it existed in America for close to a hundred years, and the game as it's played today.
Monday, December 3, 2007
007 COVER ART FOR DEVIL MAY CARE REVEALED!
An update from our blog buddy, Tanner, at: doubleosection.blogspot.comNew Bond Cover Art Revealed
Well, the news of the net today in the Bond world certainly revolves around Penguin's official press release revealing the cover art for Sebastian Faulks' eagerly awaited new 007 continuation novel, Devil May Care. And it's... Well, I guess it could be worse. Apparently (judging from the image), James Bond will be facing off against some sort of wood sprite in the new book.
According to the press release (reprinted in its entirety over at CommanderBond.net), that's "a blood red flower with the silhouette of a naked woman as its stem." Yeah, I see that, but I think the flower imagery gets a little confused by that blood spatter. And the fact that she's green does make it look like she's just wandered in from a college production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." But those are gripes; it's certainly an acceptable Bond image.
What's not acceptable is that credit! "Sebastian Faulks Writing As Ian Fleming?" What the hell is that??? It's disrespectful, off-putting, presumptuous and confusing. Surely Faulks can't be happy with that? How could Fleming's estate allow it? No other continuation author has ever dared write AS Ian Fleming. It diminishes the name of James Bond's creator and undercuts the critical respectability he's enjoyed in recent years. It makes "Ian Fleming" seem like a brand instead of an author. It's fine for "James Bond" to be a brand, but not for his creator! Ian Fleming was a real person, not a mantle anyone can pick up like "Franklin W. Dixon" or something! There was nothing wrong with the possessive credit found on the American editions of the Gardner novels, "Ian Fleming's Master Spy James Bond In ________ By John Gardner."
I get the idea: this is a pastiche. Faulks is writing in the style of Ian Fleming, following his guidelines for writing a thriller, even following his writing habits. But this credit makes it seem as if the author is embarrassed of his work, and wants all of his "respectable" critics and fans to know up front that this isn't his own style. It's really an appalling decision. The whole thing seems particularly disrespectful since the release is supposed to celebrate the centenary of Fleming's birth. I seriously hope that Penguin reconsiders this wording before publication this May. There's still plenty of time.
CBN asserts that "many of the [international] publishers will use this artwork." Frankly, I hope American publisher Doubleday doesn't. There's a long-standing tradition of different artwork on American and British editions of Bond first editions, which makes the books more fun to collect. Usually the British art is infinitely superior, but this seems like an opportunity for the U.S. publisher to change that pattern!
Don't get me wrong; I'm still avidly looking forward to reading Devil May Care, and I hope that it lives up to its full potential. There's truth in the adage "don't judge a book by its cover," but until the book comes out, that's all we have to judge!
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