Max and Jake

This week's "not-a-real-film-night" Friday began with two more episodes of the BBC series Smiley's People and Alec Guinness giving us his other signature role, completely making us forget the iconic but apparently shameful (to him) Obi-Wan Kenobi (well almost).


Smiley's is a classic, the like of which could not be made any more and goes down easy with our Friday beer (Spitfire). One episode was not going to be enough and at this pace we will be watching the finale at the next "notfilmnight"

The feature film was not so easy. What did we want to watch? More importantly what would my friend want to watch as he is rather more fussy than me about his viewing. In the end we settled on another 1950s Western: The Law and Jake Wade. 

This was a solid John Sturges effort with some regular saddle-tramps, Henry Silva and DeForest ('Bones) Kelley amongst the bad guys. The lead was Robert Taylor, the eponymous Wade. Like many in real life I believe, his career saw him coming at the law from both sides, after learning the looting trade in "The War" and a period of successful crime (in the days when people robbed banks rather than the other way round). A terrible incident had seen him learn the error of his ways and settle with a good woman and a job as town Marshal.

He feels obligated to go to the rescue of his former side-kick Clint Hollister (Widmark) though, and once he has let that evil genie out of the bottle he proves very hard to put back.

On the way to the inevitable showdown we meet some rather lacklustre Commanche braves, possibly the only people in the universe worse than me at throwing the javelin. They serve their purpose in whittling away some of the film's dead wood, however, leaving the way clear for the main characters.

The backdrop is gorgeous, some of the characters suitably hissable (De is very angry and Henry rather creepy but both are rather thrown away) and Richard Widmark is his usual charismatic self but somehow this one never makes the first rank. Partly it's because Robert Taylor is not a terribly likeable lead and one half-wishes that Widdy or another of the robber band would get the girl. Widdy doesn't seem to like girls too much though and feels that he was cheated out of a lifelong loving partnership with Jake. Not that there was anything Brokeback being suggested in 1958 I suppose but his manly love of Jake is heavily underlined.

Someone on imdb has mentioned the music dragging the picture down. Personally I think that given the poor stunt work and acting in the indian scenes it was always going to be a good "b" rather than a classic but I must say we did notice the music when probably we should have just felt its effects. My friend said "...but how did they know that was the last of them" and I replied "Because the music changed".

Another good notfilmnight. Roll on the next.

Dungeness and Dragonflies

Yesterday I was kindly taken to Dungeness again by my birding mentor and his wife.

We arranged to meet a couple of other friends there, which was lucky as they had a spare pair of binoculars with them and I had spent half the journey feeling very fed up and angry with myself for forgetting to put my own in the bag.

There were one or two particular targets of interest for the day - Penduline Tits had been seen and Dotterels. In the end, despite two visits to the ARC pool and a great deal of vigilance we didn't see either of these but it was a beautiful, if slightly chilly, day and we saw many other species so we had a glorious day and went home very happy via some excellent fish and chips.

Among the species we did spot were Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Marsh Harrier above and Gadwall, Widgeon, Pintail, Tufted Duck, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Little Egret, Dunlin, Redshank and Little Stint on or near the water and Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Green Woodpecker and Great Tit in the trees and shrubs.

Two of the more memorable images are that of a fox being "stalked" by a group of ducks and a Moorhen feeding off the ground on part of a bird feeder. The fox was at times very close to the ducks which would have made an amazing photograph. For some reason the fox did not seem interested in the group of ducks that swam slowly along beside her, nor did the ducks seem scared. At one point the fox trudged through some very shallow water incredibly close to the swimming ducks. Eventually foxy disappeared into some undergrowth but the image of the fox changing direction to walk back and all the ducks doing the same will stay with me.

There were also a lot of insects about, sadly mostly midges but including one or two Red Admirals and a large beautiful dragonfly who hovered around for some time. There were also a number of unidentified creatures on whose species opinion was divided my birding mentor offered Caddis Fly but others thought them moths. At any rate they were not shy and one is pictured sitting on a friendly hand.

It's a pity "Dunge" is such a lengthy drive from here because it is always a wonderful day out with lots to see.

Insects versus Arachnids

Today Crabro and I played a couple more games of Memoir '44 (both sides of the Operation Cobra scenario) and also Chad Jenson's interesting worker-placement/area control game: Dominant Species.

I wasn't expecting to do particularly well today after a few sleepless nights had left me feeling woolly-headed. Somehow I managed to secure a win both as Axis and as Allies in the Memoir games.

