Steve gave Petra and me a set of his wife Alison’s books. I cannot wait to read them – these will be my Christmas reading!

I have been a David Bowie fan since 1972 when I fell in love with him as Ziggy Stardust on Top of the Pops, singing Starman. I was 11 years old. I saw him in concert in the 1980s several times when I lived in the USA.

My all time favorite though is this clip from Berlin in 2002, when he was 55 years old. Not many artists could stay relevant over five decades (his first single was released in June 1964) and sound and look as good as this live in their sixth decade. His voice in this clip is absolutely magnificent and NO miming  lip-synching like so many artists today. Changed from miming as he used to actually do mime on stage!

My other favorite has always been Moonage Daydream Live from the Hammersmith Odeon on 3rd July 1973, the night he killed Ziggy. Mick Ronson’s guitar solo in this is epic!

Everything that can be invented has been invented. Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the US Patent Office, in 1899.

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. Thomas J. Watson Snr, IBM chairman, 1943.

Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons. Popular Mechanics, 1949.

The world potential market for copying machines is 5,000 at most. IBM, to the eventual founders of Xerox, saying the photocopier had no market large enough to justify production in 1959.

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977.

We will never make a 32 bit operating system. Bill Gates.

Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia. Dr Dionysys Larder (1793-1859), Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College London.

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist, president of the British Royal Society, 1895.

The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad. The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer, Horace Rackham, not to invest in the Ford Motor Company in 1903.

The Titanic is well able to withstand almost any exterior damage and could keep afloat indefinitely after being struck. P. Franklin, vice president, International Mercantile Marine, 1912.

Aeroplanes are interesting toys but are of no military value. Maréchal Ferdinand Foch, 1911

A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. New York Times, 1936.

There will never be a bigger plane built. A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247 in 1933, a twin-engine plane that held ten people.

The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular? Associates of David Sarnoff, responding to the latter’s call for investment in the radio in 1921.

[Television]won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.

There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States. T. Craven, FCC commissioner, in 1961

With regard to the electric light, much has been said for and against it, but I think I may say without contradiction that when the Paris Exhibition closes, electric light will close with it, and no more will be heard of it. Erasmus Wilson, Oxford University professor, 1878.

There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.  Albert Einstein, 1932.

The internet is just a fad – Ines Uusman, Swedish Minister of Communications, 1996 (disputed)

And when comes to the arts:

Find part 1 here

Keeping up with the Kardashians

Mannequin

P.S. I love you

• I love you Phillip Morris

• Gossip Girl

• Gilmore Girls

• Everybody Loves Raymond

• “After the Wedding” (Denmark 2006) Jacob in his hotel.

• New York Minute 

• The Song of Lunch (2014) Alan Rickman

• The Toyman Killer (film)
• Gossip Girl
• Parks and Recreation (below)

• Stoker
• Night at the Roxbury (below)

• The Babadook (below)

• The Next Best Thing (below)

• Weeds (below)

• Supernatural S09 E11. John Winchesters Demons & Monsters guide (below)

• Sopranos (below)

• White Collar (below)

• The Rebound with Catherine Zeta Jones (below)
  

I loved Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree series when I was little. This is just how I imagine the tree would look.

The movie section of fan fiction.net showing how many stories some of the movies have.

When you have read a book or watched a television series or a movie, do you experience any of the following thoughts?

• I could have done it better
• the ending should have been different
• character x should have been developed
• I want it to continue

Well, then perhaps fan fiction (reading and writing) could be for you. It makes up a staggering 33% of all online content about books on the internet.

Fan fiction is created by fans of a book or movie/tv series as an Alternate Canon (AC) to the original story (or Original Canon – OC). Often created by non-professional people just because they really love a book or characters in a movie. They do it for free, just for the love of a book. And they are often extremely talented. Some fan fiction is way better than the original in my opinion.

I have a writing background (started writing when I was four, have an Honours degree in English literature and journalism, love reading and writing, trained as a journalist, taught journalism for the internet and am now a proofreader/translator/English teacher) so I love watching these writers develop and get into the characters.

