Mr Douglas Anderson | 2010

Archive for June, 2010

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover… Unless It’s John Fante

Posted by Douglas Anderson | June 25, 2010 | Uncategorized | Comments(0)

I have mentioned the work of John Fante a few times on this blog with particular reference made to the fact that he is one of my favourite American authors. On more than one occasion when I have been in the company of friends and had a novel of his on my person, it has been remarked that the covers of his books are rather impressive. I think this is due to the simplicity of them and as a result the “less is more” cool visual aesthetic of them. So, as much as we are told never to judge a book by its cover, in the case of Fante, exceptions can be made. By way of some visual literary celebration, and lets face it who doesn’t need some VLC from time to time, here are the four covers of the novels that centre on the life of protagonist Arturo Bandini, collectively known as The Bandini Quartet.

Wait Until Spring, Bandini

The Road To Los Angeles

Ask The Dust

Dreams From Bunker Hill

Image 1 – The Mookse and the Gripes

Image 2 – Justin Mitchell

Image 3 – The Gulf Scream

Image 4 – Happy Hour Lit

In Appreciation of… Bob Monkhouse

Posted by Douglas Anderson | June 21, 2010 | Article, Uncategorized | Comments (3)

In recent years British broadcasting has seen something of a resurgence of the old guard. The television careers of Bruce Forsyth, Terry Wogan and Noel Edmonds to name but three have been reinvigorated and they are now regularly seen on our screens once more. There is another name that could easily have been added to this list had it not been for his very sad passing in 2003, that name is Bob Monkhouse.

I actually see Bob in a bracket all of his own. As a performer, his skills in ad-libbing and improvisation were more than a match not just for his contemporaries but also those who would follow him the worlds of comedy and entertainment. Aside from writing and performing he remained a fervent fan and devotee of film and comedy throughout his life. He owned a vast personal collection of rare films and a legendary compendium of joke books which were famously stolen in 1995 and then returned eighteen months later on the back of a ten thousand pound reward.

I had the great pleasure of working with Bob in his latter years but I’ll come to that shortly. My first memory of seeing him was when he hosted Family Fortunes. Of course, he hosted many quiz shows throughout his career including The Golden Shot, Celebrity Squares and Wipeout and to some that’s all he was, a quiz show host. This is somewhat inaccurate as he did much more in a career that proved as varied as it was successful.

In his early days Bob was predominantly a writer with early examples of his work found in The Beano and The Dandy comics. He then teamed up with his one time writing partner Dennis Goodwin to provide jokes for the comedians and stars of the day ranging from Arthur Askey and Max Miller to Bob Hope and even Frank Sinatra. Albeit keeping him in money these writing gigs didn’t give Bob the fame he achieved as a presenter of numerous quiz shows, as host of Sunday Night At The London Palladium and as an actor in British films such as Carry On Sergeant in 1958 and Dentist In The Chair in 1960. He would continue to perform standup throughout this period and is viewed by many of todays comedians as something of a godfather figure. There is a great early clip of him on You Tube to be found here and it’s a quite exquisite insight into the mans comic capabilities.

So to my personal experience of working with Bob. In my second ever tv job I bagged the role as roving reporter on a BBC programme called The Bob Monkhouse DIY Film Show. As the title suggests the show looked at all aspects of do it yourself filmmaking as well as interviewing directors, actors and producers. This really was a dream job for me as firstly I have always been a massive film fan, secondly I got my first job in television on the back of a short film I had made and thirdly, I had the chance meet Bob Monkhouse!

The bulk of my filming was done independently with a separate crew as I was at a film premiere one minute and then at a film festival the next whereas Bob was at different locations filming his links. Luckily there was to be one day when we were both filming at the same location and to say I was excited about this would be an understatement. Due to the intensity of the days shoot I didn’t get a chance to speak to him until lunchtime when thanks to a producer who knew I was a fan, I was placed next to him at the dinner table. Nervously, I quickly introduced myself but Bob immediately put me at ease and said the pleasure was all his which was a very kind gesture on his part. For the following half an hour we chatted, or more precisely, Bob chatted and I intently listened. What struck me most was his vast knowledge of film. I could have listened to his anecdotes for weeks although trying to recall all the details now is slightly difficult as I think I must have been in a bit of a daze at the time. I do remember spending a good while discussing Jack Nicholson and in particular the film As Good As It Gets which along with wife Jackie who was also present, Bob was a big fan of.