After lunch we tackled our first game of Dominant Species and took our time working through the rules of what initially seems like quite a complex game. The player aids are well designed and helpful though and we got through our learning game without too much further rule reference.

Neither of us had much idea of strategy at this stage but the end result was fairly close: Crabro's win by about seven points. My mistake was mainly failing to check in advance what happened at end-game and consequently not setting myself up well for the final scoring (having led for most of the game). It seems satisfyingly different from other games of the worker-placement type and I look forward to another game now that we are more familiar with the basics.

Midnight in Paris

Yesterday I took a train into Brighton again for "Midnight in Paris" at "The Duke's". I've run out of free tickets on my membership card but it still gives me a certain amount of discount, and besides a new Woody Allen is an event that transcends mere pecuniary considerations. In recent times several of Mr Allen's yearly offerings haven't even made it to screens here (Scope and Hollywood Endings for example) so I can console myself that it isn't even an annual expense.

Was the cost and the journey justified? Oh yes! This is a little gem and wrapped me up in magic for an hour and a half from which, like some others in the audience, I was reluctant to emerge.

No doubt this is partly because of my equally blind love for Paris and that it spoke to the part of me that once really did look on Paris as a paradise for bohemians and artists where I would one day flan the boulevards and write a great novel while sitting at a pavement café. Part of the joy was probably also relief that a writer and director I hugely admire could still make these sparkling confections after he had pointed to his clay feet with clunkers like Cassandra's Dream and Match Point.

By the end of the film I had recalled my own experiences of the extraordinary magic of Paris in love-struck youth and for that alone I would have to thank the Woodmeister but it is also a neat conceit with romance, smiles, good music as ever and the fun of recognising the celebrities of an age gone by. Not that this is difficult given the penchant of characters for explicit introductions.

There was a ripple of applause from the audience as it woke from the spell of Allen's return to "magic" and, as I was leaving, a fellow audience member started talking excitedly to me about the ending: Something that has never happened to me before with reserved English viewers. Outside, one young lady said to another "I could just go straight in and watch that all over again!". Her friend agreed and said that her mother "Must go and see this one"

Image by ThomasThomas via Flickr

It remains to be seen how much of the enchantment was to do with my own feelings for Paris and desire to see a Woody Allen return to the quality of his Radio Days, Purple Rose period. I already have the opinion of one couple of friends, who loved it despite not being Allen fans. Perhaps as others see it they will bring me back to earth and force me to look at it more coldly and objectively but for the moment I am still bathed in its golden charm and wondering if I could get to Paris again soon.

Brown Ale and Guinness

Yes, the Guinness in question was Sir Alec but the brown ale was the famous Newcastle brew and the combination of a beer and Smiley's People proved a pleasant way to wind down at the week's end.

Both were kindly brought by my Film Friday friend who is a huge fan of the BBC's treatment of John Le Carré's cold war intelligence novels.
The intention was to watch one episode, saving the others for future Fridays but it is very "more-ish" and we watched two before moving on to the second part of the programme. One of the joys of Smiley's People is the leisurely pace at which it unfolds, giving ample time to appreciate the subtlies of writing and performance. It is a gem and we shall not see its like again as time and tastes have moved on. I am a huge fan of the Bourne films and the pace and rhythm Paul Greengrass injects into the relentless movement of the final film but Smiley is the opposite and equally attractive side of the coin. While loose-head and hand--held cameras and jump-cuts are the order of the day, they are not the only way to make a taught suspenseful thriller.

Part two of the evening was the Coen Brothers' take on the Ealing comedy classic "The Ladykillers". Although my friend is as much a fan of the Coens as I am, I knew he had not seen their version of a film of which he is very fond. Happily its Coens pedigree was enough for him to agree to give it a chance on DVD. I had serious reservations about the wisdom or necessity of remaking such a wonderful film originally but had found it enjoyable once I had freed my mind from making constant comparisons and watched it as a film in its own right so I was pleased to be able to watch it again with this attitude from the start.

Ouzel say nay

Another fine day for birding on the cliffs and Downs of Sussex.

This time we were particularly interested in two birds but managed to see neither.

The birds in question were a Short-eared Owl which had been seen several times recently at Crowlink and the Ring Ouzel several of which had been sighted recently around the Seahaven area.