My first interest was in Brokeback Mountain fan fiction. Brokeback Mountain was a short story published in the New Yorker. Only 11 pages long. I love Annie Proulx – she can use a few words to paint a picture that speaks a thousand words and is a Pulitzer prize winning author. When I heard it was going to be made into a movie I wondered how they would manage to make 11 pages into 2 hours. But they did. That screenplay was perfect. They didn’t add or leave anything out. The movie was extraordinary. You didn’t notice the gender of the characters, just the impossible love story. No matter what happened, it would not have ended happily.

So the fan fiction grew out of people wanting to give it a happy ending or wanting to continue the story somehow. There were prequels, sequels, whole alternate canon which started from particular points in the book. I decided to try. And I learned so much. How to develop characters and keep them interesting, how to cope with the pressure of writing regular updates, the reviews from thousands of readers, the deluge of email from people. You can just see yourself getting better day by day. The best of Brokeback Fan Fiction is Beans and Crazies by Montana crows.

I tried to write a happy ending. It did not work because if you stay true to your characters and the society of the day there was never going to be one. It was doomed. You cannot change that without changing the characters. So I tried an alternate story with the same character which gave a happy ending but then there was no story. So I had to keep it happy enough for people to want to read but angsty enough for people to remain interested. You have to remain true to the characters. It kept me on my toes I can tell you.

My second interest has been in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James arose as fan fiction of the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer, and was published as its own trilogy about a year ago. It has topped bestselling lists for ages – I seem to remember that it is the fastest selling book/series of books of all time. In this case often when people exhaust the books themselves, they write further, purely out of love for the characters and/or the story. And they can actually write! Fifty Shades of Grey would never have been published the usual way because of the content. But the huge success of it as fanfiction meant that publishers really had no choice in the end. It now has its own fan fiction –   – my two favourites are from Christian’s point of view and from Taylor’s point of view . The latter is hysterically funny. If you are put off the subject matter but want to know what the story is about, read the Fifty Shades of Taylor fanfic and you will get the rough tough plainspeaking bodyguard’s point of view. The originals were not particularly well written but these two are written way better. The one from Christian’s point of view starts a bit shakily but she really improves quickly.

The original authors have different views on fan fiction. Terry Pratchett, Stephanie Meyer and El James, J K Rowling are positive to it, Annie Proulx is against it and Ann Rice has changed her opinion from against to leaning to for. There is constant debate about the legality of it but the sheer proliferation of this new genre and the new fans it brings to the original works is likely to lead to it growing rather than being stopped.

Much of the concern stems from slash fiction (which is same sex pairings of fictional characters from famous movies/tv/books) and sexually explicit fan fiction. The most common one used to be Spock and Kirk from Star Trek.

For myself as a teacher of writing/sometime writer, it is invaluable to both myself and my students. There is constant help from other members with story lines, proofreading, editing, feedback and character development. Your likes and views always give you an idea of how good your story lines are. It is very difficult to do but extremely gratifying.

Some sites to look at are:

fanfiction.net

Archive of Our Own

Live Journal

and this one with a list of the others

When you see an ampersand (&) in movie credits, it means two writers worked together to write the script. If it’s the word “and” it means the two writers worked on the script at different times.

Source: http://www.omgfacts.com

I have just binge-watched 7 seasons of Sons of Anarchy. I would imagine the demographic is more male than female but I love Katy Sagal as Gemma Teller-Morrow. She is the wife of the Executive Producer, Kurt Sutter, who also played Otto in the series.

