If anyone's near Birmingham next Friday evening (11 July 2008) I urge you to come and see The Song Inside at King Edward VI Five ways school. It's a stunning new one-act play by Paul Merrill, produced by He's Spartacus.
Come and see it if only for a chance to see me bearing my soul.
No Birthdays, no coming soon, and I still haven't finished my random film review from the weekend.
However Dark Knight reviews are coming in thick and fast and it's looking like all the pre release hype was correct.
Why not spend the day going through the trailers on the official site and letting out a little wee in anticipation.
Sunset Blvd. is about as iconic as a film can get. The story of an ageing film star and her liaison with a on-the-make screenwriter is as indelible in everyone's minds as it was groundbreaking at the time. Who hasn't spoken to the mirror at one point or another: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."
Let's try to breakdown why this film has such an appeal and what factors have made it such a success.
They are absolutely right.
Running in the real world is a lot harder than on a treadmill. Today I managed 6.3km in 40 minutes. That's a pathetic 9.45 kph or just 5.9 mph. At that speed, and there's no way at the moment that I could sustain that, the marathon would take me just over 4.5 hours. (Actually that's not so bad, but I'm sure I can do better over these short distances so I will carry on beating myself up about it.)
I'll certainly be mixing more road running into the training going forward.
Today I did 20 minutes. Managed 3.66 km, which means an average 5.28 in per km. That's nearly 11.4 km (7.1miles) per hour on average which is OK. I'm happy with that.
So far all this runnig has been on a treadmill (albeit only one weeks worth). Tomorrow I'm going for a run along the canal, I'll time myself and turn around at 20 minutes. Some people tell me that running on a treadmill is easier so it may be a bit of a challenge tomorrow.
I also spent 30 minutes in the pool. I'm a dreadful swimmer, I look a lot like a distressed walrus, only a lot slower. But I can keep going for thirty minutes straight, and that's got to be worth something.
Kathy is much more than a knife wielding monster though. As well as having a talent for swinging a mallet later this year we'll be seeing her selling houses to Kate and Leo in Revolutionary Road, helping Michelle Pfeiffer let go of her younger man in Cherie and remainly perfectly stationary in The day the Earth Stood Still.
Klaatu Barada Nikto, indeed.
Another round up of what's been tickling me over the last couple of days. Imagine, if you will, Chris O'Donnell and Leonardo Dicaprio visiting their elderly grandfathers, Pacino (terse and shouty) and De Niro (telling bad jokes and trying to still be with it), in a home for geriatric actors. As they recount stories of their glorious past Chris and Leo learn a lot about life and what it means to be an actor. Chris moves to the country to grow peanuts and Leo resolves to never make the same mistakes as his elders. In the flashback scenes we could use footage of actual films involving Pacino and De Niro, a la Whatever happened to Baby Jane.
The Ghost
Pierce Brosnan has let slip to MTV that he's prepping for a new thriller from Roman Polanski, concerning dark secrets from a former UK Prime Minister (Brosnan) being uncovered by his ghost writer (Nic Cage - yes really). It sounds like a good mix to me - Polanski is always good at building tension and Cage's wig has an almost legitimate reason to be wild.
39 Clues 
I don't really get this. Apparantly 39 Clues is some interactive, multi-media Kids thing with prizes and stuff. 10 books, and potentially 3 films are planned. Anyway Steven Spielberg has just brought the rights. I hope he doesn't direct as I'm still a fan of the 'berg and I'd rather see Tintin, Lincoln or the Chicago Seven than what to me sounds like gibberish. I mean how could I keep my head up high wandering into Smiths and buying a pack of trading cards?
Righteous Kill
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are back. In a film from Jon Avnet, acclaimed director of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
This is old news, I know, but it's new poster so I thought I'd show that.
To be honest I think I'd be more keen on this project if the film was going to be closer to Fried Green Tomatoes in tone and content.
To all Hollywood producers out there I'm waiting for your call. Anyone else feel free to leave a message about what you'd like to see De Niro and Pacino doing.
Google ads have decided that Stannah Stairlifts are appropriate to advertise on my blog.
Does no-one have any confidence that I can run this marathon?
