23 Friday May 2025
Posted in films, home, television
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What a random stroke of luck this was, found by chance looking around on Apple TV (which almost never shows its best stuff on the main page). It really is everything it says on the poster. And what a cast.
27 Monday Nov 2023
Posted in films
I mean, I absolutely hate it that I can never sleep through the night, that at best I manage five hours of fractured sleep beset with disturbing dreams (to manage even this I spend 9-10 hours in bed). Not ideal. BUT every now and then I go… well hey if I hadn’t been wide awake at 3AM I wouldn’t have seen someone’s Twitter post about Lone Star!
That sent me back a few years and the next day I immediately looked for this film because not only were John Sayles and Jim Jarmusch my fave directors in the 90s I suddenly NEEDED to see Lone Star again. And oh my god it not only didn’t disappoint but I was left feeling both uplifted and bereft… where did all the filmmakers go?
As for Lone Star… fucking stellar cast, honest writing, great story-telling… a character driven film that leaves you caring so much about the “heroes” and just loving the whole experience. I rented it on Amazon Prime, maybe it’s available elsewhere, but SO worth checking out.
19 Wednesday May 2021
Posted in films
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Charles Grodin has died. Cancer. Age 86. And there have been several lovely tributes to him all over the internets, which led to me finding some old YouTube clips of him on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show (omg, so funny) and THEN I discovered that he also had his own talk show for maybe 2-3 years, I think starting around 1992. Which explains why I never heard of it as that’s when I ended up in Spain and didn’t watch any TV for about ten years. And so here I am tonight looking up these old shows on YouTube and they’re just wonderful.
Apparently there was a faux-feud between Grodin and Carson for years, which they both played up for laughs. Below you can watch an example. I will always love his performance as The Duke in Midnight Run with De Niro, which remains one of my favourite movies ever. Also, read this wonderful tribute by his friend Jonathan Alter and find out how amazing and altruistic he was outside his “showbiz” career. Thanks Chuck. xx
13 Monday Feb 2017
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Sent to me by my cousin Fred… fab vintage flamenco from the 60s.
But I cannot work out what the woman says at 2.40 minutes – can you?
22 Thursday Oct 2015
Posted in films, television
At long fucking last Netflix has finally arrived in Spain. I think it was yesterday. So of course I signed up for the free first month trial. And that’s when things predictably went pear shaped. As in, how do I access it from my brand new SmartTV when I can’t find it anywhere on there? After looking everywhere I contacted the Netflix helpline thingy and had an option of a chat or a phone call. I chose the chat and within seconds Pau (possibly not real name? 😉 ) came online to chat with me.
Well, I am now in love with Pau, whoever he (or she) may be. Pau stayed on the chat with me for about half an hour while we tried things out, first trying the most obvious solutions and then digging deeper. At one point I had to call the LG helpline (while Pau patiently waited for me) and I was told that my BRAND NEW SMART TV that was manufactured in June and bought by me in July did not support the Netflix app. What the fucking fuck?? To be fair, the LG helpline guy (he had a lovely voice) seemed just as perplexed as me, and said he couldn’t understand why this app wasn’t possible. So okay fine, but Pau was waiting and I had to go.
When I told Pau this was crazy and I didn’t sign up to Netflix to watch films on my iPhone or laptop, he remained calm and asked if I had any other device options such as Wii, PS3, or 4, or Blu Ray players. Bingo! Hello somewhat aged Sony BluRay player! I had my doubts at first because no Netflix was showing up (and other apps like YouTube had been cancelled over the years). But then I did an update and lo & behold… there was Netflix! Yay! So I signed in and there it was! Pau, bless him, said he would hang on until I tested it, so that I could actually start watching something, and so I tried it out and, yep, no problem. Well, okay, it’s a bit of a pain to have to switch to HDMI2, turn on the BluRay and wait for all that to sort itself out, but you know… it’s what I’ve got.
So hey, what did you do today?
casa azahar 