Katy is 61 years old yet her character, the matriarch of the biker club, was powerful, sexy and extremely attractive. They did not use camera filters on her and if she has had surgery it was done extremely well. The wardrobe she wears is sexy but still age appropriate and not slutty.The clothes she wears are not extremely expensive designer duds either. She rocks Frye boots, Citizens of Humanity, Seven and Guess jeans and Royal Underground leather jackets (recognized by the fleur de lis charms hanging from the zipper pulls). You don’t notice this but her upper arms are usually covered and she does not show much skin in places older women should keep covered (a good tip for all of us)

It is so nice seeing an older woman in a big role, playing an older woman who is powerful, sexy and has a voice. Most women of a certain age are relegated to bit parts as the grandmother but Katy owns the screen in every single episode. She wears what she wants without looking ridiculous.

A young Vladimir Putin meets Ronald Reagan

Bill Cosby

Morgan Freeman

Robin Williams

Bill and Hillary Clinton

Find lots more here, including a very young Ben Stiller!

Find more here

I recently watched all ten seasons (236 episodes!) of Friends on Netflix – 21 years after the first episode aired. Unlike many popular TV series (Miami Vice for example), it has not dated at all and remains as relevant today as it was the first time it was aired. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of rewatching it.

As a series it is interesting because all the characters take the same amount of screen time, they were all paid the same amount, they negotiated all their salaries as a group. It is, for many people, difficult to find a favorite character as they are all so different and all equally strong. Phoebe used to annoy me but on rewatching I realized that she had just as many truly funny lines as any of the others. In hindsight though I would say that Ross and then Chandler are my favorite characters.

As most people do I imagine, I have some favorite episodes which other ardent Friends fans may recognize.

• The one with Ross screaming PIVOT PIVOT PIVOT as Monica and Chandler attempt to carry his sofa up the stairs
• The one where Ross tries to scare Phoebe and Monica with his karate moves – UNAGI
• The one where Ross wears leather pants
• The one where Ross bleaches his teeth
• Ross playing his MUZAK

And yes, they all seem to focus on Ross!

Do you have any favorite episodes?

I have been a David Bowie fan since 1972 when I fell in love with him as Ziggy Stardust on Top of the Pops, singing Starman. I was 11 years old. I saw him in concert in the 1980s several times when I lived in the USA.

My all time favorite though is this clip from Berlin in 2002, when he was 55 years old. Not many artists could stay relevant over five decades (his first single was released in June 1964) and sound and look as good as this live in their sixth decade. His voice in this clip is absolutely magnificent and NO miming  lip-synching like so many artists today. Changed from miming as he used to actually do mime on stage!

My other favorite has always been Moonage Daydream Live from the Hammersmith Odeon on 3rd July 1973, the night he killed Ziggy. Mick Ronson’s guitar solo in this is epic!

Not that I am a perv or anything, but isn’t this man gorgeous?

This is a movie I really did not expect to enjoy. I usually don’t get on well with big-budget special-effect-heavy post-apocalyptic machine vs. monster films set in darkness, snow and rain. I watched it purely because it had Idris Elba (from The Wire) and Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman (both from Sons of Anarchy) in it.

But I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so that I have seen it several times now. I cannot figure out why I like it because some parts of the movie are quite cheesy, but it is probably because of the individual detail of each machine and monster and that each one is so very different. Plus the huge scale of everything just makes your jaw drop. There are sites detailing the different details and specs of each machine and monster which shows how much thought went into each one.

You can see the huge scale of things in this video, even just on YouTube. Watching it on a big screen is mind-blowing. I would have loved to see it in 3D.

I had the same experience when I watched Avatar. I did not see either of them in 3D as I have bad astigmatism which mean I cannot see 3D properly and it gives me splitting headaches and nausea. I would have loved to though.

Two language details:

• the Gypsy Danger had to be renamed in many countries because of the perjorative meaning of the word gypsy.
• Charlie Hunnam has developed the same accent problem as Angela Lansbury. They are both British but have used American accents for television series for so long that they have a strange accent that is something in between. Not quite mid-Atlantic but Charlie’s veers wildly and sounds really strange sometime. Charlize Theron was not English speaking to start with (she was Afrikaans speaking) which could be the reason her American accent is flawless.

Magnum PI Tom Selleck

I have been watching all of Magnum PI lately and still enjoy it just as much as the first time I saw it.

