Spaghetti Tarantino

Not so long ago I was voicing my mild unorthodoxy in not being a great Hitchcock fan. I thought I had a  similar disinclination when it came to the subject of Quentin Tarantino. On re-examining my views I realise that I may have misunderstood myself. This happens a lot. Must be an age thing.

What brought about this re-evaluation? Django Unchained, that's what. Tarantino is, it hardly needs saying, a cineaste of vast knowledge. In Django he rather more than nods in the direction of Sergio Leone, he pays tribute to the scores of Ennio Morricone, he reminds us of Sam Peckinpah and The Wild Bunch as the blood spurts in stylised slow-motion, and he echoes (as he has done before) the timbre of blaxploitation flicks. This is cine-literate film-making of the highest order. Yes, it is too long (the first couple of hours can drag a little) but the final scenes are triumphant. Christopher Waltz, Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio are excellent but pride of place goes to Samuel L. Jackson for his foul-mouthed but near tear-inducing unclest of all Uncle Toms.

High class stuff. 83/100.

The Drains Of Plas Piggy And Wider Woes

What a mixed weekend. Once again I am on Mon to do a bit of work on the thesis and to watch the Six Nations. Also, unplanned, I have had to rod the bloody drains again - a constant problem here. We may need a man with a digger - or is it cheaper to keeep the rods in operation? The answer to that one is easy - of course it's bloody cheaper you idiot. And, as I have written before, there is a primaeval satisfaction to a successful rodding. Ooh er Mrs.

The Six Nations gave us a very appealing performance from France, They blasted Scotland (victors over England remember) away with six tries born of ferocity and accuracy. Dupont, Alldrit, Ficou - these are all world class players with plentiful others on the threshold. England go to Paris at the end of the championship. Be afraid, be very afraid. And speaking of England, well they held on to beat a Welsh 2nd XV (an exaggeration of course but their injury list is horrible) in a chaotic match at Twickenham. England were once again inaccuarate, unimaginative and underpowered in midfield. Next up are Ireland, no doubt chastened by the lessons handed to them by the French. Ireland to win. Jones must go. Fat chance.

One thing I will say about the England match - it made no difference to the result but the referee had an absolute mare. I know from my own refereeing that you can have games that just get away from you. Luckily for the global game, mine was Redditch v Woodrush, Mike Adamson chose England v Wales. Dreadful. Come back Jaco Peyper, all is forgiven.

All of which acts a prelude to the subject I have felt unequal to writing about. Life continues with a war raging on continental Europe. Nobody needed a crystal ball to know that Putin is a wrongun. Russia has been mishnadled by the West but Putin's eternalist hogwash about the extent of Mother Russia should not be tolerated. His wretched country needs to be cut adrift until he is gone and if that means some turmoil on markets then so be it. I watched the screens on Wednesday as shares took a tumble and then felt a degree of shame as they bounced back when the twats in the City expressed their relief that sanctions had not gone 'too far'. As an aside, you would not want to be Taiwan as the West ties itself in knots over the Ukraine. The chaos can provide China (the biggest of the rogue states) with just the chance it's been waiting for. Oh well, at least there's drains to be rodded and therapeutic purgation thereby to be had.  

The sun is shining on the island.   

Once Upon a Time In Tinseltown

Two films of their particular times fall to be considered. The earlier of the two brought down the curtain on the swords and sandals school of epics. The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) is massive in scale and conception - filmed in Spain it must have set some sort of record for the number of horses deployed as extras. Alec Guinness is good but dead by half-time, Sophia Loren is alluring, James Mason dignified, Stephen Boyd a little wooden, Christopher Plummer a little over the top perhaps but you might argue that the character demands it. The three hour duration does not drag. Films don't get made this way any more (the epic may be back in fashion but CGI has changed the game) and that very fact gives it an attraction. Not good for my street-cred but I rather enjoyed it. 62/100. 

Maybe I'm getting soft but I didn't much like John Wick (2014). It is slickly delivered and the violence is beautifully (seriously) choreographed. I'm also perfectly happy with watching Keanu Reeves - he has presence. But, really what is the point of the wall-to-wall killing? And I ask that as a man who is an unapologetic enthusiast for Titus Andronicus. 59/100. Hey ho.

More Rain, More Seaside

I'm back home at Casa Piggy after a pleasant enough drive back on the A55 - A525 route. I had been planning to take the classic A5 route but I found myself listening to an interesting documentary about Elvis Presley's 1968 comeback television special and didn't want to lose the radio signal. It was a good piece of cultural materialism, whatever that really means.  

I digress. Just a brief line to comment on England's Six Nations performance on Sunday. The good thing: Italy were kept scoreless; the bad thing: most everything else - imprecision masquerading as ambition. They should expect to be judged by high standards. On that basis this was, in academic terms, a solid 2:2, nothing more.

I had another bottle of that Malbec and stayed awake for the whole of the Super Bowl - a tight tussle that rewarded my patience. I could do without all the half-time shenanigans mind you. I made myself a hot-dog at that stage and took in some of the Winter Olympics. Also boring.

I've discovered a new food group that I like - the Ginsters Bombay Potato and Spinach Pasty. Vivid proof that vegetarianism isn't always good for you. I have been trying (mostly successfully) to avoid eating meat during the week (I don't drink alcohol either) because of my blood pressure. Not at all convinced that it does me any good but I do feel vaguely virtuous.

Sorry, I've just looked at the title I had given this piece - it was raining at the seaside.