I managed to get to the gym before work today. Slightly quieter which made it all the more comfortable.
Spent another 15 minutes on the treadmill. Managed 2.7 km, at 5.22 min/km which is fractionally faster than last time. Onwards and upwards as they say.
Increasing to 20 minutes on Saturday. Wish me luck.
86 today
Of course training for a big race isn't all about the running, it's also about eating the right balance of foods.
I will admit I don't know much about nutrition so in this first (of regular posts on the subject) I'd thought I'd kick off with an absolute basis fundamental.
If you're as bored during your lunch break as I am why not try watching a puppy run along a beach.
All together now. Ahhh.
Not a day goes by tht some film project isn't announced or changes production status or start trailering that I'm not in the least bit interested in. Here are some stories that have had me going hmmm over the last week:
The Archive
James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma) to direct a script from David Auburn (Proof, The Lake House). Apparantly the story revolves aroung time travel. It should be interesting. I like Auburn's theatre work (although it didn't translate well onto the screen) and James Mangold is a seriously underrated director. This could be one to watch out for.
Spider-man 4
Release date confirmed for 2011.
Um... Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi have yet to sign on for this. Now I love me some Spidey, but I'm not so keen on studio cash ins.
Today it was back to the gym, with a 15 minute jog on the treadmill in the middle of it.
I managed 2.8 km, so that's 11.2 km per hour. Oddly I'm not really sure whether that's OK or not. I know if I do a marathon at that pace then I'll finish inside 4 hours, if I don't collapse after 4 miles, which based on how I was feeling is a distinct possibility.
For the rest of my session I worked on my shoulders and triceps. I must admit sometimes going to the gym and doing weight training makes me feel a little paranoid. It's a good gym - Next Generation, West Midlands - but even there there are some gym freaks. You know the sort - masculine, confident, lifting very heavy weights with very little effort.
Generally I just keep my head down (and gaze longingly at them out of the corner of my eye; it's not my fault I'm a gay man it's what we do). However today I felt like a couple of them were sniggering behind my back at how little I was lifting.
I shall remain confident though - and in 43 1/2 weeks when I'm passing the finishing post who'll be smug then?
Any advice on how to feel better in the gym would be greatly appreciated.
There's no-one with a birthday I want to celebrate today (I'm going to do about 4 days per week on average) so instead today I thought you deserve a regular birthday treat. A clown.
Why so serious?
A short post as the boyfriend is sleeping to my left.
Stretching is very important.
I am reminded of this today. Tomorrow I will stretch.
51 today
1992. Dir: Regis Wargnier. Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Perez, Linh Dam Pham, Jean Yanne and Dominique Blanc. ●●●●○
Each week in this blog I will be offering a film review. If I'm sufficiently excitied about a new release I'll see that and review it. Other weeks I will simply randomly draw a film from my collection to review.
This afternoon I made that selection and my heart sank. It's not that Indochine is a bad film. It's just that this first selection will say a hug amount about me more than the film, and I've picked a long, sedate french language film. However to select another film would be cheating so here goes.
Indochine - the French name for their territory in SE Asia now Vietnam - opens during a funeral procession. Camille (Linh Dam Pham) has lost her parents, Eliane (Catherine Deneuve) her closest friends. Eliane has inherited thier estate, expanding her sizeable rubber plantation and has adopted their child. When Camille has grown Eliane enters a short but passionate affair with Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez), a French naval officer. Camille also falls in love with Jean-Baptiste after he saves her life. To protect her daughter Eliane pulls some strings to have Jean-Baptiste transferred from Saigon. All this comes out in a decadent party to celebrate Camille's graduation.
This would be enough of a film in itself but we're only about one third through and therein lies the major problem with Indochine. It is very very long, 2hours 40 according to the sleeve notes. It's never boring mind although the pace is occasionally glacial. There is just so much plot and story to get in it would be difficult to isolate anywhere it could be sped up or even where some judicious cutting may help.
The performances from Catherine Deneuve and Linh Dam Pham are absolutely superb, but it's the technical elements of this film that really carry it. From that opening funeral you made fully aware of a gorgeous score by Patrick Doyle, Pierre-Yves Gayraud and Gabriella Pescucci's superb costumes and Francois Catonne's precise cinematography. Catonne's art is especially keen when shooting water, in all it's forms.