Tom Selleck landed the role of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. As much as I like Harrison Ford, I think Tom would have been a PERFECT Indiana Jones. Swashbuckling, a matinee idol in the old fashioned sense of the word, a glint in his eye, funny, like a big affable bear…BUT he had to turn it down because Magnum was due to began filming in March 1980 and the makers of Magnum would not release him to do the film. Ironically, after he turned Raiders of the Lost Ark down and Harrison Ford got the role, filming of Magnum was delayed due to a strike and only started in December 1980. So Selleck would have been able to do both of them after all.

High Road to China – I like this movie as well

He was given a very similar role in High Road to China, and a special episode of Magnum PI called Legends of the Lost Art (an Indiana Jones spoof which shows you how absolutely brilliant Tom Selleck would have been as Indie) in Magnum PI’s last season, to make up for it. But it must take a big person to get over something like that quickly. Artistic people are often sensitive and insecure so it must be harder than a sports person losing a match or a game.

Magnum PI – Legend of the Lost Art

Many actors have turned down leading roles in films that have become huge hits, so it goes with the territory. But it must really burn for a while anyway. On the other hand, some of the brilliant actors in the roles below may have led to it being a failure rather than a success. Who, for example, could imagine anyone other than Tom Hanks being Forrest Gump?

• Jack Nicholson turned down The Godfather
• Al Pacino turned down Pretty Woman
• John Travolta turned down Forrest Gump
• Michelle Pfeiffer turned down Silence of the Lambs
• Will Smith turned down The Matrix
• Sean Connery turned down Lord of The Rings
• Bette Midler turned down Sister Act
• Sandra Bullock turned down Million Dollar Baby
• Julia Roberts turned down The Proposal and The Blind Side (both of which went to Sandra Bullock)
• Matthew Broderick turned down Breaking Bad
• Tom Cruise turned down Footloose
• Tom Hanks turned down Jerry Maguire
• Chevy Chase turned down American Beauty
• Melanie Griffith turned down Thelma and Louise
• Matt Damon turned down Avatar and The Dark Knight
• Kevin Costner turned down The Shawshank Redemption (my all-time favourite movie)
• Henry Winkler turned down Grease
• Mel Gibson turned down Gladiator
• Bruce Willis turned down Ghost

And of course, Tom Selleck (who is 70 now can you believe?) is fantastic in Blue Bloods

I have just finished watching this UK series and I really loved it.

I am not a Dracula fan and I don’t enjoy horror movies. But I read all the Vampire Diaries and Twilight books and watched the Twilight movies and Vampire Diaries television series. Of them I like the Vampire Diaries books and television series more because I don’t think Twilight was particularly well-written.

I enjoy both UK and US shows but the US ones tend to be more dramatic and glamorous while the UK ones are grittier, showing mundane, humdrum existence and ordinary people with less than perfect lives and looks. The UK series, Being Human encapsulates that. The drab daily lives of a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire in a rundown flatshare, trying to live average boring lives and have relationships like everyone else. It is heartwarming and frequently extremely funny but it grips you and stays with you in a way that Vampire Diaries doesn’t for example, even though that series deals with many of the same themes.

Particularly good are Aidan Turner as vampire Mitchell, and Russell Tovey as werewolf George. Turner played a similar brooding, tortured character in Poldark. George is my absolute favourite. He is a pedantic, organised, neurotic neat freak who rips the house to shreds every full moon.

Quotes from imdb.com

These are movies that I have watched over and over and still love.

Firstly, Overboard. This is a movie that, if you pick it to pieces, has problems. But put all those pieces together and it is magical. A real feel good movie for when you have had a bad day. Goldie and Kurt have now been together for going on 35 years and you can see they had a whale of a time playing opposite each other in this movie.

Then, Galaxy Quest. I always love Alan Rickman but he is extra brilliant in this movie. This is both a tribute to and a spoof of Star Trek. If that sounds icky to you, have a read of what Star Trek actors had to say about it (taken from Wikipedia)