Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It was the decade of big hair, of shoulder pads and Dynasty, of power dressing, Dallas and sweat bands, the 80s may have been responsible for many ills that many remember but it was also a decade that for those who swam in its swirling mists with glee and possible terror will never forget.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
We are all Matryoshka Dolls, the space in which we inhabit on the Earth only made possible because of all the people we are inside, the separate pieces that make up us, whether it be father, son, nephew, art lover, or mother, daughter, wife and comedian, we are all made up of small pieces of us that decrease in size till you hit that final Babushka, the tiny and brimming with potential human that is frail, afraid and hopeful, sometimes even just excited to get out of the house.
I feel steeped in your history
Athens
of the north
each time I breathe
in the rain,
that rusts my armour
yet builds my arsenal.
I feel your beauty
and I desire
nothing more
to be soaked to the skin,
dripping wet
on a boundless summer’s day,
to feel the chill of North Sea
air warm me
as snow swirls in August
and the sweat of Christmas Day
applauds,
Athens has nothing on you
Siren
and I am rocked
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Anna Friel, Ray Panthaki, Nina Sosanya, Nicholas Pinnock, Charlie Covell, Sinéad Cusack, Jack Doolan, Harry Lloyd, Tobias Santelmann, Jamie Bamber, Patrick Baladi, Ben Cura, Ian Puleston-Davies, Emil Hostina, Susannah Wise, Imogen Fairies, Laura Carmichael, Stephen Lord, Yasen Atour, Jasmine Breinburg, Florence Pugh, Nick Hendrix, George Barnes, Andrew Lancel, Maeve Dermody.
The art of the Noir is to keep the viewer or reader guessing long enough that they doubt their own verdict, their own deductive reasoning and to question further their own possible prejudices of one suspect or another. It is an art fully utilised by the writers of the series Marcella and one that really got under the skin as each episode progressed.
There are some things which are beyond a simple marking measure, the absurdity of the race for nuclear destruction is arguably the biggest one, whatever the book that discloses information on humanity’s insatiable greed and need to destroy itself, is surely beyond any yard stick of simple pleasure. As long as it completely factual, as long as it truly makes you angry that there are those since World War Two that have looked to the nuclear question as the be all and end all of life’s niggling conundrums, just how to get along without killing each other over ideology.
I remember the fear
and tried to brush
it aside,
to put out of
sight,
of the images of Nuclear fire,
Mushroom
Cloud
column of the blister oozing
pus and gore;
I counted them out
that morning
as they crossed the line of death
in the sand,
my paper round
the following day, one
of a moment which I thought
would lead to death of millions, and yet
in Chernobyl a reactor
would create that chaos
for me.
I make mistakes,
I am human after all,
some are bigger than others
but none are meant,
sometimes
I just forget,
my brain fogs over
and all I can concentrate upon
is the next set of tablets,
the next pain killer
which gives the thrill
of living on
for another few hours;
I make mistakes,
It is who I am
and I have to deal with it more.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
In the comfortable surroundings of one of the City’s less obvious gig venues, the clamour of evening tea and daily tasked conversation rising just as the summer moon makes it’s appearance in the Liverpool sky, the upstairs at Leaf, always the height of serenity and musical appreciation, became an oasis for memory, contemplation and praise, as Revolver, The Beatles 7th studio album was lauded and acclaimed by the packed out audience and as each song was performed by some of the very great talents in the Liverpool music community, there was undoubtedly, beautifully, magic in the Merseyside air.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney, Jai Hernandez, Ben Affleck, Ike Barinholtz, Viola Davis, Common, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Ezra Miller, Karen Fukuhara.
Take the worst of the worst, the real depths of humanity’s struggle with itself and watch the fur fly, the angst become riddled with pain, glory and sabotage and you have the comic book film of the summer, Suicide Squad. A film that carries on the expanding D.C. universe and which at the back of its mind arguably sees it wanting to desperately take on Marvel at its own game.
The glass bottled Menorah,
behind me on the shelf
now holds drumsticks
that once held beer
and the beat
of songs
that I kept up with
as they exploded in rhythm
on stage,
like burning butterflies
dancing hotfooted
on the candles
I displaced;
the glass bottled menorah,
with peelable slogan
and memorable image,
empty of foam
but full of meaning.
Ian D. Hall 2016