At the end of lunch Bob decided to go to his trailer and I saw this as a chance to fulfill a promise to my Dad. When I received the news that I would be working with Bob my Dad had mentioned that he had a Bob Monkhouse book and if I ever got the chance for Bob to sign it he would be most grateful. As Bob made his way to the trailer I saw it as my window of opportunity. Luckily I had the book on my person along with a good quality pen. As Bob had left the table shortly before me I had to be quick but succeeded in catching up with him and with a quick precursory clearing of the throat asked if he would do the necessary. I was worried that I might not be the first to have put in such a request that day but if I was just the latest in a long line of fans craving a signature Bob certainly never let on. He was pleased to sign a copy of Over The Limit: My Secret Diaries 1993-8 but it wasn’t until reading the message he had left some moments later that the true character of the man became even more apparent. The message he wrote read “For Ian – my life is in your hands. Hope this book makes you smile – (from the author, a friend of Douglas) Bob Monkhouse. 30:5:00.” I was genuinely touched by what I read and didn’t care if he had written similar messages many times before for other fans of his work. There it was in black and white.

It was with obvious sadness that I heard the news of Bob’s death in December 2003 although it wasn’t a great surprise as he had been battling cancer for some time. It was testament to the man that he kept performing as much as his body would let him while all the time his mind and wit remained as sharp as ever. In the subsequent years since his passing I’m glad he is increasingly viewed as a great comedian and writer and not just a quiz show host, not that there should be any stigma attached to presenting such formats if you do it as well as he did. He made it look alarmingly easy and that just serves to accentuate the supreme quality of his performing skills. There are many words which would contribute to an adequate description of Bob – comedian, writer, host, entertainer and actor would all suffice. I would of course also add just one more – friend.

Image – John Gushue

Subbuteo oi oi oi oi

Posted by Douglas Anderson | June 15, 2010 | Uncategorized | Comments(0)

It would have taken an 8 year old 60 years to afford all this, would probably make a happy 68 year old though.

Image – subbuteo365.com

Breathless For Lenin – French and German Filmmaking

Posted by Douglas Anderson | June 14, 2010 | Uncategorized | Comments(0)

It’s 50 years since Jean-Luc Godard‘s first feature A Bout de Souffle or Breathless to use its English title, opened. Obviously, it’s a hugely important film in the evolution of cinema with much being written about it. Some interesting examples for perusal include a visual overview of the film from The Telegraph, an examination of its use of editing by Nick Lacey and an essay by Dennis Grunes . I first saw the film over ten years ago and it’s certainly up there with my favourite French films such as Les Valseuses, La Haine, 36 Quai des Orfevres and Mesrine: L’instinct de mort to name but a few.

Whilst we are led to believe that French cinema produces some of the greatest films in Europe, a point I wouldn’t argue against, the fact is that over the last few years the foreign language films which have had the most profound affect on me are in fact German. Examples of this include Goodbye Lenin, The Lives Of Others and The Counterfeiters. I once heard it argued that the German language is a tad too harsh on the ear especially when compared to the French language but I don’t believe this to be the case. Moreover, if the script is well written and acted out with aplomb, German filmmaking is more than a match for the French. I will always prefer the cheese making capabilities of the latter though.

Image 1 – Modernariato

Image 2 – moviebase

Facebook Fiasco

Posted by Douglas Anderson | June 14, 2010 | Article, Uncategorized | Comment (1)

Straight off the bat let me declare I think Facebook is a good thing. It’s a useful communications device helping me to keep in contact with people. However, if given the choice I prefer being in the company of real living humans and communicating face to face. This isn’t possible of course if like many of us your friends are dotted around the country and indeed the whole planet. As a result, Facebook is a handy and necessary tool in order to keep in touch with people. However, there seems a grey area when it comes to protocol.

For example, I found myself in a slightly sticky situation some time back and it centered around the break up with my then girlfriend. We hadn’t been friends on Facebook before going out and I have to admit I was slightly apprehensive when only a couple of weeks in to the relationship I received a friend request from her. I remember thinking at the time that it was a tad hasty for either of us to be committing to being cyber friends as it very early on in our new relationship in the real world yet alone the computer world. Furthermore, it’s not as if you can counteract such a request with the line “Lets give it a few more weeks and see if we’re still going out, then we’ll make a call on the friend request”. Such a reaction would spell the end of a relationship before it really started and so there is really just one course of action to follow – accept the request. This I did but around a week later a new development occurred when I noticed it was now showing up on her profile page that she was “in a relationship”. My initial reaction was to query “who the hell with?” until I realised it was me. I’ve never had the inclination to press that button when in a relationship. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a case of keeping anything secret, I just don’t feel the need to put up banners advertising the fact. So, albeit with a sense of slight bewilderment I let it go and got on with things. Time passed and after an enjoyable six month relationship it was apparent we weren’t destined to be together and I’m glad to say an amicable break up came to pass. However, we were still friends on Facebook and it got me thinking. Surely neither of us wanted to see photos of new girlfriends/boyfriends popping up on news feeds when you least expect? It appeared a choice had to be made -

1. Remain friends on Facebook and run the risk of having to view pictures and new profile updates it would be preferable to be oblivious to.

2. De-friend in an act of self preservation in the hope that the other party is thinking of administering the same course of action.

After some deliberation, during which I canvassed the opinion of others, I made a decision – to de-friend. It was only a few weeks later that I discovered there was a third option I could have implemented -

3. Click the “Hide” facility enabling you to stay friends with someone but without having to view any news or profile updates.

