Inspector George Gently: Breathe In The Air. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Lisa McGrillis, Simon Hubbard, Nicholas Woodeson,  Lesley Nicol, Mark Aiken, Ashleigh Armstrong, Emily Atkinson, Bryony Corrigan, Jonathan Cullen, Jason Done, Ben Fiske, Suzy Kane, Patsy Lowe, Deidre Mullins, Georgia Nicholson, Derek Riddell, Annabel Scholey, Richard Shanks.

The stench of corporate corruption is not a new, it is perhaps not even fashionable to look to hard into it when thousands of jobs are stake; however not a single penny of hush money should ever be paid, to the even more corrupt or to the victims of the abuse perpetrated in the name of profit and business. For Inspector George Gently the 60s may be coming to a close but the chance to Breathe in the Air and bring the corrupted to book is never a closed chapter.

Inspector George Gently: Breathe In The Air. Television Review. full post

(514 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

The Missed Out Mid-Life Crisis.

So when does the mid-life crisis actually begin,

as I am sure that I am eligible to claim around now,

being too old to truly wear jeans

but wearing them just to rebel against

the condemnation of the teens

and the look of unruly disaffection of my grandfather’s

era who once married and with children of their own

reverted to looking as if they had stepped out of stage

managed Victorian costume drama and the stiff upper lip

kept the emotions in check.

 

I keep looking through the spyglass in my door

The Missed Out Mid-Life Crisis. full post

(366 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Jon Chi, Another Rising Sun. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The opening song of Jon Chi’s new album, Another Rising Sun, perhaps sums up the atmosphere and belief the listener experiences when listening to it. Words You Can Believe In as both a title and an adage has surely not been suggested with such accuracy in quite a while. It is to Jon Chi’s credit that such words are taken with such humility, sheer sincerity and abundance of faith, for faith is never displaced in the album and sincerity is what binds it together.

Jon Chi, Another Rising Sun. Album Review. full post

(449 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

The Names Never Faded.

There were many who I held a candle to

in a world full of chalk dust, well aimed projectiles

and the despair of being told that you

were not good enough to breathe the same air

as the teacher’s favourite Rottweiler,

snarling, punishing with savage artistry

and then finished off with the red pen death

of being

wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

There were many, my diary attests to this unhappy fact,

who in one way or another made my life more bearable

when not in English, History or the love of the drama

The Names Never Faded. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Fables: The Good Prince. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Never dismiss the caretaker or the janitor; they might be the only one who truly knows where all the bodies are buried.

The tenth instalment of Bill Willingham’s Fables, The Good Prince, is perhaps arguably the most fairylike tale of them all. A tale told of the valour of one man with more to lose than anyone in the whole of Fable Town, a man whose life throughout the previous nine books has been one of the utmost importance but who never realised what he was until his memory was forced to return as he thought of indiscretions with Red Riding Hood.

Fables: The Good Prince. Book Review. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

U Decide: Our Main Story Tonight, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Nick Walker, Hannah Barker.

Who decides what is newsworthy? Who sets the agenda for what the British people see on their television sets and delivered by journalists sometimes more concerned with their own image than what gets reported upon? In the week of the 2015 British General Election, news can often get misrepresented, especially in a media that is driven more and more by the projected image.

U Decide: Our Main Story Tonight, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(460 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

U Decide: Keeping It P.C. (Politically Confused), Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Aimee Marnell, Chloe Nezianya, Jahney Dalrymple.

Politics is a confusing game at the best of times; it is almost as if the bigger the set of policies being delivered out, the more sound bites there are in which to wheel across the political spectrum, the more, in truth, they all start to sound the same. It is a policy that could be seen as if the so called political elite or the somehow opinionated savvy are all delivering the same message to the politically confused.

U Decide: Keeping It P.C. (Politically Confused), Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(398 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Pick A New Type Of Fruit.

I am not keen on fruit,

though I do have respect for the vegetables

that find themselves hurling their way

on to the dinner table, although I do sometimes suspect

that they are they there to devour me.

I am not keen on fruit

and only partake in the selection of the traditional three

Apples, Cherry and Bananas

from the conglomeration shop that once housed

a Greengrocer’s daughter

to ward off scurvy

and brittle bones

since losing the milkman in the 1970s.

To infuriate the huge supermarket grocer,

Pick A New Type Of Fruit. full post

(313 words, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

Michelle Burke, Step Into My Parlour. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It was always deemed a privilege to be allowed access into the confines of a parlour, the chance to talk openly, perhaps even frankly of the business of the day or of some particular trouble that was vexing the local community. It was also a place where the women of the household could do what they did best in the grander houses of the period, that of being gracious in the art of listening, making sure the right stories were handed down and to be the real power behind the throne; in any household.

Michelle Burke, Step Into My Parlour. Album Review. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Alison Green, Whiskey Ginger Johnson. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is never about the production but the passion and depth of strength and fortitude behind it that makes it a piece of art of repute. The intensity that is placed into delivering what is effectively your soul in the open air, to bring the birth of your voice in the natural arena of scrutiny and possible derision, that is what makes the process all the more worthwhile.

Alison Green, Whiskey Ginger Johnson. Album Review. full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)