http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/oct/14/sarkozy-brown-i-love-you

Poor old Gordy, at least he's gettin some lovin off somebody...

http://auto.pege.org/2009-genf/opel-ampera-vorne.htm

Saw this being unveiled on TV today - Mandy, Prince of Darkness, was showing it off. Reminds me of something...

This week, I have been mostly rereading Abiezer Coppe. His writing is extraordinary - everything else, bar Blake, is like limp lettuce in comparison*

By coincidence - because you can go for years without hearing any mention of the Ranters, 'Winstanley' is getting a British DVD release this week. http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2009/07/film-winstanley-diggers It's a very low budget account of the Digger settlement on St. George's Hill in 1649 - or, more accurately, George's Hill, because the Diggers didn't hold with saints. It was made by Kevin Brownlow - the man who also painstakingly assembled much of the 'lost' material in Gance's Napoléon, only to have Coppola block it from a DVD or widespread cinema release because he has the copyright on the shorter, horribly Coppola-relative soundtracked version. I've got a U.S. DVD of 'Winstanley', and, whilst it's good it was made, and looks beautiful, it's a wee bit dull (though is improved greatly if taken with wine). I was also a bit pissed off by Winstanley's accent - he sounded like a terribly reasonable 1950's southern schoolteacher, not the Wigan man he was (more like George Formby, then?!)- and the toning down of the religious element. The thing that leaps out at you from even a short reading of the words of the 1640's revolutionaries is their religion, their mysticism and millenarianism: to ignore this (and I'm sorry to make the comparison) is like forgetting to mention that Al Quaida are hardcore Islamicists whose aim is a global caliphate. 'The Devil's Whore', silly as it was, did at least make a stab at it, in the scene where Cromwell and Rainsborough threaten the town (then it got lost amidst the heaving bosoms). I was glad to come across this - http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/oct/17/david-caute-winstanley-comrade-jacob . Religion is something that really gets glossed over by people, Marxist and otherwise: I'm an atheist, so I appreciate the awkwardness they may feel when confronted by it, but too many of them seem to write as though these people thought like 19th or 20thc rational humanists. I think Foreign Policy advisors have the same problem.

Ah, it's on Youtube. All things come to Youtube, in the end. It's like a very long, beautifully shot home movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqSqr1mErzw&feature=related

*this is not a dig at vegetarian food, for I, too, am a mostly-vegetarian - more a comment on my veg patch, in which the lettuces have bolted, producing some very pretty cornflower like flowers, but also meaning the leaves have flopped and aint good for nothing no more.

Well, it was pitched as "Entourage with easels", and it was. Am I just hopelessly naive in wanting a bit of historical accuracy in 'historical' dramas? Should I just be grateful that these people get a mention at all, and hope that some of the teenagers and whatnot who tune in to watch this nicely dressed soap about pretty boys screwing then go on to buy an art book and discover that they actually did stuff and had a political agenda beyond the bedding of redheads?

The Guardian article here's a bit poor, but the comments underneath are fun - the rock band analogy fits, and 'the Devil's Whore' comparisons, and the 'Hollyoaks', and the 'how on earth are they going to stretch this out over 6 hours'? I particularly like the riposte at 10.08, yours, Vincent. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/21/groups-culture-society-belonging

And another thing: so far, we've seen a lot of naked ladies, including a completely gratuitous bit when the actresss playing Lizzie Siddall goes behind a screen to get changed and the camera peers over the top of the screen so we can see her tits, even though the artist in this scene isn't showing a carnal interest, and the pose she's posing for is clothed, and she's meant to be shy, so there's no narrative justification whatsoever. Meh. If the drama doesn't balance this out with an equal amount of male bums and cocks I'm complaining.

This is coming up next week. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jul/11/desperate-romantics-tv-preview . The BBC are plugging it with the line 'they were the YBAs of their day'. No they fucking weren't. The only thing the PRB had in common with the YBAs is that they both breathed, ate and shat.

And it's got Rafe Spall in it. As the Redgrave dynasty has proved all too painfully, acting talent is not hereditary.

The 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' lifestyle, the 'Sunset Blvd' death, 'The Loved One' burial!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oymjPBjYLQ&feature=related

A snatch of dialogue heard whilst flipping channels:
"In her entire reign, the queen's never lost a hat."
"To the wind, you mean."
"Yes."
Makes you proud to be British!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/gallery/2007/oct/02/purnell.photos?picture=330867810

Why has the stupid little squit done this? If Labour change leadership now, there'll have to be a snap general election, which the aristos will probably win by default. Better to hold on to Brown, and Brown do a grand gesture - ideally, scrapping our 17thc political system and getting a 21stc one, with Proportional Representation, etc. in the few months he has left between now and May. There is, for the first time in decades, real public appetite for this - problem is, I don't know whether Brown has the appetite for it, too. There also feels like a change in the wind - so many people today - including those who normally vote Tory (well, I presume they do - they read the Daily Mail, which no sane left or centrist would) - were going to the polling stations and voting Green or Lib Dem, etc.. Something is developing, but a snap election would snip it in the bud.

From the way they're behaving, it seems like 'New' Labour would rather lose outright and immediately to the Tories - old style, 20thc politics - than sit back while the electorate rethink their own politics away from the old two-party system. How stupid and selfish of them.

I've just switched on the telly. 'Tis an episode of 'Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)'. A roomfull of 60's dolly-birds in hair pieces and layered fox fur coats. Seems to be an international beauty pageant of some sort. From one comes the line: "the National Archives! They've got everything from Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights!". "Let's go there, then!" . And off they go. Hopkirk (deceased) is suspicious. As, indeed, am I.

The original radio series of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - the books and TV series were good as well. The recent film adaptation was dire - made by someone with no understanding of comedy whatsover. Bizarre.