Alas, I didn’t know this third option existed at the time. Furthermore, I automatically assumed she would have wanted to de-friend as well but I was wrong, very wrong. It was just after I had finished a long but successful days work on location in March that my phone buzzed with a text message. I casually took the phone out of my pocket to view a message I thought might be from my producer saying how well the days filming had gone and what time we were going to be starting the following day. No sodding way, it was a text message from my ex along the lines of “I can’t believe you’ve blocked me on Facebook! Did the last six months mean nothing to you?”. There was more in the message but you get the general idea. In fact there were several more text messages exchanged back and fourth with me protesting my innocence by claiming what I had done to be some act of mercy on both our behalves. Unfortunately, she didn’t appear to really believe me which was frustrating as I can honestly say that what I did was not meant to be harsh or insensitive and it bugged me to think someone I had enjoyed a relationship with now thought the time we had shared together hadn’t meant as much as it did. Finally, after protesting my innocence I got the impression that although still not agreeing with my actions, she understood that they were not intended to be coldhearted in any way and what I had done, albeit under some fuzzy logic in her eyes at least, was well intended. Sadly for me, this respite would not last for long. I had just about managed to calm tensions when things took a turn for the worse.

What I haven’t mentioned already is the fact that during our time together I had received and accepted a couple of Facebook requests from her friends. Call it a knee jerk reaction if you will but on de-friending my ex I thought I’d better implement option 4 -

4. When de-friending an ex you should do the same with their friends as you can’t exactly cease communications with one party and not the other.

So, I did. It wasn’t long until I received a text on the back of her discovery that more de-friending had taken place. Suffice to say, this text wasn’t too empathetic and it took me some time before I managed to calm the situation down once more. We have yet to re-friend at the time of me writing this which is a shame as she is a great person but I suppose understandable after the fiasco. It all leads to a couple of summations on the whole episode -

1. If you’ve met the love of your life and you both feel the same way about each other, friend up on Facebook and start planning where you want to go on honeymoon.

2. If you haven’t met the love of your life and want to maintain an amicable break up consider the “Hide” facility before any panic de-friending commences.

With the dust now settled it’s time to determine what I have learned from Facebook Fiasco. The first is that it would be useful if there was a document which explained what the correct Facebook protocol should be because on regaling this tale to friends it became quickly apparent that nobody was sure what the correct course of action should have been. Another thing the whole saga illustrates is the differing level of importance people append to Facebook. As I have already said, to me it’s a handy communications device but to others it appears to mean more, which I hasten to add isn’t a bad thing, just a different way to look at things than the way I do. I’ve also realised that I value a greater level of privacy compared to some users of the site. For example, I don’t really get why someone would post scans of their unborn baby up there. The first time I saw this, I couldn’t believe my eyes. To me some things are so sacred they shouldn’t be viewed in the same way one would view a friends holiday snap of them careering into a fellow holiday maker on a water slide in Portugal whilst mouthing the words “come on!”. It got we wondering as to how long it will be until we see a detailed analysis with links to youtube footage concerning how babies are made in the first place? I wager that would get a good few hits. Another aspect which leaves me a little perplexed is the craze for publicly liking things. I’ve clicked this button a few times when someone has posted some genuinely good news, a really great tune or a link to an interesting article but I’ve also seen some rather mundane information such as notifications of a cup of tea being drunk met with a chorus of approval. This in turn has left me eagerly awaiting the invention of a button that when clicked reads “Upon reading this I remained totally ambivalent to the information contained”.

While we’re at it, if anyone is going to divulge information in an update which they fear may appear to cross over the line from news sharing to public gloating, I think they should do so with no ambiguities whatsoever. Such lines as “I can’t believe how lucky I am” or “My life can’t get much better than this” contain too little detail and leave too many questions unanswered. If someone is intent on making a big declaration, then pack it with detail which while running the risk of splitting opinion, will prove a true talking point and by dint, a more interesting one. I await eagerly to read something along the lines of “Due to the fact that I’m now making close to three million pounds a year after tax, I’ve bought a massive house with two games rooms consisting of four pool tables, eight dart boards and a full subbuteo set complete with grandstands and floodlights. Do you know what? I’m not even in to games but I’ve got money to burn, yeeeeessssssssssss!!!!”. There are various ways to respond to such an update. You could like it by pressing the requisite button on your keypad, voice disapproval at such vociferous gloating or use the third option of counteracting it with a supplementary declaration of your own. I would propose a message that’s as unambiguous as the original but in no way eluding to it. Something along the lines of – “After several recent false starts, I did the best shit in weeks today’. If I ever read such a statement I would be most interested to witness what kind of reaction such an announcement would be met with and how many “I like this” ripostes it would garner. I would be shocked and disappointed not to see a high number.

Image 1 – Facebook

Image 2 – allvoices

Archive for June, 2010