In fact water is regularly used to signify the emotions of Eliane or Jean-Baptiste, this is underlined in an early auction scene where they bid against each other for a french landscape. For Eliane it's just a painting - she keeps her feelings buttoned up - for the more expressive Jean-Baptiste it's a coast he remembers almost ebing alive. And so Eliane is often surrounded by stagnant or still waters - the mist around the rubber trees, ceremonial ponds the day before Camille's engagement, Lake Geneva at the end. For Jean-Baptiste the water is always flowing; an outpour as he chases Eliane's car, the waterfall where he baptises his son, the sweat on his face after a nightmare.
Whilst we're talking about him sweating I have to point out that whilst we see other characters semi-naked or acting provocatively Jean-Baptiste is the only character who appears to be sexualised. Vincent Perez is mighty gorgeous though and it's difficult not to sexualise him.
Finally this film probaly gives a better understanding of Vietnam, and the conflict, than any American film. Showing as it does the background to the creation of Vietnam, the terrible acts of violence that had been imposed on the Vietnamese people, just the inhabitants of a colony. It's no wonder they fought so hard to keep their independence later.
So the training has begun.
I have broken the training into 4 phases:
1) 6 weeks. Get used to running 3-4 times per week. Build up the stamina to keep going at a reasonable pace for 1 hours.
2) 12 weeks. Prepare for the Birmingham half marathon. I've done half marathons before but I am aiming to beat my best time (2hr 14 min).
3) 12 weeks. Build up to full marathon distance.
4) 14 weeks. Use what I've learnt so far as a basis to move on, working on both speed and stamina - I want to be able to complete the London marathon inside of 4.5 hours.
So today it's the first day of phase 1.
I went to the gym - spent 2 hours on a number of machines (and chest work - weights fans) - including 30 minutes on the treadmill during which I went 5.1km. That's just over 3 miles or 12% of the marathon distance.
That's truly horrible when I think about it.
It was a hard slog but I wasn't pushing myself for all I can, and it is only day 1.
Please feel free to make comments if you think my plan needs work, or if you have any suggestions to help my training - I'm off for a banana now.
Cheers
Today is day one of the training regime, when I've written this post I'm off to the gym to work out a sweat and run a bit on the treadmill (I've still got 44 weeks I can afford to slowly get into it).
I thought before I started I'd write out some vital statistics. This will be useful as a guide of how much I've achieved by the time we're ready for the marathon, and to show you what a struggle it's going to be.
Height: 5 foot 7 inches
Weight: 12 stone 6 pounds
That's a BMI of 27.2, firmly in the overweight category.
Waist: 89-94 cm (35-37in) (I never know where to measure)
Chest: 115 cm (45 in)
I could go on measuring biceps, thighs etc but I think it's probably best to leave that to your imagination. Suffice to say I'm quite short and dumpy.
And there's lots of work to do.
I'l next do some measuring in 5 weeks time and we'll see where I changed.
Empireonline are listing 9 films out this week.
I can't say any are jumping out at me - I'm out both Friday and Saturday anyway.
If I had to choose I'd say go see The Escapist. Brian Cox is one of the most underrated brit actors working today, and he's taking a rare leading role in what sounds like a suitably gritty and griping prison break yarn.
Happy Birthday to
Martin Landau
77 today
Whether you're treading on Cary Grant's fingers or calling Boris Karloff a limey c**ksucker, you're always eminently watchable.
And with "9" and Lovely, Still on the horizon, I'm sure we'll be watching (or listening) to you for many years to come.
Don't worry, not all my entries will be titled like that. But this one is more about blogging than anything else.
Why am I here?
There are 4 things I intend to do in this blog:
That's my manifesto. Hopefully it will be interesting, even if it's only in a car crash way, and hopefully a few people will read this post in years to come and say "Wow, so thats how it all started."
If so I hope you're enjoying the read.
BJT
So this is my first blog, from my brand new blog site.
I suppose I could explain who I am and why I'm here - but I think that can all wait until after I've eaten. So back later...
