It's my Birthday - I'm 5!

Well OK, it's not my birthday exactly, but my Blog's birthday. Reflecting on the five years, I'm really glad to have started the blog - it's been great fun, a way to express ideas, to get stories out quickly sometimes, and to have my own evolving style that doesn't rely on placing a piece in somebody else's format, often for that piece to be chopped up and rendered unrecognisable. It's not that I'm a control freak, but it's important if you want to say something - and that 'saying' might also be with photos/artwork etc. - that you should be able to do that directly without a whole lot of damaging obstacles being placed in the way.

The way the Blog started was like this: our daughter, Corrina, had a Blog, and I was looking at it one day, and at the top of the Blog it said something like 'You Blog'. I don't know now what it actually said - it seems to have become 'Create Blog'. When I clicked on that, it went on to say something like 'just 3 easy stages' to get it up and running. I thought, surely it is a bit more complicated than that. Didn't I have to learn some computer language. It basically was easy, and in the main there isn't any computer language to learn. Then, what subject for my Blog - I didn't really want one subject that I'd be trapped in. So, 'Staring out of the window, daydreaming' was pretty quickly what it became.

I'm glad to have written articles on a wide range of subjects. Sometimes just posted photos or pictures. You can browse the whole blog if you want, or pick at it. Here are a few highlights ... musical sci-fi in 'Organic Sounds' (Monday, February 19, 2007), it's all in the name, in 'Mr. Brown' (Monday, September 24, 2007) having a rant at the Press in 'Even Politicians can Have Holidays' (Saturday, December 30, 2006), Catie's excellent picture 'Family Scene' (Wednesday, May 09, 2007), 'Bob Dylan and The Salvation Army Band' (Monday, June 30, 2008) and about our Book Group in 'Unravelling in Raveloe' (Monday, April 13, 2009).


Anyway, what I'm going to do right now is reproduce the first posting ('Copycat Swimming') I made back in November 2006, and then do an update on the subjects that were covered. (Cream coloured bits are the original extracts.)

There's a film I've seen once, 29 years ago, and I want to see it again. I think I've been patient, don't you? The film is "Deep End" - not the fairly recent one of the same name, but from 1970. It was directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, and starring Jane Asher, Diana Dors and John Moulder-Brown. It may not be the greatest film, but who knows as I haven't seen it for so long. It caught my attention because it featured swimming, a swimming pool and music by Cat Stevens. I say it featured swimming, but I'm not sure much of that went on at all. I haven't seen it in the TV Listings for years, and I don't know if it's been on at the cinema. So, a little while ago I phoned the BBC, on a Saturday. I thought they would be closed, but a recorded message said something like 'choose one of the following 3 options'. I think the voice actually said if you pick option 3 they'll put you through to a 'real' person - and true to their word, there was a real person. She was very helpful and said the film was not on the schedules for the Winter, and was last shown in 1977. That's when I must have seen it. So, where do I go from here? I'm aiming to contact the Curzon cinema group in London to see if they will screen it. They recently put on a matinee of 'Blow Up' from the 60's, which in a way, is a similar genre. I tried to get it on DVD, but apparently it's not on DVD. Maybe, as with Stanley Kubrick with his film version of A Clockwork Orange, and violence, Deep End has been withdrawn to prevent copycat swimming?!
Now: I got to see 'Deep End' again, after all these years. It had been re-released, and I saw it at the Riverside Studios in London. A very good venue, with the seating steeply banked. There was promotion for the re-release, and both the actors Jane Asher and John Moulder-Brown had supported by giving interviews. The film itself: well I'm glad I've seen it again, but I found it rather seedy and lackluster, and while I like swimming pools, this one seemed a bit too shabby to keep my interest. Jane Asher looked good though.

I was lucky enough to be in Venice a few days ago, and my companions and I went off the beaten track, to the slightly southern area of Giudecca. It wasn't touristy at all, and we settled in a cosy restaurant, where we had what I think was a genuine Italian meal. The cook was Luigi, and his wife Claudia served the food and ran all matters other than the cooking. We got talking, or rather the Italian speaker in our group, did the talking and Claudia told us about a story that ran in the local paper (something like 'Venice Today', but in Italian of course.) Anyway, she said that the story concerned a woman, called Gina, who had got out of the shower, and was drying herself, when the doorbell rang. She called out "Who's there" and a man answered "The Blind". Consequently Gina, completely naked, ran down the stairs, and opened the door. The man said "Where do you want the venetian blind?"

Now: The Venice section was half true and half not! We did go to Venice, and the Giudecca area, and to the restaurant. I have no idea what the names of the staff were, and then it's basically the 'Venetian Blind' joke that my Mum had told me a couple of week's before.

Ties. Why do they exist? They perform no practical function: they don't hold anything up, they don't keep you warm, they don't keep anything together. You could get them caught in machinery. You could get strangled. They are archaic. They make me feel uncomfortable. They restrict my breathing. They are often a symbol of class, in a society where we should be classless. Here in the UK I'm proud to live in a fairly free society, so wear a tie if you want to, but let it be through choice. Actually I think ties can be really attractive, with their material, their patterns and designs, but consign them to history and let them be seen in museums.

Now: I still feel the same way about ties, but I do sometimes wear them for functions that seem to require it - weddings/funerals/certain parties - but I'm very glad when I can take them off.

Yusuf Islam (previously Cat Stevens) has a new album out in a few days. I've followed his life and career for many years. I think he is immensely talented, thoughtful and respectful person. Zooming on though, I am puzzled about this new album. 'Heaven/Where true love goes" is presented as a 'new' single, when in fact it appears to be based on the end section of "Foreigner Suite" from his Foreigner album of 1973. I'm also not convinced by the artwork: a single white cup on a white saucer. It looks remarkably like the cup I saw only today, in a picture on the wall at a cafe in Earls Court! I know there are all sorts of happenings with that new cup, such as different liquids, coloured or otherwise, rising or not, and steam rising, so maybe I'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure the project will be blessed with Yusuf's midas touch, and I'll come round to the idea.

Now: The Album that Yusuf was releasing in 2006, was called 'An Other Cup'. It was recorded with Yusuf's usual flair, and there were strong songs, such as the opener 'Midday (Avoid City After Dark), and his version of 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' and a remake 'I Think I See The Light' (originally on his album 'Mona Bone Jakon'). Yusuf went on to do a second album 'Roadsinger' and toured extensively round the world. These two albums and performing, heralded a return to the the 'Pop' world, after becoming a Muslim and retreating from that world in 1977. Now he also spent a considerable time preparing a musical called 'Moonshadow' and has previewed extracts at some of his shows. His songs form the basis of the show, but he does not perform in it. The show is still to be presented as a complete musical. Yusuf continues to do charity and humanitarian work, and to be involved in many interests.

Just to finish off, please feel free to make a comment on the Blog. At the bottom of each posting is 'Comments' where you can click and make your remarks. Or, you can send me an email at staringout@gmail.com


Blog address:
staringoutofthewindowdaydreaming.blogspot.com