Rest in Peace,
dear old V.H.S video recorder,
your life was one given
in service of those to whom
staying in was an anathema
and the pause button,
for whatever their reason,
be it grainy, dirty or just
frequently needing the loo
during a good film
or quickly taped soap opera
as the promise
of a night out at the pub with no
strings attached became a modern
necessity.
Farewell and thank you
for being able to tape Doctor Who
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
History is such that it not only repeats itself, it has a beautiful and recurring habit of repeating itself till it becomes a cause for celebration and rememberance. History is never dead, unlike many subjects one may be taught at school, history is full of possibilities, the what if scenario much beloved of the anarchic thoughtful student, the plotting of random, separate events to a juncture where they meet, explode and ricochet into a thousand strands; history breathes, history lives and is the mother of all our futures. No matter what you cannot find yourself truly Alone With History.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The Pendulum is never still, it keeps going back and forth like a violin bow on heated strings or as steady as a pulse at rest, always ticking, always marking off time and nibbling away at the seconds between experiences, it only takes the randomness of it actually being progressively slowed and forcibly stopped for it to be missed and the pulse to be eulogised over. It is in the cheerful domain of that eulogy into which Gillian Frame pauses and then lets rip in a flurry of excitement, poise and grace; like a Pendulum she is ever present in the thoughts and listened to with ease.
Please take me back there
For my blood is cold without its warmth,
The feel of the fire
And the majestic stag heads fixed sight
High on the wall.
Please take me back there,
Through the mists and open rain,
The taste of a forgotten whisky,
In my mouth, let me feel the close heather
And the sound of a violin by the hearth.
Please take me back there,
For I am incomplete without her,
I am lost in the mountains
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The psyche and the brain is so strong, its ability to observe and absorb so much that in times of desperation and heartache it can turn something so terrible, so unimaginably horrific, into a triumph; it is in the ever dependable spirit that the sub-consciousness revels in the chance to stand with honour, no matter just how bad the situation that had been survived was.
How could you not love Danny La Rue,
the last man in a dress
to outshine the also rans, in high heels,
stockings and large expensive wigs,
taught several how to relish in the glamour
of their existence and others how to embrace
that not everything in life is black, white
and as bright and vibrant as a child’s colouring book
when they learn to draw outside of the margins;
how could you not love Danny La Rue.
How could you not love Dorothy Gale,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It is in the simplicity of music that many battles are fought and won, the everyday alignment of words and images in a harmony that just catches the ear in a motion of peace and the result is that life can viewed as not being so bad; verging on pure, wholesome and more interesting than can be appreciated when revelling in self doubt and unjustified melancholy.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
As a society, as a civilisation, we are doing better when it comes to the thought of helping those with any type of mental health issue, yet still we can be judged for not doing enough, that we don’t take seriously the muted cry for help, the culture of public opinion that can be awkwardly poured over by the media and uncared for by the ignorant.
I was never more astounded
in my young and carefree life
than on the day I witnessed
evolution in flight,
as the black mass
took to the Selly Park air
and shrouded the sun as one,
shimmering, splitting the heavens,
blowing my mind as I peered
into the cracks of the corporation
pavement of Manilla Road,
an ice cream slowly dripping
and making sticky fingers,
evolution in flight,
evolution with black angel wings,
as ants crawled, stuttered, their heartbeats
increased by sunshine and the call
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Christoph Waltz, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson, Sidney Ralitsoele, Osy Ikhile, Mens-Sana Tamakloe, Edward Apegyei, Antony Acheampong, Casper Crump, Adam Ganne, Simon Russell Beale, Djimon Hounsou, Miles Jupp, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Benjamin, Ben Chaplin.
It is arguably one of the most distinctive calls in the history of cinema, a simple cry of masculinity and dominance and yet one that is fuelled by the perversity of European culture making claims on the lives and heritage of Africa in the 19th and 20th Century. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan is rich in its story telling, if not in the very sentiment of abuse it was trying to dispel in his readers at the time.