We went first to Crowlink where we saw no sign of the Owl, who might well have been out hunting when we called. Below us on the rocks we did see a great many Oystercatchers and were treated to a wonderful display flight of Oystercatchers and Curlew: The Curlew peeling off and landing leaving the "V" of striking black and white Oystercatchers to wheel round showing off before landing with their fellows, we climbed up further but the bright sun made potential gannet sightings out to see rather problematic and the day seemed very quiet apart from the usual Crows and Magpies. 

We then headed for Newhaven, where we had lunch and then set about viewing likely spots for the Ring Ouzel. Having had no luck down below near the harbour we ascended to the coastguard look-out above where we encountered a fellow amateur birder who thought he might have seen one.

We spent some time watching the area through binoculars and 'scope but saw mainly Starlings. We then decided to come at the problem from another angle and decended to a path below, nearer the cliff edge. Being from this area, I have a healthy knowledge and respect for how suddenly the edge of the country can move yards inland but we obtained our vantage point without mishap and staked out the bushes once more.

This time my friend not only saw the female blackbird which I had seen before but also a male...or was it?  After a slight identification mix up concerning eye-rings was checked in a book, he was not so sure. Still the bird had only been see from the rear with a brief flash of its head and identification was doubtful at best.

Finally we headed towards Seaford Head and one last attempt to see a Ring Ouzel. We made our way down to the spectacular view of the Seven Sisters at Hope Gap but again the landscape seemed curiously empty. The main reward for our trip, apart fromt he view itself was a solitary Eider Duck bobbing in and out of sight out on the waves.

Not the best of days from the list-ticking point of view but the weather, scenery and for me the Oystercatchers made it a very enjoyable experience.

We also saw Dunnocks, Wheatear, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackcap, Stone Chat and Sparrowhawk among others.

Viva il Terry

This week's main game was a new Martin Wallace game "Discworld: Ankh Morpork". This is unusual for Wallace in being a licenced spin-off from the hugely popular (not least among game-geeks) series of comic fantasy novels by Sir Terry Pratchett.

The game may not please all the Wallace fans as it may be seen as less of a "gamers' game" than his others. Since he is presumably hoping to market this to the legions of Pratchett fans, and to see it stocked by a much wider range of outlets than the normal "Eurogame", it is probably inevitable that it be given simpler rules and strategies.


Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and its card-driven action and found it easy to learn and play but not unsatisfying. It drips with Discworld theme, with the board being based on a map of the city of Ankh-Morpork and its various disreputable regions and with many of the well-known characters appearing on the action and event cards.

Image via WikipediaImage via WikipediaMy goal (defined by a random, hidden character card - Lord Rust) was to control 4 areas of the city at the beginning of my turn. After a number of rounds I was surprised to find that I had got away with my strategy and announced my win. What surprised me was not that I managed to gain outright control of the areas but that I was somehow allowed to keep control by the three other players (The Professor, MaOldie and Crabro) until my own turn again. Simply adding a minion, or removing one of my own buildings or minions, in one of the areas would have thwarted my plan. I believe that the others were simply too involved in their own strategies to notice the situation. Despite my motives being under close scrutiny a few turns before.




I enjoyed the game and would be happy to play it again. Stripped of its theme, there are many games to equal it but it is an enjoyable game and the theme, at least to a Discworld fan, takes it to a new level.

During the first game, Petra Pan and MrWendell arrived and having been issued with a hot beverage were seated at a second table where they amused themselves with a Mystery Rummy, while we finished Morporking. We then joined up for a six-player game which was Viva il Re.


Viva il Re, is a very simple game: a filler really. It is played simply by moving one piece one level up the building and voting (using a set of three cards) whether or not the person reaching the throne shall be ruler or shorter by a head. Each player is issued with a random card at the start, which lists the names of those courtiers which will bring points if they survive.

The voting cards consist of a returnable "yes" or crown card and two non-returnable "no" cards. Players take it in turns to position a piece on the board (a cross section palace building with several floors, each capable of holding four nobles) they then move one up each turn. When one is moved into the topmost room a vote takes place.

Possibly because I have played it before, I managed to win the first game quite convincingly but in the second I game only second having had several of my favourites beheaded. It is a very simple game and one with a high luck factor but it is attractive colourful and fun as a quick and simple filler.

We finished the evening with a quick delve into the mines of Diamant once more and either through bad luck or bad judgement (cowardice) I managed to lose, although it was quite a high scoring game.