A Rainy Day At The Seaside

Well actually the closest I got to the rain-lashed reality of the beach was the car park at the Co-op. I spent the rest of the day closeted here at Plas Piggy drinking a 2019 Catena Malbec (92 points from Parker - this is apparently a good thing) and rather enjoying myself. I am here without the Groupie for an extended stay built around the need to do some work on the thesis and the absolute necessity of watching Six Nations Rugby and, tonight, the Super Bowl. These are all selfish activities, well perhaps selfish is the wrong word, solitary might be better.

Anyhow yesterday turned out to be one of those days that went well. I had endured a fractured drive up here on Friday night (A55 closed for works) but slept well enough. I got the work on the thesis out of the way first of all. I'm really not sure that it's any good but I've come this far so I might as well finish it. My latest surprising discovery is that Shakespeare's Henry VIII (actually it was co-written with John Fletcher, but it's in the First Folio so that's good enough for me) is rather good. I re-watched the ancient BBC production last week with a new eye and, yes, it's nicely provocative. 

On next to the Six Nations. I don't know if it's me mellowing with old age but there still hasn't been a viable candidate for a Ronan O'Gara Gobshite Award so far this seasoon. Given that O'Gara has now emerged as a multi-lingual and brilliant coach, we may even have to think of a new name for the award. A previous recipient, Stuart Hogg, came the closest yesterday but no anti-cigar. Scotland manifestly failed to repeat the control of the breakdown that so illuminated their win over England and they lost narrowly to Wales. Most notable for this critic was the refereeing of Aussie Nic Berry. I thought he was excellent, and given what I think of Australians' general grasp of rugby union, this was quite something. And then lightning struck again with a similarly assured display from Angus Gardner in the France v Ireland fixture. France won a high-octane encounter in which the proper ferocity of both sides induced understandable errors. Despite those errors this was a match played at a higher plain than anything that had preceded it.

I passed my evening well. I watched Sam Mendes' brilliant 1917. Much has been made of the technical trickery that allows this to unfold as if a single two-hour tracking shot. I think that in fact it would be truer to say that it is a distinct pair of long tracks but that is to quibble. The technical achievement is arresting, if at first rather giddying. The whole is underwritten by Thomas Newman's score. This is high-grade film- making. 83/100.

I've just had my first beer of Super Bowl Sunday - there's ten hours to kick-off. Pace yourself Dave.    

Suspicion

Not really a great fan of Alfred Hitchcock. Am I allowed to say that? I can see that he's good at what he does but I don't find myself dreamily sighing 'genius' as I watch his films. Mind you I have to say the The Birds scared the crap out of me as a youngster. 

All of which leads me on to Suspicion. It's a slight confection and prehaps the cleverest thing about it is the way it ends. It leaves everything up in the air and makes you wonder if you might not have wasted the previous couple of hours. On balance I hadn't, but definitely not the stuff of genius. 66/100. 

Onto weightier matters. The Six Nations is up and running. What does the OG think of last weekend's opening fixtures? Ireland - very impressive, dexterity allied to ferocity. Wales - crippled by injuries, the usually magnificently chippy Dan Biggar seemingly cowed into meekness by the captaincy. Scotland - handed England a lesson in how to play without the ball, the arrival of Townsend as a serious coach? England - naive; Jones must go? Yes, I'm sticking to my guns on that one and hoping that I am proved wrong; France - on the up; Italy - brave but outgunned. Plu ca change etc. 

Boris Johnson - no don't get me started. That's for another day.

Wherein I Posit A New Marchant Law

Don't write tendentious, parochial, nay racist drivel.

We have received this vile bilge from Cyngor Sir Ynys Mon/Isle of Anglesey County Council. Let me preface it by confirmimg that, yes, the Groupie and I are those most evil of specimens, owners of a second home. It was paid for out of taxed income; we do not jump through any evasive hoops to avoid local taxes; we have work on the property done by local labour; we have never availed ourselves of the educational facilities on the island (though I do have a library ticket); we shop locally for provender rather than carting groceries across the border; we do not trouble the bin men, instead taking our rubbish back home to Brum; we spend liberally when we are there; we do not make any letting income; if we ever sell Plas Piggy, we will have to pay Capital Gains Tax on the proceeds. And yet we are to be further punished because we apparently do not make enough of a contribution to the local community. 

I note from our records that you are a taxpayer identified as being subject to the premium at the current rate of 35% on a property in Anglesey that is substantially furnished but is not deemed as your sole or main residence (second home).

Following a public consultation on the council's intention to increase the premium the, the Executive have recommended to increase the premium to 50% from the 1 April.

The consultation was carried out between 14 June 2021 and 6 August 2021 to which 1,434 replies were received. The consultation involved the community and town councils, on the council's website, Twitter and Facebook accounts, and also available at the council's main office in Llangefni. Consideration was given to contacting each owner of holiday homes but due to the direct impact the premium would affect them, it was deemed such an exercise would create a biased consultation. To obtain an unbiased result, it would have been necessary to consult with the whole of the island's residents and owners of affected properties who reside outside of the island. Time and resources did not allow this.

The Executive have further recommended that the premium on properties that are substantially furnished but which are not deemed as the taxpayer's sole or main residence (second homes) be increased to 75% from April 2023 and 100% from April 2024.

A final decision will be made by the full Council in March 2022, however, this letter letter is intended to notify you of the Executive's recommendation.

Llinos M Roberts

I'm sorry but this is mealy-mouthed garbage. I love the island and its people (as often referenced on this site) but this is an ill-thought-out and vindictive policy. Perhaps I should stay hunkered down here at Casa Piggy or even better should have bought a bigger sole residence and enjoyed its CGT-free status. Shame on you, the Executive, whoever you may be. Perhaps I should campaign for the right to an extra vote where I am doubly-taxed.